How To Make Your Words Count.

Clarity Lab Weekly – Issue #1

Hey there,

I’ve got something a little different for you today, and I think you’re going to enjoy this.

I’m constantly researching and reading and learning about so many different facets of building profitable online businesses that sell information products or services like coaching, like the Art of Money business my wife and I run together.

I realized recently that most of you are probably interested in the same things that I’m reading about for my own learning (light bulb moment), and that you are, like me, probably super busy with life and work. Too busy, in fact, to be able to keep up with the onslaught of the latest and best knowledge being published on the web in this arena of building online businesses.

There is an incredible amount of really amazing content out on the web that can help you build and grow a business. But there’s also a LOT of fluff out there. Content that’s a waste of your time. Content that won’t help you make your dreams real.

Since I’m already reading dozens and dozens of articles, and listening to a few hour’s worth of podcasts, each week, I thought you might enjoy seeing the best content I find in my journeys into the noise of the internet.

So, here’s the deal: if you guys like this, I’ll regularly sift through large amounts of new content from about 60 different sites (and counting) that I commonly read, as well as dozens of podcasts that I follow, and will create a curated list of the best, most relevant content I find, with a bit of commentary from me. I’ll leave the less than stellar fluff content out of the mix and only bring you the best tips and tools and information that can help you grow your business.

In other words, I’ll help you find the good signals amongst the noise on the web, which means:

I’ll be the engine in your search.

Now, keep in mind that this is an experiment. If you like, or don’t like, what you’re about to read, let me know. If enough of you like this, I’ll create more of these curated content issues.

Alright…here we go.

Clarity Lab’s Curated Content Issue #1

Content Curation

Are you a lover of learning, information, and useful knowledge? If so, then maybe content curation is something that can become part of your own content marketing strategy.

This podcast episode (from one of my favorite podcasts) is what sparked the idea for creating the curated content you’re reading right now.

Helping your audience find the best information on the web in your particular niche is an incredibly helpful benefit to them. The time savings are massive for your audience, and you get to deliver what you find with a wrapping of your own unique perspectives and thoughts.

It’s a beautiful way to leverage the massive amount of content that’s being published every day by other people in your niche, while at the same time providing a valuable service to your audience. Everyone wins 🙂

Copywriting

In the private consulting I’ve done with online entrepreneurs over the years, there is one thing that I almost always talk about, in one form or another, with great passion: the importance of really good copywriting for your website.

I can’t stress the importance of it enough. Ever. As Ash Ambirge has said many times, “All you really have between you and your would-be customers are words.” It doesn’t matter if those words are delivered in written form, an audio recording, or in a video. The words on your website (and in hidden places like your autoresponse emails and thank you pages) can make or break your business.

But writing great copy that gets people to take an action (like signing up for your newsletter or buying your online course) is FREAKING HARD work. And I’m telling you, every single word counts.

Technology

And ohhh, are there ever so many places that words touch our prospects and customers. Like your business name or your domain name. If you’ve ever tried to name a business, you know it can be a frustrating journey. Good thing there’s help like this though.

But because your business name overlaps with your domain name, the game doesn’t end when you think you’ve found the perfect name. Nay…the process of naming your business needs to involve finding a domain name that’s close to the business name at every step of the way.

And look, over there, in that podcast you’ve been dreaming of starting! More words!!! I’m serious, words are everywhere, which is why they’re so crazy important. If you’re heading down the podcast road (and I think you should), you’ll need some good podcast tools, like this one, or this one, or a more robust platform like this one that gives you great podcast tools built right in to the website that it will also create for you.

Speaking of creating websites, though this is my current favorite platform for doing that, there’s a really fascinating, new platform coming in a few months that will automatically design a custom site for you…without you needing to hire a designer or design firm. I’ve signed up for the beta trial of it and can’t wait to take if for a spin.

Having a great website that’s beautiful, and that delivers it’s pages quickly to your visitors, is only a small part of the work that needs to be done to launch a profitable business on the web.

You’re also going to need…wait for it…WORDS to go on your web pages. And if you’re going to dive in and do the copywriting for your website yourself (meaning, the text that goes on things like your homepage, about page, services page, blog posts, or your products/programs page), your writing life will be much more enjoyable with tools like this one, which gives you feedback and suggestions for improving your writing, or this one, which will make awesome editing suggestions for your writing…edits that will make your words stronger and easier to understand.

If you’re on a Mac and are looking for a clean, minimal, uncluttered writing environment that’s free from distractions you might have open in other tabs of your browser (I’m looking at you, Facebook), you might try this app out, or this one, which is similar, but which has a handful of different features.

Marketing

And your marketing efforts that are made up of the words you write with those helpful writing apps? Will be even more powerful if you string them together into compelling stories.

But before you write anything, much less compelling stories or headlines that persuade people to take actions, you’ll need to get super clear about WHO you’re trying to persuade. Who exactly IS your target market? What do they care about deeply? What problems to they have? What keeps them up at 3 am in a sweat drenched worry fest?

And seriously, how the heck are you supposed to be able to crawl inside the minds of the people in your market? The very people you hope will give you their hard earned money so you can create a profitable, sustainable business that will give you the lifestyle you’re dreaming of. It’s not easy, but there are ways that don’t involve you taking a course on mind reading.

Even then though, when you think you know the kinds of thoughts people are having in their private moments, thoughts about whatever it is you’re offering for sale (or even for free!), the only way to REALLY know what words (or even colors or images) will work best on your site is to bring some good old scientific testing into the mix.

You can’t grow what you don’t measure! So don’t forget to do a science on your website once in a while 🙂 Tools like this one make it super easy to get your Heisenberg on.

Starting Up

Last thought for this issue: if you’ve ever had daydreams of doing a startup (like I have), this absolutely stellar podcast will give you an unprecedented look at the reality of creating a startup company…from the inside out.

It might pop your fantasy bubble about creating a startup…or it might light your fire and make you want to start your startup as soon as possible.

If you want to see the power of great storytelling in action and how it can build a massive audience quickly, be sure to download that podcast in your phone’s podcast app and have a listen to the first few episodes in your car. It’s an amazing story in my opinion, but see for yourself.

Okay, that’s it for this issue. Hope you enjoyed the results of me combing the web to find you some good signals in the noise that is the internet these days.

Here’s to you crushing it online with your business!

~Forest Linden
Editor-in-chief
Signals in the Noise

p.s. You can find the archive of past weekly content roundups right here.