Quick Round-Up On My Recent Web Reading

alt="Quick Round-Up On My Recent Web Reading" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/reading-500x320_c.jpg" />

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7770" alt="reading" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/reading.jpg" width="750" height="481" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/reading.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/reading-300x192.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />

I have been reading quite a lot these days and I wanted to share some of the good ones in this post. Listed below are some hand-picked articles/blogposts WHSR readers might be interested in. Some of these are sort of old while some are freshly published – nevermind, the important part is that each of these articles comes with information as valuable as gold. I am seeing a very busy days ahead for myself thus I doubt that there will be any updates at WHSR this week.

So in case you are in the mood of reading… have fun clicking these links. :)

On Inspiration

Everyone loves list-post and need some visual inspiration, eh? href="http://www.selected-webdesign.com/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">style="text-decoration: underline;">Selected Web Design runs a great gallery of websites at its homepage; and for WP users, here’s some nice WP theme demo published on DesignBeep.com – href="http://designbeep.com/2011/06/21/when-wordpress-and-jquery-plugins-go-together/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">When WordPress And jQuery Plugins Go Together.

On Web Marketing

Search Engine Optimization

SEO is not only about links, title text and keyword research. As search and social media converge, “social signals” are playing a more and more important role when it comes to search rankings. This leads us to Moore’s interesting article about href="http://www.fuelyourcreativity.com/leveraging-social-content-for-seo/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">How to Leverage Social Content For SEO. Bing maybe href="http://www.infoworld.com/t/search-engines/microsoft-keeps-trying-and-failing-bing-168199" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">going absolutely nowhere in the near future but it does provide tons of handy tools for webmasters. To leverage these tools, you need href="http://www.seobook.com/bings-webmaster-tools" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">The Ultimate Guide to Using Bing’s Webmaster Tools.

As a WordPress users, I love learning new tricks and hacks. But we don’t need to do everything by ourselves, right? After all, that’s what Plugin is designed for. I bet you’ll be thrilled with some of the href="http://www.webhostingbreak.com/development/10-great-seo-plugins-for-wordpress/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">10 Great SEO Plugins For WordPress listed.

Social Network Marketing

Also, if you are like me, wondering why the heck everyone is talking and blogging and tweeting about Google+, read href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/08/google-dont-fight-it.html" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">Google+: Don’t Fight It and href="http://www.webhostingbreak.com/development/10-great-seo-plugins-for-wordpress/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">Google+ Has Made Twitter Boring.

On Website/Blog Interactions

Web design is not only about creating beautiful website. Getting the desired result is another important challenge for all web developers. Smashing Magazine has put up yet another a round-up of resources on href="http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/07/22/responsive-web-design-techniques-tools-and-design-strategies/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">Responsive Web Design Techniques and Strategies. And also, check out Ailsa’s guide on href="http://sixrevisions.com/content-strategy/website-tone-voice/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">How To Develop Your Website’s Tone Of Voice. I just read this earlier and trust me, this lady knows what is she talking about.

On Web Design and Development

Web Design In General

We all have bad habits and make silly mistakes all the time, perhaps it’s time to run a reality check and see if you are doing any of the list of href="http://www.problogdesign.com/general-tips/30-bad-practices-of-web-designers/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">30 bad practices of web designers? One-page websites are trending pretty fast recently. I’m not a big fan though; but in case you are making one for yourself (or your client), Kendra’s href="http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/07/6-tips-to-create-better-one-page-websites/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">6 Tips To Create Better One-page Websites is a must read.

And, for list lovers, here’s another round-up of href="http://www.webhostingdeals.org/webdevelopmentmarketing/18-free-online-sources-to-learn-web-design" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">18 Free Online Resources In Web Design.

HTML 5 and CSS

You can’t learn HTML 5 via just a few blogpost (you need a book and some practice the least) but Steven’s recent post would be a very good read if you wish to href="http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/html5-content-models/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">Understand HTML5 Content Model. Seriously, HTML 5 is not from Mars. In case you think otherwise, Mark’s href="http://www.webdesignermag.co.uk/tutorials/create-a-basic-html5-page/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">Create A Basic HTML 5 Page With The New Layout Tags should be your next stop. ;) There’s also a great list of learning sources I compiled earlier in href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/featured-articles/learn-html5-10-must-read-lessons/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">Learn HTML 5 – I bet you’ll love them! Further on that, newbies might also want to check out href="http://css-tricks.com/13317-little-css-stuff-newcomers-get-confused-about/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">Little CSS Stuff Newcomers Get Confused About. It’s a very well-written article by Chris that helps you avoid some common mistakes before it happens.

Website Enhancement

Do you ever know web files are related to your website as well? (What?!) Yeah I know, I was as confused as you now when I first read href="http://sixrevisions.com/web-development/5-little-known-web-files-that-can-enhance-your-website/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">5 Little-Known Web Files That Can Enhance Your Website. It’s an eye-opening reading and I love it very much to be honest.

On Web Hosting

Web Hosting Basics

Confused with domain names and web hosting? James’s href="http://www.10-cheapwebhosting.com/Domain-Hosting.php" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">Domain Hosting Explained should be your next stop then. Real case examples are given to explain the differences between domain names and web hosting server – you should be able to understand every necessary key point upon finish reading it.

Web Host Shopping

And hey, last but not least, I had hours of research and wrote a very detailed guide on href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/featured-articles/ultimate-cheap-web-hosting-guide-get-a-good-host-without-breaking-your-wallet/" target="_blank">style="text-decoration: underline;">How To Take Advantage Of Cheap Web Hosting Deals and I strongly encourage web hosting shoppers to check it out.

Page 27 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

Quick Update On WP Engine Hosting, 2 Months Later

alt="Quick Update On WP Engine Hosting, 2 Months Later" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/wpengine-500x227_c.jpg" />

WHSR has been running on WP Engine Hosting for href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/site-updates/bye-bye-hostgator-hello-wp-engine/">slightly more than two months now. Everything is looking great and the site recorded 100% server uptime according to Pingdom (see image below).

Pingdom Uptime Check On WebHostingSecretRevealed.com

class="border" alt="WHSR April Uptime Record on WPEngine" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2012/0504-1.jpg" width="750" />

So… yeah, I am happy with my new host. :)

How Pingdom check WHSR uptime? Pingdom sent a HTTP request to WHSR every 5 minute 24/7. A HTTP check loads a web page without any linked objects included; a ‘down time’ will be recorded if WHSR server fails to respond to the request. Pingdom will then send monthly report to your register email (as well as SMS alert) to keep you notified. For instance, the image shown here is extracted from a standard monthly Pingdom report. For more details: title="Pingdom Site Tracker" href="http://pingdom.com/" target="_blank">http://pingdom.com/.

About WP Engine If you have never heard about WP Engine before, it’s a hosting company focuses on premium WordPress hosting. You can read my title="WP Engine Review" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/wp-engine/" target="_blank">WP Engine review here (based on my true experience) or you can visit the official website at title="http://www.wpengine.com" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/wpengine" target="_blank">http://www.wpengine.com/.

Page 24 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

My Quick Review on GetResponse

alt="My Quick Review on GetResponse" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/getresponse-500x292_tl.jpg" />

By now, pretty much every corporation in America (and most developed countries) has placed email marketing at the cornerstone of the marketing strategy. As technology has evolved for conducting these email campaigns, the options have opened up to marketers in the form of countless programs, making the decision making and evaluation process difficult.

I recently tried GetResponse, an email marketing program that – per the company’s website – is “the World’s Easiest Email Marketing Platform.” I say that I’ll be the judge of that…

GetResponse Features Review

GetResponse does have a great collection of href="http://www.getresponse.com/features">features – the roster boasts a visual email editor (a must-have for most marketing folks to design on the front end), Web form creator, landing page creator, and free images library. Marketing professionals will be drawn to the landing page creator and free image library which is powered by iStock photo, while the tech folks will appreciate the Web form creator (no more marketing requests to the tech department!).

Additional features include an autoresponder, RSS-to-email functionality, social media metrics, and more.

style="text-align: center;">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7623 border" alt="GetResponse Features List" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/getresponse-feature.jpg" width="750" height="412" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/getresponse-feature.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/getresponse-feature-300x164.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />

On paper, it sounds like the perfect platform – there’s something for everyone. In reality, there isn’t too much to shout about – I’d rank my overall experience as fairly good.

My Overall Experience: Not Bad, But Could be Better

More than not, the features worked just fine, but I found the Web form creator to be pretty buggy and user-unfriendly. I mean, I may not be Bill Gates, but I know my way around an email marketing program… and this Web form creator just didn’t do the trick. Considering that this is one of the top-billed features, I found it a bit disappointing. Good thing is that the company is launching href="http://blog.getresponse.com/new-responsive-email-design-in-getresponse.html" target="_blank">new href="http://blog.getresponse.com/new-ab-test-feature-become-email-scientist-in-seconds.html" target="_blank">features regularly hence the situation is probably going to be fixed soon.

That said, there were a handful of things that I did like about the program.

Features I like #1: Pricing

Compared to other competitive programs, such as Aweber or Mail Chimp, the pricing was quite reasonable. See table below for reference.

class="default" summary="Email Tools Price Comparison">scope="col">Servicesscope="col" width="180">< 500 Subscribersscope="col" width="180">501 – 1,000 Subscribersscope="col" width="180">1,001 – 1,050 Subscribersscope="col" width="180">1,051-1,150 SubscribersGetResponsecolspan="4" align="center">.30/moAweberalign="center" width="180">/moalign="center" width="180">/moalign="center" width="180">/moalign="center" width="180">/moheight="21">MailChimpalign="center" width="180">/moalign="center" width="180">/moalign="center" width="180">/moalign="center" width="180">/moalign="right">colspan="5" height="21">* Price based on sending unlimited emails per month, one-year subscription.

class="alignright size-full wp-image-7621" alt="GetResponse Time Travel Feature" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/getresponse-time-travel.jpg" width="350" height="281" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/getresponse-time-travel.jpg 350w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/getresponse-time-travel-300x240.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" />

Features I like #2: Time Travel Feature

I also like the href="http://www.getresponse.com/features/time-travel.html">Time Travel feature which ensures that your scheduled message reaches the recipients at the right time – wherever they are located in the world.

For example, many email programs will allow you to set your send time – but it sends based on your time zone. This means that while your local recipient will receive your message at 9 a.m. as intended, your international recipient receives it at 3 a.m… and that your message is already buried by the time they get to the office in the morning.

GetResponse’s Time Travel feature remedies this issue so that your recipients receive the message at the time you intended – no matter where they are located.

Features I like #3: Analytics

GetResponse’s email analytics were also rather impressive (see image below). The built-in analytics is quite in-depth, allowing users to conduct their own A/B testing to find out which version of an email generates better results.

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7620" alt="GetResponse Statistics" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/getresponse_stats.jpg" width="750" height="522" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/getresponse_stats.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/getresponse_stats-300x208.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />

Conclusion: Is GetResponse A Go?

The bottom line? The positives definitely outweigh the negatives for this program.

The price is right and there are some great features that truly help to improve the campaign. For additional information about GetResponse, check out href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/getresponse">http://www.getresponse.com.

Page 16 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

Web Host Interview: A few quick questions with Nathan O of Hostoople

alt="Web Host Interview: A few quick questions with Nathan O of Hostoople" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hostoople-homepage-500x231_c.jpg" />

Important Updates (October 2015)

The web host Hostoople no longer exists (site now being redirected to Fast Web Host). Some other similar hosting services you might be interested (that I’ve reviewed and recommend) are:

• href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/inmotion-hosting/">InMotion Hosting – where this site (WHSR) is hosted, special discount available;
• href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/interserver/">InterServer – good VPS hosting deal, special discount available;
• href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/ipage/">iPage or href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/ehost/">eHost (both are EIG brands) – if you are looking for a budget option; and,
• href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/webhostface-review/">Web Host Face – very reliable and affordable web host.

We have seen plenty of big mergers and acquisitions in the hosting industry recently. iPage, Hostgator, BlueHost, HostMonster, JustHost, etc are now under the management of Endurance International Group; Media Temple was bought over by GoDaddy not long ago to strengthen their business position. There is very little space is left for the smaller, indie companies; and it will only get worse with billions of marketing dollars being poured into the market by those giant companies.

While there’s nothing wrong with being big and extremely popular; I thought you, my readers, would appreciate more diversities and variations on the plate. Hence, I will cover more on smaller, independent hosting companies in future via interview-posts and listings whenever it’s possible. The first to go is Hostoople –  a new, small web hosting company founded and operated by group of industry veterans.

Hostoople was involved in my recent Black Friday Promotion listing and I had great time working with the company founder Nathan O. We agreed to run a quick interview and the following is our Q&A session. If you wish to learn more about the company, be sure to visit them at http://www.hostoople.com.

Introduction

class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7751" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hostoople-homepage.jpg" alt="hostoople homepage" width="750" height="347" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hostoople-homepage.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hostoople-homepage-300x138.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />

style="line-height: 1.5em;">Good day Nathan, thanks a lot for being with us today. What can we know more about your company, Hostoople?

style="line-height: 1.5em;">Hostoople LLC is a Texas based company. style="line-height: 1.5em;">We are located at the core exchange data center in Dallas Texas and style="line-height: 1.5em;">have 7 employee’s right nowstyle="line-height: 1.5em;">. The company is operated by previous web hosting executives (we came together to start our brand together) and own our own equipment, nothing we do is second class .

Hostoople is a rather new company in the market. Why should we pick you instead of the others?

Our background and persistence to make sure the customer is #1 . We know if we don’t deliver the best customer response time to any issues that arise, someone else will.

Hostoople Hosting Plans

style="text-align: center;">class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7750 border" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hostoople-shared-hosting-plans.jpg" alt="hostoople shared hosting plans" width="750" height="414" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hostoople-shared-hosting-plans.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hostoople-shared-hosting-plans-300x165.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />

Sounds good. Let’s do a couple of what-if scenarios and help us choose a hosting plan.

Scenario #1: I’m a newbie who wish to start a new blog, which hosting plan at Hostoople should I purchase?

I recommend the Economy Plan , it gives them plenty of room to start and a free domain. This package really gives them everything they need to get going for a long period of time.

Scenario #2: I run a mid-size e-commerce website and now looking for a new web host, which Hostoople hosting plan should I pick? 

I would do the Advanced Plan, This gives over 300GB space and Unlimited Bandwidth . We also give a free domain with this plan. We also give free merchant accounts with all plan’s.

Scenario #3: I’m starting off a forum in a popular niche. It’s new but I am very sure that the site will grow exponentially. Which Hostoople hosting plan should I go with? 

I would get the Epic plan due to unlimited everything  , free domain . If a forum gets to big and becomes a very busy site

I always recommend going to vps or dedicated. I have managed and worked with big forum owners in the past and the resources a big forum can use is a lot. To start out the Epic plan will do the job for a few years .

Nathan, please tell us more about your reseller hosting plans. What are the benefits of running a hosting business via your services?

We only build the biggest servers the market offers. We keep staffed 24/7/365. You can reach our support by chat, phone, ticket anytime you need us. Our reseller hosting plans offer a lot of features for a very low price. We have plans starting at a low 7.95 per month.

Hosting Advice and Looking forward

In your opinion, what makes a good VPS host? What are some of the key points to look into when we choosing a VPS hosting service?

Support, I keep going back to this. If you need to see why your vps is down, or a reboot , you need to be able to talk to someone this very second. It makes your life easier knowing someone is there ready to help you.

We are now in the last month of year 2013. What’s coming next for Hostoople in 2014?

We have big challenges ahead of us. Endurance group has smothered the market by buying up the % of companies that market. We are finding our niche and growing our relationships with affiliates. It takes people like you :) to give us a chance to have a voice and speak out about who we are and how we care about the customer relationship.

I wanted to say thank you for giving us the opportunity to talk today and look forward to the years ahead. Thank you!

You are more than welcome! Thanks again for being with us today.

class="meteor-icon" style="font-size:130% !important;">
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For more details, visit Hostoople online: http://www.hostoople.com

Give us your Hostoople Review

Now over to you! Are you an existing Hostoople customer? How do you find their services? Please share with us your experience at Hostoople.

Page 16 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

5 Quick Copywriting Rules for Blogs

alt="5 Quick Copywriting Rules for Blogs" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/calendar-500x413_c.jpg" />

According to href="http://swz.salary.com/SalaryWizard/CopyWriter-I-Salary-Details.aspx">Salary.com, the average copywriter salary is ,000 a year with the highest paid copywriters bringing in six figures annually. You can imagine, that a lot of training and specific skills go into writing copy that sales and that is why the best copywriters can demand such pay.

However, there are some things you can easily integrate into your own site that are similar to what these high-paid, professional copywriters do. While it won’t be at the same level, you’re still certain to reap the rewards from those who have gone before you and paved the way with smart marketing tactics in written form.

Rule #1: The Headline Is Nearly Everything

Today’s average website browser is busy. He or she works, parents, belongs to clubs, puts in time at home on work, cleans house, watches favorite shows. You’re competing against a lot of distractions for this reader’s attention. You must get your reader’s attention with the headline to even encourage a visit to your website in the first place.

As web designer Brian Casel wrote in his article “href="http://mashable.com/2013/10/22/startup-copywriting/" target="_blank">5 Startup Copywriting Tips to Entice Customers“:

“The minute a first-time visitor hits your startup’s homepage, it’s a make-or-break moment. She’s immediately wary her time might be wasted, so she’s got her cursor poised over the back button, waiting for an excuse to bounce off your site.

It’s up to your site, and particularly the top headline and sub-headline, to avoid this from happening. Your headline must grab her attention; your sub-headline must keep her attention.”

So, how do you accomplish that? Your headline should be a call to action or a promise. For example:

• Top 10 Ways to…
• How-to…
• How Not to Go Crazy While…
• You Can’t Afford Not to…

Jerry Low offers some additional examples of top-notch headlines in his article “href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/inbound-marketing/headlines-writing-guides/">Write Headlines Like Brian Clark, Neil Patel, and Jon Morrow: 35 Headline Samples From The A-List Bloggers”.

Rule #2: Entice the Reader

The very first thing you have to figure out to do is how to get your reader to actually read your copy. After all, even the most beautifully written copy that is meant to sell every item on your site won’t have any impact if the reader never looks at it. Whether you are sending an email to your readers or posting copy on your website, your number one goal must be to entice the reader to read your message.

You must hook the reader into wanting to read more with that very first line. Think about the last book you read that really grabbed your attention. How did it start? Did you immediately want to read more? That is called “the hook”. Here are some examples from books and articles:

• Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.  (Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude)
• It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. (George Orwell, 1984)
• If you could utilize the ten websites with the most traffic on the Internet, how would that benefit your business? (from my WHSR article “href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/blogging-tips/top-10-most-visited-websites-and-how-you-can-benefit-from-them/">Top 10 Most Visited Websites and How You Can Benefit from Them”)
• In an ideal world, we would never have to worry about switching Web hosts – our site would remain happily housed at the current hosting provider’s facility with great load times, low costs, and 100 percent uptime. (Jerry Low, in the article “href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/web-hosting-guides/switching-web-host/">How to Switch From one Web Host to Another (Step-by-step Guide)”)
• Do scientific papers ever seem like unreadable gibberish to you? Well, sometimes they really are. (Maxim Lott, “href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/02/28/over-100-published-science-journal-articles-just-gibberish/">Over 100 Published Science Journal Articles Just Gibberish”)
• Are you in the market for a hard-to-find, vintage car? (Jeffrey Jablansky, “href="http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/02/28/field-thousands-classic-car-dreams-up-for-sale/">Field of Thousands of Classic Car Dreams for Sale“)

So… how can you hook the read from that very first line of copy? Ask a question, use a quote, state a particularly interesting fact, or go for shock value.

Rule #3: Stick to Copywriting Structure

There is a basic pattern to copywriting that you can stick to and see better results than if you just throw some text out there and hope for results.

As HubSpot lead editor Corey Eridon states in her article about “href="http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33441/10-Companies-That-Totally-Nail-Copywriting.aspx">10 Companies That Totally Nail Copywriting“:

“GymIt has figured out how to craft evocative and powerful taglines that are short and snappy. If you’ve never tried to do that, holy cow, is it difficult! These taglines explain the gym’s value proposition, totally resonate with their target demographic, and require no further explanation. As a relatively new gym, they tell a great story of who they are with the three taglines currently rotating on their website.”

Check out href="http://www.gymit.com/default.aspx">GymIt’s site to see what Eridon is talking about. They keep it short and simple and stick to the basic “SLAP” structure encouraged by many copywriters as good structure for copy. You want your reader to:

• Stop – grab her attention
• Look and/or Listen – make the copy interesting, use the hook
• Act – call for an action, put a time limit on the offer, feature benefits and give a guarantee (more on these in a moment)
• Purchase – this is the ultimate goal, so make it easy for your reader to purchase the product/service

Rule #4: Sell the Benefits

You know your product better than anyone else out there, so selling the benefits of what you have to offer should be fairly simple. Answer these questions to get started:

• How is your product different than competitor products?
• Why will the reader’s life be better/easier with this product/service?
• What results can the reader expect from this product?

Using certain catch phrases works well in this section of your copy. Copywriter Jeff Palmer offers some href="http://magneticcopywriting.com/copywriting-tips-power-phrases/">power phrases that you can use in your copywriting, such as:

“Imagine this…”
Paint a picture with your words and invite the reader into your world.

“The answer is yes…”
So, what is the question and why does it matter? This is a simple formula for creating compelling copy, give the answer and then state the question.

He offers some other power phrases you can use. The idea is to create a mental picture for the reader, encourage her to dream about how things will work better or be different with the item you have to sell and answer any question she might have about your product.

This section is also a good place to use a couple of short testimonials from satisfied customers.

Rule #5: Guarantee Results

href="http://www.examiner.com/article/copywriting-and-marketing-tips-to-entice-customers-1">San Diego Marketing Examiner Julien Brandt recommends reducing resistance with a guarantee:

“Some people don’t want to part with their cash or risk spam. A great way to lower this resistance is to change the way you write call-to-action buttons. Instead of the word ‘Submit’, use ‘Sign Up for Free’, or add a small sentence under the ‘Buy Now’ button that says ’30-day money back guarantee’. This will give the customer the feeling that there is minimal risk and that his/her decision to buy your product is a smart one.”

id="attachment_8866" style="width: 330px" class="wp-caption alignright">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/web-copy-writing/5-quick-copywriting-rules-for-blogs/attachment/100-percent-guarantee/" rel="attachment wp-att-8866">class="size-full wp-image-8866" alt="100 percent guarantee" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/100-percent-guarantee.jpg" width="320" height="240" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/100-percent-guarantee.jpg 320w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/100-percent-guarantee-300x225.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px" />class="wp-caption-text">Photo credit: href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenwaller/3119204268/">JenWaller 

7 Quick Ways to Promote Yourself (and Your Blog)

alt="7 Quick Ways to Promote Yourself (and Your Blog)" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/me-me-me-500x306_c.jpg" />

Yeah, yeah – I know, we’re not supposed to brag. But, there’s a difference between bragging and a bit of shameless shilling or self-promotion. For starters, bragging makes people feel badly. Self-promotion – if done right – just makes them want what we’re selling. Not to mention that self-promotion is simply a necessity in our business – and it’s hardly a sin.

Think of it this way: companies take out advertisements, restaurants distribute menus and coupons. Bloggers could (in theory) use these promotional avenues… but I don’t think the ROI would be great. That said, it’s important that we bloggers use what we do have available to us (with decent returns) – the power of self-promotion…

After all, if you don’t promote yourself, who will?

As bloggers, our businesses exist on the web – so it only makes sense that we should promote ourselves on the web, too. Here are a few great venues for self-promotion.

1. Social media

Social media is a great way to connect with like-minded people and to find your fans. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are all well-known venues – which means there are lots of potential connections waiting to be made.

If you’re just getting started, you may want to consider tapping into other influencers’ networks to learn how they are successfully promoting themselves. Watch what they do – how do they interact with their followers, how do they drop their links and business into comments, and how do they leverage their own feeds? Watch to see what works – then leverage your learnings into your own social media efforts.

Take action: Find influencers in your industry

Of course, to watch those influencers, you need to know who they are… Buzzsumo is a great tool to learn just that. With Buzzsumo, you can href="https://app.buzzsumo.com/influencers?type=influencers&page=1&result_type=relevancy&blogger&influencer&company&journalist&regular_people&ignore_broadcasters=false&q=web%20hosting">filter out influencers in your industry based on their number of followers and Twitter retweets.

id="attachment_11304" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">class="size-full wp-image-11304" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/buzzsumo-search.jpg" alt="BuzzSumo Influencer Search (web hosting)" width="750" height="294" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/buzzsumo-search.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/buzzsumo-search-300x117.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />class="wp-caption-text">BuzzSumo Influencer Search (web hosting)