Copyblogger sits atop Ad Age's marketing blog throne for one reason: they deliver smart, sexy, and super-useful content over and over.
Brian Clark and the Copyblogger team have built an online empire by creating content that entices readers, feeds them profitable advice, and gives them the essential elements of online marketing that works.
While many factors contributed to Copyblogger’s dominance, here's one that I’ve picked out that you can easily grasp and imitate: write like the hottest magazine publishers around.
How do magazines keep readers coming back every month and issue after issue flying off the racks?
And what does that have to do with blogging?
Let’s find out.
The gravitational pull of good writing
Remember way back when, when Brian held those Cosmopolitan and Details headline writing contests?
Do you think he chose those magazines randomly?
No, he latched onto those two because they’re incredibly effective at hooking and keeping reader interest.
Snag one of those magazines off the rack and you're a goner. Your wife and children will have to yell at you from the parking lot to get you to put it down. (This has never happened to me before. Honest.)
But you have to take it a step further to apply this tractor-beam of attraction to blogging.
To discover the best techniques for writing potent, compelling copy, you have to actually read an issue of Cosmo — or any of the eight magazines below — with a writer's eye and the willingness to learn.
That means:
- Paying hyper-close attention to the headlines (this is number one for a reason)
- Studying the articles’ opening sentences
- Copying their tricks to closing an article
- And pillaging their word purse
Next time you're in a book store, pick up one of the magazines in...
