Rough Draft

One of the hardest things for a writer to uncover is her voice, her style, her flair. Here are four safe ways to help you find it — and one dangerous. Writers start to peel away from the crowd when they find their voice. That strong, distinctive voice that people easily recognize. But finding your... Listen to episode

So far I’ve asked “Do you have the right strategy? Do you have the right technique?” Today s question is … Do you have the right knowledge? American theoretical physicist Richard P. Feynman said, Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent, and original manner possible. I can t think of a better... Listen to episode

Wrestling with a 2,000 word essay is not unlike birthing a calf. A life is at stake here. Your job is to make sure it survives. In my experience, great writers have always been socially odd. They’ve resisted invitations to birthday parties from close relatives, pretended not to hear when people are talking to them,... Listen to episode

Have you ever asked yourself why you want to become a writer? You should. Because writing can be a thankless job. Like doing the laundry. Listen. There will be times where you will hit a wall. You are exhausted. Lost. Broken. And you ll ask yourself, “Why?” Why am I doing this to myself? You have... Listen to episode

You don’t become an exceptional writer by galloping recklessly into the ring. There’s more to conquering obscurity and overcoming neglect. Four things, in fact. I’ve always considered myself more lover than fighter. A soft-skinned, head-in-the-clouds poet. If I was a betting man, I’d put my money on the Internet. “Swallow up the swan in two... Listen to episode

This episode is personal. I offer you something that helped me during one of my most difficult times as an online writer … It was in late September 2011. Occupy Wall Street was everywhere. And I longed to drop everything and join the movement because what I was doing at the time was killing me.... Listen to episode

Don’t feel guilty. It’s okay to steal ideas from other writers. In fact, it’s essential. As long as you do this one thing … As a writer you should be swiping ideas nonstop. Stealing ideas nonstop. William S. Burroughs said, All writing is in fact cut-ups. A collage of words read, heard, overheard. Your content... Listen to episode

Captivate readers with these 8 examples from one of the best living writers on the planet. In previous episodes we ve established that beyond headlines the first sentence dominates. In fact, it s responsible for hurling the reader into the story. The headline captures the reader’s attention. The first sentence keeps it. Great writers like David Sedaris... Listen to episode

Master these six principles on first sentences and you’ll not only grab people’s attention — you’ll keep it. Master copywriter Eugene Schwartz often spent an entire week on the first 50 words of a sales piece - the headline and the opening paragraph. Sound excessive? Well, just imagine how disappointed you d be after reading a... Listen to episode

Quite a challenge, right? Especially given this is a podcast. Trust me on this one. My daughter and her strand of pink hair. The first ever triple BMX back flip. A throbbing finger. Strange way to begin a podcast about getting people to read every single line you write. But it’s a proven method to... Listen to episode

These four research studies will prepare you for the fight ahead — a fight you can win In this episode I want to put some teeth to the things I’ve been teaching. Some substance behind my claims. In this case, I’ll present four research studies you should know about. They’ll help you understand the true... Listen to episode

Creating great web content is not hard if you understand just three simple words … If you summarized every single book and article written on writing for the web, you d get the three words I’m about to tell you. Yet, no one not even the experts, authors, or pundits — has, to my knowledge,... Listen to episode

Is 90 minutes of your time worth learning about which headlines actually work online? Then listen on … Ever wonder why some headlines are better than others? I mean what makes some headlines irresistible and others fall flat? More importantly, ever dream of actually writing headlines that clothes line people and then flings them into... Listen to episode

A simple 4-step formula to writing one helluva seductive headline. Headline writing is probably the first and most important skill you need to learn as a web writer. John Caples called it the most important part of an advertisement. That s why he dedicates four out of eighteen chapters to headline writing in his book Tested... Listen to episode

Here are 10 reasons your humdinger of a headline won’t save the catastrophe that is your blog post When I was young, I sported pink hair, suede sneakers, raver jeans, and punk t-shirts. Sure, I was cool, but strike up a conversation and you’d wonder if something was wrong with me. I had nothing... Listen to episode

The number one SEO practice you can employ to get people (and Google) to pay attention to your online content. Links have become the online content creator’s currency. Get a lot of links, and you get “wealthy”. And the more quality links that point to a particular page, the higher that page is going to... Listen to episode

These 21 questions from a Google engineer will help you create original, high-quality content … If you re a good web writer, then February 24, 2011 was your day. Bad web writer? Not so much. February 24, 2011 marks the day Google took low-quality content sites out to the woodshed. It s the day they rolled out... Listen to episode

In the end, keyword research has nothing to do with SEO. It goes way deeper than that … Will anyone actually read the online content you create? It s a terrifying question, but an important one. If you re committed to building a popular and profitable media property, you ll have to write, read, and talk about your... Listen to episode

Where you find out how Google learns what a page is about, and how it ranks that page. Imagine you love jaguars. You have a blog about jaguars. You publish seven times a week about jaguars. On your site, it’s jaguar all day and all night. But Google doesn’t seem to know you exist. What... Listen to episode

A few important details every web writer should know about how Google does its job … So we need to back up just a little bit. We need to talk about how people actually find anything on the web to begin with. Why? Because as web writers we have to face that ugly monster called... Listen to episode