Here’s a lie that feels like the truth: “A mother is a person who, on seeing only 4 pieces of pie for 5 people, promptly declares, ‘I never did care much for pie.’” That’s a lie that turns moms into martyrs, which is not what moms are supposed to be. It’s one of many lies […]

This week, the front page of Hacker News was filled to the brim with stories* about how much cold, hard cash startups have been earning: Nathan Barry’s $26,679 in 24 hours: Stats from my latest book launch Patrick McKenzie’s Bingo Card Creator (and other stuff) Year in Review 2012 Brennan Dunn’s Why I Gave Up […]

We all wish we could spend $50,000 to hire an awesome design agency for every new idea we have. But for early stage startups – especially bootstrappers – that isn’t always a sound investment. True, a high quality, custom-built brand and website is going to make all the difference someday – and it’s great that […]

Here’s what we’ve all allowed ourselves to believe: selling is tacky. If you have brains and a great product or service, you really shouldn’t have to ask people to buy your stuff, should you? Great products sell themselves! And, hell, you didn’t go to college just to end up hocking your wares like some sad-sack […]

Running split tests is addictive. You develop a theory about something that’s not working as hard as it could be on your website, and that becomes your new test idea. You develop the creative – a copy improvement, a usability fix, or perhaps a product repositioning – and then you launch your experiment. The excitement […]

Eliminating Friction Words From Your Button Copy Button copy is the site of conversion and deserves attention The words you choose for your buttons matter High friction words suggest the user has to give up something Low friction words make work feel less like work In my Mixergy course, I spoke briefly about something called […]

As we move into the holiday season (and as I realize, with that opening, that this post is not going to be shared after Dec 25), everyone’s going to be talking about how to squeeze more sales out of shoppers. I’m not going to talk about that… …I wrote about it last year, though, so […]

Stripe Review from a Non-Developer Responsive customer support Easy to implement Stripe is for non-technical biz owners too This is the abridged story of a business owner who went from not accepting credit cards, to Stripe, to a traditional merchant services provider, and back to Stripe again… Stripe is missing the boat on its home […]

If you watched the vice presidential debate last week, you may remember our dearly beloved Moderator Martha grilling the candidates when they didn’t directly answer her questions. She tacked this important, revealing phrase onto the end of almost every primary question she asked: “Be specific.” Why’d she say that? Because when people have a question, […]

I hear this question being asked all the time — even from seasoned marketers who know how to run an A/B testing program. I see people blogging about what to test, which can be helpful, but it overlooks the most important aspect of testing: learning about the test subject (your visitor, prospect, or customer!). Your […]

That is the look of disappointment. Disappointment at what your testing tool is reporting — versus what you’re actually seeing in your business metrics. Neil Patel wrote a useful post yesterday on lessons he’d learned after dropping $252K on Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). It’s a very worthwhile read (whether you have that kind of coin […]

Save Time and Money: People Want One or the Other You’ve heard me bitch a lot about the most overused, meaningless marketing message of all time: “Save Time & Money” I go on and on about that damn phrase. My ebook readers have heard it. My email subscribers have. My students have heard it. And […]

Making a Promise in Your Web Copywriting A promise deepens trust with your customers and can boost conversion rates What do your customers want from you? What are your customers worried you’re only SAYING you’ll do? 4 places you should test your promise Your promise should be specific, unmistakable and most of all, kept “We” […]

How To Be a Scientifc Copywriter Use proven formulas Write your copy using facts Apply the psychology of persuasion Split test everything Measure and document Copywriting is NOT an art. Sorry, let me rephrase: Effective copywriting is not an art. It’s a science, first and foremost. As John Caples teaches in Tested Advertising Methods (only […]

Bartering is different from selling. The biggest difference is that people barter away things they don’t want in exchange for things they do. Compare that to sales. When you’re selling, you’ve got to get your prospects to part with their MUCH LOVED dollars and cents. So bartering and selling are different… …But that doesn’t mean […]

These have been the basic rules of subject line-writing for a good 10 years: Keep the length of your subject line to 50 characters with spaces (CWS) or fewer Lead with an action word Include your brand name somewhere in there Avoid spam-trigger words, exclamation points and odd punctuation Avoid being cutesy or clever Then […]

How to Name a Product Understand your product’s purpose. What is its value? KNOW your audience. Who are they? How do they talk? Make sure the name is easy to pronounce ABC: Always Be Clear Test the name in context, like on your website pricing page The name you give your product, service or company […]

“Copy leads design.” I say it all the time. I believe in it. You could say it’s my mantra. When I say that “copy leads design”, what do I mean? Simply that you should first organize your messages (i.e., your copy) on the page, and then let the visual design come in to amplify your […]

The Ultimate Starter Kit for Small Businesses Like Mine When you have to make a pitch video, it sort of sucks to waste time searching for a great video prod tool. When you have to buy a theme for your new WordPress site, it definitely sucks to spend $79 only to find out your theme […]

Tips for Writing a Great App Store Description Choose a search-friendly name + icon Your intro copy should win the “more” click Write your description like a sales page Test across devices Think writing a website is hard? Ha! Try filling up – or, even harder, not filling up – the “description” for apps on […]