Hear that, content marketers ? That is the sound of inevitability. It's the sound of you creating a Google+ page for your business and working diligently to build up a network there with content, conversation, and the occasional cat photo. Goodbye ' free time . Shameless )yet eerily fitting( references to Agent Smith of The Matrix aside, here's why every online content marketer needs to be building a Google+ network.

Our Thanksgiving Sale is coming to an end today at 5:00 pm Pacific time . You can save two ways by using the promo code THANKS at checkout. Save $70 off our Premise landing pages for WordPress when you choose the Ultimate plan. Save 25% off everything at our StudioPress WordPress design shop )even the Pro Plus All Themes package(. Don't forget the code THANKS , and don't miss the 5:00 pm deadline! Go to the original post for full details .

If you've been around Copyblogger for a while, you know we rarely offer discounts on our products. Competing on price is not something we find very smart or appealing. Better to just make the best stuff around, right? But it's Thanksgiving here in the U.S., and we have a lot to be thankful for )thanks to you(. Plus, there's this whole Black Friday / Cyber Monday thing that's become a bit of a tradition.

You may have noticed we did a major design overhaul of Copyblogger a few weeks ago. If you haven't stopped by the site lately, come on over and take a look . In keeping with tradition, I like to release a free version of the previous design whenever things change substantially. So that's exactly what we're doing now. So, I'd like to introduce the Copyblogger child theme for the Genesis Framework for WordPress. It's a robust, flexible,

Recently, I asked the Copyblogger tribe over on Google+ to name their biggest writing challenge. From the many responses, a pattern developed: How to get started How to cut the fluff How to finish These three issues are really symptoms of the same painful problem, which boils down to not clearly understanding what you're trying to accomplish with your writing. Don't worry ' it's a fairly common ailment.

In this day and age, substance matters. What you say must be meaningful to the people you're trying to attract. Your content must solve real problems and satisfy real desires. So why should it matter how you say it? The reality is, how you say it has always mattered, and it matters even more today. For content marketing , it's basically the difference between success and failure. You're in a battle for attention.

On the evening of May 1, 2011, two Black Hawk helicopters loaded with 23 Navy SEALs, a translator, and a dog named Cairo approached a residential compound outside Abbottabad, Pakistan. Minutes later, one of the helicopters landed outside the target property. The other spiraled into the ground in a barely-controlled crash landing. Not exactly according to plan. And yet, a few minutes later, the 12 SEALs in the downed Black Hawk calmly radioed the other group,

Image courtesy of Brian Nieman and adopted by the Library of Congress for their 9/11/01 exhibition.

The man. The myth. The legend. All hyperbole aside, season two of the Internet Marketing for Smart People radio show kicks off with author, entrepreneur, and prolific blogger Seth Godin . A lot has changed since Seth pioneered effective email marketing in the mid 90s. And he set the standard for many of us when he switched to blogging over a decade ago.

Back in the 1950s, a bedridden man faced certain death from cancer of the lymph nodes. Tumors the size of oranges had invaded the man's neck, groin, chest, and abdomen. The patient's only hope was a new experimental cancer drug called Krebiozen. Three days after initial treatment, the man was out of bed and joking with nurses. As treatment continued, his tumors shrunk in half. Ten more days later, he was discharged from the hospital ' the cancer was gone.

I took a serious break from speaking after last year's SXSW, because we've got a ton of great stuff coming to you from Copyblogger Media this fall. I needed to keep focused on delivering well ahead of those impending launch dates. But as summer ends and fall kicks in, you can always find me speaking at a few select conferences. This post will let you know where I'll be and how to save money when attending.

Everywhere you turn these days, you hear about authenticity. They say you've got to be real in order to connect with today's social media savvy audiences and consumers. But it's not necessarily true . Go out and be "real" when you're having a bad day, and people will quickly call you out for not reacting in the "right" way. Or, cross a line with your audience that disturbs their expectations of you,

Want to discover the smartest ways to mix social media, content marketing, and SEO for lead generation and developing new business? We've got you covered with Internet Marketing for Smart People . And there's absolutely no charge. This 20-part course and email newsletter delivers the techniques and strategies you need to know when marketing online. Find out more and sign up for free here .

It's the debate that never ends' Do those long copy sales pages actually work? Do people really read that much these days? And, more importantly, do they actually buy from them? The answer: They not only work, they often work better . Of course, that's only if long copy is the right call, and done correctly. Here's how to figure out if long copy is right for you, and the secret to doing it right. When to use long copy First off, not all situations call for long copy.

As we've said around here a few hundred times, smart social media marketing is actually content marketing . Why? Because people love to share content on social networks . If that content is yours, you're being introduced to new people with every share ' to people who now have an opportunity to know, like, and trust you enough to buy from you.

The good folks over at Problogger have released another excellent blogging manual, this time focused specifically on business blogging. It's written by Mark Hayward, a very cool guy who I've followed for years. Mark caught my attention four years ago after he purchased a small business on a Caribbean island that had no customers, no cash flow, and very little hope. With a hefty monthly mortgage payment to meet, he did what any sensible island business owner does.

Ever had a great idea, and then started to doubt yourself? Or maybe you've already executed on that great idea, but you're hesitating to launch. Maybe it's an article, or an ebook, or a completely new site concept. How can you be sure it will work? Should you ask for feedback? I'll answer both of those questions in this article, but first I need to tell you a couple of stories from the nutty worlds of music and film. Let's start with a band called Wilco.

Email marketing works. In fact, it's still the best online method for converting prospects into customers or clients. A critical part of the process begins, however, before a single email is sent. You've got to get people on your list in the first place . This happens most effectively at a landing page specifically designed to convince the right people to sign up. Some people call these opt-in landing pages "squeeze" pages, which,

Google has a secret algorithm for ranking some web pages ahead of others. Facebook has that killer network effect " the more people use it, the more people use it )see previously: the fax machine(. Amazon has selection, ease of use, and the kind of trust that can't be bought. What secret sauce does Groupon have? Umm, email ? Basically, what Groupon does is send out daily emails with straight-out pitches for local deals. Now, we here at Copyblogger are also email marketers.

We like to say that landing pages turn traffic into money. Now, thanks to the affiliate program for our Premise Landing Page System for WordPress , that pithy saying is more literal than ever. Our initial user base is already into the thousands, and the feedback they've given us has already resulted in the release of Premise 1.1, with an even better version 1.2 already in the works. And we've never had so many people asking ' no, make that demanding ,