Ever wonder why content marketing works so well for some businesses ' and doesn't seem to do anything at all for others? Curious about why some content that seems great doesn't do anything to build the business? " Content is king " has been an online cliché for years now, but it's not true. It's never been true. Content all by itself " even terrific content " is just content. It may be entertaining. It may be educational.

The landscape of search and search engine marketing change rapidly. To keep up, stay ahead, grow your business, and get more )and better( traffic to your site, you need the right help. Search Marketing Expo is a conference that offers more than 60 cutting-edge sessions )as well as invaluable networking opportunities( covering the search marketing strategies and tactics you'll need to thrive in 2012 and beyond. At Search Marketing Expo from February 28th to March 1st,

Joe Pulizzi over at the Content Marketing Institute recently shared a fascinating video presentation from Coca-Cola about their upcoming marketing strategy. The short version? Content marketing has arrived. For more than 100 years, Coca-Cola has been one of the world's foremost practitioners of what they call "one-way storytelling." )You and I call that an ad.( But Coke " in the form of their brilliant VP of global advertising strategy,

You've probably seen the word SOPA )and its equally unattractive sibling, PIPA( around the social web. Maybe you've had a lot going on and you've hoped it would just go away. Maybe you figure it can't be all that bad. Maybe you believe that the internet has always found a way around censorship and always will. But while the internet as a whole may be tough enough to survive, you may find yourself crushed in the gears as it all gets worked out. And we don't want that.

As you may have seen on Tuesday, we were disappointed to see that there were no copywriting blogs in last year's Top 10 Blogs for Writers . We think persuasive writers " content marketers and copywriters " are as worthy of cheers and accolades as our fiction-writing brothers and sisters. So today I put together a list of 15 writing blogs I think you'll get a lot out of. I got lots of great suggestions for blogs to check out )thank you all(,

Obviously, everywhere you look this week, people are offering advice about what to do differently in 2012. What to focus on. What habits to cultivate. What to stop doing. What to do more of. Productivity, health, getting enough sleep, flossing your teeth. Copyblogger spoiler alert: You can trust that in 2012 we'll continue to push you toward better content , more effective copywriting , and creating success on your own terms .

If you know Copyblogger, you know that we believe in writers . Which is why we always look forward to the results from the "Ten Best Blogs for Writers" each year " a contest currently being produced by the blog Write to Done . If you want to become a better writer yourself, it's smart to study writers with strong voices, to learn about the craft of writing, and to spend time with others who share your obsession.

Oh Paul Christoforo, what would we have done last week without you? Twas the week between Christmas and New Year's. There wasn't much to read, not much going on other than the whole annoying "real life" thing. Just when we were nearly reduced to checking out our weird cousin Lenny's 120-part Facebook timeline of meringue sculpture, we were blessed with a stunning social media fail . An irresistible account of arrogance, cluelessness,

We're big on tradition here at Copyblogger. And I'm not just talking about that crazy Puerto Rican eggnog. )Who knew you could get that much rum into a seemingly innocent dairy-based beverage?( Every year right before Christmas, we let you know that we're taking the rest of the year off. And every year, we slip in a "Best of Copyblogger" post right before New Year's, just in case you missed something juicy over the past 12 months. Man, are we sneaky.

Here's to a safe and joyous holiday season for you and yours. We're taking our annual "rest of the year off," so enjoy your family and relish the down time. If, for any reason, you might need a break from the relatives )or just start going crazy with boredom( why not get started with our 20-part Internet Marketing for Smart People course ? It's our free holiday gift to you. And it's way better than fruitcake. )Even though, the truth is,

One of the most useful skills in business is to be able to look at what someone else is doing in an unrelated topic, and bring it to your own online marketing . You'll find fresh angles, new approaches, and compelling ways to deliver your message. If you run a yoga studio, you can often learn more from an auto body shop or a roofing company than from your fellow yogis. If you're in technology, take a look at what artists are doing. If you're a musician,

It's one of the hazards of spending social time online. Every day, everywhere you look, you're going to find someone who's doing it wrong. They use the term "rock star." Or "ninja." )You hate those hypey cliches!( They have a pop-up on their blog. )Don't they know pop-ups are the work of Satan?!( They had a launch last week and emailed you three whole times . )Don't these people realize how full your email box is?( You ping around from site to site,

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the States ' a day devoted to family, football, and eating our own weight in pie. And, of course, gratitude. I probably don't take as much time as I should to sit down and think about everything I'm grateful for. The list is embarrassingly long, and it starts with the readers of this blog. If I tried to list every single thing I'm grateful for, we'd both be here until after Groundhog Day.

What does it take to be the best? The best copywriter, the best graphic designer, the blogger, the best content marketer? The off-the-cuff answer is 10,000 hours , popularized by the great Malcolm Gladwell book Outliers . That's what you need to become a renowned concert violinist, a brilliant mathematician, a chess grandmaster, a Pulitzer-winning novelist. That's 20 hours a week for 10 years. You may respond to this one of two ways.

You're stuck again. You know what you're supposed to do. It's not a matter of knowing the next steps " you know them, all right. You just aren't taking them. You watch while others pass you by. People who aren't as good as you. People who don't work as hard as you do. Frustrating. Something is holding you back from taking the next step. From doing the scary part " the part that means you might actually succeed. Too many of you are waiting for that something.

You may have noticed the name of our flagship course, Teaching Sells , coming up quite a bit recently. That's because we'll be launching our 2011 enrollment period very shortly, opening our doors to a new group of students who want a comprehensive, proven approach to building a real online business. And it just wouldn't be a Teaching Sells launch without lots of great free education. So instead of wasting your weekend raking leaves or test-baking your Thanksgiving pies,

You've built a beautiful dream around having a successful business, making a living at your passion. You're fired up. You're ready to make your own decisions, be captain of your own fate. You're building an audience and boosting your credibility with great content. Maybe you're even savvy enough to capture that audience with an exceptional email autoresponder , to keep building loyalty and authority. The problem is,

Starting a business is risky. Horribly, terrifyingly risky. Nearly all new businesses fail " that's the official statistic, right? Some say 4 out of 5, some say as many as 95%. Successful entrepreneurs have a different kind of DNA from the rest of us. Ice water runs through their veins. They thrive on risk. The more insane the odds, the better they like it. For those of us who have families, or who just don't feel like living on ramen for the next four years,

Those are the opening lines of a post Brian wrote last year , one that has become a Copyblogger mantra " one of our core philosophies. If it resonates with you, download the full poster below and hang it in your office, wherever that may be' Click here to download The Writer Runs This Show )PDF( Tweet Comments This is really cool, and a very fitting mantra for Copyblogger. ... by Gregory C. Further Reading Firefly Creativity, Writing Process Tips,

I was reading Jonathan Fields' new book Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance this weekend, and one of the insights that struck me the most was his breakdown of the two types of creativity. Because analogies help us learn, and because Firefly is the best show that has ever been on television, I'm going to call the two types of creativity Mal Reynolds creativity )insight, vision,