I wanted to be an editor or a journalist' but I soon found I had to become an entrepreneur in order to keep my magazine going. ~Richard Branson You're not a writer. You're not a content producer. You're not a blogger. You're an entrepreneur.

I finally got around to creating a landing page for all the great articles and case studies that Roberta Rosenberg has done on landing pages in the last year. It's a pretty hefty resource, and I haven't seen this much landing page advice in one place outside of a paid product. Also, I realize there are some who are still fuzzy on the whole concept of what a landing page is.

By Simon Payn It's been said many times that printed newspapers won't last - they'll be killed off by the web. And that would be a shame: the death of papers would see the demise of some tremendous writing and editing skills. I should know - my last job on a newspaper was just last year. So, while we still have ink on paper, here are five things you can learn from newspaper editors and reporters to improve your blog's copy. 1. Chop it down 4 inches!

When I first started Copyblogger, I was a huge RSS evangelist . As a long-time email marketing guy, I was sick to death of overzealous filters, deliverability issues and the low-level of trust people had for online publishers thanks to the spammers. Over two years later, email is still very much alive. That fact is most evident with my other projects, but even here at Copyblogger over 6,000 people subscribe by email and they tend to be the most responsive.

By Clay Collins Bloggers and rappers are pretty much the same people. As Chartreuse smartly pointed out : What we have in the blogosphere is the generation that grew up on Tupac vs. Biggie playing the same game in their universe. Not convinced? Here are six similarities that leave very little room for doubt. Similarity #1: Prolificacy But I, somehow, some way / Keep comin' up with funky a$$ sh*t like every single day. ~Snoop Dogg,

Hey everyone, I'm back in town and working on a new post as we speak. But in the meantime, just wanted to share a pretty powerful free tool that Aaron Wall recently released. Even though we've corresponded for the last couple years, I finally got to meet Aaron in person at Elite Retreat, and he's both smart and laid back. His new Rank Checker tool for FireFox is really useful for checking your search engine rankings across Google, Yahoo and MSN' and doing it privately.

So, the word is out. I'll be one of five hosts at this year's Elite Retreat in San Francisco on April 3rd and 4th. Here's who else will be providing unfiltered advice to a small group of entrepreneurs looking to take their businesses to the next level: Jeremy Schoemaker - Shoemoney Aaron Wall - SEO Book Neil Patel - Pronet Advertising Andy Lui - Buddy TV Plus' a keynote from Guy Kawasaki . Sounds pretty cool, huh?

"And that," he wrote, "is that." Doesn't much make you want to pitch in with your own views, does it? We all tend to focus on catchy headlines and gripping titles. That split-second interest grabber is important. Copyblogger's great posts on headlines thankfully tell you exactly how to craft your words to create snappy headlines. How you end your post depends on what you're trying to achieve and what action you want the reader to take.

As writers, many of us love to create, but not on someone else's schedule. For me, I get random bursts of inspiration at the strangest hours. Often in the middle of the night I can pump out some really thought provoking work. But here's the problem: If you're a professional writer, you're expected to finish each writing project on a given schedule. I have rarely met a writer that can bang out excellent content, on schedule, all the time.

Social media and the blogosphere are fascinating because of the conversational nature of it all. Ideas are generated, evaluated, criticized, praised and recycled. Often, we're happy participants in the conversation. Whether adding to the current Techmeme pile-on, or chiming in on an ongoing cross-blog discussion within our industry or niche, conversations make blogging tick in a way that static media does not. But this series is about innovative content,

Do you know what happens down at the crossroads? Legend has it that Robert Johnson"the most famous of the Delta blues musicians from the 1930s"took his second-hand guitar and went down to the crossroads in the middle of the night. When the young plantation worker returned home, his guitar skills had taken a quantum leap. The overnight improvement in Johnson's playing wasn't just significant; it was supernatural . Something strange happened down at that crossroads.

If you go looking for advice on how to price freelance writing work, you'll find that one thing gets repeated nearly everywhere: don't lowball yourself. There's a natural tendency in business to feel like you need every client you can find, and that can often mean settling for a below-market rate in exchange for simply having the work. The standard advice is, "don't fall into that trap." That's a good, solid idea - as far as it goes.

Nowadays, everyone seems to think that making money as a blogger is a piece of cake. A lot of people make the mistake of starting out by picking a niche they are not exactly passionate about simply because it pays well. In other words, they are just in it for the money and somehow consider this a sound business model. It's easy to show up day after day if the pay is good, right? No Pleasure, No Gain Sorry to burst your bubble there, but you couldn't be more wrong.

In developing this new Copywriting Maven Makeover Series , I wanted to make sure that I provided useful information to Copyblogger readers without giving too much of the proprietary information away. Therefore the format for my critiques will be somewhat different than the landing page series . The simple "10 points" approach doesn't work as neatly here. So,

I'm off to San Francisco to present at Elite Retreat ' so it may be tougher than usual to get me by email this week. But we've got great content already lined up, so never fear. Wait, you didn't think I was leaving for good, did you? I promise if that ever happens, I'll give you more than a Queen video as explanation. Don't you just love the beginning of April? :-( Also, because people keep asking and I'm way behind on email )as usual(,

Nike said, "Just do it." Nortel told you to come together. Timex said it takes a licking and keep on ticking. And GE mentioned that it brings good things to life. Well, good for GE. As far as you're concerned, you'd probably be happy figuring out how to bring your tagline to life. Tagline, strapline, slogan' Whatever you choose to call it, it's all the same.

Sorry, no time for explanations. The best I can do is this video . If I'm not back again this time tomorrow, carry on.

In 1966, The Doors were trying to make it to the pinnacle of the Los Angeles music scene by scoring a regular gig at the Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood. At the time, playing the Whisky was the LA way to land a record contract. But you didn't just waltz in and play the Whisky. You had to work your way up to it. In the short film The Doors in LA , guitarist Robbie Krieger tells how Morrison and the band landed a regular gig at the London Fog.

What is creativity? It's one of those deceptively simple questions. One of the best ways to use Twitter is to ask questions. Keeping with the cocktail party analogy , which would you prefer' someone who wants to learn things about you, or someone who babbles on endlessly about themselves? So, last week I asked people who follow me on Twitter a seemingly simple question: How do you define creativity? I picked out several of the responses and reprinted them below.

Put a couple of tablespoons of fuel in your car's tank today, and see what happens to the car. I'll tell you what happens. It'll probably take you a few inches further down the road. And you'll say to yourself: "What the heck? What difference will a few inches make?" Just as you'd say: "What the heck? What difference will a word or two make to enhance the power of a headline?" You'll be amazed, how by simply adding a target + a specific,