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“Few appreciate brilliance, but everyone appreciates clarity.”

I came up with that line on Twitter, and thought . . .

Why waste it there?

Here’s the quick and clear guide to clarity in writing:

Short

Short words are the rule that makes your exceptional words sing.

Short sentences make powerful points faster.

Talk

Write like you talk, except better. Better words, better arrangement, better flow.

Know the rules of grammar, then break them like you do. But better.

Care

Clarity comes from deeply caring if people truly understand.

Do you?

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

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Three Quick Steps to Clear Writing

What do these 15 bloggers have in common?

• Chris Brogan
• Gary Vaynerchuk
• Chris Guillebeau
• David Risley
• Penelope Trunk
• Chris Garrett
• Darren Rowse
• Pete Cashmore
• Jonathan Fields
• Shama Kabani
• Michael Dunlop
• Steve Pavlina
• iJustine
• Brian Clark
• John Chow

There are a number of commonalities between these people actually. They all blog, they’ve all had at least some level of success with their blogs, they all make a living (to some extent) from their blogs and they are all featured in a new resource – Beyond Blogging.

Beyond Blogging is a 200 page book pulled together by Nathan Hangan (a regular guest poster here) and Mike CJ. They’ve put a lot of work into getting into the inside of the above 15 bloggers heads and as a result have created something pretty special. It’s $47 or if you act quick you’ll also be able to secure it with some consulting with the authors for an extra $50.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Learn from 15 Successful Bloggers: Grab Your Copy of Beyond Blogging Today

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Learn from 15 Successful Bloggers: Grab Your Copy of Beyond Blogging Today

What do these 15 bloggers have in common?

• Chris Brogan
• Gary Vaynerchuk
• Chris Guillebeau
• David Risley
• Penelope Trunk
• Chris Garrett
• Darren Rowse
• Pete Cashmore
• Jonathan Fields
• Shama Kabani
• Michael Dunlop
• Steve Pavlina
• iJustine
• Brian Clark
• John Chow

There are a number of commonalities between these people actually. They all blog, they’ve all had at least some level of success with their blogs, they all make a living (to some extent) from their blogs and they are all featured in a new resource – Beyond Blogging.

Beyond Blogging is a 200 page book pulled together by Nathan Hangan (a regular guest poster here) and Mike CJ. They’ve put a lot of work into getting into the inside of the above 15 bloggers heads and as a result have created something pretty special. It’s $47 or if you act quick you’ll also be able to secure it with some consulting with the authors for an extra $50.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Learn from 15 Successful Bloggers: Grab Your Copy of Beyond Blogging Today

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Learn from 15 Successful Bloggers: Grab Your Copy of Beyond Blogging Today

A whole bunch of you read the creative entrepreneur report I released last week.

Many of you seemed to like it. But did you know about the Lateral Action entrepreneur course that’s about to start?

It looks like we’re going to have a great group of charter members for the kick-off of the course – it’s an intensive 18 topics designed to give you the head start I wish I had 10 years ago.

Our charter member deal is pretty sweet, so we’ve decided to limit the size of the group based on response so far. We’re cutting off the charter membership group at just 50 more aspiring entrepreneurs.

How sweet is the deal? Charter members not only save 50% off the 2010 enrollment fee, they get access to everything we add to the course in the future – at no additional charge.

Grab your spot before they’re gone.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

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50 Spots Left in the Lateral Action Entrepreneur Course

I’ve written another piece of extended content, this time for Lateral Action. Rather than sending you over there, I’ll just tell you about it here.

It’s a free 31-page PDF report (don’t worry, it reads fast) called The Lateral Action Guide to Becoming a Creative Entrepreneur. It’s probably the most personal I’ve gotten about my history, but it’s still heavy on actionable, real-life examples.

Here’s what you’ll discover:

• Why I quit my cushy law firm job and turned to online publishing.
• How I failed miserably.
• How I then succeeded miserably.
• How I learned my lesson the hard way.
• The allure of the global microbrand.
• The rise of the “feeder” business.
• Why small is beautiful (and powerful).
• The 37signals approach to market research.
• Real-life examples of creative entrepreneurs.

Plus, a deeper examination of the 5 critical components of creative entrepreneurship:

• Create (Don’t Compete)
• Lead (Don’t Manage)
• Communicate (Don’t be Shy)
• Automate (Don’t Duplicate)
• Accelerate (Don’t Stand Still)

This report is totally free . . . you don’t even have to provide an email address.

Click here to download the PDF.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

The rest is here:
Free Report: How to Become a Creative Entrepreneur

While at Blog World Expo recently I recorded this video interview with Abby Johnson from Web Pro News. We covered a variety of topics including why email marketing is not dead – internet marketing for smart people – the new FTC regulations and touched on a new project I’m working on with Brian Clark and Chris Brogan.

Read other recent email marketing posts on ProBlogger:

• 6 Reasons Why You Need to Consider Email as a Communication Strategy on Your Blog
• How I Use Email Newsletters to Drive Traffic and Make Money

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Email Marketing is Not Dead

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Email Marketing is Not Dead

I’m flying to New York City today for the Audience Conference, so I thought I’d share a quotation about the relationship between writers (or any content creator) and the people they hope to connect with.

When talented people write badly it’s generally for one of two reasons:

Either they’re blinded by an idea they feel compelled to prove or they’re driven by an emotion they must express.

When talented people write well, it is generally for this reason:

They’re moved by a desire to touch the audience.

~Robert McKee

Let’s discuss. What do McKee’s words mean to you?

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

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Here’s Something to Think (and Talk) About

One of my favorite WordPress themes – Thesis – has in the last week released an update with some pretty cool features.

My strategy with blog design is like this. I generally aim towards a completely customized blog design that will give my blog a distinct look and brand – but before I work towards that I almost always start with a more affordable option because I like to test to see whether the blog is going to work or not.

As a result I’ve always been on the look out for great themes and when Chris Pearson and Brian Clark started DIYthemes and released the Thesis theme I was keen to test it.

I used Thesis as the first theme on TwiTip and have been very happy with it.

I’m actually about to release a complete overhaul of the design of that blog (completely custom) but in the year or so since TwiTip’s release I’ve been more than satisfied with Thesis. It’s been easy to use, it’s set up really well by default for Search Engine Optimization and it’s been easy to add extra things in (like advertising spots etc).

I never did much with changing much of the default design on TwiTip but many bloggers use Thesis as the basis for quite impressive customizations. You wouldn’t know it to look at but blogs like Chris Brogan, CopyBlogger, Laughing Squid and Rae Hoffman all use Thesis as the basis for their blog design.

The new update for Thesis (you get all these updates for free if you’ve already got it) takes the version up to 1.6. It includes new navigation menus with drop down menus and the ability to change colors throughout the themes without having to get into the code.

I’m told also that Thesis 2.0 is also being worked on and promises to be a fantastic update.

PS: here’s a cool video that shows just some of what Thesis is like to use – in it Chris Pearson plays around with changing the default layout in a number of ways to shot you how you can begin to customize it.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Thesis Theme for WordPress Upgrades to Version 1.6

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Thesis Theme for WordPress Upgrades to Version 1.6

Here’s the video from the session call Internet Marketing for Smart People, which featured Darren Rowse, Brian Clark and Chris Brogan. I would have posted this two days ago but had uploading issues because of the size of the files. I first uploaded it to YouTube but it was rejected because the video was an hour long. It took two upload attempts before I got it on Vimeo.

Internet Marketing for Smart People is just that. The three panelist discuss Internet marketing methods they’ve employed to help build their business and how a smart person can take advantage of them. The video is an hour long so I recommend you grab a drink, bite to eat and pull up a chair. You’re going to be here for a while.

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!

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Blog World Expo – Internet Marketing for Smart People