Keith Goodrum

Back in August when I met Yaro Starak at the NYC 30 Day Challenge meet-up. We were talking about copywriting, and he asked me whose copywriting blogs I follow. I rattled off a few & we started talking about other things.

Sitting on the train I realized there were more than a couple of copywriter’s blogs I follow. It occurred to me to make a list and send them it off to Yaro. So, I whipped out my trusty Moleskine & came up with a short list of copywriting blogs I follow. Then I emailed this list to Yaro with a small explanation of each blog. I thought this would be good list to put here on the blog.

This by no means a comprehensive list, it’s subjective… I’ll admit it up front. It’s based on the blogs I feel given me the most value, enjoy reading and style has made a connection with me. And that’s an important point. You should read people who’ve made that connection with you… not someone you read because you’re suppose to.

Here is the list of the top 5 copywriting blogs I follow:

John Carlton – http://www.john-carlton.com/ John proudly declares he is the most ripped-off copywriter alive… or something like that. Anyhow he is an “A” list copywriter who gets hired by the big boys like Rodale press and Boardroom. What I really like about John is he digs deep into the psychology of sales & marketing. He goes into the motivation, and reasons why people do what they do. I find John to be a very entertaining read, and look forward to each post.

Trevor Crook – http://trevorcrookblog.com/ Trevor is an outstanding copywriter & and excellent teacher. He gives away free his “Copywriting Blueprint Formula”. I wrote about this back in April in a blog post titled: How To Get Trevor Crook’s Copywriting Secrets for Free. The secrets comes as a 10-mp3 recording of his training, and a great resource for anyone wanting to learn copywriting. You can grab a copy here: http://www.trevorcrook.com/.

Michel Fortin – http://www.michelfortin.com/ Michel is considered the best online copywriter around. He has written copy for many of the big guns online, and has probably been responsible for more sales than anyone else online. His blog is loaded with valuable copywriting, marketing, blogging information and much more. Copywriting is only one of the many subjects Michel covers on his blog.

Ryan Healy – http://www.ryanhealy.com http://ryanhealy.typepad.com/ (His old blog – still loaded with valuable content) Ryan is a brilliant copywriter & marketer. I consider him the thinking man’s copywriter. He covers a lot of ground, and gives reasons why it works. The information Ryan provides is based on real world results from his clients & his own work. He is a fanatical tester.

Ben Settle – http://www.bensettle.com Ben’s blog is packed full of outstanding copywriting information. It has great tips, interviews & examples. I believe he could slap a membership script on the front of his blog; start charging a monthly fee & it would be worth every penny.

Well, that ought to keep you busy. This is a good list to start with, and you’ll find plenty of outstanding information. There are scores of sites I could’ve included like; the Gary Halbert letters, Clayton Makepeace, Dan Kennedy, Ray Edwards, Peter Stone, David Garfinkel, Daniel Lewis… But, I included the list I keep a close eye on myself.

Have you seen those cool affiliate link cloakers like this cool affiliate link cloaker for wordpress. I’ve tried several different one paid and free, and none have worked right. Most of them seem to have “issues” with WordPress. (or maybe I’m the one with the “issues”) So, it’s just been a constant parade of link cloaking software for most of the year.

What’s the big deal with a link cloaker?

Affiliate marketing is a powerful revenue source for blogs. This platform makes reviewing and recommending products very easy. But, the big problem with affiliate links is they will get truncated by some when they click on the link.

However, that problem goes away when you cloak the link. Most people don’t mind clicking on an affiliate link, they just don’t like it flaunted in their face.

I finally found a plugin that works, and it’s free. It’s called WP-Affiliate by SEO Adventures. It only works on WordPress 2.5 or higher. I found it easy to install and use. This plugin works from the write page.

How it works

Once installed go the write a post page, and scroll down till you see wp-affiliate links. There you will see a form titled Add Base Category. This is were you add the name of the folder you want. I use “recommends”, and it will make the link look like this:

http://www.keithgoodrum.com/recommends

The next part is titled Categorical Listing Of Links. Here is where you add your affiliate links. You have 2 choices here: Add A Link, Add Sub Category and (Delete Category). Click on the link you want to perform.

To add an affiliate you would click on Add A Link. Add your affiliate link to the form titled Link. Next figure what you want to name your anchor text, and add it to… Yep, that’s right the Anchor Text form. Your link would link will look like this:

http://www.keithgoodrum.com/recommends/really-cool-product

Head on over to http://www.seoadventures.com/ and pick it up today.

Well, it looks like I didn’t make to the 21 days of writing and posting something to my blog. I could come up with a good reason for not doing it, but in the end I didn’t get it done. I guess you could say I’ve had a set back.

So, my only solution to this is…

Start all over again. It’s a pretty simple solution. Just have to reset the calendar and get going. No big deal really… I want to re-establish the habit of blogging, and the only way to do this is by blogging.

Even though this is a minor setback it is a good example of how to overcome setbacks. Now, I’ll admit this is a minor setback, with an easy solution. But, it is a good opportunity to take a look at this process.

Remember One Thing About Setbacks…

They happen to everyone. Any goal worth reaching will have several obstacles and setbacks. No, reason to hide from this fact or pretend it didn’t happen. That would actually be counterproductive. You must acknowledge when they happen, and realize it is part of the process. Just remember this… you must learn from the experience and continue on.

A Big Key To This Is To Remain Optimistic

It’s important to keep you attitude up. Remaining optimistic will help you maintain your strength, keep your enthusiasm and make the transition smoother. Hey, you have a choice here; you can choose to get bummed out or remain optimistic. It doesn’t matter which one you choose… Positive or negative. You will still have to go through the experience. You might as well take the optimistic approach.

The Most Important Step Is To Evaluate, Make Adjustments And Take Action…

This step is critical to high achievement. It’s important to evaluate the situation, make some new plan if it is warranted and then get back into the game. Taking fast action is a key component of highly successful achievers.

The opposite is true of quitters. They have a habit of dwelling on their situation, getting down and assigning blame. They will spend so much time on the mistakes and many times will talk themselves out of taking action. They are more likely to throw their hands up in frustration and give up.

It’s OK to go though an evaluation process… but remember to get through this fast, lay out a new plan (if needed) and take action.

So, that’s what I’m going to do here. Get back on the blogging bike. How about you? Have you done this yourself? Let me know any of your success stories you’ve overcome with setbacks.