Why You Should Never Hire A Ghostwriter

November 7, 2011 By Lisa Angelettie 7 Comments

Why You Should Never Hire A Ghostwriter If You Want To Be Noticed In Your Niche

Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with many entrepreneurs. Most want to cut corners and eliminate as much work as possible and I get it. The whole 4-Hour Work Week theory and such. But I’m going to be completely honest here… Most of the entrepreneurs I know who are making six or seven figures (including myself) who are sharing their special sauce 🙂 with the world are doing it themselves. Meaning that when it comes to their message, what they want to share with their tribe, etc. — they are the creators of that content — NOT a ghostwriter. Not a virtual assistant. Not a hired gun.

The reason why is simple. We all have competition. So if you want to “make noise” amid all the clutter in your niche you have to:

#1 – Be Authentic

#2 – Be Seen

#3 – Be Heard

#4 – Be Trustworthy

#5 – Be Unique

When you hire a ghostwriter to write your articles, your ezine, your ebook, your information product, your signature system, etc. he or she cannot help but write it in their own voice instead of yours because they are not you. The end result may be a polished, well-written, piece of content but it doesn’t sound like you and it definitely will not meet all 5 of the above criteria.

Instead — your content will sound like the hundreds or thousands of other pieces of white-washed content in your marketplace. There is nothing unique about it and that will make you simply….average.

Okay, So How Do I Produce Great Content Regularly Without Outsourcing It?

This is my theory on outsourcing… There are many things that you can and should outsource in your business but your content is NOT one of them. Where you can maximize your efforts is in compilation, distribution, publishing. So for example, you should write a great article solving one of your ideal clients’ problems. Then give it to a virtual assistant to publish to your blog, spin or rewrite it, and distribute it to various 3rd party sites and directories.

Or say you want to create an ebook for some passive income in your business. Take some of your favorite articles on a central topic, make some additional notes on each article, and then give them to someone to compile into a 7-10 chapter book. Someone else has done all the compiling and polishing of your book — but the content and voice is still ALL yours. Still authentic. Still You.

So if you are looking to really stand up and get noticed right now in your niche, write your own content. Do not hire a ghostwriter. Invest your dollars where it matters — leveraging your content – not creating it.

WriteSwap: Content Marketplace Like Fiverr

September 7, 2011 By Lisa Angelettie 6 Comments

WriteSwap Is A Marketplace For Content And Looks Like Fiverr

I know some of you are never going to take my advice and leave a lot of the creative writing elements of running your business for you to do yourself and not outsource to someone else.

So with you rebels in mind, I stumbled across a site called WriteSwap which is a marketplace for all things content related such as: Advertising, Articles, Biographies, Blog Content, Direct Mail, Ebooks, Editing, Email Copy, Fiction, Licensing/PLR, Press Releases, Proof Reading, Reports, Research, and Sales Copy/Critiques.

The site looks a lot like Fiverr, in fact it seems to be built on the same platform which is cool, but the pricing is not the same (which is a bummer). The jobs on this site run more than a Fiverr job ($5), and tend to run an average of between $10-$50 USD.

Ezine Publishing: What Do I Do First?

February 22, 2011 By Lisa Angelettie Leave a Comment

Ezine Publishing: What Do You Do First

You will read a lot on the web about building your list. There are a million “list building” books and experts out there because the reality is that if you are building (any kind of business), then you need a list of people to market to. A business cannot support growth by only having new customers and clients. A business flourishes when it has repeat customers.

So that’s why businesses, especially on the web, rely on THE LIST. But once you have this list, what are you supposed to do with it? Well, think about who you purchase goods and services from. You purchase them from companies that you like and trust.

I prefer to do my Christmas shopping with Amazon because I trust that my items will be delivered either earlier than promised or on time. I tend to buy most of my computers and gadgets from Apple because I trust the quality of the products they build. I like to buy my kids winter coats from Lands End because they are durable, warm, and classic looking. The same could be said for certain coaches and marketers on the web. There are many that I have worked with or done joint ventures with because of my trust in their expertise.

I trust all these companies because of their products, but I also am encouraged to buy from them because I am on their “lists” and they send me regular emails a.k.a. ezines.

Sometimes the term “ezines” can be a little scary for people. I remember when I began writing my first one, it was absolutely a bit frightening. Heck, I didn’t know if people were going to be interested in reading it, but what I soon later discovered is that the people who did read it were the very same names I saw in my Paypal account. My regular ezine readers became my regular and routine buyers — and that’s no coincidence.

So What Do You Do First?

Well, first I want you to think about your favorite ezines or digital newsletters. What do you like about them? Which ones do you read every week or month?

For example, in one of the ezines that I read faithfully, the publisher includes an audio version of her articles. I love this because I can listen to her articles while I multitask. Not many publishers do this. In another ezine I read, I enjoy his writing voice. It’s very down to earth and conversational. No ones ezines ever sound like his!

Big Tip – The ones that you like are the ezines that you are going to model. You are going to take what you like from each of them and merge them into one unique ezine of your own.

Next Tip – Create a list from 1 to 5. List each part, section, or trait of your favorite ezines on this list. If you can’t think of five items, that’s fine. You can absolutely have a one page newsletter/ezine. So if you only like two things about your favorite ezines, then that’s all you need to include in your first ezine. It’s fine.

Last Tip – Consider your workload. Once you commit to an ezine, you need to be steadfast about it’s delivery time. Will it be every month? Bi-weekly? Weekly? Commit to the easiest publication schedule for you, but push yourself as far as you can go. Statistically you will convert more readers into customers or clients, the more often they read your ezine. So if you think you can publish bi-weekly instead of monthly. Go for bi-weekly.

Okay Seriously – Last Tip!
Think about your competition. (Eck! Them again) Do they publish an ezine? If so, how regularly? What do they get “right” in their ezine and what could you improve upon? This will help with your strategy in planning the content and character of your first ezine.

Next Up: Ebook Publishing: What Do I Do First?

Last Article: Article Blogging: What Do I Do First?

Last Article: Article Marketing: What Do I Do First?

Article Marketing Is Expanding…Hello ePublishing!

January 11, 2011 By Lisa Angelettie 8 Comments

Article Marketing Is Expanding In 2011!

Every year, I take time to reflect on what has worked for me in my business and what hasn’t worked. If you read my article on my income breakdown for 2010, it shows what things brought in money and what percentage of those things brought in the most money.

I also like to look at trends, etc. going on in my marketplace as well as on what I actually coached people on during the year. With that information I make decisions on my brand. Sometimes that decision is to do nothing more then do “more” of what I’ve been doing. Other times it has meant an overhaul. And sometimes (like this time) it means that I will be expanding my brand.

From this point forward, not only will I talk about article marketing, writing articles, etc. but I will also talk about the things that naturally evolve out of article marketing – which are also topics I coach my private clients on and that includes:

Article marketing/writing articles
Effective blogging
Ezine/newsletter publishing
eBook writing/publishing

Combined — these are all topics that fall under the umbrella of electronic publishing a.k.a. ePublishing.

ePublishing is a topic that you will hear me talk more about in 2011 because it is very exciting! The publishing industry is undergoing a revolution. With the explosion of smart phones, tablets (iPads), and the higher accessibility of computers to more economic groups/ages – people are obtaining information and entertainment via electronic device more than ever.

*Remember that you can write a few articles and use them and reuse them for all these ePublishing techniques. Use them in your article marketing to promote your biz, publish them to your blog for more visibility, include them in your ezine for added value, and combine them to create your signature ebook.

It is vital that you as a business owner take full advantage of this rapidly evolving medium and I’d love for us to expand and grow together. If you are on my list, look out for ways that I will be involving in the expansion of my brand which will also support yours as well.

Hope you have been thinking about how your business and your brand will evolve this year? Tell us about your plans in the comment section below!

Email Newsletters Vs. Print Newsletters

November 22, 2010 By Lisa Angelettie 6 Comments

Do you prefer email newsletters or print newsletters?

I have written and published both print newsletters and email newsletters. As we move into a more highly digital world, I was wondering how people PREFER to read their newsletters.

We all get a lot of email, many text or html newsletters, that we read weekly or monthly. I’ve even been contemplating getting iPad versions of my favorite magazines – but not sure if I’m ready to go 100% digital. Are you?

These are my questions:

1. Do you prefer email or printed newsletters?

2. If you prefer email, do you read them on your computer, phone, ipad, or other digital reading device?

3. Do you make a decision on print vs. email based on price? Meaning do you always pick the free option?

4. If you had to pay for both print and digital versions of a newsletter, which would you rather pay for?

Please leave your answers in the comments section of this post and let’s get a good discussion going. It’s one thing to read “stats” about electronic publishing, etc. but it’s another to see what REAL folks are saying in my world.

Why You Should Never Hire A Ghostwriter