8 Secrets to Extraordinary Content Writing

By Johnny Rivera

Extraordinary content writing is one of the most important skills to acquire if you intend to make a career as a wordsmith. Having exceptional writing skills is a must. There are no short cuts to excellent writing. Either you are a master craftsman or you are a humdrum hack at best. The choice is squarely yours. Use the following secrets in your journey to writing attention grabbing articles.

• Learn to write well. Give your craft excellent form by learning different writing techniques and styles. Writing for the web is quite different than writing for a magazine or newspaper. Create a diverse writing portfolio. This gives you the ability to write for different mediums, thus making you more marketable than your competition. Learn to write well, or not to write at all. - John Dryden, Essay on Satire

• Practice, practice, practice! Set aside time to write daily. Write at least 1200 words a day even if you do not have anything specific to write. This helps to sharpen your skills and correct any errors you are making. Practice, practice, practice writing. Writing is a craft that requires both talent and acquired skills. You learn by doing, by making mistakes and then seeing where you went wrong. - Jeffrey A. Carver, American science fiction author.

• Keep your eyes and ears open for inspiration. Your inspiration can originate from a conversation, a song, a line in a book, or even a Chinese take out menu. The discipline is to be aware of your surroundings at all times. As a writer practices awareness, the mind disciplines itself to the point where awareness becomes automatic. The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. - Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter, sculptor and draughtsman.

• Rewrite your article. Look for ways to strengthen a sentence, a thought or flow. Rearrange paragraphs if you must. Keep your sentences and paragraphs short.

• Proofread. Maniacally check for syntax, grammar, punctuation and spelling errors. Your readers will not take you seriously if your articles, essays, or even e-mails are filled with errors. Avoid slang whenever possible, unless its use enhances the piece.

• Create an interesting first paragraph. It is your article's hook. It is here that your readers will decide if they want to continue reading or move on to another piece. Write your first paragraph last. This gives you an opportunity to customize it to the bulk of your content.

• Know your audience.Do not be afraid to ask for feedback. You need to know if your readers are excited or falling asleep half way through your article. In the 21st century market, people will not buy content. They will however, buy service. Allow your writing to become flexible and selfless. Writers who feed and entertain their audience will be successful. Your audience gives you everything you need. They tell you. There is no director who can direct you like an audience. - Fanny Brice, American actress, comedienne and singer.

• Write a thought provoking ending. Your last paragraph should be more than a summary of your article. It should make your readers pause to think about what they just read. If necessary, include a call for action.

Although clever writing and communication takes patience, practice and time, it is without doubt worth the effort. This alone will set you head and shoulders above the mediocre and lukewarm.

Tick tick tick tock. The clock is running. Why are you still here? Go write!

LinkedIn Dominates Wall Street!

Following Google's (GOOG) stock market rally last week, LINKEDIN (LNKD) closed at $170. USD last Friday. I predict LI will soar this morning.

Take this to heart. High-stakes investors believe, after careful consideration, that LinkedIn is dominating the professional social media arena. They are dumping millions, perhaps billions, into the future of LinkedIn.

Before the GOOG's rally, I advised my readers to start moving their work over to GOOG products, i.e., WordPress to Blogger. For the better part of last year, I've been teaching executives and job seekers alike Linkedin corporate and personal branding strategies.

My critics, so called social media experts said I was straight-out of my mind. I don't advocate e-mailers, newsletters and Word Press to name a few. I warned against using Black Hat methods on LinkedIn. I warned not to use FB or Twitter ads; to learn how to leverage LI's ad campaign system. Why? I've worked with the Fortune 500. I live in New York, the financial hub of the world. I know how investors think. My competition does not.

Wall Street has spoken. They're are the decision makers. Wall Street validated my prediction.

UPDATE: LinkedIn opened at $172.51 today as I predicted. As of this writing, LI stock has risen to $173.46.

If you're going to stay on the bleeding edge of your niche, make your move now. ThinkRivera.

UPDATE: LinkedIn closes today at $177.90 (+ 7.44 or 4.36%).

LinkedIn: Wall Street's Ugly Duckling a Swan in Disguise

Calling Out Anonymous!

Today, my writing duties took a slight curve into left field.

Many people talk about doing something for the community at large. Anonymous did something about it. The beauty of it was that it happened spontaneously. It came from the heart and that simply can't be faked. 

This entry is short and to the point. Let the video do the talking.

To Anonymous: you're aces in my book. Your merciful and compassionate humanitarian deeds should not go unsung. You've won a fan for life.

Cheers! 

ROI Experts Agree: AWeber is Dead Weight

By Johnny Rivera

E-mailers are viewed, for the most part as the digital equivalent of junk mail.

AWeber, a reputable e-mail marketing firm known world over as a white hat.  That sounds like sunshine on a stick to the untrained business start-up. However, like any well-heeled business owner, you want to receive the best results out of your investment.

This is where the undisputed champion of financial metrics, ROI (Return on Investment),  gives us a peek behind the curtain - and crucifies AWeber.

Let's say that you have 2000 fans that follow your blog. Fifty percent of your fan base subscribes to your weekly newsletter. Every Monday, you religiously write a brand new article focused on your niche. After many revisions and four hours later, you upload your newsletter to go out at certain time on Monday. One thousand of your fans receive your well crafted work of marketing art. Your hope is that at least 20% of your fan base are moved to trade their hard earned money for the product/services you are selling.

At least this is the dream AWeber is trying to sell the American small business owner. And they're accomplishing their goals. Why? Because they are baiting you with false hope.

Let's take a in-depth look at core metrics - the ROI factor.

In simple language, ROI gathers all your capital investment facts: time, money, effort and contrasts them against your bottom line: actual sales.

A basic AWeber subscription is $20.00 USD per month. That translates to $240.00 per year. At this point, your business needs to sell $240.00 worth of product to break even.

How much is your time worth? My time is worth at least $55.00 an hour. Let's say it takes me four hours total to get a newsletter ready for public consumption.

$55 per hour x 4 man hours per week = $220.00 per week x 52 weeks = $11,440 USD per year.

$11,440 + 240 = $11,680 per year

Let's add effort. This is an intangible commodity that is measured by the effort it takes to produce a product - to write, edit, rewrite, edit and finally present a final copy to your audience. How much is your effort worth? Only you can answer that question.

For the sake of conversation, let us assume your effort is valued at $5000.00 USD per year.

$11,440 + $240 + $5000 = $16,680 per year. 

You're into the kitty for close to $17,000 USD per year. That's not counting overhead.  AWeber is essentially telling you that for $17,000 USD per year, you too can have your piece of the American Dream.

Here's what AWeber  will not tell you. How many copies of your newsletters end up in a spam folder unread? They will tell you that can not be measured. I strongly disagree. Of course it can. The Laws of Economics agrees with me.

How many sales are you generating? Do you generate at least 20% above your capital investment? Are you operating at a loss? My guess - and ROI experts agree - that the former is true for most American small business start-ups.

In 2007,  I presented similar ROI scenario to New York General Motors auto dealers. One auto dealer under my wing saved $70,000 per year, just short of the retail price of two brand new cars. You may also ask why did GM declare bankruptcy? GM's franchise dealers bought into the false hope third party vendors were selling. Today, GM has a firm grip on ROI.

GM is making money hand over fist.

Are you?

THE Google SEO Secret You Need To Know

By Johnny Rivera 

Like it or not, Google is the de facto SEO juggernaut.

While FB and Twitter platforms are loaded with personal and corporate marketing potential, both withhold your data from Google's web crawlers. You see, Facebook is in partnership with Google's rival, Microsoft (Bing) and Bill Gates doesn't play nice.
Twitter has refused to renew its agreement with Google.

Nevertheless, Google reigns supreme. If you're not using Google specific products, your ROI ratio will suffer.  However, if you're one of the early adaptors, especially on Google + and Blogger, you will be rewarded with lightning quick page ranking results.


Did you hear? AWeber is about to take a nose dive. One by one, corporations are dismissing e-mail campaigns as a thing of the past.

Stay tuned to my next installment on AWeber, guaranteed to set your spine ramrod straight.

Is Your Brand Making You Money?

By Johnny Rivera

Are you interesting? 

What is your brand? Is it marketable? Would consumers rush to buy your latest creation en masse? Does your brand have what Simon Cowell  calls the WOW Factor? 

Even we writers face a dilemma when we [finally] write: do we keep faithful to the art or do we write for our audience? 


If you’re in the habit of turning a profit – and we all are; it’s why we work - you know it’s necessary to be aware of the pulse of your customer (or audience). Anything we create for public consumption must be able to provide what the public needs. Your product must provide a service - a reward for money well spent. 

Juvenal, Roman philosopher, poet and author of “The Satires” wrote, “… for the People… anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.” While Juvenal meant this as a cynical outlook of humanity, modern businessmen and women took this ancient philosophy to heart. Translated into today's language, entrepreneurs understood that consumers will spend their hard earned money readily on two things: being fed [physically and emotionally] and being entertained. 

Most sports fanatics venerate athletes to the point of worship. They will spend gobs of money supporting their favorite teams via tickets, sports memorabilia and buying other products. They will also know useless stats of their favorite players. Why? Sports feeds a need and it entertains. This is not necessarily a bad thing. 

Naturally, we will have many detractors that will accuse us of selling out. I don’t subscribe to that notion. There are bills to pay and mouths to feed. Our detractors will not support us while we play the role of starving artist. Second lesson: ignore anyone who criticizes your work. Let your critics pay first. Then they’ve earned your attention. Otherwise, “dogs bark but the caravan moves on.” On that note, let us move on. 

People are not interested in how cool you are. They don't care if you're beautiful (or handsome). They want to know what you can do for them? Can you bring the goods?  And they are correct to feel this way. Is your brand fulfilling a physical or emotional need? For example, if you’re a comedian, most don’t care if you have won awards. As a consumer, I want to know if you can make me laugh hard. I’ll remember how you made me feel rather than your accomplishments. If you make me feel good, I’ll buy a ticket to your show. Do not create something that merely satisfies you and expect your audience to support it. Create something that plucks the heartstrings of your audience. 

Consumer needs change daily. What was a hot ticket item yesterday is today’s cliché. In order to take advantage of this, you must be observant and fluid. In the streets, it’s known as “hustle and flow”. Captains of industry practice this axiom on a constant basis. For example, auto companies are retooling their factories to meet the demands of their customer base. Monolithic SUVs are not in style. Lean, green and economical is the flavor of the day. Hummers were the rage of the last decade. Now they are the scourge of America. 

One of the first users of social media, surprisingly, was 50 Cent. While he was the top money making rap artist in 2003, he sensed the rules of the game were about to change. He embarked on finding new ways to connect to his audience. He went to the Internet while most artists in the industry were hanging on the old and dying business model. Through his website, he posted raw uncensored videos and the latest happenings in his world. His fans found a new social portal and felt closer to him. While other rappers were fast becoming yesterday’s news, 50 Cent’s fan base grew. Today, 50 Cent is not only a globally known rapper but also a multi-media mogul, and an author. He has the full support of his fans. Why? He fulfilled their needs. He hustled and flowed. 

The same can be said of Ringling Brothers, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, KISS, Rammstein and Metallica. When you go to one of their shows, you’re in for an epic event. Over the top, done well, is more memorable and profitable than safe and pacified [read: boring]. 

So the question remains: are you interesting? How can you tell? How is your audience responding? Are you making money? If not, it's time retool your creative factory.

What Is the Difference? The Secrets of SEO, SEM, SMM and SMO Exposed!

By Johnny Rivera

Fortune 500 corporations and small businesses alike realize that their brand must have a strong online (internet) presence in order to remain profitable. 

According to Nielson, In the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networking sites has increased 83 percent year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month.

The impact social media has on traditional print and TV media is almost massively fatal. Advertising in newspapers  magazines and on TV is almost a thing of the past, like vinyl records and cassette tapes. You do remember cassette tapes? It is... best left in the past.

Social media, once discounted as a passing fad, has taken over as the consumers' medium of choice. Here they get their news, read reviews on products and interact with other consumers, exchanging ideas and information. Even civil wars are broadcast almost instantaneously on Twitter! Twitter gets fresh news before CNN has a chance to cover it. 

Ladies and gentlemen, that is massive power. And it is free to harness, employing the correct methods and techniques
. 
Pause a moment and imagine having the audience of billions of consumers globally. And they are paying attention to your message. Imagine your new clients ordering your product or service from England or Japan. Don't be afraid to DREAM BIG. In order to make your dreams reality, you have two options. You can learn business strategy, social media and all its components, sacrificing 18 hours a day - time that would have been wisely spent on fun, family or enjoying the fruits of your labor. OR you could hire an experienced company with time tested and proven methods that have made/saved its clients mucho money. Do you like the thought of mucho money stuffing your bulging pockets? 

The following is a basic understanding of key methods used to drive real traffic to your website, Facebook business page, enhancing the visibility of your brand: 

• SEO - Search Engine Optimization is the method used to optimize your website though the use of various techniques to improve your website's ranking in search engines (such as Google and Bing) thus attracting more visitors and/or potential clients.
• SEM - Search Engine Marketing works with paid advertisements which are placed with search engines. They are created with specific keyword and short and long keyword phrases; also known as Non-Organic (paid) Search. This is the expensive approach but less effective of the two methods. Consumers tend to shy away from paid advertisements and give more credence to organically grown SERP. Do not confuse SEM with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads.
• SMM - Social Media Marketing is the method - much the same as SEM - employed using  paid advertisements which are placed within social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, My Space, and YouTube. Note: many "specialists" use SMM and SMO interchangeably.  This is not correct. SMM is the non-organic, paid solution (and the least cost effective) to drive traffic to your website and/or business profile. A specialist will tell you that this is the quickest way to drive consumer traffic to your site - it is not. Again, consumers generally ignore paid ads. 

As of this writing, Facebook and other social media platforms are testing custom made paid ads tailored to the consumer's profile. In the future, businesses can pay for direct marketing ads that will reach consumers who have expressed interest in the business' niche, through liking pages or commentary  This certainly will help mold their products' branding technique  Look for this method to take off in the near future. 

• SMO - Social Media Optimization is a set of methods for generating publicity through social media platform, online communities and community forums/websites. The focus is on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful SMO. 

Business owner, now you possess information that would otherwise be hidden to you. ThinkRivera Technologies introduced General Motors to social media marketing. Its methods are still in use by GM today. 

This is what Raymond Wilkinson III, former president of Poughkeepsie Chevrolet Cadillac, New York wrote on LinkedIn  about ThinkRivera Technologies:

Johnny performed excellent service developing, maintaining, and marketing my business website and maintaining all IT functions at a considerable savings to my business

We can help make your company more profitable. 
Call us today for a FREE no obligation, no hassle 30 minute consultation.