Melanie Lundheim

U.S.-based Minnesota Corporate Freelance Writer melanie@goodcopyfast.com | 952-974-5299

Listen and Learn

With all the listening we do in a day, you’d think we’d be experts at it. Here’s how to improve.

  1. Tune out your own thoughts, judgments and responses, and tune in to the speaker
  2. Notice not only what’s being said, but also the speaker’s nonverbal emotions and cues
  3. Repeat what you heard back to the speaker, validate it, and ask for clarification when needed

Master the art of listening, and you might actually pick up the milk your spouse requested, or ask your boss about her kid’s big game. Chances are they’ll appreciate the rare and wonderful feeling you gave them of being truly heard.

How does active listening enhance your personal and professional relationships? Share a comment at my Good Copy Fast Facebook page.

Workaholism vs. Productivity

Today while listening to Entrepreneur Laura Roeder interview Cameron Herold, author, Double Double: How to Double Your Revenue and Profit in 3 Years or Less, Herold said something that resonated with me:

Workaholics aren’t successful.

Workaholics are just busy.

Imagine the work-life balance, and meaningful success, we could accomplish if we simply focused on our top five priorities every day, rather than getting sucked in to email and other distractions!

During the interview, Herold recommended an online tool specifically designed to help individuals and teams move beyond their mile-long to-do lists and focus instead on what’s really important: teamly.com. Give it a try and report back at my Good Copy Fast Facebook page.

Inspired by a Child’s Poems

Creative childLast week my eight-year-old daughter, Tessa Lundheim, greeted me with a poem that had just popped into her head:

You need rain to make a rainbow,

water to make a sea,

flames to make a fire,

and a mommy and daddy for me.

 

Last September, she told me during bedtime tuck-in:

Every time I see you,

my heart flows loving colors.

 

On a car ride when Tessa was six years old, she made up a couple of jokes on the fly:

What does Santa use to wash his hands?

Hand Santa-tizer

 

Where do flowers grow best?

Bloomington

 

Observing the genius of a child makes me aware: creativity isn’t learned. It’s innate. We adults just need to tap into it, then express it freely, and without fear.

 

 

 

How to Sync Google Analytics and Your Website

My associate, Marketing Consultant Liz Lockard, provides excellent tech tips for DIY website developers in her blog.

One of her tips that I’m implementing today: How to Set Up Google Analytics: 3 Essential Steps For The Beginner.

Why set up Google Analytics? She explains, “Because this simple setup will let you see how many people are coming to your website, from where, how long they’re staying and much, much more.”

How to Add a Favicon to Your WordPress Site

How to Install a Favicon on WordPressOK, this is a bit off topic. But I’ve just explained the Favicon installation on WordPress process to my cousin, and I want to share it here for others’ reference.

A Favicon is the little picture that appears to the left of the website address in a browser’s address bar.

Here are ten steps to installing a Favicon on WordPress:

  1. Locate an image, such as a photo or logo, that you want to appear to the left of your website URL in the address bar
  2. Save the image as 16×16 or 32×32 pixels square (or do an Internet search for a Favicon generator, such as this one: http://www.favicon.cc). Note that the image, enlarged, will look very fuzzy. This is OK, because at its small size, it’ll look fine.
  3. Name the image “Favicon.ico”
  4. Upload the image in your WordPress media library
  5. While in your WordPress media library, copy the URL of your Favicon. It will be something like: http://yourwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Favicon.ico
  6. In the left column of your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance, Plugins, Add New and search for the Multicons plugin (there may be other Favicon plugins; this is the one I chose and it works for me)
  7. Click on and activate the Multicons plugin
  8. Back in the left column of your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings and click on Multicons
  9. Step 8 will take you to a page where you can now enter the URL you previously noted into the three empty fields (make sure you enter the URL exactly in all three fields)
  10. Click save changes and when you refresh and view your site, your Favicon should appear (it may take a few minutes)

For years, I’ve enjoyed creating and controlling my own websites. If you’re just starting out, I recommend learning how to make your own website at WordPress.com, where you’d create a series of Pages (for your Home, About, and Contact, etc. pages) and Posts (for your blog entries). When you need a more sophisticated site with added flexibility, WordPress.org works great.

Note that learning to create your own website takes many hours — eight to 80! But it’s well worth the effort if you’re a do-it-yourselfer. Here’s a link to a free online WordPress tutorial. I haven’t reviewed the tutorial in full, but what I’ve seen of it appeared to be helpful.

Remember while learning WordPress.com or WordPress.org that if you get stuck, just Google your question and the answer should come up.

A List of Copywriting Masters to Learn From

Good Copy Fast Copywriting Masters Gurus GreatsIn my 14 years as a freelance writer, the main master copywriters on my radar were David Ogilvy and Bob Bly.

 

I read Bly’s books, Secrets of a Freelance Writer and The Copywriter’s Handbook back in 1998 when I left my ad-agency copywriting career and launched Good Copy Fast. (Note: My affiliate links to the updated equivalents of these books are: Write and Grow Rich! and World’s Best Kept Copywriting Secrets.)

 

Ever since, and thanks to, Bly’s books, I’ve been so busy freelance writing, I haven’t dedicated the time to follow the world’s copywriting greats in depth.

 

To celebrate the first week of 2012, I’m setting aside my billable work to read Bob Bly’s blog archives, as well as those of some copywriters he considers great:

 

Other excellent blogs about copywriting, which I recommend, include:

How do you add value to your clients by keeping up on your craft? Please share at my Good Copy Fast Facebook page.

How Long Must Your Copy Be?

by Bob Bly

The client asks for a 4-page sales letter … or a 16-page
magalog. But your PC tracks document length by words, not by
pages.

So how many words must you write to fill those pages? Here’s a
rough guideline showing the average word count in a page of a
typical promotion:

  • Sales letter – 300 words per page.
  • Magalog – 500 words per page plus one or two visuals.
  • Digest – 200 words per page.
  • White paper – 300 words per page.
  • Full-size sales brochure – 200 to 400 words per page.
  • Ghostwritten magazine article – 800 words per magazine page.
  • Online article for SEO – 500 words.
  • Web page – 300 to 400 words recommended.

These are the number of words you can fit per page when the
promotion is laid out by a graphic designer. So if the job is a
16-page magalog, figure about 8,000 words.

 

This article appears courtesy of Bob Bly’s Direct Response Letter.