This post is by Ashe Mischief
In last week’s post, 5 Sites to Strengthen Your Writing Skills, I briefly mentioned ProBlogger and Divine Write’s new collaborative e-book, The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers. This past July I wrote about Problogger’s other e-book, 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, and why fashion bloggers should invest in ProBlogger. So it should come as no surprise that as soon as The Copyrwriting Scorecard was released that I picked it up.
The Copywriting Scorecard quickly released a second, improved edition, which Darren sent out for free to all those who had purchased it. With that second release came an e-book that tops out at 101 pages of practical, analytical checklists, tips for producing great content, SEO optimizing your content, and doing a thorough rundown of your blog before hitting PUBLISH.
As I wrote last week, “Not all great writers make great bloggers, and not all great bloggers make great writers.” The Copywriting Scorecard is designed to help those who aren’t great writers and professionals alike.
The Copywriting Scorecard is broken down in to sections designed to:
- identify your objectives & motivations for blogging
- know your audience and brand
- cultivate your writing process: where to begin, along with creating flexibility and discipline
- provide writing and grammar recommendations
- provide scannability and SEO copy recommendations
- help you break the rules
Within all of these sections are amazing hands-on exercises– like the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook, this e-book isn’t just something to read. It’s something to work through.
The first task is a series of questionnaires designed to help you determine: what your blog’s objectives are, what you hope to gain, where your expertise lies, and why your readers come to you for their information. They ask about your readers if you think there are barriers and reasons to distrust you, and what DON’T people want to read on your site. From there, they help you evaluate the goals and strategies from each post you write, along with what reader needs and desires it fulfills.
The Recommendations & Scorecard make up a bulk of the workbook (alongside a 30+ page example breaking down one of Darren’s blog posts). These two sections quantify certain traits in a blog post and assign a point breakdown to each task.
Did you use “you” and not “the reader”? Give yourself 3 points!
Were you open and honest? Give yourself 3 points!
Did you use incomplete sentences for emphasis? Give yourself 1 point!
Similarly, when you reach “Grammar Pitfalls,” you lose points:
“Your” instead of “you’re”? Lose 3 points.
“Bored of” instead of “Bored with”? Lose 1 point.
The Copywriting Scorecard REALLY is that– a 100 point scorecard designed to bulletproof your writing and grammar, optimize your sites search abilities, and create maximum impact with your readers.
One of the greatest aspects of the The Copywriting Scorecard is the humanizing qualities ProBlogger and Divine Write give the blogging process. They haven’t created a workbook that is designed to completely revolutionize the blogging experience for you; rather, they’ve created a book that guides and nurtures the writing process.
That’s all OK. Good writing evolves. It’s a living, breathing animal, and you merely have a leash on it; you don’t have complete control. Forgive yourself when you jump around, and go with the flow.
You can pick up The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers for $29.97– and through November 30th, Darren has a special discount code, NOVEMBER25, that gives you 25% off your purchases. This is also available for the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog e-book ($19.95 regularly, $15 post-discount!). You can buy both e-books for under $40–consider it an investment in your career (and a tax write-off!).
Disclosure: the above “buy” links are affiliate links; 50% of any income earned goes to IFB, helping improve the site and provide upkeep costs. If you wish to purchase the workbooks without an affiliate link, please click here
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Fascinating! You always have scoop on the best blog improvement info!
♥ V
http://www.gritandglamour.com
twitter: @gritandglamour
Sounds great!! I did buy the 31 Days ebook (but really need to revisit it). This one sounds useful when it comes to the nitty-gritty og crafting blog posts. Will think seriously about this!
I need to be a lot better at revisiting and using BOTH on a regular basis. This one also has a nice electronic scorecard, where you can fill in Yes or No on each checkpoint….
I’m a fan of ProBlogger, but… really? “Bored of” is considered a grammatical error? IT CAN COEXIST WITH “BORED WITH,” AND EVERYONE SAYS IT. /linguistics student rant
Sorry. That being said, I love you, IFB, for being the resource this community needs.
LOL! To be honest, I’ve never heard anyone say “bored of” (everyone I know says “bored with”). That being said, I wonder if there is a difference in Australia vs. US vs UK usage in it?
Then again I’m from California. We also say “anyways” and “hella,” so maybe I should retract my previous statement.
Haha, a grammar discussion, I love it!
Great post by the way. I’m a total writing geek, so any tool that helps me improve my style is good with me!
haha, i ALWAYS say ‘bored of…’ it must be a california thing.
I live in the US (both coasts) and rarely ever people say “bored with”.
I’ve lived in the South, the Mid-West, and the East Coast…. funnily, I asked my students what they say, and they say both depending on what they’re referencing! It may have been a bad example to reference, but it really seems like it’s something turning out to be regionalism.
I JUST bought 31DBBB for the regular price! Oh well, it’s worth much more than that at any rate. I love Darren; he has helped me improve my blog so much. He has much integrity and a spirit of sharing and I owe him very much. I’ll definitely be investing in this ebook as well!
How many points off for using “where” instead of “were”? Is that “sic”?
Thanks for the contribution!
This sounds like a great return for investment…wonder if I’d have the patience to finish reading it and then apply all of it…
This is my biggest problem yet! I’m hoping in my week off during Thanksgiving to get through this a couple of times and make it part of my posting habit!
Hmm I will have to check it later. Usually these ebooks are hooked with affiliate links to buy it, but if the content is good then so be it.
I think I’ll have to check this one out. Looks like a worthy investment.
http://beautifuldayfashion.blogspot.com/
This is really great. I’m going to looking into purchasing that book.
Typo alert: Where (sic) you open and honest? Give yourself 3 points!
Thanks for the contribution!
This is definitely a major aid for all bloggers. I’ll have to buy this very soon. Thanks!
Sounds like a winner to me! Thank you IFB, you rock!
Grammar is half the battle. Great tips!
I’ve actually bought the the 31-days tasks ebook about 2 months ago. It’s really helpful and very informative. However, I am yet to execute the stuff I learned from there when my own domain is up and the new website is live. Getting your own domain and choosing and choosing a profitable niche is just the number one requirement in applying all the techniques.
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