Now back to the subject at hand – content marketing. Many of our new Better Content Marketing students have started Lesson 3: The Contentrix Guide to Style. I love this lesson because it really shows you how formatting your content can increase your reader retention and get them to better notice your call-to-action.

If you haven’t signed up for the course yet, you can do so for free here.

Here’s what else is new…

Content Marketing Preview  and Stretching Your Content

This month’s Content Marketing Preview video includes some great advice and encouragement to get more out of your content. I’ve been making a conscious effort to get my content way out there and I can tell you it makes a big difference.

Watch this month’s takeaway and get an update on what’s happening around here in February. You can see it here.

Marketing Sins of the Year

Derek posted 5 Marketing Tactics to Avoid in 2012 and it’s a must read. It’s a very solid perspective on the social nature of today’s web. No, he’s not suggesting you spend on all day posting cute kitty photos on Facebook, but shows you how to redirect your attention to more meaningful things that increase your business as well.

Kindle Ebook Formatting and Template

Last week, Alice posted a getting started with Kindle tutorial and has followed up with a promised post on Kindle formatting. After trying to reformat my existing ebooks into Kindle format, it really can be a pain in the rear end. Luckily, Alice posted a template that might come in handy too.

See the quick guide and template here.

Lesli’s Picks of the Week

Moving outside our little content marketing circle, here are some other things you might want to check out.

Creating Video Content? Lynn Terry Gives You The Rundown

Over at Clicknewz, Lynn Terry demonstrates some of the hardware and software she uses for video editing. It’s very informative and a great discussion is going on in the comments area, so check it out.

Running Ragged? Doing Almost Nothing Might Be the Solution

I really liked this post from Ali Brown. It’s called “The Most Important Time of the Day for Entrepreneurs” and it really makes sense. Sometimes when you feel like you’re drowning in overwhelm, it’s the simplest and best solution of all.

And a Thought from Twitter

This is Kelly McCausey’s response to this article on solopreneurship. I tend to agree to her because there are more ways to build a solo business than simply serving clients or customers one-by-one. In fact, Contentrix is totally built on helping you do that.

Oh and perish the thought that you have to do all the work yourself. No, you don’t need employees, but never approach business like you’re some lonely little island or you’ll be stuck on that island forever.

And speaking of not doing things all by your lonesome, here are your…

Ready, Made-for-You Content Updates

Stop working so hard on putting the content details together. Concentrate on monetizing and distributing it instead. Here is some new PLR content for you this week.

• Email Marketing: 100 tips, autoresponder comparison and slide shows.
• Autoresponse Plus Illustrated Tutorials: illustrated guides to using this powerful software
• Fast Cash Mega Bundle – includes articles, and autoresponder series and a report
• Mom’s Guide to Depression – ebooks, graphics and articles
• Alternative Car Care PLR – 10 articles

Or if you need original content, created just for your own use, visit visit Alice and Annette. They’ll take good care of you.

New 100 Topic Ideas List – Work at Home Moms (WAHM)

If you want to create your own content, but just need some topic ideas, our Content Accelerators can help you with this.

We’ve got 100 topic ideas in a growing number of niches. By reader demand, this week’s content accelerator is for WAHM topics, but we’ve got plenty of others to choose from.

Phew! That was a mouthful and now it’s your turn to do something, so go publish and prosper!

Click play above to learn more and here’s something I didn’t mention…

More Topics Coming in February:

• Get WordPress to load faster
• Hot news vs. evergreen content
• Doing your homework when it comes to content
• Gathering and using testimonials
• Gathering and publishing case studies.
• Technology to make content creation easier
• Self-editing your content

…and a bunch more great stuff. Looking forward to a great month!

By the way, if you haven’t signed up for the free 19-week Better Content Marketing course, do it. Alice’s weekly lessons will whip you into shape and keep you moving forward.

Now, let’s check out everything that’s new around here and in the world of content marketing…

Getting More Personal with Your Readers

Starting out with a bang with this great post by Derek, he provides some excellent advice for creating a more personal connection with your readers. Learn 3 ways to do it right here.

Make Email Marketing Way Easier

Don’t let your email marketing go stale and forgotten. Try these 5 steps Alice wrote about making your email marketing easier and more effective.

I can attest to the fact that keeping things simple is not only easier, but it gets you much better results. So do what she says, okay?

Getting Started with Kindle

Over at the DIY plr blog, Alice posted a primer for publishing on Kindle. With over1 million ebooks available and millions of devices sold, it’s definitely worth a dabble.

Lesli’s Picks of the Week

Looking for more good content to help with your content marketing? Here are my picks for the week.

Get Accountability for Your Writing

Alice shared this interesting opportunity for accountability on Patti Stafford’s blog. It’s called Wednesday Writing Sprints. You can read last week’s here and sign up for updates to get in on the next one. The idea is to dedicate yourself to writing and sign in to update your progress.

Facebook Page Heat Maps

Mashable posted a pretty cool slide show, showing where people focus when they visit Facebook Pages. There’s some good intelligence for your own profile photo, content and more. Check it out here.

And a Thought from Twitter

Now, let’s get to writing, shall we? Here are some tools for you…

New 100 Topic Ideas for Your Niche

Our Content Accelerators have really heating things up and making content creation a lot easier for our readers. Each one includes 100 topics for your niche and we just added some content templates for you as well. The newest topic is YouTube, but you can see the full list here.

Now, if you’d rather have someone else take care of the content for you, try these…

Ready, Made-for-For Your Content Updates

Grab whatever you need. Just brand, monetize and add a little bit of you. Most of the work is done for you.

New PLR this week:

• 366 Social Media Tips
• Job Search Online
• Savings Ending Soon: 15 Marketing Reports, 15 Health Reports, 15 Family Reports, 15 Finance Reports, 15 Green-Living Reports

If you have specific original topics you’d like written, visit Alice and Annette at All Custom Content. They’ll take great care of you.

That’s it for me for this week. Now go publish and prosper!

I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I last posted, but it’s great to be back. A lot has happened over the past month and just the last week has been particularly eventful.

Since I’d be writing forever if I updated you on what’s happened since December, let’s take a look at the last week because there has been some pretty darned exciting news.

Here’s what’s new…

The 19-Week Better Content Marketing Course is Now Free

If you need a leg up this year in learning how to get all your content published and to get the results you were hoping for, this is definitely something of interest to you. Registration for the Contentrix Better Content Marketing Course is now free. Sign up and get access to your first lesson right away and get feedback every single step of the way.

Using All The Content You Create and Have Created  for You

It’s a common theme. We get excited about a project and we hire someone to write a bunch of content and then we get too busy to publish it. In other instances, we buy up some PLR because we think it will come in handy and then we forget about it. If that sounds familiar, here’s what to do about it.

How to “How to”

Derek wrote some great tips on creating awesome how to content. He has some great out-of-the-box ideas, so check it out.

Lesli’s Picks of the Week

Moving outside of the Contentrix world, here are some great reads for you this week.

Avoid These Clients

Alice told me about this great post by Carla Young and if you work with clients for a living, you’re going to appreciate this. Even though it seems like common sense, it’s funny (err — frustrating) how we find ourselves finding ourselves working with one of these 7 disaster clients. Read it and get yourself right with our client list.

Getting Organized for 2012 – Really

If you’re looking for some great organization tools to get things together for 2012, Rae Hoffman-Dolan may have some ideas for you. I actually use #2, 4 and 6  — really great stuff. Check out her 9 Best Online Organizational Tools list here.

For the Ladies – Success Information Series and Webinar

Over at Solo Masterminds (a project Alice helped co-create, then under the name Mom Masterminds), Kelly and the gang are holding an information series with plenty of tips, ACTUAL success stories and they’re capping it off with a great webinar on January. Mom Masterminds and Solo Masterminds have been responsible for a lot online success stories and this should definitely be worth it. Get more details here.

Now that you’re full up on information and hopefully some plans you can put into action, how about some…

Ready, Made-for-For Your Content Updates

There’s no needs slave away all day, here’s some ready-made content for you. As Alice says, brand, monetize and publish.

• 15 Marketing Reports for $37
• 15 Health Reports for $27
• 15 Family Reports for $27
• Content Monetization Mega Bundle
• Free Veggie Challenge Chart (zip)
• Super Bowl Recipes with Photos
• Beginner’s Guide to a Low Carb Lifestyle
• Self-Publishing on Kindle

We’ll have plenty more for you next week. For now, go publish and prosper!

As we announced yesterday, our 19-week hands-on Better Content Marketing course is now FREE for registration. I am super excited to greet new and old students, so it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get really serious.

If you need to register, the details are right here.

Just fill in the form and you’ll get access to your first lesson. We cover everything from coming up with content ideas, writing  easy-reading content and getting more RESULTS (sales, subscribers, etc.) from all that hard work.

If you have previously registered, just log into your account to access the course again. We’d loved to hear from you again and  answer ANY questions you have about any of the lessons.

This is not just a bunch of dull reading to work through. There are practical exercises and we are here to help you every step of the way, so I’m sure you’ll find it refreshing and motivating.

Once again, register here and let’s get started!