I help small companies and freelancers grow their business online.

My Newsletter, Books & Programs About Writing For The Web

  • Get this 35-page Web-Writing Guide FREE when you sign up for Nick Usborne’s Excess Voice Newsletter.

    Get your copy of Writing For The Web #1 -- Plus, in each issue of my weekly newsletter, you’ll receive my latest post and news of my products and services. Sign up NOW and I'll send you the link where you can download this 35-page guide. (You'll be free to unsubscribe at any time.)

  • Affirmations for Freelancers - and anyone else who works alone.

    positive affirmations for freelancers

    39 Affirmations to help build your confidence, dissolve self-doubt, and grow your business.

    As freelancers we spend much of our time alone. This means we are alone with our thoughts – for better or for worse. The trouble is, we often get overwhelmed by negative thoughts and feelings. We don’t feel good enough, or ready enough, or valuable enough. My book, Affirmations for Freelancers, helps you change that balance, and tip your life towards confidence, optimism and positivity.

    Learn more about Affirmations for Freelancers...

  • Popcorn Content – The craft of writing short-form content for social media.

    popcorn content how to write social media content

    Now available both as a Kindle Single AND a PDF Download.

    Writing for social media is a whole new craft. Social media streams move quickly, so you have to hook your readers fast. But you also need to listen attentively…all of the time. And you have to engage with people. This, my latest book, teaches you how to write this critically important type of content. Popcorn Content is available as a Kindle Single or as a regular PDF Download.

    Learn more about Popcorn Content...

  • How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites.

    write money making websites

    If you have a hobby or interest, and would like to write a website about it, now you can do just that -- and make a healthy second income at the same time.

    This is the complete "how-to" package.

    You get complete instructions, including lists of the tools and services you might want to use to make sure your website attracts plenty of visitors and generates a healthy income.

    Learn How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites...

  • Copywriting 2.0 - Your Complete Guide to Writing Web Copy that Converts.

    online copywriting course This course is about 300 pages in length - plus videos and a Workbook - and is designed to teach you the best practices in every major aspect of writing for the web.

    After taking the course you'll have the expertise required to write any kind of web page – whether it be a homepage, sales page, landing page, information page, subscription page, catalog page...and so on.

    Learn more about Copywriting 2.0...

  • New e-Book - 101 Web Content Ideas, Tips and Resources

    This 152-page downloadable book is focused on writing quality web content.These ideas, tips and resources will help inspire you to create a wider variety of quality pages...all them designed to rank well with the search engines, delight your readers, and get shared enthusiastically through social media.

    In the post-Panda world of web content, new rules apply. And this book will give you a head start on learning those new rules.

    101 Web Content Ideas, Tips and Resources

  • Writing Kick-Ass Website Sales Copy


    		 This is a 45-page downloadable guide and is focused just on writing web pages that are intended to sell.

    In other words, if you want to focus on sales pages and landing pages, this guide will take you through every step in the process.

    Writing a sales page online is not the same as writing a print ad or a sales letter. Some of the skills are similar, while others are very different.

    Writing Kick-Ass Sales Copy...

Mental toughness for freelancers.

Published on April 25, 2013 by

mental toughness for freelancersAbout fifteen years ago, when my youngest son was still playing baseball, we were gathered around before a game, listening to the coach’s pre-game pep talk.

The opposing team came from a low-income part of the city. Our team’s coach warned our players not to be fooled by the fact that the other guys didn’t have nice uniforms or fancy equipment. If I remember correctly, he told our team, “If they beat you, it will be because they have greater mental toughness.”

I don’t even remember who won that game. And I think it was a generalization to suggest that all kids from low-income families necessarily have more mental toughness than kids from middle-class families.

But his point was a good one, and I tucked it away in the library of my mind. Because mental toughness matters.

In fact, I think mental toughness is a freelancer’s best friend.

Continue reading...

Monday Spark: Share your gift and prosper.

Published on April 22, 2013 by

the gift of copywritingA while back I wrote a post about how copywriters are the rock stars of online business.

Put simply, ecommerce is driven by words. Without good copywriting, there are no sales.

If you have talent as an online copywriter or content writer, you are fortunate. These skills are a true gift.

Now let’s look at two very different ways in which you can use that gift.

First, you can focus on making as much money as possible. You know you have a skill companies need, and you can look for ways to maximize your fees and revenues. When you have something of great value, you can sell it at a premium price.

You trade your gift for cash.

But there is another way of looking at this, taking the meaning of the word “gift” a little more literally.

Look at your gift as something to be shared and passed on.

Continue reading...

My secret resource as an online copywriter – social media.

Published on April 18, 2013 by

social media copywritingOn the face of it, this may sound counter-intuitive.

Why would an online copywriter be interested in social media? These two areas of expertise and interest seem worlds apart.

There is a very simple reason.

Smart copywriters focus on the wants and needs of their readers. Smart copywriters try to see the world through the eyes of their prospects and customers. Smart copywriters walk a mile in the shoes of their prospects and customers before they type the first word.

Back in the days before the web we did this mainly through focus groups.

Continue reading...

Monday Spark: Why taking on a CHALLENGE may be more powerful than setting a GOAL.

Published on April 15, 2013 by

goals and challengesIn many ways challenges and goals are similar.

Both are about achieving something important at some point in the future. Both can give us a sense of purpose and direction in our lives, and in our work. Both set the bar a little higher and drive us to perform at our best.

But I think there is an important difference in how we perceive challenges and goals.

First, let’s look at goals.

A goal often takes the form of a written description, with a deadline. “I will publish my first ebook by the end of this year.”

There is nothing wrong with setting a goal like that. Apply a little self-discipline, set a schedule and you’ll get that ebook written and published.

Continue reading...

Integrated social media: The next opportunity for online writers and copywriters.

Published on April 11, 2013 by

social media integrationSocial media marketing is, thankfully, coming out of its trendy phase and moving into its business phase.

For those of us who have been online for a while, the trendiness of social media has been somewhat irritating. The web was social before the web even existed. In other words, the Internet was social before the first web browsers appeared. Back then we connected with one another through Listservs and the like. It was 100% social.

Services like MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook didn’t invent social media. They simply made it more popular and improved its functionality.

Continue reading...

Monday Spark: In fact, you CAN do it yourself.

Published on April 8, 2013 by

learned helplessnessWe just returned from a resort vacation in Jamaica.

Only for a week, but we had a great time.

The resort was divided by a fairly busy road, and the lady in the photo was one of a team who used their stop signs to help visitors get safely from one side of the resort to the other.

The process was fun to watch, because drivers clearly considered stopping to be optional.

Anyway, after a few days I walked to the side of the road, and found that the ladies with their stop signs weren’t there.

Just for a moment I wondered how on earth I was going to cross the road without them.

Continue reading...

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