Welcome to the latest issue of The Rainmaker Dispatch!
We’re changing things up a bit in this issue, bringing in a new format that we hope you’ll like. From here on out, we’re going to focus the Dispatch on a content production strategy that we advise many of our clients to engage in … content curation.
Once a month, we’ll find the seven best, most interesting, and/or most useful links to content around the web, the stuff that will help you move your business and professional life forward.
If we do our job right, The Rainmaker Dispatch is going to be a short and sweet hit of inspiration and education that you’ll genuinely look forward to each month … plus important updates about the Rainmaker Platform (hello Rainmaker 2.18!).
So let’s get on with it. Here’s to hoping your summer is fantastic, and if you’ve got a great link you’d like to see featured in a future issue of The Dispatch, let us know!
Rainmaker Platform 2.18 Release: A Focus on Forms
We’ve focused Rainmaker Platform 2.18 on the improvement of Forms, a feature that just about every site relies on. In our ongoing effort to thwart spam bots, this also includes an enhancement we’re excited about: adding anti-spam features to the checkout form. And we’ve thrown in another enhancement or two and numerous bug fixes. Click that headline link above for a quick update on all the latest improvements and bug fixes.
10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer
Late on a Friday night just over six years ago, Brian Clark was staring at the blinking cursor on the screen of his laptop. No words were arriving and he had a publication deadline for the next morning on Copyblogger.com. The blog post he wrote over the ten minutes that followed remains one of the most trafficked and shared pieces of content on the site.
Goodbye Advertising, Hello Jarvis
You’ve probably heard, the robots are coming. We’re not talking Terminator-level stuff yet, but there’s no doubt that algorithms, software, artifical intelligence, and other forms of non-organic “life” are already changing the world. Are you ready? Is your business ready?
Where to Place Your Calls to Action
You know that old, unquestioned advice that you must place your important calls to action on your website above “the fold”? Well … think again. Mr. Tennant publishes a couple of tests that may reveal otherwise. More accurately, they reveal that you need to Always Be Testing.
The Profound Power of “One a Day”
How do you eat an elephant? In a world where “swinging for the fences” is considered good advice and praiseworthy, are you neglecting the seemingly mundane daily tasks that can — over the span of a career — produce exponential results? Accomplish at least one smart, simple, strategic content marketing act every day (Mr. Godin even provides a suggested list). Tortoise, indeed.
The Science of Procrastination
Is this chronic “putting off” that so many of us have mastered a character flaw? In some cases, it must be. At some point, we’ve got to just get over ourselves and get on with the job we’re responsible for. But there’s also something more subtle going on here … and it seems that there’s a science to it. What do you really want? When do you want it?
Ernest Hemingway’s Only Known Sales Letter
This legendary photo points to a beer ad featuring Ernest Hemingway sitting comfortably in an adirondack chair, reading a book. An ad for which Papa wrote up a little sales letter. What more could you want? Also: note the hilarious positioning of For Whom the Bell Tolls in the background.
Thanks for reading the Dispatch, see you next month!
Best regards,
Cody Haney
Director of Support
Rainmaker Digital Services