Digital Marketing Strategies & SEO

14 top client getting content:

1- Your origin story
2- The problem you solve
3- Who you’re for
4- Who you’re not for
5- The mistakes buyers make
6- Your unique point of view
7- Your unique framework
8- Your client results
9- Typical customer objections
10- A live demo
11- A live demonstration of expertise
12- What working with you looks like
13- Why your approach is different
14- Your clear offer.

5 new ways to sell more with ThriveCart


Selling online can get complicated quickly.

One tool for your sales page. Another for checkout. A separate system for subscriptions. Then more tools for payments, customer access, and follow-up.

ThriveCart’s Fall 2026 release brings more of that experience together in one place.

The update includes five major improvements:

1. ThrivePages, a new visual editor for building checkout pages and complete sales funnels without coding.

2. Advanced Adaptive Pricing, which lets you show local currencies while choosing the exact price and offer for each market.

3. Subscription Bumps, which let you add recurring offers to your checkout alongside the main purchase.

4. Anchored Subscriptions, which let you choose one monthly billing date for new subscribers.

5. And Retention Offers, which give customers another option before they complete a cancellation.

New tools for building better pages, selling globally, growing recurring revenue, and keeping more customers.

The goal is simple: help you sell more without adding more moving parts to your business.

You can build your funnel, present the right offer, manage subscriptions, and improve the customer experience inside ThriveCart.

Sign up for a 30-day free trial

Quick Copywriting Tip

Read fiction to improve your writing and storytelling.

And hard-boiled is the best as - like copy - the writing's lean with the focus on driving the story forwards.

A great starting point is "Grifter's Game" by Lawrence Block.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT

Testing Effect

Remember the good old days of rereading notes all night, then still blanking in the exam?

Turns out rereading was the problem.

The Testing Effect says we remember things better when forced to recall them, not just review them. Retrieval strengthens memory.

Research by Roediger and Karpicke found students who tested themselves remembered much more a week later than students who simply restudied. It's why pub trivia sticks.

So, how do we get customers recalling instead of skimming?


Three ways to leverage Testing Effect

1) Make the product the quiz
Readwise sends you a daily email of your Kindle and article highlights. Nice, but passive.

Enter Mastery. A quick edit turns a highlight into a Q&A card or a fill-in-the-blank, with the key phrase hidden.

Cards come back on a spaced repetition schedule, so users retrieve ideas instead of rereading them.

The result: the product becomes the reason people remember their books. Hard to cancel something that's become your memory.

For marketers: swap passive tutorials for quick recall prompts. Ask new users to rebuild the workflow they just saw, not click "next."

2) Certify your customers
The HoneyBaked Ham Company once ran a Hammelier quiz. Customers answer questions about its hams. Pass, and you're crowned a "HoneyBaked Hammelier," certificate included.

Yes, a ham sommelier. But every answer forces shoppers to retrieve what makes the product special, and a ham you can describe is a ham you'll buy again.

It also collected leads from ham lovers who now hold a title to defend.

Your version: ecommerce brands can quiz buyers on care tips or ingredients. SaaS teams can certify power users on features, then badge them in-app.

3) Make ads ask, not tell
Brilliant's ads skip the feature lists. Many drop a logic puzzle on screen and challenge viewers to solve it.

Even its homepage gets you solving problems before asking for an email.

Each attempt is a tiny act of retrieval. Viewers aren't absorbing a pitch, they're working through one, which makes the brand far stickier than another "learn more" button.

Try it in your creative: ask a question your product answers, pause, then reveal.

Bonus: people who get it right feel smart. People who get it wrong want the answer. Either way, they watch.

Credits: Stacked Marketer®

AI Marketing Skills that look great on the timeline:

- AI agents running your SEO
- ranking in ChatGPT with AEO
- 500 ad creatives a day
- AI UGC avatars that never sleep
- agents managing your ad accounts
- 10,000 cold emails a day
- AI SDRs booking calls at 3am
- one video repurposed into 47 posts
- second brain that knows everything about your business
- your AI workspace setup with 14 panes open
- 9 agents running in parallel
- skills for every task
- landing pages vibe coded in 5 minutes

Marketing skills that look great in your bank account:

- knowing what people want better than they do
- an offer that’s a painkiller, not a vitamin
- positioning around a winning angle
- reading how sophisticated your market is
- funnels built on real persuasion
- taste in copy that makes people act
- tenacity & iterating until it scales

tactics get commoditized. taste compounds.

Finally, I was able to get accurate lead value reporting from Infusionsoft

Only... I couldn't do it from within [CRM]. :/

I signed up for SegMetrics -- and reporting system for marketers that gives you 100% clarity on where all your leads come from, what products they buy, and how much my marketing is really worth.

I wish I had this when I started building my lead gen funnels. It’s easy to bet on the winners when you know exactly who they are.

Try Segmetrics here

13 must-read books for the direct response marketer.

1. The Ultimate Marketing Plan by Dan Kennedy
2. The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib
3. Watertight Marketing by Bryony Thomas
4. Traction by Gabriel Weinberg & Justin Mares
5. 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall
6. $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi
7. How to Create a Million Dollar Unique Selling Proposition by Bill Bodri
8. How To Make Maximum Money With Minimum Customers by Craig Garber
9. The Sticking Point Solution by Jay Abraham
10. Primalbranding by Patrick Hanlon
11. Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
12. RFM and Beyond by Donald Libey & Christopher Pickering
13. Drilling Down by Jim Novo

Avoid These 3 Common Copywriting Mistakes

Last week I reviewed the work of several newer copywriters.

And I saw the same 3 mistakes crop up again and again.

So let’s see how you can avoid them:

1) Confusing Writing

I had to reread some sentences multiple times to work out what they meant.

Your prospects won’t bother.

So make sure each sentence is as easy to read as possible.

And logically follows from the sentence before it.

Remember:

Clarity is rule number one for persuasive writing.

2) Generic Copy

A lot of the copy was too vague and too generic.

To quote the legendary Claude Hopkins:

“Generalities roll off the human understanding like water off a duck's back.”

So you need to give specific details and use concrete nouns and verbs.

As the more specific your copy, the more real it becomes.

And the more real it becomes, the more believable it is.

3) Foreign Language

Over and over again I found myself asking:

“Is that how your prospects would say it?”

Too much copy reads like it’s written by marketers for marketers.

So you need to research your audience’s language.

Then use the same words and phrases in your copy that they would.

And those are 3 common mistakes you want to avoid in your copy.

You don’t need to think about them too much when you’re writing.

But do keep them in mind when you edit.

50 Proven Content Hooks that's grab attention instantly

Use these hooks, adapt them to your niche, and make sure the content delivers on the promise.

1. Nobody tells you this about [topic]…
2. I wish I knew this before I started [thing].
3. Stop doing [common mistake]. Do this instead.
4. If I had to start [goal] from zero today, I’d do this.
5. You’re probably doing [thing] wrong.
6. Here’s the easiest way to [desired result].
7. I tested [thing] so you don’t have to.
8. This completely changed how I [task].
9. Before you [action], watch this.
10. The biggest mistake beginners make with [topic].
11. 3 things I would never do again as a [role].
12. Here’s what nobody explains about [topic].
13. You don’t need [common belief] to [desired result].
14. If you’re struggling with [problem], try this.
15. I wasted [time/money] before learning this.
16. The fastest way I know to [result].
17. Everyone tells you to [common advice]. I disagree.
18. This is why your [content/business/result] isn’t growing.
19. I tried [method] for 30 days. Here’s what happened.
20. 5 things I’d do differently if I started again.
21. Most people overcomplicate [topic].
22. Here’s the part of [topic] nobody warns you about.
23. Want to [result]? Start here.
24. This one change made [task] dramatically easier.
25. You’re one simple system away from [result].
26. Don’t buy [thing] until you know this.
27. I found a better way to [task].
28. If you only remember one thing about [topic], remember this.
29. The truth about [popular belief] is surprisingly simple.
30. Here’s exactly what I’d do with only [small resource].
31. I almost ignored this — big mistake.
32. The reason you can’t [goal] probably isn’t what you think.
33. Here’s a shortcut that actually makes sense.
34. This took me years to understand. I’ll explain it in 30 seconds.
35. If you’re a [specific audience], you need to see this.
36. Try this before giving up on [goal].
37. The boring way to [result] works better than the flashy way.
38. What happens when you stop [common behavior]?
39. I changed ONE thing — and everything improved.
40. You can steal this exact [strategy/system/template].
41. Here are 5 signs you’re doing [thing] wrong.
42. Almost everyone skips this step.
43. I didn’t believe this until I tested it myself.
44. The smartest people I know do this differently.
45. Do this for 7 days and watch what happens.
46. This sounds wrong… until you understand why it works.
47. If your [result] has stalled, check this first.
48. Here’s the simple version of [complicated topic].
49. What I would do today if I needed to [goal] fast.
50. Save this before you need it.

Are you struggling with content creation? Frase is a new AI tool that helps you research what your competitors are writing about without needing to spend 3 hours clicking around Google. Then you can use their AI Writing Assistant to generate new, creative content at the click of a button and even optimize it to rank well on search engines.

Frase is already the world’s most advanced and top ranked AI tool for creating optimized content.

Use the power of AI technology to create high quality content that ranks well in search results.

I cannot recommend it highly enough.

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Try Frase's Free Tools here

Copywriting in a nutshell:

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Quick Email Tip

15 email ideas:

• Story
• Survey
• Testimonial
• "How to" tip
• Historic event
• Current events
• Get controversial
• Slay sacred cows
• Mistakes to avoid
• Call out an enemy
• Behind the scenes
• Handle an objection
• Lesson from TV/movie
• Prove your offer works
• Answer subscriber questions

Tips on how to test your Google Ads campaigns

You can’t get enough of good-hearted Google Ads advice.

Well, Michelle Morgan published 21, sorted by what's broken in your account and we pulled the five that earned a slot in your testing queue.

1) Impression share lies. Absolute top of page tells the truth: In Auction Insights, hit Segment, hover Time, pick week or month.

Rising impression share across you and your competitors means nothing because everyone's spending more. Falling absolute top of page rate while costs climb means you're being outbid.

2) Write ad copy that repels people: High CTR with no conversions usually means your copy sounds like it's for everyone.

"Every Day Gold Watches" gets clicks from people who will never buy a Rolex. "Luxury Gold Watches" filters them out and sets expectations for whoever clicks anyway.

Our take; Deliberately tanking CTR to fix CVR feels wrong and works anyway. And it’s not just for Google Ads.

3) Optimized targeting is Google's most expensive checkbox: It sits at the ad group level and lets Google wander past your targeting whenever it fancies.

Michelle has yet to find an account where it beats the targeting already in place.

It’s also another tip that applies across most platforms, where “optimized reach” and similar features actually hurt results.

4) Budgets don't like surprises: Dumping budget into a Target ROAS or Target CPA campaign tanks it. Cap increases at 20% a day and lets the algorithm breathe.

On maximize-style strategies, don't wait for the "limited by budget" alert because it lags. Add the daily average cost column and check the last seven days yourself.

5) Go fix your AI Brief, because you probably use one: It's new enough that most accounts haven't seen it yet, but it shapes which queries you match, which audiences you reach, and what your ads say.

The Crew’s take: Vague input, vague output. Write it properly before it writes your campaigns.

How to actually test any of this? Set the goal before you start, or you won't know if you won. Two weeks is the realistic minimum.

Three months is where results stop moving, and if you're nowhere near significance by then, call it anyway. One or two variables, max.

Core content types:

- Insights
- Opinions
- Inspiration
- Resources
- Useful listicles
- How to/I guides
- Quick tips/tricks
- Soft sales pitches
- Emotional listicles
- Recommended tools
- Personal experiences

When in doubt, use one of those.

Best content for getting sales:

(Not for getting followers):

- Testimonials
- Case studies
- Bold opinions
- Deep insights
- Differentiation
- In-depth guides
- Soft sales pitches

If you want to sell more, use them.

94 places to launch your startup:

1. Product Hunt (DR 91)
2. TrustMRR (DR 71)
3. Indie Hackers (DR 81)
4. Hacker News (DR 91)
5. BetaList (DR 76)
6. AlternativeTo (DR 80)
7. OpenAlternative (DR 52)
8. Tiny Startups (DR 71)
9. Uneed (DR 75)
10. SideProjectors (DR 71)
11. SourceForge (DR 92)
12. SaaSHub (DR 80)
13. Fazier (DR 83)
14. Peerlist (DR 77)
15. Scroll Launch (DR 70)
16. Dev Hunt (DR 63)
17. Launching Next (DR 54)
18. StartupBase (DR 73)
19. Show Me Best AI (DR 76)
20. EarlyHunt (DR 63)
21. Startup Fame (DR 83)
22. Aura++ (DR 73)
23. SEO Wins (DR 32)
24. Startup Ranking (DR 61)
25. PitchWall (DR 69)
26. Startup Stash (DR 65)
27. Tiny Launch (DR 73)
28. Startup Buffer (DR 43)
29. Smol Launch (DR 74)
30. LaunchIgniter (DR 74)
31. OpenHunts (DR 71)
32. Toolfolio (DR 35)
33. Open Launch (DR 72)
34. AI Tools (DR 67)
35. GetApp (DR 85)
36. TinyHunt (DR 43)
37. Software Suggest (DR 77)
38. MagicBox (DR 68)
39. There's an AI for That (DR 77)
40. Altern (DR 49)
41. Resource FYI (DR 31)
42. SaaS Genius (DR 57)
43. PeerPush (DR 75)
44. Clutch (DR 91)
45. Future Tools (DR 69)
46. Futurepedia (DR 72)
47. Toolify (DR 73)
48. AI Valley (DR 33)
49. AI Tools Club (DR 35)
50. Startup Fast (DR 72)
51. AI Parabellum (DR 34)
52. MakerHunt (DR 45)
53. AIxploria (DR 56)
54. Dev Resources (DR 40)
55. SideHunt (DR 44)
56. AI Tool Directory (DR 52)
57. Top AI Tools (DR 64)
58. Microlaunch (DR 64)
59. Findly Tools (DR 81)
60. Dang AI (DR 82)
61. Turbo0 (DR 80)
62. Versily (DR 68)
63. Twelve Tools (DR 82)
64. NxGn Tools (DR 69)
65. Software World (DR 73)
66. FoundrList (DR 72)
67. Neeed Directory (DR 73)
68. Tool Pilot (DR 78)
69. UNO Directory (DR 66)
70. Huzzler (DR 64)
71. Firsto (DR 56)
72. Daily Pings (DR 56)
73. Micro SaaS Examples (DR 49)
74. Indie Hunt (DR 63)
75. Build Voyage (DR 43)
76. Product Burst (DR 40)
77. Try Launch (DR 56)
78. Find Your SaaS (DR 44)
79. SaaS Hunt (DR 60)
80. Startup Listing (DR 40)
81. Promote Project (DR 50)
82. Idea Kiln (DR 51)
83. IndieHub (DR 40)
84. Euro Alternative (DR 38)
85. Open Tools (DR 69)
86. StartupBlink (DR 72)
87. Appscribed (DR 41)
88. SEOFAI (DR 19)
89. Powerusers AI (DR 33)
90. AI for Developers (DR 21)
91. ShipBoost (DR 50)
92. Launch Vault (DR 56)
93. ToolFame (DR 75)
94. Public APIs (DR 46)

Europe’s Biggest Multi-Vertical Affiliate Summit


Affiliate Grand Slam (AGS) lands at Fiera di Roma in Rome from November 2–5, 2026, taking over Hall 2 with 250+ exhibitors and 5,000+ delegates. Built for deal-making at scale, AGS runs a strict affiliate verification process to keep the room brand-safe and commercially serious. Even better, one ticket unlocks three co-located events — AGS, SiGMA and AIBC — putting a combined 30,000 delegates across affiliate, iGaming, and blockchain within reach for cross-industry partnerships.

What’s on the table:

Verticals in focus: eCommerce, financial services, performance marketing, and nutraceuticals — the mainstream, scalable niches that attract a deep pool of advertisers.

INSTAGRAM: Reels now absorbs 51% of US time spent on the app and over half its ad placements, per Sensor Tower, while ads per session rose 8% year over year. Downloads fell 5%. Growth is coming from depth, not new users, so vertical video is where your budget should go by default.

REDDIT: Vertical era is coming. Reddit is testing TikTok-style video and audio playback for viral posts. This means short-form vertical content is essential, even on a text-first platform. Or, what was once one. Think about how your written wins could become watchable ones.

1. Your “Position 1” Ranking Is Lying to Your Clients

Ads, AI Overviews, shopping carousels and People Also Ask now sit above the first organic result, so tracking impressions, CTR and conversions matters more than celebrating a rank you technically own.

2. Reddit’s CEO Just Told Investors Your Reviews Are Its New Goldmine

Steve Huffman wants to unlock years of buried evergreen threads and stack shopping ads on search, meaning “best of” reviews and recommendations are about to become Reddit’s paid battleground.

3. YouTube Just Handed UK Creators a New Way to Cash In

The Shopping affiliate program is now open to eligible UK Partner Program creators with 500+ subscribers, letting them tag and earn commissions on products from retailers like M&S, Boots, Currys and Etsy.

Your overperforming Google campaigns get reined in on August 17

If a budget-capped campaign has been beating its CPA or ROAS target, enjoy it while it lasts.
Starting August 17, Google Ads will pull budget-limited campaigns into line with whatever target you've set, the same logic unconstrained campaigns already run on.

Your target is what actually controls performance now, your budget just decides how much runs through it. Campaigns that have been overdelivering are about to get worse unless you raise the target to match what you've actually been getting.
Pull every budget-limited campaign, check the gap between set target and actual performance, and decide whether to close it or move the target to match your real goals.

Your Ad Isn't Broken. One of These Five Components Are…


Most brands diagnose creative failure wrong. They kill the ad when they should be reading the data.

Every high-performing ad is built on five components: the hook that stops the scroll, the value prop that makes the promise, the visual execution that earns attention, the proof that builds belief, and the offer that closes.

When one breaks, the metrics tell you exactly where.

High CPM, low CTR - hook is broken.

High CTR, low CVR - value prop isn't landing.

CVR drops at the bottom - proof isn't closing.

The creative isn't the problem. The diagnostic process is.

Common SaaS Niches Producing Million-Dollar Founders

Many $1M+/month SaaS businesses are in:

AI tools
CRM software
Email marketing
Web hosting
Automation
Analytics
Payments
No-code tools
SEO software
Affiliate marketing software
Creator economy tools

The Bystander Effect

Someone collapses on a busy street. Twenty people walk past.

Everyone assumes someone else will help.

That's the Bystander Effect: the more witnesses present, the less likely any single person acts.

Researchers Latané and Darley coined it after the 1964 Kitty Genovese case, where bystanders allegedly ignored a crime.

Their experiments showed something uncomfortable. When responsibility spreads across a crowd, it dissolves. Everyone waits for someone else to move first.

Science calls this "diffusion of responsibility." Bigger crowd, smaller personal obligation.

For marketers, this is gold and landmine both. Your audience is a crowd, and crowds freeze.

The fix is making one person feel personally responsible, personally the one who must act now.

Three ways to leverage the Bystander Effect

1) Speak to one person, not the crowd
Mass messaging triggers mass inaction. "Attention everyone" reads as "attention no one."

Charity: Water built its model around this.

Instead of "help millions," they show you one named person, one village, one specific well your donation funds.

They send GPS coordinates and photos of the exact project you funded. Suddenly you're not one donor among thousand, but the person responsible for that well existing.

Copy this. Replace "our customers" with "you." Make the reader feel watched, chosen, and on the hook.

2) Use scarcity to break the freeze
Crowds wait because waiting feels safe. Remove that safety.

Amazon mastered this, but most brands can follow. Just using a blunt "Only 3 left in stock — order soon" alerts on product pages can add that sense of urgency.

The message acknowledges the crowd exists, then warns the crowd is about to cost you.

Suddenly other bystanders aren't your excuse. They're your competition.

The reader thinks "someone else will take this from me."

Researchers report "Only X left" messages can lift sales by triple digits, one of the biggest swings any on-page message delivers. We’ve written about it in the Scarcity Effect.

What you can do: deploy stock counters, but keep them honest. Fake urgency erodes trust fast.

3) Call people out in public
Anonymous crowds freeze. Named, watched individuals move.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge turned this into a machine. Each participant didn't ask "someone" to donate.

They tapped three specific people, on camera, in front of everyone, with a 24-hour clock.

Once you're publicly named, diffusion collapses. The crowd isn't your cover anymore, it's your audience.

That mechanic raised roughly $115 million for the ALS Association in weeks, dwarfing its usual annual haul.

Steal the structure, not the ice. Public leaderboards, "tag who's next" prompts, and visible referral streaks all work.

Make the individual's action, or inaction, visible to peers. When the crowd becomes the audience instead of the excuse, people act.

AI MARKETING: Turns out AI chatbots on your website can benefit or tank your sales depending on what you’re selling. According to new data, a bot would just cause friction if you’re selling simple products and shoppers demonstrated lower shopping intent in that case. Hm.

Here are 7 tips from the legendary copywriter

1. Learn Who You're Writing For

“The consumer isn't a moron. She is your wife."

Your copy should touch on:

-Who you’re writing for
-How that person thinks
-What that person needs

Let research shape your copy

Let your voice fuel it.

2. Know The Product

“Big ideas come from the unconscious...But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant.”

Learn every detail about the product/industry/audience before you write.

This will help unleash your unconscious mind and fuel good ideas.

3. Obsess Over The Headlines

“On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”

Headlines help pique the consumer's interest to read the copy.

4. Get Specific To Persuade

"The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be."

Most people won't make decisions without being informed…

The informed, act.

The specifics will give consumers the confidence that acting is the right choice.
5. Write For One

Your ads may reach millions of people, but each person is alone with your words.

Don't write for the masses.

Write for that one person.

Ogilvy would pretend he was writing personal letters to the consumer.

6. Write Conversational Copy

Good copy feels like a conversation.

Don’t be the copywriter who writes useless jargon to sound top-notch.

Consumers can smell the BS.

Write like you talk.

Use a relaxed tone.

This will result in easy reading and an engaged reader.

7. Keep It Simple

Good copy comes down to conveying your points briefly and with as few words as possible.

The key is saying more with less.

What’s the best platform to sell digital products?

1. Woocommerce
2. Member Press
3. BigCommerce
4. FilterGrade
5. Skillshare
6. SendOwl
7. Sebuda
8. Shopify
9. Sellfy
10. Gumroad
11. AppSumo
12. Gumroad
13. VendBits
14. Magento
15. Etsy
16. Udemy
17. Envato
18. Podia
19. PayHip
20. Thinkific
21. Teachable
22. TemplateMonster

The 5-step process to get better at what you do:

1. Practice
2. Research
3. Receive Feedback
4. Self-Reflect
5. Implement Change

Do this and you'll be a rockstar at your craft.