A few years ago, something happened that provided incontrovertible proof of the importance of an infallible rule in copywriting. I knew it all along but never saw it proven to me in such a personal and direct way.

What am I talking about?

No, it’s not the headline. It’s not being emotional. It’s not benefits. And it’s not split-testing, either. In fact, my opening paragraph gave you a clue.

Sure, the headline, the benefits, and all those things are important. Very important. But the one element I’m referring to, the one element that can transform flimsy, “yeah-right” copy into a sales-inducing powerhouse, is…

… Proof.

Other than poor targeting and shoddy copy, the lack of proof in your copy is what probably (and most likely) causes it to fail. But when I talk about “proof,” I’m not just talking about one or two types, but seven. Yes, seven different types of proof!

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A lot of people ask me what’s my blogging strategy. They want to know, for instance, how I post articles, build a list, and drive traffic to my blog. More important, they want to know how I make money with it.

The short answer, of course, is to keep offering great content. Content you find valuable. Content you believe may be of interest or value to your readers.

Plus, I don’t use my blog as a business model like some A-list bloggers out there. Making money is purely a byproduct. I do have ads on it, interspersed throughout, linking either to my products or to products I’m an affiliate of. But they are not focal points.

Granted, those ads do help to pay the bills, keep my blog alive, and incentivize me to continue posting what I hope is valuable content for my readers.

But some people wonder how I drive traffic to this blog and build my list of subscribers. After all, I don’t advertise it at all with any paid advertising — other than in my signature file on some forum posts, or on my social network profiles like Twitter and Facebook.

I’ve revealed part of my strategy in some courses, such as Success Chef University, currently being offered for less than $97 a month. I’ve also revealed it in a few interviews I gave here and there. I’ve also revealed a handful of them on this blog in the past.

However, it is a good question.

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I often get requests from people asking me what plugins do I use on this blog. Or, what are my favorite plugins. Sometimes, I post about them. But these lists usually become stale fast, because I test new plugins and change them all the time.

So I wanted to post an update and list some of my favorite plugins. However, it was cumbersome to pick and choose which ones I wanted to post about because there are so many. So I’ve decided to do something different this year.

Using a plugin that lists all the plugins in use on a particular blog (I’ll share that one with you in a moment), I managed to print a list of all my plugins in a single post.

However, the descriptions you will read are those of the plugin authors. Some of them are poor and insufficient. Others don’t explain how I use them specifically on this blog.

So I’ve also added a mini-description with additional comments to each plugin to explain why, how, or where I’ve used it on this blog. I sincerely hope this list is useful to you. If it is, consider it a Christmas gift from me.

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Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins is a timeless classic written many years ago but a book whose powerful principles still ring true to this day.

It contains 21 chapters of timeless strategies you don't want to ignore in your advertising and marketing efforts.

In fact, David Ogilvy once said: "Nobody, at any level, should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times."

I highly recommend that your read this book, which is brought to you free, before you spend any money on other copywriting books.

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After my recent push for Robert Plank’s Speed Copy Secrets copywriting special report on how to write copy in under an hour, I wanted to test a few other things from Robert, since he’s a gifted programmer and offers some neat scripts.

(Actually, I recently bought everything from Robert I could get my hands on, and so far I’m thoroughly impressed. Specifically, his “Full-Blast PHP” and “Sales Page Tactics Volumes 1-3” products are fabulous.)

I’m testing just a couple of Robert’s scripts on this blog, and early results are stunning. Let me share with you a few test results…

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It’s Thanksgiving in Canada, so it’s time to give thanks. It’s also my birthday. That’s why I’m the one who’s going to give you a gift (there’s only one condition, so read on).

I want to give thanks to all my loyal subscribers and readers. But there’s another perfectly good and more important reason.

I need to make some room!

You see, I have 3,000 copies of one of my books in storage, and I need to get rid of them. Fast! So I’m fully prepared to give them away. For free. Let me give you some background first…

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I recently merged my library with my blog. I had multiple resources, books and teleseminar recordings on various sites, but decided to consolidate them all and add them to my blog.

Reason? The fact that these resources are no longer as scattered makes them easier to find and follow. If you want to bookmark these pages or even tell others about them, please do!

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