Well behaved women rarely make history.-

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

These words, penned by an award winning historian, in a 1976 article about Puritan funerals, have become almost synonymous with civil dissent among women in the past 40 years. The only thing is, that isn't what she meant to do.

In a minute, I'll give you one simple tip guaranteed to make readers read to the end of your article. So, keep reading you won't want to miss it!

In context, her statement was bemoaning that good role models rarely get much press. Not that rebels aren't required to change the tide, but it would be nice if those who stood their ground, kindly, were noticed now and then.

But, in case you hadn't noticed, that's not how the world works!

When it comes to copywriting, and you are all copywriters, whether you know it or not, boring content, no matter how sweet, or informative your content might be, if it makes me feel nothing, meh. If you're getting tepid, boring comments, or short, "great post!" replies, From people who aren't spamming, this might be your problem. You're playing it safe.

When I Wanted to Make A Splash and Get Copy Writing Clients

I wrote the following email response for Craigslist ads.

You Don't Need A Copywriter You Need a Bad Ass Bull Rider

8 Seconds, that's how long a bull rider has to stay in his seat to get scored. It's also the amount of time the average visitor is spending on your brilliantly designed website, before they click on to something else. 8 seconds for you to make the impression of a lifetime, or risk losing that sale and all the sales that would follow from landing that customer.8 seconds isn't much time to earn your living, but that's how long you've got.

Can you catch their attention? Can you you hold it and make them beg you to tell them what's next? Statistics prove that for every second over eight they stay focused on your content, your odds of making the sale increase by ten percent.

You've now been reading this ad for well over eight seconds. I am the copywriter you need, I am that bull rider.

Within a week, I had all the business I could handle. Why?

First, who doesn't open that email? Nobody. I tracked it, literally every person I sent it to opened it.

Second, they had no idea whether I was right, or not, but I'd convinced them of one thing. I could get people's attention.

I haven't forgotten about that tip that will have readers speed reading to the end of your content, but first, here's what you need!

If you want to succeed on Steemit, you've got to weaponize your content!

Stick with me! I don't normally use borderline obscenity in advertising either, but, here is what we're up against.

• 250,000 new posts will be published on Steemit today, that's over 10,000 posts per hour, 173 posts per minute, nearly 3 posts, every. single. second.
• They are competing for the attention of 30,000 daily users. That's nearly 9 posts per user, if they all read different content and nothing overlapped.
• In the "new" category alone, by the time you open one post, immediately close it, and click the back button, it is #8 on the list.

So, how do you hope to compete?

1. You can say you're not here for upvotes or money, but then why are you blogging? Even if you give away all rewards, you want eyeballs, right?
2. You can hope,beg, plead, and pray a whale finds you and likes your stuff enough to become a benefactor, but this never lasts forever.
3. You can join a cult, give half your earnings to some enigmatic leader for the rest of steem eternity in exchange for upvotes.
4. You can strike it rich outside steemit, then buy your way in and upvote your spam posts until Grumpy Cat's head explodes!
5. Or, you can create a community of loyal readers that come back, time after time, with upvotes, resteems, and comments.

But what about that first loyal fan? You've got to get their attention!

The choice is yours

Outside these five options, lies the land of anonymity. It may be enough for some, but you wouldn't have agreed to something called "bootcamp" if that's what you wanted.

So, what can you do about it?

The answer is simple, you've got to disrupt the normal flow of your reader's day. You've got to provide the answers they've been looking for, give them hope that they can make it, make them cry, or laugh their butt off, or if you're doing warm fuzzies...

They better be, kitten purring, while rubbing warmly against your chin, sitting in slippers and a warm robe in front of a fire with hot cider fuzzies, because leftover Youtube cat videos, ain't gonna cut it!

Okay, let's take this up a notch, are you ready?

I've seen what you're all capable of here on Steemit. The issue for most of us is not a lack of talent, or skill. It's that we're not really willing to let it all hang out and take chances.

"But Mark, I publish recipes, not sure going Fight Club on my audience is going to help"

No, it's not

But, here's what will, offering the best recipes, with carefully photographed, or curated images, serving suggestions, links to ingredients, tips on saving time and trouble, the list goes on. A list of ingredients and a cook time is nice, but when you share it with the story of how your grandma used to make these cookies on soft summer evenings, and you'd feed the crumbs to fireflies, THAT's good stuff!

It doesn't matter what kind of content you write, you can go "Gonzo"

The First Thing You Need is a Great Headline!

But wait, what about a great content idea?

I'll see your hot idea and raise you a Buzzfeed. The fact is, great ideas get hidden behind sophisticated uptight headlines, all the time, while crap makes bank. No, that's not me excusing you from writing quality content, it's tough love, you've got to ditch the ordinary headlines.

Trust me on this, even the killer method I'm about to share for hooking readers and keeping them reading, won't help, if they never click on your blog post.

Before the bull rider ad, I used to reply to writing gigs with the Email subject line: I AM THE WRITER YOU WANT. Once I started using this, I got three times the replies than I did with RE:Writing position.

So, how does it work?

We all hate Clickbait headlines, don't we? Why? Because, we all know they're lies, but we click them anyway. We can't help ourselves.

I Just Mowed My Own Lawn, Without Leaving My Lawn Chair, You Won't Believe How Easy it Was

Seven Guaranteed Ways to Get a Raise, Number Four is Illegal in Five States

But, that's not what we want. Here's what you do. Make a promise. Tell them something they really want to hear. Then, deliver.

That Perfect Sugar Cookie Recipe You've Been Looking for, Plus, I'll Show You Why My Cookies Never Stick to the Pan

What baker doesn't click on this headline?

Six Content Types Guaranteed to Get You More Views, Plus a Method for Generating Endless Ideas

I can deliver this.

So, what do your readers want? If you don't know your audience, that's another problem. What do you want? What did you want? What were the things you were looking for when you started following your passion. There's your answer.

Other headline styles that get clicks

• Numbered lists, listicles are huge
• Headlines that ask piercing questions, and promise answers
• Offer to solve a big problem
• Promise to tell a great story

Make an emotional connection with your audience.

Next, You Need Killer Placement

We'll get to content, I promise. AND, I haven't forgotten that tip! When I share it with you, you're not going to believe you didn't see it, but it works!

All the great headlines in the world, will get you nowhere, if no one sees them

And, we're right back to that pesky 250,000 posts every day.

We talked a little about categories in our first lesson, and choosing the right one, is important. But, what else can we do to reduce competition, and get ourselves found?

Here are three strategies I think can help beginners a lot.

1. Curated platforms, like Dtube, Dsound, Steepshot and Dmania.
2. Building hashtag recognition, like we're doing with #dolphinschool
3. Getting involved with a curation guild, or group

So, let's talk about what curated platforms are, and what that means. And then we'll get to that tip that keeps readers reading to the end of your piece!

When I say Curated Platform (And that is a term I coined, as far as I know) I'm talking about any of the third parties apps and websites that allow steemit users to post onto steemit, through outside interfaces, but with only one content type.

• Dtube is a video only site, hoping to compete with YouTube
• Dsound, hosts audio posts
• Steepshot is a Lifestyle blogging platform, think Instagram, with single images and descriptions
• Dmania is an image curation platform, mainly geared towards memes and funny gifs

There are two major benefits to using these apps

First, they provide a gallery setting, where people are focused on a small piece of work, of one type. So, your videos aren't up against 250k blogs. People go there to experience and upvote one type of content. That means your audience is "highly qualified" (a sales term for a lead that is more likely to buy) They weren't looking for recipes, or a chapter from one of my novels.

Second, there are fewer distractions. It's easier to rise to the top, and to see the content. I predict in the near future, more platforms will grow to house other types of content, like fiction.

There are two major drawbacks

As of this moment, posting memes and lifestyle content are looked down on. There are posts going up every day talking about how unfair it is that a blog post competes with, and gets less than a single photo. So, you risk alienating some followers. Video,less so, especially if accompanied by a written piece, which makes them more effective to begin with.

Second, these platforms are not as widely accepted, so the content on them is not gaining nearly as much in payouts. I don't know how it compares on average, but the biggest payouts on memes and steepshot entries are several times smaller than the posts in the Trending category.

I think there are posters in all four that manage to overcome these objections, by carefully selecting and creating high caliber content and not overusing them.

For our purposes, I suggest you take a look as a supplement to what you're doing. Other social platforms, like Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, have a variety of content, and I think Steemit users are sophisticated enough to adapt to that, if you choose and create high quality content.

I've experimented a bit with some travel photos of Paris. I managed to get a $5 payout on one. It also introduced me to some new users who've never interacted with my writing.

We are conducting an experiment in hashtag building.

Here's my plan

1. Create a swath of good content with the #dolphinschool tag (that's where you guys come in, we're creating nearly 30 pieces a day!)
2. Maintain a strong presence in that tag, so its' clear who "owns" it.
3. Welcome all comers who will use it respectfully to build a bigger community.
4. Use the tutorials published under that tag to recruit new users.

Many of you are here, because of that exact model carrying out its purpose. As long as we provide excellent value to those who come in, the fact that we profit (marginally) off of their access and interaction is merely our reward for doing so!Right?

That leaves curation guilds

From what I know, there are two different types.

1. Voting, or curation trails
2. Resteem pages

In the first group, a curator gets followers to agree to either manually support,or delegate voting power, to upvote a specific group, type of content, or class of users.

In the second, a page is used to resteem blogs they find worthy of support, for their members consideration for upvotes and resteems and comments.

It's harder to become a member of a guild.

First, you have to be aware of their existence. If you keep your eyes open, you'll see their upvotes. Follow those links back to find out more if you're curious.

Second, some only take on members by invitation, or find your work sporadically. But, they seem to be a consistent means of support for some steemers, at least in the short term. The goal being, for those authors to become established and thrive on their own.

Finally, Your Content Has to be the Bomb

Okay, so maybe "the kids" aren't saying this anymore, but it fits the weaponization theme. And I promise, I'm almost ready to share that tip! You're going to love having your readers read right to the end, every time!

So, how do you write great content?

Funny you should ask, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Even for a pro, it can be hit or miss. The thing you thought was funny,or amazing, just doesn't resonate. Or it resonates enough to get comments, but not enough to get upvotes.

Don't be too hard on yourself. No one hits 100% of the time.

Let's start with the basics.

Proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation as much as possible. Sure, a typo will slip through, you might miss a homophone or a comma now and then. But, if your work is sloppy, that's on you.

Check out Grammarly.com for a basic, free, online text editor that can help catch most common spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Working with a tool like this can make you a better writer.

Next, keep it simple, stupid

Also known as K.I.S.S. rule. Don't use four sentences, when one will suffice. Unless you really need that six syllable word, use three two syllable words instead. Even the most prolific writers get told this by their editors. Aim for an 8th grade level. Smart enough to keep a PHD candidate's attention, but easy enough for most readers to grasp.

If you have trouble with this, think of explaining whatever it is, to a nine year old. If you can't, maybe you don't understand your topic as well as you think.

There's a $10 editor called Hemmingway, that is built just to help with this. It points out runon sentences and needlessly complicated passages. I used to argue this was an attack against style, but, in reality, if you're not communicating to your audience clearly, style schmile. Plus, you can use any style in simple words. Trust me, I've done it.

Make it visually interesting!

Pictures, video, gifs can all be used easily in the steemit platform. But, more than that, format your text to make it easy to read. You may notice I break up paragraphs to, typically, no more than three or four sentences at a whack. Why? People started reading my stuff all the way through better when I did.

And no, that's not the tip, but thanks for paying attention, I'll get to that right after this!

Use headers, subheads, bullets and lists whenever possible

This makes your content "scannable" You can scan this article pretty easily. I try to use similar styles (such as italics, or big bold headlines) for related elements. I'm not perfect at this. I sometimes do too much of it, but when I post huge paragraphs (believe me, I can do it, I can talk, or write for hours on any subject, I'm a words guy) people check out!

Make your content relatable

Okay, you had shrimp for dinner, so what? But, if you take us on a tour of the restaurant, introduce us to the Maitre D, tell us about the history of the place, you've got something!

Think why? Why would anyone want to read this. If you can't come up with a reason, find a new idea! (I will teach on idea generation which I'm a master of!) Or, a new angle. Ask new questions, look at it from a different perspective, pretend you didn't know what you know.

OKAY You've read to the end of the article part, here's your tip!

Where are you? How did you get here? This is called the bucket method, or the bucket brigade. I made you a promise, I'll teach you a tip that will make readers finish your stuff. When? Right after this. Then I kept reminding you, until you followed me down.

Here's how it works

• You must offer something that they want, and can't easily find out
• You must remind them often enough to keep them going
• Don't blend in the reminders, no, make it stick out, interrupt!
• Don't tell them where the pay off is, or they'll skip to the end
• Just one more step, right around the corner, right after this!

Fiction writers do this all the time. I'm dangling a carrot of who Dalton West in 9 Seconds to Freedom really is in front of my readers right now! (he lost his memory) And every time he gets close, it vanishes in smoke.

So, there you have, it a master's degree in copywriting in less than 3000 words.

Homework Day Two

Okay, we need to simplify this, so, pay attention. There will be a special homework post on the blog. No need to resteem or upvote it. Leave all of your homework in the comments there, bring conversation about it, here, deal? Also, you can leave everything in one comment to conserve bandwidth and make it easy for me. I'll make a new one for each day. Tomorrow's will say, DolphinSChool Bootcamp Homework Post Day Two

Part one, questions

1. Most valuable thing you've learned so far
2. Something you've experienced in this that you didn't expect
3. At least one person you've met in dolphinschool and one thing about them
4. Relist your stats from day one and note any improvements

Part two, actions

Go find Steepshot, Dmania, Dtube, or Dsound. Search steemit for a link. I'm not going to give it to you. Check out the platform and explore a few posts. We'll be doing some work on those at some point, so get ready. You'll be able to choose which one, so don't worry about the bandwidth, or equipment for video. Anyone here can share a meme. Leave me a link of one post you liked, found thought provoking, or were curious about, on the homework post, in your comment.

Part Three, Writing

By the way, this doesn't have to be writing, but today, writing or video would be best. Create whatever content you would normally, don't make your blog an extension of dolphinschool for ten days. Do your thing, while rolling the requirements in, several did really well at that today!

Write a post using the bucket method. I also want you to include a tag to at least one user that does not follow you. Or a link to their work is even better. Try to use it in context.

Leave a link to your assignment post with your question answers and the link to the curated content you chose from one of the four sites mentioned.

If you have not, turn in day one assignments by 1 pm CST. The first revenue split post will be going up this evening.

At the end of your post, please link to dolphin school. If you know how, create a hyperlink.

When you post your blog

1. Use the tags #dolphinschool and #markrmorrisjr as two of the five for your post. Writing is a good primary category option. This is the other part of your price of admission.
2. Come backHERE and leave a link to your blog in the comments, on the HOMEWORK POST HERE.
3. If you have the bandwidth, comment on at least three or four of the other posts here, resteem and upvote if you feel it's warranted.

But, don't expect others to support you, if you DON'T support them!

I'll visit your blog and leave a comment so you'll know I was there.

I'll leave the critique of your post HERE, in a reply to your link comment. Okay? Any questions?

DOLPHIN SCHOOL BOOTCAMP DISMISSED!

Curious about #dolphinschool? Follow this link!

If you'd like to read more of my work, follow @markrmorrisjr or click on my screen name to visit my blog.

Help support Minnows and Plankton in #Dolphinschool with your upvotes, resteems and encouraging comments!

Follow these authors to see the results of #dolphinschool

@manuelmendez
@chieppa1
@mawit07
@jampresents
@magicalmoonlight
@lilyraabe
@donjyde
@redheadpei
@mandelsage
@andysantics48
@insideoutlet
@bristowboy
@sarahewaring
@jeejee
@bozz
@naquoya
@cristoferimm
@mineopoly
@makingthebest09
@solomon507
@powellx5
@castleberry
@sarahart
@happychaga

Please take a moment to check out my fiction. I'm sharing two novels right now.

The Wishmonger

9 Seconds of Freedom