I work with a lot of coaches, writers, and consultants. Some of them are doing well, in spite of the recession. Others are struggling. I often wonder what the difference is between those that stay afloat in a downturn and the others. I think it's their marketing savvy more than their talent or education, but who really knows?

One of my favorite clients, a successful executive coach with a Ph.D., emailed this week to say how frustrating it is in the coaching field these days. It seems everyone's a coach. People take an Internet coaching course and market themselves by giving away free sample coaching sessions.

As a trained organizational psychologist with licenses and years of experience, he doesn't feel he should be giving away free sessions. I don't blame him. And yet, I was thinking…

The problem is universal. How do you attract new clients without standing on the sidewalk like a carnival barker, begging people to come into your tent?

I guess this is why Chris Anderson author of The Long Tail, has written a new book called Free: The Future of a Radical Price.

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I'm a nice person and I'm highly educated. As a result, my writing can really stink. I'm not kidding. There's nothing worse than writing nicely, except maybe writing intelligently, if you want to get read and make an impact.

I've been trying to write a post about this idea for some time. Then along comes this person I'd never heard of before, Pace Smith, over on Copyblogger, and she writes a brilliant post much better than I ever could.

Go there, go read it now. I'm not going to be nice about it, I'm telling you, you must read this post now…She gives really good examples of writing samples that are wishy-washy and shows you how to be bold.

Why You’re Too Qualified and Respectful to Produce Great Content
by Pace Smith

If you’re like most bloggers, you’re making two huge mistakes with your content. You’re suffering from both qualification and respect when you write.

You’ll need to leave both of those behind if you want to be a successful writer with high conversion rates. The only way to write powerfully is to be bold, and to write boldly you must stop qualifying yourself and being overly respectful. Read the rest here…

I have a secret Internet crush on Havi Brooks. Everything she writes I wish I had written. I have a serious case of Content Envy.

It's all I can do to not steal her stuff. Well, that's not true, I got the "Internet crush" phrase from her because she said she has an Internet crush on Naomi Dunford of Itty Biz, whom I also admire but for other reasons. Naomi swears like I think, only she says those words out loud and writes them on her blog too.

For my series of occassional blog interviews about Content Marketing, I snagged an email exchange with Havi. Not easy, since she's on email sabbatical and I had to go through her assistant "can-do-ologist," Marissa, and then there was her duck Selma, and it's just tough these days getting to these blogging celebrities.

Fortunately I still have some clout in the blogosphere, and it helps that I recently rubbed elbows with Havi at Jen Louden's Writers Spa in Taos, NM.

Are you ready for this? I love Havi's responses, and I hope you do too. It inspires me to write bettah.

Havi Brooks and her duck Selma write about "biggification" (growing the cool thing you do) and "destuckification" (working on the stuff that gets in the way). You can hang out with them on the Fluent Self blog.

1. What does Content Marketing mean to you in your business?

It means not having to sell stuff.

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Here are 6 key questions to ask yourself every time you review your online content that markets you and your business:

1. What problem do you solve?
2. Who are you writing for?
3. Why should anyone read this? Does the headline compel people to read more?
4. How are you different from your competitors?
5. If your ideal clients were to search for solutions to their problem, what keywords would they use? Are these keywords in the headline, first paragraph and repeated in the body?
6. What key piece of content do you give away to visitors that showcases your expertise and engages with readers on a really human level?

These review questions apply to all your content: blog posts, emails, e-newsletters, special reports. What else should you ask yourself before you publish content? What am I missing that needs to be considered?