I’ve spent the last few weeks studying copywriting, driven by a desire to improve my writing skills. This journey lead me to discover some great individuals.

The first was Roy Williams, known as the Wizard of Ads; a controversial figure who is very direct in his approach to marketing and the author of three books more about psychology than writing.

Then there’s Claude Hopkins who published the Science of Advertising in 1932, much of which is still relevant today, and one of the pioneers in the industry.

From here I ended up subscribing to the podcast of a carpet cleaner and an estate agent, Joe Polish and Dean Jackson of I Love Marketing, their’s is a captivating show; two small business owners turned full-time marketers commanding audiences world-wide.

These guys led me to a person that I wish I had known about before he passed away, Gary Halbert. A former encyclopedia sales man who understood the value of the written word, his archive of newsletters is freely available online and well worth reading.

I have acquired so much knowledge in the last few weeks and have spent nothing, that’s right, not one penny. Amazingly for an industry that is built around the art of selling, everything I ever needed to know from the best in the business was available to me for free.

Why would this be? Information and ideas are only valuable if they are acted upon. Knowing that many would still come to them for the deeper meaning behind their words, they can command I high price for the one to one consultation that many reading their free content would desire.

If you can write, publish freely, don’t be afraid of sharing your knowledge. There are greater rewards to be had; the meaning behind your words is what many are willing to pay for. In the words of Brian Clark author of Copyblogger; don’t forget The Writer Runs This Show.

Now on to my selection of links for Sean’s Week On Twitter; this week we have six of the best in SWOT #18. Your feedback is always welcome, enjoy.

Zynga’s Project Z: A Facebook-Powered Social Network for Games

You may not recognise the name Zynga, but it’s the company behind the enormously popular Farmville game on Facebook. One of the problems of being reliant on a single platform is that you are beholding to any changes they make. In a bid to avoid this Zynga have cleverly leveraged Facebook itself to start their own Social Network for gaming.

Facebook user engagement up 31%, ‘Like’ feature is key driver

As the ‘pundits’ opinions of Facebook ebb and flow there is one sure thing, users are not feeling much angst toward the mammoth changes Facebook are making to the platform. Engagement with content continues to grow, making it commercially difficult to ignore as a platform to reach out to consumers.

Social media ROI: It’s not about immediate results

Warning, this is a long article, but it covers a pet subject of mine; the investment in time that is required to get a return from Social Media. If you’re reading my blog you probably already get it, but it’s still worth a read for ideas, if you need to influence others.

21 Ways to Save Minutes Each Day

With so much demand on our attention, every minute we can save is precious. Whilst there are countless books on time management, sometimes a tweak to our daily routine can be all that’s needed to make a difference. Hopefully you’ll find a gem or two in this list.

A Conversation With Stephen King

Now you may not appreciate this post, you may even see it as ‘link bait’. It’s not what it implies in the title, but this is why I liked it so much. On one hand it is a bloggers ramblings, on another it is a lesson about your ability to define what you say and to whom. If you write regularly you’ll empathise with Jack B, an author of 39 unpublished books and 3 screenplays.