Google’s Impending Updates – Content Impact

A Google algorithm update  is on the way, reports Google’s Matt Cutts. (In fact, the sheer volume of content being generated on speculation is impressive.) Cutts says Penguin updates are on the way, but that “if you’re doing high quality content when you’re doing SEO, this shouldn’t be any big surprise, you shouldn’t have to […]

Content “Zumba” – Lose the Lazy

If you’ve ever seen one of those Zumba infomercials or participated in a Zumba class (very hot right now), then you know it’s not for the lazy. The point is to get moving, burn crazy fat, all while having fun. Simplified–it’s moving around versus sitting still. Growth vs. decay. Hypertrophy vs. atrophy. If your digital […]

What Industry Does Great Storytelling?

Some of the best storytellers in marketing work in the beverage industry–alcohol. Beer, wine, scotch, all have companies with compelling and creative stories. In the case of micro-brew beer vs. big beer corporation, the borders are blurred and the marketing targeted to specific drinkers or audience segments. For example, I heard a really good ad […]

Eye Catching Footnotes

The almost forgotten footnote — used widely in print, but infrequently online. Which may be a good thing, b/c when something like a footnote is not plastered everywhere, there’s more opportunity to leverage it when really necessary.  I opt for the traditional hierarchy of footnotes: *, †, ‡, §, ¶, || (the true hierarchy of […]

Prove Content Value and They (and I) Will Pay

Hulu. Which Test Won. PicMonkey. These are just a few of the sites I use regularly that deliver awesome content– I know because much of it has been presented free either in the past or is currently and I have benefited from it. That’s key….I have benefited from the free content (on multiple occasions). Because […]

Instant Engagement: Communicating Difficult Ideas and Concepts

Ever find yourself tongue-tied when trying to verbally describe a complex idea to someone else? Conveying a POINT can be nigh impossible particularly when the crux of that point is technical, abstract, industry-specific. Add to that challenge the fact that we often find ourselves (as part of a digitally distributed team) on the phone, video […]

Getting Beyond the Same Ol’ Call-to-Action

Our digital environment is literally pock-marked with calls-to-action and most of them not particularly illustrious. “Learn more” “Click here” “Read more” “Buy now” “Sign up” “View” “Update” “Submit” – we could go on and on. The above are the usual cast of characters. Easy, utilitarian, handy, go-tos–they are like affordable parts for a GM or […]

Do you think outside the body copy?

Traditionally, web copywriters write a lot of body copy….text that typically occupies the middle column of many webpages. And the other stuff (headlines, calls to action, button text, form text, etc. ) gets added by developers, designers, and even business owners themselves. Why? Because the text needed is short-ish in length and therefore “easy?” Because […]

Can’t Keep a Good Blog Down

Content marketing alternatives can’t outdo the no-brainer-ness of blogging. Publishing original content on a blog, on a regular basis, continues to be one of the best strategies for drawing search engine “love.” Low barrier to entry – you can get a standalone blog for free (I have a handful of them that I’ve blogged on […]

Long Page Content – The Biggest Challenge

Getting customers to scroll beyond the fold for a long page of content is not the biggest challenge. It’s a challenge, but not the crux of the problem. Because given the opportunity to chew on that truly remarkable content going on down below, they will scroll, and scroll, and scroll–if you can show you have […]

The Inaugural Poem

The Daily Beast had the full transcript of Richard Blanco’s intoxicating inaugural poem: One Today One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores, peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies. One light, waking up rooftops, under […]

Who’s Got All the Right Words for the End of the Year?

Metro North! Very nice mobile ad pitches the pros of using Metro-North to get into the City for New Year’s. The voice over is pitch-perfect as well as the text on the ad itself. Hats off to the copywriter on this one — here’s an enviously compact message. All the important keywords one wants to […]

A great company story

Kikkoman’s recent commercial delivers a compelling company story in words and visuals then drives engagement even further with the call-to-action to learn more of the company’s “story” on its website:  

Promoting Additional Content – Wired online

It’s always food for thought observing how others “advertise” deeper levels of content or appeal to readers’ interests. Wired is currently posting a little promo “layer” in the lower corner of each webpage: or this version promoting both previous and next articles:

“Trust Me, I’m Lying…”: What Does This Book Stand For, Anyway?

“Oh, the tangled Web we weave….” I have seen the tip of the iceberg many times. Charted courses close-by. I don’t think it’s possible to work as a web copywriter for clients who drive profits by the measure of traffic and clicks  to miss this iceberg jutting out of the wide Web sea. But in […]

Landing Page Swipe – Bare Bones Copy, Strong CTAs

Typically a best practices landing page has no navigation and one very clear and compelling call to action, but in this case two CTAs make sense. They are also about the only copy on the page, except for the celebs’ names with catchy intriguing vignette names, indicating that there may be additional content to explain. […]