How Many Sentences in a Paragraph of Webcopy?

Hmmm. In the good old days of pencil and paper or typewriter…better yet, my high school English teacher days(!) a paragraph better include at least 3 sentences supporting one idea, a micro-topic of the central theme of the page or report or essay. The general message sounded on web copy goes something like this: your […]

Show Them How to Use “It”

In the new Apple iPad commercial–one of my faves– we hear this from the voiceover: “You already know how to use it” It’s THAT intuitive….no questions necessary. Well, that’s probably not exactly correct, but the intended meaning is that this thing is built for human interaction. Here’s a question: Can you say the same about […]

Continuing the Dream Scene…

Last night I wrote a post about writing the “dream scene” as a business strategy for creating an experience to sell anything, really. Catching up on a post by John Batelle brings me again to the topic: Steve Jobs’ newest venture into mobile advertising has been dubbed “iAds.” Very covert, spare is the information on […]

Writing the Dream Scene

Ever hear this: Don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle? That adage suggests you focus more intently on the experience of something — the benefits– than the physical or tangible aspects — the features. Steak, bicycles, cars, fly fishing lures, wedding cakes, event planning, hand-thrown pottery, kitchen renovations, or web copywriting– it applies. You attract […]

Quote of My Day

This from an old book (thank you Google Books for digitizing this old manuscript so I and others could find it….): If one average man, fifty years old, could and would tell the truth about himself, we should have a priceless book on life. Salesmanship, William Maxwell

Debunking Internet Marketing Ballyhoo

Ballyhoo comprises a good deal of the Internet Marketing world. Which means if you don’t want to get taken for a ride you need to learn to think critically. I recommend critical thinking in terms of web copy, but the same could apply to almost any other product or service out here in the ether. […]

Content Tasting

It’s the tapas of daily news…The NYTimes new “Times Skimmer.” I’ve just been sampling the new interface, all horizontal and above the fold.  All about bite-sized we are, shortest and concisest snippets we can serve to our audience. I like it….I like the look and feel of it…Still classic news feel, but built to appeal […]

Google Adds Brand Names to Search Results

For product searches, Google has now added an additional search feature: brand names. To sum: in the last few years a Google search has evolved from plain jane text results for websites to a first page of results that now bundles in a diverse array of potential content, including websites, product sites, videos, images, real-time […]