Posts tagged basic
Don't try to sound different, try to sound authentic.

“We don’t want to sound like just another boring service provider." A small electrical company told me when discussing their website content. "We want to come across unique and appealing to homeowners, not just more corporate talk.”

My first thought was, ‘Are you just another boring service provider?’ I can understand a desire to stand out, but what would I want from an electrician? I want professionalism, collaboration and the ability to get the job done. If you pass that test, perhaps I’ll call for a quote. What’s really important to me is that what you say in your marketing matches what you deliver.

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Starbucks Race Campaign - A Bad Idea From the Start

Look, I have to say first that I like the idea of the program; I just don’t like how it was done, whom it was done by or why they did it. Make sense? More discussion about racial equality is a huge hot button right now, and it needs to be brought to the forefront, but why Starbucks?

I have to question the entire thought process with my top reasons that the program didn’t make sense. Not reasons why it didn’t work, but why would you do it in the first place?

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Don't Overthink Your Personas

I go back and forward on the value of personas. Sometimes they are super-critical to your marketing approach, sometimes it becomes a factor of analysis paralysis. Considerable time has been wasted trying to create the perfect persona, so I try to simplify my characters more into habits than details. If you’re doing product development, sure, go nuts with your finer elements, but for marketing, we’re trying to intercept people.

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Why Photos Matter...

I may be a copywriter, but I understand the power of a great photo. Grabbing our attention and instantly connecting with our emotions; you can create an entire story in one great shot. This builds the tone and sets the stage for a reader and gets them engaging with content.

I’m bringing this up to hopefully inspire people to take a long hard look at their marketing...

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Crappy Music and Caffeine for Better Content Writing

I wouldn’t say I’m cornered, but there are definitely elements that help the flow of content production. Most of it comes down to focus, because we’re all creative, it’s just how we channel it into something important and stay on task. Writing is one of those interesting professions that requires a constant mental effort. The moment you go into autopilot, your content becomes mushy and uninspiring. 

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Writing for How People Read Online

There always seems to be confusion about what makes good content for the web. The audience is more fickle, quicker to move on when something doesn’t jump out - but they’re also cunning, knowing when something has misled them.

So what really matters in online content?

Every business is different, but there are patterns to how people read and search on the web. When producing content, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind about your reader:

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Writing Content for the Web - Basics

When I’ve coached customers on building their own content for websites or blogs, there is a very straight forward approach I take. It works with beginner writers who are just trying for the first time, or experienced product experts who are just getting into web writing.

  • 1 topic per page
  • 3-5 headers per topic
  • 1-2 paragraphs per header
  • ....
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