Fairfax Cone was one of the great 20th Century copywriters. Two others that I’ve included on the masters list so far are Claude Hopkins and David Ogilvy. They mostly came from what we now call “direct response,” that part of advertising that knows to the penny what works and what doesn’t. If » Read More
Tag: Writing Web Pages
I thought you meant a real writer
I was at an otherwise-forgettable social gathering about forty years ago. I had just completed my fourth book and I was starting to define myself as a writer. That’s how my friend described me when he introduced me to an older woman. She immediately perked up. “Oh, that’s wonderful,” she gushed » Read More
Your Web Site and the Curse of Knowledge
Web sites take work. We spend a lot of time developing them and writing the copy. Then we throw the switch and assume that visitors will have an easy time understanding our message and doing the things we want them to do. Usually we’re wrong, at least a little bit. We’re on the inside so we understand exactly » Read More
Business Writing and Literary Writing
When she read some wonderful comments about a novelist, my client bought one of the writer’s novels. At our next session, she said, “Lots of people think this person is a great writer, but she does a lot of things you told me not to do.” It’s true. My client was reading literary fiction. I was » Read More
What’s in it for them?
Great business books, blog posts, articles, and web page help readers make progress. They help the reader solve a problem or answer a question. If your blog post doesn’t deliver a benefit for the reader, it’s just an indulgence. Here’s a partial list of possible benefits in the form of questions about your piece » Read More