3 Reasons to Stop Stealing Other People’s Words
Copywriting SkillsThe other day I was on the phone with an entrepreneur who KNEW HER STUFF!She is an expert at working with her hands and heavy machinery to create all sorts of interesting products.The extent of my handiwork? Typing 100 words per minute…
7 Ways to Polish Your Writing and Get Your Message through as Fast as Lightning to Men and Women from every Walk of Life
Content & Strategy
How to Become a Lean Mean Editing Machine
Reading is a conversation between two people. In a face to face conversation one can ask and answer questions to clarify and complete the meaning and move on. When it comes to reading this isn’t…
25 tips for writing the user experience
Content & StrategySo what the heck is user experience and why does it matter how you write it? While in the online world, user experience is often considered the same as usability, information architecture (IA), and user interface (UI) design, those areas are…
How to Design a Killer Book Cover & Skyrocket Your Book Sales
AdvertisingE. Haldeman-Julius sold 100 million books in less than seven years. He achieved this by using simple and effective book covers based on compelling titles and clean cover design. No fancy titles or design, it was all about simplicity.What…
How quotes can make your written content crisper
Content & StrategyUsing direct quotes from relevant people can help boost the credibility factor of your articles and blog posts. But they are easy to get wrong. Here’s how to avoid that…Just like references in academic writing, quotes add grunt whatever…
The Writing Life — Can a Broken Writing Plan Lead to Success?
Content & StrategyAs I was getting ready to write this post, I took a look at what happened to my writing plan and goals for 2014.You see, in 2014 had a VERY aggressive plan, wanting to complete a number of books along with regularly writing on the blog.…
Why it can be OK to use Zimmer frame phrases
Content & StrategyMost professional business writers turn purple in the face when they read cliché phrases like “at this moment in time,” screaming “why the hell not just write ‘NOW ?'”Yes, I do, too. However perhaps it’s because I’m getting…
How to Write Effective Email Subject Lines
Copywriting SkillsFew email marketers pay enough attention to the lowly subject line. Writing the subject line is often the last quick step just before sending the email sent out. Yet those fifty characters could spell success or failure for your email marketing…
How’s your voice? Active? Passive? Shout? Whisper?
Copywriting SkillsNearly all of us nonfiction/business writing gurus (ye Gods, what an awful cliché) pound tables and shout loudly that active voice rather than passive voice is essential in marketing communications no matter what. Mea culpa here, in fact…
10 Tips On Using Stories To Sell
Copywriting SkillsAn effective and compelling story is one of the most powerful devices in sales letter writing. There is seldom a successful direct marketing piece without one. I’ve seen this for my most successful sales copy and that of many other high-converting…
12 Email Marketing Credibility Boosters
Copywriting SkillsIf you have no credibility with your email recipients, then it will be almost impossible to sell them on anything else. Trust is basic to any business to consumer or B2B relationship, and with the onslaught of spammers and other phishing attempts…
How to Create Ad-Copy That Sizzles
Advertising Copywriting SkillsWhether you're writing ad-copy for a sales brochure, website or email campaign, it’s essential that you have four key elements in place.Although these four elements are fundamentally different, when combined, they produce a highly effective…