|
|
|
3 Lessons From A Marketing Superstar
I was just rereading Jeffrey J. Fox's marvelous book, How To
Become A Marketing Superstar this week, and had to start jotting
down some notes to pass along. Fox has a wonderful knack for
distilling his hard-won wisdom into two or three page...
Copywriting: Techniques for a Great Body!
1) Think about your Readers When writing ad copy be sure that the average reader can easily understand and relate to it. Put yourself in their place. Would you understand? Would you say, "That's me"? One way to help you write for your readers, is...
Maximizing The Effect Of Your Freelancer's Bio
*Article Use Guidelines* Use in opt-in publications, or on Web sites, but please include the resource box. Please send me a copy, if possible. Many thanks. ** Summary: If you want to be a successful freelancer, you need to learn the art of the...
My Favorite Expert Advice on Writing the Stories of Our Lives, Gleaned From My Favorite Books on the Subject
This outline is adapted from a handout I give to my lifewriting students. The points made here apply to writing in general as well as to writing our life stories in particular.
I. Why should we write?
A. Frank McCourt in Writer’s Digest, Feb....
Wording Up Your Website
Back to basics. Forget funky design, good copywriting is the key to a clear and intuitive website. Are you losing business because of your website? More and more customers are logging on to the Web to decide where to spend their money because it...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Copywriter Speaks: Hey, Give Me Back My Pen!
It’s no wonder I have a permanent crick in my neck. I’ve spent the last ten years shaking my head piteously at people who think they can write. Fellow scribes, let us gather now for a virtual group hug, as we console each other for the fruitlessness that is our existence.
Okay, I’m being a little dramatic. But it’s true; innumerous individuals think they don’t need my services. Guess again, friends! You need the writer. I’ve seen what happens when you give it a go on your own, and it isn’t pretty.
To my copywriting cohorts: you know who I mean. They’re the ones who keep you hunched over that keyboard, slogging away into the wee hours of the morning, only to send back a bastardized draft revision that’s rife with bad grammar, sloppy sentence structure and headlines that wouldn’t fly in an eighth
grade English essay. What’s a writer to do? Work your magic, of course! I never thought I had special powers. But maybe I do, because that’s what pandering types tell me just after they’ve grammatically raped another one of my brainchildren. Little do they know, the painstaking way in which the copywriter chooses his words!
Good copywriting carries some emotional weight; that’s what gives it substance. The challenge an advertiser faces is to harness the emotion of the audience and spur them to action. Still, people often fail to recognize there’s a distinct method to the madness. They tamper with your creation; they muck up your words; they carelessly trod upon your masterpiece! You protest, gently, but still they always win. Why? You can’t prove them wrong. You can only barrage them with more words. See how confusing it becomes?
In writing, there are two partners at play; emotion, and logic. Emotion is the silly-putty of communication; logic is that little plastic container you keep it in. I’ll say it another way: word choice and sentence structure. The problem is such: there is no tangible way to defend your emotional method of persuasion (or word choice), and as the language continues to evolve, logic (or sentence structure) is also going out the window.
As the most subjective of subjects, language leaves room for misinterpretation. Bad writing is like driving a car on an empty tank of gas, in
the complete wrong direction. Without a solid vocabulary, one can’t harness the language. If one lacks the sense of what to say when, where, and to whom, to produce a desired response; someone, somewhere, will be laughing. That someone might be me.
A strategic writer organizes carefully. This is where all that stuff you learned in fourth grade English class comes in. That old schoolmarm wasn’t drawing sentence diagrams on the board to torture you. She was trying to show you that words take different forms depending on their logical function within a sentence. This is how we employ order and organization to make meaning understood. “He’s so dumb he can’t even form a sentence.” Hey, many people of above-average intelligence really can’t form a sentence! It’s one of the reasons people hire professional writers.
Someone might see something like poorly written web copy and think, "That don’t impress me much" (because today, poor grammar even finds its way into song titles). And maybe they won’t know why they’re not impressed... but I’ll know! It will be due to flagrant disregard for the English language, and
outright disrespect for the poetry in motion that is good advertising.
If you’re an accomplished writer, then God bless! Fight the good fight, little soldier, for I’m backing you all the way. If you’re a destroyer of quality writing: do us humble wordsmiths a favor and back away from the pen. We love to hear you talk, we really do! Your expertise make us who we are because you confirm what we say. You’re the proof in our pudding; our real, live reference book! We love to listen and learn from you, and we love to pass your information along. We won’t take your credit. We promise! I’m your copy cosmetician, and I’m here to make you look beautiful.
Now, please - just give me back my pen!
About the Author
Dina Giolitto is a New-Jersey based Copywriting Consultant with ten years of industry experience. Her current focus is web content and web marketing for a multitude of products and services although the bulk of her experience lies in retail for big-name companies like Toys"R"Us. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.com for rates and samples.
|
|
|
|
|
| Copywriting . Net |
| Copywriting . Net. The Internet's copywriting service center for Web and print marketing communications. |
| www.copywriting.net |
|
| Copywriting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| As search-engine algorithms get smarter every day, this Search engine optimization (SEO) copywriting is more and more about writing for human visitors as ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Copywriting - SEO Copywriting - Learn copywriting |
| Copywriting .com has just changed hands and will open its doors again in a few weeks. If you'd like to be notified when we launch, please send an email to: ... |
| www.copywriting.com |
|
| Copywriting 101 | Copyblogger |
| Copywriting 101 Tutorial Copywriting is one of the most essential ... Subscribe to Copyblogger to learn more about copywriting and online marketing. ... |
| www.copyblogger.com |
|
| The Copywriting Site - Free information, tips, and tricks on ... |
| The Copywriting Site: Here you get free information tips and tricks on copywriting that sells. - Marketing Writing. |
| noriainternational.com |
|
| Copywriting courses. Become a copywriter. |
| Copywriting courses for copywriters; plus tips on buying copy and hiring a copywriter. |
| www.inst.org |
|
| Advertising & Online Copywriting, Search Engine Copywriting ... |
| Advertising copywriting and search engine copywriting that impresses your visitors and the engines. |
| www.marketingwords.com |
|
| Free tutorials on copywriting, web content, advertising, internet ... |
| How to dramatically improve response from your Advertising, Internet marketing, Direct Mail and Web pages with powerful copywriting. |
| www.adcopywriting.com |
|
| Copywriting: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
| See all blog posts tagged with copywriting on Technorati. |
| www.technorati.com |
|
| Advertising Copywriter, Website Copywriter, SEO Copywriter ... |
| Need a copywriter who can really grasp your business? Copywriting for websites, SEO, ads, brochures, articles... Elegant, no-fuss copywriting that really ... |
| www.divinewrite.com |
|
| Copywriting |
| Every advertising medium is different. And so is copywriting for each element. Business owners can find out what to look for when hiring a copywriter. |
| advertising.about.com |
|
| Copywriting Secrets - Master Copywriter - Killer Copy Writing |
| FREE E-Course Reveals The Latest Kick-Ass Copywriting Secrets You've Gotta Know! ... "Now You Can Grab The Latest No-BS Advanced Copywriting Secrets That ... |
| www.websiteconversionexpert.com |
|
| Text Wizard® Copywriting - UK freelance copywriter, scriptwriter ... |
| Plain English with fizz: copywriting that stays on brand and on your mind. UK copywriter. |
| www.textwizard.com |
|
| Getting Real: Copywriting is interface design - Signal vs. Noise ... |
| Copywriting isn’t something to be left to the guy on your team who writes long ... So, I’m considering adding copywriting to my list of responsibilities, ... |
| www.37signals.com |
|
| Amazon.com: Persuasive Online Copywriting: How to Take Your Words ... |
| Amazon.com: Persuasive Online Copywriting: How to Take Your Words to the Bank: Books: Bryan Eisenberg,Jeffrey Eisenberg,Lisa T. Davis by Bryan Eisenberg ... |
| www.amazon.com |
|
| Michele PW |
| Watch your business soar when you put the power of great copywriting, results-driven marketing solutions and amazing creativity to work for your business. |
| www.writingusa.com |
|
| Pages tagged with "copywriting" on del.icio.us |
| Good Copywriting: A blog about copywriting on the web ... Copywriting tips for online marketing success from Copyblogger · save this. copywriting blog ... |
| del.icio.us |
|
| Online Copywriting: Subscribe to the Excess Voice Newsletter |
| Online Copywriting: Nick Usborne's Excess Voice newsletter includes dozens of articles and a comprehensive list of resources and reviews for writers of ... |
| www.excessvoice.com |
|
| Linda Westphal, Freelance Advertising Copywriter |
| Experienced copywriter for direct marketing articles, and advertising tips. Citrus Heights, California. |
| www.lindawestphal.com |
|
| Copywriting: Projects on Elance |
| Copywriting, Between $250 and $500, 7, 11/29/2006 1:45 AM ... Copywriting, Prefer not to disclose, 0, 12/1/2006 2:41 PM, 6 d, 22 h+, Authentication Status ... |
| www.elance.com |
|
|