Writing for the web

Practice makes perfect: Part 3 of a Writing Series

WebCopyGirl — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:28:40 +0000

In this post, let’s get practical with this writing thing. What do most writers need to do better on the Web and in EMs? If you ask me, it’s headers. (Or ‘leads’ for you PR types. Or ‘H1s’ for you SEMers. Or ‘titles’ if you’re in the 9th grade.)

Let’s workshop a header or two, then. The way a writer does at her desk. And let’s start with an example from somewhere out there……………. How about Microsoft?

HEADER: Download Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008
SUBHEAD: Get it free and start saving time on everyday tasks

Let the revisions begin………….. (more…)

CONVERS[AT]IONS

WebCopyGirl — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:36:37 +0000

Simply: conversations = conversions

Ads are dead. They don’t convert. People don’t see them (a la banner blindness). Stop kidding yourself, AdMan.

Here’s a quick list of what you need to do to get more out of your marketing budget: (more…)

Getting Dialogue Right: Part two of a writing series

WebCopyGirl — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:36:41 +0000

You already know that social proof (a la testimonials, statistics/data, user reviews) speaks a million times —- yes, a million times —- louder than most of the marketing copy you could write and put online.

So why aren’t your testimonials helping to build trust and convert? I mean, dammit, you spent all this time tracking down happy customers, getting their testimonials, getting them to sign off on them and putting everything through legal —- and now that it’s on your site, it just doesn’t feel right. What went wrong? (more…)

“Full price? Are you mad!?!” - How today’s customers expect to save online

WebCopyGirl — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:31:25 +0000

I write a lot of emails/EMs for clients in the software/hi-tech industry. Of course, at the end of the day, they’re all in the people-/customer-/user-focused industry. At least, they want to be. No, sorry, at least they say they want to be.

When you’re sending out multiple EMs to segments of 50,000 or 100,000 subscribers, you can do a lot of testing. And that’s usually good… except when it leads to overlooking common sense. CASE IN POINT: Testing offers.

Testing one offer over another is good. But what’s not as good —- for the customer, that is —- is testing an offer vs. no offer. (more…)

Your ideal agency - a video

WebCopyGirl — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:26:19 +0000

iMedia Connection had a great piece in their mailing today: What the perfect agency looks like, a video of brand managers revealing how agencies can (and should) evolve to meet their needs. Have a watch. (more…)

Show, don’t tell: Part one of a writing series

WebCopyGirl — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:20:45 +0000

I’ve been wondering lately why I’m so bothered by a client asking me to write his landing pages with headers proclaiming that his company is #1. It just felt wrong, telling people that. But why did it feel so wrong?

One of the companies for whom I do a bit of work sent its executive team to a two-day storytelling workshop in February.

My first thought: What do they care about storytelling? (I was jealous I couldn’t go, which lead me to…) (more…)

Progressively Deteriorating: Does ‘natural’ equal better?

WebCopyGirl — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:48:28 +0000

There’s this idea running loose right now that a better user experience is one that is most natural for the user. Kinda makes sense – except I’m not clear on what ‘natural’ means. This all springs up from what Jonathan Follett wrote on XDMatters.com. Here are a few direct quotes from that article: (more…)

Bypassing the email middle man

WebCopyGirl — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:34:57 +0000

Have you seen this? WestJet GetSet is an application that runs directly on your desktop and delivers (as pop-ups or as a ‘glow’) offers to people who sign up for it. No email inbox to compete with. So interesting—–especially insofar as permission marketing of this sort really helps WestJet contact engaged customers the way those customers want.

Very interesting approach —- bypasses the email ‘middle man’ entirely by going straight to the desktop.Check it out to understand it. So cool. http://www.westjetgetset.com/default_dev.asp

I heart Susie B. at Amazon.ca customer service

WebCopyGirl — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:51:45 +0000

If you read my January 20 post re: weak company apologies, then you’ll know that I think true, solid apologies are not optional—-in fact, they’re critical. Well, I think that… and I’m pretty sure customers think that, too.

As a customer of Amazon.ca, I was recently very, very pleasantly surprised by their outstanding customer service. Quickly, here’s what happened before I got to customer service:

Yesterday morning, I ordered 3 books on Amazon.ca

After finishing the order, I went back to the site and found another book I wanted

I went in to edit my order, hoping I’d make it in time, before anything was shipped (more…)

Testing: When we take “Don’t make me think” as professional advice

WebCopyGirl — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:03:52 +0000

I love Steve Krug’s “Don’t make me think.” If you want to write better sites with the user in mind, then this is the book to read. Most of us have read it… or, at least, we have it on our shelves and we find ways to drop the title in conversation. Either way, the concept of not making a user think on the Web defines how we understand usability and, in turn, shapes how we approach online content strategies - from creative design and copy to information architecture and user interface design.

Question: Has “don’t make me think” become a mantra for *everything* webby that we do? Have we, as Web specialists, stopped thinking ourselves?

Consider the many ways we’ve stopped thinking: (more…)