Back in 2002, the independent publishing services firm The Jenkins Group released a survey that said 81% of Americans feel they have a book in them. To which noted writer and editor Joseph Epstein wrote that he has little faith in Americans’ abilities to do so. In fact, most people never get that book out…
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If part of your marketing campaign includes a newsletter, it’s important to remember the importance of demonstrating social proof. According to the Canadian software company Unbounce, social proof can increase newsletter signups by 20%. However, not all social proof is equal. There is such a thing as bad social proof. Three ways social proof can…
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Anyone who writes copy online will be familiar with the call to action, those few words that inspire, compel, urge or otherwise convince prospects that they need to talk to you. According to Hubspot, there are three main types of calls to action, or CTAs: basic, multivariate and personal. With the basic CTA, all visitors…
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We’ve all been told how important a headline is. Now comes this from Copyblogger: Eight out of 10 people will only read the headline. Kind of puts the headline’s importance in perspective, doesn’t it? But what makes a good headline? What makes people claim that “Butt Seized by Terror Police” is a bad headline (and…
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It’s in the writing. According to the marketing firm IMPACT’s blog, 60.8% of marketers agree visual content is absolutely necessary. You can present this information in more than one way. You could say: A small majority — less than two-thirds — believes in the absolute need for visual content. That means they’re in favor of including photos,…
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You’ve written what you think is a solid 1,000 words on a topic in which you’ve an expert. It covers all the key points, you make all the arguments flawlessly, and you post it online where you normally post these sort of articles. Too bad most of what you wrote will never get read —…
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It’s all in the writing and editing. According to the British magazine RealBusiness, 74% of web readers pay attention to the quality of spelling and grammer. This is important because your credibility is at steak with each and every peace you put out there. Granted, there are pimples who won’t care that there’s a mistake…
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It’s all in the writing. According to the blog Boomerang, communication written at a third-grade level receives 36% more responses. Which paragraph speaks to you? Me and dad hunt for bears and deers. When my dad gets a deer he cuts them. He always hunts. I go with him too and I see him get…
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Continuing with my desire to help people use the right words so they sound professional, credible, remarkable and compelling to the people they want to serve, today I discuss whether to use the word shut or close. The idea came from seeing a post on a LinkedIn group I belong to: “I don’t know if this is regional…
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I like to say I help my clients use the right words to highlight what makes them remarkable and compelling to the people they want to serve. To do that requires knowing what the right words are. From time to time, I will publish posts that spotlight issues I see people having with word choice,…
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