Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

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X Marks the Spot

December 12, 2011
Goonies Treasure Map

Photo by MontyAustin

Begin with the end in mind.

This has to be one of the greatest pieces of advice ever offered. Because if you don’t know where you’re headed, how can you possibly know when you’ve arrived?  Or how to get there in the first place?

That goes double for your website.

The success of your website will be determined by the degree to which you ask yourself this one question:

(ready?)

What do I want people to do here?

Ask and answer this critical question and you will have the foundation for a winning site.

“What do I want people to do here?” gets at results.  Here are some possible answers:

  • I want people to fill out this form.
  • I want people to pick up the phone and call me. (Are you sure?)
  • I want people to attend an open house.
  • I want people to register for a class.
  • I want people to make a donation.
  • I want people to buy my book.
  • I want people to gain confidence that I am the right resource for them.

Combined with a clear understanding of your target market (“What do people want to do here?”), you have everything you need to create a website that gets results.

Careful!

Uh oh.  Is this you?

Ann, spot on as usual!  Brilliant!  Yes, I want people to do ALL of those things!

Danger, Will Robinson.

One objective per audience.

Websites get clunky in a hurry when you ask them to do too much.

Yes, it’s likely that you have more than one audience.  And you want to appeal to all of those audiences.  But you can’t do it all on your homepage.  (Really, you can’t).

Example

Say you’re building a website for an educational institution.  You have prospective students, current students, alumni, faculty, and parents all visiting your site.

Consider:

  • For each of these audiences, what is the one thing I want people to do right now? (Yes, of course it can change later).
  • Which of these things is most important to my institution right now?
  • Are there one or two others that are almost as important to my institution right now?

The most important call to action goes on the homepage. Maybe there’s a secondary call to action in a sidebar or near the bottom.  Everything else goes inside.

And I do mean everything else.

For this to work, you’re going to have to be very tough. Because everybody’s going to think their thing is the thing that should be put right on the homepage.  Don’t do it! Stand your ground.

You will be rewarded with a website that does exactly what it’s supposed to do and generates results everyone will be proud of.

 

Posted in Marketing, Strategy, Web Development, Writing | Leave a Comment »

Why bother? Nobody reads this blog anyway.

November 30, 2011
pout face

Photo by malisonia

Many of my clients buy into the idea of doing a blog, but unfortunately, many of them struggle more than they’d like.  Which results in much pouting.

The truth is, it’s hard to create content consistently. Even if you’re blessed with lots of interesting things to say, narrowing them down to that one idea that will develop into a captivating 500 word post is daunting.

Forget the time it takes to actually write the post and get it on your blog.

The number one question I get from my clients regarding blogging is this: “How much time do I really need to spend on this?”

What they’re hoping for is a magic bullet: here’s the minimum amount of time you need to commit to this to see a return.

If only!

The truth is, it’s all about consistency.

Look, you didn’t gain 20 extra pounds because you put gravy on your mashed potatoes last Thursday. You gained the weight by eating a little too much every day for the past few years (or longer).

The same holds true for your blog.

When you write every day, or three times a week, you build a backlog of thoughtful, keyword-rich content that will make your website irresistible to Google and build an audience over time.

So what if nobody reads your blog today? By creating content day after day, even when you don’t feel like it, you are attracting readers for the future.  Really.

You know how crash diets don’t work?  Content binges don’t work either.  You can’t cheat the process.  You reap what you sow.

A Note on Being Perfect

In a way, quantity trumps quality in blogging.

Don’t get me wrong.  Yes, you absolutely need great quality content.  But the bar is lower than you think.

Not every blog post needs to be Pulitzer Prize worthy.  It’s okay to write about how your clients are driving you crazy, or how you’re overwhelmed at work, or how you really like ho-hos.

Everything in moderation, especially ho-hos.

Try to remember that different types of posts appeal to different types of readers. Go for variety.

And, above all, don’t make a hard job harder by writing about something you’re not that excited about right now. Go with your interests and moods, not against them.

My Most Popular Post

The most popular post on Ideabook is from March 18, 2010.  It’s called Compare and Contrast: Twitter vs. Facebook.  Apparently people are wildly curious about that topic, because I get a ton of search hits for it.

The second most popular post is the one called Wearing a Prosthesis, and it was posted on January 21, 2011.  That one is hot because it mentions a blog post by movie critic Roger Ebert, and on the first version, I misspelled his name as Robert Ebert.  Apparently, a lot of people screwed that up on search.  Go me.

My point is, you never know what’s going to be popular.  You never know when our 24 hour news cycle will catapult something you wrote two years ago to the top of the search results.

One thing’s for sure.  Consistently writing about what moves you and your readers will make that kind of exposure a lot more likely.

Posted in Blogging, Marketing, Writing | 10 Comments »

The 7 x 3 rule

November 28, 2011

One of the earliest and most basic steps in planning a website is to define your navigation.  How many main pages will you have?  And how many sub pages?  And how many sub sub pages?

Here’s a little rule I live by: 7 x 3.

Seven

Each menu on your website should have no more than seven items.

Why seven?  Because, as a rule, seven is the maximum number of items a person can keep in his head at once.  This is why phone numbers have seven digits.

Why does this matter?  When a person interacts with your menu, he creates a virtual map of your site in his head.  This helps him remember where he’s been and where he still needs to go.

“Okay, I’m in the About section now.  And there are six other sections, and I generally know what they are.”

Sure, he probably doesn’t say that out loud.  But he’s comfortable.

When you have 14 items in your menu, danger!  Your user will  forget where she’s been.  She’ll get confused, nay, lost.

Three

Your website should have no more than three layers of navigation:

  • Main Menu
    • Sub Menu
      • Sub sub menu

That’s IT.

Again, people like three. They can hold onto three.  Three makes sense.  Four, five or six do not make sense.

That’s not enough pages!

Really?

Seven items in your main navigation.  Each of those has seven items underneath of it, and each of THOSE has seven items underneath of IT.

73 = 343 items

What are you, Amazon.com?

If you are, thanks for reading my blog!  Tell your friends!

If not, consider this:

Even Amazon lives by this rule.  Mostly.

Amazon's Category Navigation

Nine departments.  I can give them that, can’t you? They genuinely have a really big site.

Each of the departments has a manageable number of items underneath.  Under books, we have six.  Others have more, but they also have dividers in between to help you chunk items together in your head:

Home and Garden Nav

13 items, but they’re organized into 4 groups.  Which is almost like a third level of navigation.

All of this is to say that, even if you’re Amazon.com, you still pretty much play by these rules.

You probably don’t browse departments like this when you use Amazon, but if you did, you’d have a reasonably happy time of it.

It’s Navigation, Not Pages

So you’ve got up to 343 items in your navigation.  Remember, this does not necessarily equate to 343 pages on your site.

If you have an ecommerce site where you sell thousands of products, you’re going to have more than 343 pages.  But while your departments may be in your navigation, each product won’t be.

And if your site’s really that complicated, you’re going to need to lean on your site’s search capabilities anyway.

This rule is for you.

I’ve never met a site I couldn’t fit into the 7 x 3 rule with a little creativity.

It’s well worth the effort to give your visitors the best possible experience.

Posted in Graphic Design, Marketing, Strategy, Web Development, Writing | 1 Comment »

Want to be a better writer? Use fewer words.

November 22, 2011
Journal

Photo by curtfleenor

Straight up writing advice.  Ready?

Use fewer words.

Sure, there are writers out there who use complex language to awe-inspiring effect.

I could name any number of literary giants, but instead I’ll introduce you to David Thorne, whose hilarious posts send me spiraling into a word candy coma.

Seriously, it’s like a roller coaster ride of brilliance, made all the more compelling by drawings of cats and the Australian accent I imagine while reading it.

Back to my point

For every David Thorne, there are a thousand equally skilled writers who get the job done in the fewest possible words.  Like Ernest Hemingway, for example.

And sadly, for every Hemingway, there are a hundred thousand writers whose sentences look like this:

In an effort to compensate for their individual lack of knowledge on either the IT or Facility requirements, many customers…

How about this instead?

To compensate for knowledge gaps, many customers…

That’s like, half as long.  And twice as precise.

I see this all the time.

Too many words!  Stop it.

Here are some tips:

1. Instead of using a modifier, think of a better verb. Which is better?  He said softly?  Or, he whispered?  Or, he spat? Or, he sighed?

2. Don’t be redundant. Your readers are smarter than you think they are. If you’ve been talking about IT or Facility requirements for 23 pages, you don’t need to say that again here.

3. Put your ideas in a logical order.  Every time you sit down to write, you’re making an argument.  Treat it as such.

Do you think this rant came out of me perfectly? 

Or do you think I sat here for an hour editing it, testing every idea, reordering things repeatedly, and deleting with abandon?

(It’s the second one).

Bonus personal pet peeve

4. Never say something happened “suddenly.”  Of course it happened suddenly.  Doesn’t everything happen suddenly?  First it isn’t, then a moment later, it is. Suddenly is inherently redundant.

How to write

  1. Get it all out on paper.
  2. Strike any idea that raises more questions than it answers.
  3. Go back to the beginning and reduce your word count by 1/3.
  4. Add new ideas as they come to you, but only if they’re brilliant.
  5. Go to step 2.

Be ruthless.

Posted in Writing | 3 Comments »

The Content Conundrum

January 26, 2011

You can’t outsource content marketing.

This is a problem that has been plaguing me for months, if not years.

I’m a very good writer in a world where many people struggle with writing. I should be able to make crazy money ghost blogging and ghost tweeting and ghost facebooking.

Oh, damn you, scruples! Why can’t I convince myself that’s okay?

Because it isn’t.

Because you can’t outsource content marketing.

“People can smell a poser from a mile away”

That’s a line from Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, Crush It. So true.

Listen, I can spin a pretty yarn, but I am not you.  I’m not passionate about lug nuts or rocket boosters or pizza kits.  You are.  That’s why you do what you do.

Say you outsource your blog to me.  It’s my job to invent the topics, write the posts, and promote them. You approve them from afar.  That’s what you want, right?  Approval, with no effort.

Now imagine you’re one of 30 ghost blogging clients, all of whom are in completely different industries.

Here’s a clue: under those circumstances, I will never sound like you do when you talk about the thing you love. I don’t know your subject matter well enough. And I don’t care enough, because I’ve got 29 other posts to write today.

(You’re starting to see why I can’t condone this).

If your blog is written by someone who doesn’t care, who doesn’t know her stuff, who is punching a clock…no one will read it.

You might as well throw your money out the window.

The only way I can truly manage your blog with so little input from you is if I spend a lot of time with you.  A lot of time.

Which means you’d better get ready for a big fat salary and a sharp uptick in the coffee consumption in your office, because I don’t come cheap.

What if you’re not a writer?

Easy for me to say.  But what if you’re not a writer?

Hang with me here, because I’ve got an important distinction coming.

DON’T: outsource your blog or twitter stream to a writer (or, god help us, a “social media expert”)

DO: hire a writer to draft and edit your blog posts, or cull your content for tweets.

What’s the difference?  When you outsource your content, you’re handing the whole process over to someone else.  Topics, research, writing, execution: it all goes to a third party.

If somebody promises you that you won’t have to do a thing but approve it, run away.

The content for your blog, or your tweets, or your facebook page HAS to come from you.  That means you have to write articles, or at least write outlines. You have to find the intersection of what matters to you and what matters to your audience and spend some time there.

That’s the heavy lifting of content creation, and it’s your responsibility. Once that’s done, feel free to hire someone like me to make it sound good.

Creation vs. Distribution

Here’s another way to think about.

YOU: Content creation

ME: Content distribution

You are the creator, the source of the original thought that will appeal to your audience.  I’m the conduit for that thought.

I can take your ideas and whip them into shape. I can blast them out through any number of channels.

But they’re your ideas.  They have to be.

What do you think?  Tell me in the comments.

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Social Media, Twitter, Writing | 2 Comments »

Content snacking

January 12, 2011

“Content snacking.”  Doesn’t that just say it all?

OBVIOUS: People don’t really read your content. They take a nibble here and there, then draw their own conclusions.

If you want to communicate effectively online (and in print), here are some rules to live by:

1. White Space

Jargon alert!

White space is an area in your design that is intentionally left blank.  It’s the breathing room around your content.

White space makes your piece feel less overwhelming.  And less overwhelming equals easier to read.

How do you create white space in your copy?

  • Large headings (with generous spacing)
  • Ordered lists
  • Bullet lists
  • Pull out quotes / block quotes
  • Wide margins
  • Short paragraphs
  • Generous leading, i.e., line height
  • Generous kerning, i.e., the space between the characters

Next time you feel the urge to fill every pixel of your screen with content, resist!  Music is the notes, but it’s also the spaces between the notes.  The same goes for good writing.

2. Headings

Another great reason to use headings is as a scanning aid. (“Content snacking,” remember?)

If you give people descriptive headings, they can consume your piece faster. They can get a top level view of the structure and major points of your piece at the start, then drill into the sections that are of interest to them.

Trust me, nobody wins if you get someone to read a paragraph that doesn’t matter to them.

3. Short Paragraphs

People skip long paragraphs. Sad, but true. Aim for 1-2 sentences per paragraph to improve readability.

Offended by this idea?  I was too, til I tried it. Look, I love Dostoyevsky as much as the next literary nerd, but he would have had trouble getting subscribers to his blog.

Not only do shorter paragraphs make your work easier to read, they make it punchier too.  Now I get nervous every time a paragraph wraps onto a second line in my editor.

Why does it matter?

You want people to read what you write, don’t you?  Don’t you?

Right. So that’s all there is to it.

What have I missed?  What are your go-to tricks for improving readability? Tell me in the comments.

Posted in Writing | 1 Comment »

The Ballad of Dr. Krinkle

January 7, 2011

Sam’s been hanging out at Starbucks since he was four days old.

At this point, the boy knows his way around.  He knows where to find the chocolate milk and where to stand while mommy waits for her latte. But in those early days, the best part about Starbucks was Dr. Krinkle.

I remember Dr. Krinkle fondly.  It was the best toy we ever bought for Sam.  It was noisy and disposable. You could chew it, rip it, drop it on the floor or wear it like a hat.

Dr. Krinkle is the little brown bag the muffins come in.

It’s all about simplicity.

When someone’s just getting to know you and your business, they’re not ready to be dazzled by the latest gadget with its flashing lights and kung fu action.  Like babies, they prefer simplicity.  Here are some tips:

1. Give them something to hang their hats on.

There are all sorts of fancy, memorable ways to talk about what you do, but first, consider giving people a frame of reference. I tell people I’m a writer and marketing strategist.

Okay, they’re with me.  Now everything else I say has meaning, because they can compare it to their existing idea of what it means to be that thing.

2. Tell a story about how you made a difference.

I like the “That reminds me…” approach to story telling.  In other words, don’t fly out of the gate with your best superhero moment.  That sounds rehearsed, which of course, it is.

Instead, do your best to engage in meaningful conversation.  Eventually, the other person will say something that gives you an opening to tell a relevant, positive story.

Be a good listener and wait for it.  Your moment will come.

3. No throwing up on my monitor, please.

Are you trying to say too much on your website?  Unless you’re the New York Times, you probably don’t have that many stories to tell.

Don’t try to be all things to all people on your homepage.  Consider how you can make your case in a clear, compelling way.

If you really do have multiple audiences (challenge this!), provide a few thoughtfully planned windows into your site that will connect your visitors to content that matters to them.

Be respectful.

In the end, keeping it simple is about being respectful.  Not everyone is going to care about what you have to say, nor should they!  It’s too much to ask.

Keep your message clear and compelling. The right people will love you for it.

Posted in Marketing, Strategy, Web 2.0, Writing | Leave a Comment »

Terrified

January 4, 2011

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’m terrified.

Specifically, I’m terrified that:

  1. I’m not good enough.
  2. Someone’s going to find out.

You feel the same way?

[awkward]

Well, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…

To be honest,

The Year of Not Waiting isn’t going so well.  I spent a big chunk of today checking twitter so I could avoid doing a job I was afraid to start.

Finally, I went looking for a little courage via instant message and my friend Michael. Here’s how it went:

Me: I feel so unworthy of writing this.
Michael: you are worthy
Me: I actually think I should go get a job as a waitress.  Or a truck driver.
Michael: really? I think you should stand up, look in the mirror, and say “That was a fucking stupid thing I just said…let me not say that again.”

Laughing, crisis averted, I turned back to my pesky Word document and finished the job.

My point is,

Everybody feels this way sometimes, especially when things are changing.  It’s okay to be terrified.  It’s even okay to stop and get your bearings.

You have to stop so you can go.

Which reminds me, watch this:

Posted in Motivation, Personal, Writing | Leave a Comment »

The Cost of Too Much Information

December 29, 2010

The key to successful marketing is delivering the right message to the right person at the right time.

Easier said than done.

It’s true that it may take 8-10 impressions before your message gets through the filter and into your prospect’s brain.

It’s also true that, once you’ve made it in there, you’ll become annoying in a hurry.

So What?

Who cares if you saturate your prospects’ brains with your message?  At least they heard it!  That’s the important thing…right?

Wrong.

Think of information as a commodity that is bought and sold. The currency is attention.  If your information costs too much because it’s boring, or repetitive, or too long, or otherwise difficult to read, you will alienate your audience.

Placing too many demands on your audience’s attention will cause them to stop listening altogether.

What To Do Instead

Here are a few things to think about as you craft your messages:

Frequency vs. Ease of Digestion

Everybody loves Seth Godin’s blog.  You know why?  Because it’s easy to read.

Seth is witty and irreverent and charming and smart and, above all, easy to consume.  He publishes every day, and it never gets old because it’s never painful.

The more you post, or tweet, or email, the more digestible you have to be.  Make it shorter. Make it funnier. Make it illustrated. Be the one they look forward to.

Be relevant.

Relevant to your reader, that is.  Nobody cares about the new Vice President you just hired.  Nobody cares that it was Susie from Accounting’s birthday last week.  I assure you, they do. not. care.

Being relevant is the same as being respectful. Yes, you need to be out there creating and sharing content.  Make sure it’s content people enjoy or find useful. Or both.

Be an individual.

There is value in speaking in your own authentic voice.

It wasn’t long ago that independents and other small companies had no choice but to try to seem bigger than they were.  The big company was the safe choice, and you had to be the safe choice to compete. (Bevans Group, anyone?)

That’s just not true anymore.

You can be an independent, or own a micro-company, and be considered tops in your field.  And that means you can let your personality out of that burlap sack you’ve been keeping it in.

Ask challenging questions. Try to be funny. Be honest. Be emotional. Fail miserably at the funny bit. Try again.

Make Every Word Count

Never forget that every word you type has a price tag on it.  Make your content count.

Posted in Marketing, Strategy, Writing | 2 Comments »

Using Your Words Wisely

December 28, 2010

I have no evidence of this, but I’m going to tell you anyway.

My husband Dave says that there’s a tradition in Judaism that you only have so many words in you.  When you use them up, you die.

Implications:

  • You should decide in advance what’s worth talking about
  • Always be concise
  • When you’ve made your point, shut up

I really suck at this when I’m talking on the phone or fighting with my Creative Director, but I kind of rock at it when it comes to writing marketing copy.  Here are some ideas:

Decide in Advance

What are the messages that really matter to your audience? What’s going to move them? Throw everything else away.

It’s likely that at least half the content on your website (and probably 90% of your brochure) is verbal wallpaper.  You said it because you had the space to say it.  Stop that.

Be Concise

If you can make your point in two paragraphs, do you really need five?  Right, so that’s that.

Shut Up

When you write five paragraphs instead of two, you’re only repeating yourself.  You’re like the na na section at the end of  that irritating rock song from the 80s.  I GET IT!  NA NA NA NA NA!!!

Before you add another page to your site, or hit send on that blast email, or print up another 1500 brochures, take careful stock of what you’re saying. Don’t tell yourself it couldn’t hurt.  It can, and does, every day.

Posted in Marketing, Writing | 1 Comment »

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