Rough Draft

Hey, because this is episode 90, let’s do something a little different today. Let’s talk music. Tell me if you recognize any of these names: – The Antlers – Real Estate – Tune-Yards – M83 – Beirut – Wye Oak – Feist – Tom Waits – The Head and the Heart – James Blake –…

“So many English teachers shoved complex sentences down my throat that now a simple sentence almost makes my skin crawl.” That’s Tim Biden, during a Twitter conversation about writing for the web. He was responding to a tweet where I shared a link to my first Copyblogger post: “The Disgustingly Simple Rule for Web Writing…

So the job of the online copywriter is to attract attention, stoke interest, create desire, and incite action. AIDA. Attracting attention used to be mainly concerned with stopping the reader dead in his tracks. A good headline will do that. Before the web — in the world of print — advertisers bought space in magazines…

Before social media entered the stage a marketer’s job was two-fold: write a compelling landing page and drive traffic to that landing page. But the internet has changed all of that. Not so much the internet, but social media. In particular — networks like Twitter, Reddit, 4chan, and YouTube — the most potent platforms for…

Ever meet someone who completely revamps the way you look at an issue? This is the story of how an older gentleman changed my mind about what it takes to be successful. The first time I met Peter Hut was in a swank, open-air lounge where the concrete floor shone from a glossy finish. Peter…

Never forget that the formula for writing for the web is simple: it must be clear, concise, and compelling. We’ve covered how to make it clear and concise. Let’s look at what it really takes to make it compelling.