Playing It Safe: Copy/Content

#1

This is good copywriting I think..

Jack

#3

There it should be all better now. No need to be afraid and hide Mouse. We all family!

This shows everyone that for great copy, you need some great editors (or at least thoroughly proofread your own work). Let this be a lesson to all.

Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)

#5

People neglect copywriting, but even worse, many people don't follow up on their copywriting.

Take an Adwords campaign, for example. You write an add, let it run, and get data for the number of click-thrus for that ad. Good start. Furthermore, you can track conversions on your site for that ad. Even better. Now with that data in hand, you can tweak that ad, even write a targeted landing page for that ad. So much you can do when you have data.

Does anyone do something similar with site content? (*ahem* we do!).

There are lots of copywriters out there, good ones too. Unfortunately opinion isn't what defines successful copy, it's conversions (and whatever you decide a conversion is for a particular site).

Mike P. (http://www.fiftyfoureleven.com/sandbox/weblog/)

#7

I would suggest everyone follow Mark's advice. When you try to sound like someone else it really shows and just comes off the wrong way to potential clients. Why do you think blogs work so well? Because clients get to see a human voice behind the designer and not just some ridiculous marketing speak put up on screen.

And like Mike said if the copy doesn't convince the person to go with you and your product then maybe it needs some adjusting.

Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)

#9

Here's some good copy: WDDG.

I always remember that site for the way the copy complements the design. I always remember how jealous I am that I didn't come up with it first. :P

Chris Vincent (http://dris.dyndns.org:8080/)

#11

I think that we sometimes need to pull our heads from out of our asses. When doing anytime of writing I often find myself using words that I hardly use anywhere else other than the web. We are under the impression that these big words somehow make us better.

What I have learned is to not be afraid to go with those words that make you seem more sophisticated, but also do not be afraid to go with your first choice of words.

Nowadays it seems as if everyone is a big word guru, but nothing else at the same time. I am not afraid of big words, I could talk above many people if I felt the need to display a superiority complex, but there is no reason.

It seems like when I visit many web designers/web consultants’ pages, as of late it is the word game. They tell you exactly what they do, but you are left in a daze because the usage of their words boggles you.

Now I realize I am not the most credible source, many people I see on a daily basis naysay what I have to say because I am just a 19-year-old web designer. However, there is no reason to be afraid to dumb it down at times. When business comes looking for you, it is okay to use those big words a bit. But, do the majority if the businesses that come to you want you wording the content for their consumer in a way that they cannot understand?

Ryan (http://www.destroyhope.org)

#13

I would argue that it is still safe simply because of the way you go after Nielsen. Sometimes you do so with anger and other times it is all in playful fun, however each and everytime there is a purpose and an educational reply on how to improve his experience. It is one thing to simply go against someone without presenting a solution and another to say that someone is wrong and here is the right way to do it.

In the case of how you approach everything you are putting yourself at a higher level than Jakob and showing how most of his philosophies should be left in the past. In a sense you are becoming the new Jakob and CEOs and CTOs should be able to realize that.

But then again, I could completely wrong as I admit to not understanding the corporate politics of the Valley. In any case keep up the good work.

Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)

#15

There's a difference between good copywriting and writing sales hype. The kind of stuff Joe Vitale talks about oozes to the gills with sales hype, for all he mentions the need to be sincere. You get this stuff in copywriting agencies everywhere. He does have one good point though: State the idea, then illustrate it. He should have left it at that though. His illustration of it is classic bad copywriting.

Question: is good copywriting merely writing that SELLS, as he suggests, this cliched fast-talk white-teeth-shining pyramid-selling bullshit, or does it share some of the same qualities of what we may simply call "good writing"?

When we attach "copy" to "writing" do we imply something else? Is "copywriting" for selling your grandmother and "writing" for novels? Or is "copywriting" also "writing"? Certainly a lot of "copywriting" stinks of the kind of diatribe taught in copywriting agencies, where people write nothing but ads all day. But does only a fellow writer recognise that? Who knows, maybe the public buys this kind of trashy writing? The best copywriting I ever saw was where it was clear the copywriter was bored sick of his job and wanted to inject a little scurrilous subversive humour into the brief under the nose of his client. It still didn't make me want to buy that brand of soap, however, so perhaps the mollycoddling crap school of copywriting still wins out.

J

#17

And look! The Whitespace logo changes again!

Sorry, off-topic, but I just noticed.

Phil Baines (http://www.wubbleyew.com/blog)