There are seemingly millions of gadgets out there to make our lives easier. Surprisingly, some actually work.

One that came in handy for me the other day is actually a web service called YouSendIt (www.yousendit.com). Now I have no shares in the company, and in fact I have never actually sent anything with it. But I have received files from clients with it, including my most recent one — 468 MB of photos for an article I’m writing. Beats sending a CD by express mail!

Best of all, they have a Lite Account that is free up to 100 MB per file, and 1 GB per month. Paid services offer bigger file sizes and other features.

So what’s your favourite gadget or web service? Let us know!

I’m a very deadline-oriented person. And like many writers, I suspect, I work better under other people’s deadlines. Too often I have put a new project on my to-do list, but because it there is no deadline attached, it usually gets pushed back another day…

If a new or long-time client sends you a project without a return date, always email them to get a firm deadline. The reason I say email and not phone is because sometimes one or both parties get their dates confused. As I mentioned in a previous post, it is good to document all important details of a project including the deadline for future reference.

It is certainly okay to decide on your own deadline, especially if you are the project manager and in charge of creating timelines. But still, tell your clients when you will have the content back to them– that will relieve the (totally natural) temptation to let the project slide…

~Graham

“So during all this time there were many adventures that happened in the great city, and, of these, several — or perhaps one — are here set down.”

My favourite writer of all-time is F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Great Gatsby still represents the closest thing to “a perfect novel” as I have ever read.

But I think he was much stronger as a short story writer than a novelist. His short stories can be broken down into two general categories: his “literary” stories and his money-making stories. Fitzgerald once complained that these adventures sold to the general public took only a week to write but were his most popular ones, while the stories he laboured over for three weeks or more were largely ignored. Although I can see where he was coming from, making $3,000 per story (in 1920’s dollars) I imagine softened the blow a little bit…

One of his great literary stories is May Day. As the name suggests, it takes place on May 1, just after the end of WWI. It actually follows the lives of several different people throughout the day, giving a great “slice of life” of New York, 1919.

This story may also be the origin of the term “morally bankrupt” (if anyone can confirm or deny this, please let me know!), though the meaning now is a little more defined than the way Fitzgerald uses it.

Since this story was published before 1923 US copyright laws took effect, the story is in the public domain and can be legally viewed online. If it’s been a while, take some time today to re-read this classic. And if you have never read it, treat yourself to one of the greatest stories that Fitzgerald ever wrote. I’ll be reading it a some point today:

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/mayday/mayday.html

Happy Reading!

~Graham

One of the great things about the whole Web 2.0 thing is the way it handles content delivery. The end goal, of course, is to give the visitor exactly the information they want, when they want it.

But despite the promises, there are still some bugs to work out.

I was reading the Boston Globe the other day, and noticed in the “Most Read” column (another great Web 2.0 feature) a listing for “Clemens sex trouble”. Now I’m not really a baseball fan, but that headline is a little hard to resist.

Clicking the link brings you to the story along with a handy Google map (left). I guess the idea is that it will help you find any businesses in the area that are related to the published story. Unfortunately, some un-web savvy readers will be scratching their heads wondering why they haven’t heard of Clemons and his sex tour of Boston colleges before now…

The Internet is all about content delivery, and as a content provider I am pretty excited about what the future holds. It’s almost as exciting to see those mis-steps along the way.

~Graham

There is a direct-mail letter that generated an estimated $1 billion in sales over an 18-year span. It was written by Marty Conroy for The Wall Street Journal, a simple two-page letter that told the life stories of two college graduates who went on to the same company. However 25 years on, one was a manager while the other was its president. The implication (never explicitly expressed) was that the president read The Wall Street Journal, helping him gain success in the business world.

You can read the whole letter here.

As you see, it is a fairly unassuming piece. But because of its enormous success at generating subscriptions, it is considered by many to be the best direct mail letter of all time.

So what can we learn from this piece? In fact, quite a lot. Just as fiction writers are encouraged to read the classics, copywriters and other types of marketing writers should study what has come before.

I have a collection of various pieces that I’ve collected over the years. Direct mail pieces that worked, brochures, magazine ads — you name it. I even kept a napkin from a restaurant once that had a witty saying. I also save banner ads and web pages I come across on the Internet.

I’ve since found that this is a common practice among many professional creative types. But the key is not just to stuff them into a folder and forget about them. Refer to them from time to time, decide why you like it and what works with it, see what you can apply to your own current projects.

I wouldn’t recommend using these pieces verbatim — apparently the world’s greatest sales letter is also the world’s most ripped off piece of marketing writing. Instead, use them as a source of inspiration to take your own copywriting to the next level.

Do you have any copywriting examples that you think are especially unique? Hit the “Comment” button and let us know!

~Graham

Okay, it’s finally happened. The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is featuring an exhibition on the typewriter. Now I admit, I never really used one of these — I was probably the first one in my school to turn in an essay using my C64 and a dot-matrix printer (Quick Brown Fox, was the word processor called?). But I do remember messing up the keys on one when I was small, and my parents taking it down to the typewriter repair shop. I think it was right next door to the penny farthing bike shop…

But I do have a nifty piece of software that I love running in the background. It’s called “Sound Pilot” and it makes typewriter sounds as you type, including the good ol’ return bell when you hit the “Enter” key.

I’m not sure how I can be nostalgic for something I never used, but I just love the clackety-clack of the keys as I type. It’s reassuring — it makes you sound like your busy. I mean even at your busiest, the quiet blips of the keyboard don’t really turn up the excitement level.

Try it out for yourself, if you’re so inclined. And let me know what bits of software you have to make the writing day more fun!

~Graham

Rick Sloboda recently posted an article on CMSWire describing some practical web writing strategies. As the title Web Writing Tactics that Convert suggests, it has some great tips on how to improve your conversion rates.

But I think these guidelines apply to any type of writing, web content or otherwise. For example, Rick promotes writing tight copy, removing clichés, providing you-driven messages, and of course, creating a strong call to action.

Although the term “conversion rate” is decidedly a web-oriented term (within the context that he uses it here), really all marketing copy needs to “convert” on some level. Rick points out that web content is a little more flexible when trying to improve those conversions: “The Web is a fantastic medium to determine what web writing works and what doesn’t,” and is also great for tweaking your copy as you go.

Non-web writing might be a bit more like taking aim in the dark, but these tips will certainly improve your chances of hitting your target.

~Graham

Every copywriter at some point encounters an unhappy client. Despite your best efforts, your client will tell you that he or she hates what you have written. Some will tell you in a nicer way than others – and it is definitely the not-so-nice ones that hurt most.

Typical symptoms after receiving this news may include: anxiety, depression, pangs of self-doubt, fear, anger, and/or a sudden urge to work at the 7-11 on the corner.

But hold on, don’t fill out that application quite yet. Here are three things to do that I found help the situation.

Don’t Panic. If you received the news via email, take a few minutes to re-read the email and absorb the words. If you are talking with the client on the phone, take a few seconds to let the nausea pass. This is likely not a personal attack on you, just an indication that the client was looking for something different that what you wrote. Remember, in the end these are not your words but your client’s so ultimately he or she needs to be comfortable with the copy.

Ask for Specifics. Don’t just accept a blanket rejection. Ask your clients to be specific about what they didn’t like. Keep in mind that this might be difficult for them – quite often they’ll say: “I don’t know what it is – I just don’t like it!” Start with the initial premise, discuss key sentences and sections, and try to find out exactly where you took the wrong turn.

You also want to find out what your client did like about the piece. This will certainly help you get back on track – and restore some of that self-esteem.

Ask for Examples. This is actually a good idea to do before you start a project with a new client. Often, clients can’t describe exactly what they want (which is a big part of why you were hired in the first place…), but they do know what they like. Ask them to send you samples of or links to similar pieces they like, and follow the tone and style in the your own copy.

Almost all creative types take rejection badly. But if you distance yourself from the work, find out what is wrong, and fix it, both you and the client will feel better in the end!

Have a horror story of your own? How did you handle it? Comment below and let us know!

~Graham

In previous articles in this series we talked about how to survive editing by committee (click on the “editing by committee” tag at the bottom to see all posts in this series). In this segment the message is simple: document everything.

This doesn’t just mean writing up work orders or project timelines, but summaries of meetings. For example, usually when I take a phone call about the project at hand, I’ll send an email summarizing our discussion. This can be presented as a clarification (e.g. “as we discussed, I will be researching the XX company and providing a short, 250 word backgrounder…”) or a question (e.g. “I know we briefly discussed the XX company backgrounder, but we never confirmed whether I should go ahead with that…)

The reason to send this email is simple: to document all discussions. Phone conversations can be forgotten, especially if you are working on a large, long-term project. This way, should a problem arise out of a miscommunication, you have your email(s) to back you up.

If there are multiple contacts on a project, you may want to cc others with this documentation as well. However, be careful with this. You don’t want to step on toes, and you don’t want to cc people who hate those “Reply All” messages. Usually I confirm up front with my main contact who needs to be cc’d on everything and who doesn’t. Then I stick to that plan unless there is a special need to cc someone to bring them into the loop.

It doesn’t take much to jot down the highlights of your conversations into an email. And as I have learned over the years, keeping a documented chain of events during can really help streamline the project process — and even cover your butt on occasion…

~Graham

Although I already said thanks to James and Harry for their review of my blog, I’d like to formally thank them here for the drive-by. It may take a day (or week!) or two to implement James’s suggestions, but plans are already in the works.

Despite being a little nervous  about the process (does anyone really like being shot at?), it was a great experience. I’m not sure what their Drive-By Sundays are like right now, but they do offer a $25 drive-by done within five days.

If you have a blog (or any website for that matter), I highly recommend getting in contact with them. It always help to have a second set of eyes give you an objective viewpoint of your website (especially if it’s a professional set of eyes!) 

Thanks again guys!

~Graham