Moved email subscriptions from Feedblitz to FeedBurner

You may have noticed that the blog has a new look and feel. Along with the new blog layout, I also moved my email subscription service from Feedblitz to Google's FeedBurner service. To prevent spam, FeedBurner does not allow importing existing subscription lists. So, if you're interested in continuing to receive Wordrider posts, please resubscribe. For the next month or so, I will maintain the old account, so if you get both FeedBurner and Feedblitz emails, just unsubscribe directly from the Feedblitz email. Or let me know and I'll remove your name:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Free Public Relations Book

Ashley Wirthlin of Public Relations Blogger is giving away a free 85-page Public Relations ebook. The book includes helpful tips on everything from press releases to social media.

Get yours at PublicRelationsBook Just fill in name and email for an instant download.

Brooklyn PC Help Desk at your service

You heard it here first.

After helping family, friends and coworkers solve their computer problems for 20 years, I've decided to go public. I am now launching a guerrilla geek service for troubleshooting PC's.

For problems with Windows, Office, email, Internet and more, go to Brooklyn's own PC help desk: Just click the HELP! key at left for Flatbush Computer Solutions

Before you send another email--read this

If you do email marketing. Or even if you just send photos to your friends and family. Read this post from Seth Godin before you send another email: Seth's Blog: How to send a personal email

My profile on LinkedIn

OK, I'm no Barrymore, but with a little help from my friends, I've finally got a presentable profile on LinkedIn. (Any suggestions for improving it? Please email me. I'm a work in progress!)

Frankly, I have been accused of being "anti-social." I don't assign a high priority to sites like MySpace and Facebook for B2B marketing. I once stunned a staff meeting when the CEO asked me to promote the company on MySpace and I said, "No!" Everyone just stared at me. I politely explained that I didn't think MySpace was the right place to put his time and money into promoting enterprise software. It's a virtual singles bar, not the place to attract industrial clients.

On the other hand, I have become convinced it is worthwhile setting up a profile on LinkedIn. To oversimplify, LinkedIn is for business networking, rather than "Hey, look at my cool pictures."

But it's not enough to sign up with LinkedIn and set up a profile just quoting your resume. If you want to make LinkedIn work for you, the indispensable guide is I'm on LinkedIn -- Now What???: A Guide to Getting the Most OUT of LinkedIn by Jason Alba. Both the book and the blog .

Also get the free ebook, Can LinkedIn Increase Your Sales? by Jill Konrath author of Selling to Big Companies. (Not surprisingly, her first piece of advice is to get I'm on LinkedIn -- Now What???)

From hard-sell mail order copywriter to software MarCom

Thought I should tell you... I've gone over to the "other side."

After freelancing for CYBRA Corporation for seven months, I was invited to come onboard. So I've gone from consulting to client side. Have I hung up my guns? With apologies to Shane -- you can't break the mold. There's no going back from being a Killer Copywriter. Right or wrong, it's a brand, a brand that sticks. There's no going back.

But I have made a strategic shift. I've moved from hard sell adman to online communicator. A case in point... CYBRA asked me to write a video script. As you might expect, I originally wrote a problem/solution commercial that had all the charm of Rosser Reeves's 1950's Anacin hammers-in-the-head ad.

Everybody loved it. Except... they wanted funny. I objected... insisting that funny doesn't sell. But then CYBRA president Harold Brand headed me off at the pass. He sent me an article from the Wall St. Journal on using humorous YouTube videos to expand your business. And the article quoted David Meerman Scott, reigning maven of viral video marketing. So there I was: facing down the boss... and the man who wrote the rules.

It was a marketing standoff.

So I made my move. I wrote a new video script. Funny. Everybody laughed. But it was too long. Then, working together with Sheldon Reich, CYBRA VP for Solutions, we turned it into a series of six videos!

So, let me introduce you to 2K…

No, not the millennium. This 2K is only 80 years old... barely five foot tall. And, he loves to dance.

"The MarkMagic Chronicles," features 2K -- "the 2,000 Year Old Programmer" in CYBRA's new series of YouTube videos created to promote the company's award-winning MarkMagic Bar Code Labels, RFID Tags, and Electronic Forms Software for the IBM System i.

Midrange veterans -- from AS/400 to POWER Systems -- will recognize 2K's costume as the gear of many a programmer over the last 20 years of industry conferences. Granted not every code warrior carries a spare Twinax balun in his back pocket, a card deck in his shirt pocket, or a spare 8.5" floppy. But System i insiders will find 2K a hoot... from his patter to his vintage campaign buttons, propeller beanie, and pocket protector.

See the YouTube videos in the player below, or click on the video while it's playing to go to the YouTube page. If your office blocks YouTube, you can see the videos at MarkMagic.com.

And check out the news story Four Hundred Stuff--CYBRA Goes for i's Funny Bone with 2K, the 2,000 Year Old Programmer from Alex Woodie, Senior Editor of IT Jungle publications.

Enjoy... and share! Email the playlist to your friends.

Seth Blogs About: Ham for Channukah

I sent Seth Godin an email I got with a new twist on truth in packaging. It showed some chunks of Ham with a label "Delicious for Chanukah." Seth, who's got a keen eye and ear for truth and insanity in marketing, blogged it at Seth's Blog: Ham for Channukah.

OK, it might actually be delicious. I wouldn't know. But I wonder... is this testimony to the trivialization and Hellenization of Chanukah? Or has marketing supplanted tradition as the core of American society?

(My, my Morty. How philosophical we're getting! Must be something in the Chanukah lights....)

The right way to write an email message

Yes, even with something as simple as email, there's a right and a wrong way to do it! Do it right and you get results. Do it wrong and you get ignored... or snagged by a spam filter.

Thanks to David Teten of The Virtual Handshake for pointing me to a good summary of the rules: Write a perfect email.

Read them over before you send your next email.

Usability lessons in Writing for the Web

Steve Krug is a self-effacing guru of web usability who practices what he preaches. His book on how to unconfuse people who visit your website is a model of simplicity and utility... with charm. It also has one of my all time favorite titles: Don't Make Me Think!

Now Krug recommends a book that does for Web writing what his does for Web design: Letting Go of the Words, by Janice (Ginny) Redish.

In his email newsletter, Krug says he's reluctant to recommend anything because there's no accounting for taste. But he cautiously sticks his neck out on this one:

In many ways, it's a spiritual "cousin" to Don't Make Me Think. (In fact, at one point Ginny wanted to call it "Don't Make Me Read." Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed.) So if you like "Think" I have a high degree of confidence that you'll like "Letting Go."

Direct Marketing crash course

Seth Godin offers sage advice on when (and when not) to use Letters, brochures and email

Pin this one over your desk!

Caught by a spam filter

I just wrote a comment to a post on Bob Bly's blog: What, Me Worry About Spam Filters?

Bob asked about what copywriters are doing to deal with spam filters. My answer is below. You won't see it on Bob's blog, though.... It got stopped as spam!

Bob--A few years ago, Chris Pirillo (Lockergnome) declared email dead. And it's partially true. But the solutions out there are part of the problem. They are set to kill anything that moves. My email program (Thunderbird) has flagged my own messages as "email scams." And I was only writing to a friend! Outlook Express routinely zaps email attachments (especially zip files--innocent or not). And some of my mail has gotten blocked because of my web host!
There are filters you can use to test your emails before sending. (Anyone know a good one?) But I think Diana Huff has the right approach. Carefully proofread your copy for likely trigger words and substitute more polite ones. Until those get flagged....
This problem has helped the growth of marketing through blogs and RSS. But the nasties have already muddied those waters with comment and trackback spam. Oh what a world!

How to begin a copywriting job: Start at the end!

That's right: Start at the end!

I got an inquiry about writing copy for a website:

So far I like your style and clear understanding that copy [and visual support] is all about clicking the Buy button . I would like to get started in a modest way so I can get to know how you work and build from there. - Suggestions for how we might kick this off

I wrote back:

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Why don't we start at the end:
What do you want my copy to do? Get leads? Orders? Join a list?.....
From a website? By email?

Let's decide where we're going. Then we can compare routes to get there.

Start at the end!

Book Review: The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil

Instant survey (under 30 seconds):

1. Do you run a business?
2. Do you have to communicate with customers, clients or employees?
3. Do you blog?
4. What are you waiting for?

If you're like most executives or entrepreneurs, you're probably somewhere between:

What's a blog?
Why would I want to blog?
and
How do I get on the blogging bandwagon?

For the uninitiated, a blog is an online journal. Short for web logs, blogs started with Internet geeks logging web pages and adding their own annotations. Then new blogging software like Blogger.com and TypePad made blogging almost as simple as sending an email. What was once the province of teenagers sharing their diaries, spread to kitchen table journalists... marketers and CEO's blogging company news and opinion.

As spam oozed out more and more legitimate email marketers, blogs began to look like an attractive alternative.

One of the main advantages of a blog is having an ongoing "conversation" with your public. Unlike formal websites, blogs are by nature more immediate and "transparent" (open and candid) than static websites. They are also interactive--inviting comments from readers--and viral--inviting readers to forward blog posts to friends. Many are about specialized areas of interest.

One blogger stands out as midwife to the birth of the blogging movement Debbie Weil. (Yes, I know that "midwife" sounds gender-specific, but it ain't necessarily so. Anyway, I like the image. "Obstetrician" sounds cold and stiff. And Weil is anything but either. )

If you read this far, stop now and get The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil. Like her popular blog the book is clear, instructive and focused. No rambling self-indulgence here. Weil is a teacher who isn't afraid to lose the class by smiling..... But she wants to make sure you pass the test.

Book Review--The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online

Beyond the Phone Call: The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors And Closing Deals Online

Everyone in business understands the need for networking. In the past decade, networking has moved online as the Internet has become as vital as the telephone for marketing, sales, finding new business partners, and job hunting. The new tools of business networking include email, instant messaging, websites, ezines, blogs, and such online networks as LinkedIn.com and Ryze.com. If you are overwhelmed, you are in good company.

That's why David Teten and Scott Allen wrote The Virtual Handshake, a user-friendly guide and manual for the baffling world of online networking and what the authors call " social software":

Websites and software tools which allow you to discover, extend, manage, enable communication in, and/or leverage your social network. Includes blogs, social networking sites, virtual communities, relationship capital management software, biography analysis software, and many more.

But, unlike other books written for non-techies, you don't have to be a "dummy" to use and enjoy The Virtual Handshake! It is intelligent, informative... and engaging, without trying too hard to be funny. You get more than instructions. You get something to think about.

Co-author David Teten discovered the power of networking online when he met his wife through Speeddating.com.

I realized that just as online dating had become mainstream, more and more business relationships were also moving online. I became a little obsessed with the subject of online networks, and started writing this book. As I was beginning my research, I met my co-author, Scott Allen, online in a Yahoo! Group.

From About.com to ZoomInfo.com, Teten and Scott Allen guide the reader through the world of online networking. They define "networking" as "developing a significant number of relationships for the purpose of supporting one other in achieving your group and personal goals." And a "network" as "the set of relationships that you need to get tasks done, to advance in an organization, and to grow as a person."

If that sounds like it covers a lot of ground, you are beginning to get an idea of the sweep of the book. The Virtual Handshake covers the why and the how of online networking. And the authors don't shy away from the ethical issues they raise. They don't forget that virtue is still more important than virtual!

The "Experience" Myth

How many times have you heard it?... "Well, yes, I can see you do excellent work... but you have no experience writing white papers (or blogs, or selling clothing racks... or smoked fish... or jewelry.... or whatever category you haven't written for yet).

Back in the early 80's I had a few interviews at one of the major direct marketing agencies. Finally they hired another writer who already had experience writing about gold coins. It seemed the criterion was not skill or marketing savvy... just experience writing about the same product.

At the last interview the agency VP shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm sorry, but you know how it is in this business.... They once hired somebody to write cigarette commercials ... then they fired him when they found out he didn't have menthol experience!"

It was textbook case of CYA.... The first (and sometimes the last) commandment of corporate culture is: Don't get blamed! Better to make a safe decision than take a risk on a good decision.

The truth is, some of the best copywriters had NO experience! They are entrepreneurs who had no experience writing copy, but a wealth of life experience and understanding of their market. Mail order legend Joe Sugarman almost flunked high school English!... But he went on to change the landscape of copywriting and of direct marketing.

You don't need "experience" to write great advertising. All you need is to do your homework to understand your market. A good place to start is a checklist of information to get from the client. . . everything from old ads and internal memos to websites and emails.

After that, crank up Google... or get out of your chair and take a walk to the library. Then do some good old-fashioned research. (Not the focus group kind. The thesis kind.) Read everything you can on the product and--more important--the market. You never know what idea or phrase may become the crux of your copy platform.

I know a man whose only expertise in medicine is that he's a hypochondriac. But, to promote his organization, he once delivered a lecture on oncology to a convention of doctors! All it took was homework.

I once wrote an ad for a diet camp for teenagers. The first draft was lousy. I simply didn't get the hang of writing to teenagers. So I went around the corner to Barnes & Noble and picked up copies of Seventeen magazine, and Dr. Lendon Smith's Diet Plan for Teenagers. Within a day I had an ad that kept pulling with every insertion.

Before working on designing a new catalog, my friends, Joe Goldbrenner and Gene Markowitz, of The Goldmark Group, often go down to the factory of a new client. They study the entire operation from manufacturing to order taking. This kind of homework pays off. I once worked on a catalog with them for a supplier of store displays. The new catalog increased sales by over 17%! The client told DM News: "you quickly got a good understanding of my products and the marketplace. And that shows in my sales."

It's all in the homework.

So next time they tell you "I'd love to work with you, but you don't know about my product."--Just tell the story of the guy at the doctor's office who said:
"Yes, I know you're a big specialist... but you don't know my cold!"

Quick Fix for Email Marketing Results

Anne Holland, president of MarketingSherpa, points out that the obvious isn't always apparent:
"The Two Easiest (and Most Overlooked) Ways to Improve E-mail Response"

Do You Make This Mistake in Copywriting?

I started to send an email to a friend the other week and saw it got flagged:

"Thunderbird thinks this message might be an email scam."

My own program thinks I'm a scam artist! How sharper than a serpent's tooth! Email has become a minefield for copywriters. Especially old mail order copywriters like me.

Seems I'm not the only one, though. Tonight I just got this follow-up email from Chris Marlow's Freelancer's Business Bulletin:

"Dear Subscriber,

A few days ago I sent you the email letter below, but what a mistake I made in the subject line!

My subject line was 'A time sensitive message from Chris' and many of my subscribers' ISPs rejected the email as spam!

My newsletter email blasts have a very low 'spam rating' but not with this one...even my OWN ISP didn't let my email through. (I was wondering how I dropped off my own database :)

So if you DID receive my announcement of Clayton Makepeace's and Bob Bly's upcoming teleseminar, I apologize for sending this email message again...

But at least you learned, as I did, to never put the words 'time sensitive' in a subject line!"

The Virtual Handshake FREE Download

Get it while it's hot! For a limited time you can get a free download of The Virtual Handshake, by David Teten and Scott Allen.

The Virtual Handshake is a user-friendly guide and manual for online networking and "social software." Click on the link now. And while you're waiting for the confirming email, read about why the authors are giving it away the book for free on their Virtual Handshake Blog.

Don't Sell Products.... Sell Fantasies

One of the unsung heroes of advertising is Elmer Wheeler, author of Tested Sentences That Sell.

Elmer Wheeler headed Tested Selling Institute in New York and, as a 1938 New Yorker profile puts it, he "adopted the profession of seducing people in the mass with words. He advises merchants how to win sales and influence customers."

Wheeler codified his methods, and his "Wheelerpoint No. 1" (I didn't make that up) has since become the most quoted rule of advertising:

"Don’t Sell the Steak—Sell the Sizzle!"

He adds: "The sizzle has sold more steaks than the cow ever has, although the cow is, of course, mighty important."

I'd like to propose a corollary to "Wheelerpoint No. 1"--which I call Schillerpoint No. 2 (sorry, the temptation was too strong!):

"Don't sell products.... Sell Fantasies!"

("Schillerpoint No. 1" was published here as "Schwartz's Law.")

At the top left is a panel from a brochure I wrote for a direct mail package selling Bomber Jackets. (Click on the picture to see it full size. If the copy in the picture is too small for you to read, send me an email, and I'll send you back a PDF of the brochure.)

I didn't even see the jacket before I wrote the copy. But that didn't make any difference (except that I had to take the word "epaulets" out of the final copy!).

I should point out here that if you're selling vitamins or software or self-help books, your copy must be jam-packed with details and "reason-why" benefits. But when the only "benefit" is lifestyle, you are no longer selling an item... you're selling a feeling.

You can see in my copy that I was selling daydreams, not clothing... nostalgia, romance and adventure... not weatherproofing!

Variations of the same copy ran in newspapers, magazines, direct mail, inserts and card decks for 13 years. And it sold over 500,000 (that's five hundred thousand) daydreams... I mean jackets.

RSS for Dummies?

Seth Godin has been evangelizing for RSS feeds. Seth, who calls himself an "agent of change," has made a career of being a messenger of the next big thing.

OK, RSS isn't all that "next." And it isn't rocket science. But Seth Godin has turned it into an art form and a Web 2.0 platform for sharing ideas and sources: See the "Lenses" in the Web space station (or is it a planetarium?) Seth launched called Squidoo.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, many of us live in a world that wouldn't know XML from XXL... or an aggregator from an agitator. How many times have you been asked "What's a blog?" (When I ran Blogger's spell check on this post, it didn't recognize the acronym "RSS"!)

For those of us still on the last big thing, FeedBlitz turns RSS feeds into good old fashioned emails. That's how I offer "free home delivery" of my blog to the RSS-challenged. You don't need Bloglines, NewsGator, Squidoo or any other news reader. All you need is an email address. Just click here to subscribe.