Missed an issue? Catch up here | |
 | What goes into a press release boilerplate? Boil your company down with boilerplates About us: Stick to the 5 W’s. And drop the marketing fluff. June 23, 2022 |
 | Try self-deprecating humor You must be joking: Add self-deprecating humor to your message. June 16, 2022 |
 | People understand 48% less on mobile How can you overcome the obstacles of reading on smartphones? Reach readers on the small screen: Mobile web visitors are less likely to act on your message. So now what? June 09, 2022 |
 | How to come up with a brand story 4 ways to find a good narrative Why did my wasband switch cognacs? Brand storytelling made him do it. June 02, 2022 |
 | 5 tips for writing a great deck How to craft the summary blurb under the headline Double decker: Multi-deck headlines get the word out to skimmers and scanners. So don’t drop the deck. May 26, 2022 |
 | People skim and scan text in online news Only 19% read word-by-word Skimming along: Just 19% of participants in a Harris Interactive poll read articles word-by-word. Many more skim mostly headlines or the full article. May 19, 2022 |
 | 5 tips for crafting a good list A list for lists: Take advantage of the last item on the list — and 4 more ways to write readable, engaging lists. May 12, 2022 |
 | Show readers one — not 1,001 Story vs. statistics: People care more about one person they know something about than they do about hundreds or millions of nameless, faceless souls. May 05, 2022 |
 | The easiest way to find product benefits? Write in verbs, not nouns Show what readers can do differently: Write how readers can use your product, service, program or idea — not about the product, service, program or idea itself. April 28, 2022 |
 | They don’t; so make webpages scannable How do people read online? They don’t; they skim. So write skimmable web copy. April 21, 2022 |
 | Answer What’s In It For Me (WIIFM) Position your message in the reader’s best interest The reader cares about the reader: Don’t focus on your organization and its stuff. Write about the reader and her needs. April 14, 2022 |
 | Because your clients are your best salespeople Case in point: Case studies turn your clients into brand ambassadors, showing rather than telling what you can do for your prospects. April 07, 2022 |
 | People understand 48% less on mobile How can you overcome the obstacles of reading on smartphones? Reach readers on the small screen: Mobile web visitors are less likely to act on your message. So now what? March 31, 2022 |
 | ‘Readers’ actually skim blog posts, content marketing pieces They read 3.5% of the words on the page Just say no: Your audience members read an average of 50 words in your article. So how do you reach nonreaders with words? March 24, 2022 |
 | Lead with the problem, follow up with the solution Tap the anxiety advantage: Show your audience members how bad life can get without your product, service or idea. March 17, 2022 |
 | Top 3 characteristics that make posts go viral Put on a happy face: How can you write blog content that gets readers to read your posts? Make messages positive and emotional. March 10, 2022 |
 | How to organize writing projects Structure your message like Wolfe, Faulkner and Nabokov Model the masters: By the time he’d completed his outline, Tom Wolfe’s work was mostly done. March 03, 2022 |
 | How to overcome information overload Hint: Cutting copy is not the solution Simple complexity: It’s not enough just to reduce information. To overcome information overload, you must also make messages more meaningful. February 24, 2022 |
 | Prewriting is Step 1 of the writing process Get to the top of page 1: Research your message, develop your story angle and organize your piece in the prewriting phase of the writing process. February 17, 2022 |
 | Tipsheets get read, shared, used and acted upon Top tips: How-to stories — aka tipsheets and service stories — move people to act. February 10, 2022 |
 | Why is the writing process important? It helps you Write Better, Easier & Faster Get there faster: A good writing process helps you finish writing sooner and enjoy writing more. February 03, 2022 |
 | Increase understanding, memory, satisfaction … Scannable text outperformed dense webpages in one of the earliest studies on web writing, by Jakob Nielsen. January 27, 2022 |
 | 3 steps to Writing Better, Easier & Faster The writing process, step by step: Break your work into three steps: prewriting, freewriting and rewriting. January 20, 2022 |
 | Where web visitors look at your content Get skimmers to read deeper by understanding these 3 eye gaze patterns Readers skim the surface of your page: But you can get them to read deeper with a few smart moves. January 13, 2022 |
 | Save time, effort with fill-in-the-blanks writing templates Template this! Story templates save readers — and writers — time. January 06, 2022 |
 | 8 content writing tips and tricks to try now Write better news releases, webpages and more … Get your point across: Write more persuasive, more readable messages, with these content writing tips and tricks. December 30, 2021 |
 | Try these 8 tips for better writing Get clicked, opened, read and shared — and more Make your message stand out … Check out these techniques to improve your storytelling, blog posts, writing process and more. December 23, 2021 |
 | 8 good writing tips for corporate communicators How to tell better stories, write to persuade and more … Point taken! Get your message across with these writing tips for corporate communicators, PR pros and other professional writers. December 16, 2021 |
 | Writing tips and tricks to try now Get opened, get read — and get home early — with these techniques Sharpen up! What writing techniques can you learn from these writing tips and tricks? December 09, 2021 |
 | How long should your words be? The New York Times averages 4.9 characters Short and sweet: Why write employment when you can write jobs? Save your readers processing time by choosing short words. December 02, 2021 |
 | Boost readability with the Flesch Reading Ease Index The higher your score, the easier your message is to read Hit the right target: What readability scores to aim for on three top readability tests. November 24, 2021 |
 | How well can readers understand your stats? Fewer than 10% of U.S. adults are good with numbers Count them out: Just one-third of Americans have even intermediate skills at understanding stats. November 18, 2021 |
 | 5 ways to craft email preview panes Get opened by showing recipients a sample of your message Window on your world: The preview pane is one of the top three elements recipients use to decide whether to open an email — or delete without reading. November 11, 2021 |
![Why email marketing works [Statistics!]](https://k9q2t373cgk1khigf2x5iktz-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/why-email-marketing-works-statistics-150.png) | Why email marketing works [Statistics!] It’s the No. 1 sharing channel in the world Inbox is king: “Email may well be your most productive marketing tool,” says HubSpot viral marketing scientist Dan Zarrella. November 04, 2021 |
 | ‘Be a complexity reducer, not an information producer’ Do less, but do it better: It’s not enough just to reduce information. To overcome information overload, you must also make messages more meaningful. October 28, 2021 |
 | How to write catchy email headlines Tell the story, keep them to 1 line, & more Heads up on e-zine headlines: Write email newsletter headlines that are clear, short and don’t get cut off on mobile. October 21, 2021 |
 | How to get paragraphs read on mobile Can you read me now? Readers struggle to read long paragraphs on smartphones. October 14, 2021 |
 | Feature structure outperforms traditional news format What organizing structure would make the best foundation for your message? Not the inverted pyramid. October 07, 2021 |
 | Technical terminology hurts SEO, social, PR Jargon makes your website harder to find, reduces media coverage — even slashes your social-media influence. September 30, 2021 |
 | How to optimize for voice search SEO guidelines for content writers Can you find me now? Some 50% of searches are voice search these days, according to comScore. Here’s how to optimize for voice search. September 23, 2021 |
 | 3 tips for personalizing email What’s in a name? Not much. Go beyond name-calling to tailor your message to your readers’ best interests. September 16, 2021 |
 | They’re ‘the most important thing you can do’ online Piece of cake: Readers go for the frosting — aka the subheads — online. That makes it easier for them to find what they’re looking for. September 09, 2021 |
 | 3 ways to reframe the data Bring numbers to life: Make statistics more emotional by turning them into individuals. September 02, 2021 |
 | Web readability by the numbers People read 20% to 30% slower online In a flash: Attention spans are half as long on mobile devices. Shouldn’t your content be shorter, too? August 26, 2021 |
 | Get opened with brilliant preheader text 24% of recipients consider this element first when deciding whether to open Are you skipping a key element that helps recipients determine whether to open? Preheader text works with the subject line to entice recipients to read your email. August 19, 2021 |
 | Use snappy synthesis, stakeholder benefits & more Web content’s not a newspaper story. So instead of news leads, try these four types of web leads. August 12, 2021 |
 | What’s the average time spent reading [statistics!]? Americans spend 16.2 minutes a day reading for fun Tick tock: People spend 48 minutes a day reading for work, 16 minutes a day reading for fun. How much of that time are they devoting to your message? August 05, 2021 |
 | Get content above the fold on mobile Put the hot stuff up top with the 1-2-3-4 test Four’s a charm: To reach mobile visitors, get the gist of your message across in the first four elements of your web page. July 29, 2021 |
 | Get open, clicked and shared on mobile [statistics!] Email recipients click less often, unsubscribe more often on smartphones Get clicked: When reading emails on mobile, recipients click 40% less often, find it 48% harder to understand content and are more likely to unsubscribe. Now what? July 22, 2021 |
 | How does screen reading affect your readers? Reading online hurts people’s eyes, bodies, brains Is your web content a pain in the neck? Screen reading causes nausea, vision problems and cognitive issues. July 15, 2021 |
 | Focus on outcome, not input We had a party, and you weren’t invited: Don’t tell me about your event. Tell me what I’ll be able to do at your event. Or focus on the outcome of past events. July 08, 2021 |
 | Are your news release headlines really paragraphs? Keep yours short, like The New York Times A head for business: Want to influence editors and journalists? Why not model your headlines after theirs? July 01, 2021 |
 | Journalists spend less than one minute reading releases Gone in 60 seconds: If your release is longer than 200 words, seven out of 10 journalists won’t finish it. June 24, 2021 |
 | Why CEO press release quotes suck Reporters hate PR quotes Say it ain’t so: If it doesn’t sound conversational and substantive, don’t expect journalists to pick it up. June 17, 2021 |
 | Lead with the readers’ needs in news releases ‘I’m not interested in “new and improved”’ — Editor Hit the target: To grab editors’ attention, steal a tip from these Silver Anvil winners. Lead with the readers’ needs — not with your products, services, programs or ideas. June 10, 2021 |
 | Why is PR writing so important? Because fewer than 50% of releases actually get the word out Fewer than 50% of releases get covered. So how can you write media relations pieces that get actually the word out? June 03, 2021 |
 | Go with the flow with freewriting Get words on paper faster in the second step of the writing process Watch your fingers fly across the keyboard: Fill the page with better copy faster when you freewrite. May 25, 2021 |
 | Try WBHA, or writing by hanging around Observational research brings your message to life Just looking: Firsthand observation brings your message to life. So go to the scene and observe. May 20, 2021 |
 | Feature headlines easier to understand, more memorable Readers prefer clever headlines. Feature headlines may convince readers to read stories. May 13, 2021 |
 | Templates more effective than brainstorming, free association Template creativity: Just a handful of techniques accounted for all of the ideas behind 200 top performing ads, found a team of Israeli researchers. May 06, 2021 |
 | Find mentors among your favorite writers Reverse-engineer it: After reading good writing, you can improve your writing by figuring out how the writer wrote it. April 29, 2021 |
 | People learn through metaphor Baby, you can drive my car: Grandpa didn’t know from automobiles; he called this a horseless carriage. Analogies help people understand new ideas by linking them to familiar ones. April 22, 2021 |
 | Master the 5-step creative process Develop more creative ideas with this system Bright ideas: Need some creative juice? Come up with brilliant solutions to real-life problems when you use a creative process that works with — not against — your brain. April 15, 2021 |
 | Excuse me, are those your neurons flashing? Like being there: When you read a vivid story, your brain lights up as if you are performing the character’s actions yourself. April 08, 2021 |
 | 3 ways to polish your traditional heads Break the news: Tell the story, don’t tell about the story, in your news head. April 01, 2021 |
 | Why creative content writing is important Grab attention, keep it longer, communicate better & more EnLightening: Creative material enhances credibility, gets shared, gets people to read longer — even slashes burnout and boosts performance. March 25, 2021 |
 | Why worry about your readability level? Save money, make money and more with readable messages That’s ROI: Get your message read and shared by boosting your readability level. March 18, 2021 |
 | 3 ways to find balance, or parallelism Take a tip from Charles Dickens It was the best of times; it was the worst of times: Repeat and reverse, add and or so and other ways to bring balance to your message. March 11, 2021 |
 | Don’t start with the blah blah blah Background — also known as the blah blah blah — is no way to draw readers into a piece. Instead, leave the definitions, history lessons and broader context for the third paragraph. March 04, 2021 |
 | What’s the best length for a blog post? Are you writing about Brussels sprouts or brain surgery? How long should your blog post be? Experts recommend 1,500 words, 2,000 words, 2,500 words and longer content. The right answer: It depends. Feb. 25, 2021 |
 | How to hunt down numerical comparisons Apples to apples: Find the numerical comparisons you need to help readers understand your stats. Feb. 18, 2021 |
 | How can you get readers to read? Increase expectation of reward; reduce effort required Follow me: How do you catch readers’ attention and persuade readers to read? Tap Wilbur Schramm’s Fraction of Selection model. Feb. 11, 2021 |
 | Invite readers in with the imperative voice Let people know what they can do with your Whatsit Just do it: Imperative voice gets clicked, opened, read and shared. Feb. 04, 2021 |
 | How to use acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms Avoid drowning readers in alphabet soup NNCBTPSNBRTASTSAFW: “Names not commonly before the public should not be reduced to acronyms solely to save a few words.” Jan. 28, 2021 |
 | Focus on the findings in survey stories Don’t lead with study— or the methodology The results are in: The best survey results press releases and blog posts focus on the results, not on the survey itself. Jan. 21, 2021 |
 | Measure readability with STORYToolz Get 33 metrics about your clarity The right readability tool for the job: Input a chunk of copy, click “Check Readability,” and STORYtoolz will run 7 readability tests on your message. Jan. 15, 2021 |
 | 3 email newsletter formats that work Lists, headlines & blurbs, single stories most valuable Format for attention: Choose an email newsletter format that’s short and focused, and stick with it issue after issue. Jan. 07, 2021 |
 | Ring in the New Year with these approaches Want to write better? Start with these top 8 tips. Dec. 31, 2020 |
 | 8 of my favorite writing quotes Enjoy these on your holiday break Here are eight other favorite quotes about writing. I hope you enjoy them with your cocoa and kugel this holiday season. Dec. 24, 2020 |
 | How to structure an email invitation [Example!] Sensus goes to the science museum Midnight at the museum: Focus on what people will be able to do at your event, not on the event itself. Dec. 17, 2020 |
 | Why write relevant email blasts, newsletters? Irrelevant content No. 1 reason readers unsubscribe You’ve got mail: In the battle for attention in the inbox, only the most relevant, valuable email newsletters and promotions will survive. Dec. 10, 2020 |
 | How to write clever email subject lines 72% share email because it’s entertaining Try a little cleverness: Entertainment is the No. 1 reason people share email, according to Chadwick Martin Bailey. “To get a laugh” is No. 2. Dec. 03, 2020 |
 | How to write a case study [example] Zimmer Inc. uses the P-S-R format What’s the problem? Use this story template to make your next case study, testimonial or narrative more dramatic and powerful. Nov. 25, 2020 |
 | How to write copy that’s an inch wide, a mile deep Short and sweet: One way to write short content is to polish your message. Nov. 19, 2020 |
 | Recipients have too much to read, no time to read it Some 306.4 billion emails are sent and received each day. Nov. 12, 2020 |
 | Get opened, get read — and get home early — with these techniques As we plan our upcoming Master Classes, I’ve been creating a lot of new slides. Here’s a sneak peek at some of my favorites: Nov. 05, 2020 |
 | Reach three types of web visitors Get the word out to lookers, skimmers & readers Reach all of your web visitors, whether they’ve come to your web page for a bite, meal or snack. Oct. 29, 2020 |
 | Try snappy synthesis, stakeholder benefits and more Write web leads that lead readers into your message The opening paragraph of your web page should lead readers into your piece. Oct. 22, 2020 |
 | And where is the fold, anyway? Above the fold: People spend most of their time on the first screen of a web page — in a newspaper. So put your most important content where their eyes are. Oct. 15, 2020 |
 | Overcome the obstacles of reading on mobile Reach readers on the small screen: People spend half the time with your message on a smartphone than they do with a laptop or desktop. Oct. 08, 2020 |
 | Enough already with the ‘at XX, we …’ construction It’s not about you: Can we agree to drop the ‘At xx, we …’ construction? Oct. 01, 2020 |
 | Can your message cut through the clutter? Americans receive the data equivalent of 174 newspapers a day — ads included. Sept. 24, 2020 |
 | Catch Your Readers with benefit headlines 5 ways to draw people in Heads up on benefit headlines: To write a benefit head, seduce your readers by showing how your product, service or idea will make their life better. Sept. 17, 2020 |
 | (Yes, even your audience) Thumbs up: Even highly literate people read messages faster, understand them better and enjoy them more when they’re readable, according to this Nielsen Norman Group study. Sept. 10, 2020 |
 | 5 ways to avoid flabby middles Build a better body for your content Strengthen your core: Avoid ‘the muddle in the middle’ when you create a solid structure for the body of your feature article. Sept. 03, 2020 |
 | What’s the ideal press release length? Can you get your story across in 1 minute or less? Gone in 60 seconds: If your release is longer than 200 words, seven out of 10 journalists won’t finish it. Aug. 27, 2020 |
 | Write to and about your reader Are you trying to reach your reader by writing about us and our stuff? Aug. 20, 2020 |
 | Six press release leads to avoid How many of these have found their way into your releases? Lead the way: Write press release leads that engage readers, instead of these PR 101 approaches. Aug. 13, 2020 |
 | Avoid marketing fluff and ‘pouffle dust’ 5 reasons to cut the hype from your copy Minimize modifiers: They make journalists cry ‘hype’ & more. Aug. 06, 2020 |
 | How long should your PR headline be? Keep news release headlines short PR pros: Your head is too big: Want to influence editors and journalists? Why not model your headlines after theirs? July 30, 2020 |
 | Reporters hate PR quotes; here’s what to do about it Say it ain’t so: If it doesn’t sound conversational and substantive, don’t expect journalists to pick it up. July 23, 2020 |
 | Put the reader first in news releases Lead with the reader The reader is always the topic: The best way to write attention-grabbing news release leads? Write about the reader. July 16, 2020 |
 | Get words on paper — better, easier and faster Go for the flow with freewriting Creative explosion: Fill the page with better copy faster with freewriting. July 09, 2020 |
 | 4 quick steps to Writing Better, Easier & Faster It’s all about focus: Want to spend less time on your next writing project? Start by finding your focus. July 02, 2020 |