The good, the bad and the very bad

Another year rides off into the sunset, and a new one dawns. But before it does, here are the highlights of my blogging year:

• January: Big Business makes big mistakes, including dead bodies in planes and the toy that turned into a date-rape drug.
• February: It’s advertising, Jim - but not as we know it looked at product placement in film and TV.
• March: 10 ways to increase your productivity, from mind-mapping to Mavis Beacon.
• April: 5 ways to beat blank-page syndrome, to help you fill all that white space quickly.
• May: The uncomfortable truth about comfort zones might make you feel a bit…well, uncomfortable. But that’s the point.
• June: Are you underselling yourself? explored the fine art of getting the price right.
• July: What makes you different? talked about ways of standing out from the crowd.
• August: Think smart and beat the downturn was ahead of its time, and is even more relevant today than it was in the summer.
• September: The trouble with technology highlighted a problem: the technology.
• October: Country branding: lessons we can learn looked at why we think what we think about countries, and why Germany is way cool.
• November: The pitfalls of specials offers found that sometimes, they’re not that special.
• December: How to increase your chances of making the sale took us to the wonderful world of first-class travel (sort of).

And that’s it. See you in 2009.

When trust is everything online, why hide your identity?

Some months back, an author friend of mine was asked by his publisher to contribute to their blog.

It was the perfect opportunity, they said, to reach a wider audience, show a different side of himself and open up a debate. The exposure would be invaluable.

He said no.

It’s not surprising. Writers are often solitary people, and being thrown into a virtual lions’ den can be a terrifying prospect.

But that wasn’t what put off my friend. It was the fact that he’d be himself, and the others would be – well who exactly would they be?

Jezza55 and supertramp, avidreader07 and im_not_all_there. Anonymous people who could say whatever they liked, and feel not a twinge of regret or remorse.

Catch me if you can

According to Silicon Valley veteran Andrew Keen, the cult of anonymity is to blame for the ‘uncivil world’ of the internet.

(You may remember that Keen’s book The Cult of the Amateur ruffled blogger feathers last year by suggesting that much of their discussion was inane and pointless.)

“The most corrosive thing of today’s internet is anonymity,” said Keen in an interview. “Much of the most uncivil conversation, much of the unpleasantness of the Internet is carried out by people who won’t reveal who they are.”

I am what I am

So here’s your secret weapon: you.

When so much of the content out there hides behind the mask of anonymity, putting your head above the parapet, waving a virtual flag and saying ‘This is me’ sets you apart from the crowd.

I often speak to people who desperately want to hide fact that they’re a one-person band. Or a small operation. Why? They want to appear bigger, more corporate, more… faceless?

And this, at the very time that big corporates are trying to lose the big-corporate image, and give themselves a human face.

Why? Because people want to connect with people. They want to see who you are, where you operate from and maybe even what you (or your people) look like.

And then they’ll do business with you.

Meanwhile, my author friend is still tussling with his publisher over the blog. His latest message to them said “I’ll show them mine if they show me theirs.”

He’s still waiting for a reply.

Find out more:

• Andrew Keen interviewed on PBS (8 mins long)
• The Cult of the Amateur
• Andy Wibbels talks about putting a face to the brand in the intriguingly named post That Hot FedEx Guy (go on - you know you can’t resist a title like that)

That was easy, wasn’t it?

There’s a promise (you’ll learn how to write great headlines) and a benefit (you’ll get more clients and make more money). And that makes it irresistible.

If only it was always so simple.

It could be, if it weren’t for something else that’s irresisitible.

For I have a weakness, and it’s one shared by most writers: clever headlines. It’s fun to pun, so we do. But clever isn’t so clever, as you’ll see.

Let’s say I’m writing three blog entries. Each has a catchy title, and a descriptive subtitle:

• Snap! Top tips for digital photography
• Are you being served? Why the customer comes first every time
• Foreign affairs - The guaranteed way to learn a language

In each case, the subtitle tells you just what the article is about. And that’s absolutely crucial, especially in the world of blogging.  There’s just one problem: it’s the post title is being indexed, fed to RSS readers and linked to. So here’s what people see:

• Snap
• Are you being served?
• Foreign affairs

Not so good now, are they? For all the casual reader knows, the articles might be about card games, a camp 1970s BBC sitcom and international relations.

And there goes your click rate.

I know - it’s a shame. Descriptive headlines are so much more enjoyable to write. And when you’ve written a particularly good one, there’s nothing better than sitting back, reading it several times and admiring your handiwork. You might even let a little smile spread across your face.

When that happens, here’s what you should do: stop, delete, start all over again. 

And when your headline is finally ready, always, always proof-read it. Mistakes in headlines are embarrassing and damaging.

I should know.

Some time back, when I’d finished polishing my Top copywriting tips, I received a call from a nice woman named Helen. She couldn’t resist getting in touch to ask me about Tip number 1: Features, not benefits. Was this a reverse psychology thing, she wondered?

I still wince when I think about it.

Find out more:

• Freelance Switch has a great entry entitled The Sexy Art of Writing Headlines that kill (I dare you not to click on that)
• InfoMean means business with Five tips for writing eyeball-grabbing headlines
• And not to be outdone, Copyblogger has How to write a killer post that gets attention