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Word Links of Value

By Brad Shorr | August 14, 2007

Word Sell Links
Important blog posts and conversation about word craft have been taking place over the last week or so.

Lots is written about the art of writing headlines. Most people know about the volumes of solid advice coming from Copyblogger, but here’s a fine post on headline formulas you may not have seen from Copywriting.com.

Liz Strauss sparked a truly illuminating conversation about how to write a killer tagline. Reading this, I’m reminded that while copywriters tend to get paid by the word, we ought to get paid by the absence of words. Harder to write less than more, don’t you think?

Matthew Stibbe offers no less than 62 ways to improve your press releases. Have you ever seen so much valuable information in one spot?

Ben Yoskovitz at Instigator Blog presents the top ten reasons why sales proposals fail. If companies could avoid all 10, their closing percentage would increase double digits.

Of course, writing can never be reduced to a formula, because it’s a science and an art. But the dependable suggestions offered by these bloggers are foundational. They give us a starting point, a launching pad for creativity. Without them, I think I’d be doing a lot less writing and a lot more pencil tapping. Thanks for the help!

Related:

  • Blogrolls–Long or Short?
  • Tiny Solution to a Big Problem
  • What’s the Best Way to Handle Blog Categories?
  • Meaty Links for Sales and Marketing
  • 10 Standout Writing & Marketing Links

    • 3 Responses to “Word Links of Value”

    1. Joanna Young Says:
      August 14th, 2007 at 6:19 am

      Brad, a quick comment afore I check out your links.

      1. Word links of value. Yes, that’s what I was getting at. Not too many, and make it of value.

      2. Payment by the absence of words - what a great idea!

      3. I don’t like the idea of writing tips as being ’shoulds’ - so your foundational concept is a useful one for me. “They give us a starting point, a launching pad for creativity” This is definitely something I’d aspire to

      Joanna

    2. brad Says:
      August 14th, 2007 at 6:29 am

      Hi Joanna, on the subject of absence of words, one of my favorite quotes is Pascal, who said, “I have made this letter longer than usual, because I have not had the time to make it shorter.” What do you think–does it take more time to write a fabulous tagline or a 2000-word article? I’m not sure.

    3. Matthew Stibbe (Bad Language) Says:
      August 14th, 2007 at 11:41 am

      Thanks for the hat tip! :)

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