Clicks 'n Conversions Blog

7 Questions to Help You Assess Whether Blogging is Right for Your Business: Part 2 of 3

When I started this blog discussion two weeks back, I challenged you to dig deep to find your passion. Today, I’ll raise three more questions to help you assess whether your business is ready for the blogosphere. The final three questions will be covered in my blog post on March 16th.

Why bother with blogging? Because [...]

7 Questions to Help You Assess Whether Blogging is Right for Your Business – Part 1 of 3

When you consider that Technorati already tracks nearly 11,000 technology blogs, you can’t help but wonder if there is room in the blogosphere for another blogger. Besides, Twitter is all the rage, so why not create a following by tweeting out a few 140-character messages?

The answer is simple: IT buyers don’t hang out on Twitter, [...]

The Link Between Sloppy Writing and Business

Wow! Who knew that grammar could evoke such passion? Over the past two weeks, I’ve asked groups on several social networking sites, including LinkedIn, Ryze, and bizSugar, to weigh in on the subject of writing errors and its impact to business.
Clearly, there are some people who believe that content should be judged on substance, [...]

Can Poor Grammar Kill Business?

As I read the January 25, 2010 issue of TIME Magazine this past Saturday, I came across an interesting side note in James Poniewozik’s column.
The opinion piece was about the Leno-O’Brien debacle, but in passing he mentioned that one of his neighbors was canceling her daily subscription to the New York Times because it contained [...]

2010 Heralds New Disclosure Policies for Marketers and Bloggers

While the rest of us were making holiday plans last December, the Federal Trade Commission adopted their “Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
For my first blog entry of 2010, I was hoping I could provide an overview of the changes that impact marketers and copywriters, but alas, with an 81-page document, that [...]

Resolve to Cleanse Your List in 2010

I was reminded again yesterday how quickly a neutral opinion about a company can turn sour when marketers choose to focus on list size.
For whatever reason, my name was added to a non-profit’s prospect database after a prior working relationship I had with them. Since that time, I’ve received e-newsletters (which I unsubscribed to), e-mail [...]

How to Cut the Fat From Your Copy Without Starving Content

When pressed to cut words in order to save PR fees or publish an article in a magazine, most people reach for a hatchet to strike entire sentences, paragraphs, and thoughts from their piece.
Admittedly, a hatchet is sometimes necessary, but more often than not, light editing techniques can cut copy by 10% (or more) without [...]

Techniques to Avoid the Rabid Dog Response – Part 3 of 3

Here’s the final in my three-part series on how to market to the human psyche, or to put it another way, how to diffuse the rabid dog response that kicks in when our livelihood is threatened.
I know we’re just talking about software, but consider for a moment what your product represents to new prospects. Sure, [...]

Don’t Let Length Dictate When You’re Done Writing (the magic of whitespace)

This article was first published  December 16, 2008 on the Tatum Marketing blog
Make your marketing messages pop tip #2: Avoid the intimidating term paper look-and-feel by keeping your paragraphs brief.
I don’t know about you, but I make an unconscious decision to set aside any reading material that (at first glance) looks heavy or academic. Of [...]

Does Your Website Make Prospects Want to Call?

This article was first published  February 4, 2009 on the Tatum Marketing blog
I’m fortunate because as I writer I learn so much from the people I interview. A few weeks back I had the pleasure of speaking with an incredibly down-to-earth CEO for a SoftwareCEO exclusive that’s in the works. Clate Mask runs Infusionsoft, a [...]