Category: Uncategorized
Maria Grace
Arthur Russell
Anna Belfrage
Signposts to Your Writer’s Voice
How do you learn to know your voice? How can you find the connection points in your life and yourself, and know when you’re really connecting to the stories you’re meant to tell? I teach voice a lot, and I love that moment when a light comes on for a writer, when their eyes show […]
Using Scrivener with Story Genius
I recently started working through Story Genius by Lisa Cron to help me write the fourth story in my romantic suspense series, and long before she started talking about organization (Chapter 11), I was—shocking, I know—thinking about how to set things up in Scrivener. The writing software is perfect for keeping all of the elements […]
Virtual Retailer Turned Brick & Mortar
Amazon’s New Bookstore
Amazon has long been recognized as the small start-up company that transformed the Barnes and Noble culture of enjoying a good book in the cushy chairs of an in-store retail space to the virtual experience of online s
hopping. Now the online behemoth is penning a new chapter.
Earlier this month, Amazon opened its first book store, located Seattle, Washington’s University Village. Amazon’s web page describes the move as the
“kind of friendly, mom-and-pop establishment that Amazon has long been accused of putting out of business.”
Offering hands-on experiences with many of Amazon’s hottest sellers, customers can “test drive Amazon’s devices. Products across our Kindle, Echo, Fire TV, and Fire Tablet series are available for you to explore, and Amazon device experts will be on hand to answer questions and to
show the products in action.”
How does Seattle feel about having Amazon bookstore in their backyard? Well, Seattle magazine did a review of the store? They described the shopping experience at Amazon as “kind of friendly, mom-and-pop establishment that Amazon has long been accused of putting out of business.” For all the traditional brick and mortar style that Amazon has put forward, the presentation in new. Each of the books are presented with their covers facing outward, just as you would find them online, and offer a look into the cumulative customer ratings.
Amazon can call this “mere extensions of an existing Internet infrastructure.” However, this new template of an inversion retail model only underscores what ever author already knew: Print is not dead. In fact, it flourishes to such a degree that it drove Amazon from virtual to brick and mortar a full 20 years after Amazon took to the Internet.
Mastering the Headline Hot Button
Seven Successful Headline Templates For Almost Anything
For some writers, creating compelling copy comes naturally. For others, the copy writing process has all of the allure of a Monday morning root canal. However, the importance of drafting effective headlines applies to everything from English Composition 101 to the online web content for your business site’s front page.
Read: “It’s really important.”
We are all so used to seeing those “how to” and bullet lists that we have become as desensitized to the effects as a teenager yawning over “Insidious Chapter 3.” In today’s market, writing compelling headlines that engage a sophisticated audience calls for moving beyond the staid templates of the past.
So let’s bypass those generic blueprints that you’ve read a thousand times over, and add a new spin on the old headline formula. Here are some quick, easy, and free headlines templates that can help you refurbish your worn out headlines.
Seven Different Ways to Hit the Headline Hot Button
- Anyone Else Want {Blank}?
Tweaking this definitive social proof strategy with the call for “Anyone else want…” automatically infers a buy-in consensus that has predetermined the value of the {blank}. Though this idea may seem clichéd for some area of Internet marketing, it works with the accuracy of Swiss movement in the right arena. Moreover, it is also underscored with a subtle “limited time offer” that goes absolutely unwritten, yet absolutely present enough to move that itchy “trigger/click finger.”
Anyone Else Want a Hollywood Smile?
Anyone Else Want A Seven-Hour Work Week?
Anyone Else Want To Mastermind The Next “Uber” Idea?
- Insider Stealth Tips of {Blank} Revealed
This one is particularly effective in an industry where a little extra knowledge goes a long way. Marketing such as “Beauty” and “Fashion” are arenas where the smallest edge pays off in viral shares. Sharing insider knowledge presupposes an audience looking for information that will allow them to expand their knowledge in the field. Translate that into benefits for your readers, and they’ll keep coming back for more.
Insider Stealth Tips For Writing The Killer Dissertation
Insider Stealth Tips To Rocket Your #Ebook To #1 On Amazon
Insider Stealth Tips For Writing The Perfect College Essay
- This Time-Tested Method Helps {Blank} to {Blank}
Simple, yet effective: distinguish the target audience and connect the benefit they seek with the service that you provide.
This Time-Tested Method Helps Student Write Better Essays
This Time-Tested Method Helps Anyone Publish On Amazon
This Time-Tested Method Helps You Create Great Web Content
- Free Yourself of {Blank} Once and For All
This classic formula is known as “the painkiller.” Identifying a common, rather uncomfortable issue or condition and offering an antidote that promises an immediate (and eternal) release from the ongoing burden is especially effective when addressing universal conditions and issues.
Free Yourself of Essay Procrastination Once and For All
Free Yourself of ABD Once and For All & Write Your Dissertation
Free Yourself of Belly Fat Once and For All
- The Quickest & Most Effective Way to {Blank}
We try to stay away from universal statements, but in this case it applies: Everyone has at least one nagging problem that ranks too low on the priority list to address immediately, and yet high enough to maintain its place as an ongoing “anchor” in the middle of the “To Do” List. People hate these as much as they love finding quick and easy solutions that allow them to cross these problems off with a swift swipe of a Sharpie!
The Quickest & Most Effective Way to Shop For Back To School
The Quickest & Most Effective Way to Whiten Your Smile
The Quickest & Most Effective Way to Write A Killer Thesis
- You Can Finally {Blank}{Blank} Without {Blank}
A classic approach that offers readers a viable means to “have [their] cake and eat it, too” headline. This headline template begs for compelling video, a quick “call to action” button, or pictures that underscore the benefit.
You Can Finally Get Cable Without Paying A Fortune
You Can Finally Enjoy A Vacation Without Breaking The Bank
You Can Finally Make Healthy Meals Without Spending Hours in the Kitchen
- {Action} like {The Exemplar}
Once you have identified your target audience, couch your benefit in a well-known, measureable way—using, for your example, the pinnacle of performance. This technique promises ranking in areas where competition rules; the lure of an edge that will skyrocket a participant to the top creates great headline material for your copy.
Party Like Gatsby
Write Like Hemingway
Rock A Swimsuit Like A Supermodel
The Bottom Line on Headlines
In the end, headline templates just provide a starting place for creating meaningful “titles” to help you connect with your audience. And connection is the key word here. To draft great headline for your copy, you have to know your audience intimately in order to help them understand the true benefit of your work, your service, your product, or your idea.
So…