MarketCopywriter Blog

7 Content Strategy Takeaways from Gerry McGovern’s CS Forum Interview

by Lorraine Thompson

“Quality content is at the heart of all great websites, ” declares Gerry McGovern. A respected expert on customer-centric, task-focused content management, McGovern is the keynote speaker at London’s Content Strategy Forum, September 5-7, 2011. In a recent interview with CS Forum, McGovern shared his thoughts on website task management, content creation and content strategy. [...]

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Copywriter’s Playlist: Music That Boosts Your Copywriting Productivity–and a Spotify Giveaway

by Lorraine Thompson

Can music make you more productive? Will it put you in the “zone”? Does it make your work flow, allow you to think more clearly and accomplish tasks faster? Or does it distract you, cause your mind to wander and waste your precious time? The answer is—surprise!—it depends. 3 factors that affect music’s power over [...]

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MarketCopywriter’s Pick: 12 Must-Read Google Plus Posts

by Lorraine Thompson

If you’re like me, you’ve spent more time than you want to admit exploring Google Plus recently. When I wasn’t figuring out how to get started with Google+, trying out G+ shortcuts and comparing the network to Twitter and Facebook, I was reading how others were managing it all. Here’s what I discovered—a list of [...]

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20 Questions That Help You Write Strong, Strategic Content

by Lorraine Thompson

Ever wonder how content mill writers churn out such a flood of copy? How they seem able to produce all that content on demand? Tactical copy versus strategic content Without commenting on quality, I think it’s because they’re writing tactical copy. Words that don’t fit into a larger content strategy. Copy written primarily to fill [...]

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How Content Strategy Can Save Your Copywriting Career

by Lorraine Thompson

It’s no secret to seasoned copywriters: Our industry has endured choppy waters in recent years—with no end in sight. Formats and channels for which we write, global competition, project pricing, and copy-related industries continue to rock and roil. Copywriting’s perfect storm This perfect storm—technological, economic and cultural—is raining pain on many seasoned copywriters. In an [...]

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They Laughed When I Declared Independence, But When I Started to Write!

by Lorraine Thompson

If Thomas Jefferson had been a direct response copywriter… The Declaration of Independence. Sure it’s an important document. Ahead of its time. Revolutionary. The foundation of American democracy. But would it fly today? The Declaration of Independence: Useful content or old media relic? Think about it. In a search engine-optimized, metric-driven era, would the Declaration [...]

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Confused about Content Strategy and Content Marketing? These 5 Must-Read Posts Fill You In.

by Lorraine Thompson

I hate solutions. You know what I’m talking about: market-speak that describes products as “solutions”—everything from software to kitty litter (your “cat odor solution”). But language is imperfect. So I guess you have to cut some slack for people who torture it trying to simplify complex concepts and processes. Like me, you probably dislike jargon [...]

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Book Review: Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson

by Lorraine Thompson

When I first heard the term “content strategist” a few years ago, I thought, Yay! That’s me. That’s what I do—somebody’s finally named it. Turns out content strategy is a distinct discipline—more than planned, targeted copywriting created within a strategic framework. And while some think content strategy is synonymous with content marketing, others do not. [...]

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The Truth About Content Marketing: Why Your Awesome Tactical Copy Fails

by Lorraine Thompson

You—or your client—have an empty website. So you need to fill it, right? Pack it with great, engaging, keyword-rich copy—the more the better. That’s the current trend in content marketing. Be a publisher. Create loads of content. Post every day. Give your customers—and search engine spiders—lots and lots and lots of content. But when it [...]

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MarketCopywriter’s Ultimate Twitter #FF Follow Friday List

by Lorraine Thompson

Blame it on Chris Brogan. About a year ago, Chris suggested that bloggers turn Twitter’s Follow Fridays into blog posts. Chris’ idea was to provide personalized recommendations for each follow—and to stop clogging Friday’s Tweetstream with endless lists and #FF hashtags. I took Chris’ suggestion to its extreme. Below you’ll find MarketCopywriter’s Ultimate Twitter #FF [...]

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