Microcontent

Why display copy?

Because ‘readers’ don’t read

I’m often amazed at the amount of energy writers put into perfecting the sentence structure in the fourth paragraph of their piece when those same folks toss off a headline in the 17 seconds before happy hour on a Friday afternoon.… Read the full article

Dry as a bone?

Must web heads be dull?

There’s a lot of sniveling and squawking going on in the web writing community these days. Consider the headlines:

“This Boring Headline Is Written for Google,” grumble journalists.

… Read the full article

If I’ve told you once …

The deck should expand on the headline, not repeat it

Your headline and deck — that one-sentence summary under your headline — are San Francisco real estate.… Read the full article

Pass the dollar-bill test

If it looks easier to read, more people will read it

One technique for making sure even a long story looks easy to read is to use Edmund Arnold’s dollar-bill test.… Read the full article

The weakest link

You’re not still writing ‘click here’ and ‘read more,’ are you?

When it comes to link writing, “click here” is so 1996. We’re talking 14.4k modems, a CompuServe account and the Spice Girls singing “Wannabe” on your portable electronic device, aka a Sony Discman.… Read the full article