There's an area (well there are many) about headlines where
writers get confused.

David Ogilvy is widely quoted saying something like, "If your
headline doesn't sell you're wasting your money"...

so writers read that and they think the headline has to sell
the product.

It doesn't and often it shouldn't. It should, however, sell
the prospect on the idea of reading the rest of the ad. Sometimes
the headline,...

Engagement of viewer/reader attention isn't just the first-step
in the selling process. These days, with the onslaught of information
and withering attention spans afflicting consumers, engagement
is practically the whole ball of wax.

Graphics and visual play a major roll in engagement on the web.
You know this - and it's important to understand that attractive
graphic design may not be the right kind to sell your product.
Sometimes ugly or...

Here's an easy way to boost sagging response...

It's a known factor among direct mail pros that changing
the appearance of the mailing often can boost sagging returns.

The reason is simple. People actually don't have very
good memories for what they've read. I've started reading
books before and only realized I had read the book years
before.

People don't usually have very sharp recollections
of what they've read....

I dropped the ball a lot of times before...

Truth is Test, running an enterprise that fits into the loose category of "solo business" puts you (and me) in a position where, as they say...

"the buck stops here"

...which was a phrase U.S. President Harry Truman had engraved on a placard on his desk.

What it meant was the ultimate responsibility stopped at Truman's desk. Sure, he could delegate and he had a lot of support,...

I don't know about you, but in school I got by pretty well churning out reports and written tests using big words and self-important academic grammar.

For writing about ideas those stuff can be appropriate - and in the University environment readers are accustomed to such puffery. Ideas are abstract, which is why when we write about ideas in school papers the language gets complicated.

For advertising copy, chuck the write-to-impress model and get down with the common...