You Lost Them at "Write a Report"

Supposedly, "eBook" has a negative connotation among buyers (though I wonder if Kindle and Google Books will be changing that...), but I think "report" may have a negative connotation among would-be Internet marketers.

An oft-repeated bit of advice for newbies is to compile information people need, write a report about it and sell the report.

If the fledgling Internet marketer is coming from the corporate world, they may not bat an eye at the thought of doing a report. They may be able to bang out a report while half-asleep.

But, for people outside the corporate world, their eyes probably glaze over as they have bad flashbacks of writing about "What I Did Over My Summer Vacation" or remembering dredging through some of the most boring novels classical literature has to offer and writing a book report about them.

Write a report? Ugh. And they're off to hunt for a different blueprint or WSO...

Granted, a "report" is something most people are familiar with--something which virtually everyone has written at some point in their lives. But, while the person making the suggestion views the word with indifference, with a neutral quality to it, the reader may be viewing the word with trepidation, memories of mind-numbingly boring hours spent writing them and perhaps just a little bit of horror and fear because of it.

So, know your audience. If you're targeting newbie Internet marketers coming from the corporate world, you may be fine using the word report. If you are targeting prospective Internet marketers coming from outside the corporate world, you might want to re-think advising them to "write a report."