Great
Writers
Characteristics
and Observations

The Challenge
“Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a
blank piece of paper (screen) until the drops
of blood form on your forehead.”
—Gene Fowler
“There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit
down at a keyboard and open a vein.”
—Red Smith

Curious
● Well-furnished minds and well traversed experience
● Exceptional curiosity about every subject under
the sun
● Above average wit and sense of humor
● Vivid imagination and powerful analytical thought
Resource: Story, Robert McKee

Work Hard
“Like an athlete or a dancer, I am uncomfortable —
even damaged—by a day away from my writing.”
Resource: Take Joy: A Writer’s Guide to Loving the Craft, Jane Yolen

A Lot Like Actors
● They get under the skin of the target audience
● They inhabit the lives of their characters for a while
● The story lives on, but the psychosis moves on to
another character, hero, dragon, mermaid, victim,
slayer, angel or king.

Understand Readers
● Readers want credibility, belief and logic
● Readers want exposure to new worlds
● Readers want to laugh and cry
● Readers want intimacy, mystery and bravery
● Readers want surprise and delight
Resource: Content Critical, Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton

Understand Storytelling
● Great stories introduce great characters
● Great stories are contagious
● Great stories focus on “what happens next”
● Great stories teach us to be smart
● Great stories surprise and delight
Resource: Content Critical, Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton

Play Mind Games
Finish the story:
● My teeth were chattering…
● Once upon a time…
● In the rearview mirror, the cab driver saw…
● It almost seems impossible for me to get back to
that split second when…
● I’m an alien from another planet,
and I just met my first…
Resource: The Write-Brain Workbook, Bonnie Neubauer

Practice Haiku
Japanese 3 line poem, usually 17 syllables:
● Reflect a unique life view
● Brand new experience of a well-known situation
● No rules, other than the 17 syllables

Great Web
Writers
Characteristics
and Observations

New Challenges
● Create new value and shape new meaning with
the written word
● Improve organic listing positions in the
search engines and drive more traffic
● Improve conversions rates and increase sales
● Justify the spend, guarantee the ROI
Resource: 200 Clients at LifeTips

Curious Researchers
● Search box on the clients website and log files
● FAQ emails submitted to customer services
● Discussion with customer service reps
● Discussion with customer
● Keyword popularity research

Work Smart
“It is no bad thing to learn the craft of advertising
by copying your elders and betters.”
—David Ogilvy

A Lot Like Rich Actors
● They learn the lines (and the rich keywords)
● They get under the skin of the target audience,
(with the help of customer profiling)
● They can revise the script based on audience
participation (A/B split testing)
● Then they must perform flawlessly,
day after day (tracked with
conversion metrics)

Understand Web Readers
● Readers want to be able to find specific things
● Readers are in a hurry
● Readers love personalization, “it’s all about me”
● Readers want advice
● Readers want up-to-date, relevant,
straightforward content
Resource: Content Critical, Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton

Understand New Storytelling
Information A Story
Fills You Up Moves You On
In the age of Facts Acts
information Citing Exciting
overload, the web Reams Dreams
storyteller Promotional Emotional
connects with Static Dramatic
Check lists Casts of Characters
readers and Compiling Compelling
motivates the Annotated Animated
sales process. Feeding the Brain Touching the Heart
Expires Inspires
Resource: Sisomo, Kevin Roberts, CEO Saatchi & Saatchi

More Mind Games
Negatively Positive
Let the client finish these sentences:
● We are not____________________
● We are not____________________
● We are not____________________
● We are not____________________
Then cross out the negatives.
Build a story around the positives.

Practice New Haiku
Japanese 3 line poem, usually 17 syllables
● Reflect a unique life view
● Brand new experience of a well-known situation
● NEW rules—17 syllables + 4 keywords

Web Writing
Tips and Advice

Set The Right Course
● Add new meaning that helps distinguish
from the competition
● Create new confidence through your readers and
prospect customers
● Create new energy for your sales and
marketing department
● Turn browsers into believers, and
believers into buyers

Create Mantras
“A sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer,
meditation, or incantation, such as an invocation
of a god, a magic spell or portion of a scripture
containing mystical potentials.”
—SOURCE

Sample Mantras
Winning is Everything Greenbay Packers
Think IBM
Fun Family Entertainment Disney
Save Babies March of Dimes
Healthy Fast Food Wendy’s
Kick Butt in Air and Space Air Force
Resource: The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki

Flawless Process
● Brainstorm session that uncovers the story
● Methodology to get under the skin of the target
audience
● Research the rich keywords and scent trail
● Nail the value proposition
● Clarify the call to action
● Manage feedback

Understand the Paradox
of Choice
● Understand the new age expansion of choice
● Discover and create the rules for decision making
● Develop decision making tools and process
● Create new methodology for buying decisions
Resource: The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz

Understand the Sales Funnel
●
Preliminary: First impressions and headline
architecture
● Investigating: Knowledge seeking and trust
building
●
Demonstrating Capability: Show how products
solve problems
●
Obtain Permission: Drive action, sign up,
download or buy
Resource: Spin Selling by Neil Rackham

Follow Fundamental Rules
KISS— Keep it simple, stupid —cut out the clutter
● Speak the speak of readers
● Create deep information for heavy knowledge
seekers
● Create light information for impulsive buyers
● Use super-simple navigation
architecture

Shape Perception
Values become the soul of the art
● What’s worth living for?
● What’s worth dying for?
● What’s worth buying?
● What’s worth upgrading?
● Why should I take action?
Resource: Story, Robert McKee

Make Meaning
● Find new value in products that make the
world better
● Increase the quality of life
● Right a terrible wrong
● Prevent the end of something good

Practice White Hat SEO Rules
● Unique titles, descriptions and keywords on
each page
● Create original content (no dup content issues)
● Add each page to the site map, and the site
map to each page
● Do not “stuff” keywords

Keywords without Compromise
● Harvest the rich search keywords
● The challenge is to pepper keywords without
compromising the story
● Reader must come first, the search engine
spiders second

Understand the Power of Links
● Distinguish between link value– All Links are not
created equally
● Distinguish validation and population
● Select link phrases that work in concert with the
SEO strategy of the landing page
● Surround the link phrases with rich keywords
● Look internally for validation

Results: Improve Conversions
● A/B split testing
● Track conversions
● Monitor traffic
● Assess Needs

Conclusion: Hire the Pro’s
“If each of us hires people who are smaller than we
are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if
each of us hires people who are bigger than we are,
we shall become a company of giants.”
—David Ogilvy
Resource: Ogilvy on Advertising, David Ogilvy

Questions/Comments
Byron@LifeTips.com
617-227-8800 x201
Byron@LifeTips.com