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Networds
in Review
Review by Kamau Austin
Despite the rave reviews and fanfare for Cool Flash, Shockwave,
and 3D virtual reality web sites, smart web marketers know, it is actual
plain text that drives e commerce on the web. Yes, broadband is on the
horizon, looming with the infinite possibilities of the next generation
web -- Internet 2. But for the next few years, at least, the Internet
will continue to be a text based media. Just to illustrate my point, just
imagine a Amazon, Dell, or Ebay site without text or words.
There would be no communication to coax us to the next
sale, signup, or "most wanted response" (MRW). Since, most effective
e commerce sites master text as a sales tool, we can easily understand
text or the written word, as being the life blood of e business and e
commerce. The webs great 3 killer apps are all text based: e mail, Instant
Messaging, and chat. In short, the Internet continues to be a text based
communication channel.
If you can relate to the salient issues that I just described,
then Networds by Nick UsBorne, is a must read book for you. Networds,
is best digested by persons who have some copywriting background. It is
more of a big picture conceptual book, than a how to book (although it
does give great anecdotes and illustrations when making major points).
It gives a history of the Internet before its major commercial adaptation
by big business as a backdrop.
It is out of this framework that he explains the distinctive
nature of doing business on the web. Early in Mr. Usborne's book he explains
why copywriters receive little respect among web development teams. Then
he makes the case that web development teams and managers should "allow
copywriters to do great work". Copywriters, he informs us, get great
respect in advertising agencies. In ad agencies good copywriters do rise
in the ranks to become top management on the creative side. Some prominent
owners of ad agencies were formally great copywriters.
Copywriting should be understood, for discussion purposes,
as the writing on your website with view to selling your products or services.
This should be understood to be in contrast to what is called content
writing on your site, which is written to inform. Due to these two divergent
forms of writing, Usborne feels is the reason many companies seem to have
a double personality.
Usborne, astutely notes that the web is the most text-centric
of all business environments. There are 1.1 Trillion e mails sent every
year, with Instant messaging and chat not far behind. Needless to say
all these apps are text based. He discusses the velocity of words and
how to establish relationships with your web copy. Furthermore, Usborne
also cautions against "corporate speak". He consuls us to use
more one-on-one and personal communication in writing business e mail.
He also makes a case for different copy for web sites and e mail. These
are both enlightening points worth noting.
Usborne also makes great points on the personal nature
of email and its more controlled nature of informing customers rather
than the hard sell. He gives good tips on how to actually get people to
open up your email and not think that it is SPAM. He makes the adage about
selling benefits first and then features. Subsequently, he discusses setting
the right tone in b2b e mail, and when to use HTML and plain text e mail.
Later he discusses headlines in e mail and their relation
to the body text. The Challenges and standards of e mail customer service
are given prudent insights as well as writing e newsletters. Lastly, he
covers central topics to e marketers like: overcoming a cynical public;
copywriting that reeks of honesty and honest humanity; when to write short
and long text; and how to pace your copy. His lasting image is one where
copywriters "should give a damn, be enthusiastic, and keep it simple".
Networds is an outstanding exploration of the art of net copywriting.
You will find yourself referring to it repeatedly in the future once you
own a copy. I highly recommend it. You can pick up a copy via my affiliate
link to Amazon.
Coming Soon Book Reviews
of Top SEO Books: The Nitty Gritty
of Writing for the Search Engines by Jill Whalen, Search Engine
Visibility by Shari Thurow, Dr. Wilson's Plain Spoken Guide to
Search Engine Optimization by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Search Engine
Fast Start by Dan Thies, Maximizing Your Web Traffic by Robin
Nobles and Susan Alexander, SEO Book by Aaron Matthew Hall, Search
Engine Optimization on an Extreme Budget by Non-stop Internet, and
others to be announced.
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