excess voice: nick usborne's blogRiffs and rants about online copywriting, web site optimization, online marketing and more.Two hundred billion hours spent watching TV.- May 30, 2008 I just read a great article by Clay Shirky, pointed out to me by Richard Pelletier of LucidContent.com. The two hundred billion hours That's how many hours Americans spend watching TV each year. To bring that down to a number that may be a little easier to comprehend, Americans spend 100 million hours every WEEKEND, just watching the ADS. But Mr. Shirky's article isn't just about how much we watch TV. It's a lot more interesting than that. His article talks about watching TV as a kind of giant..http://nickusborne.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/two-hundred-billion-hours-spent-watching-tv.ht... Add blog posts to that creative brief...- May 28, 2008 This is a first for me. I just received a bunch of briefing materials for some web copy I'm going to write. As well as the information I asked for, including page analytics etc, they also sent me something else... They sent me links to about a dozen different blog posts that mentioned the product I'll be writing about. In some ways, this is an obvious thing for a marketing group to do. By following bloggers, you can get a keen insight into how your products or services are being perceived. You..http://nickusborne.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/add-blog-posts-to-that-creative-brief.html If your income took care of itself, what would you do with your time- May 26, 2008 I'm asking this question as the survey item in my Excess Voice newsletter tomorrow. It's a little different from the kind of thing I usually ask, but I think asking a question like this can be a fun exercise for anyone. Imagine you succeeded in creating a source of income that continued to flow into your account each month, with close to zero work or involvement on your part. What would you do with your time (No, this is not a prelude to offering a miraculous money-making scheme. It's just a...http://nickusborne.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/if-your-income-took-care-of-itself-what-would-... Aim beyond the income you need to make each month.- May 23, 2008 I'm a long-time student of entrepreneurship and am constantly fascinated by the difference between people who make good money and those who make absolute mountains of money. I recently wrote a new article for my asknickusborne.com site, and thought I would share it here. Why Because although I wrote it with freelancer writers and copywriters in mind, I think it might apply to any solopreneur or small business person. Here's what I wrote: Aim beyond the income you need to make each month....http://nickusborne.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/aim-beyond-the-income-you-need-to-make-each-mo... My new newsletter for freelance writers and copywriters.- May 12, 2008 As readers of my Excess Voice newsletter will find out tomorrow morning, I have just launched a new e-newsletter. For years now I have been publishing the Excess Voice newsletter for online writers and copywriters. But recently I have found myself writing articles not only about writing for the web, but also about best practices for freelance writers. Some subscribers to the Excess Voice newsletter are freelancers, but many are not. So...to ensure that everyone gets what they signed up for, I'm.http://nickusborne.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/my-new-newslett.html Why prevent me from re-subscribing- May 5, 2008 This morning I unsubscribed from an email list and was warned that if I unsubscribed, I wouldn't be able to re-subscribe unless I first contacted their customer support. When companies do weird things, I always try to figure out why. And most of the time, I find some convoluted logic behind even the most nonsensical policies. But in this case, I'm stumped. Where is the benefit to the company How does it help them to make it hard for me to re-subscribehttp://nickusborne.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/why-prevent-me.html I wrote the first book on writing for the web!- May 2, 2008 What's more, I wrote it over a hundred years before anyone else even thought about the Web. Here's the proof, courtesy of Amazon. (Check out the publication date.) And thanks to Larry Frieders for bringing this to my attention.http://nickusborne.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/i-wrote-the-fir.html |