Now a PR firm has agreed to settle charges it had its employees pretend to be unbiased videogame buyers and post gushing, rave reviews at Apple’s online iTunes store.

When I read that, I felt like the French police inspector who was “shocked, shocked!” to discover gambling at Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca.

The same thing is happening elsewhere, of course, including Amazon and other high-profile online merchants.

My suggestion: take all reviews with a degree of skepticism. Look for more than a handful of reviews, Be especially wary if all of them were all posted within a few days or weeks of each other. You want to see 50+ reviews, spaced over the course of many months.

Two habits that will help clean up deceptive online marketing:

1. To keep the practice of phony reviews from spreading, simply never do business with a company that would engage in such underhanded practices.
2. Ditto for spam: Never do business with a company that sends out unsolicited spam. Period.

Zero tolerance. If we all followed those two simple rules, both practices would simply fade away.

Agree? Disagree? Maybe you’ve got an even better idea? Let’s hear it.

It’s hard to remember, but there was a time not so long ago, when AOL email users could only send and receive email from other AOL users. Ditto for Compuserve, ATTMail and the rest. Each was an isolated silo with no inter-connectivity.

Those of us trying to do business via email had to have separate paid accounts with each service. Yes, kids, you had to pay for email in those days. (Music, too.)  Then depending on the speed of your modem (56K? Wow!) and dial-up connection, you spent 5-10 minutes several times a day, checking each separate account for new messages.

I remember how thrilled I was when some forgotten geek wrote a batch script that automated the process. It automatically logged in to each account, downloaded your new messages, sent the ones you’d written (offline, of course), logged off, then repeated the process for all the others. You could check all your email accounts while enjoying a cup of coffee.

All those different email addresses didn’t exactly encourage Luddite clients to embrace this revolutionary approach to communications, either. And let’s not even talk about the mess your business card and sig file became with so many entries.

It’s much better today. The only thing your business card or sig file really needs is your email address. Oh, your work and cell phone numbers, too. And the name of your company.

Wait, don’t forget URLs for your website(s), Facebook page, LinkedIn profile, Twitter handle…

Mailing address? Hmmm, there might be room if we skip your name…

When writing copy for a small-business website:

• Write for one person, not a crowd. Write as if you were chatting with a  friend across a kitchen table, not giving a speech to an auditorium full of people.
• Be conversational. Be intimate, be real.
• Write like you talk (only maybe a little better).
• Strive to be clear. That alone will make your message stand out. Clarity is more important than being clever or creative.
• Write first, edit later. Do only one at a time. See next point.
• Don’t censor yourself while writing. Shut up that critical voice in your head. Just write, with passion and abandon. Later – preferably the next day – you can go back and edit with a critical eye.
• Easy writing means hard reading. Rewriting is a crucial part of good writing. Your extra work pays off for your reader/customer.
• Shorter is better (usually). Short words, short sentences, short paragraphs can still pack a powerful message. The Gettysburg Address is ten sentences long. The Lord’s Prayer is only 71 words.
• Read what you’ve written out loud. It really makes the bad bits stand out.
  • Wherever you stumble, your reader will too. Rewrite that part.
  • Can’t finish a sentence without running out of breath? That means it’s too long. Shorten it, or break it into two sentences.
• When writing headlines for any marketing material, throw away the first 10-20 you come up with. They’re the obvious ones, and have probably been used a million times before. You’ve got to keep digging to find gold.
• Focus on what the buyer gets (benefits) not what you’re selling. In many cases, it’s better to make the product “invisible.”
• Emphasize how you, your product or service are better than the competition. If not better, at least different. (That’s pretty much all a mini-biz needs to do about branding.)

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Did I miss any?

Add your favorite writing tips in the comments.

Yep, you’re paying for them, too.

Possible answers include:

• Click here.
• Call today.
• Sign up now.
• Order now.
• Add to shopping cart.
• Join our mailing list.
• Schedule a demo.
• Reserve your place.
• Contact us.

You get the idea. The call to action is arguably the most important part of your copy. It’s the destination, the point you’ve been marching toward all along.

That’s why I’m dumbstruck at how many websites (and ads) neglect to include one. Oh, I understand. You don’t want to seem pushy or obnoxious. Maybe it feels… tacky. Besides, the customer already knows you’d like her to buy something, right? I mean, it’s obvious, isn’t it? You don’t need to spell it out for her.

Yes, you do. Never assume the customer will figure it out on her own. Why not?

Well, for one thing she’s busy, distracted, only paying partial attention. She’s surfing your website while at work, or watching the kids, IMing, texting. You probably have only a tiny fraction of her attention.

That’s why you need to tell her exactly what you want her to do next. You don’t have to be obnoxious. But you do need to be clear and specific.

The call to action is the climax of your carefully constructed copy. (Climax? You knew I’d bring this back around to “action.”)

Anyway, as you probably know, persuasive copy is most often built upon a certain architecture, like a house is built with a foundation, four walls and upside-down mortgage. The Magic Copywriting Formula has many variations, but they all try to attract the prospect’s attention and interest. Then whet the customer’s appetite by explaining the benefits they’ll enjoy, and the advantages your stuff has that the competition’s doesn’t.

Good copy also paints a picture of the outcome the customer wants, then provides proof to ease the customer’s fears and overcomes her hesitation.

At this point, if your copy is good, she may be ready to take action. Maybe she’s even ready to buy. (Lucky you.)

More likely, though, she’s interested enough to want to know more, but is still a little gun-shy. Like that guy she used to date, she’s wary of commitments. So she needs a little nudge. The call to action’s job is to provide that little nudge, by:

1. Telling her what you’d like her to do next, then
2. Motivating her to actually do it.

Of course, what you’d really like her to do is just buy the damn thing — right now. Be patient. You can’t rush her. Today’s consumer hates the hard sell, hates being pushed, and will walk away.

Besides, some purchases have a very long sales cycle – weeks, months, even years. (Ask a Boeing salesman how long it takes to get a purchase order for a dozen 787′s.)

OK, but if it’s too soon to ask her to get out her credit card, what should you ask her to do? It depends, of course. Figure out what’s the next logical step in your sales cycle. Then ask her to do it.

** ACTION PLAN ** How many times have you read to the bottom of somebody’s home page, and wondered where the heck you’re supposed to go next? It’s like parachuting into an unfamiliar place without a map or GPS. Don’t do that to your potential customers. At the bottom of each webpage, include links to 2 or 3 relevant pages. Ones that contain info or answers she’s likely to want at this point in the sales cycle.

And yes, it’s Glade. Uh, I mean, yes, each link is another little call to action.