Author Archives: Tom McKay

Writing good copy is tough. So when the words finally start flowing, you don’t want to blow it by having to stop and look up last year’s 3rd quarter sales revenues, or to look up another word for “appealing.” Instead, just keep writing, but leave yourself a signal. A marker. A reminder that you need […]

A great tug of war is going on. On the one end of the rope is website content that’s written specifically to attract search engines. At the other end is the kind of writing that just might tickle the human eye, ear and mind. Too many times, so-called search engine optimization (SEO) copy ends up […]

“I try to tell the news in the language the people in this country speak.” (Imus in the Morning, 4/4/06) First, notice he said tell, not read, announce or pronounce. And he does it, he says, in the common language of the average person. That’s what I always encourage clients to do. Your ads and […]

Seth pretty much nails it again: The first goal of copy is to get you to read more copy.The second goal is to tell a story that spreads.And then, finally, to have that story get people to take action. Of course, if we could somehow skip directly to step 3, it would save copywriters like […]

Yeah — YOURS is irritating, but MINE is invaluable, according to a new poll. Almost nine out ten people polled complain that others are sometimes annoying when they’re gabbing on their mobiles. But fewer than one in ten (about 8 percent) admit they’re ever rude themselves. Mobile phones are invaluable communications tools. One day, hopefully, […]

Why is your inbox still flooded with spam? There can only be one reason: Because enough people still respond and buy what they’re selling to make it financially worthwhile. Want to end spam permanently? It’s simple. Don’t EVER buy ANYTHING from ANYONE who sends you a spam e-mail. And tell everyone you know — especially […]

Writing is the hardest work I do. It’s the hardest work I’ve ever done (and I’ve had several other jobs in which writing was not the main task). Maybe everyone who writes feels that way, but even so, there are plenty of good reasons to keep plugging away at it. First, it helps you attract […]