This is a recycled post from my very early writing days, so be gentle and read it in the sarcastic, good-humored nature it is intended. And for those of you who are die-hard romantics: Happy Valentine’s Day anyways (you deluded souls)!

Top 10 Reasons Not to Celebrate Valentine’s Day

OK, so Christmas has scrooge and Valentine’s Day has me! Join with me if you hate sappy romance and overpriced chocolates by boycotting Valentine’s Day.

The Top Ten Reasons Not to Celebrate Valentine’s Day

photo credit: weglet

Today, I have a guest post up at Sirius Graphix. I’m a little late in linking up- blame it on all the roach spray floating around.

I admit it, I have a love hate relationship with social media.

I know all the experts say it’s important, but I also know it can be a real time sucker. One of my goals for this year is to streamline my social media time.

Social Media Goals

Does this mean I’ll still goof off on facebook sometimes?- you bet. Will I still click that irrelevant yet funny link on Twitter?- of course. I don’t want to suck the life out of my work after all. Even people with office jobs chat with co-workers or eat doughnuts in the break room from time to time.

So, inspired by my social media goals, I found a post by Jay Baer to be most interesting and helpful. It’s titled 11 Mind-Blowing reasons Your Business Needs Facebook (link below). And from a practical standpoint, this post is very insightful.

Disqus and facebook Connect

I recently tried out a new Disqus plugin for comments on Blue Duck- partially because I wanted something better than the standard WP version, and partly because it came up in my research about facebook Connect. Disqus gives readers the option of signing in using a facebook account. It also makes it easy for readers to invite facebook friends to view a post or update a facebook status with a link to the website and the post they are reading.  I’m liking the Disqus plugin very much, and I am also liking what I am reading about facebook Connect.

Jay lists facebook Connect as one of the biggest potentials to come from the facebook craze, and I tend to agree. I was also intrigued to read the statistics he gives about facebook usage and growth trends. I also noticed that I spend WAY more time on facebook each day than the average user. Time to curb those status checking impulses a little better. Thanks, Jay, for calling it to my attention.

11 Mind-Blowing reasons Your Business Needs Facebook (Jay has a very neat website, too. Check it out!  )

Friend Jamie on facebook

Follow Jamie on Twitter

photo credit: ana young

• Ten Search Engines Powered by Twitter from Search Engine Guide, shows that even your Tweets matter to SEO.
• 80 Ways to Use twitter as a Small Business Owner by Lisa Barone has some good tips for getting the most out of your TwitterTime.
• Dragon Slaying 101: How to Use Heroic Language to Battle Boring Copy by Ali Hale made me smile and made a good point, even the most boring drivel can be perked up by a little creative copy.
• In Creative Block #1: I’m Not Creative , Mark McGuinness tells us, ” Forget about ‘Being Creative’- Start Creating“
• Find something to blog about with 100+ SMB Blogging Ideas to Kick Start 2010 by Lisa Barone
• The Launch Coach tells us to stop fussing and start doing business in The Big Secret to Success? Run with What You Have.
• “You can write blog posts from now until doomsday, and if no one reads them, you might as well be picking your nose.” from Jonathan Morrow at Copybloggger.

and… last but not least, I found a nice little video from Chris Lumpkin about landing pages:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes, I do write landing page content.

“Make a Six-Figure Income as a Copywriter- With NO training or experience!”

Yeah, yeah. Sound familiar?

If you’ve poked around on the Net even a little bit, you’ve surely run into this type of ad. They promise you the world on a platter for minimal effort, and it’s all a very closely-kept secret… that can be yours for only $49.99 (or insert your favorite price tag here).

The Experience

I subscribe to a newsletter written by a very popular, successful, and well- known copywriter. I am always looking for ways to stretch my writing wings, and I know my writing could be better, so I often look for tips or advise from those who do the job well. Boy was I surprised when the newsletter arrived.

It wasn’t at all what I would expect from a successful copywriter. It was laden with boring, pushy copy, sales pitches, and run-down lead ins. Week after week, my inbox held yet another newsletter proclaiming the wonders of the author’s latest and greatest copywriting product. Never, never did they include any useful information for copywriters (other than the statement that you MUST have this product to succeed as a copywriter).

I grumbled, I groused, I considered unsubscribing. I was optimistic that somewhere, buried in all that drivel, was one golden nugget of useful knowledge that I could use. Each week, I scanned the text and tossed each one in the trash, where it belonged.

Another newsletter arrived today. The headline was catchy, I was hopeful. I clicked through… to land on a long-winded, eye-grating sales pages. I was betrayed by my own optimism.

I wanted to leave a comment to the effect of, “Do you really think anyone reads, let alone buys, this crap? Why can’t you ever produce something of value? You’re giving copywriting a bad image and you should be ashamed to pay your bills with deception and trickery.” But, alas, I saved my foot from my mouth- there was not a comment section to be found.

The Lesson

I unsubscribed today.

I decided that my time and energy are better spent elsewhere. And while I am not snarky enough to mention this writer’s name, I will say that he most likely will never read this post, nor will he notice my unsubscribing. That wasn’t my goal.

Copywriting is not simply putting up words to push,trick, or persuade people into clicking through, buying a product, or supporting a cause. It is the intricate art of changing minds. It is establishing a connection with your reader, presenting your case in a positive light, and creating trust between you and the reader.

Writing copy is delicate, hard work. It takes time, practice, sweat, and serious mental effort. It is not a task for the faint of heart. Nor is it an easy path to a paycheck.

Reading copy should not make you feel like you’ve just interacted with a sleazy used-car salesman with a bad comb-over who talks at your boobs.

Great copywriting encourages you to expand your thinking, see things from another’s point of view, and want to sit down with the author over a cup of coffee. If you can pull that off, you might just make a living at this copywriting gig.

P.S.: For Sal and Sean, I’ve left out all lists for today’s post. You’re welcome.
photo credit: 1Happysnapper

To alleviate the pressure, I have a guest post up today at SiriusGraphix. If you have a minute, stop by and say hi and show some blogging love to the new kids on the block. I’ll be hanging out there all day. I’ll bring the coffee, you bring a smile.

(FYI: I’ll be blogging in the new future about a new endeavor for Blue Duck Copy. Keep an eye open!)

photo credit: [ Roberto Bouza ]

In yet another domain name dispute, Google leaves the table with its tail tucked between its legs. The search giant lost a recent lawsuit against Groovle.com, where Google watchdogs claimed that the domain name bears enough resemblance to Google.com  to constitute a copyright infringement. The courts say otherwise, making the lawsuit only the second loss in a series of similar suits filed by the leading search engine. (Information Week reports on the Google vs. Groovle lawsuit.)

What exactly does a Groovle do? The Canadian-based website offers customizable search homepages. That’s right, you can finally get that Twilight or Megan Fox fix every time you search with a groovy Groovle search page. You can also upload your own images to make a one-of-a-kind search homepage. (Get yours at Groovle.com.)

While I’m not ready to give up Google just yet, I do like the idea of choosing my own background images to look at every morning while I browse my favorite blogs and news sites. Perhaps Google will take the loss in stride and offer a similar service as a form of “I’m taking my ball and going home”. Either way, Groovle is in headline news and flying high, for now.

Girlz Rule

Priscilla Pretty loves pink. Anything pink will do. Her pink fetish creates a voracious spending appetite and she needs money. She’s about to graduate from college and she decides to start her own business instead of working as an intern in a stuffy office cubicle for peanuts while she lives in her parents’ basement and pays off her student loans. She comes up with an idea for Girlz Rule, an online shop that sells all things pink, girlie, and great.

Her dorm roommate is a design and IT major, and after some haggling over the trading of a pair of pink Jimmy Choos they both love, she produces an awesomely pink, edgy website for Priscilla’s new business. Priscilla chooses her favorite pink products on the web, taps into an automated checkout system that lets her visitors order from her website, and sets up the products to ship directly form a third party vendor.

Easy-As-Pie, right? Wrong. Even though Girlz Rule has the new 5th generation hot pink iPod nano for $100, no one is ordering because no one is visiting the website. It’s lost in CyberSpace.

So, what’s Priscilla to do?

Content (and girls) Rule(s)

She can optimize her content. Contrary to popular opinion, SEO content does not have to be boring or stuffed to the brim with keywords.

You can have exciting, spunky, sassy, classy, or edgy content and be search engine optimized. SEO writing can be as fun and creative as any other type of writing, it just takes a skilled SEO writer to pull it off. So Priscilla hires an SEO writer to produce her website content and she starts getting natural, relevant traffic to her website- and a few sales. But she needs more sales to save up for a down payment on a loft apartment, so she asks her SEO writer for help, who recommends an SEO press release.

SEO Press Releases

In Priscilla’s case, an SEO press release is a news-style article detailing the arrival of Girlz Rule. It contains all the details of the new website, its owner, the products sold, guarantees offered, special promotions, and background information. It’s sort of like a newspaper article and sales flyer combined. It even includes a link back to a special landing page on the Girlz Rule website.

The SEO press release is then distributed to key websites throughout the Internet, where visitors can read about the new business. But more importantly, the information (and the link back to Girlz Rule) is indexed and crawled by search engine spiders- on a regular basis. The repeated mention of the Girlz Rule link boosts Priscilla’s search engine ranking because her website content has been optimized for relevancy to her target audience and it draws relevant visitors to her website who buy her products.

Proof in the Pudding

WebPro News recently published a report on How Press Releases Can Be Great for Search. They cite a study by Arketi Group, that shows the media regularly uses the Internet as a tool to help determine what gets covered in the press. Wouldn’t it be great if the media came across your business on the Net and found it to be newsworthy?

By the way, Priscilla is doing great with her new business. She moved out of her parent’s basement and recently struck up a deal with a clothing designer to produce eco-friendly pink t-shirts to sell to Prius owners. Sean Platt is Priscilla’s biggest fan. He is anxiously awaiting the arrival of this week’s package. (He bought three iPods and a t-shirt, cause real men aren’t afraid to wear pink.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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