Customer Reviews

The Online Copywriter's Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Write Online Copy That Sells

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've read many books in this segment and I would strongly recommend reading Hot Text: Web Writing that Works or Networds. Robert Bly is a "print guy" that thought it would be interesting to write a book on electronic copy. I would say that the first half of the book is written by supposed experts in on-line marketing. The book is crowded with all sorts of references to other people's work. This leads to a very choppy style of reading in my opinion. The author uses case studies from work that he has already completed but rarely does the content match the electronic world. For a book that is written in 2003, the data is incredibly dated. The author is comfortable with using data from 1996 in a book that talks about the ever changing environment of On-Line marketing. Most of the data regarding internet statistics was incredibly dated. The author talks about the principals of good copy writing but rarely goes into any depth with regards to examples of the principals. I found the writing to be lazy to say the least. Clearly this author is capitalizing on the interest of electronic copy. Take out the experts that know about on-line marketing, you're left with an incredibly weak book. Although there are is a lot of expert reference, rarely do the experts go into any depth with regards to their arguments or points. If this book is the only book that you are exposed to within this segment; you might be left thinking that you read an average book. When you compare the book to other books in the same segment, it simply doesn't compare. Not a good book.

Bob Bly is not a super exciting writer. He describes his own writing as down to earth. There are many gereral details and tips in this book, but if failed to grab me.

I have also read Net Words and Persuasive Online Copywriting. I would recommend either of those books over this, especially Persuasive Online Copywriting.

This book is a step in the right direction, I just think it was done better in the others.

I have always wanted a guide for writing online. Unfortunately the closest I have come up with is usability's guru: Jacob Nielsen.
Thinking of this book as "copywriting online guide" I thought I have found my solution. Unfortunately, I realized soon that this book is more about marketing online that about writing for the web. It will help you sell, but its only chapter "writing for the Internet" is not the ultimate guide of writing online.

Every online business needs to understand how it can improve its appearance on the world wide web and Bly shows us how to do just that. This is a great book for small and home businesses who want to take their websites to the next level. And a great book for the beginning copywriter who wants to learn the ropes. My only regret is that it doesn't go as extensively into copywriting techniques as I had hoped.

I'd recommend this to novice internet entreprenuers looking for advice, but this likely won't be the end-all text goldmine you're hoping for.

If you're one who reads as many online business and marketing books as possible, this information presents nothing new or innovative. It *may* pose an interesting read while at your local bookstore, but not necessarily something worth keeping on your home/office shelf.

Learning to write content for an effective website is crucial for any business or organization. Not only does Bly recommend good writing practices, he also describes the best way to design and market your website. This book is a credible source and a helpful resource for anyone pursuing web content development.

I especially thought that the tips in the first half of the book regarding web writing fundamentals and practices were very helpful. And, although the data may have been out of date, the principles still apply. Bly also provided several good websites throughout the book that would help any beginning web designer in their quest for the perfect website.

I am a small business owner who has been writing his own ads for the past dozen years or so. Simply put, if your ad is not effective, you are throwing away money -- quite literally. Mr Bly's book made me realize that I had been throwing away a lot of money, unfortunately.

I highly recommend this book. If you write your own ads, you may think (like I used to) that writing copy is "no big deal". Maybe it isn't, but there are still rules that need to be followed for maximum effectiveness, and Mr Bly does an excellent job of explaining them.

If I had to suggest improvements to this book, it would be 1. a new and updated edition, and 2. the use of some graphics. Mr Bly goes to some length to explain textually the layout of an ad, which is silly when a picture or graphic is worth a thousand words (pun intended).

But my real gripe is this: the printing is of such poor quality that I found myself washing my hands after every reading session. No kidding, it's worse than some newspaper print. This may sound a like a superficial gripe to some, but what good is great copy if the customer is left with a yucky feeling?

Hands down, veteran copywriter Bob Bly has written the best book I've found on how to write persuasive copy for the Web and the Internet. The sub-title "Everything You Need to Know to Write Electronic Copy That Sells" is not just a promotional blurb penned by his publisher - it's an accurate description.

Step by step, he covers the fundamentals of persuasive online copy, how to adapt print copy for the Web, how to illustrate Web copy with visuals, what makes an effective home page and how to structure the content of a site. Subsequent chapters focus on writing email promotional messages, email text ads and banner ads (yes, the good ones have words in them). A whole chapter is devoted to e-newsletters or e-zines: from designing and promoting one to what to write about.

The table of contents is detailed and well organized so you can jump around and read the sections out of order. I'm keeping this book within arm's reach!

I can always count on Bob Bly to cut through the mumbo-jumbo of marketing communications fluff, and provide good, solid advice on how we can get our messages across successfully. He did it in "Business-to-Business Direct Marketing." And now he does it for this wonderful new medium, the Internet. Bob never forgets that the objective of marketing communications is to move customers and prospects to action. He explains how to write Internet copy that sells. Covering all the Internet media--websites, email, banner ads, newsletters--Bly gives us detailed tips and techniques on how to craft and adapt our messages to be maximally effective. And, naturally, he delivers his message with absolute clarity. Bravo to Bob Bly.

This book was very similar to Bly's previous books which went through the basic tenets of copywriting. He does a great job of transferring the "writing to sell" principles to web pages in this book, but I wish he would have touched more on the technical aspects. Many writers are looking to learn how to approach writing for Flash or any new web language of the day... and we need something that brings us into that territory. With this book, it was close but no cigar.