Discuss: Words that Zing

1 Yes!!

Excellent points. This article supports my own opionion of, and experience with, web writing – namely, that it matters. Great job.

posted at 11:30 am on February 9, 2010 by Melanie

2 So True

It’s amazing how little thought people put into some of the biggest decisions on their site.

Really makes you think about the details that need to go into each “call to action.”

posted at 12:06 pm on February 9, 2010 by drew stauffer

3 Crucial in Marketing

Your post really drives home the importance of well crafted language in marketing, and elsewhere of course. Job 1 in marketing is getting noticed, so it’s tempting to be controversial and inflammatory, but Job 2 is building relationships. Do you really want people coming to your website who think you are a firebrand? If you’re a political blogger, yes of course. But if you’re a company selling products or services, no way. The art is crafting content that strikes a balance between interest and true value for the reader’s time.

posted at 12:32 pm on February 9, 2010 by jmctigue

4 Oh my eyes!

Using Comcast as an example of good customer service made me check to see if it was April 1st. I can only assume that this must be some sort of twisted humor.

Note that Neflix uses “exchange” rather than “return”. Probably as returning dvd to a mailbox is not quite as exciting as “exchanging” them for new ones.

posted at 12:59 pm on February 9, 2010 by ascotan

5

First, Leen thanks for writing this article, and for leveraging kairos to explain the importance of timeliness in web writing. It’s the first time I’ve seen classical rhetoric explicitly employed outside of my program of study in rhetoric and professional communication, and it’s refreshing to see the concept applied to real-world scenarios.

Second, I might be reading Figure 3 incorrectly, but it appears comcastcares is quoted as tweeting the same message twice, and in context, it doesn't make sense. Furthermore, the timeline of the exchange between GrahamHill and @comcastcares is confusing. If the exchange is supposed to be linear, it’s not presented that way, with the tweets coming in at 7 hours, 4 hours, 7 hours, 4 hours, and 6 hours.

posted at 01:40 pm on February 9, 2010 by stewartmccoy

6 Great article

I find I am spending more and more time in my web projects on these sorts of issues.

posted at 01:51 pm on February 9, 2010 by Jack McDaniel

7 Didn't zing

Ironic. The article was too wordy and lacked zing; I gave up half way through.

posted at 02:15 pm on February 9, 2010 by Matthew Hill

9 Save the zing, save the action!

Thanks for this wonderful case study in persuasion! Like Stewart, I appreciate seeing contemporary applications of lessons in classical rhetoric. It’s incredibly relevant: too often, marketers forget the main goal of most websites is to forge a relationship between their company and audience—and then to use that relationship as the basis of persuasion about their brand, service, or product. As you point out, when they lose sight of that goal, they open the floodgates for lifeless copy, endless feature lists, pointless design. What’s another casualty, along with the zing? Active voice. You just can’t persuade someone to trust your brand or buy your service if no one drives the action.

posted at 04:12 pm on February 9, 2010 by Margot Bloomstein

10 Importance of the web site, and the design

Firstly, great article. It never ceases to make me happy when i see people that appreciates the importance of web sites and the marketing opportunity in them.

But in fact, it’s one of the greatest ways to get yourself “known” at all or get yourself heard by other people if you have a point to make. Oh and for those who say that “There is no bad advertising”, The way you design your website and mention your keypoints are more essential than people think…

Anyway again, Great article!
Dena Tasarım

posted at 04:44 pm on February 9, 2010 by Dena