Writers aren’t perfect. We aren’t gods. (We’d like to think we are, but hey, let’s be honest). Writers don’t always hit the mark and they don’t always get the message across. We’re human, and while we’re very good at what we do, we have off days too or projects that we just can’t nail down.
That was glaringly apparent to me the day I had the chance of a resource box review. Now, I leap on these chances for someone else to pick over my work. See, no one criticizes the boss. It’s my job to edit, double-check, read and approve other writers’ work, but no one reads my stuff and says, “Jamie, that’s goddamned crap. I’ve never read anything worse. Did you run out of coffee that morning? Go back and write something better, I’m not sending that out.”
No, no one says that to me. Shame, because I’m no better than the next guy on the team and I make mistakes too. (I like to think I don’t make too many of them and that my work usually shines, but I’m not that arrogant to think I’m above improvement.)
So Chris Knight posted up a great article about writing the best resource box possible, and on his blog, he offered to review the first ten resource box texts submitted. I was game; hell, I was all for it.
The resource box I had was written eons ago. It was bland, flat, and nothing special. Chris told me as much. Good for him, and good for me. I went back to the drawing boards, because a resource box is a vital part of generating interest and clicks to my site.
Writing up three captivating lines of copy should be easy for a pro writer. You’d think that, anyways. It’s not. Effective sales copy is one of the most difficult types of copy to write. Anyone who tells you different should be hired on the spot because they’re sales and marketing protégés or avoided with all haste because they’re full of crap.
So cheers to Chris for telling me like it is. It’s refreshing to be told, “Jamie… dude… you’re missing the basics here.” Here’s to hoping I get that resource box right within three tries.
