Marketing Sherpa: Retail 2.0: Behind-the-Scenes at the Best Marketed Bank in America

Could your marketing benefit from the example set by a competitor, or even someone from outside your industry?

Click to read "Retail 2.0: Behind-the-Scenes at the Best Marketed Bank in America," available on the Marketing Sherpa website until April 27. It's an interesting story about how a bank attracts young customers into its branches.

The Marketing Sherpa e-newsletter is an interesting source of ideas. You can subscribe at their home page at no charge.

Randy Cronk's blog for information technology (IT) folks

Are you involved in marketing information technology?

Then you may enjoy Randy Cronk's blog.

Randy is a writer who focuses on technology. I've enjoyed talking with him at a couple of IABC meetings in the greater Boston area.

New York Times: "This Boring Headline is Written for Google"

Newspapers are beginning to tailor their article titles to the search methods used by search engines, according to "This Boring Headline is Written for Google" in The New York Times.

That means they're inserting into their titles some of the popular key words for their category. The article will give you specific examples.

What are the implications for you? If you're writing an article that will be available on line, think about the key words you use in your titles!

Guide to Writing Press Releases

Thinking of drafting a press release for your business?

Check out this website for links to some resources.

Is your writing -- or mine -- too long-winded?

There's nothing like a dense block of type larded with multisyllabic obscure words to discourage your reader.

I recently learned some guidelines that may help you streamline your writing.

To ensure reading comprehension, use no more than:

• 42 words per paragraph
• 14 words per sentence
• 2 syllables per word
  

Obviously, you can break these guidelines sometimes as long as you keep your averages low. You stuck with me through my first sentence, even though it hit 17 words.

These guidelines were part of a very practical and energetic presentation by Ann Wylie. Ann spoke on "Writing That Sells" at the Yankee IABC Annual Conference last week.

I highly recommend Ann's free e-newsletter, "Revving Up Readership." It's one of the few newsletters I always read.

D. Huff on "Five Reasons Your Site Isn't Showing up in Google"

If you act now, you can read about "Five Reasons Your Site Isn't Showing up in Google" in the current (April) edition of Dianna Huff's Marcom Writer e-newsletter.

She lists five items your website person ought to be taking care of for you. Things like making sure that your home page is not a form nor a splash page. These technical things would never in a million years occur to me on my own.

"Can not" vs. "cannot"

Which is right? "Can not" or "cannot"?

Habit tells me "cannot," but I can't find this peculiar spelling in the index of any of my style guides.

However, Wikipedia gives me this quote, in which I've added the bolding to "cannot":
In this regard, the following quotation from The Chicago Manual of Style deserves notice:

Rules and regulations such as these, in the nature of the case, cannot be endowed with the fixity of rock-ribbed law. They are meant for the average case, and must be applied with a certain degree of elasticity.

I haven't thought about this issue in years. I usually work around it by using "can't."

What's your practice?