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Clients weren’t criticizing my writing because they thought they were better writers than I. They were looking at my writing under a microscope because it wasn’t communicating their message. They didn’t know why, so they started looking for flaws in the mechanics of the writing.

So let me give you one man’s opinion of what’s really different about writing for web clients:

The writer is in so much of a rush to boot up the word processor and get the job out that the basics of handling a writing assignment properly are forgotten. Asking pertinent questions takes longer because it’s done by email instead of on the phone or in person. Briefings are relegated to a few lines of text in an email and, as such, are often incomplete.



What’s the answer? The answer is a question. It’s a question you need to ask about everything you write. Ask the client. If you’re writing a piece for self-promotion, or even a piece of fiction, ask yourself. It’s such a simple question that it covers a huge variety of factors to do with positioning, branding, top-of-mind awareness and all those other swell buzz words and phrases we know and love. It’s just one short question and you shouldn’t type a word until the client has answered it to your (and believe it or not, his) satisfaction. Here it is: “What do you want someone to do or think differently after reading this copy?”

Until you have the answer, you don’t know what questions to ask, never mind what words to write. Many clients have trouble with the question because they haven’t really addressed it. The answer may not be complicated but it can’t be overly simplified either. An answer like “Buy more product” needs to be followed up by the question, “Why aren’t they doing that already?” Then you can start getting somewhere.

This approach involves a few extra emails but it results in fewer revisions, less nit picking, better client relations and the most important thing of all, RESULTS. Apply that question to everything you write and you will experience the same blinding flashes of the obvious that I did . . . and do.

If you’re already using this technique, thanks for being patient and letting me describe it. I needed to read it again myself.