This morning, Seth Godin wrote a good piece on unintentional blogging income. The idea is that most successful bloggers start out for fun, and for the thrill of having good content read. Money only comes later (and as an afterthought). It’s good stuff, and brings up an important point for me here. Namely, that writing good copy means just that… if you focus on producing quality content, the money will come.
That notion is contrary to pretty much all of what you see around the industry. These days, it’s all about web-content “that sells.” Now, I don’t think the end idea is flawed (making money is the point here, remember), but I think the approach is. If you write stuff just to sell, it’ll show. You’ll produce money-grubbing content, not quality content. That’s where you see: “Buy this product. You’re inadequate without it, and you need it. I know it’s just a blender, but it’ll change the way you see the world. You need it.”
Now this may work for informercials, but it won’t work for startups. Smart people (your good customers) will see right through money-grubbing copy, and ultimately, they’ll be turned off by it (no one likes to be sold). But if you respect them… if you write quality stuff that shows them who you are, and what your product truly does (and no, a blender won’t change your life), it’ll come off as genuine and likeable.
It’ll be quality stuff, and it’ll attract quality people. The type that will stick around, bring other people in, and maybe even improve your product. That’s what you want, and that’s what you want to write. “Copy that sells” doesn’t sell. Good content Sells.
It’s a paradox. I know.
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