Found 17 topics tagged ‘Gaining Attention’

SPOILER: it’s not good. Sure—you know you’re writing an email to 5,000 people. But your task is to make your reader feel like you’re writing only to them. When ‘broadcasting’ language slips into our writing,...

Knowing how much or how little to say starts with being clear about your objective. Rarely is it our job to turn readers into subject-matter experts. Mostly, we’re in the business of motivating people to action. If...

Consider the moment before your supporter decides whether to open your email. They must sacrifice something in order to give you their attention. Either, they’ll need to delay the thing they were about to do next, or...

On the surface, it looks like the purpose of a title is to introduce the content of a webpage. But of course—you know that’s not it at all! Your title or headline’s strategic function is to...

Of all the ‘rules’ out there for writing page headlines, this is the most transformative. If your headline sits on a petition or advocacy page, use it to communicate the ‘pain or consequence’ that follows from...

To steal a mantra from our friends in journalism: don’t bury the lede. The idea might have started in newspaper offices but it applies anywhere we’re competing for our audience’s attention (so, the entire Internet)...