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nfailor's comments

nfailor | 12 years ago | on: Do Any Ecommerce Sites Need Help Writing/Editing Web Content?

as someone who launched a marketing firm on the basis of copywriting I'm going to give you a spot or two of advice.

it's a service that's one of the first to cut when expenditure budgets get tightened.

the best skill you can develop is the ability to quickly write (and justify) scalable copy.

you'll get a lot more mileage out of just submitting copy corrections to established entities.

nfailor | 12 years ago | on: Ask HN: Why do you hate advertising as a business so much?

which is a client-centric failure. convincing a small business (such as a kayak rental outfit) why that they ought to invest in targeted search [which would have a favorable effect] gets a lot harder when they're only pitched for the scammier side of things.

nfailor | 12 years ago | on: Ask HN: Why do you hate advertising as a business so much?

1) those are not advertisers, those are direct mailing etc., outfits. I think they're annoying too. I don't use them. If a client suggests using them, I suggest they find a new agency. I suggest you write a note to the CEO and discontinue your association with the brand. they pay attention to that.

2) might I suggest 'site:.edu'

3) it's not a fear, a critical mass of users won't pay for content.

nfailor | 12 years ago | on: Ask HN: Why do you hate advertising as a business so much?

1. we do the best we can to target. you get blanketed by irrelevant ads for a myriad of reasons not limited to: -lazy clients who don't understand their userbase -ads for things you might be interested in being choked out by higher paying spots.

2. that's actually not an advertiser's job--although some of those elements may be part of a campaign. we live in an era where clients demand an ROI, they want a conversion stat, and that's what they base an ad buy on--we agree this is detrimental in the industry. we'd much rather present you with a product over a span of time. we'd much rather show a product to likely consumers.

I'd give you a treatise on the industry, but ogilvy did that:

http://www.commissionedwriting.com/CONFESSIONS%20OF%20AN%20A...

3. that's also a client generated evil.

4. we've been making that sort of connection our entire history. content producers check too, they call it 'knowing your audience.' we're actually in the midst of a massive democratization. instead of five or six market research companies (or one TV research company, or one radio company) we're opening up. you can actually opt-out--that's never happened before.

5. so pay for the service.

not enough users are interested in baring the true cost of a service--hence the dependence on ad revenue.

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