Try the egg-cure i mentioned.

It works on all hairtypes, volumeless or not,
it become more lifelike.

I have taken care to edit my first
post to the bone.

I take a different approach with copy. I don't write what's in my heart. I write what's in my customer's head.

I don't care what you're pitching, copy begins and ends with entering the conversation already in your prospect's head. You then work your own personal solution/message into their minds.

This isn't about passionate writing, leave that to the Pulitzer, and the Giller Prize. I can't tell you how many clients I've seen with REAL PASSION.

But they couldn't sell you their product if their life depended on it. Heck, Bruce posted a great video with some very PASSIONATE guy talking to Eben Pagan and getting absolutely schooled.

Passion is great, don't get me wrong. But with copy, write with your head your prospect's head.

Probably best for another thread. However, keeping within the social marketing as not an empty buzzword theme, let's see what we can do.

If you're, say, a handbag manufacturer, you might conduct a focus group.

Let's say, however, you want to add a direct response twist. You might then make an announcement at the end of the focus group, thanking the participants and offering a handbag in exchange for their work and effort. (Not free).

Watching the handbag table, you might then discover the handbag chosen had no correlation with responses given in the focus group -- but high correlation with sales.

There are certain unfortunate tendencies when people get into groups. You want to still use the focus group, pretty much as always, then throw away the survey and watch the behavior around that table.

If you're talking social marketing, you're talking about how to develop a site which fosters invites to Linkdin and Facebook.

...Which social networks are serious for business purposes, and which are for show. (Your 3,497 close personal friends who never buy, contact or interact with you?  ...yeah, they are no friends)

...How to "work a room," and develop your physical networking skills (Sorry, while sad and pathetic are social aspects, social marketing can't confine itself to meaningless online Rolodex stuffing and getting the most comments on Digg)

...Viral marketing, or the dynamics of how people refer a site and do your advertising for you. Problem is, there is cutesy viral which pumps up bandwidth costs and little else, and viral marketing which causes targeted prospects to buy.

A lot of this is not a long form sales letter. We're talking forums, sites like Digg, blogs and two-way interactive, multi-step sales processes. While it can be done, it is not as easy as dropping the term "social marketing" into a cute web 2.0 styled layout.

And there are a whole lot of wannabes who couldn't go into specifics if their lives depended on it.

"Discover the profits that lie hidden online - it's easier than you think" is simply awful. Cheesy as. Hackneyed as. Trite as. And the rest of your site just looks like you're trying to impress - and failing at it. Your photo is straight out terrible. You look embarrassed and ridiculous holding the laptop in your hand.  Why don't you just play it straight - with some decent copy instead of this beat-up?

Western Outlaw -- the VERY last thing this board needs is one more person who tears people's work apart without providing any real constructive criticism.

I often find myself wanting to recommend this board to others, and I never do, because of how nasty people like yourself can be.

"Why don't you just play it straight - with some decent copy instead of this beat-up?" Sure. Want to provide some actual suggestions, or is that beneath you?

I don't mean to rant, and I certainly don't intend to take any of your feedback personally -- but sometimes the level of rancor on this forum gets ridiculous.

Is this a copywriting forum, or a haven for trolls?

Ah, the old "she asked for it!" line.

Has that been working for you, John?