Is really great work created quickly or slowly?

Really great copy and design is often created very quickly, in a creative volcanic burst. You may think it's the opposite -- that great work needs time to develop and ferment. The truth is that the developing and fermenting happens subconsciously, before the creating. Then the writing and designing happens, or should happen, quickly. Passionately.

A great example of this is the Beach Boys classic, "G-d Only Knows." It broke the mold. It made Paul McCartney in 1966 call it the greatest love song ever made. It even inspired the Beatles' Revolver album (McCartney tried to compose his version of "G-d Only Knows" in "Here, There, Everywhere," falling far short of the originality and goose-bump causing beauty of Brian Wilson's "G-d Only Knows.")

The point? Brian Wilson wrote one of the top 5 greatest rock songs of all time in only 30 minutes.

The lesson is great copy and design can and should be created quickly in a flow of passion and conviction. Then it will be read with passion and conviction. What takes time is the revision. In other words, the original creation should happen quickly, but you should take your time with the revisions, perfecting your concept. After the 30 minutes it took for Brian Wilson to write "G-d Only Knows," you can be sure he spent countless hours in the studio turning it into the timeless masterpiece it became.

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The Donovan Rule of changing your audience's perception of you

Your target audience's perception of your product or service is often permanent. In fact, it's one of the hardest things in the universe to change.

Which is why it's crucial to make sure you get it strategically right in the first place.

Donovan is a good example of this.

In the mid-sixties, Donovan was Great Britain's answer to Dylan. Like Dylan, Donovan sang Woody Guthrie songs while playing guitar and harmonica at the same time. But while Dylan stayed on the A-list for over four decades (and even won a Grammy for his 2006 album), Donovan's career basically ended when the sixties ended.

What happened?

With such albums as Sunshine Superman, Mellow Yellow and A Gift From A Flower To A Garden, Donovan became the poster-flower child of the sixties. He cemented that perception by dressing like a flower child and joining the Beatles in India to study with the Maharishi. And when the sixties ended and his audience embraced either the harder or more progressive sounds of the seventies, they left him behind. It was time to move on.

What Donovan really sold was his name. It was his brand. And it would always be too closely associated with Flower Power and the Summer of Love -- just like Cream and Jefferson Airplane. Only he didn't have the luxury of Eric Clapton who could leave the brand-name Cream behind -- or of Jefferson Airplane who could change its name to Jefferson Starship. The Donovan brand was the sixties. And this meant he would always be a nostalgia act. It was too late to re-invent himself.

The obvious lesson? We all need to be conscious of our audience's perception of us -- and avoid branding ourselves with a trend or fad. All trends and fads end, and we don't want our products or services ending with them.

Again, changing someone's perception is one of the hardest things for a marketer to do.

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The word-length guide to website writing

Like all persuasive writing, web copy must quickly get to the point and use the fewest words possible. In other words, you must make your copy easy to scan -- because that's what readers do. They scan first.

So no matter how long your website is, here's a quick guide to keep your headlines, sentences and paragraphs short and scan-able:

• Headlines and subheads: Should be 8 words or less


• Sentences: 15-20 words


• Paragraphs: 40-70 words


• Pages: 300-500 words per page

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