With this in mind, I’m going to start writing posts about the specific usages of specific words. I originally wanted to call it “word of the day,” but it’s unrealistic that I’ll doing this on a regular basis. So instead, I’m going call it “word of the post.” One word each time. And today’s word is…

Amenable is a funny word. Most regard it as a synonym for agreeable. Yeah, I’m up for that. I’m down with that. Sounds good to me. However, the definition tells a slightly different story:

What’s interesting to me is that rather then just meaning agreeable, amenable takes on a real submissive tone. Ready to yield. Ready to be tested, or tried. Open to Influence. Servant-like. It seems to me that the word almost has venom in it, and a certain sharpness that’s unique. As dull as agreeable sounds, amenable is cutting.

Now, I’m not advocating you going off to use amenable to make people your servant. That would just make you a dick. Instead, reserve the word for the situations where it’s warranted, and where you want its sharp effect. Remember, a screenplay character who is agreeable to going to get ice cream is way different then one that’s amenable to getting shifted out of their office for a lazier worker.

YOUR INPUT: Does anyone have a different take on the word than me, or does anyone have anything to add? Is anyone going to take up the challenge to write AMENABLE into a sentence this week?

• It’s a decent way to make a buck. There’s no disputing that affiliate marketing makes money… the foundations of selling good products, then deriving increased profit from other people under you selling those same products, are solid, and financially benefits nearly everyone. I raise my glass to any entrepreneur who works hard, and achieves some financial security as a result.
• Most affiliate marketers are good people. While I have my reservations about snake-oil salesmen, I’ve found most affiliate marketers to be pretty nice folks… good marketers, who use specific tactics and hard effort to improve their businesses over time. That’s something I value, and again, something I raise my glass to.

However…

• Who’s on the other end? It seems like in their rush to make profits, most affiliate marketers will sell just about any hot product. I’ve seen hypnosis to cure smoking addictions, 101 fantastic tips to do such-and-such, and of course, the pad that you strap on to shock your abs while you’re sitting on the couch not exercising. I don’t begrudge a good marketer for finding a customer case for their product, but who is buying this shit? Where is the customer, and if you’re such a smart marketer, can’t you sell stuff to smarter customers?
• Doesn’t it lack honor? While I recognize the value in making a good living, and recognize everyone’s right to do so in the way they feel is right, I can’t help but think that most affiliate marketers lack honor doing so. Most are willing to sell any product to any person, as long as the profits are right. They don’t seem to care if the product doesn’t work (do they ever?), and they don’t seem to care if they have to con their customers into buying it.

These are my thoughts. But they’re just mine, and really, they’re just off the top of my head. I’d be curious to hear what readers of this post think, especially if you’re an affiliate marketer, or have experience with the industry. Join the conversation in the comments section!

First, the benefits… There are many potential benefits that blogging offers to businesses. A well-designed and well-written blog can help you improve your SEO rankings, attract new clients, communicate with your customers, and even contribute to knowledge base in your industry. It can serve as a center point for your companies’ community, as well as a fulcrum point to your companies’ sales mechanisms. That’s a lot of good things.

Next, the effort… It’s important to remember that even while blogging does have many benefits to offer your business, creating and writing a blog takes a good deal of time and effort. Quite simply, you only get back what you put in — I’d even argue that a neglected blog is worse than no blog — and the benefits of blogging are only available upon putting in this effort. Therefore, if you’re already overly busy (and most people are), I recommend you really decide to dedicate the time and effort required to blog, before you start blogging.

Plus, the fit… It’s also important to remember that while blogging offers many potential benefits to a businesses, they’re not a great fit with all kinds of them. Blogs work best when they’re direct and personal… offering a unique glimpse into the personality and message behind a business. If your business plan doesn’t call for this type of exposure, or you don’t feel comfortable putting yourself out there like that, I don’t recommend starting a blog. A tool, no matter how great it is, doesn’t work well when it’s not used to its full potential.

Hopefully after reading this post, you’ll have a better sense for what building and writing a business blog entails, as well as whether or not starting one is right for your business. By all means, if you think it is a good fit, I encourage you to start building one. If it’s not, well, that’s fine too; I trust that you’ll find other means through which to build your business. And of course, above all, don’t listen to the yahoos who always answer in the affirmative to the question that leads off this post.

YOUR INPUT: Anything I missed here, or anything you’d like to add? If you’re a small-business owner, do you have a blog? Why or why not?

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.

I’ll leave the poetry to the poets, but inspired (among other things) by the hometown Colorado Rockies’ recent playoff push, I thought I’d write the 3 things baseball teaches us about copywriting. Because, well, it’s fun. And also because I think there’s a lot to learn.

1. Patience. Baseball, more than any other sport, rewards patience. While football is a savage game, and occurs over a 16-game season (basketball and hockey have 82), every baseball team plays a full 162 games. That means that during a baseball season, you can flat-out stink for a whole two months, and still have a decent year. Players can’t get too high during a streak, or two low during a slump. They can only work hard, consistently, and be patient knowing that their skills will yield the proper end results.

Writing is no different. It’s not like painting, movie-making, or in the case of business copywriting, not like link-building or SEO. It’s not flashy, and it can’t be forced — it’s a subtle artform that requires patience to perfect. You need to work hard, of course, and dedicate yourself to the proper process. But you also need to let it come at its proper time. The time it chooses.

2. Simplicity. It’s somewhat true that baseball is a complex game. Do you hit-and-run with 1-out to stay out of the double play? Or do you tell your heavy-footed catcher to stay put, and let your .276 hitter swing away? However, it’s the simplicity of the game, not the complexity, from which baseball draws its beauty. At its foundation, baseball is nothing more than throw the ball, hit the ball, field the ball. And of course, for the fans, about enjoying a hot dog while watching it all take place.

Writing is the same way. Sure, there are complexities involved. Do you use a semi-colon to extend a given sentence, and add a part of another onto it? Or do you stick with the simplicity of a comma, or perhaps an ellipsis? However, it doesn’t take William Shakespeare to tell us that the beauty of writing isn’t in its mechanics (though those are fun), it is in the ideas. Writing is great because it allows us to communicate. Copywriting is great because it allows one company, or one brand, to talk directly to its customers, buyers, or followers. And like all conversation, at least where I come from, this interaction is best done simply.

3. Outcomes. There are, of course, winners and losers in baseball. One team wins each game, no matter how many innings they have to play, and only one team wins the World Series in the fall. However, unlike sports like football and basketball, where the power struggle between teams defines the interaction, baseball has a subtlety to its competition. No sport keeps individual stats as fervently (most hitters can compute their batting average while running to first), and no sport fosters goodwill amongst those that appreciate the sport, beyond their team loyalties. Sure, competition is there, but it’s not all there is.

Copywriting, in this same way, hinges partly on competition.The copy is designed to sell something, and even if you don’t have any direct competition in your marketplace, you probably have certain barriers to sale that you’re trying to overcome. For bad copywriters, who write bad copy, this competition becomes paramount… and that’s where the dreaded “ten copywriting tricks you can use to dominate your market” come from.

Good copywriters however, knowing better, don’t concentrate solely on winning. They work to build communities, talk directly to like-minded people, and if there’s a theoretical fit, they work to find products, solutions, or services that meet the needs of their readers. In the end, these copywriters have more success, but only because they weren’t focused on dominating every single word, sentence, and paragraph.

So what, in sum, can we learn from baseball about copywriting? To be patient with your work, over days and perhaps even months… putting in the time and effort to produce a great final product, while always remembering that simplicity is beauty. And also, perhaps more than anything, to be straight-forward with your readers… trying to sell a product or service if that’s your cause, without selling yourself out for the WIN. Take some time to relax, some time to share a proverbial hot dog with your potential customers, and I trust that the communities you build in doing so will ensure your long-term success.

Today, however, in an Internet world where we seek more space to fit musings into 140 characters, and look for ways to communicate that better reflect our own informal discussion style, the ellipsis is making a comeback. I’m all for it, too… I believe that used well, the ellipsis can help you write better stuff, that works better in a new business environment. Keeping in mind that I’m going on my own style here, and not by the book (as is my custom with grammar posts), here are two main cases I like to use ellipses:

1. I use them for proper flow in a sentence. I believe that good writing not only communicates ideas correctly, but does so in correct time. In other words, it’s the flow and feel of a piece, as much as it is the substance, that forms, builds, and broadcasts a brand statement. The ellipses is another tool I keep in the toolbox for just this purpose… giving me the chance to elongate my thoughts, without shortening them again with a comma, or disrupting them with a semi-colon, a hyphen, or a set of parentheses. 

2. I use them to change my thoughts in mid-sentence, without hassling with a new one altogether, or again without interrupting the thoughts with something like a semi-colon. When I talk, I pause and meander. It’s rare that I speak with the authority and clarity that many aspire to write with. And while surely there are times to make your writing more powerful than your speech — with lots of short sentences, for instance — there’s also a time to let your writing imitate your everyday voice. Don’t be afraid, in other words, to let your natural intonations shine through… you might be pleased with the result. 

The rules around ellipses are hazy, and our written understanding of them has yet to catch up with our new usages. So, while these two instances are what work for me, I urge you to find what works for yourself. Be wary of going overboard, of course, because too much of a good thing is no good at all. But try to use a few, see how they work, and them place them appropriately in your own toolbox.

Your Input: did I miss any good uses here? are there any you like, that I didn’t touch on here? any here that you dislike (and would like removed)? Let me know.