Not up to Bob Bly's normal standards
I like Bob Bly's easy-to-read style. And he usually offers great tips and sage advice. In fact, every now and again, I'll pull out my copy of "The Copywriter's Handbook" for reference or ideas. It's a must read for any writer just starting out. But I struggled through this book until I eventually had to stop reading about three-quarters of the way through. It seemed to lack his normal flow. And he relied heavily on other "experts" for advice (which now are probably quite dated). I got the impression that Bly was trying to capitalize on a hot market without fully knowing the subject matter. It wasn't terrible--you will find some good tidbits in it--but it's far from his best work.
Title misleading, content copied from his other handbook
the title is misleading, the content is poor, many examples but no explainings on how to create a similar good copy
content is mostly copied from his other handbook
dissapointment
Too many copywriting rules, not enough tech.
This book was very similar to Bly's previous books which went through the basic tenets of copywriting. He does a great job of transferring the "writing to sell" principles to web pages in this book, but I wish he would have touched more on the technical aspects. Many writers are looking to learn how to approach writing for Flash or any new web language of the day... and we need something that brings us into that territory. With this book, it was close but no cigar.
Bly has great experience and helpful hints
Learning to write content for an effective website is crucial for any business or organization. Not only does Bly recommend good writing practices, he also describes the best way to design and market your website. This book is a credible source and a helpful resource for anyone pursuing web content development.
I especially thought that the tips in the first half of the book regarding web writing fundamentals and practices were very helpful. And, although the data may have been out of date, the principles still apply. Bly also provided several good websites throughout the book that would help any beginning web designer in their quest for the perfect website.
Weak, Lacking Depth and Dated material
I've read many books in this segment and I would strongly recommend reading Hot Text: Web Writing that Works or Networds. Robert Bly is a "print guy" that thought it would be interesting to write a book on electronic copy. I would say that the first half of the book is written by supposed experts in on-line marketing. The book is crowded with all sorts of references to other people's work. This leads to a very choppy style of reading in my opinion. The author uses case studies from work that he has already completed but rarely does the content match the electronic world. For a book that is written in 2003, the data is incredibly dated. The author is comfortable with using data from 1996 in a book that talks about the ever changing environment of On-Line marketing. Most of the data regarding internet statistics was incredibly dated. The author talks about the principals of good copy writing but rarely goes into any depth with regards to examples of the principals. I found the writing to be lazy to say the least. Clearly this author is capitalizing on the interest of electronic copy. Take out the experts that know about on-line marketing, you're left with an incredibly weak book. Although there are is a lot of expert reference, rarely do the experts go into any depth with regards to their arguments or points. If this book is the only book that you are exposed to within this segment; you might be left thinking that you read an average book. When you compare the book to other books in the same segment, it simply doesn't compare. Not a good book.
(18 reviews)
