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The Marketing Minute originated in a one-minute spot for a weekly TV show. Now delivered by email, it's still just 180 words each week. Busy readers applaud its brevity. "Like a shot in the arm from an angel at my side when I booted up this morning." - Valerie Sutter "A pithy, insightful and often fun-to-read marketing tip." - Jeff Zbar "The only e-newsletter I always read, unique in its short, readable and useful content." - Alison Strickland "Diabolically brilliant! I\'ve learned more from the Marketing Minute than from any single workshop in the last four years." - Lyne Royce | |  |  | |  | | | | | | | Inspired by Magazines According to Your Attention, Please, a book by Paul B. Brown and Alison Davis, 84% of Americans over 18 read magazines. Popular periodicals offer not only clear writing but also layout techniques that woo readers.
For instance, below each article\'s title, magazines offer a summary or teaser that draws readers into the story. They also tempt page-flippers with callouts - sentences from the article framed or highlighted as a visual element; sidebars, or related mini-articles set off alongside the main article; resource lists, laid out as sidebars; and photos or diagrams, accompanied by captions that make sense to
someone who hasn\'t yet read the article.
Your Attention, Please uses these layout techniques very effectively, making the content easy to absorb and chock full of multiple entry points.
What the authors neglected to note is that jazzing up online articles with these techniques not only pulls in readers but also provides fodder for search engines. Sidebars, callouts, lists and captions enable you to repeat keywords naturally, increasing traffic from potential customers searching for those words.
Stay tuned for a redesign of some of my web pages! Copyright 2006 Marcia Yudkin. Permission needed for any reuse.  Free subscription! Subscribe to the Marketing Minute to receive a free marketing tip every Wednesday in your e-mail box, along with a special offer of the week for subscribers only. Subscribing is easy: just enter your e-mail address in the box below and click "Subscribe." Your privacy is guaranteed, and you may unsubscribe at any time. Free site content! Learn how to get the Marketing Minute posted free at your site.
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