psychology
I recently read Predictably Irrational. It’s a fascinating examination of why human beings are wired and conditioned to react irrationally. We human beings are a selfish bunch, so it’s all the more surprising to see how easily we can be manipulated to behave in ways that run counter
writing style
Are you familiar with happy talk? If you’re not sure whether something is happy talk, there’s one sure-fire test: if you listen very closely while you’re reading it, you can actually hear a tiny voice in the back of your head saying “Blah blah blah blah blah.
marketing
I didn’t fully understand 37 Signals’ advice to Have an Enemy until recently. Sometimes the best way to know what your app should be is to know what it shouldn’t be. Figure out your app’s enemy and you’ll shine a light on where you need to
marketing
I’m a huge Steve Yegge fan, so It was a great honor to have Steve Yegge on a recent Stack Overflow podcast. One thing I couldn’t have predicted, however, was one particular theme of Steve’s experience at Google and Amazon that kept coming up time and time
copywriting
I often struggle when writing new blog entries. What should I write about? What’s the first sentence? What should the title be? When do I end, and what do I end with? Copyblogger’s Copywriting 101 has some excellent writing advice masquerading as marketing advice: Copywriting skills are an
user experience
Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Building a Web Site that Works (6mb PDF) is a great reminder of how to build a popular website without becoming a marketing weasel in the process: Big Picture #1: A Web site must do at least one of two things, but probably both: