Introducing the First
Supervisory Training Program
Written in the 90’s For the 90’s

How to Give Your Supervisors
Five Years Experience
in a Week

1.

A grabber’s job is not to remove skepticism -- only to irresistibly grab the reader and pull them in to the elements that will convince them.  The key in the above was to not only make the “five years experience” claim, but to then write copy that proved the claim.  I used the argument that simulation training can be more powerful than experience because it can be non-error learning and teach do’s and don’ts.  By the time the whole story was read, the headline’s claim was fully credible.  Notice how evocative the “After” version is -- not in an emotional sense, but in its ability to cause the reader to access their storehouse of images of what “five years experience” looks like, and the obvious effect that would have on profits and competitiveness. In such cases, one phrase is worth 1000 pictures.

Plethora of products
launched at Seybold

Graphic arts:  13 new web tools
for layout, color, imaging
launched at Seybold

2.

The “After” version is full of specific topics to grab the eye of the target audience. The idea that products are launched at a trade show is not really news.  So, without the “new” the grabber might only draw those already committed to studying Seybold.

Internet Imagin Protocol may
determine future of photos on the Net

Photographic-quality printing from the Net
becomes a reality, and creates new markets

3.

It’s vital to have specific news. The protocol may not be interesting to lots of people who would be interested in photographic-quality printing from the net.  The curiosity of “how” is now in the air, and then the final phrase adds further curiosity for venture managers.

Open Group wins stewardship of ActiveX
Standards group convinces stakeholders
to designate it the guardian of the
ActiveX component integration technology.

How did Open Group win stewardship of ActiveX?
What were the proposals?
How was the decision made?
Who chose the steering committee?

4.

The revision adds power by offering to explain how it was done.  And by offering information on how the decision was made, it attracts all managers wrestling with getting their proposals accepted.  Of course, the article this led to had to fulfill, not betray, the expectations the grabber set -- and it did.

Internet Infrastructure
Is the Web overloaded?

Threats beyond bandwidth
If the bottlenecks are solved, what other problems loom?

5.

The initial rendition falls in the pit of “motherhood and apple pie,” since Web overload is not news.  Readers would only be strongly grabbed by something beyond what they know.  Since the article did provide upcoming threats, a disaster/warning grabber could be created -- offering something that would be must-reading to most visitors.  Notice that the added length is no problem if the grabber is strong enough.

Netscape NEWScape
...plus who almost bought Netscape?

Netscape NEWScape
Gates attempts to buy Netscape? How...

Emerging battle over directory standards

How will Web telephone users
find each other?

7.

The first is simply not clear, and clarity is a must.  The underlying principle is to pose a question of high interest to a large audience.  The rewrite has a wider perspective. Notice that everyone interested in the first would read the second.

Book Excerpt:  The best of the Netscape Plug-ins

Plug-ins: Tricks for finding, installing,
and using the best

8.

The revision puts the topic first, where it can better grab the eye of those interested in Plug-ins.  But Plug-ins were old hat, so the new language offered learning of interest to a large audience whether new to Plug-ins, or very experienced.  I call the technique a word-picture-cluster.

Creating Killer Web Sites:
It takes more than just cool pictures to keep visitors coming back, and David Siegel’s book tells you what they are.

 Creating Killer Web Sites: 
A wealth of site-design philosophy, principles and tricks. Why this book by David Siegel is must reading for anyone who wants to know how to make a site work, with full impact, and minimum file sizes.

9.

Here’s an even more extended example avoiding the familiar, and instead offering news in a word-picture-cluster. Notice how it’s a smorgasbord table on which almost anyone could find something tasty. Reading the excellent review of the book, and writing the grabber, caused me to buy the book.  It’s good!  Here again, notice that the added length is not a problem since the revision is riddled with grabbers -- beginning, middle, and end.

10 steps to
                   consistent color

 Consistent Color
           on ALL browsers --
           10 easy steps

10.

I don’t assume that readers, faced with clutter and scanning, will find the word “color” at the end. If our audience is those working with color, let’s grab them from the first words. Then, we can offer the learning value (amply fulfilled by the article), that you can have it on ALL browsers, and that it can be easy to do.

The secret life of intelligent agents: An introduction

 Three types of intelligent agents,
their uses, and their future

11.

The initial rendition uses clever wordplay.  But the research shows that curiosity is higher when solutions are offered instead. Even those familiar with intelligent agents would be interested in having the topic conceptualized for them into three types, and to learn how they might use agents now and in the future.  Also, “introduction” can signal dullness to many people.

Six easy ways to add JavaScript’s power
to your Web site

Cut-and-paste Javascripts you can use immediately

12.

Later, one of the editors improved on my revision by writing about “Cut-and-paste Javascripts you can steal.” Readers know the “steal” is not to be taken literally.  “Six easy ways” is strong, but in my revision above, notice the much more evocative “cut-and-paste... immediately.”  Evocativeness is a senior principle, since if readers can make movies in their mind of the experience of use, they are far more likely to get involved.  The revision above also prompts a “wow.”

Tricks for using Java for
client/server application development

 How Java can
improve network performance 10x, if you...

13.

By studying what your grabber leads to, often you can find a far stronger claim.  Here, to my delight, I found in the article not only a claim but an explanation of how performance can be improved 10x. You want the reader to click through to find the answer to “if you...” In the grabber, it’s important to not do a “give away” by answering the “how.” Not giving away the solution turned out to be one of the hardest to learn principles for editors.

Reader’s Choice of Twelve
Must-Read Articles From Past Issues

Reader’s Choice of Twelve
Must-Read Articles From Recent Issues

14.

I studied about a year of reader ratings and comments, and identified the articles that got 95%+ positive ratings, and rave comments.  Then I created a page as a gateway to the top 12. On that page I provided clusters of reader quotes -- saying why they thought each article was “must reading.”  The above is the link to that page. After my client published the first, I found myself losing sleep over the phrase “Past Issues” thinking that “Past” might connote “old hat.”  Since the winning articles turned out to be from the recent 6 months, I decided it was just as honest and more powerful to change “Past” to “Recent” in the link language. Sure enough, clickthroughs increased 17%.  The trick is to find dozens of such “little” grabber improvements.

| Home | What Clients Say | Ron Richards’ Background |
| ResultsLab’s Services | How to Contact Us |

| Improvement Insights | Moments of Truth | Link Architecture |
| Multiplier Principle | Grabber Development | Fundamental Desire |
| How to Get/Use Quotes | Empty Calories Paradox |