Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Count The Ellipses

Lately I’ve noticed that in my blogging and other online copywriting I’ve fallen into the habit of using more and more ellipses. I hadn’t really thought about it. It just somehow felt right … something about the pacing. So this article from Marketing Sherpa, The Glory of the Ellipsis, jumped out at me. Their observation: "The […]

Learn More March 4, 2008

The Blissful Ignorance Effect

Online marketer Max Kalehoff cites intriguing research from the University of Iowa indicating that people who have only a little information about a product are happier with that product than people who have more information. Says the UI researcher: "We found that once people commit to buying or consuming something, there’s a kind of wishful […]

Learn More March 3, 2008

Who Cares If They’re Effective?!

Over at Tactical Philanthropy Sean Stannard-Stockton relates a conversation in which a major foundation grantmaker told him it was a primary value of the foundation to not harm grantees. The context was Sean asking whether philanthropists should speak out about nonprofits they considered to be ineffective. What a remarkable position for a grantmaker to take, […]

Learn More February 29, 2008

A Liberal Remembers William F. Buckley, Jr.

William F. Buckley, Jr., the intellectual father of modern American conservatism, died at age 82 at his desk yesterday. His 50 books and seven tons of other writings now residing in the archives at his beloved Yale University don’t even begin to do him justice when it comes to understanding what this polysyllabic, prolific agitator […]

Learn More February 28, 2008

Beware of SOFFI

I have a message for the readers of The Agitator: Don’t waste your time by going to the SOFII Website. Stay away from it. Don’t say any good things about it. And please let me quickly tell you why I’m sharing this negative reaction about SOFII. It’s because, a few days ago, I received a […]

Learn More February 27, 2008

Evaluating Candidates’ Websites … And Your Own

RelevantView, a provider of web-based market research solutions, has conducted an interesting study of visitor reactions to the websites of current presidential candidates. Specifically, they were looking at how well the sites communicated the candidates’ positions on key issues like Iraq, health care, taxes, and immigration. Only respondents self-identified as Republicans or Independents reviewed Republican candidates’ sites; […]

Learn More February 26, 2008