Game 25: #3 The Copywriting Maven Versus #4 Seed Confident Writing
April 29, 2008
The Matchup
Confident Writing pulled off a major second round upset by beating top-seeded Copyblogger. The The Copywriting Maven has won twice against lower-seeded competition. Both these blogs are authored by women with strong opinions on writing. One blog is all bout confidence while the other is all about copywriting. Which will come out on top?
Best Headlines
In this first category, copywriting tops confident writing. Confident Writing has a few good headlines, but there are also plenty of yawns. I give Confidents’ Joanna Young some credit for incorporating her monthly theme into the headlines, but none of them jump off the page. Maven’s Roberta Rosenberg writes with the flair of a copywriter. I especially liked Hey, Careful Where You Point That Thing: Use Your Descriptors Wisely. That one was both fun and informative.
Maven breaks for the basket and puts a shot in off the glass. 2-0
Best User Experience
Confident has the cleaner, more attractive page. It makes good use of graphics without bombarding the reader with them and the masthead is professional looking without being flashy, beating out Maven’s blocky banner, which comes complete with a giant Adsense ad. Maven’s site also has some pretty small type. Even my Lasik-sharpened eyes have to squint a little to read her articles. Both sites have plenty of user-centric features, so that’s pretty much a wash.
Confident Writing gets the ball and shoots the ball from the outside, hitting a three pointer. The score is now 3-2 in favor of Confident Writing.
Best Community Experience
Confident tends to get more comments on posts than Maven, despite the fact that Maven gets more traffic. Maven’s Roberta Rosenberg does have a secondary community on Twitter, however, and she converses with them more frequently there. Confidents’ Joanna Young is also on Twitter, but does not promote it as part of her site. I’m not sure if adding Twitter is enough to trump Confident Writing’s comments, but it makes the matter too close to call.
Jump ball. Confident Writing still leads 3-2.
Best Branding
Confident Writing has an excellent habit of picking monthly themes that are related to the overall concept of writing with confidence. Young also does an excellent job of explaining her goals right at the top of the page. The Copywriting Maven lets her message get drowned out by the advertising. Even her banner is dwarfed by the ad underneath it. Maven has a solid focus on copywriting and the writing business, but it isn’t as tight at Confident Writing’s focus on improved writing.
Confident Writing pulls up for another long jumper, extending its lead to 6-2.
Best Archives
Joanna Young has boosted up her archives page this round. You can now find the link at the top of the page, and it comes complete with top articles and browsing by theme and month. It isn’t perfect, but it is a step up. Maven’s archives page remains blank. That just leaves the month-by-month listing on the sidebar.
Confident Writing scores another two, extending its lead to 8-2.
Best Post
There’s been a lot of guest blogging over at Confident Writing. My favorite of the group is 3 Keys to Powerful Writing by Robert Hruzek. It’s a goofy take on three elements of powerful writing (powerful writing is this month’s theme): targets, boundaries and gravity. I’m not sure that I agree, but it was fun to read.
Over at The Copywriting Maven, my favorite recent article is Holding Firm: Thinking Thoughts on the Copywriting Value Proposition. Oddly, it is my least favorite headline, but I enjoyed the copywriting war stories about bad and/or clueless clients. The main theme is getting the appropriate payment for the work you deliver. It is amazing how many people want something for next to nothing.
Copywriting Maven get the ball and heads down court. The game is over, but pride is on the line. Maven kicks back and shoots a two at the buzzer as the game ends. The final score is 8-4 in favor of Confident Writing.
Post Game Analysis
It was a tough match for The Copywriting Maven. The message is good, but gets lost amid the ads and minor site glitches. Confident Writing keeps it simple, and that’s what allows it to move into the Final Four.
The Articles
So people can compare for themselves, here are the past 10 articles from each site:
Confident Writing
The Simple Power Of Words: Guest Post By Debbie Yost
Powerful Writing In 30 Words Or Less: Part III: Twitter Contributions
Show A Little Faith: Thunder Road And The Power Of Your Own Voice
3 Keys to Powerful Writing: Guest Post By Robert Hruzek
Can’t Get To SobCon? Learn With Me
9 Authors And 9 Aspects Of Powerful Writing: Guest Post By Damien Riley
Exploring The Dimensions Of Powerful Writing
The Copywriting Maven
Holding Firm Part 2: Copywriters Ain’t the Only Ones Getting Dissed
Riddle Me This, Maven: What Does Being a (Copy) Writer Mean to You?
Finders Fee: Who Wants to Mail in the UK/Europe?
Holding Firm: Thinking Thoughts on the Copywriting Value Proposition
Released! The Copywriting Maven Landing Page Makeover Compilation
No Tears for Fears! Tips to Manage Your Business Debt Better
Big Apple Bound! Blogger Social ‘08 is about to begin!
MenwithPenswithTips: How to Write Bigger, Better, Stronger Taglines
Hey, Careful Where You Point That Thing: Use Your Descriptors Wisely
Maven’s Mailbag: CLIO wants 12 Jr CW Stars, Email Stats, Boiling Egg Perfection
Wow… I tell you what, wow.
Congrats to both of you. I think you both have fine blogs.
Joanna - congrats! I enjoyed our bit of competition!
John, this was a terrific analysis of our work and there’s much I’ll be pondering in the weeks ahead. Copywriting Maven, blog and writer, are always a work in progress. Thanks for the push toward further evolution.
Um, John? Just one thing … you must have really loved my post, even though you didn’t like the title, because you noted “Holding Firm” as having appeared in both Confident and Maven. But I promise not to hold it against you. (But can I get an extra point?
Roberta,
Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to make you compete with yourself. It was late when I finished this and my brain had stopped functioning properly. I have fixed my mistake. No extra point though… sorry.
Another fine job of analyzing, John. Good match, both of ya’ll. I’m visiting y’all’s blogs more often.
The Texan
John, I’ll echo these comments, these critiques go from strength to strength, with loads for us all to learn from them.
Thanks to your first round pointers I did some much needed work on the archives but you’ve hit my achilles heel again this time round - headlines could do with some polishing up right enough. This month’s been ultra-participatory with lots of guest posts and bundles of one-line definitions for me to include rather than me writing a lot of my own material, and I think that’s seen me taking me eye off the headline writing ball.
Interested in your comment on twitter - I deliberately don’t include it on my site as I think it’s distracting and difficult to follow without being able to follow the @ threads which you only get from the twitter site. I wonder what other people think about this one?
Roberta, thanks for your comments. I didn’t want to compete against someone I knew either, but I guess none of us have had too much say in how this competition’s been unfolding…
Joanna
Hi Joanna,
My jury is still out on Twitter, but it was clear that she does have a community there. I didn’t give her credit for it in user experience because I’m not sure what it adds, but it was enough to give her a boost in community.
My jury is still out on Twitter, as well. I’m seriously thinking about removing the widget, in fact, since I’m not sure there’s anything to be gained for the reader. (I’m always testing/evaluating something or another on Maven.)
I love Twitter. But it has no place on a business blog, in my opinion.