"We had a funeral for his snowman"

"We had a funeral for his snowman" is the sort of headline most copywriters wish they could write. In fact, most copywriters would chew their own leg off to come up with something that powerful!

This poignant, short resume of the life, and death, of a child's snowman begins with those 7 words which make you just want to read the rest. And once read, those few paragraphs will probably stick in your head for a very long time, if not forever. After all, not many of us have mourned a snowman as this child did. Nor related this sort of experience to our every day life as those in the comments did.

Internet marketers have been experimenting with writing catchy subject lines and headlines for their emails recently, but have generally failed to have the success this one did. Surprisingly, the emails from the supposed IM gurus are easy to find in my inbox as they are all unread. With subject lines such as "flying panda curse" and "over inflated clam", I guess it is hardly surprising when compared to "We had a funeral for his snowman".

Writing to capture the attention of your readers is one thing, but writing with passion is what will actually really hold them, and stick in their minds. Not every email or blog post or tweet needs to be attempting to flog your audience a product. Most people can see through that. Amy's name will stick in many people's minds when they think, "I need a good copywriter or blogger" because in this simple post she has proven she knows her trade/art, call it what you will. And that is a more effective sales pitch than any.

So, when you need to write copy for your site, don't think SEO, or keywords, or sales pitch - think passion and emotion.