I’m still here.

Okay, so here I am with a new computer and a new webpage and sticking my head up out of the Pandemic hole to look around at the disrupted terrain. The economic niche where I used to get all my work no longer exists.

I bought a new computer.

I bought a new computer. Macintosh “Mini” with Apple SIlicon m1 System -on-a-chip, 16gb memory, 512gb internal SSD Here’s my new office setup with the m1 Mini running three monitors, plus my Late 2015 iMac as a sideboy. The Mini is next to the speaker.

I looked at a tech site

At the Lean Startup Circle meeting last week in downtown Santa Barbara I talked with a guy who works at Evidation. We didn’t talk about the company, but I looked at the site to find out what they do. “Radically changing medicine” is the only thing on their landing page, except for generic menubar items.  I […]

Want people to read about your new innovation?

I look at the sites of technology companies and see ponderous blab that doesn’t get to the point. It wastes people’s time. Sites full of text that’s a waste of space, text that does not reward a visitor’s time. There’s no regard for the visitor’s time. You’re expected to hunker down and study hard because […]

If it’s easy to read, people will read it.

Even super-intelligent people prefer text that is easy to read. It’s not a matter of “dumbing it down.” It’s a matter of simplifying the information into a coherent sequence. In today’s short-attention-span universe, people won’t bother with text that is hard to read. Colin can make your text plain, simple, clear, and factual. And then […]

How a technical copywriter can help a tech startup

At a recent Startup Circle meeting I talked with an entrepreneur whose day job is at a tech startup in the infrared spectroscopy sector. I looked at the startup’s website, and here’s my Technical Copywriter’s Analysis of what they could do to improve their marketing  presentation. I found flaws in these areas: • Focused on […]

A typical copywriting mistake in a tech startup site.

 I’ve looked at a lot of startup sites and one common flaw is that they can’t bring themselves to tell you what they are starting up. The intensity of  their passion is so huge and overwhelming that it doesn’t occur to them that visitors might not already be aware of it. I looked at the […]

The technology of text

Greece was just another grubby little kingdom until King Cadmus imported the Phoenician alphabet. In an accident of fate, Phoenician used five more letters than the Greeks needed for their language. Cadmus made the huge technological advance of using those extra letters as vowels. Writing had been a secret reserved for kings and priests and […]

Who is Colin Campbell?

I’m colin@colin.org, a domain I have maintained for 24 years. (I asked for colin.com back in 1995 but they gave me colin.org.) I mention this only to let you know that I’ve been around for a while. I was already an experienced copywriter, creative director, and graphic designer when the Personal Computer era began.  Bought […]

Reality In Tech Advertising

My theory of copywriting is to present information that’s true. My theory is nothing new. I’m following the lead of Rosser Reeves, who published REALITY IN ADVERTISING sixty years ago. He pioneered the idea of the Unique Sales Proposition (USP). The best way to sell a product is to present the truth about it. For a […]