I’ve put off posting this entry a couple of days because I’m afraid of upsetting people.

It’s not that “Field of Dreams” is a bad movie, it’s just that it’s poisonous to Internet marketers.

Here’s what I don’t like about it: you remember when Kevin Costner’s character is walking around outside and he keeps hearing a voice, saying:

If you build it, they will come.

It might have been a great plot device in the film, but it’s a terrible idea when it comes to online marketing.  Seriously, it’s total crap.

People — especially those new to or unfamiliar to Internet Marketing — build a website and the sit back and wait for the traffic to come rolling in.

And it doesn’t.  Crickets (well, virtual ones, anyway) are chirping.

Even when people know better, they sometimes burn all the available time, money, and energy building that site, and then there’s nothing left to put into marketing and promotion.

The fact is, if you build it, they won’t come.

Why not?  Couple of reasons:

1. They don’t know “it” is even there.
2. They don’t really have a compelling reason to go “there.”

You may remember from an earlier entry that I’m am a proponent of the 90% Solution.  The next time you’re at the beginning of a project, remember to follow it.

I’ve been re-reading Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art” recently, a book about overcoming fears and procrastination to do what you are called to do.  It got me thinking about writing, and what makes good writing so, well, good.

I’m a good writer, but not great.  I’ve known great writers, like my friend Kevin Horrigan, and I know I don’t have The Gift.  The logical part of my mind says The Gift doesn’t exist — that writing is simply a skill set that can be learned and applied by anyone of sufficient intelligence.  But I’ve seen The Gift in action, and I know I don’t have it.  So for you and I, unless you have The Gift, it’s a matter of doing the best we can with what we have to work with.

I confess that I don’t really know how to “put magic in your writing,” because only a few things I’ve ever written have been truly good.  But I’m pretty sure it has something to do with drafts.  For most of us, re-writing is when the magic happens.

That first writing you do, when you sit down and put words to paper or screen, isn’t magic.  It’s just the raw material you will use to make the magic.  It’s like the lump of clay for the sculptor — what you use to make the good stuff.  So don’t worry about writing well when you start, because you’re the only one who will see that first draft.

After you’re “done,” go through and cut unnecessary phrases.  Use one good word instead of three mediocre ones.  Make every word fight for its life.  That delete key is your magic wand. Move stuff around and put it all in the right order.  Occasionally, you will also need to expand on a point that needs more room to breathe.

Then, and only then, Houdini, you just might have made a little magic.