The other day I was browsing the Internet doing research, when I came across something that caught my eye - but not in a good way.
It was a salesletter, and it was absolutely hideous. So, what made it so hideous?
The letter was written entirely in bold type, which is a crime in itself. But even worse than that, the letter was highlighted in yellow from top to bottom.
Can you imagine that?
It looked like a big mustard sandwich with ants.
Unfortunately, I see this all too often with sales copy, as well as other types of copy.
You should use bold type and highlight sparingly, and only to emphasize certain words, sentences or paragraphs.
If you overdo it with these tools, you dilute their effectiveness. And then it becomes impossible to "highlight" (no pun intended) the points you were trying to emphasize.
Remember, "when you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing!"
David Jackson