The secret is to nail the brief down right from the start. There’s really nothing more certain to make a copywriter’s blood boil (besides constant interruptions from your well-meaning partner while you’re trying to write…) than a vague, incomplete or worse – non-existent – creative brief. The brief is your writer’s roadmap. As a copywriter, […]
Why do web developers ask this one crazy question?
When your business needs a new website, you’ll inevitably call on a web developer or designer to build it. Thankfully, most web developers have woken up to this, but surprisingly, there are still some out there who will ask you: “Would you like professionally written web copy for your site?” Now to me, that’s pretty odd. It’s […]
Five ways to keep your marketing messages out of the bin
Too much to read? It’s a problem most of us in business can identify with these days. Emails, articles, reports, forums, blogs, books, magazines – we’re bombarded with stuff to read every day. Most of it never gets read. But why is that? A lot of it is just badly written. Much of the writing […]
Marketing in tough times
When times are tough and your business is struggling to stay afloat, it’s natural to want to cut spending. And one of the first things to go is often the marketing budget. But remember: Marketing is what lets people know that your business exists. Marketing is how you inform your potential customers why they should buy […]
What’s the Difference between Web Copy and Web Content?
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between web copy and web content? The best-performing websites have both. But what exactly is the distinction? Here’s an example I used at a recent BNI networking meeting. The two publications below are both on the same subject – boat maintenance. However, one contains copy, and the […]
Don’t believe the hype
A guide for business owners on avoiding the most dangerous and expensive cowboys in the ‘Wild West’ of the online marketing world. When it comes to dominating search engines like Google, there are only two ways to do it successfully. One is an ongoing commitment to ethical Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) practices. That means creating […]
Five simple ways to slash the cost of your Google AdWords campaign
I’m sorry, I tricked you – I only have one way for you to slash the cost of your Google AdWords advertising. It’s called Quality Score. What’s Quality Score? Quality Score is a rating that Google attributes to the quality of your AdWords ads. This rating, between one and ten, is based on three main […]
Building trust on your website
Web users are generally distrustful of ‘new’ companies that they encounter online, and are especially wary of handing over personal and payment details over the internet. That means your website needs to quickly demonstrate that it is genuine, trustworthy and secure before a new customer will do business with you. You can do this in […]
Is your website copywriter really a website copywriter?
Or are they just a bog-standard copywriter with a “how hard can it be?” attitude towards web copy? Here are ten ways to check whether your website copywriter is really a website copywriter, or just a bog-standard copywriter masquerading as one. Writing website copy involves much more than just putting some words together for a […]