
DIY advertisers: why titles don’t work, and headlines do
AdvertisingWhen you advertise your business, do you give the advert a title – or a headline? Ads (a.k.a. “adverts”) with a title often are also “upside down adverts” which you need to avoid if you’re going to get the maximum number of leads…

Writing business we-wee is bad – but what about me-mee?
Content & StrategyAs you probably know I am forever advising businesses not to write about how “we” do this and “we” do that, unless they can relate that to how they benefit customers very, very quickly. That’s largely because people writing “we-wee”…

How to write a copywriting brief that gets you the results you need
Copywriting SkillsThere are two kinds of copywriters out there. One type will interview you and get you really thinking about your product or service offering, your target customers, and what they really want as opposed to what you think they should buy from…

15 Types of Copywriting Clients Who Suck
Copywriting SkillsI like people, generally speaking. Sure there are some who I wouldn’t choose to hang around, but for the most part, I enjoy the company of others. Those feelings extend to my clients, the folks who hire me to do their copywriting. …

Top 10 Most Shared Content Marketing Resources That Could Transform Your Business
BrandingYou may have heard the phrase “invest in yourself” As entrepreneurs, knowledge workers, creatives and content marketers we often end up in an echo chamber of our own creation. We get consumed by a project, answering emails and bouncing…

How to evaluate a copywriter
Copywriting SkillsIf you’ve decided to outsource some or all of your marketing writing, you want to ensure that the copywriter, you hand your projects to are skilled at what they’re doing. Here are a few pointers to help guide you to finding the right…

Crappy Music and Caffeine for Better Content Writing
Content & Strategy Work HabitsI wouldn’t say I’m cornered, but there are definitely elements that help the flow of content production. Most of it comes down to focus, because we’re all creative, it’s just how we channel it into something important and stay on task.…

What Are Ezines – and Do I Need to Publish One?
Content & StrategyEzines, short for “electronic magazines,” are online newsletters. They are sent, received, and read on the internet, versus being printed on paper and mailed through the postal service. Like print publications, online magazines contain…

7 Influencer Marketing Insights You Need to Know Today
BrandingIt was an invitation. Written with a spelling mistake or two and from someone I didn’t know. I went close to ignoring it. “I think you are doing a great job with your blog and hope that you can share that with businesses here in New…

Web Content Copywriting for Newbies
Content & Strategy“Content” is the sum of all the information you create and produce. Web content copywriting – providing practical info about your nonprofit cause, but online – has developed its own notoriety, thanks to the rise in social media. The 2013…

Newbie Copywriting: What Kinds of Writing Projects Copywriters Do
Content & Strategy Copywriting SkillsJust exactly what kinds of writing projects can a newbie copywriter – or any copywriter, for that matter – expect to do? Dozens. But in the end, it all boils down to three basic types of pieces. Read on … Three Broad Project Categories Copywriting,…

Take Your Reader For a Drive
Content & Strategy When I critique, edit, or rewrite sales copy, I discover that many clients commit some common errors. Granted, not all of them are writers. But most of them fail to drive customer actions not because they lack writing skills but…
