
How’s your voice? Active? Passive? Shout? Whisper?
Copywriting SkillsNearly all of us nonfiction/business writing gurus (ye Gods, what an awful cliché) pound tables and shout loudly that active voice rather than passive voice is essential in marketing communications no matter what. Mea culpa here, in fact…

Why promoting your weaknesses is a smart idea
Copywriting SkillsIn business writing, it’s common to only talk about our strengths – the positive aspects of what we offer. But there are two excellent reasons why you should also promote your weaknesses, rather than hide them: 1. it builds trust 2.…

How to Freelance as a Copywriter
Content & Strategy Copywriting SkillsTen things to get your head around if you really, really, really want to freelance as a Copywriter. Mention the word ‘freelance’ and people assume a life in which you take the whole of August off, spend your days in pyjamas and resort…

How A Famous Novelist’s 6 Writing Rules Can Help Your Sales Copy
Copywriting SkillsWhat do novels and sales copy have in common? They might be vastly different niches, but their purpose is the same: to be read. They both want to hook the reader and keep them reading till the end. Novelist George Orwell obviously knew…

Comparing Google Vs Apple Website Copywriting
Copywriting SkillsBeware Of Marketing Hype: Even The “Greats Like Apple” Fall Into This Trap Good website copywriting means really espousing the features and benefits of your product so that your consumers can make an educated decision (from their computers)…

Michel De Montaigne and my flagging self-esteem
Content & StrategyWhat happens when you’re promised work and it doesn’t materialise? Feel like throwing a tantrum and sticking your bottom lip out like a surf board? Yes I feel like that, especially right now. You feel like you’ve given your all. You couldn’t…

How To Use TripAdvisor To Create Enticing Travel Content
Copywriting SkillsYour team has finally decided on the content for your homepage –and it’s pretty freakin’ awesome. Maybe you’re using an image of a sky-piercing mountain against an azure sky or a photo of your palm-fringed infinity pool in all its…

How to prevent plagiarism from those digital scoundrals
Content & Strategy Copywriting SkillsThe web is the Wild West as far as copyright is concerned. The digital world may be all about sharing, but if you’ve ever involuntarily “shared” your last can of beer with your sneaky, bearded colleague, you’ll know that there is a very…

Copywriting and Art: Where does one start and the other begin?
Copywriting SkillsAs a young man who still lives with his parents, I often retreat to the comfort and solitude of my bedroom to escape either Holby City, or the gentle bigotry one might expect from a couple of sexagenarians. Last night this very predicament…

Bad Lyrics: When lyrics hit the wrong note
Content & Strategy Copywriting SkillsSo there we were, cheerfully copywriting away with the radio on (quietly of course), when our ears were viciously assaulted by the first lines of the Girls Aloud single, Beautiful Cause You Love Me: Standing over the basin/I’ve been washing…

Why I’ll Never Call Myself a Killer-Badass Copywriter
Content & Strategy Copywriting SkillsFrankly, I’m awkward. Adorably so. But awkward none the less. Recently someone described me as “smart.” Which I was pretty chuffed about. Who doesn’t secretly believe they’re more intelligent than other people (ahem)? And then went…

Words or pictures. Which are more important?
Content & StrategyCopywriting for websites, brochures and blogs is all about words, isn’t it? Yes, finding the right words that spur potential customers to hire you is crucial. But pictures can be just as important. Research shows people are more likely…
