Copywriting formulae: are they all that?
Content & StrategyHaving worked in sales for a number of years before I became a copywriter I was exposed to a number of selling techniques, many of which could be condensed into handy acronyms or were made memorable in some other way.However, not all sales…
How to tell if your copywriting isn’t working
Content & StrategyI rarely like to write about the negatives of life, but once in a while it makes sense to warn people about the potential pitfalls in their copywriting, rather than handing over a list of tips. So without further ado, here are three copywriting…
Nike v Adidas: the battle of the boots
AdvertisingThe Nike v Adidas rivalry always intensifies ahead of a World Cup, and this year has been no exception. A little known fact (and perhaps one for the conspiracy theorists out there) is that the last four finals have seen a Nike team play against…
Copywriting Tips – The Gunning Fog Index
Content & Strategy Copywriting SkillsOne of the first lessons in business copywriting is learning how to write for the reader. You wouldn’t expect to find the same type of words used for an aircraft manual, a recipe book, an online shop, and a sales email, because the audiences…
Freelance writers can’t work 100% every day – At Least I Can’t
Content & StrategyI didn’t sleep much last night.
Who knows why. My mom used to call sleepless nights ‘white’ nights – I’ve never known why.
This morning my head is full of fluff. I don’t really want to write. What I want to do is have the writing…
How to find inspiration for tastier copy
Content & StrategyIs your inspiration cupboard bare? Business copywriter and creative thinker, Joanna Brown, offers a few ideas on how to get going with even the driest of topics.Help! I’ve got 25 words in which to sell laminate flooring - where do…
3 Simple ways to engage your readers and keep them reading (er…scanning)
Content & Strategy Work HabitsYou’ve failed.You’ve already lost their attention.You can never get them back.You lose.They’ve gone to somebody else’s website.What to do?I hate to break it to you but this happens every single day. Someone found…
3 tricks to entice busy people to read your content … word-by-word
Content & StrategyThe odds are against us.As bloggers we don’t seem to have much chance.People rarely read web pages word-by-word.You know that, don’t you?On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an…
Email marketing: This copywriter’s playbook on getting emails noticed, read and actioned
Content & StrategyDoes your email marketing attract attention to the last word?I’ve been writing quite a few email marketing campaigns recently, campaigns that have ranged from directly promoting services to reaching out for referral business. And I’m…
A Lazy Girl’s guide to landing page copy that woos web visitors
Copywriting SkillsTut-tut.Conversion rate optimization. A/B testing. Heatmaps. Writing copy that converts.Do we really need to?As a business owner, you have a lot of other things to do.Yep, of course you’d like more email subscribers. More sales.…
Revealing the thoughts behind a copywriting quote
Copywriting Skills Work HabitsRecently, I had a discussion with a newbie freelance copywriter about the thorny issue of quoting. And it made me realise that even those of us that have earned our stripes struggle with this fairly regularly.It’s particularly hard to…
5 hints for writing corporate documents that won’t bore your audience
Content & Strategy Copywriting SkillsIf you have been following my journey from the public sector to freelance life, you would know that one of my biggest bugbears is poorly written corporate documents that bore me to tears.You know the sort – full of jargon, long sentences…