• Why Writing Copy Is a Lot Like Cycling Up a Mountain

      Having returned after a two week cycling holiday in Gran Canaria, I was reminded of a blog post I wrote four years ago after cycling in the Alps. For many, placing ‘cycling’ and ‘holiday’ in the same sentence might seem peculiar, but for me, they go together. Admittedly, having not ridden my bike for over […]

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  • The Etiquette Of Typo Calling: Revisited

      A while ago I wrote a blog about the etiquette of typo calling. At the time it was pretty well received, and after an incident yesterday, I felt compelled to share it again. What happened? I messed up. Yes, I hold my hands up and admit I let a glaring typo slip through the […]

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  • Why Pain Trumps Features When It Comes To Copywriting

      Selling shouldn’t be painful, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enhance your sell case with a little discomfort. When it comes to selling to your customers, it’s important to remember they must need your product or service before you can sell it to them. They are not going to wake up one morning, see […]

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  • Stop Littering Your Copy With Playground Taunts

      Why is it, when growing up, someone always has something bigger and better than you? Their toy is better, they’ve seen the latest age 18 release at the cinema (which, considering the fact you’re only 12 they obviously haven’t), and they went abroad on holiday while you went to Skegness. Not much fun is […]

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  • How To Make Your Marketing Stand Out When You Don’t Have An Obvious USP

      You are advised continuously to promote your USP in all your marketing materials to make you stand out. OK, that makes sense. But what happens when you don’t have an obvious USP? Plus, what if you work in a less-than-glamorous industry (aka one that’s as boring as hell) in which you and your competitors […]

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  • The Copywriter’s Green Cross Code

      If you’re a similar age to me and grew up in the UK, you’ll probably remember the government’s various public safety films that featured the likes of Tufty Fluffytail, ‘Charley says’, and the Green Cross Code Man (aka Dave Prowse who also played Darth Vader). Well, the copywriter’s green cross code is nothing like […]

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  • Don’t Make People Hunt For Your Content

      You’re good. You know that. Your writing is spot on and full of golden nuggets. You write every post confident that people will flood your site to read it. The problem is a drought has hit; where there should be people clamouring for your wisdom, there is nothing, nada, zilch. It’s great that you […]

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  • Content That Stops The Scanners In Their Tracks

      Scanners are people who read stuff online. They are the ones your content has to convince to buy your product or service – not easy. Most businesses are used to selling face to face (not all, but a lot). The problem is selling with your customer in front of you is easy. You can […]

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  • Why Haven’t The Principles of Copywriting Changed?

      Internet marketing and all its associated skills change faster than a cheetah on roller skates (couldn’t find an image of that anywhere). New technologies force web designers to adopt new techniques. The search engines never stand still in their quest to deliver the perfect search experience. But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed at […]

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  • Creating Content – Who Are You Taking To?

      Consumers are drowning in a flood of content. Everywhere you look, someone is writing an article about something or other. Some are great and well worth reading. Most are – well, not to put too finer point on it – crap. When I read some of the stuff out there, I can almost visualise […]

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