Accepting LinkedIn invitations
21 August 2021: This article is out of date. See How I handle LinkedIn invitations instead. Do you ignore or delete requests to connect on LinkedIn? What if the invitation hasn’t been personalised?
How do I improve my website?
Quick wins and slow burns to make your website look and perform better Is your website a bit tired and in need of a spruce up? I’m going to give you some straight advice on how to improve the performance of your website.
What is technical writing?
Technical writing ≠ technology writing Do you know what technical writing is? It’s not a term most people are familiar with. Summary for busy people – what is technical writing? Technical writing is content that explains how products, services and processes work. Complex source material goes in. Simple content comes out. In short, technical writers […]
What is the best blog image size in WordPress?
Here’s how to get the image sizing right on your website, along with some free tools and resources to help you find and use the right images.
10 business writing tips
Want to improve the quality of your business writing? You should. Good writing gives you the best chance of influencing and educating your customers. Do that and sales and loyalty will follow. This post contains some of the best tips I’ve picked up over the last 20 years of writing web content.
The 30-month mindset
This post is about taking a long-term approach to building a successful business, through the creation of regular content that’s relevant to your audience. Business blogging guide. This is the first part proper of my definitive business blogging guide. At the end of each step, there are previous and next options to help you move […]
How to get freelance work on LinkedIn
I use LinkedIn to find new clients for my technical copywriting business, and I believe the same process should work for any service provider.
4 words to avoid in instructions
When writing instructions, avoid these 4 words: Just Simply Basically Obviously Why? Because none of these words add any value to your instructions. All they do is to make readers feel inadequate.
Capital punishment
When your spellchecker lets you down If you run a spellcheck in Microsoft Word, there’s a good chance that words in ALL CAPS will be ignored, meaning that typos could creep into your writing. This is particularly common in titles and subheadings, so pay special attention to them.
CMA Live 2017 write-up
CMA Live is the Content Marketing Academy’s annual event in Edinburgh. Here’s what happened at #CMALive17 over a jam-packed couple of days in June:
Pen portraits: Tony
You might have heard of pen portraits (or customer avatars or buyer personas), but have you ever seen one? Take a look at my own pen portrait below. What are pen portraits? Pen portraits are written summaries of your ideal customer. They’re the bullseye on the dartboard – the person you most want to reach […]
How to name files
Terry (boss): “Did you submit the bid documents?” Barry (assistant): “Yes, all done.” Terry: “I can’t see the changes.” Barry: “Look in the FINAL 2 file.” Terry: “What? That wasn’t the newest version!” Barry: “Oh. Right. Oh dear. Sorry.” Terry: “…” Trust me, you don’t want to be on either side of that conversation.
Can social media help you get copywriting work?
Can social media really help writers get freelance work? Which social networks are most effective for copywriters? Did you know? Only 37% of the 538 copywriters surveyed by the PCN have used social media to get new clients. Source: PCN 2017 survey
How much do copywriters charge in 2017?
The Professional Copywriters’ Network has just released its second annual survey of copywriters. The 2017 survey was completed by 538 copywriters, whose average age was 41.
PerfectIt: a no-painer explainer
Here’s a quick intro to my favourite editorial tool, the PerfectIt add-in for Microsoft Word, by Intelligent Editing.
Who can make my writing better?
Is your content well written? Who could you hire to help make it better? How much does proofreading cost? Where can you find someone with the right skills? Plenty of questions. Let’s take a look.
5 reasons why you shouldn’t hire me
As a technical copywriter, I specialise in producing content that’s clear and simple. Whether I’m creating or editing text, my clients usually have a reasonable idea of what they’re going to get when they hire me to write or improve their documents.
Being on page 7 of Google sucks
TL;DR Blogging works. It helped me go from page 7 of Google to the top of page 1. It took effort but I didn’t spend a penny on advertising. As well as creating content and writing websites for online tech businesses, I sometimes advise business owners on what they can do to boost their site’s […]
Facebook Free February
How much value do you get out of social media? I was asking myself this question after reading Deep Work by Cal Newport. Here’s the author’s main point: distractions will keep you from going deep and getting any valuable work done.
My last 25 customer questions
I receive a lot of email queries through my website, so I thought I’d share my last 25 questions along with some answers.