Anyone who knows me, will know how much I love a great speech. None more so than Lincoln's Gettysburg address. (And yes, I really do own a copy of Lincoln's speeches; it sits on my bookshelf next to Bart Simpson's Guide To Life.) On November 19th 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Edward Barrett gave a...
When you're trying to optimise your website and get it to appear higher up the search engine rankings, it's tempting to stuff your site with lots of juicy keywords and search terms. But be careful. If you overdo it you'll have the search engines scoffing at your attempt to outsmart them, and your readers saying eh? I found this last...
'To boldly go' says Captain Kirk. But I wonder if he ever worried about splitting the infinitive. Probably not. Not with all those aliens around to keep him occupied. The infinitive of a verb is made by adding to. So, to go, to pay, to eat. And splitting the infinitive is when a word (normally an adverb) is plonked between the...
So what's the rule with quotation marks aka inverted commas? Single or double? Well, the good news is: there is no rule. Hooray. If you're quoting direct speech, just pick one or the other and be consistent. If you quote within a quote use the inverted commas that you haven't already used. He said "we deserved to win the game although Ferguson told...
Business bull, buzzword bingo, biz speak and jargonese. Consultants and senior management love them. Copywriters hate them. Here are some overused phrases currently being banded about the boardroom (and a light-hearted look at what they really mean!) 1. Blue Sky thinking: You have our permission to come up with something really craaaaaazy. We will probably ignore you anyway. 2. Going forward: Let...
Congratulations! You’ve made the decision to hire a professional copywriter for your project. Now what? It’s tempting to tell your copywriter to just get on with it. But don’t. Taking time to brief a copywriter and giving them as much information as possible means you’ll get much better copy. It’s as simple as that. So what will your copywriter need to know? What...
I was browsing through a local magazine recently and noticed this ad for a well known Surrey venue. '...
I spent most of the summer looking at website home pages. And do you know what? Some are pretty darn awful. Remember, you have just a few seconds to grab your visitor's attention - so get to the point as quickly as possible. Tell them you understand their problem; explain the benefits of your product or service; and keep the...
