The Turner Ink blog contains rants, bloopers, observations and opinions. It also has handy tips on grammar and punctuation such as colons: semicolons; and full stops. As well as some very useful ‘how tos’. Feel free to leave comments. Be nice though.

Turner Ink

Copywriting Services London

Archive for October 2008

How to hire a copywriter who’s right for you and your business

22nd
Oct
by Sarah Turner

Ok, you’ve decided you need a copywriter. And that’s a good thing. Because now you can get on with doing your proper work and leave all the word stuff to a professional.

But how do you hire a copywriter? Where do you start?

The good news is there are lots of good copywriters around. The bad news. Yep, you guessed it. There are some pretty awful ones as well.
So here are a few tips on how to hire a copywriter that’s right for you and your business.

  • Ask around. If you’re already working with a web designer, graphic designer or marketing agency chances are they know a local, experienced copywriter. And speak to other businesses you know. Who wrote your suppliers’ sales letters? Or your customers’ websites?
  • Google it. Ahhh the modern day mantra. There are zillions of copywriters on the Web. So be specific. Search for ‘website copywriter’ , ‘sales letter copywriting’ or ‘Copywriter Manchester’ and see who comes up.
  • Found a copywriter? Now have a good look at their website. Is it well-written? Up to date? Error free? A copywriter who doesn’t care about their own website probably won’t care about yours.
  • What experience have they got? A good copywriter can write about anything and in any tone. So don’t be put off if your copywriter has never written about rust resistant plastic covered clothes pegs before.
  • More importantly, make sure your copywriter has experience in the medium you need. SEO website copywriting, press releases and direct mail require different copywriting skills. Make sure your copywriter has them.
  • Give them a buzz. Copywriters are on the whole a pretty friendly bunch and more than happy to chat about what they do. Chances are your project will take a while. So the copywriter you hire will have to be somebody you get on with and who shares your marketing vision. Or at least gets your sense of humour.
  • Ask lots of questions. How busy are they? Do they work full-time? Can they attend 9.00am meetings? Can they liaise with your web designer? If you’re not feeling it – move on.
  • How much will it cost? The $64,000 question. Or it could be less than that! An experienced copywriter will be able to give you a ballpark figure over the phone.
  • Once you’ve had an initial meeting or a longer phone call, your copywriter will be able to send you a detailed estimate. Check to see how many drafts are included; what’s the timescale; and whether a deposit is needed.

Happy with everything? Sign the estimate and see How to brief a copywriter.

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Tags: copywriter hire, Copywriting
Posted in How to | comments icon No comments yet »

Of the people, by the people, for the people…

21st
Oct
by Sarah Turner

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 two hour speech which absolutely no-one remembers. President Lincoln stood up, spoke for 2 minutes, used 269 words, and delivered one of the most memorable speeches in American history.

So, if you’re making any sort of speech, announcement, or PowerPoint presentation: keep it short. And then make it a bit shorter. And a bit shorter still. Because if you can convey meaning and emotion in as few words as possible – your audience will love you for it.

And they may even remember what you said.

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Tags: speech writing
Posted in Business writing | comments icon No comments yet »

Keeping it real on the web

15th
Oct
by Sarah Turner

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 week:  

If you’re looking for a luxury hotel in France then take a look at the luxury hotels in French Alps that we feature. The French Alps luxury hotels listing are perfect for the luxury traveller. Also look out for luxury villas in French Alps. A luxury villa vacation can be a great alternative to a luxury hotel in France. Read luxury hotel reviews in French Alps from the luxury hotels in French Alps page.

Yuk. There’s a fine balance between including relevant keywords and keeping the copy readable. As Stephen Pratley of Shine Marketing said to me last week ‘good search engine optimisation is like a good boob job: you should do enough to get noticed, but not so much that it’s an obvious fake’.

I couldn’t agree more. 

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Tags: seo writing, web writing
Posted in Website & SEO copywriting | comments icon No comments yet »

Splitting the infinitive: to boldly go and all that

15th
Oct
by Sarah Turner

‘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 to and the verb; ‘To boldly go’ being one of the most famous.

Purists tut and huff at this. They think the infinitive should never be split and a sentence should always be rewritten. And this works to a point.

Have a look at the following examples. In the first one the infinitive is split. 

He told me I had to quickly finish my lunch

And in the second, the sentence has been moved around but it’s retained its meaning. 

He told me I had to finish my lunch quickly

So let’s apply this to Captain Kirk. Would ‘to go boldly’ or ‘boldly to go’ have the same resonance? No it wouldn’t. So the rule of thumb is: move the sentence around to avoid the split infinitive if you can. But if it sounds really rubbish – ignore the rule of thumb.

And by the way Shakespeare split infinitives all the time. And if it’s good enough for ol’ Will, it’s good enough for the rest of us. And James T Kirk.

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Tags: splitting the infinitive
Posted in Grammar tips | comments icon No comments yet »

Don’t quote me on that. When to use “double quotes” and when to use ‘single’

14th
Oct
by Sarah Turner

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 us we ‘were lucky’”.

Or, he said ‘we deserved to win the game although Ferguson told us we “were lucky”‘.

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Tags: inverted commas, speech marks
Posted in Punctuation tips | comments icon No comments yet »

 

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