Free White Paper – Blogging for Business (click here to download PDF document)
Have you ever wondered how your business can use blogging? Or wondered why blogging might be useful?
Our new white paper looks at the benefits blogging can bring your business, and gives clear instructions to get you started.
If you’re not sure what a blog is, click here.
Thanks to Madhava Bailey of Dharmafly and Raj Anand of Kwiqq – fellow bloggers who also worked on this white paper.
If you’re in a band with no name and want some suggestions, check out Band Namr, a nifty new site by Brighton websmith Paul Burgess.
I should warn you that if you find spoonerisms that, when undone, reveal rudeness, you may not want to follow that link.
Many of the band names are hilarious, but given the success of the Arctic Monkeys, it’s fair to say a few of the names are viable!
Band Namr got me thinking… what about Product Namr? A site for businesses who struggle to find a great name for a new product. People could post a summary of their new product and users can submit suggestions. Or businesses post a selection of possible names, and users vote for their favourite…
I’m starting my series of 7 writing tips with something a little unconventional. You might not find this in writing manuals but it works for me, so it may work for you.
If writing feels like hard work, it may be because your body is struggling as much as your mind.
The secret to unlocking your creative energies may be exercise. As vigorous exercise resets your stress levels, wiping away the shadow of previous stresses, you will be clearing the space in your brain, ready for writing!
So if you don’t exercise regularly and find writing a real struggle, consider improving your fitness – it may improve your writing.
(thanks to G Hjoll for the brilliant picture!)
This week sees the start of my series of writing tips.
Every Wednesday I’ll be publishing a new tip, working up to the most important.
Now these are my own ideas, so they aren’t concrete rules that you must obey. They’re just gentle suggestions that may help you be a better writer.
And these aren’t about copywriting in particular; they’re tips for all writers.
I hope you find them useful – please leave comments!
Be positive.
Always say what is, rather than what is not.
So instead of “We will never be beaten on price,” you could say “Unbeatable on price.”
The second version turns a very negative statement into a positive one. Positive messages are better because it makes you sound more optimistic. The second version is an altogether sunnier statement.
I’m a big fan of the Steve Krug approach to web design.
His popular book – Don’t Make Me Think – espouses the view that web users do not want websites that make them think. He goes so far as to say that users will be actively turned off difficult websites, clicking away without a second thought.
Web design should take this into account, making the most of conventional features and functions that people already understand.
Conventions such as:
It seems obvious to me that web design should make website use as easy as possible.
Why challenge your users?
After years of web use I know that some web designers have other things in mind. Web designers may want to impress their peers with the latest technology, flashy graphics or unconventional layouts.
Sadly, ground-breaking formats and novel structures may mean a learning process for a user who doesn’t want to learn.
Make it Easy on Your User
Functional sites, designed with usability at the fore, can be beautiful in their simplicity.
Rather than forcing your users to struggle through something new, work with what web users already know.
Simple, Common Sense Copy
My approach to copywriting follows the ideas of Steve Krug. I want people to use the websites I work on and I want them to find them simple to understand.
The easier my copy is to read, the more likely your users will buy, register or understand the message.
(Thanks to Andy Budd of Clearleft for the book recommendation!)
“If you buy my product but don’t read the instructions, that’s not your fault, it’s mine.
If you read a blog post and misinterpret what I said, that’s my choice, not your error.”
– from Seth Godin’s recent blog post – The posture of a communicator.
I like Seth’s approach to marketing. He doesn’t go looking for chances to blame a consumer for getting something wrong.
Not all marketers are as generous as Seth.
I’ve heard the opposite sentiment expressed by prominent web marketers, and it surprises me.
The “if the customer screws it up then it’s their problem” attitude is still prevalent among marketers.
Copywriters play a key part in taking a business message and passing it on (correctly) to the customer. One of the challenges of writing copy is making a message clear, concise and understandable by all.
Do you suffer from cluster headaches?
If you do, or you know someone who does, Charlie Southall of Dragonfly Productions would like to hear from you.
Charlie is planning a documentary about cluster headaches and is interested in speaking to sufferers, potentially to use their stories as the basis for the film.
Charlie is also on the look out for potential partners to help bring this project to life. If you would like to get involved please get in touch.
Email: charlie@dragonflyproductions.co.uk .
“What makes a good copywriter?”
This was one of the questions I was asked yesterday by Naomi Knight. She was interviewing me as part of a project for her digital media course.
My answer?
My rationale?
Curiosity Made the Copywriter
While copywriters can get away with being just an average writer, they really need to have a head that’s stuffed full of information. A natural curiosity about our world tends to leave a person with just such a stuffed head.
All those seemingly pointless facts come in handy when you’re writing copy about something weird.
Business Brain
Copywriters are business people, not artists. Writing copy is about selling products, persuading people and delivering messages effectively. It is not about beautiful prose and winning awards.
To write copy well you need to understand your purpose. David Ogilvy’s On Advertising is a great book about advertising that hammers home this point.
Creativity
Foster creativity. If you want your brain to be creative, you have to feed it first. In my experience, ideas happen because there is something in your mind that leads you to another, brand new, thought.
Without that stock of knowledge or inspiration, you may find it hard to be brilliant.
And the rest…
Copywriters require a great many other skills to write great copy, but I think these three are the most essential. If you’re a copywriter or if you’ve worked with copywriters, please let me know what you consider to be classic copywriter traits (good or bad!).
Welcome to the revitalised home of Leif Kendall’s copywriting blog!
After finding my blogging feet at WordPress.com, I decided it was important to step into the fast-flowing river of the internet and get my own domain.
With the help of Madhava and Premasagar of Dharmafly – social web development – I have been able to hop over to my new domain with ease.
I would also like to thank everyone involved in WordPress (and Will Wilkins for Moo Point) for giving people like me a wonderful method of communicating on the web.
This site will be used as a forum for discussing copywriting in all its forms – from web content to blogging to brochures to ads to speech writing.
If you have any writing questions, please leave a comment below and I will blog a response.
I’m very happy to see 2fifty.com released to the internet.
I’ve been working with Jacquie Trott (the proud owner) and the talented graphic designer Dan Marsden to whip this bright idea into shape.
One of the challenges was bringing the fun of the idea onto the web page, while still clearly featuring the benefits of the exclusivity.
It was a lot of fun working through various ideas with Jacquie and Dan – and eventually striking on something that worked hard but carried a lot of irreverence.
So take a look at www.2fifty.com to see some stunning t-shirts, all strictly limited to 250 printings!
Kendall Copywriting Ltd 2008 - 2024 Registered in England No. 6615703,
Registered Office: Unit 11, Hove Business Centre, Fonthill Road, Hove, BN3 6HA