textgoeshere

Learn how to promote products and services efficiently and effectively with flyers, newsletters, emails and websites: join us at an October copywriting training session in Nottingham.

This practical workshop will cover the whole writing process from blank sheet of paper to finished masterpiece, using a simple approach suited to the realities of writing in a busy […]

What’s the French or Spanish equivalent of “Think like a Saxon”?

‘Effective copywriting: the basics’ has been translated into French and Spanish:

‘7 transformations pour des texts à fort impact’ en français par Sébastian Billard
‘Escritura para web (parte 1)’ en español por Bruno Vilches

Many thanks to those two. If you’re interested in translating or re-publishing any […]

(Part three of ‘Effective copywriting: the basics’.)

Copywriting is writing that does a job. You have a job, too, and the chances are that writing is just one of the tasks that competes for your time. Effective copywriting, then, is also an efficient process: doing as best as possible in the time available. Strangely enough, […]

(Part two of ‘Effective copywriting: the basics’.)

Copywriting is writing that does a job. It persuades someone to act. Typically, the action is to buy something. But it might be to make a call, write an email, or join a free course. Everytime you are writing to persuade, you are copywriting.

AIDA is a useful way to […]

(Part one of ‘Effective copywriting: the basics’.)

Relevance means connecting your message with your audience. Before you start writing, you must really understand your message and your audience. So good copywriting depends on preparation.

This isn’t relevant:

Don’t be like the monster.

Understand your Unique Reason for Joining
The message of membership packs or other material is the URJ. URJ […]

Last week I gave a short copywriting workshop for the NCVO Membership Forum. It focused on copywriting for membership schemes, but there’s some good general stuff in there, too. Here’s an overview split into three posts.

Effective copywriting has three components. Writing compelling marketing material depends on mastering these three components:

Relevance: understand what you are offering, […]

It’s worth spending the time on writing punchy and informative titles for web pages.

Think about all the places the title might appear:

Top of the page itself
Your own website’s search results
Your own site’s automatic navigation
What’s new box or section
Public search engine (Google, Yahoo)
Email update
RSS feed
Printed publications
Your title is seen by more people than any other part […]

Here are some brief notes from my talk at the NCVO PR Forum.

How do you get the most from your website? Buy lots of expensive features? Spend ages making it look beautiful? The reality is that most visitors to your website are there for one thing only: the written content.

In this workshop I will provide […]

These fifty writing tools from Poynter Online are aimed at journalists. Still worth a scan.

Branch to the Right
Use Strong Verbs
Beware of Adverbs
Period As a Stop Sign
Observe Word Territory
Play with Words
Dig for the Concrete and Specific
Seek Original Images
Prefer Simple to Technical
Recognize Your Story’s Roots
Back Off or Show Off
Control the Pace
Show and Tell
Interesting Names
Reveal Character Traits
Odd and […]

Welcome to textgoeshere.

Every month we’ll be publishing new articles on topics from effective writing for the web to time-saving management tactics. We’ll build a gallery of good practice and links to other useful resources. There’s also the opportunity to ask questions and share your own experience on the discussion boards.

If you’d like to […]