New Year, new habits…

Today’s guest post is from a previous blogger on The Writing Hall, Mr. Shaun Mooney.  Shaun describes below how the arrival of a New Year can evoke new habits, especially when writing copy….

CONTENT IS KING  

Writing web copy that works can be hard, especially when writer’s block sets in. Here are a few tips to write savvy marketing copy for the web.

Make it snappy

Esther Freud once said, ‘Editing is everything. Cut until you can cut no more. What is left often springs into life’. Every word in your copy should count, not just for SEO’s sake. For each word your put into your copy that doesn’t get to the point, that is one more word your client’s customer has to read before they get the message you are trying to market. Cut the bloat and get to the point.

Are you talking to me?

During my Creative Writing degree, I learnt some really important things. Creative Writing is often called ‘The Author Course’, and teaches you everything you need to know about how to create your own successful, personal brand. As an author, your personal brand is directly tied to your product. Your product is your book. If on the first page you don’t immediately grab the attention of your audience, they will put your book back on the shelf. The same can happen with websites, with web users simply going elsewhere. Don’t just say, ‘We provide carpet cleaning’. Readers would expect that after clicking through to your client’s website from the search engine results page. Web users click onto web pages expecting a solution. Give it to them in the form of a’hook’. A hook is an attention grabber, and in the case of writing marketing copy, it is presenting a solution to a problem. Asking a question is a great way to do that, as it directly challenges the reader. Providing a solution or example tells the reader they have come to the right place.

‘Red wine stain? Tried everything? At Shaun Mooney Carpet Cleaning we use only the best in industrial strength cleaning products, and guarantee we’ll remove all organic carpet stains’

Me, myself and I

Nobody cares if ‘Shaun Mooney Solicitors provides legal services’. It’s impersonal and doesn’t speak to the reader. Is your client a sole trader? This is great for services like florists or tattooists, as these are really personable services. Are they a family business? How long have they been established? New business leads might gravitate towards a long-established family company over someone that doesn’t refer to their business history.

USPs 

Unique selling points. Clients often struggle to think beyond what they do in their day to day job, leaving the marketing side to others. However, there is probably one thing that makes your client’s service stand out from their competitors. When asking your client what they think makes them stand out from their competitors, try to start with things like free quotes or consultations (where appropriate). Maybe they have the exclusive rights to
a patented product? Anything that as a consumer might interest you! USPs should always shine through on the home page, as they are the first thing web users will see. Make them count!

Tone of voice

Everybody has a different voice, and I’m not just talking about your set of pipes. You will know from speaking to clients from all different walks of life and different regions of the UK (even the world) that all business owners have a different way of presenting themselves and their business. Let this show in your copy! If you can touch type or write in short hand, try to catch what your client is saying, verbatim. This establishes your client’s voice in the copy, ensuring you’ll be representing your client’s business in a way they would happy with. When a member of the public enquires via the website for the first time and speaks to your client, they will already be familiar with their ‘voice’ which is really great for brand continuity too. Colloquialisms are acceptable from time to time, but be careful not to overuse them and make sure they are tone appropriate. Regional dialect should again follow the same rule. Unless you are writing specifically for one geography, try to avoid this. (Remember, when you’re writing for the web, you are potentially writing for the world).

Call to action

A call to action should really motivate the web user. One should appear on every single page of a website, constantly reminding the user of your client’s telephone number at all times. However, not all call to actions are made equal. ‘For legal services call 020 0799 998′. This call to action is useless and not just because you wouldn’t get much legal advice from a made up number. It’s weak and has no sense of urgency. The user will know they can call that number for legal services because that is typically what solicitors provide. However, there is no ‘now, now, now!’. Give your user some motivation: ‘For a free consultation about your legal problem, call us today on 020  0799 998′. Again, this comes back to presenting a solution to a problem. “Ooh, a free consultation you say? Yeah, I could give them a call for a free consultation.”

Congratulations, you have just generated a lead for your client!

Shaun Mooney is a copywriter, SEO professional and social media buff. He lives in Reading with his cat, Puck. One day soon, both Shaun and Puck hope to relocate to London.

                                                                                      

http://about.me/shaunmooney

http://howlblog.co.uk

Follow Shaun on Twitter: @OhShaun

(picture courtesy of: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=3062)

Apologies all round…

It’s severely shocking that my last post was in August – it’s not exactly the kind of helpful, forward-thinking blog I initially planned and tried to implement.  Whereas posts used to be weekly on average, nowadays I’m barely posting a couple of times a year.

Well, from 2012, this will change – my New Year’s resolutions are starting early!  Having set up and launched a sister company to The Writing Hall, I’m now in control enough to manage both (and all my other endeavours) – instead of the either/or situation I’ve had until now.

So, what to expect?  Firstly, as an author, I want to continue to pepper into these future posts tips, thoughts and general links or information on the subject of writing, which, after all, is the very reason I started TWH.  So many people have a book inside us (if you believe the old saying, it’s actually all of us) and many need help transferring the rampant thoughts inside their head onto the clean, virginal paper in front of them.

That’s where I come in.

A writing coach is a sounding board, pool of resource, motivator, inspirer and calming influence.  You’d have a coach in sport, in your business – sometimes, just to get through life.  The theory is the same when writing; if you’re unsure, not used to it or would just prefer to have someone else’s trusted opinion throughout the writing process, then a coach is the professional to turn to.

Having been traditionally published, having also pitched to 40+ publishing houses and as someone who’s been through the self-publishing process too, I know a lot about writing books from a business perspective – what your market is looking for, what your agent is looking for, and what the editors are looking for.  Though it takes the romance from the idea, book writing for others is a business endeavour.  If you want to write for your friends and family only, then you can also write the rules, but if you want the general public to buy what you’ve written, you have to deliver what they want – or, what they don’t yet know they want.  Cryptic, yes; incorrect, no.

The world of authorship is more competitive today than it’s ever been.  Approximately, less than one percent of aspiring, newbie authors land a publishing deal, so if you harbour grand dreams of being the next J.K. Rowling or Stephen King, I’m here to bring you crashing down to reality.  I know of well-known names being refused deals on new books, despite their previous titles appearing in bestseller lists.

I don’t intend this as a negative speech, but neither am I going to blow smoke up someone’s backside!  There’s a lot of groundwork and preparation needed to write a book, beginning with the removal of any rose-tinted glasses, but, even when everyone knows what to expect on the journey ahead, it’s still one of the most exciting things you’ll ever do.

The Writing Hall’s website is also being overhauled slightly after Christmas; not the design as this is relatively new, but the focus of the services offered will revert back to me, as opposed to the current one-stop-shop mentality.  I’d rather shift things back to doing a few things really well than trying to help everyone with everything.  So, stick around, and join the rest of the 390+ aspiring authors’ community on Facebook.  If books and writing are your first loves, you’ll be amongst like-minded people.

That’s all from me for now; if you’d like more information on my writing coaching services, call free on 0800 4101 041 or email me at diane@thewritinghall.co.uk.  Speak soon.

 

So many exciting things on the horizon…

Here at The Writing Hall, I’ve never wanted to be labelled solely as a freelancer, lifestyle business, sole trader, etc.  All these monikers suggest that I want to remain a solitary worker.

Well, I don’t – I dream big.  And I mean really big.  Probably the same as half the population and I feel physically restrained if things don’t go my way (hence the moaning I do on TWH’s Facebook page).  There’s so much I want to do in life that I doubt I’ll ever be happy with my ‘lot’.

I have two beautiful girls and a wonderful husband (who, incidentally, puts up with a hell of  a lot), a nice enough home and I enjoy what I do for a living, most days.  That should be enough, but it’s not.  Does that make me bad?

I grew The Writing Hall as a freelance business around my last job, which has retained some lovely clients that come back again and again.  I then launched Clerical and Content nine months ago which is just starting to raise its awareness in my local area.  I published my children’s novel last Christmas…and now I’m launching an online interior/home-ware design company.  The latter venture has been in the background since April and the earliest it may launch is October but if there’s one thing I’ve learned is that the more background planning you can do, the more it may save you from making costly mistakes once things have gone ‘live’.

I’m still very much in demand for social media services but my shop window – this blog and my Clerical and Content blog – have fallen by the wayside because I haven’t the time to update them.  I stand by the common phrase, “If you want something doing, ask a busy person”.  Nuff said.

I’d like to think that, once the home-wares company is launched, that I’ll be fulfilled.  That I’ll look at what I’ve already got in front of me and stop chasing something new, but I doubt it.  (You see, I’ve always wanted to open a coffee shop and community space for my village and there’s only funds stopping me from doing that.  If money became no objective then a barista I’d be….for a while.)  I was once described as having ‘lots of ambition’, but I don’t think it’s as much that as I’m just an unsatisfied woman who loves to chase dreams.  (I’ve never been that good at reality.)

So, here’s to my new, and existing ventures.  Here’s hoping they offer the success I dream of, because I’m really, really not a bad person.

Why we write essays…

The Writing Hall’s second guest post comes from Pauline Guerin MA, on the subject of essays.  Please add a comment at the end if you’d like to add your own point of view on this subject, or indeed, any of TWH’s posts – we’d love to hear from you!

As a Private Tutor, this is something I am asked a lot by my students, ‘why do I have to write essays? What’s the point?’  ‘I can’t see why anyone would want to spend time doing that, when they can watch the telly’.

To write a really good essay, one has to be disciplined, controlled and organised.  One of the overriding factures of poor essay grades is that the student has failed to plan or organise their work.  This results in a higgledypiggledy mish mash of information almost thrown down onto paper, which they then believe is acceptable, of course, it isn’t.  Looking at the examination board mark schemes, in almost every single case the students’ marks from good organisation, and a well thought out piece.  Interestingly, and certainly in my local area, it seems that most schools or colleges discourage students from downloading or even locating the mark scheme.  That, however, is another subject entirely.

Let’s face it, anyone can put together a page of words, but how many of us are able to express ourselves in a meaningful, powerful manner which manages to persuade the reader of our position on a given subject? Whether it is a literary essay or a piece of journalism.  A well written essay puts across a carefully considered argument which further encourages the reader to reflect on the issues raised and see the world from a different angle.

The essay should enable the author to consider different sides of an argument; different angles of the world with which they are presented.  This develops the author’s ability to question and contemplate subjects which they may otherwise take for granted.

I wrote five essays last year for inclusion in ‘The Encyclopaedia to Literary Romanticism’ (Ed. Andrew Maunder, 2010).  I volunteered; I was not paid a penny!  To some this seems to be a ridiculous idea, but the fun I had dissecting and analysing three poems and writing about two of the authors of those poems was immense.  So, too, is the reward for having made the effort to ensure that they were as a precise and well argued as they could be, to say nothing of the resulting accolade of finally being published.

 

 

 

 

 

Pauline has a Bachelor’s Degree in English and History, and studied Victorian Literature and Culture to Master’s Degree level graduating in 2005.  She currently teaches students through private tuition and is also researching and writing a historical novel.  Pauline also runs Purple Princess Designs.

 www.PurplePrincessDesigns.co.uk

 The Writer’s Blog     http://pauline-guerin.blogspot.com/

Pauline has also recently completed a separate blog post on research;  http://pauline-guerin.blogspot.com/2011/07/problems-researching-historical-novel.html

The secret of a successful author

I’m not going to revolutionise the writing world here by saying this, but most authors who make a success of their writing career have plenty of time.  I’m not saying they won’t have work commitments or family ties to attend to, but it is clear, at least from the other side of the fence, why my book isn’t as widely read or as successful as it could be.

I simply haven’t the time to promote it, and although there are professionals who could do that for me, my funds are earmarked for other, more important, things.  I knew that with any book, traditionally published or self-published, it takes more than a modicum of personal marketing, appearances and promotion to get any readers to notice your tome amongst the millions of others available.

People buy from people, so whether you’re selling pegs, pigs or poems, this ethos applies.  Raising awareness of your book isn’t just placing it online or on your local bookshelf, there needs to a strategic plan to get said book under the noses of your readers.

Because my book is aimed at 8-12 year olds my most effective route to my readers is approaching schools.  However, during the week I’m working, so this tends to be in fits and starts – not conducive to a sustained promotional campaign.

Here are some tips to help with promoting your book that I’ve found the most effective (mainly through doing the opposite and realising the best way to do it!)

• Know your market: There’s no point selling ‘How to find your perfect match through computer dating’ to those without computers, nor a book entitled ’101 ways to cook chicken’ to a group of vegetarians.  It may sound obvious and these are extreme examples, but finding the most likely place that the majority of your readers will congregate – online or offline – will be the easiest and quickest group to convert into buyers of your book.  Many authors blindly promote ‘en masse’ with no research or strategy into who their readers are and how to get in front of them.  For instance, are there seasonal changes that affect the theme of your book, or events in the year that could help your marketing plan?
• Accept that you need to spend time on promotion: I knew I needed to spend time, but perhaps was short-sighted to just how much would be needed to effectively raise the profile of my book.  Because the best campaigns are built on continuous momentum, I realise that my ‘fits and starts’ marketing falls woefully short.
• Try everything: Although your market may only be in one place, don’t use the same tack each time or they’ll soon tire of hearing about your work (sorry, this may seem hypocritical to the fans on The Writing Hall Facebook page who suffer repeated mentions of my book!!).  Have a range of ideas and marketing angles to get people talking about your book.  Once word spreads you’ll find the promotion gets easier as awareness gets to new groups of potential readers before you do.

There are probably a million and one other tips but I’m still quite early on in my marketing programme, due to the fact I haven’t more time to spare.  I’ve so many ideas running through my head and it’s actually frustrating not to be able to put them into practice.  I can’t help but notice that a lot of professional writers are full-time in their literary pursuits; perhaps that’s because they know they need as much time to promote their works as it is to create them in the first place.

Hopefully, I will find more time to devote to promoting, or find a way to pay someone else to do it on my behalf.  Failing this, the gap between Book 1 of the series and Book 2 could be the longest in history.

http:www.sonoftheringmaster.com

Guest Post: If I could write anything…

Today’s guest post comes from Shaun Mooney, a very talented writer from Bagshot.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and please tell us your views.  What would you write, and would you do it for a living if you could?

“I sometimes sit at my desk and day dream of the good life. A large house in the country, a dog resting over my feet and a book shelf of titles with my name on the spine. Then the J.K Rowling lifestyle disappears in a puff of smoke as my manager gently reminds me about deadlines. For many ‘aspiring authors’, aspiring really is the active word.

I took a degree in Creative Writing and Media Studies at the University of Winchester (and despite what I am about to say, I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone that asks). By no means did I think that ‘I had it made’, nor did I think a job would fall into my lap. The creative writing degree at Winchester is often described by the staff as ‘The Author Course’, much in the same way taking a law or teaching degree is vocational to those professions.

However, can one simply graduate and overnight become an author? The short and very realistic answer is no. There is light at the end of the tunnel though. I am not going to debate competition for entry level industry jobs in light of the tuition fee hike (of which I am totally opposed). You cannot buy good written and communication skills, ambition nor a willingness to learn. A degree in any of the Arts based courses such as English Lit, American Studies, Media Studies or Film Studies can take you practically anywhere. I have friends in my graduating year that have gone on to do PR for blue chip clients, test video games for Nintendo and write for national newspapers.

I am currently a Web Consultant for Yell. I get to flex my copywriting ability on a daily basis, writing different website content for different clients. It’s a good way to test my ability to write engaging, marketing copy. Although I feel my growing process has slowed down after 7 months of being there, it is very good industry experience nonetheless. This, on top of running my own online music and culture magazine (http://howlblog.co.uk) and blogging internally for the Yellsites intranet has further expanded my writing ability.

However, despite building upon my copywriting and digital marketing skill set, I have felt a small piece of my life was missing. I stopped telling my friends and contacts that I was a writer, and now referred to myself as a ‘web consultant’. Then, just last month, a colleague posted on the intranet that she was starting a creative writing group. She had taken a masters in Creative Writing and, like me, felt that she needed some friends to get back into writing fiction. And she was so right. I had been missing that sense of community that comes from workshopping a piece of writing, talking about favourite reads and just having a chat over a mug of tea.

Now I am writing fiction again, for the first time in months. I am still ‘aspiring’ towards my novel, but the idea is firmly in the works. In the meantime, I am having fun sharing my creative ideas with my friends. The good life doesn’t seem so far off now.”

Shaun Mooney is a copywriter, SEO professional and social media buff. He lives in Bagshot with his cat, Puck. One day, both Shaun and Puck would like to live with boyfriend James in a lovely countryside house.                                                                                       http://about.me/shaunmooney

http://howlblog.co.uk

Follow Shaun on Twitter: @OhShaun

Do as I say, not as I do…

Obviously, I don’t think people should do as I say (well, only my two kids, the dog and sometimes my husband), but as I’ve not posted on my blog for a month and I natter on about frequency and having a sustained campaign when blogging, it very much applies.

I once found a quote: “If you want something doing, ask a busy person” – which I thought very apt to certain periods within my company.  The latest ‘absence’ was as a result of Easter holidays, subsequent Bank holidays, polling days and Inset days all affording the kids time to annoy me at home – and placing me back to working on the kitchen table and not in my quiet, calming office that is conducive to ploughing through my workload.  Juggling has never been something alien to me but if Billy Smart were here, he’d snap me up tomorrow.

Blogging is a way of reaching readers and audiences, and letting them know your thoughts, plans and recommendations.  It can be a very useful tool, as well as a basis for escapism, but when neglected it’s like a peach you find when you move the sofa – shrunken and unappetising.  Gone is my regular traffic – sporadic glances is all I’ve attracted in my time away from writing, despite all previous posts of wit and wisdom still available for all to see.

I feel like I’m playing a game of snakes and ladders – just as I got to somewhere worthy in the game, I’ve slid down a snake and it all starts again.  Such is the consequence of taking your foot off the pedal.

So do as I say: commit to your readers and maintain connections.  Don’t do as I do: eat too many Easter eggs and pay sod all attention to your blog.

What constitutes a ‘mumpreneur’?

Is it really just as simple as a ‘mother in business’?  Considering that half our population are women, and that a good proportion of the self-employed are female….and that it’s highly likely most businesswomen will have families, the term ‘mumpreneur’ is perhaps not that niche.

Why, now, am I discovering I may not be normal?

Is the customer always right?

A very controversial question to ask, yes – and despite what I’ve always said (that customers most definitely are right), what I think is another matter.  What if they don’t know what they want from a freelancer?

This month I’ve had two new clients receive the work I’d provided negatively.  Not in a spiteful sense but in the spirit of “It wasn’t what we wanted”.

This could have very easily knocked my confidence (in fact, it did) but I had treble that amount of new customers in the same period who were more than pleased with the work I produced.  Those successful new clients were impressed that I’d summarised their requirements and delivered above and beyond their expectations.

So if I’m conjuring up the same standard of work, and if I’m asking the same questions to all clients, what went wrong with the other two?

I’ll throw another thought into the fire – perhaps the clients didn’t know what they wanted (and therefore could not translate that to me) but could tell what they didn’t want when they saw it?

If this is the case, and because of my desire to keep clients happy and win future work, I can’t charge them for work that’s not what they want – meaning I could go round in circles, over and over again, using time that could be better spent on work that will earn money.

It seems to be whenever I use the word ‘draft’.  As a writer of various communications and material, I suggest, in situations where there’s no firm brief, that I put something down first and we work from that.  However, this seems to be a green light for them to reject what I offer and for my time to be given away for free.

Am I wrong to care, or to take things personally?

This is a very hard subject for me to address, simply because I take it personally if someone isn’t happy with my work.  I know I shouldn’t and it’s just business, but as I take such pride in what I do, it feels as if I’ve failed if I don’t get it spot on first time.  Luckily, (or it may not be down to luck), I have plenty of regular clients who are more than satisfied with what I do and I enjoy a great relationship with them.

Perhaps you’d agree that I was at fault, that it’s clear I’m doing something wrong or missing something – if so, please tell me what it is!  I’m genuinely interested, as you can imagine this causes me stress.

Water off a duck’s back?

I admire those freelancers and professionals that can bounce negativity off their backs – or better still, convert it to positivity.  Please share that magic with me!

As a freelancer, it’s my reputation out there. Each dissatisfied customer is a lead and income stream lost.  I can’t afford for that to happen.

One contact suggested I’m not doing my job correctly, in the sense that I hadn’t asked the right questions to prompt what the customer doesn’t know they want.  I agree with this in principle but knowing the situations and clients personally, as opposed to any generalising, these were experts in their field and I felt that interrogating them further than I did would have been a little insulting.  Maybe that was the issue.

I’ve been in business for a few years now but this is proving a difficult period for me – why now, I don’t know.  Is this normal?  Am I?

 

I’m frustrated and need a man…

A BT man.  One that will connect my damn Broadband in my new office.  I’ve been connected over a week ago and have yet to get on the internet, meaning I’m working from home which is not conducive (for me, at least) to getting very far, and also results in dead rent for an office I’m not in.

I get shunted from department to department when I phone as “they don’t what the problem is”.  Yeah, I’d kinda worked that out myself.  I’v moved my hub all of 20 feet across a corridor, yet, between being unplugged from the wall in office A, it has gone from working to mysteriously not working when plugged into the socket in Office B.  The line can’t be a complete bodge as the phone works fine – which too was connected the same day.  So,

internal BT department passes the issue to internal BT department, leaving me with an online business that’s not, well, online.  The whole move, with missed dates, computer-generated but misleading emails, no-knowledge staff and life-sapping automated phone menus have made this among the very worst experience I’ve ever had with a company.  Had I not started a new contract (another setback – why can’t your contract can’t move with you?  Hell, even multi-million pound mortgages can do that.  Then again, they’d not be squeezing you for as much for their incompetence), I would tell them to shove the issue up their own phone jacksy.

I filled in a customer satisfaction survey about an hour ago.  Not that I think my ‘extremely dissatisfied’ choices will even lodge with BT (they’d not be seen as anything different, I’d imagine – the ‘extremely satisfied’ responses are the ones that would stand out like a sore thumb) and neither will my scathing comments in the ‘anything you’d like to tell us’ box – but hey, I wanted to vent anyway.  Same reason for this post.

I need a man to come to my office with a bag of answers to connect me once and for all.  For all I know, when they’re passing me from department to department over the phone, they’re just filing my report in the wastepaper bin – at least with a guy in front of me I can hold him to ransom until the damn thing’s fixed.

I’m frustrated and I pity the poor man that has to come and sort me out.