An agency that I was once in contact with sent me a newsletter recently. It’s just relaunched its corporate website and wanted to tell everyone about it.
Accent your accents
If you’re writing on Twitter in Spanish, don’t forget to use accents in the hashtags. So says one of Fundéu BBVA’s latest recommendations to help speakers navigate the pitfalls of using the language online.
Clever or confusing?
Whenever I pass through Mallorca’s airport, I see a large poster for the popular Palma Aquarium. It rattles me every time (not just because of the random capitals) because I’m not sure if the straplines are clever or just confusing.
Do foreign words help or hinder?
Throughout its development, the English language has cheerily been hijacking words from other cultures. But does it help or hinder web copy when we pluck a word from another tongue to add a bit of style to our text?
When copy makes you go ‘bleurgh’
Sometimes, tongue-in-cheek web copy works really well. Other times, when not viewed in context with other content, it just makes you go ‘yuck’.
How to write effective web copy
Your website must be well written, engaging and easy to find. Hiring a professional web copywriter to produce compelling text is, without doubt, a good investment — and one which will probably pay for itself with a single new piece of business.
But if you’re planning to write the web copy yourself, read on to find out what you need to consider (in a nutshell) and for five top tips. I wrote this with an SME audience in mind, but it applies to anybody who has to write text for a website.
New community for copywriters
Copywriters serving the UK market now have their very own community: The Professional Copywriters’ Network. This is the brainchild (and product of much hard work) from copywriting agencies ABC Copywriting and Ben Locker & Associates.
How to avoid duplicate content
UK-based SEO agency dotSearch has written a very useful guide to duplicate content. If you’re pushed for time, I’ve read the guide so that you don’t have to. Here’s a summary of the main points.
Newsletter: January 2012
I’ve kicked off the new year by finally starting a monthly newsletter. The plan is for every issue to contain a few bits and pieces that are useful to my clients and anyone working with web copy.
Help your supporters to help you
If there’s a piece of information that you need from people contacting you, tell them on your ‘Contact us’ page.
As a supporter of international development charity ActionAid, I’ve been receiving communications by post. I’d like to change my details and also get all materials by email instead, so I went to the charity’s UK website to get in touch.