Before I started Divine Write, I was a technical writer in the software industry. I wrote online help and user guides for 9 years. I wrote about highly technical stuff, like SCADA systems, accounting software and access control systems. I worked closely with wildly intelligent coders and engineers. I handled all the localization of the [...]

In her recent excellent post, Is Quality Copywriting Worth the Expense?, copywriter Angie Haggstrom suggests that copywriting clients who accept poor quality (i.e. cheap) copy are endorsing that poor quality. They’re associating it with their own offering and brand – “it’s a reflection of you” I couldn’t agree more. But I think it’s important to [...]

By Karri Flatla, snap! virtual associates inc. If you’ve ever shopped for a web copywriter (I cringe to use the word “shop” but that’s what it is), you’ve no doubt come across an apparent oddity in the fee structures. That is, homepage copy costs a great deal more than other types of website copy (services [...]

When you have a pool built, you don’t simply point to your backyard and say, “Put a pool there!” (Believe me, I know!) You have to spend quite a bit of time telling your pool builder what shape you want, what style, what construction, what size. You have to discuss depth, lining, tiling, lighting, steps, [...]

You know ‘hype’ copy when you see it. And not just because it’s usually underlined, fluro-highlighted and thrust in your face! But avoiding hype in your own sales copy isn’t such a simple matter. There are a variety of copy ‘techniques’ used (or, at least, unintentionally present) in hype copy that make it hype. This [...]

Recently on Twitter, Rob McGuire highlighted a ‘lucrative’ copywriting contract on ScriptLance: 15 x 500 word articles paying $1 each! True to form, when I read this, I had a little rant about paying peanuts and getting monkeys, then I went away and spent a bit of time reflecting on it. And while I was [...]

You’re not alone. Most people find it very difficult to come up with a new domain name – particularly for their own business. Even creative people (*coughs guiltily*). The following series of screencasts will make it a lot easier for you. I promise. Watch me come up with a quality domain name – from scratch [...]

The following four pieces of copy support a theory I’ve written about in a guest post at Science for SEO. The thrust of that post is that helpful, informative copy naturally contains the elements the search engines look for when assessing relevance. And now that the search engines are smart enough to find those elements, [...]

I follow only around 100 people on Twitter. Only those who are really relevant to my interests and really engaging. Clare Lancaster is one such person. So when she told me she’d written an ebook teaching businesses how to use Twitter FOR business, I assumed it would be very good. I was wrong… Clare’s book [...]

Most websites target a variety of audiences. And each is Googling something different. Here’s an example of how to think about keyword analysis, and how to structure your site around your target keywords (using ‘clustering’ or ‘theming’). Choosing keywords for your SEO copy & structuring your site around them from Glenn Murray on Vimeo. Please [...]