Paul – A Poem

09/10/2009 – 10:07 PM

Paul

-

Life with Paul was easy,

And life with Paul was gay,

And life with Paul was fun for a while,

As Paul for a while would say.

-

And life with Paul was mainly nuts,

But sometimes cheese and bread,

And life with Paul was fun for a while,

As Paul for a while has said.

-

And life with Paul was fleeting,

And life with Paul was gay,

And life with Paul’s not always a ball,

Not Always – as Paul would say.

-

But life with Paul is over now,

And life with Paul was splendid,

And life without Paul is no fun at all,

When life with Paul has ended.

-

Mark Westbrook © 2009

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments (0)

Who is John Smeaton?

30/09/2009 – 6:58 PM

Who is John Smeaton?

John Smeaton is the courageous baggage handler from Glasgow who selflessly fought off terrorists at Glasgow Airport in 2007. He has since become a public figure, writing a column in The Scottish Sun newspaper regularly. In September 2009, John, known to Glasgow as SMEATO, announced his intention to stand as a candidate for the Glasgow North East area after Michael Martin MP stood down in the expenses scandal.

What John lacks in a political background, he makes up for in sincerity, honesty and a no-nonsense approach to matters. Vowing to make waves at Westminster, he has now become the third favourite to tackle the tricky Glasgow North East seat and take on politics with the same courage he faced down the fundamentalist terrorists attacking his home city.

Smeaton doesn’t have any great political history. John has a history of taking care of his own and protecting his community. John has a history of putting bread on the table and earning a living. He knows about growing up in a tough city that has been shrouded in the clouds of drug abuse and sectarian violence. John Smeaton is a much more popular choice than most politicians because John is an ordinary Scottish guy, who just happens to be a hero too. These days, we struggled to find heroes. They seem to be in short supply.  When the time comes, vote John Smeaton.

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Brand and Personality

31/07/2009 – 12:05 AM

Why is the Apple Logo is so Unique?

Take a look at the Apple Logo.

It’s completely unique in its field. What does it say to you? Cool, creative, individual, and unique – a bit of a rebel? Well, according to consumer research carried out by two professors from Waterloo University in Canada, seeing the Apple logo not only makes you think of these things, it also makes you feel them. In tests, viewing the Apple logo made participants feel more creative and energised, mirroring the traits associated with the brand. The Apple symbol has a brand personality and that personality affects our behaviour.

Apple

The original Apple logo, designed by Jobs and Wayne featured Sir Isaac Newton under a tree, with the apple just about to fall. The logo has changed 4 times since then, from the distinct multicoloured apple through black, silver/white (above) and now the two-tone Apple logo that we see today. This symbolic logo is recognisable around the world due to Apple’s success with their iPods and iPhones. The distinct ‘bite’ taken out of the Apple, is a visual pun on the homonym ‘byte’.

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomask/415669190/

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments (0)

5 Reasons Why Your Email Marketing Campaign Should Be Like Your Mother

05/06/2009 – 9:21 AM

As a writer, I’m often asked to take part in Email Marketing Campaigns.  I create the email messages or auto-responders that make up the heart of the email campaign.  People wrongly believe that email-marketing campaigns are not effective because they just end up getting spammed or sent to trash or junk mail.  It’s not true at all, in fact, as long as you keep sending them and the recipient still notices them, they are doing their job.

Here’s 5 Reasons Why Email Marketing Campaigns Should Be Like Your Mother:

ONE:  Nagging

Your Mother told you time and time again to tidy your room, and although you tried to ignore her, although you tried to rebel, and maintain your pigsty, eventually, you capitulated and you tidied your room.

Your Mother told you time and time again to wear your coat when you go out.  You may have groaned and moaned and shrugged it off, but these days, you wear a coat, the message still made its way home.

Let’s be clear, I’m not saying nag your potential clients or customers.  I’m saying that gentle, frequent reminders, eventually sink in and have an unconscious way of ‘sticking’ in the memory.

The key to this is not to give up after ten or twelve messages.  Keep gently badgering them, maintain a strong, steady and regular appearance in their inbox and even if they end up getting trashed for a year, or more, when your customer thinks about ‘business cards’ or ‘widgets’ or ‘cleaning services’ or whatever it is that you sell, there’s a much greater chance they’ll think of you.

TWO:  Mother has your Best Interests At Heart

Make sure that your sign up process gathers the details of good leads.  It’s pointless emailing people that never meant to give their data.  In each email, you should include a chance for them to opt-out.  Get your leads to clean out your records for you!

Make sure that this product or service connects with the customer, pitch the service or product in the email AS IF it’s in their best interest to ‘Find Out More’ or ‘Join Today’.

THREE:  Mother Doesn’t Leave It Too Long Without Getting in Touch

Mother knows just how long to leave you to your own devices before she gets in touch.  Too often, and you’ll have nothing NEW to say, too infrequently and the connection becomes weak.  Getting the correct frequency is a key skill in running any email marketing campaign.   Personally, if I get more than two messages in the same week from the same company, I am irritated, yet when I wanted to buy business cards, who did it go to?

FOUR:  Mother Knows You’re Never Too Old To Be Told What To Do

Central to your email message is telling the client or customer what to do.  Don’t presume that they know the action to take.  Your message should be filled with subtle indirect and blatant direct instructions, telling the client what to do to benefit from your product or service.

It’s a matter of tact, many people do not like being spoken down to, or cheesily sold to, in clichéd ways. Directly and indirectly appeal to their human desires.  They have a strong desire to own things and to feel good.  When they think about your product, they tell themselves a story, if you help them tell that story well enough, that story makes them feel really good about themselves.   Tell them, guide them, instruct them, push them, coax them and command them.  Mother’s never afraid to tell you what she thinks you should do.

FIVE:  Mother Likes a Bargain

She learned to make do, she learned to feed her kids and run her house on a budget.  The motto of the recession is ‘make more out of less’, that’s what Mother’s been doing for years.

Mother loves a bargain, they almost can’t stand to let a good bargain slip away.  Offer your potential clients a bargain that they can’t turn down.   People will buy a lot more of something if they think they’re getting a bargain.  Take your average 3 for 2 Supermarket Rip off.  Honestly, they’re a rip off, you buy TWICE as much of something, in order to get one for free.    People fall for it all the time.  They spend twice as much as they planned, so they can get another for nothing.  Mother loves a bargain.

These are just five ways that Mother can help you think about your next email marketing campaign.  And remember, Mother knows best.

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

How Do You Write a Press Release That Gets Read?

01/06/2009 – 12:01 AM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

I write a lot of press releases. They’re a simple, inexpensive way to get publicity and raise your profile – if they’re done right. More recently at WritingEngine, we’ve started using a professional journalist to write our client’s press releases. As an insider, he has a unique perspective on what might catch another journo’s eye.

Based on some of our ‘tame’ journalist’s best advice, we offer this simple guide to getting your Press Release read.

A well written, informative and professional press release will boost the profile of your company, enhancing business and reputation. However, if you fail to adhere to certain professional standards; you’ll end up looking like an amateur.

Ensure that you gain positive exposure by issuing a press release that is:

• Newsworthy
• To The Point
• Remarkable

Newsworthy means that it doesn’t simply try to sell something to the reader, it is actually of interest to the general public.

To the Point means short and punchy, journalists receive a lot of press releases, spare them reading your waffle.

Remarkable is a concept often lauded by Internet Marketing God Seth Godin. Something that’s remarkable is something that makes people want to talk to others about it.  It makes people want to ‘remark’ to each other, it spreads by word of mouth or Twitter.

A press release must simultaneously grab the reader’s attention and offer robust credibility. A great press release will be no more than a page in length and have an eye-catching headline and an informative tag line.

The content of the press release should be informative and sincere. It should be clearly focused on the information that you wish the reader (the journalist or media representative) to convey to others.  It’s not just dry facts though, some journalists may lift whole phrases from your release, so make sure the content is snappily written.

You should always aim to include two or three quotes from well-placed sources that will vouch for your business and give your press release credibility.

Don’t forget to fact and spell check your release before you send it off!  Recalling a press release is very embarrassing.

RELEASE ENDS

Contact details should be clearly placed under the ‘RELEASE ENDS’ marker. Include a name, a phone number, an email address and a website. They may want to interview you later, so ensure that these details are all accurate before sending it off.

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Blogging Rules!

31/05/2009 – 12:09 AM

Blogging? I love to blog but it’s taken me a while to learn the ropes.  It’s not a diary, it’s not a Facebook update, it’s not an article, it’s something in between.

It’s actually become one of my favourite things to do in the day.  Once, I wrote 15 blogs in one day.  Actually that was in half a day, that was before breakfast. This is because blogs aren’t masterpieces of art, they’re short, pithy, provocative and informative messages to the world.  I write two blogs for myself every day, this blog, which is my blog for WritingEngine and the Acting Blog, which is the other side of my business.

Then there’s the blogs that I write for my clients, which are often centred around a myriad of different topics and I’m slowly becoming an expert on just about everything :o )

Anyway, I don’t want to get into a debate about whether it’s right or wrong for me to write other people’s blogs.  Blogging is an important tool for your business and if you don’t know why that is, I advise you READ THIS BLOG. If you’re blogging for yourself, here are some ‘rules’ or guidelines to consider:

  • Keep It Brief and Stick to the Point
  • Try to Keep Your Paragraphs Short at 2-4 lines
  • Start at the Point and then explain yourself
  • Tell stories about yourself to explain things
  • Don’t worry about the rules of grammar
  • Cut the chaff
  • Talk about what makes you excited and what makes you angry
  • Set comments ‘on’, always reply to comments but delete the idiots, they just drain you.
  • Link to interesting resources that you find
  • Say what you want to say, don’t write a sanitized version, it’s dishonest.
  • Tag, Tag and Tag, Tags are SEO-rich
  • Break the rules

So, those are just for a starter, look out for other blogs about blogging soon!

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

8 Tips for Writing a Complaint Letter

30/05/2009 – 12:10 AM

Okay, I admit it, I write a lot of these, some for clients and quite a few for myself. Usually, they help you blow off some steam, but I tend to see complaint letter writing as an art form, it’s important not to come across all superior, but it’s still important to be assertive.

1) Go on their website and see if they have a complaints procedure. Refer to it in your letter, they know that you’re serious that way.

2) Never be aggressive, rude or demanding, someone at the other end gets £6 per hour to respond to these letters, and they don’t really care what happened, your only recourse is to be pleasant.

3) Before you start writing, map out for yourself a simple A, B, C of the points of your complaint like this:

A) It took 60 minutes before we were able to order
B) There was a maggot in my salad.
C) The service was appalling

4) Then use a single paragraph to describe what went wrog. Be factual but add some tasty words at the end of each paragraph explaining why they’ve left themselves down.

* This simply isn’t the standard we’ve come to expect from XXXX Hotels
* We know that La Blah de Blah Restaurant is one of the best in town, but can’t understand why we received such dreadful service
* This is the third vehicle my company has hired from you and they are usually of a high standard, this was not up to scratch at all.

5) Keep it proportionate, if your chips were cold, don’t be bombastic and say you’re disgusted with their cuisine, tell them their chips were cold and the floor was dirty.

6) Tell them what you want and remind them why. I would like to be reimbursed for my journey as the aggressive behaviour of Andrew, your Train Manager ruined my entire trip, leaving me stressed on arrival at my destination.

7) Tell them how they can reach you.

8 ) If you want to push their buttons, you can use a question that I sometimes use if I know they won’t do anything about my complaint, but I want to see them squirm a little bit. ‘Do you treat all of your disabled(or put in your own word here) customers this way?’ It’s a trap, if they say No, that means they treat SOME of them that way, and they can’t really say YES. They will undoubtedly ignore the question, but it will get their attention.

I’ll be honest with you, we live in a society where companies don’t really care about complaints, it’s just something to deal with in the day. But as word of mouth travel, as choice opens up, when a company doesn’t take our complaints seriously, we can take our business elsewhere.

*Thanks to Virgin Trains & particularly a Train Manager from Wolverhampton for inspiring this blog.

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

The Zen of Twitter

29/05/2009 – 12:10 AM

When I was first introduced to Twitter, I wasn’t convinced. It seemed like a seemingly unnecessary addition to the electronic beeps, bells, pings and rings that already clutter my life. I certainly didn’t want to use it for my personal life, then I noticed how often I updated my Facebook status and I saw friends and colleagues using it for business and winning business with it.

Within that time, I’d written quite a few articles about Twitter for different clients and I knew enough about it to use it, awkwardly at first, and now with growing confidence and dare I say, a dash of sophistication.

Yet, as a creative artist-turned-creative business, I’m always looking for links between the world of art and creativity and the world of business. In Twitter I find a solid and tangible link to the world of Japanese poetry. Now, before you think I’ve disappeared up my own plughole, bear with me and I’ll explain.

It makes me think of the Japanese poetry form of Haiku. In Japanese, the Haiku poem appears as a single line of text. In English, the rules are changed, we lose the single line and it becomes three verse lines of a total of 17 syllables.

Here I find an important parallel with Twitter. Haiku is having the capacity to say something beautiful and potentially profound in the briefest way. It greatly taxes the poet to produce something of note within such strict limitations. It makes you a better writer, a better poet to express yourself under such restriction.

In this way, Twitter offers us the same challenge. One must express oneself within the confines of 140 characters. You see, like Haiku, Twitter forces you to express yourself with great precision. If you will, you can’t witter when you Twitter.

Twitter encourages you, no REQUIRES you to have a greater command over how and what you write. Few of us can write all that we wish to say to the best of our abilities within 140 characters, maybe 143 or 189, but 140 is so limiting, it’s frustrating and so, it becomes a challenge.

When you are limited in this way, it makes you consider precisely the words that you choose to use and forces you to consider synonyms and their meaning. It further encourages you to hone your editing skills and create text that delivers the exact message, effectively, artfully and within the limits of 140 characters.

My Zen Haiku version of this article:

Twitter and Haiku
Similarities Inspire
Write with Precision

My Zen Twitter version of this article:

Haiku inspires my Tweets, restriction demands precision; limitation becomes opportunity, tiny acts of creativity, the message remains

And just for fun:

If you witter when you Twitter, please be sweet and wipe the Tweet.


Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Avoiding Over-Used Words

28/05/2009 – 7:16 AM

Let’s face it, if you write your own copy, you find yourself using some of the same words time and again.  I’m sure you find yourself describing your product or service with the same kinds of words, so in this brief blog post on words to use instead of the over-used words, I’ll offer you some unrivalled alternatives:

When selling your services, you may need to use synonyms for the words ‘experienced’ or ‘expert’, here are a few unparelleled examples:

TALENTED, QUALIFIED, ACCOMPLISHED.

SKILLED, SEASONED, CAPABLE

SAVVY, PROFESSIONAL, AWARD-WINNING

Example: Our team of talented craftsmen offer a tailor-made service that’s second to none.

When your taking about a fabulous and fantastic product, you may use words to describe just how good that product/service really is, try these instead:

ASTONISHING, SPECTACULAR, INCREDIBLE

REMARKABLE, SUPERB, UNSURPASSED

INCOMPARABLE, STUNNING, SENSATIONAL

Example: Couples tell us that our Honeymoon Vacations are simply astonishing.

You may wish to describe just how effortless your product is to use, if you want to tell your potential customer or client that your product is easy to use, why not try one of two of these words:

FOOLPROOF, UNCOMPLICATED, STRAIGHTFORWARD

Example: The One-in-10 remote is an uncomplicated way to control all of your household appliances.

Finally, I find myself using the words BIG and VAST, and perhaps even HUGE an awful lot of the time, so educated your vocabulary and use some of these words instead:

GIGANTIC, MASSIVE, IMMENSE

SPECTACULAR, ENORMOUS, MAMMOTH

Example: This weekend, we’re having a mammoth stationery sale!

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Helping the Buyer Decide

27/05/2009 – 8:00 AM

There are certain phrases that you can use to help the buyer decide to buy.  There’s nothing underhanded about it, it’s very simple, you are just helping them make a decision by making suggestions, asking questions or prompting action.  These phrases should be used just before you write your CTA, that’s our short hand for Call to Action – the bit where you REALLY get them to BUY.

This moment is the D in AIDA.  AIDA for those that don’t know is the classic sales structure:

A – Attention    – CAPTURE THEIR ATTENTION

I – Interest        – MAINTAIN AND HEIGHTEN THEIR INTEREST

D – Decision – PERSUADE THEM TO MAKE A DECISION

A- Action         – LEAD THE BUYER TO A POINT OF ACTION

So now that we’ve explained that, here are some of those helpful phrases that can help persuade the buyer to make the decision to buy.

Some of these are culturally sensitive, what I mean is, Brits are dour and sterner than Americans, so target to your cultural market.

It’s great to create a sense of urgency, to do this you can use phrases such as:

Don’t delay…

Don’t wait any longer…

Don’t miss this great opportunity…

Why wait another day?

You can also DEMAND decision making by using COMMANDS.  They have to be used carefully, as you don’t want to scare them away.  Some that have worked in the past include:

Act Now

Call Now

Join Today

Lastly, hand over the decision to them with:

It’s your move…

It’s your choice…

It’s up to you…

You be the judge…

You decide…

Of course, these need to be part of a well constructed piece of copy, but they really do help the buyer to make their decision.  Use them sparingly, it’s important that they work subtly and are used skilfully.

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Why Should Your Business Be Blogging?

26/05/2009 – 12:20 AM

There’s no two ways about it, the Internet is now the KING of getting your message across to others.  Hide your head in the sand and pour money into traditional advertising if you like the word ‘recession’, or get on board with the way that marketing has changed forever.  It’s true that the Internet is full of fads, but this new and constantly changing flow of marketing ideas always comes back to one central idea, Quality Content is King and blogging creates high value content.

Here it is in a nutshell: (just in case you don’t read the rest of the blog) Blogging builds communities of loyal customers with a vested interested in the company.  Blogging builds your company’s ability to market itself effectively online and it’s cost-effective.

Blogging is a way of sharing information and demonstrating your expertise in your particular field.  It works both ways because people get to comment upon what you’ve said and a dialogue occurs further increasing the number of people visiting your site.

Blogs make it easy to rapidly post, comment, and update posts – which is a quick way to communicate with potentially hundreds of thousands of people with a bit of typing and one click.  When was it ever possible before to update hundreds of thousands (millions) of potential customers about a brand new product in the click of one button?

The traditional marketing message is dead.  If the right person blogs for you, you’ll give your company an authentic ring that everyone will appreciate above all the clunky traditional marketing messages still being limply thrown around.  Marketing through your blog is subtle, but it attracts a loyal audience that grows each month.  If they like what they find, they’ll help you spread the word through Social Media Marketing such as Facebook, Twitter, and perhaps widen your appeal by blogging about your blog!

Just one tip, blogging isn’t flogging, it’s providing people with the answers to problems and questions and then letting them come back to you when they want to buy.  So easy on the sales pitch, think authentic and tell the truth. Yeah, that’s right, a marketing guy is telling you to tell the truth!  Believe it or not, customers appreciate it!

Blogging is an easy, cheap (yes cheap, I’m not saying cost-effective anymore, it’s stupid) CHEAP way of massively improving your marketing online.  And if you don’t have anyone to do it, we’d be glad to help you out.

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (1)

The DANGER of using the word FREE in your copy.

25/05/2009 – 12:10 AM

TWO STORIES

I used to work in a biscuit factory.  I used to clean out the pipes from the custard and chocolate that go between two biscuits that make it yummy.  When you came anywhere near the biscuit factory, you could smell that lovely warm, sweet smell of biscuits being baked.  On our first day, the Manager said to us that we could eat as many biscuits as we liked, that’s right, as many FREE biscuits as we wanted to eat!  In the early days, me and the other guys had a blast, pressure hosing tubes of chocolate crap, listening to loud commercial radio and gorging ourselves on biscuit after biscuit.

By the fourth weekend of working in the biscuit factory, we couldn’t look at a biscuit, let alone stomach one.  Even the smell of lovely baking bourbons made me heave.  You see, too much of a FREE thing and the thing starts to lose its value, it becomes sickening so that you don’t want it any more.  The FREE thing that was valued because it was lovely AND you didn’t have to pay for it, became the FREE thing I couldn’t bare to even look at.  It took me SIX years to eat another biscuit.

The word FREE is dangerous when you use it on your website too.  Very quickly, people get used to it being free and quicker even still, they  sicken of it. The first time that it’s free, it’s like a treat, the second time, it’s a guilty pleasure, the third time and it no longer has the same desirability.  The desirability rate falls sharply and drastically from that point.  By making something FREE, you may quickly drop the value of it.

I went to Stratford upon Avon once to see a play, I had 10 tickets for the people with me, but two became sick and decided to go home.  That left me with two tickets to the best seats in the house, to a sold out play that people were dying to see.  I should add that it featured none other than David Tennant in his earlier days.  I stood outside that theatre for 30 minutes before the show trying to give anyone who wanted it the tickets for FREE.  A pair of tickets to the top show at the RSC for NOTHING, for FREE.  I COULD NOT GET RID OF THEM.  No one would take them from me.  You see, the value of something that’s FREE is ZERO, it’s nothing at all.

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Increasing Website Traffic with SEO Article Marketing

24/05/2009 – 12:15 AM

Article Marketing, writing fascinating articles to attract potential traffic to your website is a way to drive hundreds or thousands of motivated visitors to your business.  Companies that wish to promote their goods or services through expensive advertising often mistakenly miss the chance to market themselves effectively online through the use of well written SEO content.

In the past, you needed a large budget or strong connections to the media or you simply couldn’t compete with other companies.  Now, you all you need is the time to write great content, or someone to do it for you!

So what is Article Marketing?

Article Marketing is a way for businesses of all sizes to promote themselves over the Internet.  A tool for marketing your business, it is a way of advertising your credibility and expertise by writing short, informative articles related to your area of business.

Those articles are then placed online in various places of strategic value, where people might find them, where Google might pick them up and make them easy to find.

The more valuable the information is that you offer through your articles, the more effectively it will convince people of your credibility in your industry.  These articles never disappear, they remain on the Internet forever (as far as we know) and they keep on driving traffic towards your website, increasing your business with each new article.

When someone comes to the Internet, they come to find the answer to a question or problem that they have.  If they find your article as an answer, they begin to use you as a reference point.  They may not buy from you today, but they will come back to you later because you’ve implanted the suggestion of your experience and expertise.

Be sure to include a powerful Call to Action at the end of the article, encouraging the reader to take action and do whatever you want them to do so.

Always include a link back to your website, this gives your site quality backlinks and allows people to trace back to your website.

Further ensure that you include your details in a resource box at the bottom, or in a few sentences explaining who you are and what you do.

Article Marketing is a powerful and simple way to promote your business online, it’s a low-cost, high benefit approach that cannot

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Top 10 Tips to Improve Written Communication with your Web Reader

23/05/2009 – 9:46 PM

Written communication is a complex beast. Communicating meaning through words can be taxing and can often leave the reader stumped. On the web, we write much more like we speak, which will have your ‘O’-Level English teachers turning in their graves.

However, when we’re writing for the consumption of another, we need to make being understood one of the most important things. Writing for the Internet creates further issues and these must be taken into account.

Failure to understand the difference between the Web Reader’s behaviour and the Traditional Reader’s behaviour can result in a failure of the reader to understand your writing.

ONE: Write in scannable paragraphs. Text chunks (paragraphs) of 3-6 lines are best. This page is a good example. It helps the so-called ‘scanner’. This is the type of reader that first scans the article for bits they find appealing and then reads around those chunks of the article. Short paragraphs are useful for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) purposes.

TWO: Try to keep the most important or pertinent words in the middle of the sentence. You will see that I’ve highlighted the middle words of many of the sentences in this article to emphasize how it works. Why? Because the reader focuses on the middle of the sentence when they look at the page.

THREE: Use Bold, Italics and Underlining. On the Internet, there are lots of flashing ads, menus, and pictures –distractions from reading your article. Use the different formatting tools to direct the reader to the section you really want them to read.

FOUR: Always try to keep your writing to the minimum length necessary to communicate the idea. If you end up writing over-long sentences, like this one, that I suppose go on for days, and eventually get to the point, before then confusing the reader with a number of examples, then it’s possible you will have lost the reader before you get to the full stop.

FIVE: Explain yourself. Don’t presume the reader knows anything. Don’t presume every reader understands you. If you use abbreviations, you should inform the reader of the meaning of the abbreviation at the first instance, and after that you can use the abbreviation alone. An example of this, ‘SEO’, can be found in Tip One.

SIX: Know your goal. You need to know why you are writing. What is the objective of the sentence, paragraph, chapter, article etc? What do you want to achieve as a result of the piece of work that you are writing? What do you want the reader to do as a result of reading your words? If you can answer these questions, your work will greatly improve.

SEVEN: In order to communicate effectively, the writer should always make a plan. This means that you need to think about what you want to say. Nothing reads worse than waffle. Waffle comes from a lack of Tip Six.

EIGHT: Don’t use long words. Even academics are being encouraged to write in plain English. Nothing turns a reader off more than having to constantly reach for a dictionary. Say what you mean and don’t presume too much about the reader. For every reader that fits your stereotype there are two that don’t.

NINE: Without a doubt, one of the most credibility-damaging factors in writing is spelling errors. People can forgive a misplaced colon, but words misspelled dent your integrity.

TEN: Don’t run out of steam. It’s true that you should write the most important elements of your writing at the beginning, in order to capture attention. It’s also true that writing the meat of an article in the first half will ensure that you communicate your message, even if the reader loses interest. However, some people do read to the end of your work, so if your final words have lost their power and importance, that’s the impression you will leave them with. End strongly.

Words can be used to variously to attract, lure, oppress, damage, obliterate, ignore, support, and celebrate someone or something. They are very powerful tools. Improving your ability to communicate with your reader will greatly improve the results that you get from your writing.

For further advice on writing for the Internet or for professional writing services that can encourage, fascinate, capture, arrest, position, direct and drive your potential customers, contact Mark on 0800 756 9535 or by email at mark@writingengine.co.uk

Mark Westbrook is owner and content/copywriter for WritingEngine, a company providing cost-effective SEO article marketing, SEO copy, Blogs, Press Releases and other written solutions.
By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

How NOT to Give or Receive a Copy or Content Brief

09/04/2009 – 4:19 PM

Below is a simple scene that encapsulates many of the potential problems when giving or receiving a copy or content writing brief.  It’s light hearted, but it warns us of potential problems.

CLIENT: I’d like a white box please

VENDOR:  Sure, what kind of box do you want?

CLIENT: Just a small white box.

VENDOR: What size?

CLIENT: Just small. I’ll just leave it to you, you’re the expert

VENDOR: Right.

Some time later

VENDOR: Here’s your box

CLIENT: It’s a bit small.

VENDOR:  You asked for a small box

CLIENT: Yes, but not THAT small.

VENDOR: Right, no worries, what size do you want it?

CLIENT: Bigger than that though. Big enough to put a rabbit in.

VENDOR: Right

Some time later

VENDOR: Here you go

CLIENT: It’s a bit big

ME: You said you needed something to put a rabbit in

CLIENT: Oh, yes, no, sorry, yes, I don’t mean an actual rabbit.

VENDOR: So….?

CLIENT: A rabbit’s the name for a tool we use.

VENDOR: How big’s the tool?

CLIENT (indicating with hands) About this big.

VENDOR: Righto, no problem, I’ll get you a new box.

CLIENT: Thanks, oh, just a minute, where’s the lid?

VENDOR: I’m sorry?

CLIENT: Where’s the lid, for the box?

VENDOR: The lid?

CLIENT: Yes, where’s the lid?

ME: You didn’t ask for a lid.

CLIENT: Well, you’re the expert, I presumed you’d put a lid on it!
I mean why would I want a box without a lid?

VENDOR: Okay, is there anything else I need to know?

CLIENT: No, no, sorry, you get on with it.

Some time later

VENDOR: Right, here’s your box, with a lid, for a ‘rabbit’.

CLIENT: Thanks

ME: What’s wrong?

CLIENT: It’s a bit boxy…

Vendors: Ask Questions
Clients: ASK for EXACTLY what you want.

Mark Westbrook is a writer, columnist and content and copy specialist and runs WritingEngine, a content and copy service providing written business solutions.

By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Who’s Writing Your Content and Copy?

08/04/2009 – 11:32 AM

You need SEO friendly copy and content but you don’t have the time to write it yourself. Fair enough, who does? So you outsource your work to someone else, a seemingly reliable someone, who offers you a great deal that’s far less than you would expect to pay. They regularly deliver blogs, content and copy to you, but it’s not quite as good as you imagined it should be. You start to think about doing it yourself, but you know you don’t have the time, so what’s going on?

It’s fairly simple, it could be that you are outsourcing your writing work to someone who is outsourcing your writing work. You’re paying someone a reasonable rate, whilst they’ve got someone in India doing the work for a fraction of the price.

Your content and copy is vital to the success of your website. You will not be taken seriously with weak copy and sloppy content. Yet, you’re still willing to outsource your content and copy to someone who is possibly passing that work on to someone else, someone less qualified, someone, well, someone not very good.

Whenever I’m writing copy and content for someone, it’s me that’s doing it, I couldn’t bear the idea that someone else, a weaker writer than me with less experience and a less than native grasp on the English language is writing copy for me. I would feel embarrassed that I was putting profit before quality. To my mind, sooner or later, someone thinks, no, this is just getting beyond a joke, I need a higher standard and they walk away.

Insist that you use a copy and content producer that does not outsource their work to anyone who isn’t a graduate of a British university (I’m talking to European clients that want English copy and content). The same goes for Australians for Australian clients and Americans for American clients.

Your website, blogs and auto-responders deserve to be of the value that you require, at a price that’s right for you, but please remember, if you choose someone quoting you a tiny price, expect a tiny amount of effort in exchange. There’s lot of competition out there on the Internet, so why not choose someone who can do an excellent job at a price you’ll like.

All the best

Mark Westbrook

Mark Westbrook is an experienced writer, columnist, Internet copy and content specialist, his company WritingEngine delivers written solutions to business.

By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments (0)

10 Business Spelling Errors to Avoid!

17/02/2009 – 4:53 PM

Everyone makes mistakes, but in business, the last thing you want to do is make a bad impression with your clientele. Weather Whether on your blog, website or brochure – you’ll want to ensure that you don’t mispell misspell a single word. Easily made mistakes may possibly inhibit your prospects of business in an instant; that instant being, when your clients realise that your company doesn’t even pay attention to spelling. So what attention will you pay to their business? This demonstrates weakness, laziness and general carelessness. Albeit, we all make mistakes; however this is one area where one mistake could essentially cost you a lot of money. I once spotted an advert from a major mobile phone provider promising great deals for their ‘custoners’. That’s not bad spelling, that’s just careless!

Keep your business running and your clientele encouraged by making sure that your company doesn’t give the impression that you’re an amature amateur.

Ten of the most common errors:

Achieve: Acheive, rather Achieve the best your company can by remembering the ‘I’ before ‘e’ ruling.

Alleged: Not Alledged, Aleged or even Allegged. Allegedly, it’s spelt with two L’s and one ‘G’.

Amendment: If you’re spelling it like this: Amen_ment, Amend_ent, or Ammen_ment. You’ll need to make a few amendments!

Business: Bussiness, Busines_, and Buisiness may result in a lack thereof.

Calendar: Not Calander, Callender or even Calandar; But Calendar. A very simple mistake, which could result in your calendar being empty.

Clientele: Clientell? I’ll ‘tell’ you this much; there are only two L’s in Clientele.

Consensus: Often misspelt Consenses or Concensus. The general consensus would be that if you spell this one wrong: Bad for business.

Foreign: Impress your Forign FOREIGN contacts by presenting your company as one who can complete a simple spelling check.

Principle: The ‘Principal’ misjudgement, which leads to spelling errors. Make sure you don’t get similar words with different meanings confused.

Personnel: Common errors include: Personnell, Person_ell. Don’t affect your personnel by losing business!

Spelling is something, which we learn and are tested on from an early age. No one is perfect and yes, that must be taken into consideration. But remember that if you impress bad spelling and sloppy work upon your customers; they may not be your customers for much longer.

Get it right; use a dictionary or thesaurus to make sure that the word you’re writing is the right word. Draft work, and edit and use the spell-check button on your computer. Most of all, don’t rush your work, look it over. Obviously, everyone makes mistakes, familiarity blindness can cause any of us to make a mistake once in a while, but we have to live with the impression this makes on our clients.

Businesses and professionals alike should take pride in their work, so don’t let your bad spelling damage your clients’ reception of your work. Do it right, or you’re your business could unfortunately suffer. Is it really worth letting something so simple dent your credibility? I don’t think so. That’s why every month, people ask professional companies like WritingEngine to take care of their business writing needs at affordable prices.

Did we make any spelling errors in this article? Spot one here or at our website and get 10% off your next order at WritingEngine.

Get it right every time, contact Mark Westbrook at WritingEngine.

By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Writing a Speech: 10 Top Tips

10/02/2009 – 12:05 PM

The best speeches always remain in our memory and sometimes inhibit our own ability in devising a strong, worthy speech. One thing you must avoid when writing a speech is comparison to others’ work.

Politicians and the like make the devising of a speech look simple. The truth of the matter is, that beyond the illusion of confidence and grandeur, which they expel when giving their speeches; there lies a very detailed, planned structure and an excellent scribe. This is something that anyone could manage given a little time and practice. Here are ten manageable steps outlining the necessary elements to take into consideration when writing a speech.

1.
Organisation and Planning – A great method is to organise your thoughts and ideas into a spider diagram or mind map in order to clearly visualise that which you want to write about in your speech.

2.
Give your Speech a Strong Opening – Make it relate to your theme, keeping it light yet enforcing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a very short speech or a very long speech; if you write something that’s going to grab focus from your audience at the onset, you’re more than likely going to hold that focus throughout.

3.
Define your Beginning, Middle and End – If you write the speech as you want to deliver it, then you’ll need to break it into sections. Outline what you want to achieve in your opening, what needs emphasized and enforced in the middle and how you’re going to sum things up at the end. This allows your speech to flow so much more smoothly and makes for an excellent delivery.

4.
Make it Clear and Concise – Keep your speech focused and construct short, memorable paragraphs that you can easily remember. Bullet points are very effective here.

5.
Get to the Point – Don’t stray from the point of the speech. Take a step back and look at your work. When writing a speech, you must not forget what it is you’re writing about. Always refer back to your title or theme.

6.
Who are your Demographic? – Always remember not to patronise your audience. When writing your speech, try to think about how you would speak to that particular audience.

7.
Make it Personal – If you write from your human perspective, then the audiences are more likely to empathise and engage with you during your delivery.

8.
Redraft – If necessary, work up a redraft. A perfectionist is always going to develop a stronger speech.

9.
Strong Ending – If you manage to write a speech that’s going to maintain focus throughout; don’t leave on a flimsy note. Write something engaging that will stay with your audience, even after your departure.

10.
Test and Trial – Try out your work on a friend or family member. They’ll be able to tell you what’s weak and which jokes don’t come across funny. This step may be the different between writing an ‘Okay’ speech and a ‘Great’ one.

By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

5 Reasons to use an Internet GhostWriter

30/01/2009 – 5:37 PM

Opportunity Cost
There are many people that are perfectly competent and capable of writing, yet still choose to employ a ghostwriter. The reason for this is simple, the time it would take them to write their novel, website content or blog copy is time taken away from a different form of investment. This is the principle of opportunity cost.

The opportunity cost of spending hours per day writing your chosen subject matter could be working on that all important sales or marketing push, which can further develop your business. Equally, they may feel that any writing would need to be undertaken outside of normal working hours, at the cost of spending value social time with friends or family.

Time is a scarce resource, using a ghostwriter can help you optimise your time, without having to compromise on the quality or content of your message.

Expertise and Skills
You may be an expert in your field, and even an excellent communicator, but that doesn’t necessarily equip you will the skills required to produce high quality written content which is both readable and marketable.

If you want published content on your area of expertise, hiring a ghost writer doesn’t mean a dilution of your message. An experienced ghostwriter is able to examine, explore and research your field, both working closely with you and independently. As such a good ghost writer will create the type of content you want, they way you want it to come across.

Top Chief Executive Officers and business leaders don’t write their own press releases and marketing materials for their company. Yet the material they publish is undeniably a clear representation of their core beliefs and values.

Understanding the Medium
The remit of a ghost writer can be broad. Ghost writers not only write a huge proportion of celebrity memoirs, but everything from books on business management to online internet marketing articles.

Online marketing is a fantastic reason to hire a ghost writer. The ability to write good web copy, website content or blog copy requires different skills and techniques for each. A good ghostwriter will adapt their writing style to suit the medium and the very different reading style of the online reader, and help the online face of your business to be better optimised for those all important search engine rankings.

Money
There are huge financial benefits to hiring a ghostwriter, and not just from Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Not only are their costs per hour often worth less than your own, but since you hire them, the content is yours. This means, you get to reap the financial rewards of the written output, since you’ve typically paid a fixed fee for the ghostwriting services.

Not only will you get all the glory, but also you’ll get all the money that comes off the back of the ghostwritten work.

Variety and Longevity
Good ghostwriting is all about collaboration and teamwork.  A great relationship with a skilled ghostwriter will mean that you can explore different ideas and subjects to promote yourself and your company over the months and years.

Quality and quantity is king when it comes to marketing, particularly online. Organisations with the best online presence use fantastic written techniques to develop relationships with their customers, and transform that communication into orders.

If your business wants to ride out this economic downturn and emerge strongly through the other side, then it has never been more important to keep up your marketing and sales drive. Online marketing is one the cheapest and most effective methods of developing existing clients, and finding new business.

A quality ghostwriter will not only positively impact your bottom line, but also leave you free to do what you do best.

A professional ‘ghost’ can help you with blogs, articles, and web content, press releases, eBooks and even that novel you’ve been getting around to!  For a chat about how a ‘ghost’ could help you contact Mark Westbrook on 0800 756 9535 or by email at mark@writingengine.co.uk

By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

You’re an expert! But how do you let people know?

13/01/2009 – 4:33 PM

If you’re a specialist and you have expert knowledge, that expertise can help you to sell your products or services online.  People trust those who are authorities in their particular area, those ‘In-the-Know’.

Online, it’s often difficult to build rapport with people. The old Sales maxim ‘People buy from People’ still holds true, and without the face-to-face opportunity provided by human contact, it can be very difficult to build trust.

One of the best ways to gain credibility, build a following and boost trust is to demonstrate your expertise by sharing your knowledge and experience with people via blogs, eBooks, Press Releases, and Video.

Blog
Your competitors and potential customers are already blogging, it’s time to catch up, or miss out. Blogs have fantastic potential for boosting your credibility online.  A short daily blog article can quickly build up a tremendous following of people interested in reading the knowledge that you have to share.  There are two types of blog, personal and commercial.  Personal blogs are personal thoughts, musings and advice.  Commercial blogs are witty, informative, knowledge-sharing articles that build great SEO potential.  If you or your company don’t have a blog, what are you waiting for?

Write an eBook
Authorship is a fantastic way to productize your knowledge and allow anyone in the world to learn from your experience.  eBooks are a great way to sell your expertise on with little fuss after the initial book is written and the delivery system has been set up.  One top tip, don’t give it all away in one book, direct your knowledge towards a particular niche, leaving room to redirect your knowledge to different niches in the future.  Authorship demonstrates authenticity and that helps build rapport and trust.

Video
Video is an exceptional way to promote your expertise.  Offering free advice and information via YouTube is the simplest way to build trust with your customer. You can add video to your blog or the resource area of your website.  Anyone with a Mac can quickly cut together a short informative and engaging video clip.  Anyone without a Mac should go out and buy one!  If you’d like to easily produce a video-enhanced WordPress blog, Impact Media are offering their new WordPress Video Theme for FREE.

Go to the Press
If you do something worth mentioning, write a press release and disseminate the good news about your expertise across the Internet.  Press Releases should be short, punchy and contain little or preferably no sales copy.

Of course, all this takes time, but don’t worry, there are people out there that can help you with free advice and assistance, and of course cost effective professional services.

Mark Westbrook is a professional commercial content writer; he runs WritingEngine, a company providing individuals and businesses with writing services.  He also writes a regular creative media column for The Friday Five a Creative Media News Round Up for Freelance UK.

By Writing Engine | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)