Blog
EEF Venues – website and news copy
Working with the Operations Director at Woodland Grange and the marketing team, I wrote the web copy for the new EEF Venues website. EEF Venues is a group of three outstanding conference venues. Although it sounds like a cliche, they really do have a huge commitment to customer service and each venue is a Conference Centre of Excellence. I also wrote monthly news articles for them and this often meant interviewing new members of staff or speaking to the Ops Managers at the different sites. The articles formed the basis of an e-newsletter to...
read moreMarrill Engineering – website copy
* * * Breaking news* * * Writing copy for engineering firms is bl**dy hard! Marrill Ltd provides press tooling design and build and component manufacture for commercial vehicles, heavy plant and the automotive and aerospace industries. It is such a complex area that it was, quite simply, one of the hardest websites I’ve ever written. I went to their Coventry factory twice and spoke to just about everyone in the organisation to help me get an understanding of their machinery and products. But to be honest, I still wasn’t sure that...
read moreRS Components – editorial for Railway Strategies
RS Components needed an editorial piece about some of their b2b products – StoreManager, Purchasing Manager and Product Plus. The products are part of a suite of online inventory management and purchasing tools, designed to help companies save money and improve efficiencies in ordering and inventory control. They are used by companies within the rail, aviation and general production sectors, as well as the Ministry of Defence and the food and drink industry. I was given a case study that formed the basis of the editorial. I also spoke...
read moreContent strategy? It might be a buzzphrase, but really, it’s just logic.
“The main goal of content strategy is to use words and data to create unambiguous content that supports meaningful, interactive experiences.” Rachel Lovinger, Content Strategy: the Philosophy of Data. A proper strategy helps us plan how we are going to create, publish and manage content that is relevant, compelling, useful and usable. The web is content. Content is the web. We know this anyway. But in order to create a strategy that actually works, we need to define what content we are going to publish and think about why we...
read moreThe greengrocer’s apostrophe
We’ve all seen them – the apostrophes that make no sense, the ones used to denote the plural, such as ladie’s, potatoe’s and apple’s. This dreadful (and quite possibly fatal) affliction has been dubbed the greengrocer’s apostrophe. (Or should that be greengrocers’….?) In 2000, Matthew Engel said in The Guardian, “I demand an end to the apostrophe. Then the maligned greengrocer will be as literate as you and...
read moreMSE Green – website copy
MSE are mechanical and electrical contractors that provide air conditioning and heating and ventilation services. I’d already written the web copy for their core business, www.mse-uk.com. But an expanding area of this industry is, of course, renewable energy – so to promote their increasing range of services, they asked me to write the copy for MSE Green. This was a new website to showcase their expertise in designing and installing Solar PV and Solar Thermal systems for homes and businesses. The website went live late in 2012...
read moreBirmingham City Council – HR portal
A project for Birmingham City Council involved turning paper-based HR policies into web copy for an interactive HR portal. The portal was to be used by a variety of people – from bin men (or refuse engineers) to senior officers, PAs and admin staff. It wasn’t just a question of re-writing or editing – we also had to break the content down into pages and create the information architecture around it. This involved thinking carefully about the different audiences and the way they used the web. What information did people need,...
read moreHurry! Run and get your pet portrait
I now offer pet portraits for doggy lovers in the area! For £60.00, I’ll spend an hour walking with you and your dogs, you’ll get as many pictures as I can take on disk and you’ll own the copyright. See my Pet Portraits page for more information.
read moreUse ‘utilise’ properly
‘Utilise’ and ‘use’ are not interchangeable Many people like to use the word utilise instead of use. But actually, their meanings are different. ‘Utilise’ means to use an object for something other than its intended purpose. So: ‘Please use the form on the website to register for the seminar.’ This is the form’s intended use – so use it. ‘He utilised his laptop case as a pillow and lay his head on it.’ He used the laptop case for something other than its intended...
read moreCharrington Oak builders – website copy
Charrington Oak are extremely talented property developers and builders in Warwickshire. They build luxury houses, undertake full renovations – and install kitchens, bathrooms, conservatories and extensions. Their attention to detail is fabulous and the new website reflects the quality of their work.
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