When saying ‘please’ isn’t enough: Using social proof in copywriting

I spotted this sign outside the swimming pool this morning and I was bowled over by how clever it is. In just 15 words it manages to influence your behaviour – and without saying ‘please’!

Learn the ‘rule of thirds’ to get the most out of your blog

I’m sharing a quick tip on how much time to spend on each element of producing a blog post.

Web journalism MAs graduate!

A huge well done to the journalism postgraduates at the University of Sheffield who graduated last week. I helped teach the web journalism students – a fantastic bunch who produced some brilliant websites for their dissertations. Find out more about journalism at the University of Sheffield. Good luck class of 2012!  

Rewriting a headline for the homepage

I’ve been working on the AOL homepage today and thought I’d share an example of how to rewrite a headline for a homepage.

See the on-page headline and what I rewrote it to for the homepage to increase the click-through rate.

The five website copy crimes you should avoid committing

Your website is your hardest-working employee. No days off, no holiday and it sells for you even while you sleep. You should make sure the site is doing the best job it can and not turning people off with simple mistakes that could be costly.

Helping a charity to use social media

Recently I went to help the staff at the Helen’s Trust charity as they’ve just started using social media. Based in Bakewell, Derbyshire, they wanted to connect with a new audience in north Derbyshire and south Yorkshire.

The charity helps incurably ill people stay in their own home by providing tailored support for people and their families with a range of services and help.

How do you market a jet engine?

I went along to a talk called ‘How do you market a jet engine (and why it’s different from marketing an MP3 player)’. We learned that customer contact time is more important is more important in B2B marketing. The scale of the transaction is much larger, the decision time is longer and the impact of those decisions span decades.

We found out that marketing to a B2B and a B2C audience are completely different and you need a different strategy for each.

Ok, if you can’t afford to fork out for a copywriter, at least use a proofreader

Maybe hiring a copywriter is a bit OTT for a sticker with just a handful of words in it. But when you get it wrong, and splash the roundel over your shop frontage at least five times, you look a bit silly.

Is this advert really stupid… or really clever?

I’m not sure about this advert I spotted in Metro. It’s for British Airways, which in my mind make me think quality, luxury and high standards. The idea of a stick of rock makes me think of a cheap and flimsy throwaway item. So why have they joined the two?

Are you a writer? Speak French? Love cats? I’ve found your perfect job

It’s good to have a niche. (Please note, this is not a real job advert.)