July 30th, 2010
ould you like to write for a living?
If so, now’s the time to act. We’re looking for three new copywriters to join our fast-growing copywriting agency in Colchester, Essex.
Can you see yourself as…
- A versatile copywriter with the ability or potential to write sharp copy that helps businesses to sell? If you’ve got an interest in marketing, then even better – we want you to help market our services to major clients.
Or…
- One of two new fashion copywriters? These are entry-level posts that will give you a valuable first foothold in the copywriting industry. You’ll mostly be writing online descriptions for a major online fashion retailer, but we’ll also train you to write great copy for a range of other formats and clients.
We’re offering a salary in the region of £18-£20,000 for the single copywriter post, and one of £16-£18,000 for the fashion copywriter positions.
We’re a young company, though, and we’re having a lot of fun as we grow – so if you’re really good at the job, there’ll be opportunities for rapid promotion.
To apply, simply follow the instructions in these job descriptions:
» Fashion copywriter job description
But hurry – the closing date for applications is 9th August 2010, with interviews shortly afterwards. So don’t leave your application until the last minute, or you may miss out…
Would you like to be a copywriter? We’re recruiting »
Author: Ben Locker.
Posted in: News | No Comments »
May 14th, 2010
was browsing the Viking stationery catalogue on Wednesday looking to see if they had a different version of my attractive, hardback, high quality Oxford Black n’ Red notebook.
Why would I be doing this when I had a perfectly good, brand-new notebook already? I wanted to see if they had a version of the same notebook with Irish ruled lines (for the uninitiated, Irish rules are just narrower).
The ‘right’ stationery
Minutiae like these drive people who believe that – to do their best work – they need to have the ‘right’ collection of stationery.
And not just that. The stationery has to be arranged on their desk and in various draws ‘just so’ (compulsive neatness usually goes hand in hand).
READ ON »
Do you have a stationery fetish? »
Author: Johan van der Merwe.
Posted in: Blog, copywriting | 3 Comments »
May 5th, 2010
esterday, my colleague Johan and I were editing down some sales copy.
You know the kind of job. You obliterate every superfluous word until you achieve total clarity.
Net result, prose so simple that everyone assumes they could have written it themselves.
It opened Johan’s eyes. “It’s almost as though I’m not fulfilling my role,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, before I started work as a copywriter, I assumed that the writing would need to display more ingenuity. But the greatest ingenuity lies in the simplicity of getting the message across with no apparent effort.”
So true. The only problem is getting your clients to see it the same way. How do you get someone to pay for something they think they can do themselves?
The answer, of course is to let them do just that. Do you agree?
The best copywriting: so simple people won’t pay for it? »
Author: Ben Locker.
Posted in: Blog, copywriting | 25 Comments »
April 15th, 2010
avid Ogilvy famously said: “I hate rules”.
So do I. Ask anyone who’s ever taught me.
Instead of following rules, I prefer to listen to people I respect, or refine techniques that have worked well for me. Though I do agree with Ogilvy on at least one other point:
Many people – and I think I am one of them – are more productive when they’ve had a little to drink. I find if I drink two or three brandies, I’m far better able to write.
Some people need rules, though. Rules reassure them and make them feel comfortable. Sometimes, knowing about the rules gives folk the confidence to break them.
Charles Dickens wasn’t one of them
READ ON »
Rule breakers: when to break the rules of copywriting OR was Charles Dickens any good? »
Author: Ben Locker.
Posted in: Blog, copywriting | 1 Comment »
March 21st, 2010
ndy Maslen stands out because he hasn’t fallen for the fashionable bullshit about online copywriting – that it has its own rules, techniques and formats that exempt it from being treated like normal sales writing.
The idea’s nonsense, of course – although if you do decide to invest your work with a technical mystique that it doesn’t deserve, you can often convince people to pay more for your services.
They’ll just go elsewhere if your work fails to achieve results.
That’s where this book comes in…
READ ON »
Review: The Copywriting Sourcebook, by Andy Maslen »
Author: Ben Locker.
Posted in: Blog, copywriting | 6 Comments »
March 18th, 2010
here’s a famous scene in The Wire where hardened ‘stick-up boy’ Omar Little, giving evidence in a murder trial, has his character assassinated by slimy lawyer Maurice Levy.
‘You are amoral, are you not?’ says Levy. ‘You are feeding off the violence and despair of the drug trade… You are a parasite who leeches off the culture of drugs.’
‘Just like you, man,’ retorts Omar. ‘I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase. It’s all in the game though, right?’
Omar’s point is that everyone who is getting paid, by whatever route, is in the game. Even though rich, white-collar players may be distanced and insulated from the worst consequences of the game, they can’t pretend that those consequences don’t exist – or that they’re not partly responsible.
But what about those who got the pen? If commerce is a game, what kind of role is played by the copywriter? And is copywriting good or evil – or neither?
READ ON »
(Guest Post) Is copywriting evil? »
Author: Tom Albrighton.
Posted in: Blog, copywriting | 9 Comments »
February 26th, 2010
oogle, BT, PayPal, the Institute of Directors, Enterprise UK and e-skills UK have teamed up to offer small businesses a free website.
[UPDATE! Go straight to *this page* to learn how our GBBO copywriting service helps your business to sell online]
The project, called Getting British Business Online, could see up to 100,000 businesses getting launched on the web.
If you sign up, you get a free web address (domain name), an easy-to-update site, traffic monitoring and more.
However, if you want your website to work hard for you, you need to make sure it’s well-written and can be found in the search engines.
That’s we we are proud to announce our new GBBO copywriting service. Our copywriting agency has extensive experience in writing small business websites, and can do it fast at a reasonable price.
For further information and a no-obligation quote, please contact us on 01206 266 799 or use our contact form to get in touch.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you.
GBBO (Getting British Business Online) copywriting service launched »
Author: Ben Locker.
Posted in: GBBO, News | Comments Off
February 25th, 2010
lthough I am primarily a graphic designer, the moment my clients started asking for websites I learned how to build them.
I’ve also learned that web designers and copywriters are very much alike. I like to think we’re a bit like the English and the Germans – while we like to think we are different, the fact is we’re very closely related.
READ ON »
(Guest post) Why good online copy needs good web design »
Author: Chris Kip Carrier.
Posted in: Blog, copywriting | 2 Comments »
February 24th, 2010
hen I asked yesterday whether copywriters had any perceived social status, readers’ comments suggested that there is another, more pressing, question that needs to be asked.
Rather than come up with a new way of asking it, I’ll pinch Rowena Forbes‘ comment wholesale:
Don’t you think, as people who are supposed to be ‘good with words’, that we really should be able to come up with a job title that actually conveys to people what we do?
READ ON »
Is ‘copywriter’ the best way to describe a livelihood? »
Author: Ben Locker.
Posted in: Blog, copywriting | 34 Comments »
February 23rd, 2010
ne of the character traits I find least attractive is status anxiety. It not only reveals an ugly side to otherwise pleasant people, but I also can’t understand why people are willing to lie, cheat and steal – simply to crawl a delusional extra millimetre up some social pyramid.
Besides, in my line of work, social insecurity would be commercially suicidal – I’m supposed to be helping people use words. Fat lot of good I’d be at it if I spent my life worrying that some clients weren’t worthy of my services, or feeling uncomfortable about the ones whose social position I coveted.
READ ON »
Do copywriters have status? »
Author: Ben Locker.
Posted in: Blog, copywriting | 12 Comments »
