[notbanksy]

Ok, the thread I wanted to resurrect has been closed So here is Wizely's last post from it. Just wanted to say I think Copy Corner is a great addition to WDF, and I for one lament its dormancy. I would love to see it resurrected, and look forward to taking part.

Of course, it's not just Wizely who can create threads here, so come on all you bloggers & ranters. See who can beat Wizely to it

Quote

Well that makes 24 votes in and, with mine which I didn't get to cast (I nulled it so I could watch!) that will make 25. The runners are:

Writing effective meta tags? [ 9 ]
Creating a "brand" [ 8 ]
Top 10 mistakes to avoid [ 8 ]


Well, my vote goes for Creating a brand which makes it a tie with "Writing effective meta tags" and, seeing as I think I'll have the deciding vote in the event of a tie... the winner is:

Creating a "brand"

Terribly undemocratic? Heard of the Patriot Act or the Terrorism Act? Democracy is dead - long live the Wizelydom!
I will no doubt be writing all these articles and more, but we're going to start with this one - it's a lot more interesting than meta tags!

Thanks to all who voted - hope you don't feel too cheated.

Original thread

[Scott S]

Aye, I'd actually like to see all three of those articles published.

Definitely need to get this one resurrected.

[Helen]

I think he should publish them all!

Not like he has anything better to do, the tourist

But seriously....I used to really enjoy reading copy corner (or should that now be copy cul-de-sac to accommodate all the threads in there)

[ZigPress]

I must say I think one of the best-expressed copywriting rules is in Scott's sig (scroll up a bit), about capitalisation! That one had me spraying coffee at the screen when I first saw it

But I agree with notbanksy - I'm sure there are a few reasonably experienced copywriters on the forum, and I've done some in my time, so hopefully there will be a few new contributions.

[Scott S]

ZigPress, on Mar 13 2009, 13:48, said:

I must say I think one of the best-expressed copywriting rules is in Scott's sig (scroll up a bit), about capitalisation! That one had me spraying coffee at the screen when I first saw it

But I agree with notbanksy - I'm sure there are a few reasonably experienced copywriters on the forum, and I've done some in my time, so hopefully there will be a few new contributions.

Thank you sir, you're too kind

I wouldn't consider myself a copywriter by any means, but I do have a reasonable command of the English language, and find discussions about copy to be very interesting.

I think we need to catch Wizely next time he's in the UK, and chain him to his desk until he's completed all of the articles!

Helen, use that almighty hand of mod, and force his wordliness to get back to work!

[wizely]

Scott S, on Mar 13 2009, 21:58, said:

I think we need to catch Wizely next time he's in the UK, and chain him to his desk until he's completed all of the articles!

Helen, use that almighty hand of mod, and force his wordliness to get back to work!

Well I'm back but I still don't have a desk so good luck with that!
Helen already has had me working... results coming soon I expect Helen?

[notbanksy]

OK, looks like Wizely's not going to provide us with any more of his infinite wisdom on this one, so I've decided to take a light hearted look at this myself, starting with this super list of 10 worst copywriting mistakes taken from MAA

• -> Mistake #1: Not Talking To Your Market
  
• -> Mistake #2: Not Grabbing Immediate Attention
  
• -> Mistake #3: Missing Sub-Headlines
  
• -> Mistake #4: Draggy Sentence And Paragraph Formats
  
• -> Mistake #5: Not Having Enough Testimonials
  
• -> Mistake #6: Not Firing Your Bullets
  
• -> Mistake #7: Using Negative Words
  
• -> Mistake #8: Lack Of Irresistible Offers
  
• -> Mistake #9: Not Asking For The Order!
  
• -> Mistake #10: Forgetting To P.S.

This list is pretty obviously geared toward direct sales copy, and may be less relevant to the kind of work many of us do, as in terms of copy, we're generally only responsible for our own portfolio site copy. Hopefully clients will provide their own.

I don't know if I can manage 10, but I'm going to see how far I can get. If I resort to pointless whining come number 7, I apologise in advance. I've seen a lot of portfolio sites on WDF over the 2 years or thereabouts that I've been hanging around, so it shouldn't be too hard (famous last words).

Mistake #1: Use of cliches (example - famous last words )
Cambridge dictionary defines a cliche as

Quote

a comment that is very often made and is therefore not original and not interesting:

The key point here being not interesting. Take note. A cliche says to the reader that you can't be bothered to think of an interesting way to say something.

Mistake #2: Trying to sound professional
Here at cliche web design we provide standards compliant professional web design to meet your needs. Hey - come back! - I haven't even said how friendly we are yet! You get the gist...

Mistake #3: Solutions
Under no circumstances use the word solutions when describing web design. Ever. Just don't. Outside my local supermarket the other day, I saw a van belonging to the electronic doors technician. On the side it read: entrance solutions. I was nearly sick.

Mistake #4: Spelling, Grammar and diligent attention or lack thereof.
See what I did there? I confused you with 'grammarese' - saying something in a way that tries to convey a high level of intelligence, but makes me sound like a twit. Of course, the same is true of a lack of attention. If your copy is written like a chav's GCSE English coursework, nobody is going to trust you with their business. If in doubt, look it up. What do you think the internet is there for?

Mistake #5: Slang, trying to be down with the kids.
Unless your target market consists of newly pubescent pimple faced consumers, do not start your home page copy with 'yo', 'sup' or similar. You just end up looking like a prick. Sorry.

Mistake #6: Service not skills
So many folks out there make a really big deal about advertising how great their CSS is, and how many years experience they have with photoshop, and that they just love to use Coda on their shiny mac. But honestly, no one cares. Use the space to talk about your commitment to customer service, your record of personal recommendations, and your clients successes.

Mistake #7: Headings, sub headings, lists etc
I am guilty of this, but what the hell, I feel qualified to talk about it anyway. Break your copy up. Paragraph after paragraph becomes boring really easily. Utilise headers and lists to break up the boredom, and inject some interest and rhythm. For example provide a list of benefits to new clients - use fancy graphical bullet points if you must!

Mistake #8: Twitter feed
This is a pet hate of mine. Now don't get me wrong, I am quite a fan of twitter, but what I object to is when designers put their latest tweets on their portfolio site. Yuk. What could be more off-putting to a new client than reading about how you've just learned to fart the theme tune to Eastenders? Of course, this mainly applies to those 'prolific' tweeters. You know who you are!

Mistake #9: HTM - hell
Apologies for the rubbish pun there, and impending barrel scraping. I'm not sure I'm even going to make it to number 10 at this rate, and already this one isn't really a copywriting issue. But please, for the love of god, now you've gone to all that trouble of writing your copy, mark it up properly! Under no circumstances use flash to display it.

Mistake #10: Meaningless lists of top ten <insert subject here>
God I hate lists. And this is more of a blogging gripe than anything, but so many blog posts out there seem to be simply collections of other peoples content arranged into handy lists. These were good once, but now they just seem to indicate laziness. Fresh content for your blog and time for a few pints down the pub. Sit down and write something for once. You never know - somebody may actually read it!

Discuss

[bocaj]

Quote

Mistake #10: Meaninless lists of top ten <insert subject here>
God I hate lists. And this is more of a blogging gripe than anything, but so many blog posts out there seem to be simply collections of other peoples content arranged into handy lists. These were good once, but now they just seem to indicate laziness. Fresh content for your blog and time for a few pints down the pub. Sit down and write something for once. You never know - somebody may actually read it!

Yeah, plenty of good blogs dropped off my radar because of this, abduzeedo to name one lost me with alot of this rubbish, and the constant flow of regurgitated 'inspirational' posts.

Quote

Mistake #5: Slang, trying to be down with the kids.
Unless your target market consists of newly pubescent pimple faced consumers, do not start your home page copy with 'yo', 'sup' or similar. You just end up looking like a prick. Sorry.

Even if they were targetting newly 'pubescent pimple faced consumers' they'd still look like a prick, and not all 'pubescent pimple faced consumers'.

Quote

Mistake #8: Twitter feed
This is a pet hate of mine. Now don't get me wrong, I am quite a fan of twitter, but what I object to is when designers put their latest tweets on their portfolio site. Yuk. What could be more off-putting to a new client than reading about how you've just learned to fart the theme tune to Eastenders? Of course, this mainly applies to those 'prolific' tweeters. You know who you are!

Mm hmm, now i do plan on one day eventually getting a twitter, despite my dislike for the fact they sell/share your information. But in all honesty, a company site, would never have a twitter, a freelance site would have a twitter, but it would only be work related tweets, and even still that may never happen.

A personal site would have a personal twitter, but then i'd never have a personal site, who really cares what i'm doing?

My blog would have a twitter, but would probably only 'tweet' relevant stuff, i think the big problem that i see too much is to do with relevancy. I see web design firms with blogs, and while this isn't terrible if it's related to what that company is up to, i see them with posts like '50 inspirational web designs' and '30 free photoshop brushes', and that's just plain bad imho.

[Guezala]

Hm i think im def guilty of no ten! Keep thinking about writing something myself ah one day. Nice list tho thanks !B

[wizely]

Flippin' awesome - nicely done sir.

Like most of us I've seen dozens and dozens of designer portfolios and I can say that a good 30% have absolutely horrific copy, 60% have bland waffle and only 10% at most have the kind of attention-getting, engaging and creative personality that brings their design to life.

Oh, and it's not a case of I won't be adding to Copy Corner - more a case of can't - too busy correcting these mistakes around the net! So, now you've got a taste for writing about writing - get on with it...!!!!

[ZigPress]

Re mistake No.8 (the Twitter one)...

How To Use Twitter For Marketing And PR

[chrisbailey]

ZigPress, on May 27 2009, 09:38, said:

Re mistake No.8 (the Twitter one)...

How To Use Twitter For Marketing And PR

Haha

[terydinho]

ZigPress, on May 27 2009, 09:38, said:

Re mistake No.8 (the Twitter one)...

How To Use Twitter For Marketing And PR

brilliant!

[notbanksy]

ZigPress, on May 27 2009, 09:38, said:

Re mistake No.8 (the Twitter one)...

How To Use Twitter For Marketing And PR

I only just followed that link Fantastic - thanks!

[headcoat]

Excellent...Twitter = wittering twits ;-)

Really it's unnecessary most of the time..perhaps if your a band or a club...but as a web designer...who is going to follow you except other web designers???

Great post by the way - my site probably makes most of these errors...been meaning to rewrite it for ages as it's terrible...will twitter you all once I do.

I'll add 'saying too much' to the list...just get across what you need to concisely and clearly then let the design and portfolio do the rest...people won't read extra anyways...likely they won't be able to find what they want to because of all the copy for copies sake. That's unless your writing a serious article where the depth is part and parcel.

[ZigPress]

Quote

Really it's unnecessary most of the time..perhaps if your a band or a club...but as a web designer...who is going to follow you except other web designers???

It's funny, I actually joined Twitter a few days ago, to see if might actually be of any use to me. I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that it probably isn't. It just seems to be more information overload when I already have this forum, Facebook, LinkedIn and various blog RSS feeds.

[headcoat]

ZigPress, on Jun 15 2009, 11:34, said:

It's funny, I actually joined Twitter a few days ago, to see if might actually be of any use to me. I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that it probably isn't. It just seems to be more information overload when I already have this forum, Facebook, LinkedIn and various blog RSS feeds.

Indeed it's a "self perpetuating myth"...marketing gone mad...most clients aren't going to arrive via FaceBook, Twitter or RSS feeds etc..perhaps just maybe they will via LinkedIn.

I see it as a craze much like cabbage patch dolls or rubiks cubes.

[sunwukung]

Quote

This is a pet hate of mine. Now don't get me wrong, I am quite a fan of twitter, but what I object to is when designers put their latest tweets on their portfolio site. Yuk. What could be more off-putting to a new client than reading about how you've just learned to fart the theme tune to Eastenders? Of course, this mainly applies to those 'prolific' tweeters. You know who you are!

To be honest, I've had loads more traffic to my homepage since I started using twitter. As headcoat has mentioned (nice to see you posting again headcoat!), however , that traffic is largely from other people in the business. It's really a valuable resource IF you don't abuse it. Like any blog, if you provide meaningful content related to the target audience - then it's great. I'll rapidly unfollow people that relay their domestic schedule over twitter.

Unfortunately, most folks do talk sh*t on twitter, (a high noise ration in twitter parlance) and so it's not got a great rep - and is experiencing something of a backlash from people that are yet to "get" what twitter is good at. People tend to think it's a meaningless shorthand version of Facebook status update - which is (IMO) the wrong way to use it.

It might be better to make a separate twitter account for your site, and only post stuff for your customer's interest - i.e: not design related stuff, but information that helps them figure out how the web works. If you make your site a location that people go to for information about getting a web designer or using the web to drive your business - you'll generate a very different group of followers.

[T_break]

its amazing how many people who should know better, dont do anything constructive with twitter, I was following Jeff Zeldman and Eric Meyer, 2 very influential figures in the world of web, their tweets were just pure crap, probably interesting for their families but nothing to do with web design, and these guys had tens of thousands of followers, I didnt want to know when Zeldman went to the park or picked up his prescription.

I think Sunwukung hit the nail on the head about twitter, if your gonna use it, make it relevant.

[headcoat]

T_break, on Jun 15 2009, 12:17, said:

its amazing how many people who should know better, dont do anything constructive with twitter, I was following Jeff Zeldman and Eric Meyer, 2 very influential figures in the world of web, their tweets were just pure crap, probably interesting for their families but nothing to do with web design, and these guys had tens of thousands of followers, I didnt want to know when Zeldman went to the park or picked up his prescription.

I think Sunwukung hit the nail on the head about twitter, if your gonna use it, make it relevant.

I think this is perhaps exactly it...further I think your suggesting twits ought to be about web design (in the case of Zeldman and Meyer development and not design)...but my understanding is Twitter isn't meant to be about web design as such.

[sunwukung]

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/14/for-t...ical-breakdown/

Interesting article from techcrunch showing how much traffic twitter is driving to their site.

"Over the past few months, TechCrunch has experienced the power of this micro-media firsthand as the percentage of traffic we get from Twitter has grown to the point that it is now our second largest source of outside traffic after Google."

[wizely]

headcoat, on Jun 15 2009, 11:28, said:

I'll add 'saying too much' to the list...just get across what you need to concisely and clearly then let the design and portfolio do the rest...

I'd make that 'saying the wrong things' - concise doesn't have to mean dead short. You're right for designer's your portfolio is most critical but... with millions of designers out there - unless you're absolutely stunning you've got some work to do in your copy to convince people you'll deliver the goods and can offer something different. And so many designer's sites forget to sell or turn a pretty design into a strong 'brand' by stuffing in crud!

Nice to see you back btw sir - it's drawn me out of my WDF hibernation!

And, on Twitter... it's invaluable to me for getting a stack load of links to great information without having to spend ages finding it myself. Oh and for the odd bit of grooming and innuendo!

[T_break]

headcoat, on Jun 15 2009, 12:21, said:

I think this is perhaps exactly it...further I think your suggesting twits ought to be about web design (in the case of Zeldman and Meyer development and not design)...but my understanding is Twitter isn't meant to be about web design as such.

No i'm not for one minute suggesting twitter should be about web design, but you would expect web designers/developers to be tweeting about what they do and what they are known for, if you were a motor-sport fan and started to follow Lewis Hamilton, and discovered all he tweeted about was taking his gran to the shops, you probably wouldnt be overly captivated.

My point was (as Sunwukung said) Twitter should be about relevancy.

[Laura Varon]

notbanksy, on 26 May 2009 - 08:29 PM, said:

Mistake #3: Solutions
Under no circumstances use the word solutions when describing web design. Ever. Just don't. Outside my local supermarket the other day, I saw a van belonging to the electronic doors technician. On the side it read: entrance solutions. I was nearly sick.

CANNOT. STOP. LAUGHING. And, at the risk of sounding nauseatingly cliché: you win the internet.

All of these are definitely on-point, especially the one about minding your spelling and grammar. I work for a company where 95% of the employees speak english as a second language (I count myself among them), and it's an unspoken ruly to keep a dictionary near you at all times.

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