John McGarvey – web copywriter

I have a bit of a thing for train journeys. Back in 2006 I travelled from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian railway. The journey takes around a week if you do it non-stop, but I spent about a month covering the 10,000-or-so kilometres. Although the romance of the rails might be all but dead in the UK, it certainly lives on in Russia.

It was one of the best journeys I can imagine. I shared a compartment (and vodka) with a bunch of Russian wrestlers, made friends with a cider-drinking man called Vladimir who helped me buy a new camera, then discovered the greatest lake in the world before arriving in Vladivostok, a wonderful city perched on the edge of the Pacific.

However, despite having some amazing stuff to see, the Russian government seems to have next to no interest in promoting the country as a tourist destination. The visa application alone is enough to put most people off, so it’s good that Google Russia has stepped up with its amazing online tour of the railway.

What they basically seem to have done is to stick a camera out the window for the entire journey, chopped the film down into manageable chunks, then wired the whole thing up to a map with highlights marked. It means you can jump between points on the journey, get additional information, and generally experience the bits of the trip you’re most interested in, from your desktop.

Now this is never going to be as good as doing it for real (trust me on this one), but the lack of flashy graphics and tourist board-supplied hype does make it a great way to get a taste for one of the greatest train journeys in the world. Go take a look for yourself.

(There are also a bunch of photos from my trip on Flickr, but be warned – I never got round to typing in descriptions of each photo!)

I have a confession to make: I think Twitter is utterly fantastic. Sure, it can be a bit distracting at times, but that’s nothing self-discipline (and leaving the iPhone at home) won’t solve.

It seems not everyone agrees with me. Rather like Marmite or Manchester United, Twitter’s one of those things people love or hate. They get it or they don’t.

Well, in an effort to introduce you to the world of Twitter (and convert any sceptics out there), here are six reasons I think it’s great. It’s not just people saying what they had for lunch, you know.

• It’s a great source of information. People on Twitter are a friendly bunch all-round really. There’s always someone who’ll answer your questions, whether you want help buying a laptop, or advice on the best place to go for lunch.
• There’s interesting stuff to read. Where I used to turn first to Google Reader for my fix of interesting articles, I can now be pretty sure of finding handpicked gems in the stream of tweets from people I follow.
• It gives me an outlet when I’m working by myself. Working from home gets a bit lonely sometimes, but at least I can partake in some online banter with fellow tweeters if things get too boring. Think of it as an online watercooler.
• It’s good for networking. For me, LinkedIn seems too formal and Facebook is too much about people I already know. But with Twitter it’s easy to find people working in my profession, so I can share ideas, offer (and receive) advice – and maybe even pick up the odd client.
• You hear about news first on Twitter. All the major news outlets use Twitter now (here’s The Guardian and BBC News), but you’re more likely to pick up on breaking news as it spreads like wildfire through the system. The Hudson River plane crash is a great example.
• Occasionally you get free stuff. If it’s material gains you want, plenty of companies run promotions and giveaways on Twitter. I’ve blagged a free case of beer and a CD so far. It’s not quite the conveyor belt from The Generation Game, but there are opportunities out there.

I could go on, but if you’ve not been convinced by those points, there’s no hope for you anyway. Don’t use Twitter? Go on, sign up and give it a go. You can follow me for a start.

No matter whether you’re a professional web copywriter (like me) or a professional something-else (maybe that’s you), we all have to edit our own work from time-to-time.

We do it when we read through an email before sending it, when we put the finishing touches to a new business proposal or when we dash off a press release. (You probably don’t do it when writing the weekly shopping list, but that’s ok.)

Editing isn’t easy

It’s not easy to edit your own text. Because you wrote it, you’re less likely to spot mistakes. Trust me – I once wrote a blog post promoting an event which got a the date of the event totally wrong. I wrote “14 November” instead of “14 January”. And I didn’t realise until a reader pointed it out.

That happened because I was in a rush. I wanted to get the information out there as soon as possible. Want to avoid this sort of embarrassing mistake? I’ve put together a few tips for you:

Continue reading ‘How to edit your own writing’

Apple are masters of the glitzy product launch. By witholding all details of whatever new piece of kit they’re announcing, the company whips the media and its loyal fans into a frenzy of excitement and speculation.

This hype machine generates levels of publicity that other companies can only dream of. The recent iPad launch is a prime example.

Now, that sort of PR comes to Apple, in part at least, because the company’s products are pretty impressive. With each launch, they work to improve everything – not just the headline features that persuade people to part with their money.

Continue reading ‘Constant improvements make good products great’

Every now and then, search giant Google surprises me. It’s happened again today – and I’m not referring to the privacy concerns surrounding the company’s foray into social networks.

Let me explain. I got hooked watching the mens’ snowboard cross event in the Winter Olympics last night. It’s been a long time since I’ve encountered a sport that’s so instantly watchable and packed with drama.

If you’ve not had the pleasure, watch the BBC’s short highlights of the action to see what I’m on about.

I heard on the radio that the ladies’ event is tonight and wanted to find out when it starts. Turning to Google was the obvious option, so I entered winter olympics snowboard cross times into the search engine.

What happened? I got exactly the information I wanted, displayed bang at the top of the search results, in UK time, with links through to the Winter Games site for more information.

Stuff like this must drive Google’s competitors mad.

Directory enquiries service 118118.com has traditionally relied on hairy athletes, a reworking of the theme tune from Rocky and promotional stunts involving handing out “118″ jogging vests for advertising.

However, this market is a crowded one, so maybe it’s no surprise that as well as broadening its services to include restaurant reservations and cinema listings, 118118.com has started to try a new tack with its advertising.

I spotted the advert pictured above on the tube the other day. It made me chuckle when I saw it, and I think it works well for three reasons:

• It fits the location. I saw this particular advert on the Bakerloo Line and it features a reimagined tube map. That’s clearly not a coincidence.
• It’s bang on for an audience of Londoners. Seeing the renamed station Piccalilli Circus will surely raise a smile, even on the humourless tube.
• It keeps the elements of whimsy and fun that are so crucial to the brand. Ever since those joggers, 118118 has tried to have fun.

As an effort to wrestle market share away from the other 118-alikes, I think this is a good attempt. Have any adverts caught your eye lately?

If you run your own business and have been looking for advice online lately, you might have stumbled upon one of the Donut websites. There are three of them at the moment, providing marketing advice, help starting a business and legal assistance.

All the content on these sites is written and reviewed by experts so you can be sure you’re getting tip-top advice to run your company. Having said that, I’d better declare a vested interest: there’s another Donut in the pipeline and I’m hard at work on it at the moment.

While you’re waiting for that to emerge, how about dipping in to the existing sites now? Appropriate places to start might be these tips on working with a copywriter and how to write web copy that gets the job done.

It’s easier to write well when you’re fully absorbed in the task at hand. Devoid of extraneous thoughts, the words flow out of your brain, through your arms and onto the screen in front of you via the keyboard. At least, that’s how it feels when I’m doing my best work.

It takes concentration to write efficiently and effectively. And – arguably – concentration’s now harder to come by than ever before.

For starters, there are the online distractions. Frequently checking your email is the classic, but Twitter can be even worse. It’s easy to access and there’s always something new to read, even if it’s only a couple of minutes since you last looked.

Then there’s the other stuff. Phone calls. Shopping. Staring out of the window. Cleaning the bathroom. It all adds up.

How I’m going to become more focused

Like most people, when it comes to being productive I have good days and bad ones (it was a really, really bad one when I chose cleaning the bathroom over writing).

As it goes, today was a good ‘un. But I’m convinced I can do better. I want to achieve that state of absorption more often, because as well as allowing me to get more done, it’s only by being focused that I can become a better writer.

In the spirit of making a few slightly late new year’s resolutions, I’ve decided to make a more conscious effort to get focused and stay there.

I’ve come up with a plan after reading various articles on productivity – notable Matthew Stibbe’s tips and various informative posts on Lifehacker. Here’s what I’m going to do:

• I‘ll install RescueTime to monitor what I spend my time on. It keeps an eye on the programs you’re using and reports exactly how long you spend using them. Not a solution in itself, but it should help me understand what my major time sinks are.
• I’m going to break my day up into 30-minute chunks. With help from my alarm clock, I’ll force myself to do a single task for 30 minutes before a break. That’s long enough to get into something, but short enough to avoid problems. Nothing can’t wait 30 minutes.
• I’m going fullscreen in Word. I might even try out a hardcore, distraction-free text editor like Dark Room. I’m also considering creating a separate, minimalist user area on my computer, just for when I want to get my head down and crack on.
• I’ll change surroundings more often. Getting out and about really works for me, particularly in the morning, because working from a new spot lets me mark the start of the working day. It’s not exactly hard to find free wireless these days either.
• I’ll make time for the non-writing. Administration. Filing. Chasing clients. Doing my tax. It’s easy to let small tasks like these creep into writing time until there’s barely any writing time left. Those 30 minute chunks I mentioned? I’ll designate some of them for this stuff.
• I’ll acknowledge if things aren’t working. We all get bad days sometimes. It’s no good perservering with your head all over the place – instead, switch to something else, walk the dog, do some gardening, go see a friend … whatever. You can come back to it later.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m hoping to see some improvements in what RescueTime reports. And if all goes well, I should have a bit more time to write new posts here too. Whatever the outcome, I’ll report back on how it’s going in a week or two. In the meantime, if you’d like to share what’s worked for you, go right ahead…

You might have read about how I broke my netbook the other week. The computer’s hard drive – contanining important work I’ve done for clients – could have been destroyed when it hit the ground, and the incident has rammed home the importance of keeping safe backups of my work.

Thankfully, I’m already pretty clued up. A few months back I started using Dropbox, an online backup and file sharing tool. It does three important jobs for me, and I wouldn’t be without it now:

• It keeps my files safe. Dropbox creates a special folder on my computer. Anything I save there gets backed up across the internet to a secure server. It means that if my laptop is stolen or broken, or files get deleted, I can hop online and get them back.
• It synchronises files across my computers. Dropbox keeps files up-to-date on both my computers. If I edit a file on my main PC, it gets copied across to my netbook the next time I turn it on. I’m never without the latest version of my work.
• It lets me share files with other people. It’s easy to set up shared folders with Dropbox, so lots of people can access them. I occasionally use this feature to get work to clients, but I can see it could be really useful for working together on projects.

That’s not the end of this handy service. It has a web interface, so I can log in and grab my files from any internet-connected computer. There’s even an iPhone app.

It does version control, so I can roll back to an older version of a file if I make some horrendous mistake. And – I’m aware making a statement like this is asking for trouble – it’s never crashed on me. Not once.

If you don’t have a safety net to protect your important files, go and get Dropbox. Now. It’s free for up to 2GB of storage, and a piddling $9.99 a month for up to 50GB. I can’t think of many services I’d recommend more wholeheartedly.

When I started out, I didn’t have any kind of copywriting contract for my clients to sign. But after a few months of relying on informal, emailed proposals, I felt I needed something more official.

Yes, contracts are boring, dull, tedious and generally unenjoyable. But they are important.

They explain exactly what each party in a business relationship should expect – and what they have to do. They can also be invaluable if things ever go wrong, because it’s harder to argue with something if it’s written down in black and white.

Here’s my copywriting contract for free

Most contracts I’ve encountered are written using lots of legalese and can be very confusing. I wanted mine to use plain language, so anyone could understand it. To get going, I needed some inspiration, so I hunted around and found Andy Clarke’s excellent killer contract.

This seemed like a great starting point, so I grabbed it and made some pretty substantial changes. Andy offered his contract up to anyone who wanted to use it, and in the same spririt, I’m doing that too. So download my copywriting contract now. It’s available in several file formats:

• Copwriting contract in Word format
• Copywriting contract in PDF format
• Copywriting contract in Open Office format

I received a lot of really helpful feedback while working on this. So thanks to Simon Wicks, Matt Telfer, Matthew Stibbe, Jim Anning and Martin Grocock.

What you need to know about my copywriting agreement

Feel free to download my copywriting agreement and use it however you like. All I ask is that if you republish it, you mention me and link back here.

You can change it any way you want. At the very least, you’ll need to replace the bits in square brackets with your own details and decide how you want to handle cancellations.

Oh – and this is important: I’m not a legal professional, so get your legal eagles to examine it properly if you decide to use it.

More information about my copywriting agreement

I tailored this contract to address the following problems in particular, because they’re things I’ve been concerned about when working with clients:

• Scope creep. I usually work to a fixed price on projects and try to be flexible. Clients seem to prefer this – but I’ve been worried they’ll see my flexibility as an invitation to change the brief midway through a project, creating lots of extra work for me.
• Tardy payment. So far, I’ve been pretty lucky – most clients are super-speedy payers. But with no agreed payment schedule beyond the 30 days stated on my invoice, I’ve not been particularly well covered if I do hit problems.
• Deadline drift. It’s a real pain when you turn a job round fast only for the client take forever to decide on revisions. It makes scheduling jobs trickier – and it takes longer to get back up to speed if I’ve not worked on a project for a while.

These may or may not be things that concern you – and so you might want to add or remove bits from the contract before you use it.

Bad clients are still bad clients

I don’t think even the best contract in the world can ever substitute for treating your clients properly, communicating with them effectively and doing each job to the best of your ability. And it would be a bit naïve to think a contract can protect you entirely from bad clients.

But what it can do is make your business relationships more official, provide a clear document to refer to in the event of any sort of disagreement – and give you a bit leverage if things go wrong. If you use mine, please, let me know how you get on.