Make every word work damn hard

Hello, there. I’m Marie – the new copywriter at IceBlue Web, Design & Marketing. Well the only copywriter, really. Having been in my job for three weeks now, and seeing how strong IceBlue is – in design, programming, SEO and marketing – I just hope I can make a positive contribution to the team.

I did wnedor whterher I’d atcaluly be needed, wehn Mtat the dsenegir seowhd me an eamil-frorwad eplxnainig how as lnog as you get the fisrt and lsat leterts of a word splet croreclty, the rset is unamoprtint.

Hmmm!

But seriously, good copy is vital – to a brand, its literature and its website. Accurate spelling and grammar are the most basic parts of a writer’s metaphorical pencil case (the ballpoint pen, maybe, or a blunt old pencil - bear with me!), but they help to engender trust from readers. Why would anyone waste more than two seconds on a site that Offered Everyting 4 1/2 prise, bye NOW? Could a search engine even find it? Would anyone care?

Editing and revisions, meanwhile, can be thought of as handy tools like erasers and Tippex. There’s not a first draft in the world that can’t be improved upon with the deletion of a few unnecessary words, making cleaner, leaner, meaner copy. Business literature is full of empty rhetoric like ‘quality services’ and ‘excellent value’ – but what does such waffle mean?

Good writing makes every word work damn hard.

And then you get the fun bits – fluorescent highlighters, glittery pens, jumbo-sized theme-park pencils with tickly feather toppers. Creative copy can bring a brand to life, conveying the personality and ethos of your business, befriending clients, helping people identify with you and the services you offer. Nifty use of keywords can improve your search-engine rankings, too, but I’ll come back to that another day.

For this reason, I’m working on an IceBlue style guide, making sure that where there are permissible variants in spelling or grammar (are we IceBlue, for example, or Ice Blue or iceblue or even Ice-Blue?), we can have a consistency running throughout our communications. And I’ll apply them to our clients’ work too. I’ve also written a short guide to help start-up businesses write their own web copy, with advice on simplicity, brevity and effective calls-to-action. Maybe I’ll post it up here sometime …

Meanwhile, I need to convince everyone that I AM a nscasseery aiddotin to the taem.

Hpapy wneeked!