Good copy sells products, draws clients in and acts as your window on the internet world, so learning to write effectively is time well spent. But it’s not some mystical art unveiled only to a chosen few - anyone can do it if they take on board some basic simple rules and processes. Research - both in terms of knowing your own product or service plus how the competition sell themselves - is a step you can’t skip if you want to write effective copy. Once you know why people buy the product or service, how they buy it,…

Whether you write in the first, second or third person affects the reader’s perception of your subject matter - and few things are more confusing than switching around in the same paragraph. But many people are confused about when to use 1st person (I/we), the 2nd person (you) or the 3rd person (he/she/it/they) in their writing, so here are some tips to bear in mind. First person is best used to indicate personal experience or opinion, while second works best to instruct or address the reader. Third person generalises an experience or situation, and is the one most commonly…

Content is king on the web, and being able to explain a product or idea more easily or clearer than other sites is one of the keys to commercial success. Many web pages have been written, but few make a compelling read; one that lures you in from the first sentence and keeps you hooked, possibly even for the duration of the whole article. While we can’t promise every reader who finds you will stay, or even make a purchase, there are certainly a few key things that you can do to make your web copy as interesting and…

SEO matters hugely to websites and you very much get out what you put in. But something is always better than nothing, and there are three quick and easy steps you can take to make sure you’re at least meeting SEO minimum requirements. Using Google webmaster tools, make sure your site is actually being indexed - without this, no-one will be able to find you. Check how many pages are indexed versus how many pages your site has - if there’s a big difference, click the advanced button to find out why so you can address it. Focus on…

Full technical SEO audits deliver huge benefits to the sites analysed when done by an expert with the right tools. There are many tools on the market that can help gather intelligence and test the website, but the latest one creating a buzz is the Web Developer Plugin for Firefox and Chrome, which comes with a serious amount of functionality. Key features include the fact it can turn off Javascript, offers easy viewing of a page’s meta tag information, checks if images have alt text, and can view all the link information on a page in one place.You can…

There’s no doubt that full SEO website audits are worthwhile and deliver great results, but the time, effort and cost involved often puts off small and medium-sized businesses. This is where a lite SEO audit comes in - an expert looks over your site, pointing out weaknesses and missed opportunities that can be fixed relatively quickly and cheaply. Simple and effective, and a move which still has the potential to have significant benefits for your traffic and search engine rankings. Common problems found in these type of audits include old pages not redirecting to new ones, pages not being…

Fundraising events are the lifeblood of charities, offering supporters the chance to donate their money, time and talent to your good cause, raising serious amounts in the process. But independent fundraisers and third party fundraisers are becoming more common, particularly online, taking the time and effort away from charities in the organisation of large-scale money-making events. These Independent Fundraising Events (IFEs) raised an estimated $800m in the US in 2008, so they’re a growing force that charities in the UK should be looking to harness. Analysis of the limited data available by Blackbaud showed much of this activity was…

Whenever a business or charity asks about video I always recommend posting video content on YouTube and then funnelling the videos back onto their own website.   Not only does YouTube invest heavily in its server infrastructure – far more than you can likely to afford if you did it yourselves.  But also there’s loads of SEO benefits that come from the social liking and linking aspects of YouTube. YouTube’s Non-Profits programmes supports charities in the UK by giving them premium features for free, including clickable calls to action in videos and donate buttons to increase fundraising. All this for…

I’ve met with a number of charities in the last few weeks who’ve wanted to get more traffic to their website.  It might be to raise their profile, to sell their latest idea, or to raise more funds, but it all starts with Google. What surprises me is that so few charities know about Google Grants a programme for charities which offers $10k of free advertising on Google per month.  That’s right, $120k of funding per year. Think about it, if part of your charity delivers services which help to fund your good work, such as meeting rooms or…