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With over 900 candidates applying for a single job, an application with the words ‘im’, ‘u’, and ‘all so’, instead of ‘I’m’, ‘you’ and ‘also’, will instantly remove any possibility of an interview. Hopes dashed and time wasted.

As writers (and inevitably, readers), we're often tempted to show off our abilities and our strengths. Our deeper understandings and intuitions, not to mention our ability to recognise a bon mot when we see one.  But for the professional copywriter, this is often a...

Even before Aristotle identified the seven rules of story in his Poetics (335 BC), audiences have enjoyed a ripping yarn. The best stories excite, feature great characters (sometimes flawed) and take us with them on a journey through life’s ups and downs. They linger...

I see my dentist about twice a year, routine stuff mostly... He’s an excitable chap, but in a good way. He loves his job, loves his tech, and will talk for hours about the latest goings-on in dental care. Now for most of the year, I’m about as interested in dental...

It’s so easy to say, but can be so difficult to do – write like you talk... No, not literally – imaginative spelling to approximate your accent sho’nuff won’t help you communicate better – but it’s much easier to read text that appears conversational. Trying to sound...

Sometimes long form copy works... Like extensive magazine features, in-depth reports or books. Things that readers buy into. But on the web, as a rule, readers haven’t invested anything, they haven’t paid. So they scan, they browse, they graze – and that means you...

I got a letter the other day – somebody trying to sell me something... Well, it happens. Sometimes it even works. But in this case the wannabe marketer sabotaged their sales attempt from the off. I might have been interested in what they were selling, but I never...

Writers can be a funny bunch... Many dream of being appreciated for their bons mots and insights, imagining that their ability to construct an argument or inspire an emotional reaction elevates them above the hoi polloi. Some writers fall in love with their clever...

Of course your product or service is the best there is... But ramping up the language to match your opinion of it won’t necessarily convince your target audience. Samsung might claim its Galaxy S4 smartphone is “one of the most amazing products to hit the market since...