My Inspiration

 othing can turn strong copy into a 97-pound weakling faster than a flawed review process. The result is severely handicapped marketing efforts and, alas, fewer sales. How can you avoid this dire marketing situation? By having a smart and consistent review process that preserves the selling power of your marketing communications. Following are 7 essential tips for reviewing and approving copy. <B>1. Review the copy from the customers’ perspective.</B> On the first pass, read the copy (all of it) without your red pen in hand or editing hat on. That’s how your customers or audience will read it. Now, what do you think? Does the concept work? Did the headline grab your attention? How was the tone? Does the copy flow? If you begin by editing the first sentence or sweating the details, you will do your clients or customers a disservice. <B>2. Don’t get hung up on grammar and usage.</B> If you think the copywriter broke a writing rule, 9 times out of 10 there was ...

 I remember the first time a client offered me a case study writing assignment. I was petrified. It was early in my freelance writing career and I didn’t even know what one looked like. I had a lot of questions. “What the heck is a case study?” “How long is it?” “What is the format?” “How much do I charge?”  I didn’t have a clue. Of course, these days, I know more. A lot more. In fact, I write dozens of case studies for clients each year. Case studies now rank high on my list of the most fascinating — and lucrative — projects I handle. (I’m sure glad that client offered me the job all those years ago!) If you’re unfamiliar with case studies, don’t worry. They’re really quite simple. A case study is just a fancy name for a success story – the tale of a happy customer and his or her experience using a product or service.  Lately, I’ve noticed that more and more companies need case studies written, yet have difficulties finding writers who can do the job.  That spells O...

 People have included all kinds of sales pitch in their sales letter but sometimes still wouldn’t achieve the results they want. The importance of a sales letter is likened to having a shop to sell cars. If the looks of your shop isn’t delivering a good impression, no one will be going to buy your cars. Thus, you must make sure that your sales letter have answers to the most basic questions, and instill interest in your visitors towards your product just with these five specific questions: 1. What’s in it for me? The number one rule of salesmanship – people only buy for one reason, which is for getting the results from a product, what they will receive out of it. To achieve this, you must be quick in catching their attention since the beginning with your headline. Create a very convincing headline and tell your visitors what they will get in one shot through your headline. 2. How will my life be better? This is where you have to understand the emotional appeals that attract your pr...

 Get this tool problem nailed Using right materials ensures a good job and will save time in the long run When it comes to nails, it is important to know which ones to use and when. Some of the biggest mistakes made in DIY are due to using the wrong materials – even when it comes to something as simple as nails. I saw someone repairing a fence the other day using completely the wrong nails. He will therefore be repairing that fence over and over again. He also had his nails all mixed together in an old shortbread tin. I have no idea how he managed to find what he was looking for. The most commonly used nails for fixing are panel pin nails or oval nails. These are the main nails when it comes to fixing to wood. As the name suggests, they are oval shaped with the flat oval running in the direction of the wood, which prevents the wood from splitting. Panel pins are small nails and, as the name suggests, almost pins with a small head. They are used to fix things like hardboard to the f...

  Do your sums before you take on a massive revamp Ever viewed a house which required “a degree of upgrading”? That’s estate agent talk for “needs completely done up”. If you’ve ever taken the bait, like I have, you’ll know how much time and money this involves. So, before you buy a beaten-up property with your eye on a Grand Designs-style revamp, make sure you’re being realistic. Remember – once you have committed to a renovation project, there’s no going back. Make sure you know about damp or rot problems before you buy as these can throw the best-planned budgets into total disarray. And it’s worth bearing in mind that your initial cost estimate will always be lower than the actual bill. So your first job should be to make an exhaustive list. Failing to do so will put you under pressure when the money starts to run out. Too many times I have seen people buy their dream home but the euphoria wears off once things are not going quite to plan. You might be better to accept reality b...

 Getting the hang of shelves Make sure you have the right tools before fixing anything to walls One of the most basic DIY jobs is hanging floating shelves – if you use the right tools for the job. First identify where the shelves are going to be fixed to the wall. I took a spirit level and drew a faint line horizontally across the wall where the brackets were to be fixed, then I held the bracket on to the pencil line and marked the wall through the screw hole in the bracket with a pencil right on top of the level pencil line. This way once the shelf is up it hides the pencil line. The next stage is to identify the type of wall. In old properties they will be solid brick or lath and plaster. In a modern property, they will be timber frame with plasterboard, solid blocks or a dry wall system using metal/tin as the frame. Solid walls must be drilled into with a masonry drill bit and the size of the bit must match the size of the wall plug – or rawl plug. Drill your hole the depth of t...

 Sound methods to get rid of noise Everyone deserves a quiet life – even those who live in tenement flats – so let’s hear it for acoustic insulation. Noisy neighbours can be hell. Sometimes noise can be nothing more than a small irritation but if it gets out of hand it can lead to severe stress. Soundproofing is costly and disruptive to install. And the result will probably be noise reduction rather than elimination. Noise pollution travels in all directions and gets through solid items such as floor joists and walls. The key is to muffle out the noise though air gaps and to use acoustic insulation. The noise pollution you might be experiencing could be airborne such as loud music or impact noise from people walking above. Last week, I talked about insulating between floor and ceiling, which is best done by acoustically insulating the floor and ceiling. Nine times out of 10, it’s the person who is being affected by the noise, rather than those causing it, who has to pay to solve it...