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Jo Smyth's blog

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Give your writing a cooling off period

Posted Mon, 03/08/2010 - 14:16 by Jo Smyth

A few weeks ago, while shopping with my daughters, I saw a scarf I liked in a clothes shop. I was convinced it would go with lots of my tops and I very nearly bought it, only something (probably the amount I had spent on the children) held me back.

Yesterday, I happened to be in the town centre again and as I walked passed the same shop, I remembered the scarf; this time I went in determined to buy it.

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Practise makes perfect

Posted Wed, 01/20/2010 - 21:33 by Jo Smyth

I despair. My five-year-old son came home from school with a new group of words to learn. He’d learned his previous set but was, apparently, a bit shaky on recognising two of them. Imagine my dismay when I saw the note his teacher had written for me:

“He is now on to the next level but could he practice ‘big’ and ‘get’?”

Honestly! If a teacher doesn’t know when to use practice with a ‘c’ and practise with an ‘s’ then what hope for the younger generation? I am tempted to write a note back saying:

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The key to good spelling is to be consistent

Posted Tue, 01/19/2010 - 14:56 by Jo Smyth

As a complete pedant when it comes to correct spelling, punctuation and grammar, I am in a quandary since moving home.

Why? Because there seems to be some debate as to the correct spelling of the name of my road and house.

I thought it was Flistridge Cottage, and Flistridge Road, until I saw the road sign which put in an ‘e’ and spelt it ‘Flisteridge’.

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There’s no such thing as yesterday’s chip paper

Posted Fri, 11/06/2009 - 17:38 by Jo Smyth

Not so long ago, if a story was in a newspaper it literally ended up as chip paper and people quickly forgot it – hence the expression.

Not now. With the age of the internet, stories are around for a whole lot longer, if not indefinitely.

Trawl a search engine for your favourite celeb, author, even politician (well, maybe not!) and you’ll find stories going back years.

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Getting your message across

Posted Thu, 10/22/2009 - 16:26 by Jo Smyth

We’re moving house soon and hope to do some fairly minor building work on the back of our new property.

Today, I met for the second time an elderly woman, Hilda, who lives in the village we are moving to. “Oh,” she said “I’ve heard a rumour that you’re going to pull down half the house and rebuild it!”

I explained that we were planning a small extension at the back; in fact, making an existing part of the property two storeys instead of one. Nothing like the scale she suggested.

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Time to tart up your website

Posted Thu, 10/08/2009 - 12:18 by Jo Smyth

How long have you had your website? Possibly a few years if you were one of those early birds who immediately spotted the value of the internet as a business tool.

Next question: how long is it since you properly reviewed it? If your website has changed very little in those years then it is high time to give it an overhaul.

Websites have evolved enormously in their design but also in their content. The content – those words which will hook your site visitor and get them to buy – is so important.

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Manners maketh man - and woman

Posted Wed, 09/02/2009 - 13:19 by Jo Smyth

Going back to swimming for the first time in ages, I was reminded of an incident of what I can only call swimming pool rage which happened to me earlier this year.

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Getting into your trade press

Posted Wed, 08/12/2009 - 10:09 by Jo Smyth

It’s great to get noticed and no more so than by your peers. By appearing in your trade press, you not only build your reputation but you begin to present yourself as an authority in your industry, someone to be taken notice of. For your clients and customers it will also enhance your reputation.

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The web is taking over my life

Posted Mon, 08/10/2009 - 18:43 by Jo Smyth

This is short but sweet example shows how the web is taking over our lives and having an affect on even our closest relationships.

My two daughters often argue (this is putting it politely!). We've just survived dinner, where there was war over ownership of a pair of curling tongs (is that boring poker straight style about to go curly?)

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Writing for the web

Posted Thu, 08/06/2009 - 19:32 by Jo Smyth

I have been doing a lot of writing or the web recently and it seems to me that there is a real difference of opinion between what is appropriate for web content from a copywriter’s point of view and what the search engine optimisers want to achieve.

This difference of opinion over writing for the web relates to the word count.

I was with a SEO expert today who was pointing out that for the search engine ‘spiders’ to shoot a page up the search engine tree then around 20 per cent of writing for the web should be devoted to just a few key words or phrases.

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