Refugees, tweets and the sceptical intern

Guest post by Jane Macfarlane-Grieve (@janem_g)

Me? I don’t care for Twitter. I’ve tried to get along with it, really. But it’s just not meant to be. The thing is, I can see the torrential rain outside my own window. I don’t need 40 tweeters to point it out to me. And yes, the same goes for your astonishment that it’s FRIIIIDAY.

Naturally, my first big project as an intern would be writing tweets.

Scottish Refugee Council is one of Blackad’s clients, and as part of Refugee Week they wanted to tweet every 15 minutes between 8am and 8pm on Wednesday 20 June. Twitter and I were just going to have to get along for the good of charity.

Refugee Week is all about raising awareness of refugee issues. It’s one big party, filled with events, movies and tasty treats from around the world. All 100% guilt free of course; you’re even allowed an extra helping of Faloodeh.

Shamefully oblivious to all things refugee, I needed to get my study on. Scouring the Scottish Refugee Council website was the first step. Then I read their list of events for Refugee Week, and had to choose from over 100, picking out the most newsworthy ones to tweet about.

Not being used to Twitter, first of all I looked at other charities’ Twitter feeds. I checked out their tone, subject matter and especially how they encourage donations. The Scottish Refugee Council Twitter feed has a casual, chatty tone. And while they will remind you of the facts, it never feels too serious or pressurising.

Thinking about the construction of the tweets was important too. The pearls of tweeting wisdom that came my way are:

• First words count
– I really tried to push the important points to the beginning of each tweet. Why hide the good stuff?

• Stay human
– just like the unified hatred of answering your phone to a robotic voice, no one wants to chat with a soulless corporation on Twitter.

• Share something valuable
 – let’s face it, we’re all a little selfish. If there’s nothing in it for you, why bother?

• Ask questions
– this one applies to most things in life, but it works for Twitter too. People love to feel included.

Finding my inner tweety bird was easier than I’d expected. And suddenly there I was, right into this Twitter business that I’d had such an aversion for. Getting down with the hash tag and the @ symbol, I rattled out tweet after tweet.

Sending the finished tweets into the big wide world wasn’t easy. And the idea of a real client reading my work was unsettling . But I’m pleased to say the speedy response from SRC was far better than I could have anticipated.

I don’t mean to boast but the feedback may have gone something like, “Not a change to be made!”. And I believe the word ‘genius’ might have popped up in there as well. Okay yes, I completely mean to boast – this time in 2,961 characters, not 140.

Visit the new web copywriter blog on the Blackad website

Follow @scotrefcouncil on Twitter

Scottish Refugee Council website

When websites go wrong

Earlier on today, our homepage went decidedly wonky. Not ideal, as we'd just tweeted out a request for people to vote for us in the Drum 2012 Freelance Survey. (You can vote for Blackad if the fancy takes you.)

After a bit of detective work - and some laser-guided coding advice from David at Mayfield Digital - we got it sorted. Or rather, we took down the blog feed on our homepage.

Why? Because the feed from Blogger.com had temporarily started spewing out dodgy HTML, with missing close tags and all sorts.

We then got all over Twitter and Linkedin to tell people what was wrong; a web copywriter with a broken website isn't going to be your first choice.

It's all fixed now - the problem was solved almost as quickly as it appeared. Now all we need to do is shore up some of the old links on our 'work' page, and the old site should see us through until the relaunch in March.

Visit the new web copywriter blog on the Blackad website

Fixed?

Sorry folks - a little test to see if Blogger is playing nicely again. It was feeding broken HTML to our website, causing all sorts of horror.

Visit the new web copywriter blog on the Blackad website

A little test

So, our homepage is broken. This is just a little test to see if a new blog post sorts it out.

Wish us luck.

Visit the new web copywriter blog on the Blackad website

Vote Blackad. Or we start chopping off fingers.

No pressure. Really.

But if you want to stop David from taking the butter knife to my digits, you need to do EXACTLY as I say:

1. Visit the Drum's 2012 Freelance Survey
2. Vote for Blackad
3. Rest a while, knowing you've done your bit

Of course, David accepts cash bribes too. But it's easier just to vote for us. Wouldn't you say?

Visit the new web copywriter blog on the Blackad website

Abandon site

It's a bit embarrassing. After being the first people we knew to have a blog, we let the old girl fall into disrepair. She's not been updated in over two years. In fact, the whole website's looking a bit tired.

Why we didn't blog. Why we're starting again.

We've not been sitting around: in fact, we've just been outrageously busy. And, to be honest, a little complacent: when the work's rolling in, what's the point in creating even more demand?

That last question almost answers itself: the point is to remind people what you do (write big websites, in our case), show our expertise (financial services, retail, leisure, tech and whisky) and change minds when people have us pigeonholed.

New site. New ways.

Built to work beautifully on mobile, our new site will be the sum of everything we've been banging on about for the last ten years. For a web copywriter's site, it's very graphic. It's also very usable and accessible - something else we're militant about.

It's due in March (yes, 2012).

Survey - coming your way soon

We're preparing a load of blog posts and guides - exploring how agencies and clients can get the most from their digital copy. So that means no tripe in the style of 'Top 10 SEO mistakes you're probably making'. Instead, we'll take a very considered look at the problems our clients tell us they need to solve.

But we want to know what you think too. Are you haunted by the same planning issues, project after project? Are your agency and your writing team at odds over copy length? What's the best way to get briefs from your product specialists?

We're going to post a very quick online survey to find out what you need.

Should be an eye-opener.

Visit the new web copywriter blog on the Blackad website

What's changed in the last seven years?

Although Blackad has been around since 1999, it became a full-time operation in 2002. Which got me thinking: what's the one thing that should have changed in those seven years, but hasn't?

Easy - many clients still start with copy from a printed brochure, leaflet (or whatever) and try to massage it into a website. While it might be appropriate for some clients, for many this is an expensive way to create mediocre websites.

To create a killer website, you need a robust structure and endless discipline. You need to really understand the labels the customer needs to see, and the journeys they're going to take on your site. Not so on a brochure - which can often feel lacking in logic and coherence.

Obviously, some brochures are corking. But many are overly long - to me, they end up feeling like an answer in search of a question.

Start with the website, and you impose rigour - a steely minsdet that will help you create the offline material (like brochures) that needs to work alongside the website. Oh, and it tends to be cheaper too.

Limited - but only by name

Since 1999, Blackad has been ticking along quite nicely as a sole trading business. However, becoming an employer made us realise we had to change.

So, we've simply rolled the old business into the snappily-named Blackad Ltd. You'll find all the details on our contact page - including our company registration number and VAT number.

We've also got a new bank account for the limited company. Interesting? No. But definitely good to know if you're thinking of sending us a large sum of monies by BACS.

Gold bullion should simply be delivered to the usual address.

Twenty fingers at your service

Say hello to David Atkinson - Blackad's new senior web copywriter.

David was the sole survivor of our sadistic recruitment process. Although he didn't have to bathe in a pool of maggots or snack on bush tucker canapes, he did have to complete the gruelling Blackad copy test.

David can rightly claim to be Scotland's Mr Web Copywriting - he's worked with online copy for yonks. He's also got a great background in financial services, which is handy.

But the hiring spree doesn't end with David.

We're looking to add to the team in 2009 - bringing in another experienced web copywriter and a trainee writer as well. Not just yet though. So hold onto your CVs, my recruitment consultant friends.

Bubble wrap frenzy

We're in. After six years running Blackad out of a home office, we've moved into our new premises at 106 Hope Street in Glasgow.

We're sharing a space with the wonderfully named folks at Good Creative, which means we can talk about scamps, kerning and leading without too many eyes glazing over.

New offices. New email hosts. New phone system.

With our hiring frenzy in reasonably full swing, I've been taking care of the more mudane tasks - in preparation for the move out of the home office and into a Glasgow city centre location.

We're looking to move in with another creative business, and the initial discussions look very promising indeed. Of course, if you have some space you'd like to fill, contact us for a chat.

I've also moved all of our landlines over to internet (otherwise known as VOIP) phones. There's no change for most customers - they still call 0845 838 0612 or fax 0845 838 0614. However, if you call our land-that-time-forgot number (0141 571 8307), you'll hear a polite request to call the other number instead.

Email's moving too - partly due to an uncharacteristic but scary issue with our hosts last week. When all your emails start bouncing back as undeliverable, it's time to take drastic action. Again, there's no real change for customers - but our virtual team will soon be able to share task lists and calendars.

OK - I realise it's all a bit dull, but these are the necessary evils of making the shift from the back bedroom to the bright lights of a G1 postcode.

Yes. There are great copywriters out there.

I'm going through all the applications for our Senior Web Copywriter role at the moment, and the quality is reassuringly high. When I tried to hire someone in 2006, we had a great shortlist - but the longlist was a bit variable. In saying that, we were a lot more precise this time around.

If you applied, we'll be in touch by the end of 3 September 2008.

Can you write better copy than this?

I've got a web copywriter job advertised over on my website. Despite bringing on a great writer on contract and relying on another cracking freelancer, Blackad is still working flat out to get through all the work that's coming our way.

My theory is that the ecomomic gloom is forcing marketing departments to switch their spend to the medium that delivers the most results for the smallest spend. That'll be the web.

So, if you're a talented copywriter that works in agency or in-house, have a look at the ad.

And please don't look too closely at the work on the site. We're under some pretty strict confidentiality and intellectual property restrictions with some of our clients. Let's just say that we've been working on some monster sites, and there are plenty more to come.

>> View the web copywriter job ad