Let me run that past my agent

The glamour. My company (Blackad Copywriting) is looking to broaden its customer base. At the moment most of our work comes from Scotland, but we want to get more direct client work from London. Specifically, we want to up the amount of web copywriting work we do from around 75 percent of turnover to 90 percent.

So what have I done? I've only just gone and appointed an agent to scout for work on our behalf.

This has the effect of making me feel very special, and not a little precious.

If I address you as "dahlink" on the phone, only to slam the phone down in a fit of histrionic rage, you'll know why.

Update? Schmupdates.

It's been a busy week at Blackad, which explains why the blog has been neglected.

Today I was doing pretty much my favourite part of the job - running a copywriting course for a long-term client.

The courses take a while to prepare, as each one is built from scratch. But it's great to see people picking up the skills, as well as giving them an insight into what I have to do to get their copy right.

When I got back to the office I had an email waiting from a large financial services institution who also want a quote for some training. And I've been asked to speak at a conference in December on, guess what, copywriting training.

Spot a pattern here?

Cameron Milne, take a bow

I've just taken delivery of Xento - a content management system created by Cameron Milne at Realise.

Cameron has been working on Xento in his spare time for the last two years, and my company (Blackad) is the first live client.

It's definitely the best content management system I've ever used for small-to-medium sized sites. Many of the systems I use have far too many redundant features - and using these beasts is like wading through a McDonald's milkshake.

OK - so you need to learn a little HTML to use it properly, but that's no great hardship.

Now, I must get back to tweaking my site.

I will testify

Testimonials? Years ago, the copywriter within would instantly sneer at their very mention. No longer.

I've got a bunch of them on the Blackad website, and the web statistics show that people really like this page. Why? Because it's believable stuff - and as close to a review of our services as you're going to get. I've included links back to our clients' websites - so visitors can check out the credentials of my clients.

Trust - it's what the web needs.

In saying that, I think testimonials work best on a business-to-business site like ours. On a consumer site, you just don't believe them. (Let's face it - no sane consumer would ever allow their email address or website to be printed alongside a testimonial. All you usually get is "Chad Stringhooper from Texas" - if that.

Now, consumer review sites like epinions and ciao are very different. The reviews are long, and plenty of people contribute. It feels balanced. You want to believe.

So is it any wonder it's rumoured that companies are lurking in these consumer sites, planting false reviews? Nasty.