No. Sorry. I can't write your website.

I've blogged before about my little availability guide on my homepage. The idea is to give people a realistic idea of when they can expect me to start working on any new projects.

At the moment, the date is racked right back until 18 April. This probably looks a little disingenuous - can he really be as busy? Well, yes - he can. What can I say? People want web copywriting courses and website copy.

And the strange thing is, I initially worried that the "No new work until..." date would turn away good business. If anything though, it's had the opposite effect.

This got me to thinking about restaurants. Strange, I know.

Quail eggs vs. web copywriting
There's a weird decision-making process that takes over when I try to decide where to eat if I'm in an unfamiliar place. Of course, I'll try to get recommendations or read reviews - but that's not always possible, especially if I'm travelling on business.

Nope - what I do is traipse around the restaurants and see which ones look busy. In fact, I'd actually choose a busy restaurant over one with a more impressive menu, or more reasonably-priced dishes.

I think my prospective customers are doing the same - rationalising that because I'm busy, I must be good. Which means I get busier. Of course, it helps that I am actually quite good at what I do.

How to use this in your website
People buy from busy suppliers. Make sure your website tells your customers what you're up to at the moment. It helps them understand the kind of work you do - and shows that you're in demand. A bit like looking into the window of a busy restaurant.

How to use this in your emails
Although I don't tell people my "No new work until..." date in my emails, I've got into the habit of including links to my most recent web copywriting projects. At the moment, these are:

• Avis careers website
• Halifax Estate Agency
• Snowlife
• Scottish Leader whisky
• CCL City Training
• CCL Compliance

It's not about bragging rights or anything like that. It's simply a way of letting people have a look at what I've been up to. And it's amazing how many times new clients want to borrow an idea from a site I've worked on in the past.

What's 18th century author Tobias Smollett got to do with copywriting for the web? Not a lot, as it happens. Except that I can't get the name of his first novel out of my head when I look at my site statistics.

While most people are searching for things you'd expect (like "web copywriting course") the occassional term leaps out of the page due to its sheer oddness. In the first of a series of characteristically irregular updates, here are the most oddly random search terms which led readers to my website over the last fortnight:

"snooker halls in Aylesbury"

..which is closely followed by:

"Glasgow Burberry"

A bit of digging around reveals the first term is tucked away in a PDF of a brochure I wrote a few years ago - and the second in a gateway page I use to capture people looking for a copywriter in Glasgow. (If you need me to bring my chib to the next briefing session, just ask)