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