The ebook ‘SEO for writers and bloggers‘ is now on sale at the awesome price of $7.95. (That’s an ironic use of the word ‘awesome’ by the way*).
The book is designed for writers and bloggers who want to master the basics of writing for search engines, without mangling their prose and stuffing their copy full of keywords.
- Learn to write for both readers and search engines, and attract more visitors to your website
- Discover how to research and use keywords – and precisely where they should be placed for maximum effectiveness
- 50 pages of facts, tricks, strategies, tips and essential information, explained in clear English, and structured to take you from the basics through to mastery of writing SEO copy.
Not sure how long the sale price will last. Safest thing is to get your copy now.
(*And that’s also an ironic misuse of the word ironic).
by Katherine on July 1, 2010
A guest post by Katherine Ploeger.
The homonyms of there/their/they’re (covered in a previous post) have their plurals, which also cause problems for writers, specifically there’s and theirs.
THERE’S
There’s is the contraction for there is (even my grammar checker flagged the second is in this sentence). The apostrophe is the clue that this word is a contraction because the apostrophe replaces the i in is.
There’s frequently is used in speech as a shortcut to expression, but when used in writing, it can be misused because the writer does not realize the word is a contraction with a singular verb.
Often you’ll hear people say, and see as written, ”There’s too many people here today.” If the contraction is expanded, the sentence would read: “There is too many people here today,” an obvious subject-verb agreement error. (A subject-verb agreement error identifies a situation when the number — singular or plural — of the subject does not agree with the number of the verb.) The spoken and written sentence should be “There’re too many people here today” if a contraction is used. Then the subject and verb agree with each other.
Beginning writers have a problem with this construction because they start their sentences with There’s, as they do in speech. However, with the written word, using this construction to start a sentence is a lazy and vague way of giving information.
As discussed at length in the previous article, using There is or There are to start sentences should be avoided because the two words give no information and usually substitute for the actual subject and verb buried in the sentence. Only when discussing existence can you use There is or There are to start a sentence, but even then, you can probably think of a better way of expressing that idea.
As shown in the examples below, There’s starts a sentence or a clause and so is often at the beginning of the sentence.
THEIRS
Theirs is the plural of the possessive pronoun Their. Note that no apostrophes are used with possessive pronouns (also discussed in the previous article).
As shown in examples below, theirs can be placed anywhere in the sentence that makes sense.
HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES
1. Theirs was the biggest yacht in the marina.
2. There’s going to be a big storm tonight. (Note this sentence shows that something exists.)
3. The best pies at the county fair were theirs.
4. Most of the time, there’s always enough. (Again, this sentence states an existence.)
Katherine Ploeger, MA, MFA, is a former college English professor (of writing) with 15 years teaching experience. She writes and publishes the Common Writing Errors Workbook, which offers instruction and exercises about more than 40 writing issues. Use the workbook to enhance your writing quality and step up your editing skills. Go to Quilliful Publications for more details and other publications for writers. She also offers a bunch of free information at her blog. Check them both out if you want to improve your writing skills and processes.
Photo by Leo Reynolds
by Simon on June 29, 2010
A copywriter is someone who writes sales copy. It’s part of marketing and advertising, part of business, and persuading people to part with their money.
Like all of business, however, there are good, honest elements to copywriting (persuading people of the real value of a product or service) and there are the less savoury aspects (conning people into buying c**p).
I’ve been lucky, in that most of my work is done in the business-to-business field, where the less savoury side of copywriting doesn’t rear its head too often. I also turn clients down if I don’t trust them or approve of their business methods.
One area of copywriting that I’ve always steered clear of is the ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme. I’ve just today had to turn someone away, who was pleading for help in getting his business venture off the ground.
He’d already been rejected by 55 other copywriters, and he was desperate for me to help him.
Don’t throw good time after bad money. Move on.
Now, swallowing my pride, and refusing to get narked at being number 56 on his list (as you can see, he needs help with his marketing…), I offered to take a quick look at what he was planning to do. My worst fears were confirmed. He is involved in selling products offered by one of the many internet marketers out there. He is selling information products about business opportunities. He insists this is not a get-rich-quick scheme.
I can’t be bothered arguing with him. And I wished him every success. But I had to say ‘no’. Partly, this was self-preservation. He wanted a sales page like this. In return, he was offering 5% of sales, with no up-front payment. That’s not very generous, to be honest.
But I also have a problem with this whole area of business.
There are so many people out there on the internet selling information products about how to set up in business. They sell this information to their customers. All the information seems to amount to is a guide to doing exactly the same thing – the student is encouraged to set up their own business, selling information products about how to set up in business.
Really. I’ve never bought one of these, so tell me I’m wrong by all means. But from what I can tell, that is the whole of the business model. They make it sound exciting (that’s why they need copywriters), and they sell a dream. But the poor student is left out of pocket, and trying to get a business started in a hugely competitive field, with a second-hand, third-rate product.
My advice? Don’t throw good time after bad money. Move on. Because there’s a name for that particular business model. It’s called a pyramid scheme. And even if you do make money out of it, it won’t be good for your karma, your peace of mind, or your reputation further on down the line.
Photo by Yasin Hassan
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