Biography
Personal Profile
I was born in 1982 with a plastic spoon in my mouth.
I love copywriting. Before I landed my first copywriting job, friends told me I was good at it – but I suppose that’s what friends are for. When I got my first copywriting job, people who had previously worked at big digital agencies like Razorfish told me I was good at it. That was certainly a confidence boost.
Every day, I try to get a little bit better.
I’m better to suited to copywriting for the web. It’s short and snappy. And the technology fascinates me too. Well, the innovative use of technology fascinates me; getting web pages to render the same in Internet Explorer as they do in Firefox is simply frustrating. I’ve got some pretty swish HTML skills, so I’m keen to stop them getting dusty – knowing that the curly apostrophe is ’ is peculiarly satisfying.
FYI, I’m comfortable with three letter initialisms like SEO, CPC, CPM, CTR, CRM, and FTP.
I’d like to think I can make people laugh with me, but I don’t mind them laughing at me either. People often laugh when I tell them about my Bruce Springsteen obsession; I explain that they don’t call him The Boss for nothing.
I’m always on time, and always prepared to put in extra hours if needed. Runny noses and tickly coughs won’t keep me away from work. If we’re going down the pub after work, I’ll have a pint of Aspall’s Suffolk Cyder – you can only take a boy out of the countryside.
I don’t have any babies or pets, but I do have this blog.
Skill Set
Copywriting
- Writing web pages, emails, ebooks, Powerpoint presentations, and awards entries
- Editing
- Proofreading
- Stickler for correct use of the apostrophe
Marketing
- SEO techniques
- Viral games
- Email marketing to existing and prospective customers
- Guest posts on corporate blogs
Advertising
- Writing Google AdWords
- Increasing CTRs to reduce CPCs
- Reporting with Google Analytics
- Monitoring conversions
Code
- HTML
- CSS
- Javacript*
- PHP with MySQL*
Graphics
- Photoshop*
- Illustrator*
- Paint.Net* (It’s not bad for a free tool)
Web applications
- WordPress
- Gmail, iGoogle, Google Reader (for RSS feeds)
- Flickr
- Facebook and Myspace
Communication
- Good translator of geek-speak to customer-comprehensible
- B2C and B2B experience
- International clients (Ryannair, DHL) to local people (Dave, Julie)
Other uses
- Songwriter / guitars / piano
- Trivia quizzes
- Barbecues*
*I’m no whizzkid with these, but I’m safe to be left alone with them.