Almost 1, continued growth anticipated!
It’s not long until Precise English Limited turns one!
18th March 2009: Precise English began – since then we’ve grown steadily, with a rapid growth in the first two months of 2010.
Initial Conception
Precise English was originally started after I was left frustrated by poor quality English in non-native countries. Since then, over 50% of our work has been for the web – is this a sign of the times? The internet is continuing to advance in popularity with businesses at a rate that is forcing Precise English to grow incredibly fast, with the demand for professional copywriting increasing all the time.
SEO copywriting has been the main ’seller’ at Precise English. Why? Website owners that recognise the need for fresh copy on a regular basis are those that appear the highest in the search engines, and therefore continue to make more money than the rest! Professional and individual blog posts has also been a major service in demand, whilst advertising and marketing material is something we specialise in.
If you’re looking for a professional copywriter, SEO copywriting, blog posts or anything else don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Until next time,
Benjamin
The future of advertising
Precise English advertises in several different places, mainly online. With the seemingly unstoppable rise of the world wide web (WWW), will the majority of companies ditch traditional advertising methods such as TV, Radio and print for the WWW?
Obvious
It may seem an obvious statement that online advertising is growing rapidly compared to TV, Radio and print, but it’s still an amazing one. The fact is, advertising online is much more cost-effective for businesses than any other form of advertising.
Precise English provides SEO copywriting, proofreading, website content and much more to individuals and businesses worldwide – our advertisements reach people as far as China and Australia for less than an advert in a newspaper to reach people in London.
Whilst I won’t sit here and claim to have spent hundreds of thousands a month on advertisements for our services (SEO copywriting, proofreading, advertising and marketing material etc.), we have spent our fair share – is it worth it? We have decided that the majority of it wasn’t, and have therefore scaled down our advertisements and focused the majority of our budget on search engine optimisation.
Organic Search…
…if a website can be found on the first page of Google for a keyword phrase that relates heavily to their business product or service then they’re on to a winner! Not many other advertising opportunities can claim to offer what appearing on the first page of a major search engine can:
- Improved traffic instantly
- Potential customers who specifically searched for your product or service
- Free click-through (no PPC costs) when someone searches for your product or service
- Appearing on the first page of a major search engine suggests your company has a certain expertise in its particular field (possibly!)
What do you think about the future of advertising? Will the WWW continue to see further innovation such as PPC, or will the TV hit back with 3D adverts?
Until next time,
Benjamin
Fresh content & why you need it
‘Content is King’
There seems to be an ongoing debate between web designers/developers and copywriters regarding which is the most important; web design or the content. As you would expect, at Precise English we believe the saying ‘Content is King’ is true, but we also understand and recognise the need for quality websites.
Without professional web copy…
…a site can be designed by the God of Design and still look out of place; if the web copy doesn’t appeal to the user and say the right things then the site simply won’t work.
What’s all this talk about ‘Fresh Content’?
Search engines, specifically Google, love fresh web content. Websites that are created and then left alone for months do not get on well with Google! That’s why website owners contact companies’ like Precise English to provide regular content such as a daily/weekly/monthly blog post, search engine optimisation (SEO) articles, web copy or press releases.
Quality Copywriting
Whilst it’s true that some people can write and update their own websites, SEO articles or blogs, it’s also true that there are many people who can’t (and even the people who can write well, they may not know much about SEO). Hiring a cheap writer to fulfil your copywriting needs may seem like a good option at first, but when your customers start reading the content it can change the way they feel about your company – which is why quality content is king! Through hiring cheap so-called ‘writers’ you may end up having to hire a professional copywriter or proofreader to fix what was originally written, resulting in you paying twice for something you could have had done quicker and to a higher standard in the first place.
At Precise English we believe in getting your content right the first time.
Until next time,
Benjamin
Are Coke (Coca-Cola) making the right move in replacing Campaign Sites with Social Media?
Social media is on the rise and 2010 could be an even bigger year for all those involved (Facebook, YouTube etc.), but on hearing that Coca-Cola are making a huge change to their marketing policy, I thought it was worth a blog to discuss why.
After checking Twitter this morning I noticed quite a large number of people discussing this story, so decided to delve a little deeper. According to newmediaage, Coke have decided a change in marketing tactics is required, and are now focusing their long-term future on social media platforms that already exist.
But Why?
Coke, like many other giants, have always relied on campaign-by-campaign marketing tactics in which they create dedicated sites to bring together millions of people through targeted advertising. Such immense changes in the way users now use the web, with social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube enjoying incredible success, Coke has decided that instead of trying to entice the reader to check out a particular campaign site they now want to go to where the users are.
The death of the campaign site?
This could spell the end for campaign sites, not that I’m disappointed to see them go. I agree wholeheartedly with what Coke are doing, not because it will save them money, simply because what’s the use in trying to create a short-term community when there are long-term communities already established?
The question now is; will more and more brands follow Coke’s lead and ditch the campaign sites for social media platforms? I think so, yes – only time will tell!
Until next time,
Benjamin
Why are professional SEO copywriting services rapidly increasing in popularity?
After a magnificent start to 2010 for Precise English, I feel it’s time to discuss why copywriting, and specifically SEO copywriting, is a service that is rapidly increasing in popularity online.
Online Writers…
…are extremely common. However, I think it’s vital I mention that I’m talking about professional SEO copywriting services, not poor quality work submitted to article directories etc. by non-natives or those with no qualifications.
For example; at Precise English we receive a lot of disgruntled clients’ who have come to us after initially seeking work for a few pounds or dollars an article, only to see the quality is ridiculously bad – and they now want a professional writer with a journalism degree and several years experience to handle their copywriting needs.
Why SEO Copywriting?
Precise English started off with a small clientele who requested mainly advertising & marketing material, plus the odd web content order. As we are growing every day, we can now boast that over 75% of our clients’ require some form of search engine optimisation – whether it’s web content with the search engines in mind, or articles and blogs, we do it all.
SEO companies’ are beginning to realise the age-old phrase that ‘Content is King’ is actually true. Hire the greatest web developer/designer in the world and ask him/her to make you a site – if you place poor quality content on it, you’ve wasted a lot of money! Many small and medium-sized SEO companies’ (with no in-house copywriting team) now work alongside professional copywriters like myself and offer their clients’ the services we offer (web content, articles, blogging, press releases etc.).
Correctly optimising your site for the search engines AND the user is vital in any SEO campaign- which is why SEO copywriting is rapidly increasing in popularity with every day that goes by.
Until next time,
Benjamin
Choosing the right SEO company
Search Engine Optimisation has become a necessity for all new online businesses in the last few years. Finding the best SEO company to take you forward is vital – but what signs of quality should you be looking for?
Expertise
Every SEO company claims to have a fair amount of ‘expertise’ in SEO – whether they actually have it or not, is another matter. The problem people looking for an SEO company face is that they need to find out who actually has the experience and knowledge required, and who are the cowboys.
Top SEOs should possess certain characteristics that catch your attention. They should have a long list of past and current clients, and they should be happy to show you the results of the campaigns.
The majority of the best SEO companies don’t do much self-promotion, they can be found through recommendations on SEO forums and through checking out the websites that appear on the first page of Google for competitive keywords.
Remember…
…check the history of any SEO company you are thinking about working with. You don’t want to be stuck with a guy who has no idea about SEO but thought it would be nice to get a few quid for nothing.
Until next time…
Benjamin
Here Comes Chrome!
I was quite shocked this week to find out that Google Chrome has rocketed to third place behind IE and Firefox as the world’s most popular browsers – ahead of Safari!
Although I use a combination of Firefox and Chrome, and know many others who do the same, I still wasn’t expecting such a rapid rise to the top 3 from Chrome in around 15 months (according to net measurement firm, Net Applications).
Is this important?
In my opinion; hell yes!
All search engine optimisation (or optimization for those on the other side of the pond!) folk know that Google is THE leader when it comes to search engines. If your site is optimised well for Google then that’s more than half the job done (no disrespect to Yahoo or Bing) – however, many developers, designers etc. are finding that particular sites look perfect in IE, Firefox, Safari and others, but not in Google Chrome.
From the point of view of a copywriting company that deals with SEO related tasks on a daily basis (over 50% of our clients’ require some form of SEO in their content/articles etc.), if your site is not perfect in Google Chrome then over the next few years, or even months, this could become a big problem!
The Google Train
As much as you may want to hop off and take a look around at what else is on offer, it’s pretty much impossible to rebel against Google. It seems inevitable that Google’s browser, Chrome, will reach at least the second spot in the next few years and from there – who knows?!
How long until Chrome becomes standard? Personally, I’ll stick to a combination of Firefox (reliable) and Chrome…
Until next time…
Benjamin
Another Week…
Yet another week passes by, although this week was slightly different. The first week of 2010. How did it go? A lot better than expected actually.
You Win Some…
…fortunately this common phrase has been sliced in half this week. Why? It’s been surprisingly positive in terms of new business. I say ’surprisingly’ simply because it’s the first week of a new year, where businesses are usually recovering from a hectic Christmas where things were left for January!
With new business comes further responsibility, mainly in the form of time-keeping. Precise English is all about ensuring our clients’ are more than satisfied – this often results in me staying in the office well after 7pm (I’m writing this on a Friday night, need I say more?). Still, I wouldn’t change any of the extra hours I’ve put in this week – seeing your content on a clients website is a proud moment.
I Should Really…
…speak more about the services we offer in the hope that you will contact us, but I feel the fact you are reading this blog says enough about how you value professional content, and I’m sure if you ever require web content, articles (SEO), blog content, marketing material or anything else – you’ll be in touch (there, done it!).
On a completely unrelated note, I hope the snow disappears pretty soon as too many football games are being cancelled.
Until next time,
Benjamin
Picture taken from SkySports.com
New Year’s Resolution
This post is well overdue. I completed by first blog post months ago and haven’t stuck to the daily or weekly regime I initially set out to stick to!
New Year’s Resolution
It’s that time of the year – where diets start and empty promises are made, but this time I’m prepared for the good of my business to stick to mine.
My New Year’s resolution is to blog at least twice a week, and to try and arrange my work schedule so Friday’s can be spent on the numerous new business ventures I have with my best friend and web designer. I’m also looking to have an exciting year with my other half, see my other best friends in sunny Newcastle and Norton more often.
Will I stick to these? Only time will tell.
From the point of view of Precise English, business is looking up in 2010. Despite it being only the 7th of January, we are already welcoming new business from all corners of the globe, with one particular recent project offering a lot of potential.
Businesses are beginning to recognise the need for professional content and SEO articles, blogs and press releases – I envisage a good 2010 for Precise English.
Until next time,
Benjamin
Awesome photo courtesy of Francesco Marino.
The first of many…
I thought I’d start my brand spanking new blog off with an uber quick post to introduce myself and my company. I’m a qualified journalist (BA Hons) who felt there was a large hole in the market for quality copywriters in the UK – I was right. Not even a year into business and I’m dealing with clients’ from around the globe, including Asia, The Americas and of course Europe. The most satisfying thing so far has been the fact that a large chunk of my work comes from repeat business, meaning I must be doing something right!
The last quarter of 2009 holds a lot of potential for Precise English – with the start of a huge internal growth anticipated we will be able to take on and satisfy a larger amount of contracts.
If you’re interested in hiring (or outsourcing) your copywriting requirements then Precise English are here to help. The current most popular services we provide include;
- Web Content
- Search Engine Optimisation Articles, Blogs & Press Releases (With the goal of improving your website(s) position in the major search engines)
- Proofreading & Editing of various documents
- Advertising copy (Print, TV, Radio)
- Brochures, Newsletters etc.
- Business Letters, Reports and PowerPoint Presentations
And much, much more!
I look forward to writing and submitting many more business and personal blogs, and I hope to hear from you in the comments section!
Until next time,
Benjamin