Date/Time
Date(s) - 18/09/2013
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Location
AMP House
Categories
So You Want to Write Your Own Website?
You might think you already know how to write. But you may not know what web copy will get your site found on search engines, nor how to convert site visitors into customers.
Did you have this – or a similar – conversation when you first spoke to your web designer?
“Hello, I’d like a website please.”
“OK, what content do you want to put on it?”
“Oh, don’t you write that for me then?”
“Er, no.”
Or maybe you have a CMS website? These days, many marketers, business owners, entrepreneurs and startups do. CMS stands for Content Management System, and simply means that you can add, edit and delete pages, images and text on your website yourself, so it saves you time and money. (Be warned, here’s a techie bit.) The most common CMS platform used these days is WordPress, and CMS websites are also built using tools such as Joomla and Drupal, as well as template sites from the likes of Vistaprint and all those you’ve probably seen advertised on TV. Most of these tools are free, which obviously helps boost your business bottom-line. Whether you have a bespoke website or a CMS website, you still have to provide the content. Makes sense, because you know most about your organisation. Right? Trouble is, you don’t know what you don’t know. There are certain tips, tricks and techniques that will help get your site get found in search engines. And there are psychological triggers you need to include to get site visitors to take the action you want them to take. SEO web copywriting helps your site get found on search, while web copywriting is the art of writing website copy that influences behaviour. (Another acronym in case you don’t already know it: SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation.)
Learn about web copywriting
The quickest way to learn about web copywriting is for an expert to teach you the essential skills. So you might be interested – or even excited – to learn that you can attend a one-day course run by a professional copywriter, arranged by the lovely people at 1230 Business School. Jackie Barrie’s next ‘Write Your Own Website course is at AMP House in Croydon, from 10am to 4pm on Friday 18 October 2013.


About your web copywriting trainer
If you’re going on a web copywriting course, you probably want to know a bit about the person who’ll be training you. Jackie Barrie has been a professional copywriter for over 30 years, and has written hundreds of successful websites. She’s the author of The Little Fish Guide to Writing Your Own Website, The Little Fish Guide to Networking, and The Little Fish Guide to DIY Marketing. All her books reached top 10 in their Amazon category. (When you attend the course you’ll get a signed copy of Jackie’s web copywriting book worth £9.99.) Her ‘Writing Without Waffle’ tipsheet has won a Constant Contact All Star award for four years running, and she’s a Diamond level author on Ezine Articles (only a fraction of their authors achieve this). She also contributes blogs to the Huffington Post reaching up to 270 million readers, and has written articles for Fresh Business Thinking that go out to 70,000+ readers. She also has a degree in psychology and is a qualified NLP Practitioner to further understand the power of language to influence behaviour. (Sorry, another acronym. NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. That is, Neuro as in brain, Linguistic as in language, and Programming as in computers.) With this pedigree, we think you’ll agree that she’s a well-qualified and highly experienced wordsmith. But not only that. Jackie also works as an associate trainer for companies throughout the southeast, and is a fully fledged Member of the Professional Speaking Association. On her one-day web copywriting course for 1230 Business School, you’ll get expert – but common sense – ideas about how to make your website work harder for you, with practical web copy hints and tips you can take away and implement immediately.

Web copywriting success stories
To prove that Jackie knows her stuff, read these brief stories of success she’s achieved for her web copywriting clients:
- An image consultant had paid thousands to have her website redesigned, and wrote all the copy herself. Despite getting 200 hits per week through Google Adwords and Pay Per Click campaigns, she had no enquiries for two months. Jackie rewrote some key pages, recommended some design changes, and the client received six enquiries in the first week including a great corporate opportunity.
- A mortgage adviser had written his own web copy. Although people were finding his Home page, they were leaving the site in seconds, without clicking through to his sub-pages. He agreed to let Jackie rewrite the Home page as a test. After only a week, his site visitors started clicking through to the next level.
- An eco-cleaner asked Jackie to write her website so it would be found on a Google search. She told Jackie: “A new client rang me to say: ‘I loved your website, it was the most professional of all the cleaning sites I found. And I must congratulate whoever did your copywriting and search engine optimisation. They did a really great job! Whatever cleaning keywords I searched on Google, your site came up, so I decided it was meant to be!’”
Does that convince you that Jackie can tell you what copy you need on your website too?
What you’ll learn on the web copywriting courseAfter this web copywriting course, you’ll come away with an understanding of these important topics, and more:
- Writing web copy v writing print copy
- Four elements you need on your website
- Four objectives for your home page (and four words to avoid)
- Four effective approaches for your about page (and what not to write)
- Ways to write product copy that sells
- Web copy DOs and DON’Ts
- Secrets of ‘going viral’
- Legal considerations
- Web design tips
- The power of video
- The future of websites
- Four main things Google looks for
- Ten SEO tips you need to be aware of (without getting too techie)
To make best use of the learning opportunity, we’ve built in time for you to ‘have a go’ yourself. So you’ll need to bring a wifi-enabled laptop or tablet (or pen and paper if you prefer). With this information under your belt, you’ll be able to improve your existing website straight away, and know how to write a new website from scratch. Or, if you don’t plan to write your own website, you’ll at least have the inside information you need to brief a copywriter and/or web designer and get the best work out of them. Note that the course doesn’t cover spelling, grammar and punctuation so you’ll need a reasonable standard of written English.

Who should attend
Startups, entrepreneurs, business-owners and marketers – anyone who wants to write their own website (or who wants to know whether their web copywriter is doing a good job). It will also benefit web designers who’d like to add extra value to their clients.
Interested?
Here’s the practical information you need to know about the 1230 Business School Write Your Own Website course:
Investment
£360 INCLUDING lunch AND your own signed copy of The Little Fish Guide to Writing Your Own Website worth £9.99. Scroll down to see if you qualify for any discounts…
Discounts
50% OFF for members of 1230 The Women’s Company. Yes, if you’re a member of 1230 The Women’s Company you pay ONLY £180 to attend this full-day 1230 Business School course. It’s worth joining just for this (plus you get lots of other benefits too)! Book now 10% OFF voucher for early-bird bookings. When you book before 2 September 2013 you’ll receive a voucher to SAVE 10% on professional copywriting. So don’t delay – book your place today!

When
Wednesday 18 September 2013 10am to 4pm
Where
AMP House Dingwall Road Croydon Surrey CR0 9XA AMP House is only two minutes from East Croydon station, so it’s convenient to get there from anywhere in UK (or beyond). You can travel quickly by train – it takes only 15 minutes or so from central London. Trains also run from Sussex, Surrey and Kent. East Croydon is also the hub of the famous Tramlink if you’re travelling east or west, and on many bus routes. If you’re driving, there is FREE parking at the venue – a rarity in Croydon!
Don’t delay: Latest date for bookings is 11 September 2013
(Latest date for early-bird bookings including 10% off copywriting voucher is 2 September 2013)
Bookings
Bookings are closed for this event.