A week ago, I was followed on Twitter by a chap promising to help me become a “six-figure copywriter in six months”. His pinned tweet told me he’d just won a $65 an hour job. £50 an hour. Let’s do some maths. To reach £100,000 at £50 an hour, we’d need to work 2,000 hours. […]
The year is 2002. A student, absentmindedly humming Girls Aloud, thumbs her way through the school newsletter. She feels a pang of guilt as she reads one excruciating line: “Sadly, we received no entries to our competition last month.” Ouch. Does anybody read these things? Fast forward to 2020. The velour tracksuits are gone, but […]
We’re one week away from Black Friday and I’m still pulling Excitable Edgar’s dragon ash out of my hair. Is it that time of year already? If you’ve not been on the internet this week, first, check your pulse, then check social media. The Christmas adverts are back with a vengeance. And with them, the […]
Popping the cork of a Tesco Finest prosecco bottle might sound like standard practice at Katie Lingo HQ, but last Saturday there was a reason: the defeat of Donald Trump. Trump supporters, look away now. You’re about to see a scathing, although balanced, attack on your man. For all his money, Twitter followers, 72 million […]
At the turn of November, I shared a ‘guilty’ Instagram post stating that I’d been feeling a little ‘tone deaf’ with my content. There you were, watching old Floppy Hair telling us to stay home. I was prancing around in a Halloween costume. Thankfully, my three whole followers told me there was nothing to worry […]
Those of you who’ve taken a cursory glance over my LinkedIn profile may have noticed I hold a Spanish Language and Linguistics degree. Truth be told, it’s not something I shout about too loudly, and usually only comes up after a few…shall we say…sangrias. I keep tranquila about it because: I’m so terrified of getting […]
Choosing a niche is a hotly debated topic for humble copywriter folk. Some argue that they relish the variety their non-specialisms bring; others love to niche as a means of becoming more competitive. So, where does sustainable copywriting fit within this? In the interests of ease, I’ve used the terms ‘sustainable copywriting’, ‘ethical copywriting’ and […]
In a shocking twist, I discovered this week that podcasts suffered a dramatic listener decline during lockdown. But we’re doing nothing all day. That can’t be right, can it? Figures vary, but Podnews.net tells us that, as the pandemic took hold, listener numbers were down by 20 per cent. Well, this is 2020, and nothing […]
You may have noticed that the ProCopywriters Conference is taking a slightly different approach for 2020. Last year’s attendees may recall running around London’s Barbican Centre with lanyards swinging. This year, we’re taking in the wisdom of the industry’s finest at home. In our pyjamas. What’s on at the 2020 ProCopywriters Conference? If you’ve not […]
Am I in the wrong job? Apparently, in a sea of introverts, I’m one of the only extroverts. Based on evidence from two social media polls, it appears that half of all copywriters are the shy and retiring type: Another #question for #copywriters, or #bloggers, or any #contentcreators really. It’s a little study I’m doing […]
Ten points if you get the joke, Colombian literature enthusiasts. This week’s data-is-sexy-I-promise tribute goes out to leads, and how we’re approaching lead generation right now. Lockdown really does feel like 100 years of solitude, doesn’t it? Okay, I’ll stop. But it does shed light on the powerful switchover to virtual we’ve seen in recent […]
Everywhere you look there’s yet another SEO guide telling you that long-form content is king. It feels a little contradictory in the age of skim-reading, and yet, it’s backed up by science: The average content length of the first 10 SERPs is more than 2,000 words Longer articles can increase conversions by up to 37 […]
Lesson one. Tell everyone you’re pregnant and the internet loses its collective shit. But seriously. If you follow me on LinkedIn, you’ll likely have been bugged by those annoying ‘celebrating four years at Katie Lingo’ notifications. Sorry about that. In 2016, post-Brexit vote but pre-Trump, my good friend Jonny and I were sitting in a […]
It was a cheeky homemade video that inspired this week’s #Write52 post on accessibility – among other things. While some laughed at my feeble Love Actually reconstruction, another remarked: “All I could read was ‘big kiss’! Sorry Katie!” In hindsight, that was some pretty tiny copy. Not to mention some godawful handwriting. Either way, it […]
Is anybody else feeling like this? The mainstream media forebodes a looming recession, but life feels like it’s going at breakneck speed. Of course, there are always winners and losers in a crisis. Travel has taken a devastating hit, while Netflix had its biggest quarter ever this year. Others are slowly creeping back. 10.5 million […]
Today started with a surprise in my inbox. It was 9am and I’d just been sent my ‘team’ headshot by one of my agency clients. There she was, staring back at me with gleaming white teeth, flawless skin and perfectly preened eyebrows. Is my nose really that big? Who’s to say? This avatar would soon […]
I’ll let you in on a little secret. I do not like the word ‘content’. Shocking, I know, considering it’s my livelihood, and I use it pretty often. Why the beef? The term ‘content’ is simply too catch-all: it makes me think of ‘contents’…you know, like E numbers in baked beans or the contents of […]
If you’re a regular on the Katie Lingo blog, you’ll know I love a good report. Evidently, it seems that you do too. The 2020 ProCopywriters Report has had the biggest number of respondents ever at 640 – up 13 per cent on last year. With perhaps the most diverse participant pool ever, including a […]
Yay! Another sobering stat from our good friend the coronavirus. Marketing Week is predicting “significant job losses” as the furlough scheme comes to an end. With marketing departments shrinking, are we now relying on freelancers to pick up the pieces? Like anything in the digital/creative space, it depends. Certainly, in recent years we’ve witnessed a […]
*and why you really, really don’t. If I had a penny for every time a client told me they had no confidence in their writing… Well, I’d have a lot. Don’t ask me to do maths. I’m a writer. While it’s not in my best interests to pat these people on the back, it does […]
“A great user experience enables us to get more done. In contrast, a bad experience could stand in the way of finding valuable information on a page.” These wise words from Google signal a forthcoming algorithm shift, with user experience at the helm. This poses the question, then: Is user experience more important than content? […]
Business coaching. Like it or loathe it, the industry is growing, and was valued at $15 billion globally in 2019. The definition of “business coach” is a bone of contention. Some prefer to focus solely on advancing the goals of their clients’ businesses, while others use “coach” as an umbrella term for life coaching, encompassing […]
Another year, another belter of a Reuters Digital News Report. I’ll admit I had my reservations about this year’s study. Thankfully, the C-word was a minor “backdrop”, and we still have the same shrewd insights. Recap: what is the Reuters Digital News Report? Led by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, this yearly […]
Father’s Day. To the ire of traditionalists, this ‘Hallmark holiday’ has earned its place in the supermarket aisles – perhaps even overtaking Mothering Sunday. (No Easter egg distractions. Good move, dads.) Friends and extended family have trodden on eggshells around me for the last two Father’s Days. Having lost a parent in 2019, I find […]
Owen Turner – United by Design Today is National Freelancers’ Day – a celebration of the finest self-employed talents out there, whose contributions make up some 5 million of the UK’s workforce. As a proud freelancer, I like to think I espouse good values. Professionalism, reliability, courtesy. Ask any other and you’ll doubtless hear the […]
