The headline comes from Saul Pett, Pulitzer Prize winner, a journalist. He never wrote web copy but his words work for the Internet. Writing is not hard. Anybody with a little literacy can churn out words by the thousand. The secret is making those words communicate the right thing to the right audience and provoke the required reaction. That’s where the hard bit, the thinking, comes in.

So, how do you think about what you need to write? Your tools are your brief, your research and your skill.

If you’ve been briefed you’ll know:

• the objective of the page or site
• the audience the site owner wants to reach
• the language the audience understands (not Bulgarian or Portuguese but the depth of knowledge it has of what the site is offers). The more it knows, the more specific the language you can use.

If you’ve done your research, you’ll know:

• the market situation, its history, its trends.
• the competitors, what they offer, how they present it
• what’s on existing sites
• the key words that count
• what’s worked in the past, and what hasn’t
• buying triggers for customers

And you have your greatest asset, a writer’s skill.

With those assets in the bank, hit the keyboard. At this stage it hardly matters what you write. This won’t be a draft, not even a skeleton. It’s a pile of bones. As the pile grows, you can arrange the bones, promoting some, throwing others away, finding new ones. Then you’ll have the skeleton of a narrative – a story that can convince readers to make the decision your client wants.

Go ahead. Put flesh on the bones. Use only your own skills. DON’T CUT, PASTE AND EDIT MATERIAL FROM OTHER SITES. THAT’S NOT WRITING, IT’S ROBBERY, and search engines will find you out. So will your readers because it won’t hang together. It won’t flow. It won’t convince.

Write it. Print it*. Read it. Correct it. Go around that circle as many times as necessary, until you think it’s as good as it can ever be (it’s not!). Now just leave it alone for as long as your deadline allows. Then go back to it.

How’s the word count? Have you said enough? Have you said too much? Have you missed anything? Are the keywords there? How does it look on the webpage? Is there a better way of persuading your audience?

When you’re through thinking, rewrite. Rewrite until you’re convinced it really is good. Only then do you submit it.

Does that sounds tough? It is.

Has it put you off writing copy?

No? Then go for it.

Yes? Then employ a professional!

*Why print it? Because typos and logic-gaps are much easier to spot on paper than on screen.

Kevan Enticott, Perfect Clarity

The first thing to do is clear out the room – remove everything if possible. Do this so there is nothing in your way, it makes it safer, and it’s easier and quicker to do the job. When you paint a ceiling you’ll be looking up and moving backward most of the time. You don’t want to be tripping over stuff (and the odds are, if you do, you’ll fall into the paint tray!).

Cover the floor with dustsheets to protect it. Look upwards – especially in the corners and cornices – and sweep out any cobwebs that might be hiding there. Is the ceiling in good condition or are there cracks and holes to be filled? If so, do this now, and sand back the filler so that the ceiling is flat – any bumps and lumps will show up when the ceiling is newly repainted. Now, all you have to do is paint it.

Start by painting with a brush around any light fittings. While you’ve got the brush, paint from the walls a few inches onto the ceiling. In the trade we call this ‘cutting-in’; when you really get going, it avoids the need to get the roller close to the walls, so that you end up with an intriguing pattern of ceiling paint along the top of each wall. When the cutting-in has been done it’s time to drop the brush (carefully!), pick up your big roller and start rocking. But where do you start?

Remember I said that when you’re doing a ceiling, you’re usually working backwards? What you actually want to be doing is working backwards away from the light. And by light, I mean window or windows. So, start by painting immediately above a window. This means that as you work away from the windows you have light shining onto the wet paint, and because it is wet, you can see where you’ve painted and where you’ve missed. Try doing it the other way (back to the light) and I can guarantee you’ll miss a patch. Don’t ask how I know!

Unless you really enjoy living dangerously by using a stepladder, work from the floor using a screw-in adjustable extension pole on your roller. This lets you work more comfortably and more safely. According to the Health and Safety Executive, every year 12 people die and 1200 suffer major injuries, falling from ladders. Even Warren Gatland, Wales’ national rugby coach, broke both heels falling from a ladder when cleaning windows at home.

As you paint, keep the paint tray on the floor in front of you, under the bit you’ve just painted, and move it back after every two or three rows of painting. Why do you keep it in front of you? I stepped back into the tray once many moons ago when I was a novice: makes a mess! Talking of mess, wear some sort of hat. It’ll save you a fortune in shampoo. Or maybe you want that prematurely grey look?

Don’t forget to take off any lampshades. It makes it easier to access the ceiling above them, and although – one-day – paint-speckled lampshades may come into fashion, that day is not yet here! If it’s too complicated or too expensive to take down, put a bin liner over it, or cover it with a newspaper. Try not to use an interesting newspaper, or you’ll lose a lot of time reading stories you somehow missed first time around.

As a professional, I always paint a minimum of two coats; sometimes three if I’m covering a strong colour. I’d suggest you do the same. And do use good quality paint; nothing is worse than putting in all that effort and then seeing it go patchy as it dries because your cheap paint hasn’t covered well enough. When you’re happy with the way it looks, remove the dustsheets, put back furniture and the lampshades, and invite the neighbours in to admire it. Job done.

Mike Connolly is a professional painter and decorator with many years experience working in homes and commercial premises in the London area. If you’ve got any questions about painting and decorating, just ask.

Corporate videos can take many forms – elaborate and expensive, or simple and…affordable.

One of the simplest and most effective is a personal video introduction for your website – a short, snappy piece to camera by the boss, or even a charismatic underling.

In just a minute or so, you can convey what you do and, just as important, what kind of a person you are – which is what I really want to know if I’m going to do business with you.

Add some simple graphics and illustrations and hey presto you’ve got a brilliant selling tool that will raise your Google ranking and personalise your proposition.

Here are three quick examples.

James Webster, James Owen Webster, Architect

Ken Munn, Write Ltd, Copywriter

Andy Paterson-Jones, New England, Branding Specialist

Partners in Time offers lifestyle management and business support to busy people, but what does that mean?

People often ask what exactly do you do? How do you help people? What on earth is “lifestyle management”? Well, here’s where you’ll find all the answers. Over the last 5 years, Partners in Time has worked with lots of different people in lots of different ways.

We’ve already covered the  A – M of lifestyle management and business support in three earlier blog posts, so check them out.  Here’s the N – Q of the kind of things we get involved with on behalf of our clients.

N is for Negotiation

Sometimes in people’s personal and professional lives it’s easier to have someone else manage discussions and negotiations on their behalf.  Give us a brief and we’ll be happy to talk to suppliers and customers on your behalf.  We’re persistant and, because we’re not emotionally involved, we’re calm!

 O is for Odds and Sods

Partners in Time is great at problem solving.  We’ve sorted out all sorts of niggles and problems and can often bring a new angle to sorting out the odds and sods that always fall off the bottom of your “to do” list.  Like successfully getting a carpet fitted in a flat we’d never seen in Yorkshire, by a carpet fitter we’d never met for a client we’d only had email contact with!

P is for Projects, Property and Plumbing

We just love projects, be they business-related or personal.  On a personal note we’ve helped people move house and clear property when a family member has died.  On a business level we’ve reviewed suppliers, looked at possible mergers and helped with big fundraising events.

When it comes to property, looking after and maintaining a property can be a challenge, especially if you don’t know the right people.  We’ve road-tested a lot of suppliers and work with a tried tested and trusted plumber, electrician, handyman and gardening company.

Q is for Queuing and Quarrels

Queuing is time consuming whether it’s on the phone or in person – press 1 for this and 2 for that.  It always takes longer than you think and always more time than you have.  Partners in Time takes on lots of calls for clients and often where there are quarrels and complaints – which are the most time consuming ones of all.  We successfully got a £300 refund from a major telecom supplier for one client.  Here’s what she had to say “…Thanks Peta -  that is wonderful – well done you .  You could probably build a business based on skills to sort out foul ups by “a well known telecoms company” alone!”

We hope this is increasing your understanding of how we work with people to their make life easier and free up their time.  If you’d like to know more, or discuss how we could work with you, check out our website at www.partners-in-time.co.uk or call us on 0845 075 1060.

Check out A-D here.

Check out E-H here.

Check out I-M here.

Finding tenants for your home can be quite a simple process, because most landlords choose to use a letting agent like ourselves, Seymour Green in Southfields. Many landlords, though, then choose to save management fees and self manage their rental. For them, the period of the tenancy can be exhausting, frustrating and expensive.

At the beginning of any new letting there are usually teething problems. The new tenants are, understandably, feeling their way round their new home and are not yet up-to-speed with how everything works. So you would expect a number of questions regarding heating, hot water and the appliances no matter how thorough you have been at ‘check-in’ or in your preparation of the ‘property handbook’ with all the appropriate manuals. You anticipate problems like those, and hope they’ll be resolved within a few days, or weeks at the most.

The real troubles can start when you discover that your tenants think they are living in a serviced apartment, and expect you to drop everything to change a light bulb, oil a squeaking door hinge or silence a noisy neighbour. Even worse, what happens when the pilot light on the central heating boiler goes out on Christmas Day – yes, it does happen! A good managing agent will have contractors ready to tackle any maintenance job no matter when the problem arises, and will ensure your asset is looked after.

There’s also the question of initial condition and assessing any damage at the end of a letting. Is it legitimate wear and tear, or is chargeable damage? A managing agent like Seymour Green will prepare a professional condition report and inventory before the letting, will make check visits during the tenancy, and will present an end-of-tenancy report that, being ‘third party’, will avoid acrimonious disputes about “was it, wasn’t it”.

There’s another question for the self-managing landlord – what to do when a rent payment is not made. A letting agent has experience of this, and has proven escalation procedures that swing into action the moment a payment is missed.

A letting agent like Seymour Green will manage your property, collect the rent and deal with maintenance issues in a timely and cost-effective fashion. The difference with Seymour Green is that we do it for a fixed fee of just £600, plus VAT, a year. That’s a small price to pay for handling the hassle, heartaches and headaches that afflict the self-managing landlord.

If you’re letting in the southwest London area and thinking of self-managing, why not give Seymour Green a call on 0208 870 0111 before you take the final decision?

Having the ability to share pages or content via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr or one of the many social media sites is a must in today’s digital arena. By adding a widget to your website from addthis.com or sharethis.com you give your users and visitors the ability to share content, improve your SEO and online visibility and drive traffic to your site.

Now for the best bit, adding one of these widgets is a quick and simple development job which won’t break the bank.

So go on add that special functionality to your site and share the love. Its so easy to add – but if you need help call Lorna at 3mil on 0207 199 3880 or email lorna@3mil.co.uk

Damien Finnegan is a Chartered building Surveyor and Managing Director of Finnegan Associates Limited.

Finnegan Associates is an independent firm of Chartered Building Surveyors passionate about buildings and the services that we provide. From our Hammersmith based office, we service London and the South East specialising in the repair, maintenance and aftercare of existing buildings in the Residential and Commercial sectors.

At Finnegan Associates, our goal is simple: build relationship – deliver value

Whether it is a new or an existing building, our Building Surveying expertise of how buildings function enables us to provide valuable advice to our clients throughout all the stages of a building’s lifecycle:

Areas of expertise include:

• Purchasing property (Residential or Commercial) – We undertake Building Surveys to facilitate informed investment decisions;
• Development of a site or converting a building into flats or change of use – We explore all viable options to maximise potential and mimise cost;
• Preparing Planned Maintenance Programmes – Assessing buildings to determine their condition, identifying and analysing defects and life expectancy of building fabric elements. We provide proposals for the appropriate repair and restoration and provide strategic advice for this work;
• Maintaining, Repairing, Refurbishing, Improving or Restoring buildings – Whether it is a block of flats, a school, a university or a commercial premises;
• Advising on the preservation and conservation of historic buildings –We ensure that the character and the architectural importance of these buildings are maintained;
• Advising on statutory approvals and regulatory matters – Planning, Building Regulations, Party Wall matters,
• Our Combined Project Management and Technical Expertise enables us to manage projects from commencement to completion therefore helping our clients by:

1. Preparing feasibility and budgets to determine how much a project is likely to cost;
2. Preparing specifications of work and documents for tender;
3. Choosing suitable contractors and obtaining competitive tenders;
4. Analysing tender returns and preparing tender reports;
5. Formalising contract documents;
6. Project Management and Contract Administration from inception to completion;
7. Liaising with and coordinating all members of the project team, including mechanical and electrical consultants, structural engineers and other specialists;
8. Dealing with planning applications and advising on relevant property legislation and building regulations;
9. Advising on the construction design and management (CDM) regulations and acting as CDM Coordinator;
10. Managing costs to ensure value for money and quality of work is maintained at all times;
11. Ensuring that projects are completed on budget and on time and ensuring that clients get what they pay for!

At Finnegan Associates, we offer Technical and Management expertise at the highest level. We help our clients make informed decisions, which enables them to maximize the potential and maintain the value and condition of their built assets.

For more information about us and the services we provide as well as project case studies and testimonials please refer to our website: www.finneganassociates.com

Business owner – Damien Finnegan

Contact Damien by telephone on 020 3137 8078, Mobile 07889180575  or by email damien@finneganassociates.com

• Customized digital wall paper
• Retail Graphics
• General Internal and external signage
• Health and safety manifestations and signs
• Digital signs and AV systems
• Exhibition System
• Exhibition Stand design and build
• Posters
• Banners
• Flags
• Pavement signs and A boards
• Full finishing and installation services.

Tel:         01883 371 314
Email:    roland@disturbance.ltd.uk
Web:      www.disturbance.ltd.uk
Business Owner – Roland Wilmans

Carers’ Week 2012 (June 18 – 24) will highlight the vitally important role played by unpaid friends and family members in caring for the elderly, the infirm and those with debilitating illness. Without people prepared to carry-out this tough, and often thankless task, the costs of long-term care would fall on the National Health Service, where resources are already under strain.

Carers’ Week will be feature a variety of profile-raining events, as well as a nationwide information campaign.

The Carers’ Trust works to improve support, services and recognition for those living with the daily challenges of caring, unpaid, for a family member or friend. This year, the theme of Carers’ Week is “In sickness and in health”. Carers will be asked how much their caring role impacts their own health and wellbeing. Are they worried that cuts to services from statutory agencies and government will make them shoulder more of the expense and physical burden? Do GPs know about those working in a caring role and have they offered health checks and other advice? When a carer works, is the employer sympathetic?

The trust aims to ensure that information, advice and practical support are available to all carers across the UK, and to help provide access to respite, training and employment opportunities. It also help carers to maintain their own health and wellbeing and support them so they do not feel isolated.

England football legend Jack Charlton OBE says:

“The UK’s six million carers come from all walks of life. They are stay-at-home parents, celebrities, and yes, even footballers. What they all have in common is their incredible hard work and dedication, many of them sacrificing all of their time to care for somebody in need. I’m proud to back Carers’ Week and the call for the support and recognition that carers deserve.”