How to write

I was talking to a prospective client yesterday about the problems he faces trying to use his website.  He’s faced with parameters set by the organisation his business is part of.  And he’s faced with parameters concerning the business he’s in(financial).

So how to make the best of his site?

He can personalise it – at the moment that really only extends to details about himself and a photo.  Any other changes he has to get permission to make.  Quite a challenge.

I haven’t worked in his sector before and can understand that he might have difficulties about what he can say or promise.  But it seems to me that the approach has to be the same as with any other business.  Which is tailoring the text to the clients’ needs.

After I met up with him I had a look on the web at various financial companies and by and large they were on the boring side.  Agreed they need to underline how secure they are and how long they’ve been in business but with many of them on the home pages there wasn’t really anything focused on the reader.  There wasn’t anything that showed they understood the depth of the insecurity we feel at the moment about our finances.

In fact I bet that many sites hadn’t been changed for a long period.  Which in search engine terms could be as short as a month.  I talked to him about blogging to find that while he’d like to have a go, his organisation is against.  Presumably because they believe like many people still, that blogging is the preserve of the teenager writing weird things in their bedrooms.

Maybe so a few years ago and even then I know of some innovative entrepreneurs who were using it to make themselves quiet fortunes.  But I’ve found it a great way to get the search engines interested and it’s also a lot of fun.  I’m now on the lookout all the time for events I can pass on and tips that I think will be useful to people so for me it’s a good idea stimulus.

Putting together my workshop (How To Write A Book Workshop) I’ve been researching quotes to pass on.  I love quotes and they fire up all kinds of ideas for me.  I’m not good at jokes but I love quotes.  Here’s just a couple.

“I’m writing a book.  I’ve got the page numbers done.”  Stephen Wright

“My most important advice to all you would-be writers: when you write try to leave out all the parts that readers skip.” Elmore Leonard

Oh so true both of those!