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On Dragons' Den, Duncan Bannatyne poured scorn on a healthy eating book pitch, after spotting grammar errors in the copy. And for that reason, he was ‘out.’ Evidence enough that if you don’t proofread

Am I the only one, or are there other people out there that object to buying clothes and accessories by "so-called" designers? Having just spent a day at an Designer outlet village has just confirmed

  I'd always been a voracious reader of books until I stopped commuting by public transport. After that it became harder to find time to read books. Since I've been working from home reading for fun h

G'day folks.   Today I'm going to talk to you about the Australian Sales Pitch Method. So if you're ready, throw a shrimp on the barbie and we'll get going.   As a copywriter I know what your audience

Facebook has just added places which means that anyone can find your exact location, the exact address and map of where you are  when you are logged in.  I'm not sure how this affects you in terms of

I had to call Quirk yesterday so that I could get access to one of my client accounts and I was horrified to discover that they charge the client to get access to their own FTP login details.  When sh

Starting a home business is not tedious. In fact, there are many advantages in starting a home based business. You can enjoy the fun of working in a home atmosphere and can work at your convenient sch

Not only is a blog a great way of connecting personally with your target market, it is one of the best ways to optimise your search engine ranking. It appears that Google puts a greater weight on cont

There are many articles out there on how to grow your business via face-to-face and on-line networking. However, there are not many articles that go into the nitty-gritty of how you ‘work a room’ at a

If you sell a product or a service to business, joining a networking group can be a fantastic way to grow your business. Before we go any further, let’s counteract a myth - networking is not about sel

 

I was at a wedding yesterday, &  was very surprised to find myself informally negotiating with a choir mistress. I am ashamed to say, that I completely failed in my negotiating objective. I’ll exp

It still amazes me that some people "wash their dirty laundry in public"   Just watched a brilliant video from AVG on common sense posting on public forums, such as these. Don't people realise that wh

There is a discussion going on in the executive village  at the moment, about how to get an embedded manager to be more effective. This is a problem faced by many professional practices and businesses

This is the second time I flew SAA. The first time I flew SAA things were stolen from my luggage.  They got another chance because it was down to price and length of flight, mainly length of flight.

I was asked a question this morning by @phrankleen: “do u know of any tweeting product that helps u get targeted followers? In terms of marketing.” “and that can send automated tweet whilst am away

Is your head spinning from SEO jargon? Keywords, Search Engine Optimisation, search terms, spiders, trafffic, H1 tags, listings, ranking, indexing, organic... If you are new to Internet marketing, it

When we think of getting everything done we usually think of TIME management. But it takes more than just enough time to get through your to-do list. It also takes ENERGY. Have you ever had something

Reading Romany's blog post about the passing of Anton made me think about how short life is and how we take what we have for granted. I know its a morbid topic, but I think the universe is sending me

Here in the UK we have a deeply engrained reserve and reticence about money, the etiquette and manners around it.  Often money is a taboo subject.  You don't tell people what you earn, you don't ask o

Anton Bosman recently attended one of my workshops in Cape Town and then connected with me online we got chatting and started planning some workshops in Mosselbay.  Anton was also a part of the Flight

  This was taken from The Times newspaper A 98 year old woman in the UK wrote this to her bank.  The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the Times. Dear Sir, I am writing to

  A High Street store uses its shop window to entice customers through its doors. Once safely inside a salesman will appear and strike  up a conversation. He'll watch for cues from the customer's body

Today I, once again, realised the value of social media. I added AVG (My anti-virus), as one of my "LIKE'S" on Facebook.  On this page they publish useful info about viruses and how to protect yoursel

It's taken a while for me to get this site to where I feel pleased with the results.  There are still a few tweaks here and there I want to make but for now it's time for me to take a breather but bef

Energy Vampires drain your spirit by depleting your positive energy, just like real vampires slurp blood. Energy Vampires – such as drama queens – leave you feeling drained and listless. The Energy Va

Back at the beginning of May, it was my birthday and I had one of the best weekends!  I took a few of my very best friends up on the mountain near home for a Boots, Backpacks and Bubbly celebration.

A lot of people want to know from me how to get their social media campaigns working. Firstly, it takes time and effort and more time because social media is all about building relationships.  If you

Ok... somebody tell me why the banks are allowed to advertise AT ALL?! They should all be banned because their ads are unrealistic and border on false advertising! one of the banks actually ask; "How

The big quote of the Soccer world cup.   I just love the enthusiasm and energy of the whole event.  What I don't like is the total disregard for good service during this period. Suddenly it became the

It's been such a busy two weeks... And with juggling business deadlines, I've found it impossible to manage all my social media activities.  I don't like making excuses ... especially about not being

I've just received the latest Social Media Flight Plan lesson. I've read through it and surprised that I am in the process of doing much in this lesson. So do I need it? Yes, I do.   We're in the pro

Just read an article by the New York Times, South Africans wonder what lies beyond the world cup. I was sad that I couldn't be in South Africa for this event and I'm no soccer fan at all but my frien

CAT TRANSPORT BOXES Very important on this analysis: All the prices are from a RETAIL SHOP – Midas. The cost, especially on materials can be cut almost in half when buying from bulk WHOLESALERS!   Cos

What do you think when you're looking for a product or service on the web and you find a web site that doesn't have any contact details except an email form?   I ask who is behind the web site. Is it

The Employment Creation Mission July 9, 2010 by waynebisset Concept to reality Everyone has ideas, thousands of them. Most leave it just there, an idea, and have a million and one reasons why they can

I have to say that I am very disappointed with the new government's attitude to Education.  Education is so vital for this country to succeed. For the Minister to make such a huge error is disgraceful

  Are you someone who 'owns' your creativity, or do  you shirk, shrug and say that creativity is just for 'arty' people?  If you run a business or have aspirations to set up some exciting projects, th

We are currently in the test phase of the social media flight plan, and I must say its been an interesting journey. We had our very first online chat last night, which took place via Skype because th

Intro's first. My name is Henry Kotzé, and I'm a winemaker. I know, it sounds like an AA confession, but in a way it is. I really love my job, making wine, it's a passion, and one that I've had for ye

Good service should be an intrinsic part of business. It makes sense to offer exceptional service to a first-time buyer or new customer, doesn’t it? After all, if you deliver bad service to a new clie

So now that the World cup is nearly over and it seems likely that either the Germans or the Dutch will take the cup (based purely on form thus far), I'd like to ask; 'What happened to all the rules ar

And what do other people think you look like? They can't tell if you don't have a good photograph. And many people in business still don't have a decent photograph of themselves. What do you need? Wh

It's been a bit of a crazy week this week.  Well a bit of a crazy past few weeks, working on lots of telesummits which are now all coming to a head.   Yay but would think that by next Monday I'll have

You’ve done all the right things. You set your goal, took action but somehow, somewhere along the line things didn’t work out and you didn’t get the results you wanted. It snowed. The supplier was lat

Is it just me or are other people tired of so many people going on adnausium about the so-called "rich" people and that government, the Tories, in particular don't cater for the so-called "working cla

Does your web copy bring you a flood of business? Or do web visitors pass you by? In an ideal world, we hope prospects spend time browsing through our site, checking out each page and reading every wo

The answer to the question in the title is no, copywriting is not about hype.  As a copywriter, it is my job to make your readers believe that your products and services are the ones they need. To do

Is it the hot weather or is there another reason for a plague of vague press releases?   Lately, as part of my journalist role, I've been receiving a lot of press releases that not only miss the occas