Taken

If you sometimes feel weak
  because you found The One:
The One whose face you see
  each time you close your eyes;
The One whose voice you hear
  within your thoughts each night;
The One whose touch is
  the one thing to make you feel whole
    - and they were Taken -
  you are not weak.

Dwell not on possibilities,
  on missed proposals and half chances,
    but draw strength in weaker times
      from the love of a friend.

For, Taken or not,
  for better and for worse,
    you are not weak, but lucky;
  for though your timing may have been
    a little off,
  you found The One
    - and that should be enough.

Technical Blogging

Blogging about technical subjects can be a challenge - particularly if your intended audience is not necessarily 'in the know'.

You might understand the intricacies of your topic, but that doesn't make it easy to put them across in words, and being too close to the subject matter can blind you to what's jargon and what's plain English.

However, it's often difficult to find a writer who can understand your industry and who can produce for you a block of text that is:
  • accurate
  • easy to understand
  • search-visible (or marketing-minded, for print publications)
Hire a Genius

The solution is pretty simple - just hire someone who's capable of quickly learning about your product or service, and who can write what you need without confusing your audience.

I've spent my entire life balancing my technical side with my creative side - at college I studied Maths, Physics and English, and at university I passed three semesters of a Physics with Astronomy masters before deciding I couldn't fight my desire to become a writer, and switching to an arts degree.

I'm a certified genius, a member of British Mensa with an IQ in the top 0.5% of the population, and still retain my membership of the Institute of Physics as a science writer.

What this means for you is that, if you're having problems blogging about technical subjects, you can just pay me to do it for you.

What I Can Do

I can write for any format - it doesn't have to be online. I've written print publications about everything from the wholesale wine and spirits trade in Scandinavia, to the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

Do I know all about these industries? No, of course not. But five years as a journalist after I graduated taught me the research skills needed to find out about a subject quickly, and get accurate content written in time for a deadline.

I still apply those skills on a daily basis, blogging across a frankly huge array of different subject areas for businesses and agency clients.

There are very few topics that I haven't at least touched on since 2006, so don't be afraid to ask if you need examples of my past work.

And I typically don't charge for research - if I need to spend longer learning about your industry, that's my problem, so I'd never raise my price because of it, with the rare exception of needing substantial, specific research in order to complete your project.

Still reading? You're probably at least slightly interested in what I can do for you, if so - please get in touch by email or on Twitter, and I'll happily discuss what you need with no obligations.

Penguin-Friendly Web Content

Last time around it was Panda - this time, it's Penguin that's got people panicking.

Google's latest update threatens to remove you from search results (or at least, from the top rankings) if your website content contains too many stuffed-in keywords.

Seriously, if you're worried about being affected by that, you've already missed the point of a decent website.

Starter Blogs for Businesses

It's no easy task to start a business blog, particularly if you have no web design experience. But for many small businesses, blogging is becoming an increasingly useful way to create brand identity, engage with customers and blog readers, and boost the number of inbound links coming into your main website.

Although I'm not a web designer, I have worked with several companies to create a blog presence for them, and I'm always happy to help anyone who's not sure how to start a business blog on a very limited budget.

With that in mind, I've put together my business blog starter pack.

The Phronesis Business Blog Starter Pack

OK, here we go. First, check my pricing page - the one place where I publish my current basic cost per 1,000 words of content.

Now, for the same normal price you'd pay for 1,000 words as an ordinary copywriting customer, I'm offering this to new small business blogging clients:

  • a basic Blogger template and URL
  • 2,000 words of blogging

You can think of that any way you like - half price content and a free blog template, or even cheaper content with a low-cost blog template, or... well, those are the two main interpretations, I guess.

More details below - but if you're interested and can't find the information you need on this page, please ask a question in the comments box below, or contact me via email or Twitter.

Details

The Blogger template I am offering is not entirely custom-made, but I can tweak one of the site's standard themes to match your company's colour scheme and typefaces used on your main website, and add your logo and other graphics.

I'm offering a very low-budget service here, so support is limited, but I will work to provide you with a fully functional blog template that will work perfectly well as a starting point.

What this gives you is a presence on Blogger, a Google-owned blogging platform, with inbound links to your main website, and a place to engage with your customers.

In terms of the content, I will provide you with 2,000 words of blog content as part of the package - you can specify how long you want your blog posts to be, and we can vary the length of each post as needed.

Even if you have no pre-existing SEO strategy, I will repeat key phrases within each post and choose the anchor text of any hyperlinks carefully for maximum SEO impact.

Blog to the Future

What happens when the 2,000 words run out? Well, I can continue to provide you with content at my normal basic rate, depending on your needs.

I will, of course, give you full access to the blog and transfer ownership to you once the invoice for the business blog starter pack is paid, so you can go it alone once the first batch of content is completed if you wish.

This is an unashamedly basic package for small businesses who might not be able to afford a blog presence any other way - I'm genuinely passionate about helping individuals, small e-commerce operations and starter firms to build their brand, so I hope I can help several of you to get started.

Disclaimer

This is a cut-price service, and creating your blog template will take me a certain amount of time. If I'm particularly busy with other work, I may be unable to take new orders for business starter blogs, just as I sometimes have to turn down offers of other work - if I'm unable to fit you in, I'll tell you as soon as possible after receiving your enquiry.