Author: Neil Wheatley

Copywriter since 2008, specialist in IT, software and video game marketing, dad to Wolfie and Rock.

When should you hyphenate? 5 things to know

To some they’re fussy and best kept to a minimum. To others, they’re a mark of precision and subtle meaning.

To me? Well, I’m a copywriter. So I try to use hyphens the same way I write everything – in the most reader-friendly way I can.

You might guess that puts me firmly in the “keep hyphens to a minimum” camp. But the copy I write also represents our clients’ businesses. It needs to be professional and correct.

This July, I’ll have been working as a copywriter for 10 years. Rightly and wrongly, I’ve typed an awful lot of hyphens in my time. Continue reading “When should you hyphenate? 5 things to know”

5 copywriting basics to get you started

Copywriting is fascinating isn’t it?

The idea that you could increase sales ten-fold, simply by using the right combination of words – it can seem like witchcraft. Or sophisticated manipulation, at least.

But good copywriting is really just a combination of fairly simple skills that, together, can produce incredible results.

Here are five core copywriting skills and methods, which are at the heart of everything we at Wheatleys write. Continue reading “5 copywriting basics to get you started”

How to plan and script your video game trailer

Writing a game trailer script for the first time? Worried your writing and formatting skills might not match your secret Hollywood ambitions – or that it’ll take more time than it’s worth?

Relax. Your script doesn’t need to be a great work of literature. You don’t even have to follow screenwriting conventions. You’re simply making a useful document, which will help you (and any collaborators) plan a brilliant trailer. Continue reading “How to plan and script your video game trailer”

You want to make a web quiz? You need to try Interact!

I love a good web quiz. They’re a fun way to pass a few minutes, and the best ones teach you something too.

A lot of people feel that way about quizzes, which is why they’re a great way for websites to interact with their users. Done right, a quiz draws in and qualifies new prospects. Everybody wins.

We’d never thought about making a web quiz for Wheatleys, because we assumed making one would either be a ton of work or an expensive bit of outsourcing. So quiz platform Interact was a real surprise, in the best possible way.

Now, full disclosure here: Interact sought us out, rather than the other way around. As I just said, I didn’t think quizzes were something we could do. But when Interact’s helpful marketing manager Jessmyn got in touch, it was the start of a great quiz-making experience.

Yes, this post is a bit of a plug. But if you’re thinking of making a web quiz you should read on, because Interact is genuinely a great way to do that. Continue reading “You want to make a web quiz? You need to try Interact!”

What do you get for £10 with Facebook ads?

We haven’t put much energy into our Facebook page so far, but for the sake of our own self-respect we’d like to increase our likes count (it’s currently around 70).

So we’re going to try some Facebook ads. We want to reach 200 likes for starters — a nice round tally.

I’ve used Facebook ads before. I found it simple to use and pretty good value. If you’re new to it, we’ll try to guide you through the process in this post. We’ll also share our own results. Continue reading “What do you get for £10 with Facebook ads?”

Is dlvr.it a good free social media automation tool? We tried it.

Wheatleys recently set up new social media profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter to go with our re-brand. Now we want to start posting useful stuff across all those profiles. It’s a time-consuming business, so we figured we should give social media automation a try.

We used to use TweetDeck to schedule and deliver our posts, but it now only works with Twitter. So, after reading this post on the best SM automation tools, we thought we’d give dlvr.it a try.

Ideally we want to manage all our social media profiles in one place — and for free. After our experience with dlvr.it, we’re not sure that’s possible… but we might have found another good solution.

Here’s what happened.  Continue reading “Is dlvr.it a good free social media automation tool? We tried it.”