copywriting

  • Every once in a while something crops up in the world of search marketing that really piques my interest. Caffeine, Hilltop, Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird and all those updates and refreshes in all their versions, if appropriate, are usually talked about ad nauseam and there’s often little to be added to the conversation because there’s nothing… Read more

  • Texas Joe Reigns in Dragons

    “Texas Joe Reigns in Dragons” was originally written by Paul Mackenzie Ross for the is4profit small business blog Last night’s episode of Dragons’ Den on BBC was a corker. We saw a pitch for an “umbrella” for a rotary dryer, an exercise mat that you can wear around your waist and yet another bid for… Read more

  • “StartUp Loans: Why Raising the Age Limit is So Desperately Needed” first appeared in the is4profit small business blog The first small business news story of the day today is that Lord Young, David Cameron’s Enterprise Adviser, wants to raise the age limit on StartUp Loans. This is a great idea and I’ll explain why… Read more

  • “Should SMEs Be Worried About the Demise of HMV?” was written by Paul Mackenzie Ross and first appeared in the is4profit small business blog The news this weekend has been filled with stories about the demise of HMV. That’s not to say that the store, founded in 1921, will totally disappear, but it has been… Read more

  • Are SMEs Being Encouraged to Level Up too Quickly? I’ll admit it; I’m not particularly good at computer games. When I played Halo on the original Xbox against one of my younger brothers I got shot. Lots. On the Nintendo Wii versus my junior-school daughter, her wrist-flicks fired off aces without a single “proper” serve.… Read more

  • “A SMART Business is a SMARTER Business” was first published in the business advice section of www.is4profit.com When looking for ways to improve your business one method of working is by using SMART objectives. First coined in a 1981 edition of Management Review, S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym/mnemonic for: S – Specific M – Measurable A –… Read more

  • “The Business Benefits of Marginal Gains”, written by Paul Mackenzie Ross, first appeared in the small business blog section of www.is4profit.com My Managing Director and I were discussing the subject of business performance and commercial efficiency the other day when he mentioned the recent story of the British Olympic Cycling team boss, Dave Brailsford. Read more

  • The Rise of Localism?

    A couple of days ago I read an interesting piece over on the BBC News website about Totnes in Devon; the town is soon to be home to a new branch of the national chain Costa Coffee. Now Costa Coffee is a brand that is well known in the UK with some 1,375 shops in this country,… Read more

  • Saving the Village Pub

    “Saving the Village Pub” first appeared on the www.is4profit.com small business blog. I don’t know if you saw Countryfile on the BBC last night, but there was an excellent feature on saving the village pub, that most important but often-overlooked small business. Read more

  • Independents Day 2012

    “Independents Day 2012” was originally written for the is4profit small business blog When I woke up this morning the first thing my American wife said to me was “Happy Independence Day”. On this day in 1776 the United States declared independence from Great Britain and the rest, as they say, is history. I told my… Read more