michael

DOES YOUR WEBSITE TURN CUSTOMERS AWAY?

Just as personal appearance can be ruined by a shabby pair of shoes a website will lose its impact if the English copy is poor. Website content is often spoiled by schoolboy howler text. Would you trust a service provider who can’t spell? Do your really want your gas–fired heating system fitted, or your wheel nuts tightened by a bloke who hasn’t yet figured out his own language?
Sentences are often far too long and the marketing message quite frankly is cringe-making. The classic example of spoiling a ship for a ha’porth of tar, yet modifying a website’s poorly written content is invariably less than a mere 50€.
Freelance journalist Peter Clayton says: “Many websites are technically excellent but are let down by the poor standard of English text.” Company Director, Alex French agrees: “How guilty are we of disregarding a website for looking cheap and unprofessional no matter what the quality of their product or service?”
Michael Walsh is a freelance journalist. His columns and articles appear in the United Kingdom’s premier lifestyle abroad magazine, A Place in the Sun. He writes for the English-language media from Peñíscola to Cadiz.
Drawing on thirty years of writing and marketing experience he modifies websites to a standard that is easier for English speakers to understand. He is also able to add marketing flair to copy.
By doing so he makes a product or service more appealing to potential clients whilst improving the professional image of a business or service.
Invite Michael Walsh to check your website. If he thinks it is professional and no further attention is needed, he will tell you. If it needs improvement he will explain by example and suggest a modest fee for giving it his attention.

__________________
Unskilled Authors Wanted http://www.michaelwalsh.es/

baldilocks

Perhaps you should point this out to the A.H. guy who does the "Spanish news" posts on here - his English is atrocious.

dunmovin

nearly as bad as his geography--- Gibraltar..an island.... sheesh

baldilocks

Michael, your Avatar looks almost a dead ringer for Dr Desmond Morris

valenciaholiday

text on websites needs to be "optimised" for the search engines, so quite often the wording is not "wat it oughta be" because they are using "keywords" for the SEO of the page. Do you take this into account?
(ps, there is a spelling error in your ad)

Valerie

I don't think the problem is keywords. It's about bad grammar, bad spelling, commas in the wrong places. It's about people not realising that writing is a skill and has to be learned and honed and practiced. The net is awash with absolutely abysmal writing. It never ceases to amaze me how people will pay good money for design and pictures and so on, but think they can do the writing themselves rather than pay a professional to do it or at least to edit and polish. It's exactly the same as what we've been saying about translation. If you think a professional is expensive, wait till you try an amateur.
Above all, bad writing is really a form of lack of respect for the customer.
Valerie

baldilocks

Hear Hear!

Valerie

Hear hear!!!
Valerie

calpe1stop

Sorry couldn't resist!!!!!!!!!!!!

bakeja

Valerie _ I agree wholeheartedly with the thrust of your comments and I always take time to write even my quickie blogposts in good English (although mistakes are inevitable - I'm not Stephen Fry). However I think it's more about presenting yourself in a professional light than showing respect for your customers who rarely reciprocate, even with a word of thanks for a personally written email supplying valuable free information or advice.

I saw a website recently pitching a service "helping with Spanish bureaucracy", the latter word being spelt wrongly twice, in different ways, on the same page. A lot of people will think, based on that one error, that the writer is not a serious professional and click away.