Do what I do, not what I say

Just been asked to give a web site a quick overview to see why it's not attracting many visitors, or turning visits into sales.

Reviewing someone else's business really reminds you of things you should have done for yourself...

1. Think hard about the name of your business. Our name – Wrightwell – seemed like a bit of fun when we coined it 20 years ago. After all, I do write well, IMHO. But:

• it's very easy to misspell, and the last thing you want is customers being directed to a site of similar name but different spelling (especially if that's a competitive site!) or just not finding you at all

• it's at the end of the alphabet – disastrous for directories!

2. Think hard about your customers. It's so easy to write a web site explaining what you do. Much harder to put together content focused on what your customers need. But if you look at it that way round, it will be much easier to determine the keywords you need in your copy so that potential customers find you.

Corporate e-books could be the next big thing

Once upon a time, getting published was tough. Now everyone can say what they want to say on the Internet.

Only got time for a few pithy words? Tweet on Twitter. Want to pontificate, inform or rant on a regular basis? A blog like this one is great. And now, you can publish your thoughts at length, in an e-book.

Today there are one million e-book readers at large on the Internet. In just five years, sales are going to grow 30-fold, according to a report from In-Stat. With e-books becoming commonplace, this is too good an opportunity for marketeers to miss, says BizReport, especially with rumours that the likes of Amazon will allow advertising in their books.

Of course, asking busy people to add book authorship to their job descriptions is likely to get nowhere. That's where expert copywriters and business journalists who can build a rappour with content owners, ask the right questions in the shortest time, and get ideas to publication can really help.