Usable Words

When I started in business a few months ago, I decided to operate under my own name. It wasn’t so much that I loved the idea of being my own brand; it was more that I couldn’t think of a name that really captured the kind of business I wanted to be. So many copywriters’ business names were, I thought, just lame – wincingly bad puns, or try-hard attempts to be “writerly”. If anybody should have a kick-arse brand name or nothing, I thought, it was a copywriter. So for want of anything better, I became Angus Gordon, Copywriter.

Then, one night, I suddenly sat up in bed (the way you do). I won’t pretend I yelled “Eureka!” but I certainly thought it. Usable Words just seemed to encapsulate everything I stood for. On top of that, it was four easily remembered syllables. Talk about pithy! With trembling hands I got onto the net and checked for the domain name: bingo! It was available – not just the .com.au, but to my surprise the .com as well. So Usable Words was born.

Why “Usable Words” though? Sure, it’s easy to remember, but what does it mean? I’m hoping that will be obvious to some of my readers, but I’m going to spend a few posts teasing it out for everyone else.

Of course, one of the things it means is that the words I write are “usable” by the people paying for them – businesses can use my content to turn people into customers.

But the most important idea I want to get across is that my words are usable by the people who read them – the customers, or potential customers, of the businesses who are my clients. That’s where the “optimised for human beings” idea comes from (as well as being a dig at the idea that the most important thing you can do with web content is optimise it for search engines).

I’ll be saying a lot more over the next few weeks about how your customers and prospects use your words, and what you can do to make those words more usable. If you want to make sure you don’t miss out on any of my posts, I’d encourage you to sign up for a free email or RSS subscription to this blog. Look at the right hand side of this page for easy ways to do this.

The (even more) self-indulgent bit

Apologies for getting all Oscar acceptance speech on you, but there are some people who’ve been instrumental in the success of my business so far, and I want to say thanks. Look, it’s my blog, OK?

Stuart Steel from Acorn Web Studio has been a mentor, a business associate, a friend and so much more. Without Stuart’s help and advice, there’s every chance that at this moment I’d be playing Solitaire and wondering if I’d ever get a client.

Susan Cowan from Communication Design, web strategist to the stars, has also become a good friend and ally. In the next few months, Stuart, Susan and I will be embarking on a new venture that I’m pretty excited about. Stay tuned for details!

Everyone at the Carlton chapter of BNI has also been enormously supportive. Don’t forget offline networking, people! If you’re looking for a group of people who will take an active interest in promoting your business, BNI is well worth looking into.

Michael from Salt and Pepper Pixels is responsible for my great new logo. Within the next few months I should have a website that will do it justice! (Yes, I do know what I’ve got up at the moment, especially the static pages, is Ug. Ly. What can I say, learning CSS is on my to do list.)

Michael was a fellow participant in the Commonwealth Government New Enterprise Incentive Scheme. If you have a business idea and you think you might qualify for NEIS, go for it – apart from anything else, it forces you to develop a business plan, which in itself puts you ahead of most other startup businesses.

Other fellow NEISies who’ve become valued friends include Bronwen Hyde (a brilliantly creative photographer, check out her amazing self portrait series), Georgia Goudy (taking over the world, one Scratch and Sniff greeting card at a time) and feng shui guru Filiz from InfiniteU (her website will be there one day, I’m sure). Thanks too to my wonderful mentor Sue Fry (she doesn’t have a website).

The orchestra’s playing me off, so I’d better stop there. Friends, family and customers, you’re all fabulous, and you know who you are.

Image: powerbooktrance