James Betts

Copywriter

United Kingdom

The greatest burden of a writer is the need to understand. To understand what you’re writing about, to understand how to make your writing great, and to understand yourself. It’s also the greatest blessing. Fifteen years of writing has taught me a lot, but one lesson stands out: always be understanding.

Portfolio

Websites

Y Solar, website via Yell
Free electricity is within your reach. Get solar panels | Y Solar

The brief for this website specified for a focus on the economic savings of solar over the environmental benefits, but I advised that the latter should be included as it may encourage those on the fence over the potential savings. Resources were provided, and additional independent research into solar energy was undertaken to have a better grasp on the subject matter in order to talk around the points, as a thin amount of copy was unlikely to appeal given the product.

First Connect Ltd, website via Yell
Complete home and property security in Norwich | First Connect

The brief for this project required that the design and copy for the website be based in reassurance and soft selling as opposed to highlighting the dangers of not having security systems. The copy and images were selected in tandem between myself and the designer, in order to balance the site, although the selection of stock photos for security systems tends to be more 'Big Brother-y', which led to a more generic selection. We were particularly proud of the main home page image and copy.

Caerphilly Skips, website via Yell
Caerphilly Skips

The brief for this website requested that the website be straight-talking, USP-led, and light on copy. Post-live stats indicated that over 30% of visitors to the website were calling the business, and the customer reported an overall uptake in the number of calls their business was receiving. The meta-data for this website has since been edited, but the body copy remains intact.

Blog Posts

Personal Blog
11/22/2011
Video Games and Free WIll

I’ve often heard people recite the dogma of “the book is better”. Now, barring that discussion, I’d like to talk about a completely different media where the same is said: video games.