I am a professional copywriter having graduated with a 2.1 degree in English in 1986. I use my writing skills to craft beautiful Wordpress websites.

Taking the Man out of Manchester

Today, on a bright but breezy February Sunday, I opened the Trainline app and booked a day out in Chester. It's a city I've not visited for about 25 years, I reckon. When we lived in the Staffordshire Moorlands, Derby or Hanley were closer, but we made the occasional drive to Chester and I had

By |2024-02-04T17:49:22+00:00February 4th, 2024|copywriter, Guides, web design Manchester|Comments Off on Taking the Man out of Manchester

The top 5 regrets of the dying

"The Top Five Regrets of the Dying" by Bronnie Ware: 1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard. 3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. 4. I wish I had

By |2023-06-20T10:25:29+00:00June 20th, 2023|copywriter, freelance copywriter|Comments Off on The top 5 regrets of the dying

Memento Mori – remember you’re dying.

Memento Mori - remember you're dying. You and I probably had a morbid fear of death in childhood. I remember seeing my maternal grandmother die in front of me, my brother, sister, mother and father on Boxing Day 1972 when I was just seven. She was downstairs, bedridden with all sorts of chronic ailments from

By |2023-05-06T11:34:56+00:00May 6th, 2023|copywriter, Manchester|Comments Off on Memento Mori – remember you’re dying.

On living – with a nod to Socrates

In between walking, writing, web design, reading has become a new daily pursuit - mainly books about philosophy - because I'm trying to redesign my own life. When you think about life, it's a wonder so many of us manage to navigate through it. Socrates, no less, poisoned by suicidal hemlock after a jury found

By |2023-04-22T10:17:15+00:00April 22nd, 2023|copywriter, freelance writer|Comments Off on On living – with a nod to Socrates

Are you lazy or focused when working from home?

I remember distinctly the time in 2010 when I was allowed, as Assistant Headteacher in a school locally, to work from home one day a week. It was a Thursday and it was truly liberating. I could get up, walk the kids to school, walk home and start work on the timetable all day without

By |2021-12-28T13:11:46+00:00December 28th, 2021|copywriter, freelance copywriter, freelance web designer|Comments Off on Are you lazy or focused when working from home?

SEO copywriter freelance – clumsy title, great job!

SEO copywriter freelance I've been a reader and writer since early childhood. Had little published in childhood - apart from having work read out in class, assemblies and displayed on walls at primary and middle schools in Thorne, Doncaster. English has always been central to my life - I've always loved language, though I am

By |2021-01-10T12:28:49+00:00January 10th, 2021|News, copywriter, freelance web designer, SEO|Comments Off on SEO copywriter freelance – clumsy title, great job!

Will hiring freelancers become the new normal?

Will hiring freelancers become the new normal? Firstly, apologies for using the phrase “the new normal”. It’s a term I usually eschew, but the past year has seen new dictionary entries: furlough, Covid 19, Tiers and the new normal. What’s been more surprising this year is that the ranks of freelancers have swelled and it’s

By |2020-12-31T12:07:35+00:00December 30th, 2020|copywriter, Featured, freelance web designer, News|Comments Off on Will hiring freelancers become the new normal?

Content marketing and SEO packages – new for 2021

Content marketing and SEO packages - new for 2021 Firstly, I'll keep this shortish. 2020 saw demand rise for SEO and blogging services from me, after many were quoted Kipling "exceedingly high prices" from SEO copywriters and SEO experts. Content marketing and SEO can be expensive and you can be ripped off. This year, and

By |2020-12-29T11:18:53+00:00December 29th, 2020|copywriter, Content Writing|Comments Off on Content marketing and SEO packages – new for 2021

Sending out a SEO – message in a bottle

I'm old enough to remember groups like "The Police" and hits like "Roxanne" or "Message in a Bottle", but, to be honest, I don't think they've aged well, unlike say Prefab Sprout and "Steve McQueen." SEO has become the digital equivalent of an SOS or message in a bottle. You want to be found, You're

By |2020-11-15T12:15:15+00:00November 15th, 2020|SEO, copywriter|Comments Off on Sending out a SEO – message in a bottle

Goodbye teaching – I am officially retired now.

I remember childhood well; particularly school and the early stages of being a linguistic Nazi at 4, when I corrected Mrs Holiday's spelling on the first day there. She probably muttered "twat" afterwards but she praised me at the time and made a point of telling my mum, I was a genius, after school. Reading

By |2020-04-02T13:45:04+00:00April 2nd, 2020|copywriter|Comments Off on Goodbye teaching – I am officially retired now.

Repeat after me “I don’t do bosses”

Bosses are bellends Time to step over to the turntable of history and put on the old record "Bosses are bellends". Now clearly - not all of them. I've worked with some great people as my line managers in life - but 85% are probably bellends. It's partly why I left teaching as headteachers, the

By |2020-10-03T20:56:27+00:00February 12th, 2020|copywriter, News|Comments Off on Repeat after me “I don’t do bosses”

Copywriter earns well, dressed like a chav

How to make money as a copywriter dressed like a chav The grey tracksuited, puffer jacket wearing great unwashed rolling fags, eating badly, taking drugs and drinking too much: the chav. I'm a chav copywriter. I think. A roadman or wordman? Funnily enough, I fit into most of these categories - or used to.  I

By |2021-05-05T18:15:44+00:00January 19th, 2020|copywriter, News, web design|Comments Off on Copywriter earns well, dressed like a chav

Vegan balti in Birmingham after an epic train journey

January 2020 has started off with a bang and it won't be long before the Portfolio page is updated with 7 or 8 new website projects. I'm in Birmingham this week to discuss retained writing for a company and am quite excited for the Thomas the Tank Engine trek from Great Yarmouth to New Street.

By |2020-01-19T21:56:49+00:00January 12th, 2020|copywriter, Featured, News|Comments Off on Vegan balti in Birmingham after an epic train journey

Plant based, veganism – not as challenging as you’d imagine

I went for a totally plant-based diet, 3 months ago now, after six weeks of vegetarianism before this. Now I do like a bandwagon and gratefully jumped on this one - not because I don’t care about animal rights, but mainly because I watched “The Game Changers” on Netflix and I fell for the hype.

By |2020-01-05T20:08:59+00:00January 5th, 2020|copywriter, News|Comments Off on Plant based, veganism – not as challenging as you’d imagine

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah VAT Man

I was featured on The State of LinkedIn's Twitter feed, last week, for my LinkedIn status about officially being in the top 5% of earners and levying VAT. If it was meant to wound me, it did the opposite. I did laugh out loud that the 125,000 views of the LinkedIn status, the 1000 plus

By |2020-01-12T17:16:55+00:00December 5th, 2019|copywriter, News|Comments Off on Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah VAT Man

1460 days since I started this business – or 4 years

Quite a milestone today in that this business, Get Pro Copy Ltd, turns 4 Its genesis came about at a low point in my personal and professional life, when it became obvious that I had to find something new to do to save my sanity, and writing was the plan. I've always loved writing From

By |2019-12-05T09:15:32+00:00November 1st, 2019|web design, copywriter|Comments Off on 1460 days since I started this business – or 4 years

“Joker” – put on a happy face?

After two abortive attempts to watch "Joker" we got third time lucky today and managed to actually get tickets and see "Joker". It's a film set in the 80s with its issues firmly lodged in the here and now: societal breakdown and mental breakdown at its core. It's a beautiful, moving, dark elegiac journey into

By |2019-11-03T10:26:51+00:00October 24th, 2019|copywriter, News, Norwich|2 Comments

Get Pro Copy has had an autumnal makeover

This website is overdue a total makeover. It started off almost four years ago as a simple brochure site of 4 pages to showcase my copywriting services and it's since gone off on more tangents than a parliamentary Brexit debate (in a similar time span) Keep it fresh You see design and branding should never

By |2019-10-24T23:38:27+00:00October 23rd, 2019|web design, copywriter, Social Media Management|Comments Off on Get Pro Copy has had an autumnal makeover

Yesterday, Gorleston high street seemed so far away.

Gorleston, Gorleston-on-Sea, is a place we’ve now lived in for 11 years and quite frankly loved living in. It’s a town that’s changed beyond recognition from when we first upped sticks. We moved initially to Jenner Road, on the Paget Estate. This was followed by a long stint on Elmgrove Road, with so many architecturally

By |2019-09-15T07:50:01+00:00June 23rd, 2019|web design, copywriter, Great Yarmouth|1 Comment

Is Norwich city centre recession-proof?

Apart from Thorne, Doncaster, a place I spent 18 years in from birth to university, I've never remained anywhere as long as we've stayed in Norwich, Norfolk. I've had a few bad experiences here, in the recent past, in education, but even that, with hindsight, was a massive favour. I had fallen out of love

By |2019-09-15T08:21:40+00:00February 18th, 2019|web design, copywriter, Norwich|Comments Off on Is Norwich city centre recession-proof?

Was George right to shoot Lennie?

I realised when the reptilian Gove removed "Of Mice and Men" from the curriculum that my days were numbered in a classroom. I'd taught it for over 20 years and seen the old and newer versions of the dvd repeatedly. I realised too, when I set up this business, that the days of coaching students

By |2019-09-15T08:57:32+00:00January 9th, 2019|copywriter|Comments Off on Was George right to shoot Lennie?

Off to Paris at Christmas before Little Brexit Britain shuts down in March

I’ve never ever understood the mentality that Britain is Great. When we hop across to France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Italy, Spain et al, I have never once thought “not as nice as Scunthorpe” or “I prefer Oldham” or “Blackpool tower has better views.” No. That’s why the Brexit vote bewildered me. Okay it was predicated

By |2018-12-01T10:56:58+00:00December 1st, 2018|copywriter|Comments Off on Off to Paris at Christmas before Little Brexit Britain shuts down in March

Shrek – how to structure your content like Shrek

I've developed something of a resemblance to Shrek in recent years - the waistline has expanded big time, my grumpiness occasionally rears its head and I sometimes end up with clients who are donkeys: stubborn, answering back and reluctant to pay for work done. But, back in the day, I used to show "Shrek" on

By |2018-07-20T07:44:01+00:00July 20th, 2018|Content Writing, copywriter|Comments Off on Shrek – how to structure your content like Shrek

“Lorem Ipsum” be gone – use a proper copywriter

Ah Lorem Ipsum, or Lorem Ipsum Dolor (I think) if I'm feeling expansive - the beige text place filler that says put text here and a sight that many web designers and clients sigh over when they see it. Lorem Ipsum needs replacing you see. And that causes navel gazing and head scratching, because trust

By |2018-07-20T06:53:27+00:00June 27th, 2018|copywriter, web design|Comments Off on “Lorem Ipsum” be gone – use a proper copywriter

Will Alexa replace humans in the property industry?

I've switched gas and electricity suppliers in the past month in our new build from British Gas to EDF, mainly, sadly, to witness a Smart Home meter from Netatmo (supplied and fitted free) along with a free Amazon Echo. They're both impressive pieces of kit, and I think if I'd forked out £250 for them,

By |2018-06-15T14:46:57+00:00June 15th, 2018|copywriter|Comments Off on Will Alexa replace humans in the property industry?

Goodbye 2017, you were a fine and dandy year

2017 – the year of the Phoenix for me – the year I stopped looking back and started looking forward, and built on successful businesses, as well as developing new ones. Get Pro Copy became a Ltd Company with my wife asking for (and being refused) a shareholder role. That business has served me well

By |2018-01-01T12:57:51+00:00January 1st, 2018|copywriter|Comments Off on Goodbye 2017, you were a fine and dandy year

How to change from teaching to selling easily

When I first went into estate agency, I thought I had no eye for sales, as it wasn’t something I’d done all my career. After estate agency, setting up Get Pro Copy, I still had the same doubts. How could I convince people to pay for my services with writing or social media, when I’d

By |2017-12-10T21:14:36+00:00December 10th, 2017|copywriter|Comments Off on How to change from teaching to selling easily

London calling to the faraway towns.

I live in Bradwell, Great Yarmouth, a bungalowed suburb where Tim Burton could blithely film a sequel or prequel to “Edward Scissorhands”. It’s 200 miles from Manchester and 119 from London. Bradwell is in fact a nice place – but it’s awful for search terms. Why?

By |2017-10-02T18:57:32+00:00October 2nd, 2017|copywriter|Comments Off on London calling to the faraway towns.

Illy coffee is my new wine, and chain coffee is arse gravy

Illy coffee is my new wine, and chain coffee is arse gravy. Let’s just look at my daily caffeine intake: 6.45 I rise to shine to knock out a feeble boost of Earl Grey, and I ruin it by adding both sugar and milk – not to builder proportions but enough to drown the delicate

By |2017-09-19T09:42:14+00:00September 19th, 2017|copywriter|Comments Off on Illy coffee is my new wine, and chain coffee is arse gravy

Norfolk copywriter misses home and search volumes.

You’d think  after 16 months of deliberately ignoring Google searches for Norfolk copywriter, I’d be nowhere on that search engine. But despite my best efforts to ignore the search, I’m blithely sat today on the middle of page 2. I’ve blogged before about search volumes for London copywriter and Manchester copywriter, but never Norfolk copywriter.

By |2017-04-14T06:58:13+00:00April 14th, 2017|copywriter|Comments Off on Norfolk copywriter misses home and search volumes.

Copywriting sober: you see what it did to me.

Copywriting sober: you see what it did to me. Before Christmas, I had a lightbulb moment, an epiphany, a ground-breaking idea. I decided to get my life properly together and stop habitual consumption of alcohol. For good.

By |2021-05-05T16:42:48+00:00February 26th, 2017|copywriter, News|Comments Off on Copywriting sober: you see what it did to me.

Manchester copywriter, make the sun shine, online.

Manchester copywriter – how to make the sun shine, online. Ambitious title, perhaps, as we all know (well Mancunians at least) that the rain in Manchester is a fallacy?

By |2016-06-26T16:10:56+00:00June 24th, 2016|freelance writer, copywriter|Comments Off on Manchester copywriter, make the sun shine, online.

25 things I can do for your business

Meet Stuart Walton, freelance writer and copywriter, here listing 25 things I can do for your business. Read on.

By |2016-11-01T11:49:36+00:00June 17th, 2016|Content marketing A, Content Writing, copywriter, freelance writer, SEO, Social Media Management|Comments Off on 25 things I can do for your business

How to write, 5 great tips from a writer – teacher

Last week, I had yet another conversation about what I do now: eyebrows were raised, when I said I’m a writer, a freelance writer, a copywriter.

By |2016-01-18T10:20:36+00:00January 18th, 2016|copywriter, freelance writer|Comments Off on How to write, 5 great tips from a writer – teacher

Copywriter? What is a Copywriter?

So what is my role as a web content writer, what is a copywriter by definition?Words are everywhere - they dominate print and the web. We are influenced by words,moved by them and the right words to the right audience deliver the right results. I’ve always wanted to be a writer from the age of

By |2020-10-03T19:59:06+00:00October 7th, 2015|copywriter|Comments Off on Copywriter? What is a Copywriter?
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