• All the copy we write should have a ‘call to action’ – meaning, a section or
many sections that clearly and convincingly explain what we want the
reader to do and why they should
• Every document will have a headline and a subhead. Some documents will
have a ‘prehead’ as well which goes above the headline in a smaller font
size
• Unless otherwise specified use Calibri, 12 point font for body text
• Use multiple spacing at 1.2 for documents
• Paragraphs should not be indented with the tab key
• Body paragraphs should be justified
• Australian/British spelling is used and not U.S. spelling – eg. organisation not
organization – this must remain consistent throughout a document
• Small numbers in copy are usually spelled out eg. Seven not 7
• Big numbers, which might be used if quoting statistics for example, are not
spelled out eg. “50 000 employers said…”
• If you’re going to use an ellipsis in text, it is only three dots eg. ‘So…’
• Don’t overuse ellipsis or exclamation marks in your text – they are annoying
to readers.
• We use an em dash (—) with no spaces either side as standard, not an en
dash (–). Em dash is done by pressing the - button twice and then pressing
enter. Be careful because Microsoft Word will sometimes automatically
change them
• You can use ‘And’ or ‘But’ or ‘So’ or ‘Because’ at the beginning of a
sentence in sales copy because it is closer to the way people talk and
therefore easier to read – however, if you’re writing something formal it’s
better to avoid doing this (particularly in documents for professional
readers)
• Prices are written in numbers eg. $34
• Be careful with: Your and you’re; its and it’s; their, there, they’re; to, too,
two
• Bold/underline/italicise words or phrases that are important every now and
then
• You can add shading behind a paragraph of text by clicking format, borders
and shading, and going into the shading menu
• You can use:
breakouts
as little subheadings to break up your text as well, which makes it easier to
read. These breakouts should be interesting phrases or something that
General Info:
• All copy, except White Papers, must have the three meta-tags written when
you submit work. These are required for SEO purposes. They will be
explained in more detail later
• Don’t save multiple versions of the same document – save over your old file
so there is only one version. If you need to keep the old version for
something, put the word OLD in front of the filename
• Put a date after your document name when saving – the formatting of the
date should look like this: 010609 (& this would mean the first of June 2009)
• Whenever someone gives you work for the online environment, you must
know the keywords which are relevant to that client. If you don’t know
where to find these/what they are, ask Lincoln
• All files must be saved on the LC drive (formerly called the S drive)