Writing Samples

Here you will find a selection of text from website pages I created for different industries, plus general business articles from newsletters and pieces related to website content and online marketing. I also worked as the copywriter for websites for Weldex Energy Services, Landscape Artisan,and the Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference., You can also see writing samples at Dark Roasted Blend, Ezine Articles, The National Writing for Children Centerand of course on my blog, where new content is posted on a regular basis.

Websites

Allen Berg Racing Schools

Here is a sample from my work for the Allen Berg Racing Schools website. I also composed the voiceover script for the accompanying video, seen on the home page and also on YouTube

Accelerate Your Adrenaline with the Ultimate Rush

World Class Racecars - World Class Instruction - World Class Experience

Whether you’re looking for that once in a lifetime experience, a high performance driving environment, or seeking to expand your motor sports career opportunities, Allen Berg Racing Schools (ABRS) has a program for you. ABRS also serves the business entertainment market in Canada’s hottest economic environment, providing high quality and professional corporate motor sports events.

Allen Berg Racing Schools, located in Calgary, Alberta, is the only Racing School in North America to feature a former Formula One Grand Prix driver as an active chief instructor. Founder Allen Berg has enjoyed considerable success in professional motorsports in over thirty years in the racing business, including driving, team ownership and management, plus extensive driver instruction and coaching at the international level, unprecedented in Western Canada.

Unlike all other racing Schools, ABRS utilizes state of the art formula cars incorporating full carbon fiber chassis, five speed sequential gearboxes, radio communication between drivers and instructors and on-board “Data Acquisition” computers. ABRS has permanent facilities located on site at Race City Speedway, the only professional auto racetrack in Western Canada.

Allen Berg Karting Schools utilizes authentic world championship caliber racing karts and motors and is situated at the adjacent Calgary Kart Racing Club’s 1.2 km kart track.

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned professional, craving the ultimate thrill ride for yourself or investigating incomparable events for your employees, Allen Berg Racing Schools can provide the experience of a lifetime.

Contact us to schedule your personal adrenaline rush.

Travel Industry Web Pages

Tantalizing Tours Bring You the Best of Italy

The world’s most romantic country has so much to offer and in 2005, we are proud to present spectacular tours, bringing you the very best of Italy. Experience all the history, culture and breathtaking beauty of the eternal city of Rome and the Vatican. Take a trip back in time in the narrow streets of the renaissance city of Florence, home to many of the world’s most memorable works of art. Marvel at the magnificence of Venice, truly one of the wonders of the world. Visit Verona, the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, or behold the exquisite charm of Sienna, nestled high in the Tuscan hills. Immerse yourself in the vibrant, cosmopolitan city of Milan, or take a break in the stunning mountain setting of Lake Garda in the Italian alpine region.

Welcome to our world-class surf destination

We offer full service sailing charters with experienced guides allowing you to fully enjoy your time both in and out of the water. Your surfing adventure can be as diverse as you desire - take the wheel of a sail boat, try game fishing, spot dolphins, watch whales in the surrounding ocean or just chill out, surf and enjoy. Our charters are equally suitable for families and groups of friends. Explore Pacific islands with white sand beaches and virgin jungle. Take an eco tour in nearby National Parks, teeming with monkeys and exotic wildlife. Watch spectacular sunsets and sunrises. Enjoy boat tours through clear waters filled with turtles and tuna.

If you’re searching for an unforgettable surfing experience, fabulous game fishing, eco-tourism in an unspoiled setting, whale watching or tropical island exploration, make us your next destination.

Costa Rica

We are the acknowledged leaders in travel packages for individuals, groups, charters and incentive travel to Costa Rica for over thirty years.

Guests may choose from a variety of packages allowing then to explore the magnificent attractions of the jewel of Central America, from active volcanoes to fragile rainforest, spectacular waterfalls, beautiful, unspoiled white sand beaches, horseback riding, boat tours and river rafting adventures. Experience the pure adrenaline rush as you swing from tree to tree in the canopy in Tura BaRi Natural Park or visit spectacular Carara National Park, teeming with exotic wildlife, such as macaws, toucans, crocodiles and iguanas.

General Business Articles

Scary Stuff!

It’s a familiar time of year. Orange is the most prevalent colour as the retail sector immerses itself in another Halloween season. Ghosts, ghouls and goblins are in evidence everywhere, and it’s also a scary time of year at your office, The contents of your in tray have grown to monstrous proportions. You are horrified at the volume of your incoming e mail, all related to tasks you can’t ignore. A project deadline that once seemed so far away is now terrifyingly close. A glance at your calendar makes your scream, as you see more appointments than you can possibly handle.

Time management is a vital part of life today, whether in our business or personal affairs. Countless books have been written on methods to best manage your time and the Internet has numerous sites offering tips and recommendations to help you stay ahead of the game. Good organization can increase business, reduce stress, and improve your personal quality of life. If you’re struggling to keep up with everything, you need to look at ways to manage your time more efficiently.

Time management skills are among the most common attributes of successful people. Those who utilize such techniques are generally the highest achievers in all walks of life, in business, in sport or public service. If you can learn to manage your time, whether at work or in your personal life, then you will be able to function effectively, even under intense pressure.

To be an efficient time manager, you need to concentrate on results, not simply on being busy . Your week may involve an endless frenzy of activity, yet on Friday afternoon, you discover that you’ve achieved very little because you weren’t concentrating on the right things.

Staying in touch

You’ve worked really hard on a particular client for a long time, but now finally the deal is done. Once the sale is made, it’s tempting to move on and focus solely on new prospects. It is advisable, however, to stay in touch with previous customers too. After all, you’d like them to buy from you again and to tell everyone they know how happy they are with your service. Satisfied customers can even be a great resource if your company is creating new products or services. Their input can be an important factor in the development of your future marketing efforts.

A monthly e newsletter can help you to stay connected to the people you do business with. Some companies use direct mail or greetings cards during the holiday season. Others make personal calls periodically or deliver gifts. Some hold golf tournaments or invite their customers to join them at sporting events. Whatever method or methods you use, remaining in touch with your clients is an aspect of your company’s operation that you can’t afford to ignore.

Remember ‘word of mouth’, that all-important, yet hard to quantify form of advertising? In a high tech age, it’s often all too easy to forget the things that made the business world go round in years gone by. Despite the advantages the worldwide web brings, don't neglect the personal touch.

You have a website, do the majority of your communications with clients via e mail and even have an auto responder on your site. Your website statistics tell you where customers are coming from, along with an indication of who you should be marketing yourself to. You may even have stopped having brochures printed altogether. It’s all so easy, yet don’t abandon business mixers, after hours Chamber of Commerce meetings, taking valued clients for lunch and good old fashioned networking. They all still have an important role to play and if you do it right, it may even be what sets you apart from the competition.

General Articles on The Internet

E Commerce - Here to Stay

Billion of dollars are being spent online each year around the globe, as more and more companies take the plunge into the web. Consumers are becoming more trusting when considering online purchases and are using credit cards in ever-increasing numbers. With today's encryption technology, online transactions are in fact far more secure than using a credit card over the telephone. Any company putting off trading online is placing their business in serious jeopardy as sales via the web continue to skyrocket.

If you decide to utilize e commerce, you could be seeing hundreds or even thousands of visitors in your online store each week. Your sales figures could double or even triple within just a few months. The Internet is an exciting and thriving place to do business, for both retailers and consumers alike. E commerce is now considered both easy and secure. If the competition is already doing it, why aren't you?

Sounds Good?

Shakespeare said that music was the food of love and music has certainly been a powerful force throughout history. In the modern world of the Internet, music can also have a profound effect.

Sound on your website is a big consideration and not one to be taken lightly. You may think it's really cool for your site to play a sound every time a particular button is pressed, but others might not feel the same way. Any visitor that arrives at your site in an office environment, for example, is likely to immediately shut down a page that plays music, or indeed any sound, at the click of the mouse. If people are unproductive at work, they don't want everyone in the office to know what they're up to.

You have to appreciate too, that whether your site is being viewed in North America, Europe, Asia or anywhere else around the globe, musical tastes are vast. While some visitors will love your site, others will hate it. Some browsers also still have difficulty and can crash when they encounter large sound files. If music isn’t an integral part of what your company does, it’s best to examine all the benefits and possible pitfalls before you decide to incorporate sound into your website.

The Road to Nowhere

Some companies try to include as much information as possible on their website by using links to avoid making the pages too text-heavy. This can involve either a link to a lengthy document, technical specifications of a product or simply a link to an affiliated site.

However, these sites are ones that you typically have no control over, and it’s vital that you check those links as often as possible. On occasion, sites can be out of service, but links may also be permanently broken. Your customer gets an error message and if you’re lucky, they may try the link again. However, it’s more likely they will simply forget it. It’s not your site that’s the problem, but it was you who asked the customer to go elsewhere for more information. If you’re going to utilize links from your site, make sure you check them yourself regularly and avoid sending your customers on the road to nowhere

The Tortoise and the Hare

We’ve all been to websites that take too long to load. Web pages traditionally should take no more than ten seconds to appear fully. Any more than that and boredom sets in. No matter how much the visitor wanted to find out more about you, he or she has moved on.

While it’s not always a bad thing to have a slower site, if you do have something that you know will take a while to appear, make sure you tell the viewer at the outset. You should then give them something to read while it is happening, which will make the wait less obvious. A few ‘did you know’ captions are a good way to hold their attention and make sure they’re still watching when the key message appears on screen.