It’s been a bit of a strange week. Having arrived back from holiday on Sunday, I feel like I’ve been playing catchup for the past few days.

No matter – I’ve still managed to spot a few things you might find interesting. One or two of these might date back a month or so – I just noticed them late ’cause I’ve been away:

• Design agency CX Partners has taken issue with the view that you need to get all your important content above the fold on a web page. In a convincing blog post they explain how people really handle scrolling and what you can do to encourage them to explore your pages further.
• I posted about an error message myself recently, and at Perishable Press there’s some good advice about how to make your site’s “page not found” message more useful and friendly. It gets technical in the middle, but make sure you scroll to the great examples near the end.
• Are you giving National Novel Writing Month a go this year? Me neither, but it’s inspired Merlin Mann to dispense some no-nonsense advice about how to start writing– and keep at it. (I appreciate the irony in linking to a blog post which advises not reading too many blog posts, but he makes some good points.)
• I’ll leave you with a handy guide to using apostrophes (found via Sonja Jefferson on Twitter). If you’re a professional writer you shouldn’t need it, but it might be handy next time someone asks you a grammar question. Bored? Check out the source code on that page as well.

This week I’ve mostly been reading about usability, excessive flying and events for writers that are happening vaguely near me. Here goes…

• If you’re anything like me, you probably feel odd consulting an online dictionary instead of an old skool printed one. Well, Slate has a good piece about the symbiotic relationship between search engines and online dictionaries – and how easily it could be unbalanced.
• Are you in Brighton or Oxford? I’ve spotted new events for writers in these creative cities. WriteClub is an informal gathering where Brighton writers can meet each other. And Ben Werdmuller organised the first Oxford Writers’ Group last week. I think the next one’s penciled in for 19 October, but check Ben’s site for more information.
• Usability consultant David Hamill has written a really good article about, er, usability. He uses some easy to follow, practical examples to explain what usability is about and why it matters. Go on, have a read. (I found this piece via Helen Baker on Twitter.)
• Finally, a chap called Brendan Ross is spending a month flying from place to place in the States. He’s bought an unlimited pass with the airline jetBlue, aims to never leave airline property and is writing about the experience for Wired magazine. It’s an entertaining read, if not particularly aimed at us writers.

I had an interesting conversation with a prospective client recently. They’re fairly new to the process of building a website and our discussion got me thinking about how much value a good copywriter actually offers.

As I explained what my copywriting service includes, I realised that much of what I take for granted hadn’t occurred to this client at all. That’s not unusual, and not a criticism – after all, my clients aren’t generally writers. That’s why they need my help.

However, there’s a common misconception that copywriting is just chucking words on a page and that anyone with a half-decent grasp of the written word can do it. Well, it isn’t. And they can’t. So here are six things of real value that should get when you commission a good web copywriter:

• Someone who understands that writing for the web is different to writing for other media – and then puts that knowledge into practice. Pasting a company brochure onto your website just isn’t going to cut it.
• An expert who takes time to understand what your website’s about, what your brand represents and what you’re trying to achieve. Everything they write should reflect these things.
• A willingness to challenge. You’re buying the expertise of a copywriter – a good one will say if they think your approach is wrong. (And then follow it anyway, if you can’t be convinced.)
• A bit of flexibility. When you build a website, things change as they come to life. And that usually means the copy needs changing too. It happens a lot. Because of this, you should get some flexibility when your site build doesn’t quite stick to the plan.
• Basic search engine optimisation, so your site has the foundations for a good ranking on Google. Generally, it means supplying good metadata (hidden information at the top of web pages), logical link text and keyword-rich content as standard.
• Attention to detail. Your copywriter should be happy to tweak titles so they fit on one line, edit paragraphs so they wrap nicely, and make sure terminology and capitalisation is consistent. These things really make a difference overall.

So you see, when you commission a copywriter, you really should expect more than a slapdash bit of writing on the page. They should take the time to understand where you’re coming from, then work to get you where to want to go – all the while applying their considerable knowledge and expertise to the task at hand.

That’s what makes good web copywriting worth paying for. And why it takes experience to be able to do it well.