I have a dreadful little website associated with my company (I'm in the building/restoration  trade) which actually has a major impact on the work that I get so I've got to keep it going.
It tends to be the deciding factor on actually getting an estimate from me & I get most of the jobs I quote for so I have to get it right.
All my other advertising (yellow pages etc..) points you to my website and most of my potential customers go there to check me out so it's my best advertising tool as I can afford to have many pages of info.

However, I'm only a small business and I can't afford to pay someone to write copy for me or design pages, so I do everything myself - all the text, html, photographs etc.. on the site are basically my fault.

Anyway,  I've been redesigning my website & associated literature to be able to go after bigger jobs, although the new site is not online yet and I'm completely stuck on writing about this...

Basically, I've just completed a complete refit of a house for a married couple who have serious special needs. 
Strictly speaking the customer was the girls dad which I'm mentioning just so you don't think I go round taking on jobs from people incapable of making those kind of decisions.
It had to be gutted and sorted out so that they could be permitted to live there alone and I found out about 2 weeks ago that it is the first time in this country (the uk) that people with their particular needs will be allowed to live by themselves and there is a one off television programme being made about them living in this house I've just fitted out for them (basically everything except the roof and some of the exterior walls is down to me). which will be aired next year. Part of it will be (I'm told) about the house having to be rebuilt so it's free advertising for my business.

I don't want to play up the fact on my website that it is a refit for special needs customers as we do work for anyone and I think reading that might put off potential clients as they might get the impression we only work for disabled people, but I do want to include something along the lines of 
"Hey, I've done all this and it's on tv" without sounding really tacky.

That's where I'm well and truly stuck.
For some reason all I can think of is to write
"As seen on TV!"

Any ideas on how to include it?
I personally associate that line with nonsense like sponge sharpeners and rubbish exercise equipment, while my business tends to attract the kind of people who don't buy things on TV Shopping channels.
However, for completely illogical reasons I feel the need to mention that some of my works been on/going to be on tv.

I'd say 80% of my customers tend to be well educated, middle class people with internet access and dogs.
For reasons I can't explain, if my customers have dogs I always get the job - I'm currently in the process of building a set of dog proof sliding doors and dog proof wardrobes :-) (they've got really smart dogs that have worked out how to open the existing doors)
Of those at least 50% are likely to be retired.

They are the people who keep food on my table, so they are the people I want to like my text.
I've considered, but discarded as tragic the idea of putting anything related to dogs on my website as my customers seem to like dogs so much and decided to leave the whole dog owner = customer question as one of the great mysteries of the universe.

I've produced everything from stage sets for small companies, custom designed etched glass, jappaned work, repro longcases so good they've been mistaken for original by experts, plain old gut & install on new bathrooms or kitchens, custom designed & built secret rooms (my fav job to date was one of the secret rooms I've designed but part of the job is no photos of those sadly so I don't currently advertise them. They've all been word of mouth from one customer who's had one built to another) or individual pieces of furniture through to entire house gut & refits, so I do skilled crafts (wood, metal, glass) and general building (groundwork, bricklaying, wood, electrics, plumbing, plastering, tiling, painting)
I guess the most consistent thing you could say about what I do is that everything is a one off.

That's the kind of things my company does & the kind of people I'm trying to write text for.
All advice appreciated.

If anyone has any thoughts, ideas, advice or links to help me learn more about this kind of writing - promotional literature for a target audience kind of stuff - I'd love to have a clue where to start, instead of permanently wondering why anyone phones up after reading my tat.
Writing this kind of stuff really doesn't come naturally to me and I never know where to start.

Even just opinions on what kind of information you'd want to see if you were a customer is welcome.
I'll take any help I can get :-)

Thanks,
Shanna.

Although a wordsmith myself, I think a tag like: a picture speaks a thousand words, here's a few thousand.
Followed by pictures of your work. Feature dog safe doors, the HP house from TV, and some examples of your custom work.
Let your work speak for you.
Just a thought. Good Luck.
BJ

Nice thought BJ & thanks for the input - I've got about 40 photos of various projects up in a gallery format & additional images on every page, it's the words I'm having problems with :-)

"...produced everything from stage sets for small companies, custom designed etched glass, jappaned work, repro longcases so good they've been mistaken for original by experts, plain old gut & install on new bathrooms or kitchens, custom designed & built secret rooms (my fav job to date was one of the secret rooms I've designed but part of the job is no photos of those sadly so I don't currently advertise them. They've all been word of mouth from one customer who's had one built to another) or individual pieces of furniture through to entire house gut & refits, so I do skilled crafts (wood, metal, glass) and general building (groundwork, bricklaying, wood, electrics, plumbing, plastering, tiling, painting)
I guess the most consistent thing you could say about what I do is that everything is a one off."

You've written the words and you did not even realize it. so break it up:

We do custom work [picture A / B / C]

We do glass [pictures...]

We do "private work" [with in the limits of the law]

We do Artisan quality work...*

you get the drift?

The point is you have the seed of some very good copy and you've written it already... the problem is not the abiltiy to write the copy it is in your abilty to believe in yourself and your "product" enough...

Look at what you do. Are you proud of it? Then let the copy reflect that pride of workmanship. Use the photos to drive home the point that your custom artisan work is simple the best available for the type of work you do.

You don't have to be phoney or consider your self a phoney for showing off what your company can do...

joel

Thank you very much joel, that's actually very reassuring because you've hit the nail right on the head. (bad pun intended but too apt to not use)

I do feel completely phoney writing about being good at what I do, it seems like boasting or something.

Incidentally, most people require secret rooms to hide paperwork, computers and valuables in, nothing more interesting than that.

Hopefully it will be okay to post what I come up with in the forum next week and get some feedback.

Shanna :-)

I agree with Joel, and as for boasting. My Gran used to say, " if you don't toot your own horn no one will, just don't hire a brass band!"

How about something like this:

Our work was featured on [Channel]'s [Show Name] on [Date], highlighting the type of customizations we can bring to the most demanding jobs.

For example:

Our work was featured on BBC1's Incredible Workovers, last August the 24th. The show highlighted the exceptional workmanship we put into even the most demanding of home remodeling and customization jobs done in the area. Imagine what we can do for you.

Good luck with your business. Too bad you don't do work in the States. God knows, we could use some. ;-)
~jon