Katie Dimario

  • How can you support your local businesses without spending a cent?

    Did you know you can help support your favourite local businesses without actually spending any money?

    Google reviews can help small businesses thrive

    Think about what local businesses you use regularly.

    • Have you had a fabulous meal at a local restaurant?
    • Has a shop assistant gone out of their way to help you?
    • Maybe you’ve bought a locally produced product and you absolutely love it.

    Why not take a few moments and leave them a Google review?

    What is a Google review?

    It’s a quick and easy way to support local businesses without spending extra cash.

    Many businesses will have a Google Business Profile (formally known as Google My Business). It’s a free listing on Google where businesses can list all their information, including:

    • Location
    • Contact details including a website
    • Info about their products and/or services.

    It’s also a way for customers to leave feedback that is open for anyone to read.

    How does it work?

    The more reviews a business has, (good and bad) the more the Google bots will find it a reliable profile. This means they are more likely to be ranked higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).

    The higher a business is on those SERPs, the more likely people will find them.

    So in other words, leaving a review on a local business’s Google profile will help other people find them and hopefully increase their customer base.

    Improving a business’s visibility online as well as helping local people find awesome local businesses for all their purchasing needs. Think of all the good karma you’re creating!

    How to leave a Google review

    If you want to leave a review but not sure what to do, never fear! Google explains how to leave a Google review.

    If you’re a local business and want to get in on this googly goodness, Google is here for you too. Find out how to set up your Business Profile on Google and follow their simple steps.

    Or if you need more practical help, contact me and I can help you to pimp your profile and get those google juices flowing your way.

    So, which businesses are you going to leave a review for?

  • Why should you use a copywriter?

    Thinking about using a copywriter?

    Many people wonder why they should use a copywriter for their content creation. Obviously, I am biased and would always recommend you use a professional where possible to do the tasks you struggle to complete.

    I am living that statement right now as I work on my own branding and web content.

    Why is it that you can be so positive about other people, but when it comes to saying nice thingsin relation yourself, many of us trip and fall at the first hurdle?

    That’s how I find it. I am the first person to say confidence-boosting things to my friends but can’t seem to say them about myself. It’s as if I have no confidence in my own positive bits.

    Confidence is key

    Being a copywriter and starting my own business is helping a lot with that. You need to have confidence in yourself if you are going to succeed. You will never get clients if you think you aren’t good at what you do. If you don’t believe in yourself, why should anyone else?

    Thankfully, I love writing. Whenever I’ve shared little poems, stories or helped someone re-write a letter or their resume, people have been so full of praise, I’ve taken on the compliments and let it drive me to where I am now. Now I have a whole heap of testimonials that cheer me up if I ever feel less than awesome about my abilities.

    Working as a copywriter

    Being a freelance copywriter ticks so many of my boxes and I can’t quite believe I am getting paid to do something I love. Yes, I need to continually develop my techniques, skills etc. but does that ever end? Anyway, it’s something I want to continually improve upon so it’s not exactly a chore to me. The word nerd in me is excited to start The Recipe for SEO Success so I can improve on my SEO copywriting services.

    But I tell you what, writing about myself is HARD! Saying nice things about myself and my business is hard. It’s a strange thing to admit as a copywriter but finding the right words to describe me is proving tricky.

    I don’t want to sound like I’m boasting. “OOO Look at me, Look how awesome I am.”

    But at the same time, I need to show confidence in myself. “Yes, I am the right kind of awesome for your business.”

    So, instead of beating myself up and agonising for weeks on end, I have sought the services of a professional.

    Professional content

    Little Design Farm is a beautiful boutique graphic design company in Western Australia.

    It has the quirky side that I like and the brand colours are bold which appeals to me.

    It’s also run by the beautiful Deb who just gets what I am about and what I am trying to achieve with my business.

    Little Design Farm ready to cultivate my ideas

    I am slowly working through her branding brief and logo development but even with those templates, I am finding it hard to write actual nice words about my brand because I am linking it too closely with myself.

    • If your business was a celebrity, who would it be and why?

    I assume saying Danny DeVito because he is small, dumpy and weird looking isn’t the right way to view my brand.

    • If your business was an animal, what breed would it be and why?

    I suppose a sloth doesn’t give the right image to potential clients.

    • Who is your target market?

    Erm, nice people? Too broad?

    • Ten words that best describe your company.

    Not boring. And eight other words that are professional sounding.

    Better together

    After our initial meeting and subsequent discussions with Deb, we are creating a logo, branding, and any other creative content we think will be needed as my business grows. Working with someone experienced in the area of branding will ensure I stop making it all about me and focus on what is important; my business, my skills and my experience. (I’m sure she will have some nice things to say about me too though!)

    Using another professional to help me move forward isn’t being lazy, it’s about understanding where my strengths are and focusing my time there instead of struggling to do something and making things harder for myself than they need to be. It’s also about appreciating the talent of other professional creatives out there.

    So if you’re now thinking “I need a copywriter”, drop me a line so we can get your creative content flowing and help make your business shine. You deserve to focus on your strengths.

    To paraphrase Vidal Sassoon, “If You Look Good, We Look Good.”

  • Our Autism Life and My Two Big Cs

    I follow a few Autism-focused blogs. Like the Autism Spectrum, there are many many different blogs, all with a different viewpoint. It can be very reassuring to read about someone else’s struggles that are similar to your own. It is also good to be able to celebrate with them with huge milestones which to others might seem insignificant.

    Three Little Birds and Finding Cooper Voice are two of my favourites and a while back they both showed me exactly why I like them.

    They talked about two parts of Bear’s Autism that I struggle with the most. It’s nice to read that other parents feel the same and openly talk about it so that I am not left feeling like a bad person.

    Autism and Compartmentalisation.

    Three Little Birds posted on the 19th of April how her son compartmentalises his life. She talks about the routine in his life. How certain parts of his life go a particular way and other parts of his life go another particular way.

    Bear does this too. It’s mainly School vs Home.

    At school he must wear his uniform. Getting him to wear different things for special days is very difficult.

    He doesn’t like me being in the classroom. I am mummy at home, I am not mummy at school. When I go in for parent help, the teachers put me with different children as they know Bear will not like being with me.

    In the same vein, he doesn’t like seeing his teachers or EA outside of school. We saw his EA at the shopping centre once. He hid and refused to talk to her. Not because he doesn’t like her. But because it wasn’t school.

    The Good

    It can be very useful though when you understand how it works in his overactive brain.

    He is a very naked Bear at home, but he knows that underpants must be worn at school. It’s part of his regular routine when he puts on his uniform.

    He has almost the same lunch every day. I’ve tried to give him other things or let him chose other things. His response is almost quizzical! What else would be in his lunch box?

    We rarely have school refusal. He may just simply enjoy school, but he knows that Monday – Friday are school days.

    We walk the same way each day and he knows where he has to wait if he is ahead of me. This might just sound like routine, but on the days we walk that way that isn’t school, he doesn’t always wait.

    And the Bad

    But it can be hell when things aren’t how he expects.

    Meatballs always come with spaghetti. We had a full-on meltdown when I used twirly pasta instead of spaghetti.

    If he has ham for dinner, it must come with two fried eggs and the fork sticking out of the ham steak. I am very grateful I was able to convince him that eggs aren’t really green. But if the fork has been forgotten or put on the side, take cover.

    Don’t even get me started on homeschooling during COVID.

    It. Was. Not. Good.

    Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.com

    Getting him to do homework after normal school is hard enough. Getting him to do school work or join in on Zoom for online classes was impossible. School is School. Home is Home. Never the twain shall meet.

    As I mentioned in my previous blog post, Life of a Bear in Lockdown, when we attempted online therapy, he became very violent with me. Not his normal self at all. Therapy only happens when they are physically with him, or it doesn’t happen at all.

    What helps?

    It’s all about understanding and preparation.

    When we need to do things out of the routine, he needs communication so he can wrap his head around it.


    The best way I’ve found to explain this is Tendril Theory. This Cartoon was created by Erin Human.

    This is great when it’s about moving from task to task, but for my Bear, the same applies when changing the parameters of his compartment.

    Recently, he needed a day off school so we could see his paediatrician.

    • This meant taking Frog to school but not him.
    • It meant not putting on his uniform on a school day.
    • It meant not having his usual hot dog lunch order.

    Because we talked about it beforehand and talked through what he would be doing that day (which has its own routine!), he was quite happy that day and everything went smoothly. he was able to retract his tendrils.

    Had we not talked about it and just ripped out his tendrils, he would have been much more unsettled, more difficult to deal with, and the day would have just been painful.

    Autism Life and Comparisonitis.

    On the same day Three Little Birds posted about Compartmentalisation, Finding Cooper’s Voice posted about having the “perfect” life.

    If you only read one or two of her posts, you would think she is the most perfect “autism mum” as she seems to handle life’s challenges with her son Cooper with amazingness.

    Normal for who?

    In this post, she points out that there are still the hard parts of her life. Not as a “woe is me” call for attention, but to show how ‘normal’ her life is. Normal for her, and that’s ok. Her normal can’t be compared to anyone else, because no one else has a Cooper. No one else has a Cooper and Sawyer.

    Even as a mother of a child who has Autism, I can’t compare our lives as our boys are totally different. Their Autism is different. But it can be hard not to sometimes.

    Social Media; Helping or Hindering?

    I love social media. It has given me the perfect way to keep up with friends and family that I would otherwise not see for far too long thanks to my living in Australia. Most of the time, I am able to remember that what you see on social media is the best part of someone’s life. Most people don’t tend to post about the crappy parts unless they are trying to make a point.

    But when I’m having a bad day (yes even I have bad days!) and I see all these people having fun, it’s hard to not compare their lives to ours. Add in my own anxiety and it can easily spiral into a pit of despair.

    Why didn’t we get invited to that? Is it because of Bear? Was it because of me? They are so much better parents than me, look at all the activities they did with their kids over the holidays. It’s not fair that they get to do all those activities over the holidays. Why are their kids so well behaved and mine are creatures from the depths of hell? My poor angelic children are stuck with this useless piece of blergh as their mother.

    Look at her, she has six kids and looks amazing. Look at her, she has children and a successful career. Look at her, she is such a mother earth figure. Look at her, so well turned out.

    It’s exhausting. And useless. Most of the people I will be comparing myself to will have their own insecurities. Many of them will be doing their own comparisons.

    Moving forward, slowly

    Comparing myself with others is a lifelong personal issue but one that is definitely getting better as I get older. Maybe I’m getting wiser with age. Maybe I just have less fucks to give out these days! I know that our autism life is easier than others, but it can also be more challenging than others. Most importantly, I know I am doing my best.

    What helps?

    Communication. Again! It’s so key in life.

    If I am struggling with comparing myself to others and spiralling, I talk. To my friend or my Facebook communities. I open up to my family or to Husband. And if none of that helps, I talk to my doctor.

    I’m not willing to let myself spiral down so far as I once did. Because no one can compare to me. No one can compare to my Bear. And no one can compare to our Autism life.


    No one can compare to my copywriting skills as no one is quite like me!
    If that’s what you want for your website content, contact me and let’s chat.

  • Hi-Diddly-Dee, the Copywriter Life for Me

    Being a copywriter is a new role for me.

    I’ve been a writer ever since I was small. “The Land of Make-Believe” is my first ever book. I even illustrated it myself!

    My first book called The Land of Make Believe
    The Land of Make Believe – by little me

    I continue to write. Creating stories, inventing characters and writing poems.

    My days as an illustrator came to an abrupt halt.

    Copywriting was a large part of my job in Public Relations. But because of the industry I worked in, there wasn’t much room for creativity and personality.

    When my son was born, I liked reading children’s stories to him. I tried to initiate imaginary play, but my Bear wasn’t much for pretend play till he was much older (this is common for autistic children).

    After my daughter was born, I started to think about what I wanted to do once she was in full-time school. I didn’t want to go back to working in the city due to the travel involved. It would have also meant using after-school care which I didn’t think my Bear would cope with very well.

    I wondered what kinds of things I could do from home that I would also enjoy. Did such a job exist? I started to read about being a copywriter and couldn’t believe I might actually get paid for writing.

    After following her social media for a while, I signed up for Kate Toon’s the Clever Copywriting School, and the rest is history.

    With the learnings from the courses and the massive support from The Clever Copywriting Community, I leapt into the copywriting world in February 2021 and so far, it’s awesome.

    Why I like working as a Copywriter

    • I like getting out to meet the clients and see their place of work. That is why I like working with local businesses.
    • Housework can be done during the day. If I want to, that is!
    • My dog isn’t alone during the day, and we can go walking when we need a break.
    • I work in my pjs if I want.
    • Co-workers can’t scrutinise my outfit or my lack of shoes.
    • I work where I feel most inspired, be it the kitchen table, my garden, or the local library.
    Copywriter Katie meeting clients
    Copywriter Katie meeting clients
    • I can take my children to school and pick them up. Flexible enough to be able to come and get them if they are sick.

    It’s not always that glamorous

    I get all the glamorous jobs as a copywriter
    • Housework screams at me from the other side of my laptop. Today I had to spend half an hour unclogging the kitchen sink because I couldn’t ignore the glug-glug noise.
    • The dog likes to sit on my head if I don’t pay her enough attention.
    • I get so involved in my writing, I realise I haven’t moved from my chair for 5 hours. Thankfully I have an alarm on my phone to remind me to pick up the kids from school!
    • I need to cover all the boring bits of running my own business. I’m not big enough to be able to afford to outsource (yet), so I need to be a jack-of-all-trades.
    • The kitchen cupboard and fridge are faaaaar to easy to access.

    Being a copywriter is about me

    I am learning all the time. About myself, my capabilities, my strengths and my weak points.

    Most importantly, I am remembering that I am more than “Just a Mum.”

    Being a mother is by far the hardest job I’ve ever had to do and it’s never “just” anything.

    Doing something more, outside my comfort zone, outside my everyday life for the last 8 years has, so far, been very rewarding.

    This is only the beginning. I can’t wait to see where I am this time next year!


    If you want my copywriting skills for your website content, contact me and let’s chat.

    It will help keep me away from the fridge!