All posts in Non-Copywriter

How to Maximize Copywriting Services

By | August 2, 2012 | Advice & Insight, Non-Copywriter | 2 Comments

Project Copy Guest Blog

Kristen Bradley of CrowdSource.Com guest blogs for ProjectCopy this week. Read what she has to say about hiring copywriters the crowd source way.

How to Maximize Copywriting Services
In the past decade, crowdsourcing has greatly expanded its reach to incorporate a variety of tasks that previously required individuals or companies to use salaried employees. One such task is copywriting. Creators of blogs and websites can find copywriting services that reach out to writers across the world to compose content on a variety of subjects for these sites. Here are a few tips on how to use these services.

Understand copywriting services
When considering the use of copywriting services, it is best to understand how these services work. Many of these services use the power of crowdsourcing to deliver content at a set price to a requester. When a company needs copy for a site, it may request copy on a specific subject that is relevant to the site in question. Once the directives are made clear, the requester agrees to pay a particular rate for the copy. This may be a price set by the crowdsourcing company, or it may be set by the copywriter, depending on the service used. Then, once all parties have agreed upon the terms, the copy is written and sent to the requester, who then approves or rejects the content.

Choosing the best
Some services may specialize in a particular subject matter. For example, if a requester has a need for copy on legal matters or the stock market, the requester can pursue companies that tailor copy specific to that subject. Many services have writers that can accurately compose copy on many subjects. It is a good idea to look into the top services first, as these services usually attract the best writers, who, in turn, offer the best copy. A requester always has the right to reject work, but the requester should be aware that rejected work should never be used. Using rejected work is considered highly unethical in the crowdsourcing community and leads to long-term issues when trying to attract top writers.

If a person or company is in need of content for a site or for other purposes, there are services that can deliver this content with speed, accuracy and high quality. By understanding how these services work and by following protocols in line with these services, a requester can receive excellent copy at a fair price. All parties can be satisfied with an assignment if they understand the expectations in the transaction and work together in an amicable and professional manner.

Kristen Bradley is a specialist for CrowdSource.com, a leading site on the web that delivers highly scalable solutions to enterprise clients worldwide.

Copywriting: The Essential Business Tool You Should Be Using

By | May 7, 2012 | Copywriting, Freelance Copywriters, Non-Copywriter, Promoting Yourself | 1 Comment

Copywriter

JT Copywriting is celebrating its second year anniversary with a fantastic “25% Off” promotion and an important message.

We’ve all got our own list of what we think the most essential business tools are. However, there’s one that always seems to fly under the radar. The most successful businesses know about it because they’ve used it, but not everyone is aware of it or, more importantly, aware of its amazing benefits.

I am, of course, talking about copywriting. What is copywriting? To put it simply, Copywriting is writing words. You see, whenever a business promotes itself through press releases, adverts, mailshots or newsletters it will need to produce promotional copy, either by writing the words in-house or by hiring a copywriter to do so.

Why should you want to hire a copywriter? James Tennant, owner of JT Copywriting (www.jtcopy.com), puts it this way, “If you think about it, 99% of all communication is done with words. Words are such a powerful and yet oddly underrated tool. Politicians have used the right words to gain control of countries and start wars. It’s obvious to me that the power of the written word is unlimited.”

He goes on: “Whenever a business communicates with its audience and target demographic, they’ll be using words to spread their message. However, without the proper words, that message will go unnoticed, lost among the millions of other messages floating around. That’s where a Copywriter comes in. Copywriters are trained to use words that influence, interest and compel people to buy products and read articles. Their words make some companies millions in profit every year.”

As mentioned, JT Copywriting is celebrating its second year as a business and it is throwing a promotion truly worthy of celebration! – 25% off the hourly rate until July 1st! That’s potentially hundreds of pounds saved on copy that could greatly increase your business’ profits. With such an offer set to create great interest in JT Copywriting’s services, it would be sensible for you to get in touch with James as soon as possible or you might miss out.

James Tennant is the owner of JT Copywriting and is a professional freelance marketing copywriter. He has worked with some of the world’s biggest and best companies (think: eBay, Universal Studios, and Gumtree). He specialises in writing marketing materials that will increase public awareness of your brand and increase your profits. You can access the website at www.jtcopy.com and you can follow James on Twitter: @JT_Copywriting and on facebook: JTCopywriting

Get in touch today via email: contact@jtcopy.com.

3 Great Examples Of Funny Typos

By | March 19, 2012 | Copywriting, Freelance Copywriters, Non-Copywriter | 1 Comment

A bit of fun this week with a lighthearted post concerning the proofreader, copywriter and copy editor’s best friend: the typo.

Typos are a part of everyday life and as copywriters we’re trained to seek them out and eliminate them (or add them into newsletters…can I get away with that?). So I’ve looked around the web and found some really great examples of funny typos to cheer you up this Monday morning!

Numero Uno: Pretty funny. I especially like the way Stratford Hall are trying to portray themselves as a professional, high-class company with the fancy font before they ruin everything by misspelling a very commonly seen and used 6-letter word.

Example 2: This one could count as several typo examples. I don’t even know where to begin here. It’s a great example of how a business can shoot themselves in the foot and scare all their customers away…You know, if that’s what you were planning on doing…

It’s almost as if it was written by a snake…or Gollum. I can just about hear the hissing on “We prints more than 100 million prints per year.”

Example 3: This one just makes me smile. I guarantee that around halfway through painting the T in the wrong place this guy realised what he had done but by then he was committed. It does look very hot, perhaps he wanted to get out of the sun? I have a feeling the SOTP might actually work better than STOP. You see STOP everywhere so it’s hardly noticeable, but I bet you’d notice if you saw SOTP…I bet you’d even remember exactly where you saw it. Maybe misspelling words on roadsigns is the way forward?

OK that’s your fill. Time to settle down and get to work.

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Copywriting Survey!

By | February 24, 2012 | Non-Copywriter | No comments


ProjectCopy, in an effort to learn more about what copywriting clients want, need and expect from their copywriters, have come up with a very quick online survey for all you copywriting CLIENTS to fill in. (This ain’t for you copywriters, so stay away!)

Find the survey here!

Once the information has been gathered and scrutinised, a blog post will follow along with an infographic (potentially).

The information collected will go a long way towards improving the quality of service and work you receive from copywriters in the future!

Thank you very much for reading.

Kind regards,

James @ ProjectCopy

Clients! Here Are 3 Tips To Get The Best Out Of Your Copywriter!

By | February 14, 2012 | Advice & Insight, Copywriting, Freelance Copywriters, Non-Copywriter | No comments

I’ve worked with many clients and I’ve enjoyed a very fruitful and enjoyable business relationship with most of them. However, admittedly, there are some clients who make life very difficult for me.

So what separates a good client from one who can be frustrating? I think it all comes down to preparation and understanding how a copywriter goes about his or her work. It’s not necessarily the case that the client is just a difficult one, they just need a little enlightenment.

So, with that in mind, I’ve decided to help out all of you businessmen and women out there who are looking to hire a copywriter.

1. Copywriters need a lot of research – In order to write the most effective copy, copywriters need access to a lot of research and a lot of it needs to come from you, the client. Without research how can a copywriter possibly write accurate, informative copy? As John Anghelache puts it, “It’s like asking a marksman to fire blindfolded.”

In addition to your research, a good copywriter should provide you with a brief sheet full of questions for you to answer to get things started. If you don’t have a lot of extra information to pass on to the copywriter, your brief sheet answers should at least point them in the right direction.

2. Getting your copy perfect takes time and co-operation – Don’t think that any copywriter will be able to write exactly what you want them to the first time around. That’s almost impossible. The road to great copy is paved with edits and plenty of useful communication between client and copywriter. If you’re not willing to put the time and effort in to help the copywriter, then don’t expect amazing results in turn.

Be willing to provide your input and answer any questions the copywriter might have and you’ll soon be blessed with profit-enhancing copy.

3. Lastly, make sure you set reasonable deadlines! – The bigger and more complex the project, the longer it will take to complete. If you rush the copywriter, you’ll get rushed work back that won’t be as effective as it could be had you given the copywriter enough time to work his or her magic. When you’re spending the kind of money you’ll be spending hiring a copywriter, isn’t it in your best interests to get the best possible quality of copy in return?

Give your copywriter enough time and I promise you’ll not regret it.

What do I mean by enough time? A ten page website or long-copy sales letter can take from two to four weeks whereas an email might take a few days to a week. If in doubt just ask your copywriter how long they realistically need to provide you with the best possible copy.

By following those three simple steps you should make life much easier for your copywriter and if you do that, you’ll get more effective copy in return so it’s win-win.

Discussion time!

Copywriters: Have you worked with any clueless clients recently?

Clients: Have you got any questions about copywriting methods? We’d love to answer them.

How Much Should You Expect To Pay For A Good Copywriter?

By | January 20, 2012 | Copywriting, Freelance Copywriters, Non-Copywriter | 3 Comments

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First of all you have to understand that you aren’t just paying for words when you hire a copywriter. You are paying for their expertise too. Great copywriting will increase your conversion rates and lead to much larger profits in the future so the costs involved are best seen as an investment.

In fact, if good copy increases your conversion rate by just a single percent that can make a huge difference to your overall profits.

So how much should you expect to pay for that kind of profit-boosting copy?

From my own research, it would seem the average copywriter is charging between $2000-$4000 for a short sales letter and between $250-$750 for a single webpage. When it comes to a ‘per-hour’ wage most copywriters also tend to charge between $50 and $100.

Long sales letters tend to cost a bit more, usually in the region of $5000 plus. I’ve even seen figures of $20,000 from time to time. In addition to the price, it’s not uncommon for copywriters ask for a percentage of turnover as a royalty.

Why do copywriters charge those prices? Because the copy they produce tends to make the companies they write for a very large profit. Many more times the cost of the actual copy.

Of course, there are plenty of copywriters out there that will undercut the rest of us and charge ridiculously low prices. While this might seem very tempting to you, be warned, the quality of work you receive for such a low price will be awful. I’ve spoken to enough disgruntled clients who have paid for cheap copywriting to know that you’re far better off hiring someone who can guarantee great work.

You should bare in mind that these are only guideline figures. Each copywriter will charge unique prices and will have a unique way of quoting a project but you should now have some idea how much money you may have to spend to get the kind of copy that will generate more conversions and increase your sales and profits.

Why Businesses NEED Copywriters

By | January 18, 2012 | Copywriting, Freelance Copywriters, Non-Copywriter | 4 Comments

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Most start-up businesses, and even some established businesses, don’t see the written content on their websites as an important aspect. They couldn’t be more wrong if you ask me.

Let me continue…

Whenever we want to communicate with any other human being we have to use words, in some form or other, 99.9% of the time. If you want to create a great first impression on your website visitors and potential customers, you must make sure that those words are perfect. First of all you want your customers to stick around and secondly you want to convince them that they should buy from you.

How are you ever going to do that with poor copy? The simple answer is you won’t.

Now some people have told me that anyone can write. Well of course they can, but that doesn’t make you a copywriter. Some of them even told me they had an English degree. So what? All that education has done is taught them how to right essays and please an examiner, not how to sell products or services to the public. In fact, most of what you learn at school, when it comes to writing, should be thrown out the window if you want to write great copy.

Too many businesses fall into the trap of just describing what they do without “selling it”. Your customers need to know more than that. They need to know why they should buy from you and not Joe Bloggs. If you can’t tell them that then they will go and find someone who can. Businesses also often  make the mistake of using a thesaurus too much to fill their content with flabby words and self-indulgent phrases The only thing that will do is kill any interest someone might have in what you have to say.

You see copywriters don’t just write, they communicate. They talk to your customers in a voice and language that they understand and can relate to. A copywriter highlights the problems customers have and then persuades them that Company A or Company B has the product or service that can solve that problem. By communicating and engaging wtih your customers you maintain their interest. If you maintain their interest then you have won half the battle.

In addition to being able to write, Copywriters are also students of business and marketing and have a solid grasp of both subjects. They perform extensive research on their clients and their client’s rivals. They are able to pick out the USPs (Unique Selling Points) of any business and then write content that will help that business stand out from the crowd. They also know the difference between a feature and a benefit (believe me, this is something most people get wrong far too often).

I could go on but I feel I have made my point. The bottom line is that good copywriters are experts in using words that will earn you money.

Now we move on to you! Copywriters: Do you have anything to add to this post? Non-Copywriters: Do you have anymore questions you would like answers to?

Let the discussion begin.

The Biggest Reason Your Freelance Copywriting Business Won’t Succeed is…You

By | January 17, 2012 | Copywriting, Freelance Copywriters, Inspiration, Non-Copywriter | 2 Comments

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It’s true. If anyone or anything is going to get in the way of your success, it’s likely to be yourself. I don’t mean that you won’t be good enough or smart enough to succeed, I mean that you will probably end up scaring yourself away from giving your business a really good go.

To be successful when owning a business you need courage, determination and plenty of confidence.

  • Courage – to take the first steps and overcome your fears.
  • Determination – to see your ideas through.
  • Confidence – to promote and sell your brand/services effectively.

Of course you need to be savvy with your money and have a clever business mind too, along with a whole host of other attributes, but none of them are as important as the three mentioned above.

Perhaps the people around you are telling you that you have made a mistake and that you should take a regular job with a sensible, steady wage? While this is fine for some people, it isn’t fine for you so keep telling yourself that. Working for yourself is one of life’s greatest pleasures and the potential to make a huge success out of your business surely outweighs the potential for it to fail. Remember that and have the courage to ignore people when they try and pull you down.

Perhaps you are disillusioned because of financial issues? This is probably the biggest reason why people give up on their businesses. If you own a business then you must acknowledge the fact that a steady wage and financial security might not always be there. However, if your or services are good enough, eventually you will make money, you just need the determination to stick it out.

Perhaps your income is low and you’re not getting enough business or exposure? Well do something about it. Get out there and network. Sell your services to potential clients by meeting them face-to-face and tell them why they should hire you. Get more confidence, it’s contagious and will lead to more work and more clients.

This post was written for freelance copywriters but I believe the points raised apply to all business owners out there. I hope you all take note and use this post as inspiration when you start to doubt yourself.

I’ll leave you with the following comment:

“Don’t put limitations on yourself. Other people will do that for you. Don’t do that to yourself. Don’t bet against yourself. And take risk…in whatever you are doing, failure is an option. But fear is not.”

-James Cameron

Opening the floor…to YOU

By | January 16, 2012 | Copywriting, Freelance Copywriters, Guest Blog, Non-Copywriter | 2 Comments

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I am opening the floor to any and all bloggers who want to become a guest poster on this blog!

As I have stated several times before, this blog is different. It’s not just me giving out advice, it’s you too. So get in touch if you have an interesting point to bring up.

Copywriters: Tell us about the perks you enjoy, the tips and tricks you have learned that can be passed on and let us all know the things that annoy you too.

Non-copywriters: Let us know what you want to see from copywriters, let us know the concerns you have about hiring a copywriter too. With your help we can all improve our service to make sure that your next experience with a copywriter is a great one!

“How can I become a guest blogger?” I hear you cry. Well, it’s very simple – please send me an email containing your sample and a small description of what your post discusses. I will then look over your post, check it for relevancy and send you an email back letting you know if your post has been chosen to feature on this blog.

The benefits are clear: you’ll enjoy more exposure and more incoming links to your website.

Happy writing!