Freelance copywriting is what makes sales literature and websites make the reader take action. So all those brochures, websites and emails you receive would (probably) have been written by a freelance copywriter.
They really are the secret weapon of marketeers. You see it is their creativity that makes an advertisement memorable or a website readable.
Watch this short video so get an essence of what a freelance copywriter could do for your business.
Great Freelance Copywriting isn’t just about putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. It involves far more skill than that – in fact you could call it an art. There may not be any paint involved but words are intricately woven together into something powerful and compelling. There is no magic formula as it isn’t an exact science.
Before you can even start writing you have to have ideas. Whether you are writing a sales letter, brochure or webcopy, what you produce has to break through all the other sales messages out there, grab your reader’s attention and cling on to them until they have got out their credit card and bought your product.
It sounds so simple, but creativity can be elusive. Everyone has their own way of stimulating their creative flow and here are a few of mine:
Walking the dog
Going to the gym
Read a book, magazine or newspaper
Write down anything and everything that comes into your head
Read some websites
Imagine yourself as the buyer
Work somewhere else other than your usual place
Brainstorm keywords
What are your favourite ways of stimulating creativity? Do you use the same methods as me or do you have some far more interesting ways? Come on, don’t be shy share them with us.
This post is a little out of character as it doesn’t have anything to do with copywriting. In fact, copywriting won’t be mentioned at all (well, apart from those two occasions).
I received an email this morning with this YouTube clip. If it can make me laugh at 8am on a Wednesday morning then I thought I ought to share it with you.
Surely this will pip Alexandra to the Christmas number 1?
Just picture this for a moment: you are ready to launch your new product or service; you have identified your target market; you are now sat in front of the blank screen of your PC with an equally blank mind.
Sound familiar? Where on earth do you start?
Let me give you a clue – ask yourself what your reader is interested in.
The answer is simple – THEMSELVES.
You have to get to know your reader in order to write about your product from their point of view. This is exactly what freelance copywriters do; they get inside the heads of their readers as described in What Are You Thinking About Right Now?
Don’t waste time telling them what it is; tell them what it does for them. Basically tell them how your product will make their life easier, more rewarding and more complete.
So, what are the Copywriter’s 7 deadly sins? Well, they are the keys that you need to tap into your customer’s emotional desires:
Pride – Make your reader believe you by flattering them. Make the suggestion that someone with as much talent for making the right decision as they have ought to be signing up for or buying your product.
Envy – Tell them some people already have it and are benefiting from it and they’ll hate to think they are missing out.
Gluttony – People will always want more of something. If you can convince them they will feel contented when they ‘consume’ it you will be on to a winner.
Lust – Hmm, a tricky one. Try to convince them that this product will satisfy their craving and they’ll snap your hand off.
Anger – The last time I was angry was over my mobile phone’s pathetic battery life. Give your readers a way out of their present frustrations and they’ll thank you.
Greed – A major motivator.
Sloth – We are all inherently lazy, so if your product can save time and effort, wallets will open throughout the land.
Of course we are all human and therefore will try to rationalise our buying decisions. So, all you have to do is provide sufficient objective reasons why buying your product is the sensible thing to do.
People always buy on an emotional basis first so my tip is to make sure your sales pitch firmly presses at least one of the deadly sin buttons and then you’ll be on to a winner.
As business owners, we all know and appreciate the power of blogging. Some say it has had its day but I still believe in it, especially now that it can be enhanced by Twitter micro blogging. However, a word of caution – be careful if you are using the services of companies such as WordPress.
When I began my business I wanted to start a blog. It would provide a fantastic resource for writers of all abilities by being full of copywriting hints and tips and a vehicle to drive traffic to my website. I was a novice at all things internet so I opted to use the services of WordPress.
It was so easy to set up. Once I had chosen my theme I was up and running within minutes. Blogs were flowing from my finger tips. Everything was going great. That was until about 3 weeks ago.
You may not realise this but WordPress can pull the plug on your blog at anytime – without warning.
To cut a rather tedious story short, WordPress had mistakenly thought I had overstepped their code of conduct. Personally, I would have expected them to get in touch with me. But no, they opted to suspend my blog. To make matters worse, I only found out about it when I tried to log in to write a new post.
That’s right, there was no warning. To add insult to injury whenever someone tried to look at my blog all they saw was a blank screen saying ”Account Suspended”. What kind of impression does that give?
After a tense couple of days I finally got my blog reinstated and an apology from WordPress, but the damage had already been done.
Now I have my own blog under my own URL (www.freelancecopywritersblog.com) – I am fully in charge, all the traffic benefits me and not WordPress and no one can pull the plug without me knowing about it!
So please heed this warning – if you have a blog through a company such as WordPress (I have no experience of the other blog providers so don’t know what their proceedures are) this could happen to you. My advice to you is simple – get your own URL, your own blog (the internet is crammed with free templates), SEO it to the max and then you will not only be able to blog for as long as you want (by your own rules) you will also directly benefit from the traffic you get.
