What does it take to be a Copywriter? Part 1.

What does it take to be a Copywriter? Part 1.


Recently, I was contacted by a marketing and advertising student who wanted to know how to pursue a career as a copywriter. He was interested in understanding the skills and knowledge required and keen to use his marketing knowledge in this area. Naturally, I fed him a load of old poppycock because I don't want any more competitors! Actually, it made me think about my own skills and my own journey into copywriting.


This is the first of a series of blogs in which I’ll explain what you need to become a good copywriter:


1. Language Skills


If you are paid to write, you're expected to write well. That means you can't afford to make spelling errors, grammar errors or common mistakes such as using 'loose' instead of 'lose'. But while you must know the rules of English, its not always important to follow them explicitly - like all rules, you can sometimes get away with breaking them. For example, technically, you're not supposed to use split infinitives, but avoiding them can often make your writing appear clunky and difficult to read. And that's the last thing you want. Starting a sentence with 'And' doesn't go down well with the pedants either.

Another important skill is one that is difficult to learn - being able to play with words. Some of the best slogans and headlines come from clever word play. Take a look at any tabloid newspaper and you'll see that they are full of puns and twists on sayings and phrases. They are prolific. While it takes a lot of practice to become adept at word play (and it isn't necessary for every copywriting job you'll encounter), you can improve your technique by paying particular attention to the way words are used in the world around you - make an effort to listen to the way people talk, take note of popular and catchy slogans, and make sure you bookmark sites on idioms and phrases.

Part 2: Understanding of Sales and Copywriting Techniques coming soon!

The Importance of Professional Business Writing

A couple of months ago, I was asked to provide a quote for a copywriting project being handled by a company in Dubai. The company were tendering for the writing jobs for a utilities industry company, so my experience of writing for utilities industry software seemed to make me a good fit. To cut a long story short, they eventually abandoned the idea of having professionally written English due to the cost, and decided to carry on using broken English documentation because ‘it doesn’t really matter if the English is right’.

I can’t comment on that because I have never worked or lived there (but I can’t imagine that having broken English is of any use to any English speaking person, especially those with English as a second language). However, I have heard the same comments from businesses here in the UK, and in these days of mass marketing and the Internet, it always surprises me how many people think having inaccurate English won’t affect their business.

The language you use on your website and in your flyers and brochures can affect your business more than you think. Because it represents your company in just the same way as snazzy graphics and logos – get it right and it creates a trust in your capabilities; get it wrong, and it can make your business seem unprofessional and unreliable.

Now, if you’re unconvinced about the power of writing, consider this – you’re on the Internet looking for a certain type of product. You find two sites that are both selling the product at around the same price, but one site is poorly presented, difficult to follow and has clear mistakes. The other site has a more professional approach and tells you everything you want to know using language you can understand. Which of the two businesses would you buy from? Exactly.

Writing Effective Copy for Your Homepage

Whenever I'm looking for products or services on the web, I always come across websites that have ineffective homepages. That's because there are far too many businesses out there that fail to make the most of their homepages - rather than entice visitors and encourage them to buy, the copy simply provides a bit of background information about the business and what the business does. This is a waste of a homepage, because it isn't doing anything to promote their goods and services or to connect with the visitor. And if it doesn't engage the audience, chances are they will just click away from the site and take their business elsewhere.

To make the most of your website, you need to understand what your visitors expect to find on it:

1. Confirmation that they are in the right place for the services or products they want.
   
   
2. Quality and Value - they want to know that your products and services are up to the high standards they expect and are available within their budget
   
   
3. Choice - Not always an issue, but if you stock or provide a wide range of goods and services, customers need to know
   
   
4. Trust. Your visitors need to know that they can trust you to provide high quality products and services and conduct business in a professional way.

They are not particularly interested in who your staff are (unless you are selling their skills) and they're probably not visiting your site to find out about the history of your business. Sure, you can publish this information on your website and it can help to generate a level of trust, but unless your history is your unique selling point (or at least a major selling point), it doesn't belong on your homepage.

As with all copywriting, it is the benefits to the reader that need to be emphasised. And the copy you use to highlight the benefits of your goods and services needs to be engaging, easy to understand, and enticing, so that the visitor stays on your site and makes the effort to read your homepage.

As a trained and experienced copywriter, I produce web copy, including SEO copy, that promotes your business effectively and involves your visitors in your message. Using carefully crafted sentences, I can persuade and reassure your visitors that your products and services are right for them, and can make the copy enagaging and easy to understand.

So if your web site needs copy that captures the attention and actively encourages customers to buy (without resorting to forecful hard-sell techniques), please contact me via http://www.straygoat.com.

Craig Wright
Copywriter, Web Copywriter, SEO Copywriter, Technical Author
StrayGoat Copywriting

Pros and Cons of Using Swipe Files

Most copywriters and marketing professionals keep a file of successful advertisements called a swipe file. The advertisements in the swipe file contain effective copy, creative ideas, and clever headlines, and can come from a variety of sources. The reason that copywriters keep a swipe file is that at some point we all suffer from writer's block or struggle to think of the right words for the project we are working on. And that's where a swipe file proves to be invaluable. Because a quick look at adverts in a similar field can kick-start our minds and trigger a whole new wave of thoughts and creative ideas.

Swipe File Pros:

• Can provide inspiration and trigger new thoughts and creative ideas
  
  
• Lets you see the sort of language used in the relevant market
  
  
• Provides a quick reference of the approaches and styles that have been used before
  
  
• Can help you overcome writer's block and come up with lots of new ideas

Of course, swipe files have their disadvantages too. As they contain effective copy, it can be tempting to cover the same ground with your own copywriting or even to copy it (which is illegal by the way!). So while a swipe file may help to generate new ideas, you may find that it also stifles your creativity as you stick to the tried and trusted methods that have been used before (sometimes subconsciously).

Swipe File Cons:

• If you see an advert with effective copy and an interesting angle, sometimes it can be hard to break away from that and come up with something different.
  
  
• You might fall into the trap of using the same language and ideas as competitors. Take a look at all of the recent shampoo adverts and you'll see what I mean - most of them use a scientific approach and concentrate on the various chemicals and proteins that will benefit your hair. And the cost of that is that it is hard to differentiate one brand from another.

• If you're feeling particularly inadequate, as most writers do at some stage in the writing process, seeing a wide range of successful adverts can make you feel even worse! But stick with it, this feeling is all part of the plan and will lead you to good ideas and the right choice of words.

The trick with swipe files is to use them sparingly. Personally, I try to develop my plan for the approach I want to make before looking at my swipe file. Then I just skim through the ads, make a note of any pertinent words, and use any new ideas to further develop my plan. I always try to come up with something first, then refer to the swipe file.

I never copy any phrasing or sentence structure. The most I take from a swipe file is a small collection of useful words. I'm just too wary of plagiarism - I like to know that everything I write is in my 'voice'.

Craig Wright
Copywriter and Technical Author
StrayGoat Copywriting
www.straygoat.com

5 Ways to Improve the Copy on Your Website

New businesses sometimes contact me and ask for advice with their web site copy. While I always recommend that they use a professional copywriter (like my good self!), I appreciate that this isn’t always possible due to financial restraints. Rather than be spiteful and send them on their way empty handed, I like to at least give them a few pointers so that they can get the most out of their own writing. Hopefully, when they are a bit more successful, they can come back to me for professional copywriting.

So what are my top 5 tips for improving your web site copy? Here goes:

1. Focus on the real message. There are loads of websites that simply state ‘this is who we are and this is what we do’. In today’s competitive market that’s not good enough. Remember, your competitors are only a click away! Your real message needs to be clear, concise, grab the attention of visitors and most importantly, it needs to say ‘this is how our products or services will make your life better’.

2. Use appropriate language. If your website is going to be successful, it needs to connect with your visitors. And that means your copy has to be accessible, engaging, and understandable. Use simple, direct language wherever possible – jargon, buzzwords and business-speak are your enemy!

3. Identify with your Visitors. Before you can communicate effectively with your visitors, you need to put yourself in their position. Think about why they are visiting your site – What are they looking for? What are their concerns? Once you understand their mindset, it is much easier to identify the areas your copy needs to address.

4. Keep it short. When I was studying at university, we were told that you should try and limit the number of words to between 300 and 600. I can’t remember who actually undertook the research, but it was proven that people’s attention span is much lower when reading on screen, so it is vital that you keep your message short and punchy. Get to the point!

5. Remember that you don’t need to hard sell. The majority of visitors to your website arrive there because they are looking for something that you offer. So they are already potential customers – you don’t need to brow beat them into making a purchase. Make them aware of your services, how they can benefit from using you, and let them know that you are a reputable, reliable business. But do so using subtle language. Because if you make wild claims or overuse repetition for emphasis (a common trick used in direct mail campaigns, particularly US ones), you run the risk of creating caution. Why? Because that is the sort of language and approach that are often used on Internet scam sites and notorious ‘get rich quick’ schemes. It creates a lack of trust, and when you are buying online and there’s no personal contact with the seller, trust is extremely important.

If you need help with your web copy or have a client that needs professional web copy, please get in touch. As a professional copywriter, I can offer high quality, clear, concise and persuasive copy that engages customers and always creates the right impression. Just send an email to craigwright@straygoat.com or contact me through www.straygoat.com

Adding Blogs to Blog Directories

Apparently, it helps get your blogs noticed, increases traffic and helps with your search engine rankings...so here we go.

Blog Directory

Should I Take a Copywriting Course?

Now and again, I'll get an email or a message on Facebook from someone who is thinking about starting up as a copywriter. Quite often, they'll have been employed in some sort of writing capacity or will have written as part of another role and they want to make a living from writing. And what they all want to know is - 'should I take a copywriting course?'

It is a question I asked myself when I was first starting out. Back then, I'd been working as a technical author for many years and also had a degree in Technical Communication behind me. So I knew how to write and how to address the needs of the reader. But something niggled at me about just starting as a copywriter without any specific training or guidance. And so I signed up for the Institute of Copywriters diploma course. It was a good decision.

While I didn't find the course particularly difficult (because it covered a lot of the same ground as my degree), it did make me aware of certain selling techniques that are vital to good copywriting. And that's why I always advise any would-be copywriter to take a course or at the very least, read a few copywriting books. Because there's more to being a copywriter than being a good writer - it is about recognising the reader's needs, knowing how to appeal to them, and being able to persuade them in a subtle way. Had I just started as a copywriter straight from technical authoring, I don't think I'd have been anywhere near as effective as a copywriter. Why? Because I'd have been stuck in the mindset of a technical author, where clear information is king. With copywriting, there's more to think about regarding the style of your writing - you need to grab the reader's attention, highlight the benefits to them, and skilfully manipulate them so that they feel positive and enthusiastic about a product or service. It's less straight-forward than technical writing, but much more enjoyable.

So if you're thinking of becoming a copywriter, either from a writing background or from a different type of job altogether, my advice is - learn the tricks of the trade first.

SEO copywriter, Web copywriter, Web content writer

Finding Work via Twitter: Experiment

I'm not sure if it is the recession or my lacklustre networking attempts, but in the last month or so business has been very quiet. I recently noticed that my Google ranking for 'copywriter' had slipped considerably too and when it comes to 'SEO copywriter' I'm nowhere to be found. So over the last couple of weeks, I've been looking at ways of improving my website ranking and getting new clients.

One of my existing clients is a company that specialises in SEO and e-learning solutions (Eventure Internet ("http://www.eventureinternet.com"), and they very kindly offered to provide some advice free of charge. One of the things they recommended was to get blogging on here and also to get into Twitter. I was vaguely aware of Twitter as I have messed about with it in the past, but I'd never really seen the point of it. But I did as I was told and have been Twittering almost every day since.

And that led to my current experiment: can I use Twitter to get new clients rather than just use it for its SEO benefits?

Today, I have contacted a handful of web design companies I found through Twitter and have offered my services. Will they repsond and be of any use? I will keep you posted.

SEO copywriter, Web copywriter, Web content writer

An or A? While or Whilst? Lose or Loose?

One of the curses of being a copywriter and technical author is that you become hypersensitive to common writing errors. And the older I get, the worse it seems to annoy me. And they are everywhere. Look on the web or browse through the local newspaper and you’ll find them, from minor grammatical errors such as split infinitives to more obvious incorrect use of language or inappropriate apostrophe use. So I thought I would vent my spleen about a few writing mistakes that have caught my attention recently:

An or A?

This one crops up all the time, especially in newspapers. Technically, you can use either, but the more accepted version is to use ‘an’ before a vowel sound and ‘a’ before a harder, consonant sound. So, ‘an aeroplane’, ‘an elevator’, and ‘a motorbike’, ‘a concrete block’ etc. Where some confusion comes in is with words that begin with ‘h’. Because in the UK many people drop the ‘h’ as they speak, so ‘horrible’ sounds like ‘orrible’. And this is the scenario where you will most likely see both ‘an’ and ‘a’ used, especially with ‘an historic’ and ‘a historic’. Personally, I always go for ‘a historic’ because you should pronounce the ‘h’ (even though I don’t). With ‘h’, you can get away with either, but in other cases, to be safe, you should follow the ‘vowel sound’ rule.

While or Whilst?

This one is a bit easier. In the UK, they can both be used, but ‘whilst’ is seen as archaic and is not in use in US English. While the more patriotic among you will probably see that as reason enough to continue the use of ‘whilst’, you really should resist the temptation. Because language develops all the time, and if you want your copy to be simple, concise, friendly, and ultimately more effective, you should use the simplest form of the word. And that means ‘while’. Think about the impression you are trying to create. Are you trying to sound stuffy and old-fashioned? Because that’s the tone you are setting when you use ‘whilst’. So you may as well use ‘thou’, ‘hast’ and various other Shakespearian era words too.

My advice? Embrace the future and go for while. But don’t embrace the future too much or you’ll end up writing in txtspk and that way leads to madness.

Lose or Loose?

This is probably the most common error I see in people’s writing (generally, not professional writers, but there have been one or two instances), and it is one that annoys me the most – because it creates different meaning. Invariably, people misuse ‘loose’ when they mean ‘lose’. Why so many people confuse the two, I don’t know, but let’s put them straight: ‘loose’ means relaxed, slack, casual; ‘lose’ means to misplace or shed. So, you lose weight, not loose; the belt is loose, not lose.

And that marks the end of today’s lesson, children.

SEO copywriter, Web copywriter, Web content writer

Sales Letters - A Question of Style

Occassionally, I'm approached by a new client asking for a U.S style, 2-3 page sales letter. While I am always happy to help new customers, I'm not a fan of these types of letters. Before I explain why, let me first explain exactly what type of letter I mean when I say 'U.S. style'.

If you live in the UK, you'll probably receive Reader's Digest direct mail every so often (they probably direct mail people in other countries too, but I can't say for certain). Now, if you've ever bothered to open one of these letters, you'll see that they nearly always start with a statement to grab your attention - ususally it is to do with you being on the shortlist to win a large sum of money. From that point on, you'll see repeated statements about how you could win a larger sum of money and how that could change your life...and all you have to do is respond to the letter. That's the hook. You'll see that the letter is usually quite long, repetitive, and uses the type of language you'd associate with a hard sell. Of course, Reader's Digest aren't the only people that use this approach, and if you search for health products or cures online, you'll find plenty of examples of web sites using the same angle. I call this approach the 'U.S Style' because I see it predominantly on American web sites (and I'd guess it started on the other side of the pond).

If so many people are using it, it must work, right? Well, in my opinion, no.

Thanks to the media, in particular consumer tv shows and press articles, most of us are aware of get rich quick schemes and various money-making scams. They have been well publicised, and usually, they all involve a direct sales letter that uses the U.S. style. And that is precisely why I urge customers to use a more subtle approach. Because people are savvy to these marketing techniques now and know that if something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

So why would you want your sales letter to look and read like something people associate with a scam?

It is vital that your sales letters are relevant and worthy of your target market's time. They will be bombarded with junk mail every day, just like the rest of us, and that's why it is important that your letter stands out as being genuine and of real interest. To achieve this, you don't need to make extravagant claims or continuously repeat key statements - you simply need to connect with the reader. And the best way to do this is to get to the point and be honest and open. Sure, you need to use persuasive language and structure your letter correctly, but there's a fine line between an effective sales letter and one that ends up not being read.

If you need help with a sales letter, please get in touch via www.straygoat.com and ask for a quote.

SEO copywriter, Web copywriter, Web content writer

The Risks of Working with New Clients

At the moment, my client list is quite small, with most of my copywriter business coming from repeat customers. So when I am contacted by a new potential client, it is quite exciting, especially if their copywriting project is unusual in some way. But when it comes to the nitty gritty of moving ahead with a copywriting project and getting things on the move, there's a little bit of worry involved - because there's always the fear that the new customer might be a non-payer.

Having been a freelance copywriter for several years now, I've only ever had to deal with two problematic customers. I won't name and shame them, but they know who they are!

The first issue arose when a customer set reasonably tight deadlines. I've no problem with tight deadlines as long as I can get the information I need, but unfortunately, that was not the case - they didn't respond to calls or emails so I was left in limbo. I followed their copywriter brief and produced a draft, but apparently, their requirements had changed considerably and they claimed to have told me that over the phone. I hadn't spoken to them on the phone at all! In the end, I had to settle for part-payment for the work I had done even though I had followed their brief to the letter. I guess I could have taken it further, but I really didn't want the hassle of dealing with them anymore.

Lesson learned: Get everything in writing. That's why I do all of my business communication via email now. It gives everyone involved a record of exactly what has been stated and if there are any ambiguities, it is much easier to point them out/notice them in written form. Since going 100% online with my communication, I've had no problems at all.

The second problem was with a new client who had a rather slack reign on his finances. Having agreed a price, I produced the copy he required and sent it over via email. He was delighted with the copy and soon it was in use on a website. However, six weeks later and the payment still hadn't arrived. After prompting him, I received a cheque for the full amount - which bounced! I tried to be reasonable, and the client admitted that he was responsible, but still no sign of payment. Unfortunately, it ended up with legal proceedings, but thankfully we settled out of court on amicable terms.

Lesson learned: Get a deposit from first time customers! Now I always ask for a 50% deposit up front, and to date, every customer has been understanding and happy to pay. Once I have worked with a customer and there's an established relationship and trust, I don't tend to ask for deposits, but maybe that's me being naiive!

So my advice to all budding freelancer copywriters out there is - don't take the risk, especially if non-payment for your work is likely to cause you serious financial problems. Explain the situation and ask for a percentage of the final payment up front. And get everything in writing, so that everyone has a record of communications and there are no assumptions.

SEO copywriter, Web copywriter, Web content writer