Before You Hire a Website Copywriter…
December 22, 2008 by Melissa Donovan · 2 Comments
You Say You Want Web Content Writing
When you’re doing business online, it’s essential that your written content is fresh, compelling, and written specifically for your target audience. Good website copywriting can make or break a website. It can turn a casual visitor into a loyal customer or convince a shopper to buy.
Hiring a professional to do your website copywriting is a pretty good idea but what if copywriting is not the service you really need?
Tell Me What You Really Want
I get requests from clients all the time for website copywriting projects that aren’t copywriting projects at all. Here are a few examples:
- How much will it cost for you to rewrite my home page? I need to get more traffic to my site.
- I’d like to get a press release published on several major media sites. How much will that cost?
- People who visit my site aren’t buying my product. Can you review my site and give me a quote to rewrite all of it?
Before you hire a website copywriter, you need to do one simple thing: identify your primary objective.
Now, Let’s Figure Out What You Need
In the examples above, written content was not necessarily part of the business owners’ true goal. Let’s take a closer look at each request.
How much will it cost for you to rewrite my home page? I need to get more traffic to my site.
You don’t want a new home page; you want more traffic. A freshly written home page might help you get more traffic, but this request has more to do with online marketing and search engine optimization than it does with website copywriting.
To draw traffic, you usually need to do one of three things. First you can pay for advertising or use search engine marketing (SEM). Second, you can find ways to get links to your site from other sites. Finally, you can optimize your site so it draws people who are looking for your product or service using search engines. This is called search engine optimization (SEO).
Note that search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) are two different things.
SEO in particular is closely linked to website copywriting because the copywriter must use keywords in the composition of the text. However, SEO is its own field of study, and I’ll talk more about what SEO is and how it can help you get more traffic in an upcoming post.
I’d like to get a press release published on several major media sites. How much will that cost?
Every time I get this request, my first question is always, “What’s the news?” And the answer is almost always “We want to tell people about our site.”
A press release is a news item and is usually a time-sensitive announcement. If your website sells eyewear, then a press release probably isn’t right for you unless your sunglasses allow people to travel through time or your spectacles give a wearer the ability to fly. That’s news!
You can create news, of course, and then a press release will be entirely appropriate. Running a major promotion or special could be newsworthy. A new product or website launch may also be newsworthy.
Interestingly, this request isn’t really for a press release. Like the first request, what this client actually wants is more traffic. There are a lots of ways to get traffic and a press release is only one of them.
People who visit my site aren’t buying my product. Can you review my site and give me a quote to rewrite all of it?
The real question being asked is this: why aren’t people buying my product?
It may have nothing to do with the written content and everything to do with the type of traffic the site is attracting. Or, maybe it’s not so much that people aren’t buying – they just haven’t found the site at all.
What you want to know is:
- How many visitors are coming to the site?
- Who is visiting the site? Where are they coming from?
- Why aren’t they responding to the call to action?
When people aren’t buying your product or hiring you, the first thing you ned to do is check your traffic statistics to see how many people have stopped by. Your stats should tell you how long they stay on your site and which pages they read during their stay.
Next, you want to know the source of the visitors. Are they coming in through links? Social media? Search engines? Maybe the traffic you’re getting isn’t your target customer base.
For example, let’s say you’re a florist named Kate Tomlin and you grow your own lilies, so that’s the flower you feature most on your site. Due to the combination of the words “lily” and “Tomlin,” you often get search traffic for “Lily Tomlin.” In fact, you get a lot of it.
Rewriting your home page is not going to make these visitors buy your lilies because they’re not looking for flowers, they’re looking for the actress Lily Tomlin.
When Website Copywriting is Appropriate
A really good website copywriter should be able to tell you if you’re ready for copywriting services and many web content writers provide SEO copywriting and a host of services that are designed to help you get more traffic or increase sales.
At least, that’s what I do.
Are You Cut Out for Freelance Writing?
December 6, 2008 by Melissa Donovan · 1 Comment
This post was originally published on Writing Forward (May 5, 2008). It has been slightly updated for republication here.
Freelance writers live in their own special universe. It’s a universe full of words, clients, and bottom lines. Many people dive into this universe headfirst and find out fast that it’s sink or swim. Doesn’t it sound tempting? Setting your own hours, having control over your income, making business decisions, trying to find clients, and establishing yourself as a worthwhile contender in the galactic enterprise that is your one-person business.
Make no mistake, freelancing is a business. Visions of lounging on the sands of your own private island quickly evaporate into late nights spent staring groggy-eyed into a computer screen that has become the center of your world. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and the light is success. Before you reach the light, before you even step into the tunnel, you have to ask yourself, are you cut out for freelance writing?
Skill
Some people will argue and claim that skill is not really a requirement for freelancers. Have a look around the web. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are fairly optional here. Proofreading is unheard of, and most web writers seem to have never discovered the editing process. That’s fine. They can peddle $1 articles at the bidding boards. If you have serious writing skills, you can actually earn a livable wage as a freelance writer.
Drive
You’ll need someone who can pilot your space shuttle into the freelance universe and guess what? If you’re freelancing, it’s going to have to be you. This is a business, not a hobby, and it requires a considerable amount of ambition. You’ve got to want it. Bad. You won’t have a boss or any coworkers asking how that project’s coming along but you will have endless distractions and temptations vying for your attention. If you can’t commit your energies, then your ship’s going to crash.
Sacrifice
I bet some people slip into freelancing and never notice a change in their work hours. Don’t ask me where these people are. I’ve never met them. You can call yourself a freelancer until the sun spins out of its orbit, but what you really are is an entrepreneur and you know what entrepreneurs do? They work hard, long hours. They give up social activities and hobbies so they can throw their energies into the business and make it succeed. Is the sacrifice forever? I don’t think so, but expect to have very little free time during your first year or two.
Educability
Perfect! I thought I was making up the word “educability” but it turns out that it already exists. And that’s my point. You have to be willing to learn. You have to be willing to grow. I’m now in my second year of freelancing. I love it and one of the things I love most is that every single day I learn new things. I learn new stuff about writing, about people, about business, and about the universe. I learn what works, what earns money, and what kind of limits or goals I need to get myself to the next level. Much of freelancing is trial and error, especially in the beginning. Learn and live. Live and learn.
Flexibility
Some freelancers still probably operate in the real world but most of us are living and working on the Internet. The Internet changes at a rapid pace and if you’re a web-based freelancer, you have to be able to keep up. Sometimes this means adjusting your rates. Other times it means offering new services. Usually, it means updating your website so it doesn’t look like an antique UFO from the 1990s. If you like a fast pace and think you can keep up, then freelancing online might be right for you.
Acumen
Not just any acumen, you’re going to need business acumen. Can you balance a checkbook, manage a spreadsheet, keep track of your income and expenses? Do you know what marketing is? Can you negotiate? Pitch yourself? Convince a client they need your services? Do you know the difference between being in the red and being in the black? Can you always have a backup plan? Sure, you can start freelancing and learn the business stuff as you go, but it’s good to have an advance grasp on the basics.
Spine
People will try to take advantage of you, so you’re going to need a spine and some thick skin. Aliens will ask for special discounts. People who make five times as much money as you will ask for special discounts. Space invaders will steal hours and hours of your time going back and forth ironing out project details and then they’ll never sign the quote because they found someone else who offered a better discount. Negotiating a little is fine but if you agree to give everyone from ET to R2-D2 a discount you’ll find yourself working for pennies and then you’ll scratch your head wondering why you don’t have enough money to pay rent even though you had plenty of work all month. Can you say no?
Love
Okay, so some freelance writers probably don’t love freelancing. Or writing. But I do. People ask me how my business is going and I tell them I’m exhausted and overwhelmed. I’m working longer hours than ever before and until recently I was making much less money than ever before. But I absolutely love it. This is a big, wide open universe and it suits me perfectly. If you don’t love business, or writing, or working on a computer all day, then you probably won’t be happy doing this. And that is really the goal, right? To find happiness.
What are some other qualities that a successful freelancer needs? Have you thought about quitting your job and taking the plunge? What’s holding you back?
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