At some point, you may find yourself needing the services of a freelance writer. Maybe you need someone to create sales copy for your website or brochure. Or maybe you need a blogger to create a few posts each week. Or you could even need an article writer if you’re still relying on article distribution as an internet marketing strategy.

Whatever the case may be, one of the first things you’ll need to do is decide how much you’re going to pay a freelance writer for the project. Now, if you’re like a lot of people, you may want to know just how little you can get away with paying to get the job done. After all, the less you have to pay, the better, right?

Wrong.

Here are 5 reasons you shouldn’t hire a cheap writer.

1. Quality will almost always suffer—There’s an old saying that applies perfectly—“You get what you pay for.” If you’re going to hire a cheap writer at rates far below the industry average, you’re almost certainly going to get work that’s well below the industry average in terms of quality. If you want good work, you have to pay competitive prices. It’s that simple.
2. You may not get original work—How are some writers able to produce content for just a few bucks a pop? It might be because they’re actually stealing the content from somebody else. That’s right. Many companies have been burned by cheap writers who simply stole content off the web, maybe spun it a little bit, and passed it off as fresh and original.
3. Cheap writers often lack experience—Think about this. If a freelance writer was good and experienced at their job, would they be scouring the job boards looking for work at dirt cheap rates? I didn’t think so.
4. Cheap writers may also lack professionalism—If you’ve ever dealt with a bad freelance writer, you know how much of a nightmare it can be. They promise to deliver the work by a certain date, and then miss the deadline. They drop off the face of the earth and stop responding to emails for days or weeks at a time. They come up with insane excuses about why they’re behind on their work. Spend a little more money so you can hire a true professional.
5. Good writing takes time—Writing anything takes time. It takes time to do the research, outline a plan, create a draft, edit the draft, and rewrite the content until it’s just right. When you’re paying someone a dirt cheap rate to write something, they’re not going to spend as much time on it as they should. Time is money.

Have you ever hired a cheap writer? How did things turn out for you?

As a copywriter, I regularly get clients who want me to critique and rewrite their underperforming landing pages. Having taken on more of these projects than I can remember at this point, I’ve noticed that many people make the same mistakes on their landing pages, causing their conversion rates to plummet.

The good news is that these 5 common landing page mistakes are easy to fix once you recognize them.

1. Headlines that lack benefits—There are many different elements that go into writing a great headline for a landing page. The headline needs to pique the interest of the reader, be clear and easy to understand, and relate to the ad that brought the visitor to your landing page. But most importantly of all, your headline needs to be benefit-driven. How will your product or service improve the lives of your customers? What needs does it meet? What do you provide that no one else can match? Focus on creating a headline that answers these types of questions.
2. Conflicting formats—There are many different types of landing pages you can create, from sales letters to upsell landing pages. I’ve noticed that some landing pages try to blend formats, and the result is often an unfocused mess. Figure out a format for your landing page, and stick with it throughout the entire page to keep a consistent style.
3. Hidden call to action—If you’re trying to get conversions on your landing page, you need to have a prominent call to action. Internet users spend 80% of their time looking at content above the fold. In other words, they don’t like scrolling down the page. That means you need a strong call to action placed above the fold in a spot where visitors can’t miss it.
4. No strong offer—You have to make your visitors an offer they can’t refuse. Just telling them to fill out a form or sign up for your email list isn’t going to work. You need to have a strong offer, and you need to make it clear why they can’t afford to pass up your offer. Benefits. Benefits. Benefits.
5. Nothing to establish credibility—Consumers have become increasingly cautious when shopping online. They know the internet is full of shady companies looking to make a quick buck, so it’s your job to earn their trust. Your landing page needs to establish credibility. One way to do this is by including testimonials from satisfied customers. Another thing you can do is to compare your product side-by-side with competing products to show exactly why it’s better.

What are some of the biggest landing page mistakes you’ve seen? Share them by leaving a comment below.

I’m a copywriter, but any type of freelancer knows about spec work. Whenever potential clients ask you to try your services first before deciding whether or not to hire you, that’s spec work.

I refuse to do spec work. Here’s why.

• I’m a professional, and expect to be paid like one—You wouldn’t ask your doctor to give you a free diagnosis, would you? You wouldn’t expect a mechanic to work on your car for free. Why anyone would expect anything differently of a copywriter or designer has never made sense to me. I’m a professional. This is my business. If you want to tap into my expertise, you’re going to have to pay for it. Period.
• There’s always paid work to be done—I never have a shortage of paid work, and for that, I’m truly grateful. So, why would I spend my time on something I’m not going to get paid for when I could be working for clients who actually will pay me? It just doesn’t make good business sense.
• My portfolio speaks for itself—Clients that ask for spec work claim that they do so because they want to make sure the writer or designer can produce work that meets their quality standards. I have literally thousands of samples of my work. If you can’t tell if I’m the right copywriter for you by looking over my samples, you’re not paying attention and you just want something for nothing.
• It helps me keep my prices reasonable—As a freelancer, I get paid for my time. Whenever I’m not doing paid work, I’m not making money. So, if I spend time on spec work, I’d have to make up that lost money somehow, and the only realistic way to do that would be to raise my rates on paid projects.
• Most asking for spec work are low quality clients—Let’s be honest, the type of clients that ask freelancers for spec work probably aren’t the highest caliber of clients. Even if you get the gig, they’ll likely be disloyal and leave you whenever they find a cheaper service provider. And their “something for nothing” mentality will drive them to have impossibly high standards you’re always struggling to meet.

Do you ever take on spec work? Why or why not?

Want to instantly improve your sales copy? Whether you’re writing a landing page or an email, here are 5 questions you need to ask yourself before you write a single word of sales copy.

1. What am I selling? No, I’m not just talking about the name of the product or service you’re selling. I’m talking about what you’re selling on an emotional level. How does your product benefit the customer? What does it make them feel? Are you selling happiness? Self-confidence? Comfort? Pride? Safety? Buying is an emotional decision, so you need to understand what you’re really selling.
2. Who am I selling it to? Who do you think you’d have an easier time trying to persuade: someone you’ve never met and that you know nothing about or someone who you know every single detail about them, from the way they think to their likes and dislikes? The better you know your target audience, the more precisely you can tailor your sales copy, allowing you to connect with the reader more effectively. Check out this post I wrote about defining your target audience.
3. What objections might the reader have? It’s rare that someone instantly decides to buy something without having at least some initial doubts. Consumers are more skeptical than ever before. They have their objections…those things that cause them to hesitate when considering making a purchase. It’s your job to anticipate these objections and to address them head on in your sales copy, so you can turn every “no” into a “yes.”
4. What questions might the reader have? I don’t know about you, but before I make almost any purchase, I have some questions that I need answered. It could be a question about which features the product has, or it might be about the company’s money-back guarantee. You need to do your best to address any questions customer might have about your products, because questions can lead to second thoughts about doing business with you.
5. What do I want the reader to do? This is the most important question you can ask. If you don’t motivate your readers to take action, your sales copy serves no purpose. It’s just a waste of words. You have to figure out where the customer is at in the buying cycle and tailor your sales copy accordingly. If they’re still researching the products, you may just wish to have them contact you for more information. If they’re at the point that they’re considering making a purchase, the next logical step would be to encourage them to place an order now. Figure out what you want the reader to do, and tell them to do so as clearly as possible.

Are there any other questions you like to ask before writing sales copy?

One of the biggest copywriting mistakes you can make is to get your copy off to a bad start. If you don’t hook the customer right away, they’re not going to keep reading forward. There’s no time to get warmed up. You have to come off the starting block quickly and smoothly.

Here’s an example of what I mean. You’ve probably come across copy that reads like the following:

Cosmetic Dentistry Services

ABC Cosmetic Dentistry has been serving the Houston community since 1990. We offer a full range of cosmetic dentistry services, including teeth whitening, dental implants, and porcelain crowns and bridges. You’ll get the beautiful smile you’ve always wanted, helping you be more confident as you look your very best. And with our advanced technology, you can see results in just one office visit.

What’s wrong with this copy? It takes too long to get to the important stuff—the true benefits customers care about. Sure, it’s necessary to mention that the office has experience and to detail some of the services offered, but that’s not what’s going to suck readers in and get them excited.

The important part of that opening paragraph is at the end: “You’ll get the beautiful smile you’ve always wanted, helping you be more confident as you look your very best. And with our advanced technology, you can see results in just one office visit.”

The copy should lead off with those points. Here’s an example of a reworked version that is more effective.

Get the Confident, Beautiful Smile You Deserve

Are you tired of hiding your smile because you’re unhappy with your teeth? A beautiful smile increases your confidence and self-image. With just one office visit to ABC Cosmetic Dentistry, you can get the smile you’ve always wanted. For more than 20 years, we’ve helped Houstonians smile confidently with our cosmetic dentistry services. Whether you need to brighten your smile with our teeth whitening solutions or you have a broken tooth that needs to be replaced, we’ll give your smile the care and attention it deserves.

The difference is that this reworked version addresses the needs of the readers’ right away. It gives them something they can relate to, causing them to get sucked in and keep reading.

When writing copy, you have to start with the most important information. If you don’t get to the point, you’ll lose readers and never get more sales.

When you think about writing copy, you probably see it as a creative process, and for the most part, it is. But the creativity can’t be manufactured out of thin air. It needs to be fueled by something, and the best copywriters understand that the most effective fuel for creativity is good, focused research.

How can you expect to sell a product if you don’t take the time to get to know it intimately? How can you expect to build a connection with an audience if you don’t spend time learning who they are, what’s important to them, how they communicate, etc.? How can you expect to differentiate yourself from the competition if you don’t know anything about them?

Too many copywriters try to take shortcuts, relying on guesswork and their “wit,” rather than spending their time on research. There is no substitute for research in copywriting. Period. No matter how busy you are or how quickly you want to get that copy out there, you have to spend time researching the product to learn everything there is to know about it.

Often times, you’ll discover during your research that the true appeal of a product is something that’s not apparent up front. It’s only when you truly dig deeper and learn about the product or actually use it yourself that you realize that it’s not always the most obvious benefit of the product that you need to focus your copy on.

Stop looking aimlessly for inspiration. Instead, start researching, and inspiration will have its own special way of finding you.

Just when you finally got the art of writing website copy down, along comes something else new that you have to learn. Thanks to the abundance of smart phones, it has now become important for copywriters to know how to write great content for mobile versions of websites. Make no mistake, mobile web copywriting is different than the typical website copywriting you’ve grown accustomed to.

The main thing to remember is that mobile users are typically even more easily distracted than regular web users, and that’s saying a lot. Not only do they have the standard short attention span of someone browsing the web, but they also have the distractions of incoming phone calls, text messages, push notifications, and much more. Maybe they’re just surfing the web while standing in line or while riding in the car with someone.

What does this mean for you?

It means you need to think like a mobile user. You need to understand why someone would be browsing your website from their cell phone.

In most cases, they’re browsing for reference purposes. They’re looking for specific information. Maybe they’re in a store looking at a similar product and they want to compare it to yours.

This means your copy needs to be tight and focused. You don’t have time to build up to the point. You have to get straight to the meat and potatoes of your sales message. No long intros. No longwinded stories. Get to the point ASAP.

You also have to remember that mobile phones have tiny screens. What might look like just a short paragraph on your computer screen could look like a long narrative on a tiny mobile device, requiring a lot of scrolling. You have to keep this in mind while writing your copy. Figure out how to get the most impactful message across with the least possible amount of scrolling required.

The best way to achieve this is to set a goal for each page on your mobile website. Figure out the main purpose of the page, and cut out everything from your content that doesn’t contribute to that goal.

In short, think like you’re Tweeting or texting. Make it concise, smart, and easy to understand. Waste no words, but don’t forget to include some intrigue that encourages people to keep reading and take action.

What are your best mobile copywriting tips?

As a copywriter, I deal with a lot of projects that involve SEO copywriting. On these projects, the client will typically send over a sitemap that includes a list of keywords to target on each page. Pretty standard stuff at this point.

However, I occasionally get clients who insist on incorporating misspelled keywords in their copy because they get a good amount of search volume. And I refuse to do it.

For example, let’s say I’m doing copy for a website that sells daiquiri mix. “Daiquiri” is a word that’s commonly misspelled in a number of different ways, and I’m sure those misspellings garner some decent search volume, but that doesn’t mean you should incorporate them into your website copy.

Why not? I’ll give you a couple of reasons.

First, let’s look at it from an SEO perspective. The whole idea behind targeting misspelled keywords is to drive traffic, right?

Google’s main initiative is to improve the quality of their search results. They’re trying to get rid of shady, low quality websites, and you can bet that, sooner or later (if it doesn’t already), Google (and the other search engines) will see websites that are full of misspelled words as low quality and spammy.

But that’s not even the most important reason to avoid incorporating misspelled keywords into your copy.

Think about your visitors. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely would not feel comfortable doing business with a company whose website was full of typos. It just doesn’t look professional. It makes your company look amateurish, careless, and possibly sketchy. And in a day and age where consumers are less trusting than ever before, you can’t afford to give them another reason to distrust your company.

Do you target misspelled keywords on your website?

In most cases, if you want to sell something, you’ll need to write up some compelling sales copy for the prospect to read. Whether it’s a landing page or a direct mail sales letter, there are certain steps you can follow that will help you create copy that’s focused, effective, and error-free.

1. Create a plan—Before I start writing, I like to have an idea of where the piece is headed. I don’t create overly-detailed outlines, but I do like to make a list of things that will help me stay focused and on track, such as identifying the main problem, outlining a solution, addressing objections, making an offer, and having a strong call to action.
2. Let the writing flow—I like to crank out the initial rough draft for the copy in one sitting. I find that my copy flows better when I write it all at once, rather than taking breaks and putting it together piece by piece. This allows me to get into a zone, and often times, new ideas will pop up as I write.
3. Leave your copy alone for a day or so—Never finalize copy that you just wrote. You need to step away from it for at least a day so that you can come back and look at it with a fresh set of eyes. I promise you’ll see mistakes that you didn’t notice before.
4. Edit for maximum impact—When you come back to edit your copy, don’t worry about grammar and typos just yet. The most important thing is the effectiveness of the sales message. Is it clear? Does it really speak to the reader’s problems? Does it answer their questions? Is any critical information missing or have you included things that don’t need to be there?
5. Proof for errors—After you’ve fine-tuned the sales message, now you can proofread your copy for errors. Check out these 5 tips for proofreading your copy more effectively.

What’s your writing process? Share it with me by leaving a comment.

I’ve often said that great copy creates a conversation with the reader. It doesn’t speak at the reader, it speaks with them. There’s a difference.

Conversational copy gives the brand a distinct voice that consumers can connect with. It engages the readers and speaks directly to the issues they’re facing. As a result, it keeps them on your website longer and leads to more conversions.

But how can you create a conversational flow in your copy? Here are 5 tips to help you out.

1. Learn your target audience’s language—Your target audience will determine the style of your copy. For example, 14 year old girls speak differently than 40 year old men. You need to study the way your target audience speaks and do your best to create copy that captures that style. Simply put, speak to them in a language they can understand.
2. Keep sentences short and clear—Long sentences kill the flow of your copy. They instantly make you seem boring, and they just appear intimidating. Keep your sentences focused on one thought. And while you’re at it, make sure your paragraphs are short too.
3. Ditch the big words—Big words don’t make you sound smart, and they don’t make your product sound more impressive. The average person doesn’t speak using 15-letter words. Clarity is key.
4. Read it aloud—After you’ve written your copy, read it aloud. Does it feel authentic? Are there any parts that don’t feel conversational?
5. Use contractions—Contractions help to make your copy feel less formal and more conversational. Most people use contractions when they speak, so it just makes sense to use them in your copy.

What are some of the things you do to make your copy more conversational? Share your best tips by leaving a comment.