Copywriting — 5 Things I Learned With The First $5000
Copywriting 101
When I first started copywriting as a career, I thought it involved nothing more than writing, proofing, sending it into the customer, and collecting the money. I soon discovered there was more to this job than just putting words onto a virtual page. By the time I made my first $5000, I learned exactly what being a ‘freelance writer’ had to be if I really wanted to make this profitable.
Writing Lesson 1 — Customer Service
This isn’t quite the same with online copywriting. A customer half a world away on the Internet is rather quite different from one standing in front of you. I discovered a conversation in cyberspace can take a life on its own.
The remnants of that conversation (good and bad) stay around for a very long time so you had better make darn sure that what you type, what it says, and what you meant are all the exact same thing.
Writing Lesson 2 — Search Engine Optimization
I knew Google existed before I started copywriting online, but the concept of how those websites got there never really occurred to me. It took me one and only one customer to figure out that SEO is pretty important when you are providing online content.
I had to learn what SEO copywriting really was, and when to use it. (There is a, excellent SEO resource at Divine Write and Ittybiz has a great resource for freelance writers called SEO School For $39.00) that will teach you pretty much everything you need to know.)
Writing Lesson 3 — Research
When I first started, I took (and still) take jobs for a wide range of industries and topics. I knew about some of them, but other topics were brand new. The wealth of information on Google is helpful, but it became a time sucker (especially when you find an interesting article or post and lose an hour reading it. *note to self* STOP doing that!).
As soon as I learned how to really use Google, things got a whole lot faster. The Inquisitr recently posted “18 Ways to Power Search Google” as a great resource.
Writing Lesson 4 — Article Submissions
Places such as Ezine Articles are a huge source of marketing for many of the sites on the web. However, if you’ve ever tried to submit an article for these guys without having been around for awhile, it takes a bit to understand some of the little requirements and hookups these places have. I found that knowing how to submit to these places allowed me to improve my format and presentation. This made the submission process easier for the customer and it improved my customer base immensely.
Writing Lesson 5 — Web Design
Eventually, I was faced with a dilemma — pay someone to set up a website, or go it on my own. Since I had no idea how to do that and was too cheap to pay someone, I started with web builders on free sites such as Bravehost. It wasn’t pretty (in fact, it showed how bad at web design I really am), but it was a start. From there, I moved over to a free WordPress blog, and now I’m here! (Thank you iDesign Studios for the great work!) Selene created a great site, but knowing how to upkeep it will save me some coin.
These five tidbits of advice are just some of the things I learned, and still am learning, as a copywriter. I am constantly on the hunt for new information and experimenting with new things. In fact, that is the only thing that is going to keep me ahead of my competitors and hold onto the clients I already have.
(Thanks to Woodsy for the great pic!)
November 24, 2008 at 4:03 pm | For the Writer | 2 comments
Awesome post Angie – thanks for sharing your learning experiences! Your courage to share your experiences will be such a huge benefit to others – wow! I’m really looking forward to watching your blog evolve!!
Great post Angie — you are spot on when it comes to the importance of customer service and SEO. I think it is so important as a freelance writer to always remember who you are writing for and what their end goal is. As you know, writing for the web can be promotional, but writing articles for distribution is a whole other story. Love the blog and can’t wait to read more posts in the future. You are awesome!!
Tara