Learn How to Earn a Living as a Freelance Writer, Part Three—Copywriting for Fun and Profit

Copywriting is a great way to earn money as a freelance writer. It may sound a little intimidating, but it’s great fun.

What is copywriting?

The dictionary defines a copywriter as one who “writes copy for advertising.” The field has gone on to include many aspects of business writing, especially those where the company interfaces with the client or consumer.

At first glance, this may seem like a very small niche for writers. Quite the contrary—it’s a huge opportunity. This area of writing continues to explode, particularly in the arena of the Internet.

Primary Goal for ALL Copywriters

Get the first sentence read.

So your choice of Headline, Graphics, Font, Format etc. should lead directly to this goal.

What is the goal of the first sentence? To get the next sentence read. This step by step road is the yellow brick road for everyone who wants to succeed as a copywriter.

KISS College English Goodbye

Think about famous lines.

            It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

            To be or not to be.

What do most have in common? They’re simple and straightforward. No overblown adjectives or prose. In other words—Keep It Simple Stupid!

Effective copy is written clearly and concisely. It’s vitally important to learn the lesson that to engage the audience you have to keep it conversational. Occasionally you’ll break a few grammar rules—but that’s okay—rules were meant to be broken.

Format with the Reader in Mind

Make your copy easy to scan. Use plenty of bullet points, headings and subheadings. Make it clear what you’re offering the audience.

Headlines are More than Words—They’re a Numbers Game!

• 50/50 – Many copywriters say you should spend as much time on crafting your headline as on writing your copy.
• 80/20 – The numbers don’t lie. It’s been proven 8 out of 10 people will read the headline and only 2 out of 10 will read the rest.

With a compelling headline a browser becomes a reader. Without that headline the rest of your words might as well not be written. But what makes a great headline? The best contain your entire message in one memorable bite.

What are some key components to a compelling headline?

• Provide the reader with the tools to evaluate the content.
• Resonate with a reader’s urgency.
• Show the reader why this offer/product/person is unique
• And it must do all of this clearly and concisely.

Format Your Content

Formatting content revolves more around guidelines than rules. Depending on what your copy is to be used for the rules will change. But the following tips will always ring true.

• Write to your audience. Remember who you are trying to reach and relate to them through your words, graphics, font, etc.
• Keep focused. Every story you tell should be razor focused on the point of the copy. Now is NOT the time to ramble.
• Be credible. Don’t make unsubstantiated claims. Use statistics, experts, even testimonials.
• After showing your credibility restate your focus.
• Give the reader something to do, i.e. buy the product.
• Sum everything up, restate why your premise is fulfilled by taking this action.

Cut to the Benefits

So often we try to tell people the features of a product. But features aren’t what sell products—benefits are. Let me explain.

I was shopping for a new clothes dryer and saw one with an optional steam feature. My thought when the salesman mentioned it? So what.

Then he told me I could use it instead of ironing. That was a benefit and I was seriously interested!

See the difference—subtle, but vital—when you’re writing copy.

So how do you figure out the true benefit of something?

• Make a list of all the features.
• Beside each one ask why it’s helpful.
• Now ask how that help is accomplished.
• Tie that information to an emotional or felt need.

A word of warning here. High end business customers and technical customers are sometimes irritated by emotionalism. The business leader wants the bottom line and the techno geek wants to know the specs. They both will still want the benefits, but in those cases the features need to be highlighted as well.

Now it’s your turn. What experience have you had with copywriting? Next week's post will be devoted entirely to how to find clients and what to charge.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Use Headlines to Compose Facebook and Twitter Updates—How to Utilize Copywriting Techniques in Social Media

I’ve done a good bit of copywriting during my career and I’ve stumbled across a really good application for it with my use of Social Media. So bear with me as I give you a little background on copywriting.

First, for those who aren’t sure, the dictionary defines a copywriters as one who “writes copy for advertising.” The field of copywriting has gone on to include many aspects of business writing.

And the primary goal for ALL copywriters when they compose a headline is not, as you might assume, to sell something.

It’s to get the first sentence read.

And that’s where the similarity with social networking begins.

So their choice of Headline, Graphics Font, Format, etc. should lead directly to this goal. And what is their goal with the first sentence? To get the next sentence read. 

This step-by-step copywriting road is also the yellow brick road for everyone who wants to succeed with Social Media.

You see, with a compelling headline a browser becomes a reader. Without a compelling headline, the rest of your words might as well not be written. The same could be said of your Facebook post or Twitter update.

So what makes a compelling headline/social media update?

1. It must provide the reader with the tools to evaluate the content.
2. It needs to resonate with a reader’s urgency.
3. It’s important to show the reader why this offer/product/person is unique.

And, most important of all it must NOT give away the ending!

Not sure what that means? 

Let say I’d written a blog post about how Hootsuite can help you organize your Twitter life.

Here’s the Tweet/Facebook update I’d send out:

Does the confusion of Twitter make you crazy? Visit my blog today for 5 tips to organize your Tweet Life. 

Here’s a Tweet/Facebook update I’d NEVER send out:

Does the confusion of Twitter make you crazy? Use Hootsuite to organize your Tweet LIfe.

With the second one I’ve given away the ending and there’s no reason for anyone to visit my blog.

Now, before we get too much deeper I want to give you a list of all the different headlines you can create.

Direct Headlines go straight to the heart of the matter, without any attempt at cleverness. A direct blog post title might read Free SEO E-book.

An Indirect Headline takes a more subtle approach. It uses curiosity to raise a question in the reader’s mind, which the body copy answers. Often a double meaning is utilized, which is useful online. A blog post I once saw was 7 Reasons NOT to Blog.

A News Headline is pretty self-explanatory, as long as the news itself is actually, well… news. A product announcement, an improved version, or even a content scoop can be the basis of a compelling news headline. Think Introducing the New Google+.

The How to Headline is popular everywhere, online and off, for one reason only—it works. An example would be, umm… oh yes… the title of this post.

A Question Headline must do more than simply ask a question, it must be a question that resonates with the reader. One used far too often in the writing industry, Do You Want to Get Published Now?

The Command Headline emphatically tells the reader what to do. The first word should be a strong verb demanding action, such as Subscribe to The Write Conversation Today!

Another effective technique is called the Reason Why Headline. Your body text consists of a numbered list of product features or tips, which you then incorporate into the headline, such as 8 Ways to Build a Platform.

Finally, we have the Testimonial Headline, which is highly effective because it presents outside proof that you offer great value. This entails taking what someone else has said about you, your product or service, and using their actual words in your headline. Quotation marks let the reader know that they are reading a testimonial, which will continue in the body copy

With this many types of headlines to choose from you should never run short of ideas on what to post about your or anyone’s blog again.

But remember, it's important to make sure you vary the type of headline post you use. In other words, don’t always use a question or a reason why headline. Shake it up a little.

Now let's have some fun. Can you give examples of possible headlines for today's post?

Don't forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Get Started as a Freelance Writer—Part Four, Have You considered Copywriting?

Copywriting is a great way to earn money as a freelance writer. It may sound a little intimidating, but it’s great fun.

What is copywriting?

The dictionary defines a copywriter as one who “writes copy for advertising.” The field has gone on to include many aspects of business writing, especially those where the company interfaces with the client or consumer.

At first glance, this may seem like a very small niche for writers. Quite the contrary—it’s a huge opportunity. This area of writing continues to explode, particularly in the arena of the Internet.

Primary Goal for ALL Copywriters

Get the first sentence read.

So your choice of Headline, Graphics, Font, Format etc. should lead directly to this goal.

What is the goal of the first sentence? To get the next sentence read. This step by step road is the yellow brick road for everyone who wants to succeed as a copywriter.

KISS College English Goodbye

Think about famous lines.

            It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

            To be or not to be.

What do most have in common? They’re simple and straightforward. No overblown adjectives or prose. In other words—Keep It Simple Stupid!

Effective copy is written clearly and concisely. It’s vitally important to learn the lesson that to engage the audience you have to keep it conversational. Occasionally you’ll break a few grammar rules—but that’s okay—rules were meant to be broken.

Format with the Reader in Mind

Make your copy easy to scan. Use plenty of bullet points, headings and subheadings. Make it clear what you’re offering the audience.

Headlines are More than Words—They’re a Numbers Game!

• 50/50 – Many copywriters say you should spend as much time on crafting your headline as on writing your copy.
• 80/20 – The numbers don’t lie. It’s been proven 8 out of 10 people will read the headline and only 2 out of 10 will read the rest.

With a compelling headline a browser becomes a reader. Without that headline the rest of your words might as well not be written. But what makes a great headline? The best contain your entire message in one memorable bite.

What are some key components to a compelling headline?

• Provide the reader with the tools to evaluate the content.
• Resonate with a reader’s urgency.
• Show the reader why this offer/product/person is unique
• And it must do all of this clearly and concisely.

Format Your Content

Formatting content revolves more around guidelines than rules. Depending on what your copy is to be used for the rules will change. But the following tips will always ring true.

• Write to your audience. Remember who you are trying to reach and relate to them through your words, graphics, font, etc.
• Keep focused. Every story you tell should be razor focused on the point of the copy. Now is NOT the time to ramble.
• Be credible. Don’t make unsubstantiated claims. Use statistics, experts, even testimonials.
• After showing your credibility restate your focus.
• Give the reader something to do, i.e. buy the product.
• Sum everything up, restate why your premise is fulfilled by taking this action.

Cut to the Benefits

So often we try to tell people the features of a product. But features aren’t what sell products—benefits are. Let me explain.

I was shopping for a new clothes dryer and saw one with an optional steam feature. My thought when the salesman mentioned it? So what.

Then he told me I could use it instead of ironing. That’s a benefit and I’m seriously interested!

See the difference—subtle, but vital—when you’re writing copy.

So how do you figure out the true benefit of something?

• Make a list of all the features.
• Beside each one ask why it’s helpful.
• Now ask how that help is accomplished.
• Tie that information to an emotional or felt need.

A word of warning here. High end business customers and technical customers are sometimes irritated by emotionalism. The business leader wants the bottom line and the techno geek wants to know the specs. They both will still want the benefits, but in those cases the features need to be highlighted as well.

Now it’s your turn. What experience have you had with copywriting? Take time to read and comment—it will help me out because I’m still in Ethiopia. But I’ll be back in town next week! Be sure to plug in with your network here, on The Write Conversation.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie