There’s no getting away from it. If you run a business, sooner or later you’ll need some copy.
Writing your own text is tough, and handing the job to that cousin with the English degree is…not recommended. Copywriting has its own skillset, so your best option will always be someone who does it for a living.
Spoilt for choice
Tweeting ‘I need a freelance copywriter for my new website’ is like painting yourself with chocolate and lying down in a room full of ants. The effects are instant and deeply irritating.
Everyone is a copywriter these days. Everyone. The only quality control is your own judgement and the integrity of the person you hire. Some of the ‘writers’ on bidding sites aren’t even real people.
Unless you know someone who knows someone – and you trust the recommendation absolutely – you’re on your own.
If you’re depending on a website or brochure for sales, well-crafted copy is essential. Choose wisely, brief well, and you’ll reap the benefits.
My top tips in no particular order:
1. Find a real one
All copywriters write content, but not all content writers are copywriters.
A professional copywriter will have a head full of great ideas and a portfolio full of genuine work samples.
Copywriting is their real job, not that thing they do for extra cash.
2. Write a brief
The second fastest way to rack up extra costs is to be vague about what you want.
The fastest is to have firm ideas that keeping changing.
A good copywriter will want to know as much as possible about your business, and the task you want carried out.
3. Words come first
Your copywriter will help you say the right things in the right order. If you’ve already got the design, the spaces we need may be too short, too long, in the wrong place – or missing entirely.
4. Don’t ask for a (free) sample
Asking a writer for part of the copy in advance is like asking a baker to ice a cake that isn’t mixed yet.
Or listening to music that hasn’t been written.
If you can’t resist the urge, offer to pay.
5. The lower the rate, the longer it takes
Experienced writers are usually better, and always faster. So don’t be misled by cheap hourly rates.
If you’re not ready for a detailed quote, ask for ball-park figures.
6. Negotiate
If the writer you want is too expensive, make an offer. Be prepared to give something in return, such as faster payments.
7. Always get a fixed price
Remember the builder who did your Mum’s extension? There are copywriters like that.
But extra fees are legitimate if you change your mind about the wallpaper.
8. Cut your cloth
If you’re strapped for cash, hire the best writer you can afford for the Home and About pages, and write the rest yourself.
9. Don’t kick my tyres
Your last copywriter ripped you off, you say. You paid less than the price of medium Pepperoni Passion, and the copy was rubbish. So now you’d like the real thing, for the same money.
‘Based on a true story’. If you want a 15 quid SEO article, speak to that guy on Twitter who does 15 quid SEO articles.
10. Stop fretting about grammar
Us professionals have a special dispensation from the Pope to mess around with words. We have secret meetings where we tell jokes about Nevile Gwynne and give out prizes for anyone who turns a noun into a verb: except for ‘penned’, which gets you hung up by the thumbs in the Vatican basement. God, I wish all that was true.
Copywriters who promote themselves as word nerds (bleuch) or grammar Nazis (seriously?) are known as wordsmiths. They love to give out free advice, but Ollie the guinea pig knows more about copywriting than they do.
Not an elephant shrew.
sengi words 