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, especially if you don’t want to sound just like everyone else with a subscription and time on their hands.
Your best option is always someone who does it for a living.
Spoilt for choice
Posting ‘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. And they all subscribe to the same LinkedIn newsletters. 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.
But 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 added to their profile on the off chance.
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.
So whether you’re looking for UX writing, a video script, or even a piece of print, it pays to get us in early.
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, just make an offer. But be prepared to give something in return, such as faster payments.
7. 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. Don’t kick my tyres
Your last copywriter ripped you off, you say. You paid less than the price of a medium Pepperoni Passion, and the copy stank. 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 someone who does 15 quid SEO articles.
9. 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 