Working with a copywriter for the first time can be daunting. Writing is very personal, and having an external person write about your business (your baby) takes a lot of trust and communication.

And to be honest, the actual writing is only one component of a much larger relationship. Get these other components right and the words will come much easier.

Completing the brief

I’ve talked about the importance of a good client brief as a key component of a successful copywriting project. Keep in mind that you know  your business best, and it may take a lot of questions and discussion for me to get my head around what you do, what makes your business so special, and who your customers are. If you don’t know the answers to some of the questions – be truthful. We can work through it together.

Allowing enough time

A rushed job is never good. As soon as you know you have a project, make contact so I can add it to my schedule. The more time I have to prepare and write, the better the outcome for everyone. It doesn’t mean that I’ll necessarily take longer to write your content, it just means I can spread it out and have enough time to refine  it.

Providing feedback

I like happy clients. I want you to be happy with the work I do. I want you to let me know what works and what doesn’t work. I want you to tell me why. It’s all about communication. Don’t be afraid to say what you think – I want the best outcome for the project just as much as you do.

Paying the invoice

My invoices are due within 14 days of the date of issue. If you know that your accounting department doesn’t work that quickly, please let me know before I start so I can plan accordingly. It may mean that I ask for a deposit up front, or issue more frequent invoices along the way.

What are your experiences? Please share them below.

If you are ready to take the plunge and work with a copywriter for the first time, contact me to arrange a quote.

I’ve got a sneaky little side project on the go. Very exciting.

Without giving anything away, it has something to do with books. Real books.

My question to you is:

What’s your favourite copywriting, usability, information architecture, writing for the web, or content strategy book?

Let me know.

I’ve knocked back a couple of jobs this week. Not because they didn’t sound interesting (actually one would have been really interesting), or because the brief wasn’t complete.

No, it was the deadline. Both had a deadline of this Friday. Neither were small jobs, and the content had to be written from scratch.

And (without sounding too big-headed) I’m pretty busy at the moment. With clients who booked me in weeks (and months) ago.

So why do people get caught out? I think it’s because they underestimate the time it takes to create great content. They often give it (the writing) a go first, then realise at the last minute that they need help.

Why I need time to write

Content creation involves far more than just typing words into a document. I also need time for:

• Making sure I have a comprehensive brief before I start anything. This may involve a lot of back and forth over email, the phone, or for big projects I will require a face-to-face briefing session.
• Extra research. I will look at competitors’ sites, industry sites, blogs – whatever is relevant for the project. I also have a fantastic collection of books that I’ll often refer to.
• Leaving the work and coming back to it later with fresh eyes. I rarely sit down and write a complete project in one go. Often I’ll start a draft, leave it, come back to it, leave it, then finally polish it before I’m happy for the client to see it.
• Revisions. I have a one revision policy – clients receive a draft, they provide feedback, and then I send a final version. If a lot of people need to provide feedback, this process takes time.

So, if you are currently planning a new website, a newsletter or something else you would like me to work on please contact me now so I can give your project the time it deserves. Because great content takes time to write.

As part of my initial quoting process, I ask all clients to complete my client brief. Some do this with ease, others find it more difficult as some of the questions in the brief include:

• What are your unique selling points?
• Who is your target audience?
• What do you want you call to action to be?
• What is the personality of your business?
• What is the objective of the copy?

Most of the time after a telephone call these questions can be answered. After one such phone call, a client said to me:

Hey, you should offer this as a service!

What a great idea.

So now I have added content workshops to the range of services provided by Snappy Sentences. They will be almost like an extended briefing session, but I will write a report at the end for clients to keep and use for other communication activities too.

I’ll go through (and document) things like:

• The target audience of the site.
• The language and tone to be used.
• Key messages and calls to action.

So what do you think? Would this be the type of service you would find useful?

A simple style guide is a must for any business – no matter how big or small.

Head over to www.snobs.com.au for my new post on developing a style guide for your business.

On Wednesday night I attended a Networx event called Marketing on a shoestring budget. It was a great night and I think everyone in the crowd learned some good tips and tricks to make a small marketing budget go further.

One idea that wasn’t really expanded on though was the value of good content. I think that if you are going to go to the effort of pulling together a website, some direct mail outs, or even a decent business card (which were all items given the thumbs up), then don’t forget that the right words can really seal the deal.

Hiring a professional copywriter – even for a few hours – can make a huge difference to your brand. We can help you focus your call to action, define a personality for your business, or even simply set up a style guide for you to follow when you write material yourself. In fact, a style guide is one of the most overlooked tools for a small business. Consistency in the way you write sends a message to your potential clients that you are professional and organised – qualities that are good for business!

What are your value-for-money marketing tools?

It’s officially the downhill slide to the end of the year. The first Christmas party invites are starting to filter through, the weather is getting hotter and hotter (around here anyway), and there is a last minute push to get things done before everyone goes on holidays.

The savvy ones out there are also starting to think about their content needs for 2010. While it may be hard to do (with all the frivolity on the horizon), start having a think about:

• What blog topics would you like to cover? Do some brainstorming and map out what you are going to cover for at least the first six months. You can always be flexible (if something more timely or exciting crops up), but having a schedule makes it far less intimidating to keep up to date with posts.
• What special events do you want to target with your business. Mother’s Day? Easter? The local show? If you plan ahead, you’ll give yourself enough lead time to write some cracking content to attract customers and generate sales.
• Who really is your target market? If you haven’t done so already, start analysing your website traffic and metrics, develop some personas of your different types of visitors and target them with specific content.
• Train your staff. We run some great Writing for the web workshops – contact us to find out more.

Small steps such as these will help prepare you for the year ahead. Then you’ll really be able to enjoy all those Christmas parties!

What will be on your content to-do list for 2010?

I’ve been having some problems with Technorati, basically because I’ve changed my blog URL since joining. The site doesn’t seem to pick up my new blog posts, so after much trial and error I am deleting my claim and re-claiming www.snappysentences.com/blog

To get this to work, they need a piece of code. Here it is: fvdq67ky8x

Fingers crossed this works

Freelance web copywriters rarely meet their customers face-to-face. We often have clients scattered across the state, across the country, and even across the world. That, plus the fact we usually charge for our services by the hour, means that we need to have a reliable way of collecting all the information about a project to write an accurate quote or proposal.

Enter the client brief.

Getting a comprehensive client brief starts a project on the right foot. It gives a copywriting project a far higher chance of success – which means a happy client.

My client brief (which gets filled out to kick start the project) contains:

• Name of company and motto (so I get the spelling right in the content).
• Contact name, phone number, and email address (so I know the person to chase up with any project related questions, and also who I’ll send the final version to).
• Description of project – for example one 250 word web page using existing marketing material (gives me a feeling for the size of the project, how much content I need to write).
• Unique selling points of product or company – for instance the only authorised supplier of xyz in Brisbane (helps with developing an angle for the content).
• Five words to describe the personality of the product/company (helps me decide on the tone and language to use).
• Company website url (for obvious reasons).
• Supporting information provided (so I know how much research I’m going to need to do).
• Main competitors (gives me an understanding of the industry).
• What do you want your call to action to be (such as give us a call, download our whitepaper, subscribe to our newsletter)?
• Who is your target audience (retirees, youth, parents etc)?
• Specific keywords to use in the content (so I fit in with any other SEO activities you may be undertaking).
• First draft of content required by (helps me plan).
• Final version of content required (again, helps me plan).
• Format required – for example .doc (I use Word 2007 generally, but I can provide other formats such as a plain .txt file).

I’ll also ask if you have an in-house style guide that you use. Helps me with things like heading style (of course I always recommend sentence case).

Do you think anything else should be added to the list?

Ok, I’ve got something to admit – I’m a sucker for an e-book. My laptop is full of downloaded articles, books and reports. A lot paid for. Most of them unread.

In the past I’ve found that a lot of books leave you feeling warm and fuzzy and ready to take on the world – but when the push comes to shove they are light on with the real nuts and bolts of *how* to do it. Or, they seem too far removed from anything that you could possibly achieve – so you give up before you even start.

Today I had some reading time and discovered two gems in my collection: The Unlimited Freelancer and SEO Secrets.

Both have been written by people who I admire – clever, friendly and interesting web copywriters. Both are meaty – The Ultimate Freelancer is 200 pages and SEO Secrets is 213 pages. Both are great value for money.

And best of all – both give you some real, practical tools that you can apply to YOUR business.

The Unlimited Freelancer

The Ultimate Freelancer is written by Mason Hipp and James Chartrand (from Men with Pens) and published by FreelanceFolder.com. It’s easy to read, to the point, and very practical – real get your hands dirty advice (which I like). The focus of the book is on the behind the scenes stuff that a successful freelancer needs: good systems; a good team; and good revenue generating assets.

It’s been written to benefit any type of freelancer, not just writers – so it’s a lot about business sense not the freelance writing industry.

Software is suggested under the ‘Systems, software, and automation’ section – and there are even some that I can use (being in Australia). I am now on a mission to figure out what combination is going to help me the most.

I would have liked some extra case studies (I like seeing how others have done it), and even though it’s great that there are 200 pages – I did end up printing it out for quick reference. Which is good I guess as it’s definitely something I’ll go back and refer to as I clean up my systems and processes.

All in all, an excellent book – and a bargain at US$29. You can download The Unlimited Freelancer from the FreelanceFolder site.

The Ultimate Freelancer

SEO Secrets

First a quick disclaimer: I haven’t been paid in any way for this review but I have signed up for Glenn’s affiliate program for his book. So, if anyone from this site purchases the book I do get a commission. So please, if you are going to get the book – follow the link from this page

I found Glenn Murray from Divine Write on Twitter and have been an interested follower ever since. When he released version two of his SEO Secrets book, I was quick to download it. I admit it took me a while to get through it (it’s so big!), but now I’m kicking myself that I didn’t do it sooner as – even though I do know a fair bit about SEO – this book is going to be my go-to guide for any of my SEO questions.

It’s very practical, and drills down to a level that – if you follow the step-by-step instructions – you can improve your website quickly, easily, and without any real technical knowledge.

It covers:

• keywords
• search engines
• optimising WordPress blogs
• content optimisation
• developing optimised sites
• social media.

It’s an entry-level book on SEO – but covers the fundamentals so well that even people who understand SEO well will benefit from a read. At US$79.95 it’s also well worth the money.

SEO Secrets - Click image to purchase