How to Hire a Professional Copywriter

If you decide that you need to hire a professional copywriter, be aware that you need to go

through a fairly rigorous selection process.  When looking for the right person to help represent your business, make sure you take into consideration the following pointers:

1.    Make sure they have quite a lot of experience at writing sales copy specifically for the Internet.  There are certain tricks and techniques that a talented copywriter will use that someone with strictly offline copywriting experience will not be familiar with.

2.    Check their references.  A successful copywriter will be more than happy to provide you with an extensive list of satisfied customers.  Be sure that you call at least three and ask questions about how well their copy pulled, whether or not they met set deadlines, and how well they responded to constructive criticism.

3.    Read samples of their writing and ask questions to make sure that they are, indeed, the author.  Ask questions about the process that they went through to put a particular piece together.  Look for a writer who believes in working closely with clients and who generously gives credit where credit is due.

4.    Consider paying your top two or three candidates to write a ‘trial run’ piece.  This gives you the opportunity to work with the writers on a small-scale and check their work on a more personal level.  Before hiring anyone for larger project or contract find out whether you work well together and like their style.

5.    Be prepared to pay for quality writing.  You could end up paying thousands and while this might seem like a big expense, you need to weigh the initial cost against the lifetime of profits that top-selling sales copy can generate.

Once you've hired your writer, be prepared to spend some time with them, educating them about your business, your products, and your goals.  Until your writer understands the ‘big picture’, they will have a difficult time producing tight copy that truly meets your objectives.

Here is the biggest tip of all for developing a successful relationship with your writer and getting the best copy: read their work with the eyes of the potential customer, not an editor.  If you read their work for the first time with your red pen in hand, you are doing yourself -- and your business -- and huge disservice.

Realize that successful Web copy is not grammatically perfect.  Instead, it is written in a conversational style, using sentence structure and grammar that would probably horrify any English teacher.  Expect to see incomplete sentences, split infinitives, sentences that start with ‘And’ or ‘But’, and the creative use of punctuation for visual effect!

Things that you should be thinking about when reading their copy include...

1.    Does the headline or title contain a clear benefit that’s exciting?

2.    Is the first paragraph compelling?  Does it make you want to read on and learn more?

3.    Are the benefits clearly stated and EMPHASIZED early on?

4.    Does the piece explain the features of your product or service with a clear focus on how they will benefit the customer?

5.    Does the copy draw you through?  Does it flow?  Or does it jump around?

6.    Is the language clear and concise?  Does the writer avoid meaningless or complicated jargon?

7.    Does the writer create a sense of urgency?

8.    How effective is the close?

And most importantly...

Does it make you want to buy ?  !!!

A professional writer expects criticism.  It’s part of the job.  However, be sure that before you slash their work, you take the time to ask them why they decided to write certain things the way they have.

You are the client, so you will get the final say in how certain pieces are to be written.  But if you ask, you may learn something from their experience that will contribute to your overall writing abilities in the future.

There are a lot of copywriters to hire online these days... but not all of them are worth their prices.  However, by following the pointers given here, you could find a good copywriter who meets your requirements and can create the kind of copy you need for your business.

www.Textbroker.com provides on-demand text writing services, and you pay for the length of content and the quality of the writer you select.

The following websites allow you to have contractors all over the world bid on your job.

www.4writers.net
www.freelance.com
www.freelancer.ca
www.guru.com
www.odesk.com
www.elance.com

You can hire these copywriters for just an hour to write some headlines for you, or you can hire them to write an entire sales letter.  Remember that these are just a few sites out of the dozens that are available, I have used all the above with good success in the past.

Of course, I recommend that you put in the time to learn how to write your own sales copy.  However, if you just don't have the time or the inclination, using a copywriting service to do the job for you can also be a good option, as long as you are careful to choose the right copywriter for the job.

Keep in mind that your sales letter is the face and voice of your online business... it represents you and your business.  It can make or break your reputation.

It is crucial that your sales copy shows that you exuberantly believe in your offer.  So if you didn't write it yourself, be sure that whoever did, truly believes that your product or service is unparalleled.  If your sales letter doesn't make it sounds as though you truly believe your offer is the best thing since sliced bread, you might as well quit now.

Your audience will realize within seconds that there's an element of enthusiasm missing... they may not be able to put their finger on it, but without the force of absolute confidence shining through your sales copy, they'll know that something is not right and they will simply move on to another web site.  Make sure that your letter proves that you believe passionately in what you are marketing.