Sure, you take a financial hit in the meantime, but any chance to get your professional copywriting service off the ground has to be considered.

Professional copywriter jobs

Donkeys love carrots and business folks love money. So tempting them with an offer they can’t refuse is a great way to secure more professional copywriting gigs. On top of that, build your portfolio and further your reputation as the Don Juan DeMarco of the professional copywriting world.

Everyone wants your pen, just remember that.

As a professional UK copywriter, I’m inundated with questions from budding copywriters  hoping to turn their passion for writing into a profession.

“At what temperature can bread be considered toast”, some ask. Others say, “Is it possible to drink milk whilst standing on your head?” But the question I get asked more than any other is this: “How do I go about getting professional copywriting jobs?”

It’s a fair enough question and one with more answers than a drugged up gameshow host. Given the size of the question, we’ll break the following weekly blog series down into small, easy to digest blurbs which explain how you can get paid to write. Let’s begin….

professional copywriting jobs

It seems obvious, but if you are considering becoming a professional copywriter, the best place to start your business is at home. Rally your family and friends around the cause and get them to spread the word about your professional copywriting services.

Word of mouth from loved ones is a great free marketing tool and marks the first step towards getting professional copywriting jobs. Apart from murderers, jugglers and N SYNC, people are generally nice and want to help.

To become hotter than a microwave in a drought, you need to let people know about your professional copywriting services. Bring the mountain to Mohammed people, it’s just that simple.

When it comes to speed networking there is a real etiquette one shouldn’t break.

Here’s Ten Things Not To Do When Speed Networking:

1. Don’t’ turn up drunk. You only have a limited amount of time to capture the imagination of the business folk sat opposite. So keep a clear mind and stay off the bottle.
2. Don’t wear a tie on your head. If you’re going to have a Rambo moment, it’s probably best to do so before you leave the office. Keep your personal and professional life separate.
3. Don’t pretend you are stuck in a glass case. Nobody wants to see this. It’s unedifying and frankly people will thing you are insane.
4. Don’t Dance. When I start talking business I often feel my feet start to move. I’ve never gone full-blown John Travolta though and neither should you. That is, of course, unless you are promoting a dance business.
5. Don’t Get Naked. There are many times in the day when we need to take our clothes off. A speed networking gig is not one of those times. So stay modest and draw attention to your business, not your legs.
6. Don’t Talk About Your Model Railway Set. It’s always good to get on personal terms with a prospect client, but speed networking means your time is limited. Therefore, don’t waste half of your 60 seconds jabbering on about the model railway set in your garage.
7. Don’t Eat The Entire Buffet. The buffet is there to be enjoyed, but don’t overstay your welcome at the food table. If you eat all the quiche, prospect clients will be angry. Always share.
8. Don’t Wear Shades. Eye contact is important in all forms of communication. This is certainly the case when it comes to speed networking. Sure you may look cool, but wearing shades in a dark room will leave people asking: why?
9. Don’t Take Your Pet. Speed networking is a place of business, not a vets. So if you are considering taking your pet along, think again.
10. Don’t Talk Backwards. Talking backwards is a real skill but if your prospect can’t understand you, a business partnership is unlikely to emerge.

So there you have it: ten things not to do when speed networking.

Air sea rescue mounted a desperate operation in the form of a spoon but the sodden remains of said biscuit are yet to be found.

Biscuits and writer’s block…?

As I searched desperately for the crumbly castaway in the murky abyss of my coffee cup, it occurred to me some things in life are universal.

Those who partake in the time honoured tradition of biscuit dunking run the risk of sullying their mugs with fallen biscuits. Biscuit density and quality is of course a factor. At the end of the day though, it doesn’t matter whether you are rocking McVitie’s or Tesco’s own brand, we are all prone to losing a biscuit here and there.

Superman’s Achilles’ heel was Kryptonite. Dunkers face the risk of biscuit breakage. So what is it exactly that sends a collective shiver up the spine of the copywriting community?

In a nutshell: writer’s block! There I said it. It’s not a dirty word, its nothing to be ashamed of; it’s something all copywriters must battle from time to time.

Walls are made to be broken…

As with biscuit breakage, there is no scientific formula to excavate your person from the shadows of the writing block wall.

Having worked in the writing trade for the best part of a decade, the Writing Block Monster only rears its ugly head occasionally nowadays. Even so, when the beast does transpire in all its ferocity, I still struggle getting coherent thoughts down on the page.

With web copy deadlines on the horizon, it’s easy to panic. But don’t, this is what the sharp-toothed blockish partition in your mind wants.

It feeds on a diet of fear, so make sure it goes to bed hungry.

Here are a number of methods I find useful in shepherding my mind back to the righteous path of web copy:

1) Come out with your hands up and step away from the keypad! Take a break, have a biscuit (careful if you’re dunking). It may sound overly simplistic, but give your eyes and mind a rest.

2) If your web copy deadline permits, why not leave it till the next day? Things always look different in the morning. Even though you may have temporarily stepped away from the project your subconscious will continue processing information. This will help iron out those creases in your mindscape.

3) Talk to a friend, family member or colleague. Use them as a sounding board to bounce ideas off. I often find fleshing out web copy ideas with others triggers that much need inspiration to keep the Writing Block Monster at bay.

4) Read material related to your web copy project. Not only will this count as research but it could help you view the work through a more positive prism.

5) Rearrange or rewrite the outline/draft for your web copy endeavour. Like a Rubik’s Cube, fiddling often helps the pieces fall into place.

6) Don’t bang your head against the wall. It’s hazardous to your health and you could end up chipping the paint.

7) Fuse your mind with the things you find inspirational. For me, that’s films, literature and music.

The fall of the writing block wall…

Some things are built to last, the writing block wall isn’t. How you scale the wall will depend on you. But scale it you will.

In most cases perseverance and self-belief should dissolve writer’s block faster than a biscuit in a sea of coffee. On the odd occasion, it may take longer.

Whatever the case, just stick with it and remember: unlike mermaids, submarines, goldfish and Olympic swimmers, biscuits don’t like being left in water for too long.

Say what you will about the WWE, chairman Vince Mcmahon has long-trail blazed the way in the world of sports entertainment branding.

Mr Mcmahon, who’s enjoyed various successes and failures outside the ring, has built a dominant empire around his wrestling brand.

Melodramatic storylines and huge pay-per-view events played an integral role in this achievement.

But as with any successful film or television show, the action revolves around a strong set of distinct characters that the audience can relate to.

Characterisation and Copywriting…

Technically Bret Hart is one of the greatest wrestlers to have graced the squared-circle. An enigmatic character swathed in pink and black, ‘The Hitman’ long dominated the wrestling scene.

The root of his longevity is multifaceted, but can be traced in large part to the character’s brand identity.

Mr Mcmahon’s savvy ability to brand his wrestlers is comparable to a copywriter composing a piece of advertorial copy.

When selling a product or service it is the copywriters’ task to tap into the ‘emotional selling point’ of that which they are promoting.

Mcmahon adopts a similar approach by playing on the obvious symbolism which resides in ‘The Hitman’s’ name – Hart.

When the audience hears ‘Hart’, they think of ‘heart’. This conjures up an image of a man who fights on the side of good and walks a path of righteousness. Mcmahon’s creative team augments this symbolism by coupling it with a strong back-story and positive colour identity.

The palette of pink and black swamping ‘The Hitman’s’ person funnels directly into this audience friendly perception. Throw a logo and distinctive entrance music into the mix and the brand starts to take shape.

Similarly, the professional copywriter may wish to extrapolate such symbology from the product or service they are selling to inform the composition of their content.

An irresistible force meets an immovable object…

Nestled among the professional copywriters’ cache are slogans, straplines, taglines, end lines, payoffs, signatures and headlines.

Creating a memorable phrase that sums up the tone and premise of a brand or product can form an essential part of getting the message across.

Occasionally, a tagline can be so effective that it alerts the audience to the nature of the product devoid of images.

“It does what it says on the tin”, or “a Mars a day helps you work, rest and play”, are great examples of slogans that have become embedded in our culture.

The same can be said about the Bret Hart brand.

His nickname – ‘The Hitman’ – is suggestive of the wrestler’s clinical nature. A specialist in technical wrestling, the name underscores Hart’s in-ring ability.

The character is also trimmed with a raft of memorable slogans that are seared into the fabric of professional wrestling.

“The best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be”, and “the excellence of execution”, are synonymous with the Hart brand.

Legends never die…

Even today, 13 years on since Hart’s incongruous departure from the WWE, his brand identity lives on.

In many ways it’s a testament to Hart himself and the ingenuity of Mcmahon’s WWE branding machine.

The Hart mythology blends fact with fiction and like a good product or service, it refuses to go away.

It’s true to say Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart will always be “the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be”.

Could this be the happiest day of your life?

Let’s hope not…

So what’s next: time to publish? Whoa Nelly. Stop the bike! A common star drifting through the universe of good copywriters is a solid system of proofing.

How each writer goes about editing their work differs, but like Eskimos and mountain climbers, even the best writers become snow-blind at some point.

Perched in front of an unforgiving computer screen for hours can impair one’s judgement. This is a reality all writers face so if possible leave your project to simmer for a while before returning to it. It’s amazing how different things look through a fresh pair of eyes. Subsequently you’ll be better placed to catch more errors in the editorial net.

Among the proofing tools of the web writer resides spell checker.

While this is a useful tool remember it won’t pick up expressions such as ‘we’ when you actually meant ‘we’ve’. It may also recommend alterations that perversely change the sense of your content - so be careful.

What’s next…?

No matter how confident you are that all the creases have been ironed out it’s admittedly hard to be objective when you’re attached to a project.

Take Toyota as a case in point.

The Japanese giant is currently grappling with a massive vehicle recall after it rolled cars off the line devoid of proper quality control.

Against a backdrop of dented consumer confidence, the automobile-maker now faces a potential criminal investigation into its handling of safety issues.

Better safe than sorry…

With that in mind, ask a third-party to cast an eye over your work – friends and family are often the most honest critics.

And in the case of commercial writing it could be worthwhile filtering your web copy through a professional proof reader. While this can be an expensive, it may be worth incurring as a website exists as an organisation’s public face.

Don’t blow a fuse…

My hairdryer died last night. Within five minutes it was disassembled on the desk as I rummaged through a stack of parts in search of the failure. Half an hour later, things weren’t looking good. With that my friend walks in and says: ‘have you checked the fuse?’…..

Sure enough, it was the fuse.

So even though it may seem simple, daft even, check the basics when it comes to your copy.

Try creating a check list and only submit or publish work once each box has been ticked.

And remember when it comes to grammar, spelling, style, content, numbers and percentages – whatever it may be – always check the fuse first.

Tone is integral to this process.

Before putting pen to paper, or finger to keypad, once again consider your audience!

Whatever you’re selling, whatever angle you’re promoting, it’s crucial to imbue it with a voice and personality that speaks direct to the reader.

Doing so can prove a technical challenge. The copywriter is faced with a barrage of tools equally capable of excavating or burying the emotional selling point of the product.

Like a good golfer, pick the right club.

It’s no good strapping a tag-line to face cream proclaiming ‘it does what it says on the tin’. This is unlikely to appeal to the intended audience and who would want to spread Ron Seal on their face? Not me.

Active versus passive…

In exposing the emotional selling point of your product, decide whether to use an ‘active’ or ‘passive’ voice. When it comes to web copy there is no fixed rule on this but generally the ‘active’ voice imbues text with more immediacy and pace.

And given that people rarely read web pages word for word, why not try adopting an informal and personal manner as well?

An informal feel can easily be derived from first person usage of words such as ‘I’, whereas the third person, ‘he’ or ’she’, as well as the ‘passive’ voice, conveys a more formal feel.

Of course, this may suit your project. But either way, just make sure the shoe fits the foot. I call this the Cinderella Complex – no really, I do.

Tonal tinkering…

Once you’ve settled on an ‘active’ or ‘passive’ voice, there are a number of other key elements you may want to consider.

Ask yourself this: is slang appropriate? Many sayings are geographically and culturally specific, so make sure your message isn’t lost in translation.

Also decide whether your copy is jargon heavy.

Consider for a second that clichéd moment in so many movies where a bemused president calls on his chief scientist to repeat his prediction of the world’s end “in plain English”. The scientist proceeds to translate the scientific equation into language the audience understands: “Mr President, all hell is about to break loose!”

So don’t overwhelm the reader with jargon and technical terms, distill your message down to its most basic elements.

Humour is also a tricky one. Numerous television adverts, for instance, embrace broad humour in a bid to grab the viewers’ attention. But in the case of web copy it can be hard to make a joke jump off a one-dimensional computer screen.

Humour, of course, is subjective: what one person finds funny will leave others scratching their heads.

Done properly though, it can help spice up your copy and sound a unique voice the reader won’t forget. But as we said at the beginning, let the subject and audience dictate the tone of your copy, this way success is a matter of keystrokes away.

And just remember, people scan webpages, picking out individual words and sentences, so make each one COUNT!

The only real dividing factor between The Good, The Bad, and The Copy, is how successful your content turns out to be in real terms i.e. does it sell your message and reach its intended target?

Well does it…?

As discussed in the previous post, get things underway by ring fencing your audience. This will automatically set you on the right travel of direction with regards to creating winning content.

Now you know who you are writing for it’s time to prepare the necessary ingredients.

Let’s make a cake…

As a general guideline, it’s best to set your ego aside when writing for the web. All too often – and on occasion I have fallen victim to this –copywriters lose sight of their audience. Unless the subject demands it, avoid the pitfalls of novelistic devices and flowery prose. If you are writing web copy for a new line of washing machines, a Dickensian one page exposition might not be the most fitting approach.

Sure it sounds good, but does it sell?

Have a look round your room right now – unless you’re sat on a beach – and you’ll be amazed by the extent of copy that falls into your eye line. No doubt you’ve forked out hard-earned money on some of these products so the chances are the copy attached to them is successful.

Typically, but not always, triumphant web copy veers away from the complexities of creative writing in favour of the simplistic.

So complex sentences, long words, jargon-heavy paragraphs may make us look smart, but given the trend for people to scan online, it’s often not the best route.

The key objective is to sell the message.

Flip the coin and where appropriate use short sentences, be snappy and to the point, deploy simple words that are easy to read and don’t require a dictionary.

As George Orwell recognised: why use a long word when a short one will do? Atta-boy George!

Boy George…?

So take unnecessarily long words out and parachute simpler equivalents in. In doing so, why not use contractions such as ‘don’t’, instead of ‘do not’, or ‘you’re’, as opposed to ‘you are’.

By limiting the verbiage and getting straight to the point, not only will your content cater for the needs of the online reader, but the visual layout will also become more succinct and easier on the eye.

It’s a win win situation.

Less is often more, just let the subject and your audience dictate the copy.

‘Copywriting Secrets and Tips’ is a guide for website owners, authors, and web designers on creating engaging SEO enhanced copy. Over the coming months I’ll carve out a quintessential source of information on the subject of online copy. So sit back and prepare to embark on an epic tale of copywriting in a virtual age…

The rules of engagement…

Let’s set the ball in motion by saying there are no rules – as with any creative venture, the end result should always serve the subject!

Does this mean adopting a Dirty Harry-like approach of shooting first and asking questions later? Perhaps not. But instead of talking in absolutes, it’s best to think of writing for the web as an organic process.

As such, I’ll share with you a set of interchangeable guidelines, tips, and points of contention when tackling web copy.

Where to start…?

If you’re planning a road-trip this year you might be advised to map-out the route prior to departure. The same applies to web copy. Don’t be lured into putting pen to paper until you’ve developed a firm understanding of how people read online – resist the temptation!

Instead, step into the mind of your reader and learn the ways of web copy. Seeing things from an audience perspective will help inform all aspects of your project from layout, to content, headings, pictures, and beyond.

So is this really necessary? You betcha it is.

Online reading is a distinct animal that requires a special diet of tailored copy.

When it comes to the internet, for instance, research shows people are prone to scanning content and deterred by heavy-blocks of information. Your copy might be on par with the work of Shakespeare, but if people aren’t willing to give it a chance, then it’s bound to fall short.

Reading on the web is a very particular process and successful copy projects are shaped to suit this need. Consider for a moment: it’s raining outside, rolling winds spark an overhanging tree into life, its branch-like tentacles reach forward and rat-a-tat-tat on the window; you’re perched on the couch – a warm cup of coffee in one hand, War and Peace in the other – you take solace in your surroundings.

Now consider the same scenario sitting upright at your desk, a searing computer screen locked in battle with your waning eyes – it’s different right?

On a computer, the reader often wants quickly digestible facts, a swat-team style in-and-out approach, whereas with a novel, the reader is prepared to inject a different level of commitment.

Easy rider, easy reader…!

Reading on a screen is undoubtedly hard on the eyes, so use the tricks of the trade. Things like short sentences, plain English instead of jargon, paragraph breaks, lists, headings, sub-headings and keywords are integral to the online reading experience.

Such measures will distill overlong paragraphs into content pleasing to the eye. Avoid drowning the reader in a torrent of words; massage the visual layout of the webpage, and write with a mind to the reader.

And therein lies the key message of this opening post: begin any web copy project by developing a grasp of your readers’ needs then build them into your content.

So remember, where possible, keep it simple.