The Confident Copywriter

Posts Tagged ‘Internet Marketing’

Over the last week, I’ve received numerous emails regarding the Facebook privacy issue. Some of them go more or less like this:

“I know how to fix the Facebook privacy issue. I deleted my account! So there. That will show them! My real friends and family already know how to reach me.”

Brilliant solution…NOT…and one that completely misses the boat on this topic. Here’s the point: there is no reason to contribute to the mass hysteria surrounding this privacy issue. I would venture a guess that someone who can so easily dismiss his or her account doesn’t have much going on in terms of online marketing anyway. I have thousands of Facebook followers, and deleting my account could have serious consequences to my overall marketing plan.

So what additional steps can you take? Here comes the good part.

Recently, I shared in a LinkedIn discussion with Sara Nussbacher, an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant in North Carolina, who turned me on to the coolest little tool for managing your FB privacy settings. The tool is called the Facebook Privacy Scanner, available at www.reclaimprivacy.org.

I spoke with the owner/designer, Matthew Pizzamenti, (also cofounder at www.Olark.com, a very affordable, very cool live chat tool I love and have installed here on the blog.) I was very pleased to learn the Facebook Privacy Scanner tool is free, although plans to keep it that way may change soon. Facebook Privacy Scanner is simple to use, quick, and will ensure that, even if you followed my instructions for manually privatizing your profile, you haven’t missed any crucial steps.

Sara tells me she discovered an important missed spot…”sharing info with friends”…essentially the function which alerts others that you are online and active.

I strongly suggest you take a moment to jump over to www.ReclaimPrivacy.org and follow the very easy instructions. It’s the final piece in your privacy puzzle.

When talking about freelance writing rates, knowing what you’re worth is important.

How can you determine your worth?

There are many factors. For this discussion, ‘worth’ relates to setting freelance writing rates, not what you might be worth in the corporate sector. Additionally, ‘worth’ can be subjective.

Factors that might affect worth include experience, expertise, skill, subject knowledge, and education (to a degree, and only for some projects). Additionally, a basic (or advanced) understanding of keyword usage, Internet marketing, organic search, the structure of various types of content (i.e., website copy vs. articles) is worth more overall to the customer. Customers, especially higher quality customers, want a writer who ‘gets it’. Additional skills bring value.

Value increases worth. Your rates go up. Simple, right?

Herein lies the rub. A freelance writer with an MBA, or even an English degree, might be ‘worth’ more in terms of education, expertise, etc. Depending on the customer’s needs, this person may be able to charge more. Of course, we know an MBA alone doesn’t make a great copywriter…but perception is reality for some customers.

Most of us don’t have MBAs. Most of us turned to freelance writing for myriad reasons, learning the craft over the years. So…that brings us back to the original question.

Fortunately, the typical customer doesn’t care about degrees. They want results. As Dan Kennedy once said, “It’s all about results. Not opinions. The only votes that count are accompanied by money.”

A common way to set rates is to research other copywriters’ rates and figure an average. It’s not a perfect science, but it’s a starting point.

I can tell you, for example, that the typical freelance writer gets paid $8 to $15 for a 500 word article. (Refer to previous post for reasons why.)

Ask yourself how badly you need or want the work. $8 an article is not great. But if you’re fairly new and need the experience, a new client, and some samples for your portfolio, it’s not a bad gig. If you can write an article in 30 minutes, (you better learn how very quickly) you’re making $16 an hour…from home.

To improve your rates over time, you’ll need experience and expertise. This means you can’t give up! Additionally, you may want to specialize in one area. You’ll also want to educate yourself. The more you know about how to write in such a way that the client gets results, the more you’ll be worth.

Overheard at dinner party:

Guest: So, Victoria, I hear you work on the Internet. That sounds like fun. What exactly do you do?
Me: Internet marketing.

Guest: Internet marking? What’s that?

Me: No, Internet marketing!

Guest: Oh! That sounds exciting. What is it?

This actually happened, about 3 weeks ago. I got so tired of explaining copywriting to people, I switched to ‘Internet marketing’. But as you can see, my strategy didn’t work out so well.

Most people don’t know what copywriting is. Or they think it has to do with ‘copyrighting’ a completely different animal.
Honestly, I just don’t want to explain it again.

But I’m not one to let things like this get me down. So, as I was commiserating with my friend Tina, who writes a blog at http://thewritingwithpurpose.com, we got talking about this very problem. That led me to research definitions for copywriting. I discovered that ‘copywriter’ refers to a person who crafts words designed to promote a person, business, idea or opinion. While ‘copy’ is any kind of content in print, a copywriter is limited to creating writing that persuades and motivates the sale of a product or service. As mentioned in Wikipedia, good copywriting can also dissuade the reader. Hmmm. Interesting.

To add to the confusion, Wikipedia states that an author of newspaper or magazine copy can be referred to as a writer, reporter or copywriter.

(By the way, in case you wondered, copywriting is a noun or gerund, and copywrite would be considered a verb.)

No wonder everyone is confused!

So knowing all of this, what can we say to people who ask us what we do for a living?

How about, “I work as a copywriter. That means I create content for my clients that will help them sell products and services in print or on the Internet.”

Boring, but effective.

Can you think of other ways to express what copywriting is? It would be fun to see what everyone comes up with.

You may have heard some buzz recently about a book that has just hit the market. It’s called New Path to Riches, by Nick Usborne. Nick is a highly experienced Internet marketing guru with several books for copywriters and website owners. However, he has a wonderful way of ‘dumbing things down’ for those of us who are less familiar with exactly how Internet marketing works. (This is where Usborne differs from many other ‘experts’ who seem to simply complicate the issue.) In fact, the subtitle for this book is “How Your Neighbors are Making a Big Second Income by Writing and Publishing Their Own Money-Making Websites.” That should give you a good clue about what’s inside.

Why is it so important that you read this book? Whether you are highly experienced in copywriting and Internet marketing or just getting started, Usborne begins at the beginning, and really lays out the steps one by one. By the time you finish the book, you will know exactly how to find success on the Internet. Or, if you’re already doing lots of things to promote yourself online, this book will tell you where to patch the holes. So, it’s great for everyone.

Now, I’m not a newbie when it comes to Internet marketing. And truthfully, the first few chapters of this book were a bit of a yawn, because the concepts are familiar to me. But trust me…it gets much better! I was actually sorry to see the book come to an end.

So here is what I would like to do, in the spirit of holiday giving:

I’m going to give the book away for FREE!

That’s right- Every copywriter’s favorite price!

But I’m not going to give it to everyone…

Here’s the catch:

My blog is new. I’m just beginning to get traffic. So I’m anxious to receive more blog comments, and I’m willing to reward those who take time to offer their opinions.

So…the first “new” person to leave a meaningful, thoughtful comment on this blog between December 20 and December 30 (not just a back link to something else) will receive this book from me for free*, shipped right to your door, as a thank you for your efforts. By new, I mean anyone who hasn’t commented on the blog previously.

New Path to Riches is truly hot right now and I’d love for you to read it, enjoy it and profit from it in 2010. So start commenting!

*This offer expires at 5 pm ET on 12/30/2009, and is only available to U.S. residents.