Ask John Smiley

Freelance copywriters are in high demand these days. The Internet has made it easier than ever for copywriters and clients to find each other, which has opened up a whole new marketing world.

Freelance copywriters can find plenty of work. They are needed in all sorts of markets to boost website viewership and help increase product sales. There are a plenty of opportunities for freelance copywriters to find great realms of success.

The freelancing world has grown into such a success that it has become competitive. In order to insure a secure workflow, freelancers have to get their names out there into the market. If freelancing interests you, then here are some tips to help you stay competitive:

Self-Market

You must market yourself; otherwise you won’t see much success. You could be very good at copywriting, but people have to know about you in order to hire you. Spend time researching new ways of advertising yourself and spend money on marketing. This is a necessary investment if you want to see success. Attend seminars and network with other copywriters. Do whatever it takes to get your name out there.

Always Do Your Best

It is very important that you always do your best work in order to establish a good reputation. The quality of your work will form the basis of your business. If you’re known for consistently producing a quality product, then you’ll find great success.

Build A Good Reputation

The quality of your product is an important part of your reputation, but your attitude will also affect your success. If you treat people poorly then your success will be stunted. So be polite and friendly. Interview your clients on the phone and let them know that you’re always available for contact. The friendlier you are, the better your business will grow. You should also practice good work ethics and be honest. Dishonesty will destroy your business. You also need to get your projects done on time, because failing to meet deadlines can single handedly cripple your business.

Proactively Look For Projects

Work won’t just come and fine you; you need to proactively look for assignments. You should look for work while you’re still completing a current project, this will help keep your workflow consistent. Work will become easier and easier to find as your business grows.

One great way to find work is by asking for referrals from people you already know. This way you can start building a client base from pre-existing relationships.

Freelance Internet Marketplaces are also great places to start finding work. It’s really easy for clients and copywriters to find each other on these kinds of sites. You can bid on projects, post your portfolio, and have interesting jobs automatically emailed to you. They’re great places to start looking for work.

This article was supposed to help you learn a little more about freelance copywriting. Hopefully you found it helpful. Freelance copywriting has many great benefits that set it apart from most other careers and is well worth it. If you think you’d like to pursue freelancing further, then you should do some research to learn more about it. It could be a perfect career move for you.

I believe one of the best copywriters who ever lived was Gary Halbert. He wrote some of the most profitable letters and space ads on history. And, on top of all that, he was a fantastic teacher of copywriting as well.

One of the things I learned from Gary is the importance of making things easy on yourself. For example, let’s say you want to write an ebook on losing weight.

What’s the best course of action?

Would it be a good idea to get a degree in a health and fitness field? Would it be a good idea to take years to study the subject? Would it be a good idea to find the best health and fitness product? No. An easier strategy exists to get your hands on the best health and fitness information available. And you won’t have to do all the work on your own.

Instead of doing things the hard way, Gary would recommend you go out and buy the top selling books and ebooks on dieting. Then you clam up in your office or the library and read. While reading jot down notes. Lots of them. And take out all of the unique, exclusive dieting tips, tricks and secrets in each of those best sellers.

Then you take all that information and write your own dieting book including only the unique and exclusive stuff from each book. The stuff that does not overlap. What you are left with is a compact book on dieting with all the filler taken out.

Smart.

You can do the same thing when creating advertising. In fact, this works great if you have to craft a sales message on the fly for any kind of media.

The formal name for this strategy is… swiping ads. And it really does make it easier. Back in 1996, Gary taught a little bit about swiping during a seminar in Florida. The main focus of the seminar was on swiping great ads for your own promotions.

Look, if you don’t want to become a top notch copywriter and don’t have time to learn all the formulas, etc. then swiping is the way to go. All you have do is learn how to do it right.

Do that and you’ll experience these benefits…

** Thing’s like writer’s block will no longer plague you. Everything you need to begin writing a great ad will be there in the swipe. Blundering your way through thinking about what to write won’t be a problem either. The swipe contains everything you need.

** You’ll write promotions at warp speed. Swiping allows you to write faster. Again, part of the reason is because you wont have to guess. You can look at a great ad and almost fill in the blanks with your copy.

** Your copy will be up to 300% more effective. Whenever you model success the odds of success are on your side. When modeling a successful ad you stand a much better chance of writing a winner.

The moral of the story is: start swiping.