A Day in the Life of a Freelance Copywriter part 3
7) Office admin
Even for a low overhead business like copywriting, there is always something! Changing phone plans, upgrading / installation of computer, internet service you are not active, your website is temporarily not available, you increase your data storage procedures, you need a new printer or fax ink cartridges … Office administration takes a surprisingly large chunk of the day. Make sure you allow for that. This means that allows time to do the job, and then factoring in quotation marks. If not, you will continue to work in the wee hours and / or lose money.
Marketing strategies
How do you generate business? Cold call? (See http://www.divinewrite.com/coldcallingcopywriter.htm.) Website? (See http://www.divinewrite.com/articles.htm to various web sites & SEO articles.) Network? From mouth to mouth? Repeat business? Body? (See also http://www.divinewrite.com/freelancecopywriting.htm some tips below to freelance as a copywriter). Whatever your strategy, you need to provide a reasonable time. It’s a good idea to average about one hour a day to think and implement marketing strategies.
9) Industry research
Stay up-to-date on the latest copywriting industry research. Research on the usefulness read, read, and scannability (or http://www.goodexperience.com http://www.useit.com visit and subscribe to their newsletter). Read in the search engine optimization (see http://www.divinewrite.com/SEOCEO.htm or try a newsletter from http://www.webpronews.com or http://www.site-reference.com). Try to track how day-to-day language is changing (what buzz words to use, what buzz words to avoid, what rules to be more pronounced in the UK, what sound to make a positive impression on the community, etc.). Knowing the difference between writing for the web versus writing for print versus writing for search engines (see http://www.divinewrite.com/articles.htm to some relevant articles). If you want to scratch the surface, spend 10 minutes every day.
10) Subject matter of research
Whether or website copywriting advertising copywriting, to do good work, you need to know more about the subject material. This means that both the client about specific products or services, and the more generic ‘domain’ knowledge. Clients have a tendency not to provide enough information. Make sure you interview them thoroughly. And then let them know you may need to ask further questions. Even then, you can find yourself doing a little independent research. Internet is a savior, but always run the information by the client prior to publication. When you’re picking on the job, try to find out how much detail the client will be able to supply. You can even ask them to estimate how much they’ll supply (ie All, Most, Some, or None). This technique is good because they will think about the requirements while at the same time give some idea how much time you spend researching akan.
11) Planning
In one important case, advertising and copywriting website copywriting is different from all forms of writing; planning is very important. For more specific planning information, and view http://www.divinewrite.com/benefits.htm http://www.divinewrite.com/webbenefitwriting.htm.
Happy writing!
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