Friday, November 21, 2008

Tips For Freelance Copywriting

By Ray Edwards

Copywriting is a great job that can weather a difficult economy well. This is because businesses always need to advertise their products despite the condition of the economy. A good businessman knows that cutting the advertising budget will only hurt sales in the long run, therefore they continue to employ copywriters in difficult economic times.

Freelance copywriting combines the security of copywriting with the benefits of freelancing. These include the ability to dictate your own work schedule, your paycheck, and you can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have an Internet connection. You can also make more money as a freelancer because you don't have to deal with a parent company or advertising agency. You get to determine how much work you do and you get to keep all of your profit. This gives you greater control over your career and success.

As a freelancer, you work on a project-to-project basis. You apply for a project, the client examines your bid, and if you win the bid they give you a contract with a deadline for completion. This means you can dictate when you work because you only need to get the project done by the deadline, other than that your schedule doesn't matter. Be sure to keep your deadlines though, because missing deadlines will hurt your career. As a beginner in the field you will need help finding work, here are a few short "how-to's" in order to get you started:

Go Online

Freelance copywriting has found its success on the Internet. The World Wide Web has now opened many doors previously closed. The easiest way to find work is through an online freelance marketplace like www.elance.com. These sites help copywriters and clients find each other. You can build a profile, post examples of your work, and bid on projects. These sites can also automatically alert you to jobs that you may be interested in.

You should construct a website. A website can host some of your work and act as a shop front window to potential clients. Your site needs to be easily read, neat, and professional looking. A sloppy site won't get you any clients.

Build Your Network

Building a network and getting your name out there into the market is very important. You won't get any projects if no one knows about you. Go to seminars with other copywriters and begin to get your name and face into the industry. Do some work for free in order to build a client base. You should also try to partner with other copywriters. As you do these things, you will begin to build a base for your business.

Continue Your Education

Improving the quality of your copy is very important, no matter how good you are. Your writing is the bases for your entire business, so you should be constantly trying to better it. The best copywriters are the ones that see themselves as life long students. You should investigate some copywriting and freelancing tutorials on the Internet. You can also sign up for coaching courses and workshops with successful copywriters. Many successful freelance copywriters offer products that teach about their success and what makes them good copywriters. These are a great resource into the industry. Reading books by the experts helps as well. You should check some books by Dan Kennedy because he's one of the foremost experts on the subject.

Writing everyday helps improve your writing as well. Stephen King once said that writing was like working-out at the gym. In order to get stronger you have to work out consistently and often. The same goes with writing. The more you write the better you will get.

Hopefully you found this article helpful. Freelance copywriting is a great career with a lot of freedom and benefits. If you think freelance copywriting sounds good, then you should do some more research to see if it is right for you. - 15790

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