By John Forde

I’ve been writing copy for about 20 years.

I started as an intern. I wrote and researched articles and made $15 a day. Needless to say, I brown-bagged my lunch.

Today, I live in Paris. Our Left-Bank apartment has floor-to-ceiling windows that swing open to a balcony. And my wife and I go out to fine restaurants for dinner.

It’s a nice life, for sure. But how did I get here? A little luck, maybe.

But these five simple career-advancing tricks didn’t hurt:

5 Things You Can Do Now To Succeed as a Copywriter

In a nutshell – and aside from actually getting your first client – there are at least five things you can start doing right now if you want a better chance of becoming a well-paid copywriter…

1. Read one piece of direct mail daily.

There are, of course, all kinds of copywriting. But even Ogilvy says that it’s in direct mail that all the greatest copywriters cut their teeth. It’s no wonder that Michael Masterson, copywriting guru and “father” to dozens of incredibly successful businesses, recommends you read at least one full direct-mail promo package a day.

2. Become a marketing sponge.

You would think that, this far into my own career, I don’t need to listen to tapes or read books on marketing and copywriting secrets. Yet, I’ve got all the names you know in my archives… from Bly and Caples to Gnam and Halbert, Hopkins, and Ogilvy right on down to Zig Ziglar. And I still read them, too. Or rather, I listen on the iPod.

Why? Because the fact is, if you want to get good – and stay good – you need to stay fresh on all the techniques, even after some of them become second nature. Become a sponge for marketing insights. Get copies of Claude Hopkins’ “Scientific Advertising,” David Ogilvy’s “On Advertising,” and any of Bob Bly’s books (especially “The Copywriter’s Handbook”). Go to marketing conferences. Read the trade journals. Look at your ongoing education like oxygen. Without it, your skill set can get stale pretty quickly.

3. Feed your brain morning to night.

David Ogilvy used to say that curiosity is the single most important quality in a new copywriter. It’s not hard to see why. No matter what you’re selling, good facts are the food that will feed your creativity. That is, the more you know about your product and your target market before you start writing, the stronger your sales pitch will be.

Read every book you can that is related to the product you’re selling. Clip articles, ask questions, and take notes. Then fill your down-time with lots of reading on non-related subjects. Make sure it’s quality material. The idea is to pack your cerebellum with deep ideas and fascinating details. That way, you’ll have a ready resource of information when you need it most.

4. Write even when you can’t.

“A writer,” says an over-quoted quote, “writes.” You can’t get good if you don’t get practice. Often. But what if you can’t get started? Well then, this is a perfect time to try typing out – word for word – a full promotional piece that someone else has written.

You’ll be surprised how valuable a training technique this is.

Pick a piece you admire, then copy verbatim. Your creative juices will start flowing fast enough. What’s more, you’ll learn style points and techniques you couldn’t possibly pick up any other way. You won’t believe how quickly your writing improves. Which brings me to this last point …

5. Do everything you can to get a mentor. Yesterday.

Quick: What do Mozart, Aristotle, and General Electric’s chief Jack Welch all have in common? They all had mentors. And you should get one too. If you can.

I was lucky. I had TWO mentors. I still work closely with both. And they’re still teaching me new things. I can’t imagine how I would have gotten this far without their expertise showing me the way. And I’m not alone.

In one 1980s study, an incredible 80% of top business people polled cited a mentor relationship as key to their success. And guess what? Those same people proved happier at work, made more money, and got promoted an average of two years faster than their non-mentored co-workers.

Mentors can teach you the inside secrets … prevent you from making common mistakes … and keep you from wasting time while you re-invent the wheel. Can you succeed without one? Sure. Many people do.

But the bottom line is this: One good mentor can slash years off your development time as a top-notch copywriter. What’s more, a mentor can dramatically accelerate the growth of your income.

Finding your mentor can be tough, obviously. One way is to find another writer that you admire and offer to work as an assistant. (Not me, though. I’m booked.) Another is to contact a local direct response association and scan their member lists for medium-sized companies. If they produce advertising in-house, you can offer to work awhile as a low-paid assistant or as a copywriter “on spec” (getting no money until they get something they like).

But another way I highly recommend is to contact my friends over at American Writers & Artists, Inc. (AWAI). They offer a course on writing copy that I’m convinced is the best in the business — because it was created by one of the same mentors who helped me get my start. I have high faith in it and I recommend it to both new and seasoned copywriters all the time. It’s called AWAI’s Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting and anybody can take it. (Carol checked it out and thought it looked very comprehensive, so that’s her affiliate link.)

This article appears courtesy of American Writers & Artists Inc.’s free newsletter, The Writer’s Life.

In a podcast I did a few weeks ago, GhostwriterDad Sean Platt said something that really stuck with me about how writers can beat the recession:

“If you can learn how to write copy that sells products, you’ll never go hungry.”

It’s so true. If you help companies make money with your words, you will always be in demand. There’s no recession for writers who can help drive sales.

Now, if you’re like I was a few years back, you may think writing sales copy for companies is akin to selling your soul to the devil. Joining the Dark Side of the Force.

But I’ll let you in on a little secret — if you focus on companies that sell things you like, you may well find it challenging and fun. I know I do. And I’ve yet to do a client project where I felt like I needed to take a shower afterwards.

Selling doesn’t have to feel sleazy. Just stick to the facts, and you won’t go wrong.

Have I convinced you to jump in and add writing sales copy to your arsenal of talents?

I think every writer should learn this skill — after all, you need to write a page like this on your own writer website to sell your writing services. Why not learn to excel at this skill and make more money doing it for others, too?

This is not a super-difficult type of writing to learn. In fact, I’m going to teach you the basics right here in this post.

Here is what you need to know to write a sales page:

Learn the basic structure. I’ve seen the format of a sales letter boiled down to this simple set of points:

“Here’s what I’ve got.

Here’s who I am.

Here’s what you get.

Here’s what customers say about it.

Here’s why you need it now.”

Here are a few tips on how to convey these important facts:

Listen to your customer. Aspiring copywriters can be baffled by how, exactly, they will write a sales letter the client will love. The answer is simply to buttonhole a key company leader and get them to talk to you about what they do. Ask them loads of questions — what makes them different from competitors? What do they love most about what their product or service does? Note key phrases they use. Then, make the letter sound just like them. Works every time.

Sell benefits, not features. What will the thing do for the buyer? That’s your emphasis. Read it from the consumer’s point of view and answer the WIIFM question — what’s in it for me?

Expensive products need longer sales pitches. If you’re selling a $1,000 product, you should write a long page. A $50 product might work better with a short page.

Include testimonials. Ideally, with pictures of the customers, which have been proven to increase conversion rates. You can blab all day, but one short testimonial from a celebrity — or barring that, someone relatable by the customers — will sell it better in just a few lines.

Remove objections. Think of the reasons customers might hesitate to buy this item now, and then address their concerns.

Offer a guarantee. Again, lots of study data shows that the guarantee offer removes objections and helps you make sales.

Use powerful language. As it happens, I recently came across this helpful list of the best words to use in sales copy.

Create scarcity. Are there only 50 of these left? Does the price go up tomorrow? Or maybe, as with the Freelance Writers Den, the doors are closing on Friday? If so, you’re going to want to prominently feature this fact.

Need to learn more about copywriting basics? Ask your questions in the comments below.

Sean Platt of Ghostwriter Dad

Content mills. SEO articles. Bidding sites. Lowball job ads that ask for “free samples.”

Do you think it’s the worst time to be a freelance writer?

Sean Platt doesn’t. I recently had the Ghostwriter Dad blogger on as a guest on one of the Den Meetings I hold for Freelance Writers Den members each week, and he shared his philosophy — that now is the best time ever to be a freelance writer.

His message was so inspiring, I really couldn’t get our talk out of my head.

I decided I just had to share it with everyone on this blog. I really want you to hear this. It’s going to change your outlook.

Why does Sean feel the skies have never been bluer for freelance writers? Take a listen to a short excerpt from our talk and find out.

Sean discusses how he went from foreclosure, financial stress, and writing the cheap key-word articles to being a six-figure copywriter — and how you can, too.

In the big discussion of Demand Studios’ IPO last week, some questions came up about how to find better-paying clients. It’s something I’ve discussed before, but we can never talk enough about the many ways you can move up and earn more money here on MALW. So today, I thought I’d tackle one of the easiest types of clients to find — businesses that need Web content.

This niche is really like shooting fish in a barrel. Why? Because you can just look on the Internet at Web sites, find the ones that suck the worst, and call the company.

It’s really that simple. Here are some steps to take to identify good Web-content prospects:

1. Find local companies. Possible strategies for finding prospects: Get a Book of Lists for your town. Grab your local Chamber’s business directory, or visit the Chamber and grab one of every brochure in the rack. Or just drive through a local business park or your nearest downtown shopping district, and make a list of local business company names.

If you’re just starting out in copywriting, or in Web-content writing, I recommend focusing on companies in your town. You’re more likely to be able to make a connection with a company you can come down and meet with in person. If you have a special knowledge area — legal, retail, nonprofit, accounting, whatever — further narrow your search to companies in that industry. You may not have Web content samples, but maybe you have articles, brochures or other work in their industry, which would help pave the way to convincing them you’re the writer for the assignment.

How can you zero in on better-paying clients? Try to get a sense from their site of the value of what they sell. What do you think this company makes in a year? A medium-sized law firm, for instance, likely has a very healthy cash flow. A successful, growing retailer with multiple locations — same. You can also do Google searches to see if the company has gotten any press, and if so, if they mentioned company revenue. In my experience, business-to-business companies are more desirable targets than consumer-focused companies…it may be me, but they seem to more often have substantial marketing budgets. If a company sells $500,000 engines to automotive companies, they’re probably a better target than one that sells $5 toys at craft fairs.

Prioritize companies that are good candidates for ongoing work — they constantly introduce new products, or want to keep a blog updated weekly. Steady clients that will have work each month are always more desirable — and end up generating more revenue — than those seeking to simply add a few new Web pages to their site and call it done.

2. Look online. Now take your list and find all the company Web sites in your target geography and industries. Take a browse through them. Shortly, it will become clear to you that some of their sites are awesome and detailed, while some have real problems. The losers have important pieces missing — no strong “About us” page, no team bios, no details on what their products or services do and how they benefit customers. Reading the site, you can’t figure out what they do, how long they’ve been in business, who their clients are, who the people are running the company. These are your prospects.

3. Prepare a pitch. Take notes about the state of the Web sites. ABC company has no verbiage whatever on their home page, just a list of links! XYZ company has no media page with press contacts. RFQ company has a blog set up, but it hasn’t been updated in three months. And so on. Create a pitch tailored for each one that goes something like this:

“I’d like to introduce myself — I’m a local freelance writer. I was looking at your Web site recently, and noticed it doesn’t have ______. I’d be happy to take a few minutes to talk with you about how adding a ___ to your Web site would help drive more traffic to your site/get your company noticed/build your reputation and bring you more clients.” (If you haven’t pitched companies before, know that everything you say should tie in to the company finding more business. That is why they hire writers — they’re hoping your words will attract more customers.)

4. Call or email prospects. I’ve had good luck with both methods of reaching out, but do whatever you feel suits your personal communication style. Some writers give great phone, while some craft really catchy emails that get results. To start, identify the businesss owner (if it’s a small biz) or the marketing manager (if it’s a medium to larger one). Find their phone number or email address, and get in touch.

5. Have examples. If you don’t have examples of your own Web content work, just find a few sites that you think are well-done (by competitors of your target, ideally) so you can show them what effective content looks like and point up how their site is lacking in comparison. Business owners don’t like to feel they look lame when compared with similar businesses.

6. Be prepared to build a relationship. In my experience, your first contact with a small business about writing Web content will often not result in an instant sale (though sometimes it does!). More often, you may need to have several conversations that may string out over weeks or months as the company decides exactly what new content should be written. Start a tracking system for staying in touch periodically with these prospects. Send them interesting articles about why adding a blog would help their business…don’t necessarily hard-sell them every time you chat. Don’t invest a ton of time, as this may or may not pay off, but show you’re a useful resource who knows about how to use the Internet to help businesses grow. This week, I’m finally signing a lucrative contract with one financial-services consultant who I’ve been speaking with all year.

7. Quote a decent rate. Web-content rates are all over the map. If you’re new, start at $100 a page at least. And know that Web pages should be short — 300-400 words is plenty. If they have more to say, they should create subpages (which you should also charge $100 for!). They want blogs? Think $100 per. Pay can range up to $1 a word, $150 an hour, and more in my experience. Rates will depend on the complexity of the information you need to convey on the company site. Need to write about foreign currency trading or actuarial consulting? It’s probably going to pay more than writing about a pizza parlor.

But remember: If you quote a lowball rate, you’ll write for low rates. Try to get the client to mention a budget first, and then negotiate from there. Stick to your guns on what you think is fair pay.

Photo via Flickr user nickHiebert

One of my mentees recently asked me if she could see a copy of my rate sheet, as she had a small-business prospect and was wondering what to charge them.

I had to tell her that I don’t have a rate sheet. I know some copywriters do have a set list of charges they hand out to prospects.

I think that’s a big mistake. Why? Because every client is different.

Some clients are a dream to work for, love every word you write and never ask for edits. Some are so dysfunctional you can’t get rush emails returned when you’re on a project deadline, and then they edit your work by committee until it’s unrecognizable. One wants everything in a big rush, while the other will take it whenever you can fit it into your schedule.

Both these clients might want me to write 800-word articles, but would I want to price them the same? No way!

When people ask me to give them an off-the-cuff bid or to send a rate sheet, this is my response:

“I don’t have a set rate sheet, because every project is different. Once I learn more about your project, I will be able to give you an accurate rate quote for your job.”

What to do if a prospect requires a quote

If I’m answering a terse job ad that offered few project details but requires a price quote in response, I offer a big range that leaves me lots of wiggle room.

Example: “Recently, I’ve done work ranging from $50-$100 an hour, or $.30-$1 a word.” I include the lowest figure at which I could possibly imagine doing the work under the best circumstances.

This means if the client is looking to pay $10 an article, they will not call me. So set your range low enough that you won’t be sorry if they don’t call.

If the prospect is looking for a professional writer and has any understanding of professional rates, I’ve hopefully stayed in the running without committing myself to a set price for a project where I don’t really know the details.

When you’re landing your first small-business clients, you’ll find it tough to get a firm description of what they really want. That’s because they often don’t know themselves! They just know their business needs help communicating. That’s why – after having been burned by one client too many who said they wanted one thing but turned out to want something else entirely – I have taken to sending prospects a questionnaire.

Getting project specs in writing is a useful exercise for both sides. It helps clients describe what they want, and it gives you documentation you can use to raise your prices if the client asks for more work later. My questionnaire is always evolving as I learn more about parameters I want defined before I start a project.

Photo via Flickr user Edinburghcityofprint