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Freelance Copywriting

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Villain

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I have decided to become a freelance copywriter to learn useful business skills, gain some experience and start accumulating capital for future fast lane ventures.

What I’ve Done So Far

In addition to hand copying a whole bunch of advertisements, I have read and taken extensive notes on the following:

Cashvertising - Drew Eric Whitman
My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising - Claude Hopkins
AWAI's Accelerated Program For Six Figure Copywriting - Michael Masterson
Power Copywriting for the Internet - Bob Serling
Kick-a$$ Copywriting Secrets Of A Marketing Rebel - John Carlton

This has all been done over the past several months while studying at university. I’m finished for summer so that means I can pretty much dive into this full-time for about four months!

What I Plan To Do

- Keep up my education by going through the Gary Halbert 30 Day Challenge (at my own pace)
- Do one hour of hand copying per day from my swipe file of ad material
- Do around 5 pieces of copywriting for free to build a portfolio, get feedback and collect testimonials
- Build a website to take enquiries and showcase portfolio (domain is already registered)
- Use portfolio to market my services and find PAYING customers

Free Copywriting (Currently Accepting Projects!)

If anybody on the forum would like a piece of copywriting done then feel free to respond in the thread or PM me. I have attached an example of my writing. Any feedback or constructive criticism is very welcome.

Will update as progress continues. Thanks for reading!
 
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Attachments

  • Wedding Band Sales Letter.pdf
    673.8 KB · Views: 109
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seamles

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I think you need to get a little more to the main point sooner in the letter but overall seemed good.

Great job on your work. Those resources I want to get to also.
 

Villain

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Ok thanks for the feedback!
 

Villain

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So that’s been about a month now so it’s time for an update.

Still working away but progress has been slow. I need to start an aggressive effort to get clients, rather than focusing on education.


Progress Since Last Month

- Wrote some copy for a member on the forum (pro bono), and received positive feedback
- Gary Halbert 30 Day Challenge: read the Robert Collier Letter Book, hand copied 19+ ads, read the Gary Halbert Letters up until March 1987 (hand copied most of these as well)
- Read a 60 page guide to SEO (http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo)
- Registered on several freelancer websites, sent off 15-20 proposals but didn’t get any work
- Built a website

My habit of doing one hour of hand copying per day fell by the way side after I finished the 19+ ads and GH Letters. I want to start this up again. The website looks amateurish so will get redone at some point but need to find customers first and foremost.


Plan For Next Month

- Make a considerable effort to get clients (pro bono). Try contacting local businesses, rewriting copy for random websites or affiliates, and posting on marketing forums.
- Continue the Gary Halbert 30 Day Challenge (1-2 hours reading per day)
- 1 hour of hand copying per day
- Try to contact an established copywriter for advice
- Write and test an affiliate campaign for real-time feedback on my copy (https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/learnt-copywriting-this-is-the-next-step.51029/)
- Rewrite freelancer profile copy

I have some other things to do for about a week but will at this full-time again after that.

Thanks for reading!
 
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Villain

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Progress Report

- Hand copied the Arthur Gould and Charles Givens ads by Bencivenga.

- Finished reading The Boron Letters.

- Did some free writing for a start-up company, providing me with a portfolio piece and a fantastic testimonial!

- Started a daily writing habit where I pick a topic at random and write about that for 15 minutes, or I try some other copywriting exercise.
 

Kyle Tully

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Get yourself out in the real world as much as possible.

The only thing that really matters is your results.

Hand-copying letters and other writing exercises are helpful in learning your craft but they are a LONG way from what it's like to actually have a real world project and blank page on your hands.

I got my start writing direct mail letters for products from an ecommerce business I had at the time. Also re-writing affiliate letters and sending Adwords traffic. Both gave me real world results I could show potential clients.
 

Kyle Tully

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Get out of the mindset of being a copywriting and info the mindset of marketing copywriting services... then once you've done that get out of that mindset and into the business of helping people add 0's to their business ;)
 
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Boo Blizzi

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Feedback on the wedding dj ad.

You really need to work on your grammar. I couldn't even understand what your headline was saying. And then once I did, I didn't understand what you were trying to sell or who you were trying to sell it to.

You have sentences like this: "If, like we do, you place great import on the enjoyment of your guests then Empire are the right band for you."

It doesn't flow AT ALL! It just sounds like I am reading a researched school report.

If you've been reading GH, you know you should have entertaining, punchy copy.

On the pro side, I like the format of the ad.
 

Villain

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Thanks for the honest feedback guys. I really appreciate it.

@Kyle Tully – I am keen to try an affiliate campaign, or at least rewrite an existing sales letter. How would you go about choosing something to rewrite? And what would be a reasonable budget for testing a campaign? I am guessing around $100.

@Boo Blizzi – You’re right…I was trying to be too clever with the headline! I am trying to simplify my writing and get my message across without unnecessary words. I used to think “smart sounding” writing was good writing, but I am realizing that this is not true. (I blame my college education! ;))

I like the style of writing on copyblogger.com so I am trying to emulate that from now on. Everything on that website is just so clean and a joy to read.
 

Villain

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Kyle Tully

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@Kyle Tully – I am keen to try an affiliate campaign, or at least rewrite an existing sales letter. How would you go about choosing something to rewrite? And what would be a reasonable budget for testing a campaign? I am guessing around $100.

Why are you learning to write copy? To freelance? If so, what market? Your own business? If so, what market?

Find a good product in the market with a poor (or non-existent) salesletter and get cracking.

But frankly at this stage I wouldn't worry too much about picking the perfect product.

Just pick anything. It's the process of writing a real letter that matters.

The first one I re-wrote was for a golf training ebook off clickbank. I only picked it because a friend liked the product and the salesletter sucked.
 

Villain

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I want to be a generalist freelancer to generate some kind of steady income for myself.

I also think copywriting is an excellent skill to have that will help me in the future. I want to build a true fastlane business by selling my own products, so I figured copywriting was a good starting point.
 

Timbonitus

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One thing that you might want to do is specialize in one particular field or niche. Create a website about a topic that you're passionate about (make sure it's a targeted topic) and write articles that are laser targeted. Then, include a Hire Me page, list your services, and wait for people to contact you.

For example, I wrote an article about depression awhile back and published it on my website. It was shared a few times on social media and brought in around 1,000 views in just a few days. Of course the views died down after awhile but it was the most successful article that I ever published on my website. Oh, and then, a couple days after publishing the article, I was contacted by someone who manages content for content production website. She said that she loved the article about depression and asked if I'm available to write some articles for her website.

I wrote a few articles for her but it didn't work out because she couldn't afford my rates. Regardless, if you write articles about one specific topic, it'll attract people who are interested in that particular topic, and - occasionally - they'll need writers as well.

Just my 2 cents...
 
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Villain

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Sounds like a plan! I've already got some practice material that just needs edited, so I could easily throw up a niche site.

The hardest part would be the web design but I can handle basic word press sites. I'll give it a try and post the link here when I'm done.
 

liquidglass

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Well I'm a little late on my testimonial but here it is.

I asked Villian last month if he could help me with an email series in a particular niche I'm using currently and I've got very big plans for! However, copy writing is not my strength much less the having the time to do it. Less knowledge= more time. He simply went above and beyond all expectations. He finished it in record time. Not only that, it was just the rough draft, I was happy with it, but his diligence and resolve to only supply the best drove him to rewrite it numerous times. In the end I have an email series I can be proud of that will serve my customers well and is more well written than if I had done it myself.

If he's not an amazing copy writer then I must be missing any mistakes within his copy. Put simply, he did a bang up job and I couldn't recommend him more!
 

Villain

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Thank you for the kind words liquidglass!


Progress Report

- I landed a few cheap content writing gigs on oDesk at $2 or $3 per article. Some clients seem to be better to work with than others…

- Got my first paying customer for sales copy at $20 for 750 words. :) Looks like I will get repeat business out of this one.

Yes, it's peanuts but I’m happy to finally get the ball rolling. Now it’s a case of ramping up prices and getting away from the freelancer websites.
 
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Diego Ortiz

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Congratulations Villain, those are the kind of results that gets the ball rolling, I'm going to start in that path myself, just as you did, but I need to improve my grammar a lot, since English is my second language, but anyway congrats on those milestones!
 

Villain

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Thanks Diego, keep pushing forward!

Is there a market for copy in your native language? Maybe you could team up with a native English speaking editor.
 

Diego Ortiz

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Thanks Diego, keep pushing forward!

Is there a market for copy in your native language? Maybe you could team up with a native English speaking editor.

That's what I was thinking, I'm gonna do some research on that, maybe those roads are less traveled, but yeah definitely, my mind right now is on learning copy. I'll let you know if there are good opportunities on this side, if you're up to. Thanks for the advice!
 
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Villain

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Well, I've finished off all the oDesk jobs. It really doesn't seem worth the hassle...I'm still waiting on payment for something I finished a week ago.

Anyway, the new website is up. I'm looking into hitting it with some traffic now!

www.paulmaxwellcopywriting.com

Any comments/feedback would be appreciated. I'm not a developer so I did my best with a word press theme.
 

Lex DeVille

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Website is killing it and not in a good way.

I would find an awesome site offering similar services to yours and try to model your site after theirs.

Don't copy it, but use similar spacing between paragraphs, fonts, font size etc.

Your page could also benefit from some graphic images, and maybe even a short video explaining what you're offering.
 

Villain

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Thanks for checking it out.

Is it the site design, my copy, or both that is the problem?
 
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Lex DeVille

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Thanks for checking it out.

Is it the site design, my copy, or both that is the problem?

The things that stick out the most to me are that there's nothing immediately eye-catching on the home page and the main font size is very small (I'm viewing on Firefox browser by the way). Everything seems scrunched together, which makes it kind of hard to read (and I have good eyes).

The copy comes across as a small-business / individual, which is okay if you're going for a personal touch. However, the overall feel is that this website is still very much under construction.
 

Villain

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Might need to look at getting some help on the design side of things then.
 

Timbonitus

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Well, I've finished off all the oDesk jobs. It really doesn't seem worth the hassle...I'm still waiting on payment for something I finished a week ago.

Anyway, the new website is up. I'm looking into hitting it with some traffic now!

www.paulmaxwellcopywriting.com

Any comments/feedback would be appreciated. I'm not a developer so I did my best with a word press theme.

I like the website, it's clean, and looks professional. What theme do you use? I'm looking for a theme like that. The images are a little bit low quality. You might want to try using .PNG files or turn them into a PDF file. In general I think it's a decent website to use to advertise services.

Just a tip: consider contacting website owners directly and ask them if they need writers. From my experience, people who advertise affiliate products will need content on a regular basis, which means they'll need you on a regular basis. I have been offering a content writing gig for the past 4 years and I just recently drastically improved my earnings by direct marketing. You also don't have to deal with fees, bidding, or other hassles. Just send out a few messages and see who bites.
 
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Villain

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Thanks! I used a free theme called attitude. But I’m thinking about getting Avada and/or Optimizepress.

I wasn’t sure about using PDF files, because I don’t want the text to affect SEO of the actual web pages the content is published on. If Google ranks you based on uniqueness of content, then I don’t want my site or the client’s site to be penalised.

To be honest, I was going to forget about content and focus on copy for a while. Sounds like a good tip though - are you are getting some decent prices for it? I’m done with the whole $2 per 500 words thing!
 

Villain

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Time for an update. :)

So things are moving along steadily, but not fast enough!!

Here’s what I’ve been up to . . .


Built A New Website

I decided to create a new site from scratch based on feedback. So I built one, and just learned to code as I went along. I think it’s a significant improvement, but I should probably just hire a pro designer when I can.


Getting A Few Jobs On oDesk

I am getting consistent small jobs from a client on there. Although I’ve hardly touched oDesk for a few months because I . . .


. . . Got Recruited By An Agency!

I was contacted by an agency through oDesk for a PR position. I gave this a shot but it really wasn’t my bag. So I have been writing web copy and sales stuff for their clients instead. Pretty cool!


My next action steps are to:

- start applying to oDesk jobs again, treating each application like a sales letter
- spruce up my portfolio with some new killer samples
 
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Kyle Tully

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Stop wasting time acting like an employee.

This thread is almost a year old.

Create a list of 10-20 clients who fit your ideal profile that you want to work for and go after them.
 
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Villain

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You're right. Let's do this.
 

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