5. Select keywords that are specific rather than general. Let's say I'm writing an article about negotiating fees with a freelance copywriter. My goal should be to include popular words related to that particular topic, and not just general category of copywriting. "Freelance copywriting rates" is a much better keyword phrase to use because that's probably something a user would actually type in when searching for such information. "Freelance copywriting," on other hand, is more general and therefore might bring up thousands of higher-ranked sites than yours. Burying your article is no way to be found... so, keep it specific if you can!

6. Scan your existing text for keywords. Your article draft is complete and your keywords have been selected. Now, just put them together. Scan article copy for first keyword. Did you find it? Great! If you know your stuff, you probably slipped keyword into a few places without even realizing it.

7. "Find and Change." Suppose in your article about copywriting, you included word "writing" several times throughout piece. That's no serious problem by any means, but "copywriting" is term of choice among marketers and advertisers. Consequently, it should be one of your keywords. Locate where you've used word "writing" or "writer", and replace with "copywriting" or "copywriter." Do this for each of your keywords and keyword phrases. You may have to reorder some of sentences, but this shouldn't be a big deal.

8. Proofread your article. Now that you've added keywords, article is probably somewhat different from its original form. Do a thorough read-through for mistakes, correcting as needed. Check for spelling errors, grammatical inconsistencies and repeated words. Hey, did she say repeated words?? Yes, even in keyword articles, a good writer should try to vary his vocabulary. Your article should be keyword-rich, not dull and repetitive!

9. Write a keyword-rich headline. Why did I wait until end of this article to mention headline? Because best headlines usually come to writer at end of writing and researching process. With all this talk of keywords, you should be primed to write hard-hitting headlines!

Keyword article headlines waste no time. Get right to point with a headline that uses your three or four most popular keywords at beginning, not at end. Allow me to critique an article from my own collection. The headline: How to Negotiate Rates with a Freelance Copywriting Expert. I confess, this headline could have been better. Why? "Negotiate rates" is not a keyword term that someone might type into a search engine. "Freelance Copywriting," however, is. The better version of this headline: "Freelance Copywriting: How to Negotiate Rates." If I had simply reordered words, this headline would have been that much more powerful and achieved a higher web search ranking. Live and learn!

Feeling a little more comfortable about keyword article-writing? Great! Now get out there and start making money writing keyword-rich content for world!

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

6) Visiting clients

Although wonders of modern email let a freelance copywriter get through about 95% of their work without ever leaving office, it’s sometimes still a good idea to do things ‘old-fashioned’ way – especially if you expect to work with them quite a bit. Shake hands and put a face to a name. And remember, everything about meeting reflects on you and your business. As with your proposals, think about WHAT you say, HOW you say it, how you PRESENT. Always organise meeting with plenty of notice, confirm day before meeting, be on time, summarise meeting, and provide a call to action. (Try to do these last two both at end of meeting and via email after meeting.)

7) Office admin

Even for a low overhead business like copywriting, there’s always something! Changing phone plans, upgrading/fixing computers, your internet service is down, your website is temporarily unavailable, you’re enhancing your data storage procedures, you need new printer or fax ink cartridges… Office administration takes up a surprisingly large chunk of your day. Make sure you allow for it. This means allowing time to do work, and factoring that time into your quotes. If you don’t, you’ll be continually working into wee hours and/or losing money.

8) Marketing strategy

How do you generate business? Cold calls? (See 12 Handy Tips for Generating Leads through Cold-Calling.) Website? (See Copywriting & SEO Articles for numerous website & SEO articles.) Networking? Word of mouth? Repeat business? Agencies? (See also 10 Tips for Aspiring Freelance Copywriters for some tips on succeeding as a freelance copywriter.) No matter what your strategy, you need to give it time it deserves. It’s a good idea to average around an hour a day to thinking about and implementing marketing strategy.

9) Industry research

Stay up to date on latest copywriting industry research. Read research on usability, readability, and scannability (visit Jakob Nielsen's website on usable information technology or GoodExperience.com and subscribe to their newsletters). Read up on search engine optimization (see SEO for CEOs – Search Engine Optimization Unmasked for CEOs or try subscribing to a newsletter from WebProNews.com or 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 are being overlooked in spoken English, what sounds make a positive impression on people, etc.). Know difference between writing for web versus writing for print versus writing for search engines (see Copywriting & SEO Articles for some relevant articles). If you want to scratch surface, spend 10 minutes every day.

10) Subject matter research

Whether it’s website copywriting or advertising copywriting, to do a good job, you need to know a lot about your subject material. This means both specific knowledge about client’s product or service as well as more generic ‘domain’ knowledge. Clients have a tendency to not supply enough information. Make sure you interview them thoroughly. And then let them know you’ll probably need to ask further questions. Even then, you may find yourself doing a bit of independent research. The Internet is your saviour, but always run any information by your client before publishing. When you’re quoting on a job, try to figure out how much detail client will be able to supply. You can even ask them to estimate how much they’ll supply (i.e. All, Most, Some, or None). This is a good technique as it gets them thinking about your requirements while at same time giving you some idea how much time you’ll spend researching.

11) Planning

In one important respect, website copywriting and advertising copywriting are no different from any other form of writing; planning is vital. For more specific planning information, see Engage Your Customer – Write About Benefits and Writing Benefit-Driven Web Copy – 4 Steps to More Sales.

Happy writing!

* Glenn Murray is an advertising copywriter and heads copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com for further details or more FREE articles.