Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great job, and for some of us it’s a calling that won’t be denied. And you definitely do get to write clever and inspiring prose. It’s just that you don’t do it all day, every day. In fact, when you sit down at end of day and think about what you’ve done, percentage of time spent writing is surprisingly low.

So what does a freelance copywriter do other than write copy? Well, basically, they run a business. This article discusses 11 daily rituals involved with running a freelance website copywriting or advertising copywriting business (other than writing). It also provides some tips for performing them successfully.

1) Quoting

Freelance copywriters serve many masters. They generally have quite a few clients, and spend quite a bit of time quoting on new jobs. When you quote, you’re calculating how much to charge for job. For a freelance copywriter, there are a number of important factors influencing quoting. You need to have some way to accurately estimate time. Generally best way to achieve this is to be diligent in your tracking. If you know how long past jobs have taken you, you’ll be much more confident and accurate in your estimates. You need to know how much time you spend not writing (as you should try to cover as much of this as possible). You need to have a feel for what client is prepared to pay (are they a big or small company, how highly do they seem to value copy, etc.). You need to know how much your competitors are charging for same thing. You need to understand what differentiates you from your competitors. You need to think about how badly you want or need work. And, of course, you need to estimate how time-consuming client will be.

2) Submitting Proposals

A quote is not same as a proposal. A quote is generally contained within a proposal, but it’s not same thing. When you submit a copywriting proposal, you’re marketing your skills, your solution, your work ethic, your customer service, your commitment, and your experience. Basically, you’re justifying your price, and differentiating yourself from your competition. And it’s not just about WHAT you say. It’s also HOW you say it and how you PRESENT it. Everything about your proposal plays a part in client’s decision! If possible, include additional helpful information. Use a title page, a table of contents, headers, and footers. Introduce at beginning and summarise at end. Include your price, but call it an “investment”, not a “cost”. Show client you’ve thought their job through by summarising their requirements. Outline your proposed solution. And most importantly, give client a clear call to action (“Where to from here?”).

3) Chasing reviews

The freelance copywriter is almost never bottleneck in a copywriting job. In 99.99% of copywriting jobs, bottleneck is review process. Most clients take a long time to review. In fact, about a third of clients need to be prompted at least once before they’ll get back to you with their changes. It’s not uncommon for a one-day writing job to take a full month to reach sign-off – or longer. Some clients will put copy review on backburner for months (just another reason to request a deposit before commencement of work)! As a result, freelance advertising copywriters and website copywriters spend a lot of time chasing reviews. Make sure you factor delay and chasing time into your quotes as best you can. And always record which clients take a long time, so you can be prepared when discussing deadlines on next job.

4) Project scheduling & tracking

No matter whether you work on big projects or small, project scheduling and tracking are vital. You need to know exact status of all work in progress (tracking), and you also need to be very aware of what’s coming up and how you’ll manage it (planning). If you’re doing it right, you should be using your tracking and planning tools several times a day. In fact, they should be hub of your business. TIP: A good way to track copywriting projects is to use a job (and contact) tracking database. I created my own database using Microsoft Access. Click to download a 208KB working copy for FREE. You’ll need Microsoft Access 2000 to run it. I’m no database expert, so it’s not a work of art. It’ll certainly get you started though. (TIP: When using database, press Ctrl + ; to enter today’s date.)

5) Accounting

Anyone who’s ever tried marketing IT products or services knows that it’s a specialist field. Your customers in IT industry have very unique and specific requirements, and that means you do too. In order to write compelling copy around your offering, you need a copywriter with a solid understanding of IT world – someone who’s not afraid to call themselves an “IT Copywriter”.

So how do you know when you’ve found an IT copywriter? And – more importantly – how do you know what to expect from them? The following 10 tips will give you a good understanding of qualities to look for – things that make a copywriter an IT copywriter.

1) IT background

Perhaps most beneficial quality in an IT copywriter is a solid background of some sort in IT industry. If your copywriter shares an understanding of your domain, you’ll spend far less time explaining benefits of your product or service. Remember last time you watched someone glaze over as you waxed lyrical about wonders of your latest technology? You don’t want that to happen when you’re briefing your copywriter. More importantly, you don’t want that happening when your potential customers read your copy!

2) Technical writing experience

Good technical writers are experienced in bridging knowledge gaps. This means they have to understand technology, but they also have to be able to talk about it in layperson’s language. A copywriter with technical writing experience in IT industry is likely to have domain knowledge and an ability to hit ground running. They’ll be quick on uptake, so they’ll understand your product or service more rapidly than most.

Of course, not every technical writer is a IT copywriter. You need to be sure they can write compelling copy – not just dry instruction manuals. Take a look at their samples and testimonials before making a decision.

The other important consideration – especially if you’re after a website copywriter – is, do they have online writing experience? Writing for an online medium is entirely different to writing for print. Readers have different requirements and objectives, and reading conditions are very different. Many technical writers have written online help, so they should know how to cater to these differences. To be sure, ask them to recommend a maximum page length or word count per page. The correct answer should include some comment on trade-off between problems of scrolling and need for a high keyword count for SEO. Ask them whether they prefer long sentences or short (and hope to hear “short”).

3) Further Education

IT products and services are generally very complex in themselves. What’s more, needs of end-customer are also very complex and unique. This means there’s normally quite a steep learning curve for anyone new. Ask your IT copywriter if they have tertiary qualifications. It’s not essential, and – by itself – it’s no guarantee of quality copy, but it’s generally a good indicator of someone who’s been trained in art of learning (i.e. researching, information filtering and modelling, knowledge retention, etc.).

The flip-side of that coin is to be wary of people who are technically qualified. Don’t discount them on sight (many technical people have made great IT copywriters); just remember that technically trained people have a tendency to take a lot of things for granted when speaking to lay-people. Your IT copywriter needs to be able to understand technology and its complexities, but still relate to issues of non-technical customer.

4) Management Experience

Anyone with management experience – at any level – has dealt with decision makers. They may even have been a decision maker themself. In any form of promotion, you need to appeal to decision maker. Your IT copywriter needs to develop an understanding of needs, influences, pressures, problems, work environment, and constraints of your typical decision maker(s). The more understanding your IT copywriter brings to relationship, less time you’ll spend schooling them.