If you’re hunting for a good freelance copywriter and have never done it before, or if you have but find yourself needing another for
first time in a while, I don’t envy you. This “brave new” e-world has turned your once straightforward search of a neatly stacked file of brochures and introductory letters into a bothersome wade through a mucky world of half-baked online listings and search results which only seem to list those freelance copywriters who are experts in SEO, or at least know what heck it means (search engine optimization).You: “I just need a good freelance copywriter to write this product launch brochure who’s not going leave me hanging or make me ask for another round of financing.”
Google: “Results 1-10 of 44,700 for brochure copywriter (0.17 seconds).”
And that’s not even a very popular search term. Yet, with 44,700 doors (or thousands more depending on your search) to choose from, what are chances you’ll click one that leads to:
• A freelance copywriter who plays nice with designers and doesn’t charge a first-born child
• A freelance copywriter who knows when and where to offer their expertise on how to communicate a message
• Creative, cliché-free, differentiating, success-enabling copy that is turned in clean and on deadline
It’s probably better than a 1-in-44,700 chance, but you’re still more likely to fall short than be wildly ecstatic about your freelance copywriter decision unless you add a few points of structure to guide you through online chaos:
1. Look at freelance copywriters further down list. Unless you’re specifically looking for an SEO copywriter, how high a freelance copywriter or a link to a freelance copywriter ranks in search results is not indicative of how good that copywriter may be. Search engines rank web sites according to formulas of keyword saturation in site copy, meta tags, links and other places. Not how well a freelance copywriter’s work achieved his client’s objectives. Spend some time at this. There is more to marketing, branding and advertising worlds than Internet, and there are many worthy and successful freelance copywriters who work in offline world, but have only a token presence on Net. Go ahead and look at top-ranked freelance copywriters, but investigate others as well. Look at who their clients are, work they do, brands they’ve worked on, what their site is like and testimonials from past and current clients. That should give you a good gauge. Or if you like advertising a specific company do a search for “CompanyX AND copywriter.”
