Sunday, June 8, 2014

Choosing The Best Freelance Copywriter For Your Needs

By Sally Delacruz


Excellent copy is essential for any kind of marketing or promotional material, no matter whether you sell construction materials or legal services. However, not just anybody can create copy that will entice customers. You need someone with special copywriting skills and expertise. A freelance copywriter can help you but you need to choose the right person for the job or you'll waste time and money.

There are several websites where you can outsource almost any kind of project to a freelancer. Freelance workers from all over the world use these sites to look for projects that they'd like to work on. The advantage for you as an employer is that you can find the best person for the job, even if that person lives in Kathmandu.

The quality of your advertisement will determine the quality of the people applying for the job. Copywriters who are great at their job generally ignore advertisements that don't tell them exactly what will be expected of them. They also avoid projects that don't offer a decent, market-related rate or ones where the employer has unrealistic expectations of how much time the project will take. If you need the copy to be in a different language, use that language for your advertisement to attract candidates who can actually speak that language.

Go through the proposals you get. If they're written in a generic style or use bad grammar and spelling, you can be sure that this person won't provide quality work. A completely unrealistic time frame for completing the job or a rate that's much lower than the standard is often a good indication too that the person is not a professional copywriter.

Be open-minded about candidates' nationalities. Someone who lives in a country where English is the official language does not always make the best copywriter. Often people with excellent English writing skills live in the most surprising places and often they're expats from countries such as the USA.

Check the profile of each person on your shortlist. If the profile is full of mistakes, the candidate's work will probably be too. If you need a specific field of expertise, check the candidate's resume for his or her education and experience. Many freelancers also include a portfolio with their profile and this can tell you whether their style is what you're looking for. You should also feel free to ask for a small sample of their writing.

Freelancing job sites normally allow employers to review the freelancer's work. Read some of these reviews rather than simply looking at the overall rating the person scores. The negative reviews are especially useful for identifying potential issues, such as poor communication or missed deadlines. You'll also get a sense of the freelancer's level or professionalism and their personality by reading how they react to negative reviews.

Allocating that first project to a specific freelancer is a gamble. This is why it's a good idea not to wait until the last minute to find someone. Instead, build in some extra time in case you need to have the job edited or even allocated to another copywriter.




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