The Top 5 Things to Look For in a Good Copywriter Today
Tips to save thousands of dollars, hours and effort in the months ahead
There are two factors marketers attribute their success per The Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs’ B2B Content Marketing 2017 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America.
These are “doing a better job with content creation (85%) and developing or adjusting their content marketing strategy (72%).”
So how’s this going for you so far this year?
If you don’t have the right copywriter developing your content, you are losing sales to the competition.
Why?
Good copywriters know how to develop the right message for the right audience at the right time to generate leads and boost sales.
And if you write your own copy, you may make a bad impress while wasting your valuable time on something that is not your core competency.
So what do you do?
Look for these…
Top 5 Things to Look for in a Good Copywriter
They need to…
1. Study Copywriting.
People who take the time to study the great copywriters (Ogilvy, Halbert, Caples, Schwartz, etc.) and constantly improve their craft care about their profession and want to produce the best results for their clients.
When reviewing copywriters, look for someone who focuses on their copywriting education, studies the masters, has a portfolio, and can provide testimonials.
And even if you hire an intern or newbie, they should be able to provide this information. This shows they are serious and know what they are doing.
2. Understand Marketing (and the research behind it!).
Copywriting is not just about being a good writer. It’s about knowing how to sell something with words.
This means that before any writing begins, your copywriter should ask you a lot of questions about your business, marketing/sales processes, goals, target market, timelines, and more.
It’s essential to conduct extensive research to write good copy that gets results.
And if you don’t have a content marketing strategist in place, your copywriter should be able to suggest ideas on what writing projects need to be done, and when, to reach your particular goals.
If you hire someone who just cares about finishing a project and moving on, you will not get the best work relevant to your business needs.
3. Know SEO.
Your content needs to be optimized for the search engines whenever possible. Period.
After all, if your competitors are optimizing their content and your not, guess who gets the site visits and new customers? Not you!
A lot of business owners hire a “tech” company to do their SEO and sit back and wait for the results. Well, there are some aspects of search engine optimization that are technical. But the key to showing up with high rankings is good content.
According to Moz, Google recommends that you, “create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.”
Copywriters who are certified in SEO know how to improve your search engine rankings AND write content that provides valuable information to your target market to sell your products and services.
Can your tech person do that?
4. Be a Member of Your Team.
Your copywriter is an essential part of your sales process and business success so you want to find a professional who is reliable and meets deadlines.
While there are many SEO copywriting companies and freelancers out there who offer inexpensive work, you’ve got to ask yourself if it’s worth it.
Can you get in touch with them when you need to?
Do they make edits and offer suggestions?
Do they have a positive attitude at all times?
Are they a member of your team or just someone giving you template-work they use on all clients?
There are many questions to ask before hiring a copywriter to avoid wasting time, money and effort.
5. Report Results.
Good copywriters know the goals of a project, timelines, tracking mechanisms, and potential results before starting a project. If you don’t have a content marketing strategist in place, then your copywriter can help you define these tasks.
Once a project is complete, your copywriter should share the results, review strengths and weaknesses and provide suggestions for the next step, edit, test, update, and more.
Being a good copywriter is about much more than “cranking out copy.” It’s about creating words that sell your products and services… and actually caring about the results!
The Right Copywriter Can Make Your Sales Soar!
Choosing a good copywriter can mean the difference between huge success or losing sales to the competition.
Find someone who cares about their work and is an ongoing student of their craft and the field of marketing and search engine optimization.
But most important, your copywriter needs to be a member of your team. You want a reliable professional who cares about each project and is willing to work with you to get the best results possible.
Follow these tips, and you will get a boost in sales and a competitive edge!
Are you ready to hire a good, SEO copywriter to help your business?
For additional information, please contact Melanie here.
Author Melanie Rembrandt helps business owners boost sales, awareness and credibility with a killer combination of targeted SEO copywriting, content-marketing strategy, public relations, and social media. Do you want to save time and money and get great results? Contact her and her team at Rembrandt Communications®, LLC, www.rembrandtwrites.com.
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