I am trying to get business by using LinkedIn Premium and contacting directly persons who might be interested in my IT skills. What I am looking for is an introduction letter and some introduction on my LinkedIn profile. How do I find experienced sales writer who charge reasonable price? How to recognise quality from poor writing? I got few offers like 100 USD per introduction letter which I believe should be 500 words. Do you think it is a lot or standard rate?
An intro is not unlike a press release. I'm not a copywriter, but am a former writer that can produce dozens of exemplary references. I would not write it (a press release) for less than $500 U.S., and depending what is required might ask as much as $800. If you consider what such a letter can do for you, then it would be money well spent.
This is nice. I believe it can do a lot but 500 USD seems really a high standard. There is no guarantee that I am not buying just cheap texts for a lot of money
It is not about how cheap the texts are. It is about results. If someone will write me text for 1.000 USD and it will brings 10 new leads in month that was a pretty good investment. But what if I pay 1.000 USD and get no prospects at all. This part is crucial for me not just saving money.
To succeed in business one has to take risks. Those who hold themselves back with fear are those who ultimately fail. Not only in business, but in life as well.
I do not know. Not necessarily most expensive is also the best. For example you may pay a lot of money for design your site or buy a theme for few bucks and you will get almost same results. Just so many people do not know that you can buy prefabricated theme for almost same money and spend money sometimes on even worse webdesign specifically for their purposes. Lets see how others see it
If you spend more, you'll get a writer who'll work with you and even (gasp) rewrite/tweak certain parts of the pitch if it doesn't work out for you. A good writer will always have a combination of references that you can contact directly, and samples of previous work you can view to get an idea of how compelling their style is. That's the best guarantee you'll get in this business. You can also spend twenty or thirty dollars time and again, and never get a single benefit. It's all risk. Frank Kern didn't know his writing would break the million-dollar-day-mark online; but he tried it and it paid off like gang-busters. If you can close the deal with good service, you'll make your money back. No self-respecting writer would leave you hanging if you can prove you're driving traffic to the page and nobody's sticking around...
I have to say a few things here. First, writing is not creating or buying a website theme. Apples and oranges. Second, while it's difficult to decide on how much to pay, there are certain truths about the good guys. First, a high-priced writer can and should provide references and samples from other paying clients. Secondly, often it's the guy who charges $100 per hour that can do the job in 2 hours. the $10 guy will often take 30 hours and cost you more in the end. This is an extreme example, but the point is clear. Another point to make is: no matter how good you are as a writer, you're still limited by what you have to work with. So, if you are not a good salesman and can't sell your IT services well, my high-quality introduction may not work because it breaks down after its read. On the other hand, at least the good intro will peak their interest. it's a team effort, really. A press release, or an introduction letter should take no more than an hour or two to write. So $50 to $100 is reasonable. Would it be reasonable to pay $500? Maybe, depending on how you would use this creation. DO NOT go with the cheapest writer under any circumstances. A well paid writer will care about you and your results. A cheapie will probably not be able to write much, and has little experience. IT is a high-priced field of about $250 per hour. would you work for $25?
I know I keep telling people this but I'm going to say it again. You can find someone to work for pennies and if you look hard enough, you'll always find someone who's willing to do it for nearly free. There's a mechanic in my town who will take a look at any vehicle if you buy him cheap alcohol or smokes and I used to know a writer who would write for $1 an hour. The results of their work was as you can expect... horrible. I know Digital Point sometimes seems like the home of cheap or where penny chasing clients live but in general, the only people quoting you $100 for a sales Copy project are desperately trying to find work. These people probably are sitting there, have every RSS feed or every Marketplace forum watched and are starving to get enough clients to pay the bills. It's basically what happens when you work for cheap people. These people come and go and it's a constant race to find new clients for any work at all. It's really a vicious circle but Copywriters are expensive because Copy isn't just something you can type out just to fill a word requirement. Professional companies usually hire editors to look over a writer's work before it's given to a client. Penny chasers or people hopelessly trying to grasp onto any client they can find don't edit their work, there's usually minimal research involved and who can honestly blame them? Alright, when it comes to affiliate marketing, it's not the sole responsibility of the writer to make you money. The writer can provide you the content or the Copy but YOU have to drive the traffic. That's another thing that a lot of people forget about when it comes to marketing. You can have a brilliantly designed web page and Copy developed by Frank Kern/Kelly Felix but if you don't have a strategy to drive traffic to the site, what's the point? No one is going to see your page if you have no idea how to get traffic to it.
I would spend more than "an hour or two" on interviewing the client before I even began to write. I think many people, when looking for a writer, seem to think we just magically know who they are and what makes them unique in the marketplace by the mere fact they hired us. They then think we take that information and in less time than it takes to type the words, complete their assignment. $500 sounds like a lot but it wouldn't be hard to justify in the hours required to produce a top notch resume or PR. That said, you could probably find a good writer to help you for between $100 and $250. The less the writer talks about interviewing you, the more you should avoid them; regardless of the price they quote.
Very good point, YMC. I didn't mention that simply because I was thinking about production. But a very substantial point there. It takes time to get to know someone. But it's a common issue, as you pointed out, that this does not happen.
There are some highly qualified writers on Elance.com - some writers specialize in specific content. I suggest you use a writer with at least a rating of 4.8, and you can try them out first with a single article.
To answer your question about how to evaluate the quality of the deliverables, the most accurate way is to see how the target audience response to it. But of course there is a cost to that, so if you can step inside the shoes of your target audience and do your best to read the piece as they would, that will give you a feel for how strongly it connects. We are looking for persuasiveness at a deep, intuitive level that extends beyond sound reasoning "That is hard to argue with"