Hi, I have been an article / content writer for a while. To say the least, i am not satisfied. You want me to give a reason ?? Sure.. I believe that i am a better writer than a lot of people present here (i ll admit, i may be worse than quite a bit too !). But, at least i have a good command over English ! I know where my 'a's and 'the's are supposed to go... And frankly, its getting impossible to find a job, AND compete with the unbelievable low rates. I have made the mistake of taking up jobs in the past. I regretted taking them up almost immediately... but coudn't do anything about it then. So lately, i have been thinking of trying my hand at copywriting. The problem is, i have very little / no knowledge the the said field. So i was wondering if any of you caould help me a little... maybe give a tip, or a pointer.. or a nudge in the right direction. Also, where do i find a job as a copywriter ? Thanks for taking your time out for me ! Pragun
Hi Pragun. I think my post can give you an idea where you can find work with good rates and less competition. Here it is: Where to Find Freelance Jobs with Less Competition
Well you can join any Freelancing jobs but market is open and I fear to say you will not get high paying jobs. But I would suggest you to check this site: http://jobs.problogger.net/ It is a best site and you will make better earnings if you have a good writing skills and also don't forgot those are long terms job option too.
I have been writing in that section. But the problem is, the rates are too darn low, ad that way, i dont get what we call professional satisfaction. I end up writing shoddy stuff to finish the job off quickly, rather than taking time to write something really good. It is degrading my skills as a writer !
First you need to assess whether you have the necessary basic skills required for copywriting. If not, you have to develop them first before you jump in and start doing copywriting jobs. You could develop the necessary skills by reading blogs of leading copywriters, some good books on copywriting and such for a time period. Copywriting is NOT like article writing. So don't automatically assume that you will be a good copywriter just because you are a decent content writer. Develop the prerequisite skills and learn more about what you are getting into before you begin working.
I agree with you there lightless. I am not assuming anything as of now. I want to assess my skills first. So reading content is the way ?? Can you direct me somewhere where i can get to read stuff ??
Copywriting and content writing are two different things altogether, but, there is yet another segment, where the author writes just a single line... the punch line. What is this particular type of writing called? These persons spend a day or more thinking up a single line. Some examples are given below. "Think pink mink" "Utterly Butterly Delicious"
Thanks a lot for the feedback cd928, but I feel that there is a `very fine line' that separates the two terms `tag lines' & `punch lines'. I just saw this query on a particular website "Which company has the following punchline `The power to create...' and it, obviously, does not refer to comedy. While I do agree that `tag line' is a better definition, there are various opinions and counter opinions doing the rounds. I quote an adman...
You should sign up with Elance.com. It is free, but the only problem is the competition you will face. You put in a sealed bid for the jobs, so it can be hard to get your first gig. However, Elance have a minimum bid of $50, so you can't price yourself too low, which is a good thing.
Just check out the advertisement(s) for new product launches, in various medias. They are followed up my secondary, tertiary ads... each diminishing from the previous one. Since you are from India, I put across a prime example. Do you recall the huge ads of `Lifeboy' (they appeared in the mid 70's). Nowadays just `Health is best protected by...' suffices. The name of the product needs not be mentioned, since people associate that term (or jingle) with the product.
It could range from one-off gigs like clients asking you write/revise their sales copy to full-blown ones wherein you write copy for a number of your client's promotional materials like brochures, website content, landing pages, etc.
I think you should reconsider moving to copywriting completely. The money alone is not a smart reason to do it, and unless you have a solid background in marketing, PR, advertising, or heck, even psychology, you really don't have a credible foundation to attract any of those higher-paying clients right now anyway. You're making a common mistake in assuming content writing is low-paying. The problem isn't the type of work, but rather your own marketing efforts (and if you can't market yourself effectively, why would others hire you to write their marketing copy?). What you need to really do is evaluate the market you've been operating in, and look for other content writing markets which not only pay better but have a demand for your own specialized abilities (like a niche you may have significant expertise in). There are just as many low-paying copywriting gigs as content writing gigs these days, and until you learn how to identify and target the right markets, those are what you'll attract when you switch writing fields with little in mind but the potential money. Clients will figure out pretty quickly whether or not you know what you're doing in copywriting, and they won't pay you more just because you think your content writing is better than others on DP. And re: your sig - I've worked with "rock stars," and I wouldn't want to write like one of them.