March 27th, 2008 by Kelly

I get asked by many of my coaching students “what is the best way to improve my copywriting skills”? The second most common question they ask me is “how can I learn to write good copy AND grow my business at the same time”? These are good questions. Writing good copy and growing your business are probably the two most important things you have to do when getting started as a freelance copywriter.

My response to their questions is to ask them to take a few minutes and think about how much writing they do every day. For those of you just starting out writing copy, writing every day is one of the most important things you can do to not only get better, but to get your copywriting career off the ground. The two can and should go hand-in-hand.

Here are my three top tips to both improving your writing AND growing your freelance copywriting business:

1. My first tip is to start off by just writing anything, every day. You have to write every day – even if you get started by journaling. If you want to be a better writer you need to write. At this point no one is critiquing your writing or giving you feedback. As you write you are doing a few important things. You are creating a habit of writing, which is important. You are also getting to know and develop your voice. Most of us write for a while and our voice slowly develops (that’s how mine worked anyway). I slowly became more confident in my writing and what I had to say. It took time, experience, and practice.

2. Start writing about marketing topics. As you create more discipline for yourself and write every day, it’s important you start to channel your writing into your profession. As a copywriter you do marketing and communications writing and it’s important you know your field. Write about marketing topics, write about copywriting, write about blogging, brochures, ezines, everything you can think of that relates to marketing. Start a blog and just start typing. Write articles for your website, submit them to publications – both online and off, send them to prospective clients.

3. Take your writing a step further by tailoring your articles to a specific niche. As you research and learn about a specific thing, say blogging and how blogging can grow your business, integrate how blogging can grow your business with facets from the specific niche you work in.

For example I specialize in writing copy for the healthcare industry. A powerful article for me to write could talk about blogging and how patients love to blog about their healthcare experiences. I could give examples of specific blogs to visit or a case study that was done on effects of how blogging or journaling a traumatic experience (like cancer survival or getting bariatric surgery) improved healing time and created more favorable feelings for the doctor or hospital afterwards.

Ultimately you are tying that back to copywriting. Many companies hire copywriters to post in their blog for them, so this is a good topic to write about. This is just one example of how you can learn your trade, improve your writing skills, and market yourself at the same time.

The key is to start writing every day. Now.

Happy Copywriting!
Kelly Robbins
www.TheCopywritingInstitute.com

March 21st, 2008 by Kelly

is….Informing Without Persuading in Your Copy

There’s a lot to be said for informing the reader when you write copy or develop an ad. You “inform” them about your company. The benefits your offerings provide. Perhaps how what’s going on in today’s headlines may affect their lives. You may also inform them of your features and other startling statistics to grab their attention.

It’s easy for us to spend our energy coming up with ways to inform our reader with all the neat facts and statistics we know, without taking the time to persuade them to take an action.

It’s a common, but deadly, copywriting mistake.

Persuading your reader into taking an action should be the whole point of your copy in the first place. Right?

The action you want your reader to take may range from signing up for your ezine or visiting your web site to grab a freebie, to dropping everything they’re doing and purchasing your products right then and there.

It doesn’t matter what the action is.

Your job as the copywriter is to ensure you persuade your readers to take an action after reading your copy.

I see marketers and copywriters make this mistake a lot in the healthcare industry in particular. They spend so much time educating and informing the reader about the new technology or the startling facts the writer dug up to support their claim that they skip right over the basics of selling and persuading the reader to take action.

They forget that the main goal of their copy is to move the prospect forward in the sales process.

Don’t forget what you’ve been hired to do. I know you weren’t hired to inform your readers. You were hired to make somebody some money. Period.

Happy Copywriting
Kelly Robbins
www.TheCopywritingInstitute.com

March 12th, 2008 by Kelly

Fellow copywriters and entrepreneurs,

I receive this ezine, Make Mine a Million Business, and I wanted to share a video clip that was in the issue I received yesterday. The video is inspiring and worth sharing with you. Read below for the entire ezine exerpt and a link to the video.

Happy Copywriting!
Kelly
www.TheCopywritingInstitute.com

Forget the Free Lipsticks, Give That Girl Some Cash!

In this must-watch video, entrepreneurial superstar Nely Galán opens up about how she got started selling lipstick out of her locker at age 13, why losing is sometimes better than winning, and the great business advice she got from Gene Simmons. Trust us, this is the best five minutes you’ll spend all day!

View complete article and watch the video

http://www.makemineamillion.org/newsletters
/vol1/march_enewsletter_full.html#3

March 5th, 2008 by Kelly

You can think about great ideas, have big, elaborate dreams, but if you don’t take action — now — nothing in your life will change. Your dream will never become a reality. Taking action is the only way you are going to get your business off the ground. Taking action is the only way you are going to get new clients. Taking action is the only way you are going to get noticed at your company and get promoted.

Think about what you want and how you are going to get it…all of the time.

It doesn’t matter if your goals are personal or professional, setting your mind to the one main goal you want to accomplish will keep you focused on the outcome. You will constantly be on the lookout for ways to achieve that goal. Because it is always on your mind, you will be constantly brainstorming. Your mind will continually be looking for ways to take action on that goal.

You become what you think about. Focus on one item, your one goal. Make it extremely positive, NOT negative.

The next important thing, after thinking about your goal all of the time, is to take action. I try to do at least one action item a day. With three kids (four if you count my husband), a house to run and a growing business, it’s easy for the day-to-day duties to suck up my time. It’s easy for me to let life take over and not take proactive steps towards my goal.

So I decided long ago to do at least one item on my list each day. It can be a small item to move me toward my goal. It may be searching for a new journal to run some of my marketing articles. It could be working on a new product to sell, coming up with a topic for a new seminar. Some days I do much more than one thing, other days I barely squeak the one item in. But I can assure you, if you do at least one item, if you take one action every day, you will be closer to your goal than most people you know. And because you take action towards your goal you are much more likely to reach it than those who don’t.

Are you ready to take action to achieve YOUR goals?

For more tips and tools be sure to sign up for The Copywriting Institute’s weekly ezine The Copywriting Connection

Happy Copywriting
Kelly Robbins
www.TheCopywritingInstitute.com