If you are hunting for a good freelance copywriter and have by no means carried out it before, or if you have but discover your self needing another for the initial time in a whilst, I don’t envy you. This &quotbrave new&quot e-world has turned your once simple search of a neatly stacked file of brochures and introductory letters into a bothersome wade through a mucky world of half-baked online listings and search outcomes which only seem to checklist those freelance copywriters who are specialists in Search engine optimization, or at least know what the heck it indicates (search engine optimization).

You: &quotI just need a good freelance copywriter to write this product launch brochure who’s not heading depart me hanging or make me inquire for another round of financing.&quot

Google: &quotResults one-ten of 44,700 for brochure copywriter (.17 seconds).&quot

And that is not even a very popular search phrase. However, with 44,700 doorways (or 1000′s more depending on your search) to select from, what are the probabilities you’ll click the one that prospects to:

? A freelance copywriter who plays nice with designers and doesn’t charge a initial-born child

? A freelance copywriter who knows when and where to provide their expertise on how to communicate a concept

? Inventive, cliché-totally free, differentiating, success-enabling copy that is turned in clear and on deadline

It is most likely better than a one-in-44,700 opportunity, but you are nonetheless more likely to fall short than be wildly ecstatic about your freelance copywriter decision unless of course you include a few factors of structure to guide you through the online chaos:

one. Look at freelance copywriters further down the checklist. Unless of course you are particularly looking for an Search engine optimization copywriter, how high a freelance copywriter or a hyperlink to a freelance copywriter ranks in search outcomes is not indicative of how good that copywriter may be. Lookup engines rank web sites in accordance to formulas of keyword saturation in website copy, meta tags, links and other places. Not how well a freelance copywriter’s work accomplished his client’s goals. Spend some time at this. There is more to the marketing, branding and advertising worlds than the Internet, and there are numerous worthy and effective freelance copywriters who work in the offline world, but have only a token presence on the Net. Go forward and appear at the leading-ranked freelance copywriters, but examine the other people as well. Look at who their customers are, the work they do, the manufacturers they’ve worked on, what their website is like and testimonials from past and present customers. That should give you a good gauge. Or if you like the advertising a specific business do a search for &quotCompanyX AND copywriter.&quot

2. If you want high quality, steer clear of &quotbidding&quot sites. There’s as well numerous of them currently, and more seem to be popping up all the time. The online auction is a fantastic concept for your aged fishing equipment or clunker on cinder blocks, but not for a good freelance copywriter, designer, photographer or any other &quotcreative service&quot professional. Websites like Elance.com, Guru.com and their numerous cousins allow service companies to whore themselves out for projects in a reverse auction where the lowest bid wins. Unfortunately, there truly is no winner. The freelance copywriter (or whoever) will get a fraction of the honest market worth for their work and the customer, unless of course they’re extremely fortunate, will be stuck with a college student, green amateur or someone who may not even speak English well-to say nothing about the copy they will write.

3. Seek out freelance copywriters with online portfolios. Find freelance copywriters who have some type of online portfolio. Go through it in detail. Try to get an concept of the communications problem the freelance copywriter had to solve and get a grasp on the talent and pondering that went into creating the completed copy. Then inquire your self, &quotIf I was in the market for some thing like this, would this make me more interested in learning about this product or want to purchase it?&quot The work of a good copywriter will be obvious.

4. Judge by the work, not the product. You may have a fantastic new product that everyone’s heading to want, or an aged product that everyone currently has, but with a new feature or some thing. Now, your initial instinct in finding someone who’s heading to write copy to market this product is to discover someone who, if you are promoting underwater titanium door hinges, has created copy for underwater steel or plastic door hinges. Yes, as well numerous entrepreneurs believe if a freelance copywriter has only created for X and not Y, that they can’t write for Y. This type of pondering is misguided. Again, go back to No. 3 and appear at the portfolio. Gauge the talent. If they did a fantastic task communicating some thing about X, you can bet they will be able to do the same for Y. A freelance copywriter is not defined by the product. He is defined by how he writes about that product.

These guidelines, along with a small &quotbuyer beware&quot mentality, will help you wield the Internet as the powerful information tool it’s purported to be. You will discover a good freelance copywriter.

Adam Barone is a freelance copywriter from the Boston region, who writes outcomes – producing copy for such customers as The Timberland Business, Bank 1, TJ Maxx, and other customers and ad agencies.

Go to him at http://www.adambarone.com. Subscribe his e-newsletter, CopyTHINK at adambarone.com/mailinglist/?p=subscribe .

©Adam Barone 2005. All rights reserved.

Reprint rights granted as lengthy as the write-up is published in its entirety, such as links.