I first started hearing about this a few months ago. Someone left a comment on a post asking if there was any use in hand-copying other people’s ads to learn copywriting. Then, someone else sent an email through to us. And, after that, I found out that a few copywriting courses make hand-copying ads major pillars of their teaching. Let me make something very clear: No, … [Read more...]

Here’s a short one, but an important one: When we’re writing copy for our clients, it can be tempting to view the project and your copy through your own perspective. After all, that’s the perspective you’ve been viewing things from for your entire life, right? But, when you can’t escape your own perspective, you’re doing your clients—and your career—a disservice. If you’ve ever … [Read more...]

Here’s a hard truth: the average conversion rate for purchases is right around 2%. Of course, it can skew up or down depending on the industry or the product, but 2% is a pretty solid estimate. That means that for every 100 people who see an offer…2 people will buy. Ouch, right? Obviously, one of the best ways to affect that number for the positive is to craft compelling … [Read more...]

Here’s a copywriter’s nightmare scenario: You land a client. You agree on a price and deadline. You work your rear end off, writing, revising, and perfecting the copy. And, when you send it to your client, they reply with: “This really isn’t what I wanted.” Or, maybe even worse, pages and pages of changes they want made. Huh? What went wrong? How did this project … [Read more...]

I hear this a lot: “I’m interested in copywriting, but I don’t want to trick people or force people into buying anything.” And I definitely get that: I know that a lot of people are put off by the idea of capital-S selling and pushing things on people. No one wants to feel disingenuous or pushy. Well, good news: First, that's really not what copywriting is. Copywriting is about … [Read more...]

If you provide Facebook ad writing services to clients (which you should really consider, because it’s a highly sought-after service), you know that Facebook likes to keep you on your toes. First of all, as you may or may not know, Facebook already has some pretty strict rules about what can and can’t go into its ads. You can’t write an ad that makes it clear that you’re … [Read more...]

Over the course of my 15+ years as a copywriter, I’ve racked a pretty varied roster of clients—everything from one-person companies to multi-billion-dollar global companies, and everything in between.  When people ask about my background, I’ll often start off by mentioning the bigger, more well-known clients first, companies including T.J.Maxx, TripAdvisor, adidas, … [Read more...]

Facebook Ads are a great service to offer to clients: they can directly earn your client money (which makes them an easier sell), your client should always be testing (which means they always need new ones) and you can get exact metrics to share (brag about) to other potential clients. But Facebook Ads are also changing and what worked before won’t work now. Or, at least, … [Read more...]

If you’re interested in copywriting because you want to live the life of an international jet-setter, it sounds kind of crazy to say it, but it’s absolutely possible. (Case in point, I’m writing this from Portugal. Life is good.) The truth is that getting remote work while you’re working overseas is no different than getting remote work when you’re at home. You still follow … [Read more...]