But in such a relatively new field, customers are still coming to grips with what they can expect of their website copywriter. The question a lot of people are asking is, “How do I know I’ll get what I pay for?”

Before engaging a website copywriter for your next project, ask them whether they’re able to provide you with the following ten essentials…

1) Fixed Quote

A lot of website copywriters will tell you they only work on an hourly rate. They’ll cite varying requirements, rapidly changing technologies, greater incentive, the risk of customer indecision, and a host of other reasons why they can’t provide a fixed quote. But don’t be fooled. You have a right to know what the job is going to cost you. If a website copywriter won’t give you a fixed quote, think twice…

2) Contract of Works to be Completed

Just as important as a fixed quote is a signed contract. It may not be drawn up by a lawyer, but a written and signed document outlining the works to be carried out, and the cost of those works is essential. If a website copywriter is reluctant to provide a written, itemised quote including estimated number of words, you have to ask yourself why.

3) Timeframe

Always ask how long your job is going to take. If you’ve already had a go at writing your own web copy, you’ll know how time consuming it is. Never make the mistake of thinking the job will be done in a day. Granted, a professional website copywriter will be very efficient in crafting your copy, but no matter who the writer, a quality product requires time. And on top of writing time, remember that you’ll have to review and provide feedback on everything they write. In a lot of cases, it’s the review phase that takes the most time, so make sure you try to set some time aside, otherwise you’ll find yourself the bottleneck!

4) Plan of Attack

Try to get some idea from your website copywriter about how they plan to approach your project. Don’t be fooled into believing you have to hand over the dollars before they’ll reveal their plan of attack. You have a right to be comfortable with their approach before you engage their services. Will you receive individual drafts of every page, or a single draft of the entire site? What format will you receive the finished product in? How many review iterations do they anticipate?

5) Samples

A lot of ambitious web service providers of all types are calling themselves writers these days. They offer copywriting as a specialist service, but don’t engage a specialist to complete the work. Always ask to see samples of their previous copy. Read it thoroughly and ask yourself, “Does this copy convey benefits?”. Pretend you’re the intended audience and ask “Does this copy answer the questions I need answered before I’ll buy?”

6) CV

Most copywriters’ websites will give you a very high-level overview of their business and the services they offer. Some even offer samples. But very few offer a professional biography of their writers. If you’re not happy relying on their website as your sole source of information, ask for a copy of their CV. The things you’re looking for are a professional history in writing, and preferably some tertiary education in the same.

7) Testimonials

Perhaps the best indication of a website copywriter’s ability is customer satisfaction. Don’t be afraid of asking for customer testimonials. A good website copywriter will be proud of their testimonials – so proud, in fact, that they’ll be offering them without you even asking. Look for testimonials from companies you recognise and/or can verify. Anyone can get their great-aunt write them a testimonial. Some will even write their own. If you really want to be sure, ask for contact details so you can give the customer a call and hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.

SEO Copy Skills

Approximately 80% of all web traffic comes through search engines, so it’s essential that your website copywriter has proven experience in SEO copy. Ask them their general approach to SEO copy. Do they normally perform the keyword analysis themselves? How do they know when they’ve used enough keywords in enough of the right places? Can they show you a high ranking site they’ve written the copy for? What steps do they take to avoid diluting the effectiveness of your primary keyword phrases? Will their SEO copy change the text links on your pages? (It should!)

9) SEO Copy at No Extra Charge!

Never be fooled into paying more for SEO copy. If you’ve already performed your keyword analysis, and you know where you want your keyword phrases used, writing of the copy should take no longer than usual. I’ll say it again… SEO copy is not an extra – it’s how web copy should be written! Do not pay extra for it! The only things you should expect to pay extra for are keyword analyses, adding the HTML code for unmarked text links, providing guidance on site structure, sourcing of inbound links to your site, etc. SEO copy by itself should cost no extra.

10) Writing Experience for Online Media

Writing for an online medium is entirely different to writing for print. Readers have different requirements and objectives, and reading conditions are very different. Make sure your website copywriter knows how to cater to these differences. Ask them to recommend a maximum page length or word count per page. The correct answer should include some comment on the trade-off between the problems of scrolling and the need for a high keyword count for SEO. Ask them whether they prefer long sentences or short (and hope to hear “short”). Ask them whether they will include lots of text links within the main body of the copy, and if so, will they appear as regular links (colored and underlined) or will they be unmarked.

Professionally written copy can mean the difference between a great looking site and a great looking site THAT EARNS YOU MONEY.

Choose your website copywriter carefully.

2. BLAND JOB DETAILS: “Responsibilities included overseeing construction of 4 Hilton Hotels in Tri-City Metro Area, each 50 floors in height.” Yeah? So what? That doesn’t say if they went up on schedule or if you brought the projects in under budget. It doesn’t say if you took all four from site work up or if the guy handling two of the four hotels was fired and you were promoted to overseeing all four. Differentiate yourself from the others coming in to interview. If you don’t tell the hiring company how you will be an asset to them, how will they know?

3. WHO’S THE MYSTERY COMPANY?: Don’t assume the name and purpose of your company is common knowledge. If it’s a competitor, it might be, and if it’s in the same industry and located nearby, it might be. To be on the safe side, provide a sentence or two about the focus of your company’s products or services.

4. ANOTHER JOB, ANOTHER PARAGRAPH: Don’t keep adding on to your resume job after job, year after year. By the time you’re in your 40s, you need to have weeded out some of the earlier stuff. You don’t need all the college activities, just your degree. You don’t need ALL 5 bullets for each of your first two jobs.

5. REFERENCES: Shouldn’t be listed on your resume. “References available on request” is the proper phrase. You present them separately when they’re requested. This isn’t about protocol. This is about protecting your references so they aren’t called until you and the company are serious about each other.

6. IT’S NOT A STORY!: Don’t – whatever you do, DON’T – write your resume in the third person!

7. SKIP THE PERSONAL INFO: You might think your weekend baseball coaching or your church choir participation shows you’re an interesting and well-rounded person, but they’re irrelevant. If the interviewer wants to know who you are as a person, aside from the job interview and your qualifications, he’ll ask.

8. DEGREE DATE: No matter how old you are, don’t leave the date of when you were graduated off your resume. It looks like you’re hiding something (well, you are, aren’t you?), and then everyone counts the years backwards and tries to figure out how old you are. Sometimes you can be ruled out – just for leaving the date off. If you’re trying to hide your age by not stating the date, what else might you not be forthcoming about?

9. SPELL CHECK, SPELL CHECK, SPELL CHECK: Spell checking visually by you AND someone else, any fewer than three times, isn’t enough. And don’t forget to check your punctuation.

10. GETTING YOUR RESUME OUT THERE – part one: Don’t use one of those resume blaster things. Half those sites aren’t even valid. You don’t know how it will come out on the other end. You don’t even know where it’s going or if the landing targets are employment related. It’s bad form and just….NOT the way to find your perfect job. Finding your perfect job takes focus, attention, detail, individuality, tailoring, specifics. Resume blasting is about as far from that as you can get.

11. GETTING YOUR RESUME OUT THERE – part two: If it’s an ad, you probably have instructions as to how to send it. If it says email, cut and paste it in the form, AND attach it. You never know what it can look like on the other end because of the variety of settings available to each user. Quite frankly, you’re better off not emailing it at all, because it usually just goes into cyber space, and then it’s all about the hiring company – but unfortunately, besides not sending it at all, sometimes that’s your only choice. Emailing your resume takes any option for further participation right out of your hands, because often there’s not even a name given for a follow up contact. You’ve no other option than to wait and wonder. (And half the time it’s going to HR or an admin department to be scanned into an electronic database.)

12. GETTING YOUR RESUME OUT THERE – part three: If you know the company, call and ask if they prefer email, fax, or snail mail. I know a recruiter who never even opened his email. Because he was listed in The Kennedy Guide to Executive Recruiters, he received so many resumes emailed to him cold (so NOT pro-active) that he just did a mass delete every morning. Candidates contacted for a specific search were requested to snail mail their resume to him. How about that? I’ll bet less than 10% of those who emailed their resumes even bothered to follow up to see if it was received (this isn’t a numbers game).

13. RESUME VISUALS: Ivory paper. Black ink. Individual pages. No plastic, 7th grade, science report cover with the plastic slider or metal push down tabs. Your name centered at the top, not on a cover page that says “Introducing Clifton Lewis Montgomery III”. No exceptions. Your resume is a professional document, not a school book report or an art project. Until every resume is done this way, yours will still stand out in the crowd.

You are the product, and your resume is the marketing piece. To find your perfect job you must differentiate yourself from the other people who will be interviewed.

Your resume must be specific, individualized, easy to skim so it invites a closer reading, and focused on the differences you’ve made with your previous companies, as well as the accomplishments you’ve achieved with – and for – them. This tells the hiring company what you can do for them – and it IS about the hiring company, not you.

Of course this assumes you meet the requirements for the job – otherwise it doesn’t matter how good your resume is! The resume is what gets you in the door. If your resume is poorly written, looks sloppy, is difficult to read, is cryptic in any way, or necessitates being slogged through to learn your information (they won’t bother), you won’t even get in the door. And how can you decide whether you like the company, if they’ve already decided they don’t like you?

Going through the materials you are required to analyze you can either agree to some of the ideas expressed by the author or disagree with him. You also might partially agree with the thesis statement and do not approve the evidence he gives. It doesn’t matter to your tutor whether you agree or disagree, you should stay critical to the matter you research. You have to be neutral to the subject and depict the situation as objectively as it is only possible. Objective criticism is an inseparable part of any essay. The essay structure should look like this: 1) A brief introduction that includes a thesis statement; 2) The main body that contains all the evidence and arguments relevant to the question; 3) Summary paragraph. Whatever point of view you take, you should support your statement by trustworthy evidence and logical chain of facts. You may support or disagree with the statements provided in the initial material, but you should remember to back every one of your facts up by solid evidence. Your argumentation is a vital part of your written assignment. It is not only critical essay, where you are supposed to show coherent and logical scheme of evidence. This ability is extremely important in argumentative essay. According to my experience, students consider simple statement of the fact a valuable motivator to change an opinion of the reader. It is not so, if to look closer. Argumentation you give should be duly structured and each fact you state should be supported by a reliable source of information. Facts do not appear out of the air, we take them from information sources you analyze.

If you have a choice to make, choose a topic that you are acknowledged with. To get a successful paper you should work on the topic that is familiar to you. It would be better if you avoid discussing modern problems and issues in your paper and do not put them in the center of your essay. It is very hard to find a trustworthy source when there are millions of opinions and none of them is supported by good proof. It is also quite impossible to describe the general state of things in a five paragraph essay, so it is better to avoid modern subjects that appear on the news too often.

1.  Necessity vs Desire:

Articles and Blogs are necessary in today’s scheme of search engine indexing.  Not what the newbie wants to hear.  Just remember what the Bible says, “there has nothing over taken you that is not common to man”.  That’s right!  All of us hate article and Blog writing at times, and some of us dread the journey to pen and paper (or keyboard as the case may be) all the time. Many a webmaster would call them “a necessary evil” as they are not generally anyone’s best liked house keeping chores.

2.  Just Start, It Gets Easier:

First it is sometimes difficult to get a subject or theme and to get the first couple of lines scribbled down.  The Tennessee Mountain Man knows authors who literally get sick thinking about the process.  Lighten up.  Once an author has a starting point and gets passed the initial thoughts, article and Blog writing usually goes fairly smoothly.

The main thing is that you get started.  Pick a subject you know something about and just start.  You will be pleasantly surprised at just how easily ideas flow.  Don’t assume everyone knows what you know.  They don’t.  Will Rogers once said, “all men are ignorant, just on different subjects”.  And, so it is!
3.  Good vs Perfection:

Your old English comp professor is not looking over your shoulder.  This paper does not have to be perfect.  That is not to say it does not have to be on point or to say that it does not have to be correct.  It does or at least it should be.  But, perfection is not the goal and is, in fact, seldom possible.  Too much detail and you run the risk of losing your reader on several levels.  Too long and
most readers simply don’t have the time or interest to wade through the material regardless of how important it is.

4.  Blog Length vs Article Length:

Most publishers want a minimum of six hundred (600) words per article – some will let you slide with four hundred (400) words.  Blogs can be much smaller.  Blogs can and maybe should support appropriate pictures and embedded links.

Just don’t over do it.  Too gaudy or too slow to load and you have wasted your time, ticked off a potential reader, and probably upset a host who can ban you from their publications.  Articles, on the other hand, typically cannot carry these extra touches according to the requirements of most publishers.

5.  Format:

Prepare your article in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format.  There are many tools from which to choose to get the job done. A search for ‘free ASCII editor’ or for ‘free plain text editors’ will provide one with a multitude of free options.  Word Press is a popular choice.  If all else fails simply use notepad to turn out your masterpiece.

6.  Spelling and Grammar:

Once you have your article or Blog run it through a good spell checker and a good grammar checker.  Microsoft Word works well for these purposes.  Just don’t use the MS Word copy for publication of your article.  Rather use it’s suggestions to make any necessary corrections to your plain text copy.  The MS Word copy will work for Blogs although the Computerman prefers other editors.

Just like the days when you were pushed by Profs, you will find Article and Blog writing skills become easier with time and practice.

7.  Publish and Announce:

Once your Blog is ready you may want to use some automatic tools to publish and announce it.  First do a search for Blog hosts and select those which best suit your needs.  Join one or more and publish your Blog there.  Then search for Blog announcers and rss announcers and use them to get your Blog noticed.

Now that you have that out of the way find an article wizard that will post your Articles to free publishers.  You can post them one at a time by hand if you are really bored and have absolutely nothing else in life to do.  Using an automatic poster you can publish to hundreds of hosts in an hour or so.  The only way to go.

8.  Patience:

Now, have some patience.  Here is where you lose control.  Many of the men and women who host articles are timely and your articles will be reviewed within twenty-four (24) to forty-eight (48) hours.  But, many others will be days and weeks down the road therefore never date an article – a sure way to get rejected.

9.  Rejection – “sorry your article has been declined”:

Be prepared for most hosts to reject your articles.  Do not take it personally.  It usually has little to do with you or your article.

Some databases routinely reject articles for spelling errors when there are none or where there is more than way to spell a word.  And, just as in any other endeavor some hosts are simply too lazy and get so far behind, the easiest and fastest thing to do (and perhaps the only alternative) is to reject everything.  You will learn who these are over time.

Then there are those who run your articles through the sausage grinder and if they find certain words, irrespective of how they are used, your article gets no farther.  These are the people who can’t publish the Holy Bible because it contains words that offend them or their readers.  Don’t worry about these folks who are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly use.

Remember, just as in everything else in life, for every rule there is an exception

10.  Keep the faith, and keep cranking out articles:

Since most authors, especially newbies, prepare only one copy of an article against the advice of most seasoned authors it is important that the newbie keep his chin up – keep the faith.  That will be easier as more and more of your articles are accepted and published driving visitors to your website while creating those all important back links.

It is not necessary that every host to accept everything submitted to them.  After one or two hosts publish your article on any given subject, the search engines tend to penalize you anyway by ignoring additional postings.  This is close to spamming and while it could help someone find you, it probably won’t.  It is not necessarily, the more the merrier.  The additional listings will not increase your page rankings or links reported by the search engines.  It is more important to get published by hosts with the highest Google page rank possible.

Now, one BONUS TIP for you:  Along with “the rejection slip” will usually come a suggestion on how to “fix” your article and a  request that you resubmit it.  Don’t waste your time.  While trying comply with one database manager’s request you could have written a new article from which you get much more punch.  Enough publishers will pick your article up so move on and save yourself some time and heartburn.

Everybody has a thought or idea at least once a day usually at the most inopportune time.  How many good ideas have you lost because of waiting?  Don’t procrastinate!  Go!  Capture that thought before it is gone forever.

They don’t usually like my answer. “Practice writing every day and read to study the writing of others every day.”

They don’t like the answer for one of two reasons usually. Some people are looking for some quick fix, magic formula that will make them a good writer in three easy steps. Although my suggestion involves only two steps it is pretty obvious that it is a long-term project. The other group of people will sneer at the first because they consider themselves “real writers” but they don’t like the answer any more than the others. They believe they have a gift that simply needs to be unlocked by the magic key that published, successful writers possess.

The simple truth is that there is no way to improve your writing other than to continually practice your craft. Write every day. Experiment, plan, revise, and revisit. Make challenges, deadlines, and competitions. Push yourself and your writing will reward you. I promise. Write something inspired by a writer you admire and then write something completely your own.

However it is not enough to simply write in a vacuum — or an ivory tower. You must also read the writing of others. Read far and wide. Read fiction, nonfiction, poetry and song lyrics. Read argument and persuasion, read informative and biographical, read science and fantasy. Read talented and skilled professionals and read those who are still finding their writing feet.

You are reading to gain inspiration and confidence. You are reading to build your vocabulary and your stockpile of writing tricks. You are reading to learn more about the rhythms and patterns of language. You are reading so that as you write you will be able to develop your own unique voice.

Learning to be a better writer is not the work of a weekend or even a semester. Learning to be a better writer is a life’s work. If you really are a writer then you will never consider your work done. I don’t know a professional writer who sits back and says “I’m done learning now, I’m as good as I’m going to get”. Certainly it need not take a lifetime to reach professional status but you shouldn’t make that your goal. Thinking in those terms can hold you back from becoming the best writer you can be.

For example, perhaps the reason your particular project was rejected had nothing at all to do with your writing but was in fact due to your topic, the particular needs of that publisher, or even the mood of the editor when your submission came across their desk. The truth is that you cannot control when you become a published, professional writer, but you can control your progress toward improving your writing. Believe me, the stronger your writing becomes then the easier it will be to achieve that other goal. When you reach the point that you regularly deliver quality writing then you will find a market. If you write it, the rest will come.