Category Archives: Writing

How to be a lifelong student – and profit from it

I loved being a student. During the years that my primary job was to study and learn new things, I thrived. While a life in academia may have suited me just fine, the debt I finished off my undergrad with, and the level of competition for academic jobs, steered me towards a search for other professional options.

It took me a little while, but I finally landed on a way to translate the experience of being a student into a profitable career outside of academia. Much of being a good student boils down to the responsibility to learn, and to successfully communicate what you’ve learned to others. Working as a freelance writer drops that same experience into a new context.

It turns out, there are varied opportunities where by researching and effectively communicating knowledge to a wide audience online (and occasionally in print) is of value. I graduated amidst a slew of articles about the end of journalism and a growing skepticism at the possibility of making a career as a writer. While many magazines and newspapers have managed to stay around in spite of the apocalyptic predictions, they’re just a tiny portion of the work opportunities available to writers.

Businesses have always needed content, but it’s becoming a more important line item in their budgets than ever. With the dominance that search engines – or really just the one, Google –  practice over how people consume and make decisions, businesses must do what it takes to curry favor with the mysterious Google gods (e.g. the increasingly complicated algorithm that determines rankings). Google favors websites with quality content, and writers gain a more crucial position in the success of businesses.

While freelance writing differs from academic pursuits in that I can’t pick something specific I’m passionate about to focus my learning efforts on, it nudges me out of my comfort zone and requires that I delve into new subjects. Every new project or client comes with new knowledge. As a professional student of such a wide variety of subjects, my understanding of the world gets broader all the time.

SEO Best Practices: Press Releases

One of the main tenets of search engine optimization is link encouragement. While many refer to this as “link building,” I feel the best practices for gaining links to your business website is to provide content that encourages people to share it. In this regard, press releases are an especially good tool for SEO.

The best practices for SEO don’t just encourage more links to your site, they offer valuable information to potential customers and those running relevant websites.  Press releases provide your business the opportunity to bring important news about your company and products to a large audience and give many news hungry websites something noteworthy to publish.

There’s a long list of potential topics a business can benefit from publishing press releases for: the release of a new product, substantial updates to current products, an important new hire, geographic expansion, upcoming events, charitable activities, new programs, initiatives and anything else your company does that’s new or noteworthy.

For more ideas on potential press release topics and a surplus of examples that you can use as format templates, just check out any of the many press release distribution websites, such as Business Wire or PRWeb.com. The cost of posting your press release to sites like these can be well worth the level of attention they receive from them, but there are also a number of free press release distribution websites like PR.com and 24-7 Press Release.  It’s also worth taking some time to research industry specific sites that you can submit your press release to as well. These can be especially valuable as they help your news reach the most relevant audience and encourage links from more relevant sites, which are especially good for SEO.

Press releases draw attention to your business, alert a wide audience to company news and are a great tool for link encouragement. As an SEO best practice, they’re relatively easy to produce and distribute, at little cost.

Time for a Change

austin freelance copywriter

If you’re here, then you’ve probably already noticed that the writing and marketing blog of Kristen Hicks has changed from Hicks Marketing to Austin Copywriter. You may have also already seen the new and improved Austin Copywriter website.

In the past year of offering freelance copywriting and marketing services, I’ve gained a greater knowledge both of where my personal strengths lie, and the services likely to be of the greatest value to small businesses. The shift to the new Austin Copywriter brand is indicative of these realizations.

Quality content is the key to increasing online visibility and defining how consumers perceive your brand. The change to Austin Copywriter conveys an increased emphasis in my offerings on the importance of content marketing to generate new leads and foster ongoing relationships with customers.

Check out the new website and contact me with any questions, suggestions or to discuss ways I can help your small business.

 

6 Tips for Effective Communication

Businesses, relationships, and most other things in life that involve more than one person are all dependent on effective communication. Any amount of time spent in a foreign country with a different national language than your own will quickly teach you how much more difficult just about every aspect of life is when basic communication becomes a struggle.

Even in a context where everyone speaks the same language, miscommunication is a serious concern. Many businesspeople have dealt with an email that included an embarrassing typo or a badly worded message that caused confusion and inefficiency. Avoid such failures with these basic tips to ensure effective communication.

1. For written communication: always proofread!

Have you ever gotten an email that just didn’t make sense because words seemed to be missing or were egregiously misspelled? It happens, but it’s so easy to avoid. Proofread everything you write before you send it. In addition to catching basic typos and any sentences that don’t make sense, you’re more likely to catch spots in your writing that lack clarity or could use better wording.

2. Method matters

There are varying benefits to using phone, online chat, and e-mail. A phone call allows for conversations in real time, where multiple people can bounce ideas off each other or make a quick decision in order to meet a deadline. Email correspondence has the benefit of keeping an easily searchable record, enabling attachments and link sharing, and letting the respondent review the email and get back to you on their own time. Chat offers some of the benefits of both: it’s in real time, but also makes it easy to keep a record, for example. To determine which communication method is best for your needs, think about what you need to communicate and the type of response you want.

3. Stay Aware of Your Tone

Try reading emails out loud before sending, sometimes the tone in your head isn’t the one the respondent will hear when they read it. You don’t want to come off as angry or scolding when you don’t mean to be. Be careful that the language you choose isn’t loaded and likely to be misconstrued. Be aware of context, an email to your client should probably have a different tone than one sent to your sister.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions

Arrogance and assumptions are the cause of too many errors. Don’t pretend you know what someone’s saying if you don’t, and don’t assume you do if you’re not sure. Few people are offended or bothered by being asked for clarification, and the type of person who does get bothered by it will almost certainly be more upset with you if the failure to ask leads to an inferior result. More clarity is always better.

5. Know Your Audience

Keep in mind the level of likely knowledge the person you’re communicating with will have. Correspondence with someone who has been working in your industry for years will probably seem prohibitively complex and have too much jargon for someone outside of the industry to grasp. Tailor your writing style accordingly, aim to make all your correspondence as informative and easy for the reader to understand as possible.

6. Read

One of the best tricks to get better at writing and speaking is to read often. You gain a better grasp of language and the most effective ways to use it. The more words and ideas you pick up from skilled writers, the more their techniques will slip into the way you communicate.

20 Questions Freelance Copywriters Should Ask Before Starting a Project

Post updated in January 2019

Being a copywriter for a living requires more than just questions freelance copywritersknowing how to write well. For your work to be worth it to clients, you have to deliver content that helps them achieve their goals. And a big part of that is learning how to communicate effectively with prospects before you ever start a new assignment.

Asking the right questions before you start working with the client can save you both a lot of pain down the line. Getting everything clear from the get go ensures you:

  • Can establish if you and the potential client are a good fit.
  • Gain a clear idea of what type of work they’re looking for.
  • Are able to provide an accurate quote for the project.
  • Go into the project with all the information you need to do it well, if you both choose to move forward.

It also makes you more professional when you go into the call clearly prepared and know the right questions to ask.

Many of the client relationships I’ve had that didn’t work out failed either because we didn’t do a good job of getting on the same page in this early step, or because I ignored signs in the initial call that the project or client weren’t a good fit—against my better judgement. (I suspect every freelancer does this several times before learning to trust our gut better).

Over several years of working as a freelance content marketing writer, I’ve come up with a good template of questions I use for early client calls. This starter list, along with a few minutes of research into the business before the call starts, goes a long way to starting client relationships off on the right foot and keeping these calls efficient.

The 20 questions provided below should be treated as a starting point. Every freelancer has different priorities and a different working style, and you may find it worthwhile to skip some of these or add in different questions.

Oh, and this list can be just as useful to anyone looking work with a freelance copywriter, to help you be more prepared when interviewing potential hires (especially when coupled with this post on good questions to ask freelancers).

Content

Most copywriters have a certain type of content they specialize in. For example, I stick with writing blog posts and longform content for businesses doing content marketing. Other writers focus on email marketing, or website copywriting, or landing pages. Your first step on the call is to establish the type of content a lead has in mind so you can make sure it matches what you do, and get a feel for the scope.

  1. What type of content do you need?

An obvious enough first question. Figure out what format they have in mind and where it will be published or shared. Blog posts are an entirely different type of work than writing a website or creating a print brochure.

  1.    What kind of length or scope do you have in mind?

For a website, figure out the number of pages they have in mind. For ebooks or white papers, ask what kind of the length they’re looking for. For ongoing work like blog posts and articles, find out if there’s a typical word count range they prefer the pieces to be in. Understanding the scope is crucial to making sure you price a project right and don’t commit to more than you can handle.

  1.      Do you have a style guide?

Style guides give you a lot of good information right upfront about what a business wants in the content you submit. Not all businesses have one, but if they do, you want it in hand before you start working.

  1.     Can you send examples of content in the style you like?

You can ask the lead what type of style they prefer, but I find it more helpful to ask for examples to look at. “Casual” or “professional” may mean different things to different people, but reading a few articles they particularly like—whether from their own blog or another site—can get you in the right headspace to deliver the style of writing they prefer.

Target Audience

You can not write effective content without knowing who you’re writing for. Everybody’s different and a message that works for middle-aged CEOs of small startups will be different than what works for teenage boys into video games.

  1.     Who’s your target audience?

Ask about who they’re trying to reach. What can they tell you in terms of their demographics, interests, and priorities? If the company’s B2B, what industries, job titles, and company sizes are they targeting?

In most cases, your target audience will be people they want to become customers, but not always. For some types of content, your target audience will be PR people, journalists, bloggers, or internal employees. Understanding that distinction is important!

  1.     Do you have a persona?

Personas help you picture the person you’re writing for. They provide a lot of good information on who the target audience is and what they care about. Not all companies have them, but if your prospect does, it’s something you want to see.

  1.     What do most of your current customers look like?

Understanding who buys their product now will help you understand who will buy the product in the future. Ask them to describe their current customers, especially those they’d consider their best or most enthusiastic customers.

  1.     Do you have data now on the kind of content and topics they respond best to?

This is a good way to learn more about who your audience is based on real data. Find out which of their content is the most popular with the people they’re trying to reach. They should have (or be able to find) data on which blog posts get the most views and shares, which emails get the most clicks and opens, which ebooks get the most downloads, etc.

Primary Goals

In marketing, every piece of writing should have a goal. No company will pay for writing unless they want it to accomplish something. And you need to know what that goal is.

  1.     What are your goals for this content?

Ultimately, every business wants to make more sales, but that doesn’t mean every piece of content is about making a sale.  In content marketing, some content is meant to be educational and build a relationship. Some is to improve a website’s SEO. And some will be about driving an action like signing up for an email list or downloading an ebook.

Ask what they consider the best metric for the success of the piece: how many people view it, how many websites link to it, how many people download it, how many sign up for more information, purchase a product, something else? You need to know so you can write content designed to meet that goal.

  1.  Is SEO a priority?

For any content that will be published on a website, this is an important question. When SEO comes into play, you need to be aware of the keywords your client is hoping to rank for and strategically use them in your headings and the body of the piece.

You’ll also want to clarify if they’ll be providing keywords and performing on-site optimization, or if that’s part of what they’re hiring you to do, so you understand the full scope.

  1.  Do you have a plan for content promotion?

I’d love to think that great writing is good enough on its own, since that’s the service I provide. But it’s not true anymore. For the content I provide my clients to do its job, they also need to put work into promoting it. So it’s always good to ask potential clients if they have a plan in place now to promote their content.

If content promotion is a service you offer, then this could be an opportunity to upsell and offer more than just writing. If not, you can at least do your due diligence in telling the prospect how important you think it is to their success and encourage them to make it a part of their content strategy.

Product and Business

Before you do any writing for a new client, you want to take some time to understand who they are and what they sell. You can get some of that initial information on your first call (and fill in the gaps with additional research after).

  1.  What’s your company’s unique positioning?

Every company should have a unique value proposition (UVP) that clarifies the primary benefits of the product or service they sell, and what sets them apart from the competition. If your prospect doesn’t yet have a UVP, this is another potential opportunity for you to help them develop it.

  1.  Who are your main competitors?

Competitor research is a good way to better understand the industry and a client’s place within it. Having a list of the three or four main companies they consider the competition will help you with your initial research.

  1.  What are your favorite industry blogs and resources?

If the prospect is in an industry that’s new to you, ask them what websites and blogs they trust most. This list will give you shortcut in finding reputable resources in your research, and help you get up to speed on the topics commonly covered in the industry.

  1.  Can you send over resources to help me get up to speed on the product?

Most companies will have both internal documents and marketing materials that provide information on the products they sell. Ask about case studies, product demos, customer feedback, and testimonials. And as previously mentioned, see if they have buyer personas and a style guide.

Working Style and Process

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in years of freelancing is how important it is to work with clients that are a good fit. That will mean something different for every freelancer, and the better you come to understand what it means for you, the more success you’ll have. For me, these questions are useful for identifying when clients are likely to be a good fit or not.

  1.  What does your process for working with freelancers generally look like?

This general question gives your prospect a chance to provide a description of their working style, which can provide a lot of good information. See if what they describe seems to match well with the way you work.

  1.  Will you provide topics and initial strategy, or would you like my help with that?

How to frame this question will depend on the type of work involved, but it’s important for clarifying scope. Many clients will have their strategy firmly in place, and only need you to do the writing part. Some content marketing clients will want you to pitch topics for content, do keyword research, or get your help with promotion. For website copywriting, they may want you to take charge of crafting a UVP or doing audience research as part of the project.

You need to know if you’ll be in charge of strategy as well as writing, so ask specific questions to find out what the project fully entails.

  1.  Do you typically plan out your calendar in advance?

This is an important compatibility question for me. I like to know what my calendar looks like going into the month so I can plan out my days carefully and avoid overloading myself, while some clients like a much faster turnaround. This question helps you figure out if you’re a good match when it comes to how you schedule assignments.

And a note here: if you’re a freelance writer who’s happy to take on projects with fast turnarounds, that’s a big value add! I encourage charging accordingly.

  1.  What’s your preferred form of communication?

Do they prefer phone or emails? Do they like to manage their communication with freelancers on a platform like Slack or Trello? This is another potential compatibility issue. Communication styles can make a big difference in how hard or easy it is to work with a client.

  1.  What’s your typical timeline and process for revisions?

Revisions can potentially add a lot of work to a project. This question helps you figure out how often you can expect to make edits and changes, and how to plan for them in your schedule.

What About Money?

A lot of freelancers advise also asking about budget. I left that question off intentionally here. I prefer following up the call with a detailed proposal listing out my rates, rather than discussing them on the phone.

That makes it easier for me to be thoughtful about what I quote, so I don’t underprice when feeling put on the spot. And it means I can provide information on the value I provide alongside the rates.

I usually go into the call with a minimum rate in mind, since the client will likely ask, and I have an internal rates sheet to help guide me. But I wait to provide specifics until after the call.

Asking these questions will both help you avoid clients who aren’t a good fit for you and enable you go into every new client relationship with the knowledge you need to do good work. Make that initial call worth it by being prepared with the right questions.