Blogfeeder - The Copywriting and Marketing Blog from Wordfeeder.com

Share your story...

...of how you made forward strides in your career without a husband, wife or partner to support you.

I'm asking on behalf of my client, who is creating an article on the subject. We're looking for inspiring stories of people who "did it solo" - really launched a fantastic plan to get their career off the ground, and made it all happen on their own.

The questions I'd like to ask you are:

What's the one thing that helps (or helped) keep you motivated during career transition while "flying solo?"

Or:

What advice can you share for singles who are stepping out of their comfort zone and pursuing a career that truly makes them happy?

I plan to contribute an answer to this question myself, as I was single and free when I decided to just rip the rug out from under me, quit my job and give the freelance copywriting world a whirl. But you first!

Leave your inspiring stories in the comments section of this post!

If selected, your words will appear (along with your business name and website link) in the article we publish! (details forthcoming)

- Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing

Copywriting: Intern, or Seasoned Professional?

In my last copywriting and marketing rant, we discussed that if you want to make money, you've got to spend money. Okay - so maybe, like me, you've mastered that lesson. But now it's a question of what to farm out and how much to spend.

Should you outsource your web copy projects and web articles to that low-cost content factory in Poland?

Or, should you pay more for a top quality copywriting service provider, like Wordfeeder.com?

Let's be honest here. The cheapest guy on the block is going to catch your attention first. Heck, a friend of mine wrote an entire e-book on how easy it is to get work done for free by hiring interns.

However, it's also worth noting that you get what you pay for. Interns work for free because they have no experience.

Recently I was reminded of something important in my own business:

If you care about quality and making a favorable, lasting impression with your future customers, then settling on a copywriting and/or marketing service provider who charges a lower rate is NOT going to be worth it for you.

The reason being, of course, that once you get the projects back, they won't meet your expectations. You're basically looking at having to "redo" everything that the marketing "helper" did, because it doesn't reflect the image you're trying to convey. It doesn't "feel" like you and it isn't what you want.

So then after you have an experience like that, you think: "Oh well, obviously it's a waste of time and money to outsource my ad copywriting and related work."

But you're only thinking that because you chose the wrong service provider.

What do you think it'd be like to invest in the RIGHT copywriting and marketing specialist?

It would be a partnership with someone...

... whose passion for selling and care in writing copy comes out on the page

... who delights in the little details that put forth a polished image for your business

... who can develop a marketing strategy that works with your goals and criteria

... who adapts easily to your unique voice and incorporates the "You" right into your brand

... who knows how to craft copy that causes a specific and intended reaction

... who project manages like a fiend and won't let you drop the ball

... who teaches as she goes - so your marketing journey becomes a learning experience

... who lifts the burden from your shoulders and gives you back your missed time

... who devises and implements a marketing plan that produces real results for your business and substantially increases your bottom line over time

If you feel like you're ready to invest in a partnership like that, then get ready for your first marketing project with Wordfeeder.com.

Email dina@wordfeeder.com for a customized copywriting and web marketing quote today.

Wordfeeder.com - Copywriting and Marketing on the Fly!

"We hate that little gecko!"

One of the things I'm slowly coming to terms with over the last six months or so, is that you've got to spend money to make money. You can bust your hump doing 80 hour work weeks all you want, but there's only so much that one person can handle all alone. And you'll make only a small percentage of what you could have made if you farmed at least some of the work out to others. (Not to mention, you'll run yourself into the ground trying).

As far as advertising goes... it would seem that for many small business owners, marketing is not on the High Priority list. Except for the small fact that if you don't market your business, people won't be reminded of you and your brand... and there goes the big sales increase you've been hoping and praying for. 

Think about big name companies and how they came to be. Why do you dial their 1800 number and visit their websites? Because you've seen them around. You see their tagline tattooed onto the side of city buses that roar by. You catch their logo winking at you from the TV screen. It's saying, "Hey old friend, we meet again."

When you Google for product information, you get answers from companies whose names you know. If you see these names often enough, you grow to trust them. One day, you type your credit card number into their order form and you buy something from them. If the purchase pleases you, you buy again and again. You tell a friend... and they tell a friend... and so on... and so on... (allow me to point out that I borrowed this line from a famous shampoo commercial from the 1980s... Wella Balsam, I think? Ah, great marketing at work. Or should I say consistent marketing at work.)

Real life example: I signed up for Geico insurance two weeks ago. The Gecko, the Caveman, and the friendly invitations I kept receiving in the mail finally managed to pull me in. When my old insurance company heard the news, they practically cried. "We hate that little Gecko!" said the customer service rep on the phone. I'm not kidding, she really said that.

How many Geico ads do you think I've seen in the last five years? Not one. Not two. Maybe one thousand... maybe two thousand? It's this type of repeat marketing that can turn the competition's unhappy customers into your satisfied ones. I'm not saying this because I write ad copy for a living. It's the truth.

If you think that you "can't afford" to advertise your business, or if you think that you can keep marketing your business yourself while your existing customers sit there feeling neglected... then forget about how much you "hate the Gecko" and instead remember the old adage, "You've got to spend money to make money."

Once you've come to terms with that, it's time to devise a marketing plan that is dynamic, realistic, financially comfortable, and puts your company into a favorable light. Map out a course of action for ONE FULL YEAR and then get it going. Plan for all the little things - the "who's doing what," the how often, and so forth. If something doesn't suit you along the way, modify the plan a bit. The key here is repetition and consistency.

When you're ready to entrust your website and printed collateral to a copywriting expert and marketing strategist, send an email to Dina@Wordfeeder.com.

The "No A-Hole" Rule

For the past month or so I've been loosely following along with Guy Kawasaki's promotion of The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't by Robert I. Sutton. You can find Guy's most recent post about it, here:

Linked In and the Art of Avoiding an Asshole Boss

I have yet to purchase the book (busy, no time to read), but few will argue that this title is indeed intriguing. It's on my summer beach reading list. :)

Now here's what's been in the back of my mind over this topic: what if you're a solo professional - a consultant or business owner. Does the "No A-hole rule" not apply when you work for yourself?

Of course it applies. But in this case, I would say that the goal is to avoid working for clients who are A-holes.

All of my *regular* copywriting clients are gems. Really and truly - I'm lucky to continuously attract the caliber of professional that I do. (And another reason why my *regulars* are such a pleasure to work for... if they weren't, they wouldn't be regulars!)

However, I think it's safe to say we've all had occasion to be "less than pleased" during the course of some client projects. Hey, it's not all kisses and roses all the time, right? As a marketing copywriter who is often "doing side work" as part of a larger project, such as a website launch, I've witnessed a few web designers get thrown under the bus by their clients. It's not pretty when it happens.

What ultimately transpires is this. The client does or does not do something which then makes it impossible for the web designer to carry out their responsibilities. And in turn... because the designer cannot provide complete information, or because something keeps changing, it makes it impossible for ME to do MY part of the project. And then it all begins to unravel, and the client starts playing the blame game.

Me, I'm the type of person who can bulldoze my way through such difficulties. But I hate doing it. I don't get paid "extra" for cleaning up other people's messes. It actually makes me REALLY crabby. Perhaps you've been there and can relate?

So, much like the corporate workplace where that one bad apple spoils the bunch, the "Difficult Client" has a way of taking what should have been a seamless process and ensuring that everyone involved experiences total agony.

I would think that many web design professionals who are "driven fairly insane" by their clients, must be scratching their heads, wondering how they got into the situation. Or maybe they're thinking, "Oh, well, this person is an A-hole who has no respect for my boundaries, my professional decisions or my time. But they pay me, so I'll continue to work for them."

But what they maybe don't realize is that working for A-holes reflects poorly on THEM.

Let's say I have a great time collaborating with you and I really sense that your heart is in the work. I can feel a creative synergy and it's a good thing. But unfortunately, even though I love working for/with you, experience tells me that you work for A-holes - so if we work together, I'll end up entangled in whatever messy situation is currently transpiring with your "difficult" client.

The reality of the situation is: if you don't find a way to "drop" said client, I unfortunately will find a way to "worm out" of working with you.

It's not personal. But it's the difference between saying, "Ah, I'll put up with incessant bullshit from people because I think of myself as a human punching bag," and saying, "When I worked in corporate, I had to deal with people who were stupid, selfish, egotistical, control freaks, mind game players, lazy, spoiled, etc. But now - I work for myself. I have a GREAT list of clients and colleagues who are as honest, hardworking, and giving as I am... and I will NOT break my streak by inviting a "bad apple" to come in and take me down a sordid path of unproductive drama."

Another thought: If a client pays you at a rate of $100 per hour, but then forces you to spend the majority of your nonbillable hours in mental anguish over them, racking your brains to try and problem solve their issues...

You're nowhere near getting compensated for the time you put in on their behalf.

Maybe I should try the quick and painless approach:

Don't work for people who are A-holes.

Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for inspiring this semi-rant. And especially, thanks to the hundreds of kind, thoughtful, giving and intelligent individuals who I have been lucky to write copy for - who fill my days with inspiring work, who are happy to co-create with me... and who keep my life virtually "A-hole free."

Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing

I'll do the copywriting, you do the ___________.

What type of expert are you? Me, I'm a copywriting and marketing expert.

In the early stages of being an entrepreneur, your number one priority is to land jobs that help get the bills paid. So you try different things. Let's say an online colleague has a need for article submissions and no time to do it. You submit articles for him, even though "that's not my area." You try your hand at another friend's copywriting, because "hey, why not, I can do this." You need the money and the experience. What better way to gauge the value than to "try it out yourself?"

Some friendly advice from someone who's been there: Once you establish your client base and become secure in your core strengths, stop accepting those "odd jobs." Instead, choose your area of expertise and commit to it. The reasons for doing so are numerous. For instance:

1. People don't take the "jack of all trades" as seriously as the "resident expert."

Yes - it's true: I can design websites in Dreamweaver. But I was never formally trained - my skills are the result of a curious mind and do-it-yourself approach. So when clients ask me for web design, nine times out of ten I refer them to *real web design experts* - and stick to my true calling and chosen profession - copywriting. It keeps me out of trouble and makes my clients happy because I have vast experience and they can tell. When it comes to copywriting, I can deliver exactly what they need, exactly when they need it. That's a pretty good way to make sure people take me seriously - wouldn't you say?

2. Collaboration will get you more clients.

Think about it this way: you're a PR expert, and Mary is a VA. What do you think will bring you more PR business in the future - hogging all the public relations AND virtual assistance jobs that come your way? Or, divvying the responsibilities between you and Mary, in your respective areas of expertise? Chances are, if you and Mary team up on your client's project and all goes well - next time Mary has a client who can use your PR services, she'll be calling YOU.

3. You'll be doing more of what you're good at and enjoy, and less of what you struggle with.

You selected your profession of choice for a reason - remember? It's what you do best. Sure, you might be fascinated with some newfound talent you didn't know you had, and that's worth pursuing - to an extent. But if you make yourself available for every off-beat job that comes your way... you may find yourself struggling through tasks that you really don't enjoy, NOR are you particularly skilled at.

4. When you're the expert, people turn to you in their time of need.

What happens when you're hunting for a specific type of service provider? Really, let's be honest here. Suppose you need someone to bake pies for an event you're catering. Your choices are: Lorraine's Pie Pavilion, or some guy who advertises "baking" as one of fifty other offerings on his list. Do I have to spell it out for you? If you offer an overwhelming smorgasbord of products and services on your website, don't be surprised if people turn to your competitors in their time of need.

5. You can avoid making embarrassing errors, or dispensing "inaccurate information."

Once again, I'll use my web design experience as an example.  For the VERY select few for whom I have created websites, an occasional blunder does happen. These people know I have basic skills only, and that's why they enjoy "reduced rates" - so they're forgiving when I mess up, and patient when it takes me extra time to fix the problem. But it doesn't make me feel great to "not have the answer" when they're counting on me. It doesn't work for my productivity to have to go hunting for clues - or spending hours problem-solving because "I should know this because I'm way into it, but I was never taught."

I FEEL like the copywriting and marketing expert, because that's what I am. My college degree affirms that I have been formally schooled in the art of copywriting. My 12+ years of experience in the corporate, small agency and web marketing worlds is a testament to my skills. When people ask me questions about writing copy, or marketing on the web - I have the answers. People NEVER ask me to prove myself in the area of copywriting - because the content on my website does it for me. It's all part of being an authority in a single niche, and marketing yourself toward that end.

If you find yourself involved in a juggling act of random tasks that you never thought you'd be doing, stop it right now. Recall that you have contacts who can ease you of this burden. Remember that your time is money - and when you're doing what you do best, you're at your most productive and most efficient.

Time is money. If you're saving time, you're saving money. Put another way: you're earning MORE more money because you're making the most of your time. That's the real secret to your future success.

So, what's your expert area? I told you what mine is: copywriting and marketing. Come visit my website, http://Wordfeeder.com, to get help with writing your next article, ezine issue, or website project! If I like what I see, I'll tell my friends all about you. We'll see where it goes from there...

Too Many Ideas?

The other day, my copywriting and marketing client said to me something like:

"My problem is that I have too many ideas. So if I toss one at you, and you don't think it'll work for the website, feel free to just say, 'Sorry, (name of client), but we can't do that.'"

What do you think my response was to that?

(Okay, I'll tell you.)

This is the web. There is unlimited opportunity to get your content out there.  If you think you have *too many* ideas, you are mistaken.

• The articles section of your website is neverending.
• The chance to develop whatever topic you'd like on your blog, is infinite.
• If you want to publish a story or take a new audience angle on your website, but you don't feel that it's a fit for your current theme, publish it somewhere else.
• You can even publish your musings, discoveries, advice, reviews, etc... on other people's blogs that feature your name and bio - your very own author column!

There is an entire planet of people with an internet connection eagerly awaiting your "ideas." It is not only desirable for you to share these ideas as a way to grow your reputation, but you must do it simply to get clicks coming into your website. The web needs your content.

More places to slip those "misfit" ideas:

Future issues of your ezine or email newsletter
Other people's email newsletters (arrange an "article swap" with your pals)
Web 2.0 Hot Spots such as Squidoo (here's a cool one I created for Ann Zuccardy the shortbread lady)
News sites where you can publish your own PR

The thing that stops people from leveraging the power of the World Wide Web is NOT that they have too many ideas. It's that they don't know how to properly manage the ideas they DO have.

I'll give you an example from one of my recent projects - Web Content Awareness Day.

A couple of people asked me "when I needed the articles by" for this event, and after a few of them went tardy with their submissions, they again asked, "Do you still need an article?"

Don't ask me if I need an article. Just write one and hand it to me. What's the worst that can happen... I say no, thank you? Well, now you have an article that you didn't have before. USE IT. Send it out to your mailing list.

If you are:

a. creative/full of ideas, and
b. on the web

...then if you have an article turning about in your brainy little noggin, write it, save it... and when the opportunity comes (for example, WCAD), take it. Open your file, pull out the goods, and pass it on so the world can get to know you and your ideas. This is how to drive business on the web.

If the content fails to get used in the place where you expected it to, use it somewhere else. Submit it to a couple of places.

I can tell just by doing a simple project where I collect a handful of expert articles from people and publish them in my newsletter, who out of my colleagues has the "web mentality" and who is stuck in the creativity-stifling corporate world mindset where there can possibly be such a thing as "too many ideas."

If you are a creative person trying to make it on the web, the best thing you can do for yourself is to get organized. For some, that may mean applying some self-discipline. For others, maybe it means hiring a virtual assistant or copywriting and marketing pro to help you get it together.

Whoever is reading this, here's what I want you to do. Think back to the last piece of content you wrote that you felt was "unused, unloved," didn't get the attention you thought it deserved, or simply needs something minor to be called complete (say, a rousing title, an ending, whatever). Take a fresh pair of eyes to it. Find a home for it. Copy, paste, and click PUBLISH.

It's not that complicated. Really.

Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing

So you want to be a web copywriter?

Do you want to run your own business - in a field of your own choosing?

Do you dream of permanently ditching the cubicle scene?

Well, so did I, and that's why I sacrificed years of my life building a copywriting and marketing presence on the web.

I did it the hard way and jumped without a net... but you don't have to.

There are terrific career coaches out there like Hallie Crawford, who can offer advice, guidance, and a little hand-holding during the surreal experience of transitioning from the working world into the strange yet exhilarating land of entrepreneurial freedom.

For more info on what Hallie can offer you, get it straight from the horse-lover's mouth! (Yes - a fact about Coach Hallie - she loves horses! Out here on the web, you get to know people - it's just neat). But enough from me. Listen to what's going on in Hallie's Career World, and how you can benefit from paying attention!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Career Seekers Mastermind Extravaganza With Hallie Crawford, Career Coach Extraordinaire

 

Do you want answers to your burning career questions such as…

• How do I find out what the ideal job is for me?
• I feel like I’m going in circles in a job I dislike, how do I get unstuck?
• How do I discover what I’m passionate about?
• How can I find my direction?
• I have an idea of what I want to do, what should I do next?

Then join me March 27 & 28 for my Career Seekers Mastermind Event - where you will find the answers!

If you feel like you’re out there alone, spinning around, and are not sure what to do about your career path – this event is for you! It’s going to be a FUN class where you’ll have the opportunity to learn not only from me, but also from your career-seeking peers. Plus you’ll be able to get individualized answers to your specific questions.

What you get

Unlimited access to me, the career coach, and your career seeking peers for 48 hours to get answers to your questions.

PLUS get ideas, guidance and support from the interactive online conversation. Click here to reserve your space today!

What else is cool

Even if you’re unavailable to participate actively, you can keep the conversations and refer to them later on. I will send you a summary of the questions and answers after the event. Everyone who attends will be entered into a drawing for a complimentary 30-minute phone coaching session with me.

Details

Date: March 27-28
Time: 9 am ET March 27 – 5 pm ET March 28
Cost: $14.99

Click here to reserve your space today!

Copywriting: How to Think Like a Top Paid Creative

I'm guessing that you came to my copywriting and marketing blog for one of two reasons:

1. You want to know how to write copy that will help you sell more product

2. You're a copywriter like I am - you're looking for cameraderie and perhaps an article topic or two

I just released an article that I think you'll like. It's about Analogy Marketing and how this technique can help you write copy that's on par with what the web's best creatives would write. You just missed the newsletter mailing that I sent out explaining this in detail, but have no fear.

If you sign up for the Word Food Copywriting and Marketing Ezine right now, the very article I speak of will arrive in your email inbox.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

- Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing

Design Your Website to Naturally Attract HOT Prospects

Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing is releasing another special report. I'm not sure if I should give this one away at the Big Finale of Web Content Awareness Day, or stick with the one I planned to originally offer (from the summer).

This one is a very insightful peek into how copywriting and website navigation will naturally help you to attract sales. Yes, simply by designing your website in the "correct" way, you will begin to garner search engine results that bring HOT, not warm but HOT prospects who then become your immediate customers.

To receive your free copy of this report (or maybe the other one - like I said, can't figure out which one to send), sign up for the Web Content Awareness Day mailing list if you haven't already. "The Day" will be here sooner than you think, on February 9th.

Wahoo!

When it comes to the copy... listen to your heart.

The other day I was on my way to Staples to pick up a printer cartridge for my all-in-one, when the remake of that old hit, Listen to Your Heart came on the radio. Now, I would typically flip the channel in favor of something less sappy, but instead I got to pondering and "took a listen."

I began to wonder, will anyone ever play the original, sang by that one-hit wonder band, Roxette, again? Who on earth is singing? Is this someone who recently hit it big after being discovered on American Idol? Why do I find this version of the song so much less powerful than the old version?

So then I began to really listen, and imagine the vocalist, whoever it was. I listened to her take her breaths between paces, I listened to the slight rasp in her voice, the way she pronounces everything very clearly and plainly, never once wavering or deviating, not even during the more "intense" parts. And then it hit me. Too much CONTROL in this song for it to be powerful and passionate.  

It was like the person who did the remake was trying so hard to do the first artist justice, that she left no room to be herself and show her own emotions, in the new rendition.

Come on, you know it's true. When you hear Roxette doing this song, you picture some woman who just had her soul ripped out and run through a meat grinder. Some ugliness went down, and it didn't end well. She's regretful, she didn't pay attention to her gut feeling and she lost the dude because of it. But when this 2007 chippie sings it, well, I don't know, you kinda feel like telling her to go back to the playpen and come back when she gets some real life experience and can give it to us raw.

Maybe that's it? I wanted it raw but she's dishing it overdone? When it comes to the radio, don't we all want it raw? Raw, meaning real, not contrived, not copied. Authentic. Spontaneous. Natural. Genuine.

And what's this got to do with your copy, eh? (You knew it would eventually come down to this right? I can only yap about Roxette for so long until we're back to my old tune, the one about the copywriting and marketing).

I want to tell you to stop worrying so much about what those other marketers are doing. You hear someone else "singing their song," and it sounds good to you? So you think you can sing the same song but spin it for your own audience?

Well, you can't. Because my dear, that song's already been sung, and you won't come close to touching what someone else already did, so don't even try. THIS IS YOUR MARKETING, and as your copywriting and marketing guide and mentor, I will NOT let you be a raindrop in somebody else's thunderstorm. I don't care how high they're flying at this point in time and how much you admire them. Tomorrow they will be "yesterday's marketer" and if you follow their lead instead of carving your own path, your marketing will be deader than dead.

Be yourself, practice what you preach. You're free, remember? This is your chance at freedom of expression! Don't waste it worrying about what others are doing.

(Can you tell that four people in this past month have in some way or another tried to get me to make their copy and marketing "more like so-and-so's"? No!! Be YOU. When you learn to just be yourself and let it flow, that's when people will begin to see the real beauty inside.)

"So much to mention, but you can't find the words?" Of course you can. When it comes to the copywriting and marketing, listen to your heart. Or listen to your copywriter.

Be a groundbreaker, that's what I'm trying to tell you. You've heard all the remakes... you know that the original is ALWAYS better. Even if the remake was "pretty decent..." it still doesn't come close to the original.

Be original! Do something nobody else has dared attempt before. Just do it!

This has been a rather tacky, pop-culture-based lecture from Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing