For many people the prospect of writing a sales letter is a daunting one and can frighten even the bravest of entrepreneurs. If you don’t feel ready to tackle that task yourself then outsource it and hire a copywriter to do it for you.

There are 6 golden rules to follow when you are looking to hire a good copywriter so check these out and get answers from the person you are looking to hire.

Rule One – How Good Are They?

For many people the only way to get first class copy that pulls in order after order is to hire a talented copywriter.

Easy isn’t it? BUT… not everyone who decides to call themselves a copywriter is one! Copywriting is a specific skill that not all writers have and you want someone who can write a simple sales letter that has impact and will pull in sales for your product or service.

You need to know if they are earning a living from copywriting and if it is their full time job or just something they do to earn a bit extra on the side.

Rule Two – How Much Do They Charge?

The old adage of ‘you get what you pay for’ has been around for years for a reason. When you are starting out it’s tempting to choose the lowest quote for a job, but I am sure you’ve heard the analogy for a £500 brain surgeon versus the £50,000 brain surgeon….who would you trust more?

An hourly rate is charged by some copywriters; this works to your disadvantage because what incentive have they to finish your job on time and on budget? Ask if they charge for revisions or not, and you also want to know exactly how many revisions are included in the price. Personally, I prefer to hire by the project and have a set number of revisions for free so that way I know exactly what my costs are going in.

Rule Three – Are They Dependable?

However good someone may be, if they are not dependable then you are going to be looking at trouble along the way. You usually hire a copywriter because it’s not a skill that you possess, or you have a deadline that you can’t meet by yourself.

I suggest caution if someone says they can accommodate last minute rush jobs. It sounds good, but what it means is that to do your job they will push someone else’s job to the back of the queue to get your business. The problem here is that the next time you hire them yours could be the job that goes to the end of the line.

When asking for references always include a question about how reliable they were on delivering on time.

Rule Four – Can They Work Long Distance?

Copywriters are available all over the world, from individuals working out of their home to huge teams contracted to an agency. If you are hiring a copywriter outside your own country, then make sure that they are fluent in your own language.

Many horror stories abound of people who hired ‘cheaper’ copywriters and then spent days correcting language, grammar and spelling. With the technology available today for live emails and video conferencing a professional copywriter can work with anyone, anywhere on the planet. Your ideal is someone who can work without constant supervision or ‘hand holding’ and is happy to have no face-to-face meetings.

Rule Five – Are They Easy To Work With?

They may be on the other side of the world, but your copywriter is going to be part of your team so they must be easy for you to work with. You are hiring them, so find someone you get along with. Not someone who doesn’t listen to your suggestions, refuses to take direction from you or is unwilling to compromise.

You are the client and they have to respect that, but in a good team the leader knows when to listen. They have an expertise you don’t so if they make suggestions to you listen, take on board what they are saying and ask questions.

If you still disagree then acknowledge their concerns (on paper or email) and explain why you want to go with your suggestions. Not only will things go more smoothly, but you get an opportunity to learn more about what makes a good copywriter and add to your own skills.

Rule Six – What Have They Done Before?

You ideally want to hire a copywriter with experience, but what kind of experience? It must be relevant to your market and your products. If they have written sales pages aimed at teenagers and your niche market is senior businessmen then it could work, but you are taking a risk.

So check them out and ask for samples of what they have done before and contact details for at least two references. You can also tell a lot about a freelance copywriter by the company they keep. Ask to see their client list, and notice how comfortable a fit it is with you and your business. Would you like to be associated with people or companies on their list?

Summary

By asking these questions and listening to the answers you are on your way to successfully hiring your first copywriter. Once you find someone who you are happy to work with AND who produces great work for you, stay with them and develop a long lasting relationship.

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Many times, when you sign up for a free giveaway or purchase an item, you are taken to an OTO (One Time Offer) page, where you’ll be given the opportunity to purchase a “never to be seen again, one time offer,” which is a product that has been discounted for one time only during this one particular transaction. In this transaction scenario, you have two choices: either buy the product now at the special discounted price, or continue on without buying the product and lose access to the special pricing opportunity. However, you can usually buy the product later, but at a higher price.

Normally, these types of offers drive me crazy because there are usually 3-4 “one time offers” bundled together. When you decline one, another one pops up. Sometimes it feels as though the one time offers will never end! However, after watching several videos recently as veteran Internet marketers touted the benefits of the OTO, I wondered if I might be able to use these in my business without being slimy.

Here’s how I decided to implement this strategy:

1. Determine the offer. One “one time offer” is quite sufficient for my needs at this point, so I looked through my inventory of products and made a decision on what to offer as a one time unique deal.
2. Name the price. Your OTO needs to offer enough of a price reduction to make it truly attractive to your prospect. In many cases, that means a savings of 40-60% off of the regular pricing.
3. Outline the order of the offer. In many cases, the OTO is attached to another purchase. You’ll need to determine if your shopping cart can be configured to handle such an offer. In my case, the most natural place for this one time offer is on my ezine subscription thank you page. I have 2 thank you pages created when someone subscribes to my ezine. The first gives instructions on how to opt into the list. The second, called a “confirmation success page,” gives the visitor access to my free giveaway, or client attraction device, once the visitor has confirmed her email address and opted into my list. For simplicity, I decided to keep my confirmation success page intact, and tie the OTO to my opt-in thank you page.
4. Craft your copy. On your ezine thank you page, give your subscriber instructions on how to get on your list, and below, create your OTO that fully describes what you have available, why it’s a great deal, and the special price that you’re offering. I also use some OTO graphics that I purchased inexpensively to help me get the message across. Be sure that you give your prospect the option of opting out of this offer.
5. Test your conversions. You can test your conversions in many ways — by changing headlines, graphics, or even at the point you are making the offer. For me, the conversion calculation was pretty simple — was it making me sales? I don’t have the figures yet, as I’ve just started this process, but I’ll keep you updated on how I do.

How much money are you leaving on the table by not using one time offers? Give it a shot, and test to see if it increases your sales.

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Online Business Coach and Internet Marketing Strategist Gabor Olah helps baby boomers create profitable online businesses that they love. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, $1K A Day Formula, at ==> $1Kadayformula.com

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All the most successful entrepreneurs have a customer list they nurture and treasure and unless you’re a complete novice to marketing you’ll know that your own customer list is vital to your success. In today’s marketplace your clients have a greater choice and it is just one ‘click’ away.

Relationship Building The Internet is a fantastic relationship building tool and by keeping in touch with your customer list on a regular basis via email you have an ideal opportunity to build up trust and credibility with your clients. There are several ways to do this:

1. Write an eZine to your clients at least once a week
2. Tips are very popular and they can be short, not more than one or two paragraphs you send out every week. They must be packed with information that is relevant and beneficial to your clients.
3. Mini courses are effective too, but again must contain good, useful, informative information. Ideally, it should be delivered over 5-7 days and be broken down into one subheading a day on your subject.

How Targeted is Your List? What type of client do you want to attract? It’s simple to build a large customer list quickly by appealing to anyone and everyone.

BUT, the more targeted the list, and your offer to that list, the greater chance of success your business has. I prefer 2000 people on my list who have a strong and passionate interest in my niche rather than 10,000 people who just have a passing interest and not nearly the same motivation to buy.

How Can You Be Selective With Your List? It pays to be as specific as possible when referring to your list. An example of what I use for my own eZine is… ‘Internet Marketing Review Newsletter – Subscribe Today and receive powerful & affordable solutions to increase your online sales and profits every time ..’ By putting in the word “affordable” I immediately put off all the ‘Freebie Seekers’ who are just out for a quick fix or magic solution. If I had put ‘Get the Internet Marketing Review Newsletter to improve your business…’ I would have got a lot of clicks, but not the people who are focused and motivated enough to be open to investing in their business.

How To Build Your List There are many ways to do this, and here are three you can start to use immediately:

1 Articles Writing and submitting articles to other eZines and offline magazines is a very powerful way to build your list and a fast way to promote your business in the resource box at the end. For example: “Neil Stafford is Editor and Publisher of the Caribbean Adventure Journal – Your key to unlocking the secret unspoilt hideaways in the Caribbean – subscribe to the Caribbean Adventure Journal eZine today” Click here………

You only need to write 500 to 750 words on your niche that is informative, entertaining and useful to the reader. Do that and it will get published, but remember it’s not an advert. Keep promotion to the resource box otherwise your article won’t get accepted.

2 Pop Up Box On Your Website They generate strong feelings, but whether you use a pop box that appears when a visitor either enters or leaves your site you NEED one to grow your list. The pop up can be a simple form that invites you to leave your name and email address but the results will be greater if you have a dynamic pop up that can’t be blocked. When people have to take an action, they are more likely to really want the information you are offering. Just clicking ‘ok’ means you will get more names, but also more curiosity and ‘freebie’ seekers so you have to decide on the balance.

3 Pay Per Click By using the PPC search engines such as Google’s Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing you can drive targeted traffic to your website. PPC is an ideal way to build your list quickly, but you need to understand the basics of cost per sale and conversion rates. I suggest you spend time researching it and a great start is Perry Marshall’s free 5 Day Course which you get by searching for Adwords on Google.

How to Manage Your List Automation is key here, so put a process in place at the beginning to automatically add and delete subscribers and send out emails and mini courses to your list. Again there are options, so do your research and cost comparison, but ones I use and highly recommend are Aweber and Shopping cart.

Last word These are the the basic principles you need to follow for building and managing your own customer list. Just put them into practice and see your list grow.

The typical form of a newsletter is a one-way communication where you provide information to customers, such as product updates and announcements. Creating a successful newsletter can be extremely rewarding. Subscribers and customers respond with glowing feedback, online sales jump and your customer relationships and brand loyalty deepens. Here are some useful tips that might help in creating a successful newsletter.

Define Success

Ask yourself “What is the purpose of your newsletter?” A newsletter is a substantial investment of company resources in terms of time and energy, and you need to define in as tangible terms as possible the purpose of your Newsletter.

Voice and Personality

Establish a voice or editorial personality—whether newsy, serious, gossipy or funny—that is synergistic with the image you want to portray and connects with your audience. Remember that e-mail newsletters aren’t e-mail promotions designed to stimulate immediate action. Sales and promotional copy don’t suit e-newsletters. Nor does the traditional tone of broadcast corporate communications. Think of your newsletter as a one-on-one conversation. Just imagine sitting in a coffee shop talking informally with a customer. That’s the starting point for your approach—a more personable and appropriate “human” voice will come naturally. Drop the jargon, drop the sales pitch, be as honest as you can, and talk like a human being. You can have as much or as little personality as is appropriate. Consider adding a brief editorial, a comment or two, an editor’s note, a couple of lines of commentary, a touch of opinion; adding a little human element here and there. Sign editorials, give authors a byline, or list some names down in the administrative section of each issue to which your readers can relate to.

“From” Line

Whether it’s a person’s name, name of the newsletter or company name, determine what will resonate best with your readers and stay with it.

“Subject” Line

“Vol. 1, Issue #8? or “Company News” are not enticing subject lines. They are certainly consistent and simple, but they don’t tell your readers anything that will motivate them to open your e-mail. Your subject line is your calling card—entice your readers with the most interesting or intriguing information in your Newsletter. Use attractive headlines as a means to summarize a section of content.

Style/Format

Establish a format and layout of your Newsletter that is clean and simple, with elements of the Newsletter (table of contents, “Tips”, subscription information, etc. located in the same spot each issue).

Content and Relevancy

Figure out what your readers want and give it to them. Seek continuous improvement by obtaining reader feedback and monitoring click-through rates to determine what types of articles are most popular. Another dilemma that we all confront is too much information and too little time. The newsletter’s job is to keep readers on top of trends and the latest developments in the industry. Aim for articles and feature stories to meet one of the following criteria by including either: major industry occurrences, forward thinking industry ideas, education on issues or new techniques, or business opportunities.

Whether your customers work out of a corporate or home office, or employees need answers to questions and tips for improving business activities, e-newsletters provide you with an opportunity to point out work inefficiencies, and share relevant best practice. When you create a newsletter, try changing your focus from selling products and services to solving your customers’ problems. Think about what they need and give options they don’t know exist.

The greatest thing about the electronic medium is that you can quickly add new hyperlinks and include updates on old material should new information surface without incurring another round of cost for a new issue (that happens in the real world).

Don’t Wait Till the Last Minute

Begin compiling newsletter information in advance. Ask fellow marketers to contribute articles. One great source of information is none other than your inbox where you can quickly search for worthy nuggets from the past week and relay the same essence in your own words.

Quality Sources

Where can you get quality content for your newsletter?

1. Article directories like ezinearticles.com or findarticles.com. Also get articles from yahoogroups. The downside to this is that you need to include the author’s signature or resource box.
2. Forums. One of the most dynamic and updated places on the Internet is where people write off the cuff and in real-time. Thread after thread, reply after reply of the latest information comes off the minds of forum participants. Combine interesting topics and reword them into an original article.
3. Again, your own inbox right under your nose. Whatever other marketers are writing or selling about, use them to your own advantage and recreate them as your own.
4. Your own insights are really your best resources. When you have passion, you will never stop talking about what you know. Be consistent at no. 4 and soon enough you will find a way to mold yourself into an expert. Continue to expand your knowledge database and add value to it.

Graphics

Use graphics that print well on your printer. Using a good mix of photographs and art work makes for interesting copy. Too many graphics can leave the newsletter looking cluttered.

Frequency

Determine how frequently your readers want to hear from you/receive your newsletter—and what you can commit to. As a rule, a weekly newsletter is ideal. However, don’t launch a weekly newsletter if you are not absolutely certain that you can distribute a quality Newsletter every week. A fortnightly newsletter is a good option too.

Length

A newsletter should be a quick read. Readers expect to finish reading it in 4 to 5 minutes. Short articles increase the probability that your reader will find something of interest to them.

Timing

Test and pick a day and time that works best…and stick to it. Readers should almost be able to set their watches by the receipt time of your Newsletter.

Penetration

You have the option of formatting your e-mail by including colorized text and a variety of fonts, but not all e-mail software supports HTML mail. Consider writing your newsletter in plain text or offer two mailing lists—one for plain text mailings and the other for HTML e-mail.

Make it Viral

Provide information readers can act on or that stimulates reaction—forwarding it to friends and peers, stimulating purchases or requests for additional information. Make it easy for readers to forward articles and information to peers and friends. Provide a “Tell a Friend” link that enables readers to forward the Newsletter with a personalized note.

Search

Make it easy to find articles of interest and back issues. Provide a table of contents and links to articles within the newsletter and to resources and past articles on your site.

Printability

If you want to give readers an option to print, consider providing “printer-friendly formats” on your website. Make sure your newsletter is physically readable. Avoid anything less than 12 point fonts for the article text. Fancy fonts may look good but can be hard to read when printed. Heading and text fonts should be consistent throughout the newsletter.

If you lack experience in print media, seek out assistance if you know someone in the field. If not, don’t worry—the abovementioned basic principles apply. Plan to research your material thoroughly and avoid factual or editing errors, as they will make you seem less credible.

Personalize

At the very least, address the reader by name. The most successful newsletters have a human being associated with them…and a personality. If possible, your Newsletter should be “written by a person” at your company…not the company.

Language

Not everyone has the range and depth of vocabulary as teachers and linguists do. Use words that are easy to understand, and if you do use technical terms, provide a definition that people can relate to. There is nothing more frustrating then a definition that makes less sense than the word itself. Just write in layman terms and keep it short, simple and straightforward.

Spelling and Grammar Check

Sending out copy with numerous errors creates a negative image to your readers. Aside from using a spell checker, have an outsider edit your final copy for readability, grammar and content.

Test and Track

Test the Newsletter on few e-mail addresses to check for errors and other issues before sending to the entire distribution list. Keep track of results and reactions to your newsletter to come to an understanding for further tweaks and corrections.

Lastly, to summarize the key fundamental features of an e-newsletter, make sure you include:

• Table of Contents
• Hyperlinks for customers who want more information for a featured topic
• Exciting secrets or tips related to your product or service
• Contact information

E-newsletters can take up a good amount of time if not managed correctly. The use of a list server (a piece of software that runs on your Internet provider’s computer or on your own web server) is a good option. It will automatically manage a list of e-mail addresses. Once you send your newsletter to the list server, it distributes the letter to the stored addresses. For more information on list servers, contact your Internet service provider. If you opt to use another method, make sure you have a plan for handling incoming and outgoing mail when your customer base increases.

In conclusion, your newsletter can serve as an extension of your business that will reach out to your customers. It will allow you to maintain regular contact with them and serve as an effective and rewarding addition to your marketing arsenal. These tips should help you put it all together and help you create an exceptional newsletter.

Learn more:
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