By Ray Edwards Copywriters are pursuing freelance copywriting more and more these days because of the great opportunities it offers. If you're interested in freelancing, then here are some basic pointers to
help you get an idea of what is involved.
1. Know when and how to say "no." Freelance copywriters have to know when to say "no." Sometimes your schedule is overloaded and you can't take on any new projects. Other times your clients have terrible ideas on how to market their product, so you have to correct them, gently of course. Remember that you're the
professional and they are not, that is why they are hiring you, so don't be afraid to voice your ideas.
Sometimes though, clients won't budge and either you have to compromise without surrendering or get out of the project. Managing persistent clients will help ease your work experience, but sometimes you just have to get out of a situation. Otherwise your job will be very unpleasant. Some clients just aren't worth the
time or trouble.
2. Be polite, persistent, and positive. Always be polite with your client and listen to their desires intently. You need to be persistent on two accounts: Looking for work, and sticking by your ideas. This will help your success greatly.
3. Make sure that you are constantly increasing your skill and expertise. Learning is a never-ending process and the most successful copywriters out there see themselves as lifelong students. As a freelance copywriter, you must constantly learn new ways to write better copy. This will keep you sharp and competitive. There is a lot of material out there, so go ahead and dive headlong into improving the quality of your product.
4. Take time to relax. Getting away from a stressful work environment is one of the main reasons copywriters switch to freelancing. So make sure not to make your new work environment equally as stressful! Set aside time to relax, write it into your schedule and stick to it. Not only will this help you lead a happier life, but consistent relaxation will also help you write better. So in the end, you'll be more productive, happier and
writing better copy if you take time to rest.
5. Learn to keep a positive attitude. In order to be successful, you have to love your job, even in the hard times. If you let the stress of your work consume you, then you will come to hate your job and miss out on all the great opportunities that freelancing has to offer. So learn to keep a positive attitude now.
6. Actively nurture your personal life. Your life should be well rounded. You need to take care of your personal health and spend time with your friends and family. Even though you're working to become more successful, what will it profit you to gain the whole world but spend your life alone? Your work is an important part of your life, but not the most important.
7. Practice good work ethics. It is really important to be a person of honesty and integrity. Only make promises you know you can keep and don't cheat your clients. Let them know if you're falling behind and won't be able to make good on your end of the agreement. And never compromise on your morals in order to secure financial
gain.
8. Learn to manage your business well. Freelance copywriters are their own bosses and run their own businesses. Make sure to read up on how to run a small business and manage your accounts well. Keep up on the most recent ethical standards, laws, and tax reforms. Make sure you're also up to date on all the current pricing models and searching for new ways to organize your business
more effectively.
9. Do not take rejections personally. Your personal worth and intrinsic value is not determined by what you do or how much money you make. Therefore try to keep a professional composure when clients reject you and do not take it personally. There are plenty of reasons that a client can reject your bid that has nothing to do with your ability to write good copy.
10. Do not miss deadlines. Missing deadlines will severely hurt your chances at success, so you must make every effort to manage your time well and get your projects completed on schedule. Hopefully this article helped you better understand the word of freelance copywriting. There is plenty of information out there if
you're interested in learning more about freelance copywriting.
About the author: For an inside look at the techniques of a top direct response copywriter, visit the site of Copywriter Ray Edwards http://rayedwards.com .There you'll find a daily podcast, video
tutorials and free copywriting advice.
18.3.09
Creative Commons: Why is this Important to Article Writers?
Licensed To Share Yahoo! has recently launched Creative Commons Search in Beta. This Yahoo! search service finds content across the web that has a Creative Commons license. While almost anything you find on the internet has a full copyright, the Creative Commons license allows an author to share their content with others, under certain conditions. This type of license is very beneficial to the article marketer.
The Creative Commons license has gained wide acceptance across the Internet. Yahoo and Google have now both incorporated Creative Commons search into their engines. The main Creative Commons search engine is located at http://www.creativecommons.org. A Creative Commons search has even been adopted into the Firefox browser.
Expanding your visibility
Every smart article writer concentrates on wide exposure. You want your articles to be on as many web sites as possible. By putting a Creative Commons License on your articles, you are allowing other web sites, e-zines, online publications and print publication to publish your article, therefore expanding your visibility.
Now, with a powerhouse like Yahoo! coming in with their new Creative Commons Search, you can have hundreds of your articles to be placed in a select search on Yahoo!.
To get your articles into Yahoo's Creative Commons Search, you must follow 3 simple steps.
1. Select the license that suits your preferences at http://www.creativecommons.org/license/ .
2. You will then be prompted to choose whether or not you want to allow commercial use of your work and whether or not you will allow modifications of your work. After you have set your preferences, hit Select License.
3. You will now be taken to the page that will let you cut and copy a piece of text to paste into your webpage. This text will indicate that your articles have a Creative Commons license.
You should choose the license that meets your preferences. However, if you are going to be using the license for article marketing, there are some preferences that would be more beneficial for you. It is best not to allow any modification of your articles because this could dilute their value.
You want to brand yourself as a trusted resource in your area of expertise. If someone is allowed to modify your content, this could lead to negative branding for you and your web site. With than in mind, do make sure that you put a lot of thought into the type of creative commons license you choose. Creative commons licenses are non-revocable.
Once you put up the license on your web pages, it shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks for Yahoo! Creative Commons Search to find your pages as long as you have some well-placed back-links.
This strategy can create hundreds of very targeted links pointing to your site through the Creative Commons search engines. These are indexed pages in the Yahoo and Google specialized engines.
The last time I checked at http://search.yahoo/cc, boingboing.net had over 39,000 of their pages indexed in the Creative Commons. ProBlogger.net had over 500. You can do the same simply by applying the Creative Commons License to your site and letting Yahoo discover you.
The Creative Commons license allows you to declare a certain amount of rights to your article, while still encouraging its duplication across the internet and ensuring that you are credited as the author.
However, while the Creative Commons licenses hold much value, there are still relatively few people who are taking advantage of it to gain more visibility for their articles and their website. Therefore, now is the perfect time to move into this lucrative market. With Yahoo Creative Commons Search leading the way, you know there is sure to be significant growth to come.
About the Author: This article was published by Hans Hasselfors from http://www.SubmitYourNewArticle.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
The Creative Commons license has gained wide acceptance across the Internet. Yahoo and Google have now both incorporated Creative Commons search into their engines. The main Creative Commons search engine is located at http://www.creativecommons.org. A Creative Commons search has even been adopted into the Firefox browser.
Expanding your visibility
Every smart article writer concentrates on wide exposure. You want your articles to be on as many web sites as possible. By putting a Creative Commons License on your articles, you are allowing other web sites, e-zines, online publications and print publication to publish your article, therefore expanding your visibility.
Now, with a powerhouse like Yahoo! coming in with their new Creative Commons Search, you can have hundreds of your articles to be placed in a select search on Yahoo!.
To get your articles into Yahoo's Creative Commons Search, you must follow 3 simple steps.
1. Select the license that suits your preferences at http://www.creativecommons.org/license/ .
2. You will then be prompted to choose whether or not you want to allow commercial use of your work and whether or not you will allow modifications of your work. After you have set your preferences, hit Select License.
3. You will now be taken to the page that will let you cut and copy a piece of text to paste into your webpage. This text will indicate that your articles have a Creative Commons license.
You should choose the license that meets your preferences. However, if you are going to be using the license for article marketing, there are some preferences that would be more beneficial for you. It is best not to allow any modification of your articles because this could dilute their value.
You want to brand yourself as a trusted resource in your area of expertise. If someone is allowed to modify your content, this could lead to negative branding for you and your web site. With than in mind, do make sure that you put a lot of thought into the type of creative commons license you choose. Creative commons licenses are non-revocable.
Once you put up the license on your web pages, it shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks for Yahoo! Creative Commons Search to find your pages as long as you have some well-placed back-links.
This strategy can create hundreds of very targeted links pointing to your site through the Creative Commons search engines. These are indexed pages in the Yahoo and Google specialized engines.
The last time I checked at http://search.yahoo/cc, boingboing.net had over 39,000 of their pages indexed in the Creative Commons. ProBlogger.net had over 500. You can do the same simply by applying the Creative Commons License to your site and letting Yahoo discover you.
The Creative Commons license allows you to declare a certain amount of rights to your article, while still encouraging its duplication across the internet and ensuring that you are credited as the author.
However, while the Creative Commons licenses hold much value, there are still relatively few people who are taking advantage of it to gain more visibility for their articles and their website. Therefore, now is the perfect time to move into this lucrative market. With Yahoo Creative Commons Search leading the way, you know there is sure to be significant growth to come.
About the Author: This article was published by Hans Hasselfors from http://www.SubmitYourNewArticle.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
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