How To Choose The Right

Web Copywriter For The Right Job

There are three primary kinds of web copywriter, depending on what you are writing for on the web. It's critical to get the right one for the best outcome.

If you get a writer who specializes in something other than what you are doing, you won't be likely to get a good result. Most copywriter's don't talk about this, because most want to grab every job they can get.(It seems like there's almost more copywriters than lawyers now)

This page will explain the three types and what you can expect from each one. I'll try to leave any personal bias out. (I'll talk about my specialty last)

SEO Copywriter

This type of copywriting falls under the "content" category, however it also requires knowledge of keyword discovery, page titles, meta tags, etc. So it requires content writing combined with the tech part of writing for the search engines.

The entire purpose of this kind of writing is generating traffic to your website via the search engines. This is half the equation to a successful website. The other being conversion into sales.

Any of your webpages focused on content to attract visitors to your site via the search engines would fall under this category.

Content Copywriter

This is for creating purely content, that doesn't need to be optimized for the search engines, or because you have an automatic way to optimize such as on a Blog.

Examples of this kind of writing would be an Ebook, special report, or articles on your topic of expertise. Pretty much any kind of writing that doesn't fit into SEO copywriting or sales copywriting, (which we'll talk about next) is content copywriting.

Copywriter That Sells

It's a mistake to try to have a copywriter specializing in content or SEO write sales copy. Why? Selling in print or any other media (instead of face-to-face) is challenging. It's generally the most expensive of the three types, because it requires multiple skills sets.

Examples of copywriting that sells are microsites to sell a specific product, lead capture pages to capture leads, and landing pages, that are essentially a long form sales letter.

Copywriters that sell usually go by the following titles: advertising copywriter, sales copywriter,direct response copywriter,direct marketing copywriter, or marketing copywriter. Unfortunately, there are many sub-categories that make it difficult to sort out, such as agency writers, corporate marketing copywriters, and direct mail copywriters.

Finally, there are many unqualified copywriters that sell. With the advent of America Writers & Artists Institute copywriting has been promoted as the ultimate home business opportunity.

So fee's vary widely. Quality varies astronomically. Buyer beware when it comes to hiring a copywriter that sells. You can tell an inexperienced sales copywriter by huge unbelieveable promises of making money for you, and lots of unsubstantiated claims.

Copy is only one aspect of business growth. There are no guarantees, even with the greatest copywriter in the world. And without the correct marketing strategy, the best copy in the world will fail.

A simple way to tell if a copywriter is legit or not is to spend a few minutes speaking with them on the telephone. They should be somewhat knowledgeable about marketing, and they should be asking you questions that leads to a deeper level discusion of your sales process.