Tag Archives: Copywriter

How To Ethically Use A “Swipe File” For Your Ad Copy

Did you ever wish you could afford to hire one of those professional copy writers who charge $5000 or more to write a simple sales letter? Or worse, have you laid down your hard-earned cash for a self-proclaimed “professional” writer, and gotten back something your 3rd grader could have written?

If you spend countless hours staring at a blank page trying to come up with compelling ad copy for that “killer” sales letter (you know, the one that’s going to make you rich beyond your wildest dreams?)… STOP!

Why drive yourself nuts and give yourself a major headache trying to train yourself to be a professional copy writer overnight? Do what the gurus do… start a “swipe file.”

That’s an unfortunate name, swipe file. It sounds unethical. Please understand, I am NOT condoning plagiarism! But every so-called “internet marketing guru” openly admits to having a swipe file that they use when they need a little inspiration.

So what is a swipe file and how do you use it legally and ethically?

Basically, whenever you come across an ad or sales letter that makes you want to run and grab your wallet… stop and print out that copy first! Highlight or circle the parts of the ad that have you excited and eager to make a purchase. Then put it away in a folder or notebook. This is your swipe file.

Eventually, you’ll accumulate quite a stack of great professional quality ads. Then, when you’re staring at that blank page trying to compose your next ad campaign or sales letter, you can leaf through your swipe file and MODEL your ad copy after some of those ads… but DO NOT copy them word for word. Substitute your own words and put your own stamp on them. Mix and match different approaches from different ads.

Remember, this is meant to be inspirational, not criminal. NEVER out and out copy these ads. Just analyze how the ad is structured, what TYPES of words are used, and then create your own UNIQUE sales copy by emulating the successful advertising techniques from your swipe file.

The idea is to study copy writing techniques as you go. Eventually, you’ll find you won’t need to refer to your swipe file as often. Your blank pages won’t stay blank for long because you’ll have learned how to write killer ad copy of your own! You learn best by doing it. Then it becomes second nature.

Who knows? Maybe you’ll get so good at writing sales copy that soon other people will be adding YOUR work to THEIR swipe files!

Freelance Copywriting Jobs

You can find that there are numerous freelance copywriting jobs out there. Within this article today, we’ll look at a couple of the different websites and how you can make sure to set yourself apart from all of the other freelancers out there.

Our first task is to identify the different marketplaces where you should have a subscription. The website that will be profiled first is http://www.elance.com. This particular marketplace has a very strong following as more than 100,000 potential customers come by the website each week. You are able to sign up to sell your services and the system allows you to upload your best work to sell yourself to potential clients. There is also a search agents in place so that you can have jobs that meet your criteria e-mailed to you on a daily basis. Cost for a subscription to this particular website can range from eight dollars per month up to one hundred twenty dollars per month.

The second website which you should look to register for it is http://www.guru.com. This is actually the largest online freelance marketplace on the Internet to look for online jobs including freelance copywriting jobs. The capabilities of this website are similar to the ones that were posted in the paragraph above for that particular website. It has a service provider base of over 481,000 people. If you live in Europe, you can use both of these websites as well as a European challenge to these two, which is found at http://www.getafreelancer.com. There are many other websites that also offer a freelance online marketplace and one of these is http://www.directfreelance.com.

This should get you started in being able to find different websites and which you can bid on projects. When you are bidding on projects, companies that are looking at the bids will not be looking just at price but also at how their work will be done. To do this you will want to set yourself apart. The way that you can set yourself apart in creating a bid is to include copies of your best work but also make sure that you include testimonials along with a sales letter on why you will be the best party bidding on this particular project. By doing this, you will be tailoring your message to the particular party and you will be showing them examples of your past work along with happy clients. This will help improve your credibility and firmly anchor you as a potential candidate who can get the job done. Many copywriters do not have a website today so if you take the opportunity to create a website, you will find that you could have a competitive advantage in the freelance copywriting jobs market.

Hopefully this article on freelance copywriting jobs has helped you. It is important to know which websites you should use in finding work but it is also important to find ways to set yourself apart. By creating a website as well as creating an advertising package that shows off your best side, you are setting yourself up to stand apart from other freelancers. You are selling yourself when you create this package so keep that in mind.

Free Copywriting PDF

Within this article today on free copywriting PDF, we will provide some websites in which you can find free PDF e-books and other informative materials to learn more about copywriting.

To give you a little background on copywriting, this is a field that is in great demand. If you are interested in this field, you can be sure that you will make good money and the job does offer very good flexibility. The average worker in the United States earned roughly around $60,000 including bonuses in 2005, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Copywriting involves any written materials often published by companies. This could include the annual report that a company publishes as well as its advertisements, radio commercials, and website. There’s a great deal of different avenues that copywriters can go down.

That paragraph was meant to give you a little insight into the benefits of being a copywriter. Within this paragraph, we will show you some links towards finding free copywriting in PDF form. The first website which we would like to profile is: http://www.getitinwriting.biz/ebook_form.php. You are able to get a free e-book that explains how you can use words to bring in more business. This was an example of just one e-book off of this website but there are many other e-books available once you actually sign up and become a member. A general rule of thumb is that products are able to set themselves apart to a certain degree but advertising can be the difference between a dud and a best-selling product.

The second website which we would like to point you towards is: http://www.pandecta.com/copy.html. This website does not offer free copywriting PDF it does offer a great deal of information on the field of copywriting. It explains what goes into writing good copy and how it is done.

There is not a great deal of resources that have free copywriting in the form of PDF materials. If you search the Internet on free copywriting, there are a great deal of resources that are available for you. You can find tutorials to help learn more about the field as well as information and insights into the field and trends. If you are looking at becoming a copywriter, this could be a great resource for you need to know which particular skills you would want to develop. Copywriting is such a broad field that you will probably specialize in one or two areas.

Hopefully this article on free copywriting PDF gives you some ideas and insights into the field of copywriting. If you currently are a writer, this could be a good transition as this field does require a great deal of creativity and does have great benefits such as pay and flexibility. Read over some of the examples from the websites that were given so you can better understand what is available out there. The websites that were given were just two of the first results when typing in a search term “free copywriting.”