Using your copywriter to the best of their abilities

 A copywriter knows exactly what they need from a client before they can start working on a brief and how to work with clients in order to give them copy they will be proud to have on their websites.

From the perspective of the writer, there are a few essentials required from a client for their writing. These are important for you to be aware of when commissioning written work from a copywriter:·    

Tone and Style

They need to know the tone and style that you would like them to write in. Be that conversational and informal, or short and sharp or very formal and professional. This can differ dramatically from business to business so your writer must always be aware of this.

It is very important for a business to come across a certain way to their potential clients, website viewers or competitors and the tone of how a person reads a piece of work can make a lot of difference. It is imperative that you be clear with your writer on this before they even start working because it can save you both massive amounts of time and lost opportunities, especially for you if your writer is working by the hour or word.

If you are unsure it is always a good idea to briefly research or have your copywriter research your competitors and see styles and tones that you like the most. If you have seen any particular written works you like the sound of, be that journalism or advertorials, make a note and pass that on to your writer.

Keywords

You need to be honest about keywords. Some businesses want to rank high on their SEO and therefore request their writers to use variations of keywords throughout a piece of work, often after extensive keyword research has been undertaken. For example, a writer could use several spellings, misspellings, capitalisations, grammatical phrases and abbreviations. An example of this could be a writer using “Iphone”, “iphone”, “I-phone”, “IPhone” throughout a piece on iPhones in order to allow for their page to be seen on search engines according to each of these versions.

This works with the assumption that your site could still be found if the search engine user misspells a word. However, some businesses may not want their writer to do this and remain vigilant with the spelling of iPhone throughout the piece.

Depending on your aims for your copy let your writer know which method you will like them to use.

Specific requirements

Having word counts, deadlines and draft requests are really good ways for your writer to remain strict on getting work to you. If you desperately need a piece by the following week, make the deadline two days earlier than this to allow for editing if needed.

Research

Copywriters will often undertake a lot of research themselves but it is always helpful if you have any ideas, references, research or even competitors information that you would like them to incorporate.

Often your writer will never have worked in the field they are writing in so may need a slight nudge with information.

We all work to different briefs so it is always helpful to have a few more details to hand and it will guarantee your writer truly understands the information they are working with. 

These few tips will give you a really good grounding with your writer and will enable a progressive and positive professional relationship. You will see real results in your websites activity if your copy is strong.