Copywriting in a vacuum – it gets pretty crowded in here!

Freelance copywriting can be a lonely business with strange contradictions.  On the one hand, you can be frantically busy meeting deadlines, with the traffic in your head moving at breakneck speed.  In your immediate vicinity, on the other hand, all is peaceful, silent even!

Like every type of freelance work where you’re not working directly with colleagues, life is lived inside your head.  This may not be good for one’s sanity but it does have its compensations.  Yes, you can go insane – but at least you do it in enviably quiet surroundings.

If you could do less of a frontal lobotomy and more of a vertical slice through the centre of a freelance copywriter’s head, you’d probably see lots of different rooms, not unlike a typical ad agency. 

Busiest would be the Studio.  There’d be some cursing going on that some ‘suit’ had the effrontery to ask about a deadline.  And maybe some verbal jousting about which creative concept works best, or which freelance designer would do the best job.

Upstairs, you might find the Accounts Department.  “Anyone know why that client invoice hasn’t been paid yet?” Or… ” Why is that client whingeing about price when they’ve already agreed to it  and been over-serviced like crazy for the past 12 months?”

In the New Business Department, there’s lots of frantic debate going on about using social media in the integrated marketing mix; which markets should be targeted in the wake of public sector cuts; and how to balance servicing existing clients with the need to visit potential new ones.

That’s a lot of noise for one copywriter’s head.  And it’s happening round the clock, not just in business hours.  The freelance life is one of always being open for business, always developing new ideas and finding cool ways of maximising ROI (ie. time!).

The next time you’re at a party or networking event and you suspect that the person opposite you may be something in the freelance way, don’t be surprised if there’s a long wait before they give you an answer to your blindingly simple question: “What do you do?”

The reason for the delay is because the question’s being circulated around every department in the poor soul’s head before an appointed spokesperson from ‘New Business’ blurts out: “Freelance copywriter!”

Copywriting and the World Cup

What effect will the World Cup have on copywriting – and business in general? Will everyone (ie. mainly men) work like crazy all morning and then let it all hang out for the rest of the day? Will the nation suddenly be afflicted with workplace sickness and absenteeism – a plague on everyone’s houses?

There can be little doubt that major events like the General Election or World Cup are hugely distracting for business and businesses for days or weeks as the general public are caught up in a media-induced frenzy. In tough times, this may be a good thing (cathartic and all that). The negative effect it all has, however, on sales of everything except World Cup paraphernalia and beer will soon be seen!

Buzzwords’ Copywriting and SEO Copywriting info now on Facebook

Find out more about Mike Beeson and Buzzwords’ freelance copywriting and SEO copywriting services on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mike.beeson1

Copywriting and the social media mix

How can a busy copywriter find the time to indulge in social media, if ‘indulge’ is the right word?  This implies social media is some kind of luxury, a bit of fun that copywriters can have instead of doing the crossword.

Well, I must admit, I’ve decided to make a fist of the social media thing and try to make it work in a B2B context.  I’ve dabbled with blogs in the past, opened an account with LinkedIn and even had a brief dalliance with MySpace some time back.

The blogs I had were fine but they took up a lot of my time, and without any apparent benefit.  When they were banned for using too many links back to my main website (or was it too many tags?), I shrugged my shoulders and got on with life. 

What I didn’t realise at the time was just how much SEO-juice the blogs were feeding back to my main website.  The content itself wasn’t earth-shattering, although I guess the spin-offs from being more industry-aware had some value (to someone, somewhere!!!).

So why the conversion (or re-conversion) to social media?  What’s brought on this Damascus-like change?  This may sound pathetic, but it’s mainly to do with my tweets ranking on Google!

My first venture into social media was in the dark days before Twitter, so I do have some kind of explanation!  It was also to do with blogs linking with Twitter, and online articles linking to Twitter and so on.  (You’re right, it still sounds pathetic – but I will persist, dear reader!)

Another reason I’m re-visiting social media is because clients are actually hinting that I should be offering this as a service or, at the very least, offering advice on its feasibility for their company.

I must confess that it feels a bit limp-wristed to say to them that social media doesn’t really apply to companies – that it’s a ‘social’ thing!  The fact is, if it can be used to benefit SEO – and even help in opinion-forming by hooking up with even a small number of customers – then B2B social media must be ‘a good thing’.

Whether it’s a ‘cost-effective’ thing or not is a moot point.  This type of SEO is not measurable in its splendid isolation.  It may add to the weight of a full-blown SEO campaign, but assessing the ROI of B2B social media strikes me as tricky.

Having said that, tweets that are ranked by Google – albeit because they have links to other content – obviously have value.  Blog links have value too, and even the content on sites like Facebook may have some PR value.

So, yes, I shall be persevering with social media, if only to say to clients: “Yes, it works!” – or: “Don’t go there!”  With first-hand experience, I will have a leg to stand on, and a bag full of mixed metaphors to boot!

SEO copywriting articles on Buzzwords’ website

I’ve added a couple of SEO copywriting articles to Buzzwords’ main website – see: /seo_copywriting.htm. They reflect how search is constantly changing and, with it, the skills and approach demanded of a SEO copywriter.