nick usborne's guide to online copywriting
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June 2003
Issue # 33
Advertisement:
Find direct, measurable answers to some of the most vexing questions faced by writers and marketers online:
-- How to optimize your Google AdWords buys,
-- How to find the best price point for your products or services,
-- How to build your ezine lists,
-- How to sell online content... and
a great deal more
In this issue:
>> Intro: What
I Learned as a 'Client'
>> Article: Pitching Your Services By Email
>> Readers Write Back: Long, Scrolling Pages Make Money
>> Survey: 'Tacky' Sales Messages
Want to subscribe? Sign up here...
Buy your own copy
of Nick's BOOK,
'Net Words
- Creating High-Impact Online Copy'
===============================================
Greetings,
For everyone who replied to my request for writers in the last issue, thank you. And after putting 70+ names, email addresses, urls, resumes and samples into a spread sheet...I've almost finished reading through everything you sent me.
Also, the whole process of being the 'client' was quite a revelation for me. It's not often that I am on the receiving end of a stream of applications and resumes. It really helped me see things through a different set of eyes. As a result, I have written this issue's article in the hope that my experience can help all of us improve on the quality of our requests for work.
Finally...the next issue may be a few days late. In a little over the week I'm getting behind the wheel of a U-Haul truck and driving from Montreal to Vancouver...a modest ramble through Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Wish me luck! And yes, from now on I'll be based in Vancouver.
Until the next issue.
Nick
>> Feedback: mailto:nick@nickusborne.com
===============================================
ARTICLE: PITCHING YOUR SERVICE BY EMAIL
I’ve been looking for help in writing content for a consumer electronics site.
Over the last couple of weeks I extended an invitation to the readers of this newsletter and the I-Copywriting discussion list. I simply invited anyone who felt they might be qualified to get in touch.
I received 70 replies...and learned a thing or two about how writers pitch themselves to a potential client. As I went through the various emails, one by one, it became clear to me that some writers were making a much better impression on me than others.
Here are a few things I learned – from a prospective client’s point of view.
|| Having a Web site is a good idea.
Out of the 70 applicants, just 32, or a little under 50%, provided a link to their Web site. To be fair, several writers were employed full time and simply wanted some evening or weekend work. But if writing is your career, then having a site certainly adds credibility. If you don’t have a site, you’ll probably leave prospective clients with some nagging doubts about your suitability.
|| Including your resume helps.
Out of the 70 applicants, only 9, or 13% attached a resume. This surprised me. I get the impression that people might think having a Web site means they no longer need provide a traditional resume. Not so. From my perspective, working my way through all those Web sites is a lot of hard work. But if I can simply print out all the resumes and go through them one by one, that’s a lot easier.
And among those who did attach a resume, only 2 included their name in the file name. That meant that when I came to save the resumes to my drive, I had to add each applicant’s name to their document file name, so I could later identify which resume belonged to which applicant.
Why make your prospective client do that? Every little bit of work you make them do subtly subtracts from the impression you make.
|| The first sentence of your email makes a difference.
Small irony here. We’re all writers, and all work hard on the first lines of any piece of work we might do for our clients. However, we don’t seem to apply the same thinking or effort when it comes to selling ourselves.
Among the 70 replies, there were only a very small handful with opening lines that caught my attention in a positive way.
Here are a couple of openings that did the trick, and immediately made me feel positive about the applicant...
- “I was looking through your I-Copywriting Digest, and I noticed that you are looking for writers with an interest in home electronics. I am a self-avowed gear geek, with a keen interest in and understanding of most things electronic and entertaining, and I would love to be part of your project.”
- “Uhhhh Uhhhhh Nick - this is a dream job for me. Please let me write about electronics. ;) It’s not that I have much free time - but that I love writing about electronics. Because I am a gear head.”
Why did these work for me? Because they were written ‘to’ me...one-on-one...and
because they expressed a certain amount of passion for the subject.
|| Don’t ask me to work for the information I want.
Here is an example of someone asking me to take an extra step...
- “If you would like a complete resume I would be happy to forward one on to you.”
Yes, I would like to see a full resume...No, with 70 applications to go through, I’m not going to email you and ask you send what you could simply have sent with the original email.
|| Making the decision.
Did the factors above play a major part in helping me make my decisions? In the end, probably not. I read through everything, and forgave most people their oversights.
But all these factors do make a difference...and whenever an applicant ‘gets it wrong’, there is no doubt that a small black mark appears against their name.
Keep in mind that any time you apply for work, you are probably not alone.
Others are after the same work. So make it easy on the recruiter or employer...give them all the information they need and present it in a way that clearly communicates your credentials and your enthusiasm for the job.
If you enjoyed this article, check out 'The Best From Over 200 Articles by Nick Usborne' - an edited compilation of the best of my articles for Clickz.com, between 1998 and 2003.
===============================================
READERS WRITE BACK: LONG, SCROLLING PAGES MAKE MONEY
Hey Nick!
Someone wrote....
"I truly loathe those long, scrolling sales pitches that go on and on and on.
Pages like http://www.thewriterslife.com/dm/pop22/ ...snip....Maybe the people writing these tacky sales messages are making big bucks…"
The answer to the "big bucks" speculation is rather interesting. The course pointed to is published by Agora Publishing.. Bill Bonner founded Agora 3 decades ago with his own 8 page sales letter selling his "International Living" newsletter. Agora's annual sales now are well in excess of 200 million dollars.
They sell mainly health, travel and investment newsletters. To middle aged affluent men. Considered tacky by some, I suspect. Bonner spends a good part of the year at his magnificent chateau in the south of France. Few consider it tacky. And all from "tacky" sales letters very very similar to the loathed one above. Denni Hatch has a nice mini-bio in one of his books, for those interested in the entrepreneurial aspects of copywriting. One last point.
The newsletters sold by the "tacky" salesletters tend to have the highest re-subscribe rates in the industry.
>> Feedback: mailto:nick@nickusborne.com
===============================================
SURVEY: TACKY SALES MESSAGES...
Do long, scrolling pitches really work?
[ ] No, I really don't
believe that people fall for long, scrolling sales pitches.
[ ] I'd never want to write that stuff myself, but yes, I know it sells.
[ ] Hey, I've written those long sales pitches -- and made some big bucks
that way!
======================================================
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