4 Resources Every Freelance Copywriter Should Have
Hi, I’m Gabriel. A freelance copywriter with a specialty in the personal finance space.
The journey to becoming a freelance copywriter is like how Elon Musk describes being an entrepreneur - “it’s like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death.”
It’s painful and most people think you don’t make any sense.
But you’re committed regardless and you know you gotta keep going for whatever personal reason you have.
To make the journey less painful as a fellow glass-chewer, I wanted to share some tips for any upcoming freelance copywriters out there.
For this article, I put together a list of resources that I think every freelance copywriter should have in their back pocket to run a successful freelance business in today’s online world.
Let’s begin.
the 4 Essential Resources
Invoicing with Dubsado.com
Every freelance copywriter should have an invoicing software. Oh, that was obvious, wasn’t it?
I gotta say it anyway because some people go months or even years using PayPal to invoice their clients.
Dubsado allows you to have a more professional approach to your business. Dubsado includes features such as:
Invoicing
Contracts
Proposal templates
Questionnaire templates
A project management software (so you can organize different projects per client).
Even if you don’t use Dubsado, there are plenty of invoicing software out there that work just as well.
But I’m a loyal fan of Dubsado because of how easy it is to send an invoice, proposal, and contract to a client.
If you haven’t yet, you’ll learn that aside from invoices, proposals and contracts are also essential ingredients to delivering services as a freelancer.
So, if you think about it, the software you use for these three steps becomes part of your signature process. So you should take some time choosing one.
Some other invoicing/contract software options include:
Learning with Swiped.co
Oh yeah. I forgot to mention - If you want to be a copywriter, you gotta learn how to write copy.
Sounds self-explanatory, but if you’re not obsessed with learning about copywriting, then your success in this field is very limited.
Swiped.co is such a beautiful resource for all the copy nerds out there. You have access to some of the most influential pieces of copy ever written.
You can read words written decades ago that generated millions (in some cases billions) of dollars.
You can read words written by some of the greatest copywriters to ever live.
Learn from them and don’t take studying for granted.
Some great copywriters say you should hand copy sales letters to learn copy, and some say it’s not necessary.
From my personal experience, it’s best to read sales letters and critique them instead of hand-copying them.
Study copywriting concepts. Study persuasion. Study copywriting examples. Study your market.
Then use what you learn to critique pieces of copy from swiped.co
In my opinion, this is a more effective way to build your craft as a copywriter.
At the end of the day, experiment with different processes and find out what works for you.
SEO and competition tracking with Ubersuggest.com
In today’s market, you have to know a thing or two about SEO to be a copywriter. Even if you’re a direct response copywriter, it will help you to have a fundamental knowledge of SEO and keywords.
As a freelance copywriter, you’re going to want to have an SEO tool in your back pocket like Ubersuggest so you can help your client rank their website or research their audience.
SEO tools like Ubersuggest allow you to research the traffic on a keyword so you know what people in your industry are researching.
You can also get content ideas if you offer blogs and articles as a service.
Other SEO tools include:
Ubersuggest is my personal favorite because it offers me everything I need. I’m not an SEO business, so for the most part, you probably won’t need to use larger tools like the three above.
But for the essentials, a membership with Ubersuggest should do. They offer a lifetime membership for small business owners for $290.
For a lifetime that ain’t bad at all...
Email marketing software with Mailchimp.com
Even if you’re new to copywriting, you should have a fundamental understanding of email marketing.
Even if you don’t choose to provide emails as part of your services, your clients will trust you more if you understand how emails fit into marketing funnels.
Mailchimp is a popular email marketing software that allows you to segment and tag your email list.
This allows you to send very specific emails to specific audiences which usually yields a higher conversion rate on whatever CTA you have.
You don’t need to purchase a membership with email marketing software if you don’t want to. But it is important to have a fundamental understanding of how segmenting and tags work for email lists.
Message to Freelance Copywriters…
At the end of the day, running a freelance business is a personalized process. Every single freelancer out there does something different. From the services they offer, to their delivery process, to the time they wake up in the morning. Everyone is different.
Why is that important?
Because you’re going to find your own process.
The tools I listed above are my personal preferences.
So, if you don’t quite vibe with something I shared, you can still learn from the principal.
At the end of the day, every freelance copywriter needs an invoicing software, a resource to learn, a resource for SEO tracking, and a resource for email marketing.
The journey is a long and windy road. And if you’ve fully committed to copywriting, it’s exciting. But you’ll also realize it’s a never-ending road. And your learning journey never ends.
I’m gonna finish off with a quote by the great David Ogilvy, a legendary copywriter (also known as the father of modern advertising.)
“A blind pig can sometimes find truffles, but it helps to know that they are found in oak forests.”
…
Translation?
You might get lucky every once in a while on your journey, but it’s more efficient for you to move forward based on facts. And lucky for you, there are hundreds if not thousands of people who have experienced the journey you’re about to embark on.
So instead of meandering about like a blind pig looking for truffles, learn from people who already know how to get where you want to go.
Alright, that’s it for today. I just wrote this in one sitting. I’m gonna eat a cookie and then edit it this real quick.
Til next time.
