Professionalism of a Copywriter – is There Any Way to Estimate it?

Sometimes I think that if I were the owner of a website, and I would have to hire a copywriter to draw to content creation, what qualities should this person have except for an excellent command of the language that the website will be created in.

Ok, to make things simpler, let’s imagine that you are in the process of creating a website in the English language. You have a multibranch navigation and you want to stuck content in every page of the website, because you know that lots of content makes your site 1) more informative for your readers, 2) more spider- and SEO friendly. Maybe you have some idea what and how to write on your home page, but as for all other pages you may be totally lost, because you don’t know how this information is most commonly presented, how to make the text readable and catching, how to attract attention. For this, you will have to hire a copywriter to write for you. But: How to choose an appropriate person? Because you will most probably would not like to proofread and edit the texts after the copywriter. You would prefer to have them written perfectly without misprints, spelling mistakes, punctuation and grammar inaccuracies. Also, you would want to have them written is an appropriate style, with an appropriate structure et cetera.

My professional experience of Chief Copywriter made me face lots of people either applying for a copywriter’s position or already having this job. I should say, very few of them can create really good stuff. Why? Because with all its seeming simplicity, the job of a copywriter is a difficult job. This is a creative job, accurate job, sometimes tedious job. This is a job, which requires a talent, a talent of combining separate words into a whole structure of sensible and easy-to-read sentences, which build the whole UNIQUE text, meeting all the requirements of the customer.

Those people I met made different kinds of mistakes. Some of them did not know English very well. Others lacked patience and accuracy producing content with endless misprints and rude mistakes. Someone used inadequate style. Someone used a too formal language appropriate only for a Royal School. Others were far too much selective saying that they could not write about this and would prefer that… Some, having too bright and often “unhealthy” imagination to draw pictures not appropriate to the very topic of the content. Some could not think differently and created content for different websites in absolutely the same way. Others copied and pasted the data from the Internet making very few or no changes to it. Someone used only complex sentences, which made the whole idea of the text a total nonsense. And so on and so on and so on…

There can be many troubles, and, therefore, getting a good copywriter to write content for your website is critical for your marketing campaign. Seek for a person who enjoys writing and who CAN write; to some extent pedantic and self-critical; creative and accurate; knowledgeable, curious and experienced; attentive and considerate. This person should also be able to hear your requirements instead of saying “I will do everything on my own cause I know better” and have a portfolio – websites where his or her content is posted.

Professionalism of a copywriter is combined of many things, including years of experience and professional qualities and talents. Therefore, be always on the alert when hiring a copywriter; ask him or her to write a test page of about 500 words first. If the person is a nub, you will immediately see it from the test page, and do not neglect small details. If you see even small inaccuracies in the text, you don’t need this person. Also, be on the allert when a person describes himself/herself in too colorful words, showing in such a way the signs of megalomania. Remember that a REAL talent is modest ;-)

Good luck!