Why should I pay a professional copywriter, and not just write everything myself?
You should employ a professional copywriter for the same reason that you visit your optician or hire an electrician. It’s possible that you’re great at maths, but that doesn’t make you an accountant. Perhaps you can write a hilarious e-mail, but you might not know how to write a landing page that actually converts or a leaflet that makes potential customers pick up the phone. So why spend two hours of your precious time reading online tutorials on how to write the perfect press release, when you could simply get on with things and hire someone else to do the writing?
Without words, your business will go nowhere. Whether it’s your website, a newsletter, or a small advert in the local paper, the copy will decide whether potential customers like you or not, and whether they think you can do the job or not. When you think of it like that, poor copywriting could actually end up costing you money in the form of lost business. If you need to save money, it shouldn’t be on first impressions.
If you’ve got something worth marketing, it’s worth paying a copywriter to get the word out. It really is as simple as that.
What are your rates?
The deal we make will depend completely on your requirements, which is why I am reluctant to publish rates on my website. I am happy to agree on a fixed fee per hour or day, or to decide on a fee for an entire project, and both options have pros and cons.
Whatever your preferences, the easiest way to get a quick quote is to simply drop me an email and ask.
I need something written by tomorrow. Can you do it?
Most of the time, I can. Even if I am busy, I will always try to juggle things around to help clients out when they need it the most. I can’t guarantee that I’ll always be available, of course, but it’s definitely worth a shot.
How does it work? What do I need to give you, and how do I know that I’ll be happy in the end?
I like to work in a way that makes the client comfortable, and therefore all my quotes and packages are amendable. Typically, I suggest either a phone call or a meeting, followed by a project plan agreed in writing. I also recommend a package which includes one or two copy amends in the price, just to make sure that you get the opportunity to speak your mind and end up getting exactly what you want.
In terms of what I need from you, it depends on the project. Sometimes a simple document of ideas, or a brief, will do, and for big projects a couple of meetings and various written information may be required. Simply send me an email explaining what you’re after, and we can take it from there.
No offence, but did you say you’re Swedish? And I should pay you to write English copy for me?
I have lived in Dublin and London since 2001. A few months after settling into life in Dublin, the locals started presuming that I was a Dubliner; shortly after that I found myself dreaming and thinking in English. I have studied Creative Writing in the UK, corrected British co-students’ work for spelling mistakes, and been published in English; I am married to an Irish man, and as far as I’m concerned English is my first language now.
Some of my Creative Writing lecturers said that I have a unique way with words, partly because of my Swedishness. I am not using that as an argument for you to hire me, but I want you to know that apart from giving me firsts left, right and centre, that’s what they said.
I’m not going to go into socio-linguistics and try to understand how one studies languages and why some people gain fluency more easily than others – though I’ll admit that it would possibly be quite an interesting discussion – but I am adamant that my English is as perfect as my British equivalent’s English, and that I can find a grammatical or spelling mistake in most information materials produced by English natives. Whether that makes me annoying or professional, you decide.
Finally, I think the simple answer to this question is that I wouldn’t be here now, making a career out of freelance copywriting, if my English wasn’t up to scratch.
