Copyright ® 2004 by Angela Booth. All rights reserved.
The Web is one of the biggest markets for your writing skills.
Are you ignoring this enormous market? With hundreds of thousands
of merchants online, someone has to write their material. It
could be you.
Web merchants need:
* Direct selling sales pages;
* Mini-Web sites (often called "Buy, bookmark or leave" sites);
* Content for Web sites;
* Autoresponders (an autoresponder is basically an automated
email message with its own email address. When a message is sent
to the autoresponder's address, it sends its message in response.
Autoresponders are often created as a series of messages,
comprising from two to several dozen messages. These series can
be written as e-courses.) and
* Basic copywriting help.
To get work writing for Web merchants, also known as Web
marketers, you need to understand what these merchants are trying
to do. Selling online has a lot in common with mail-order
marketing. Every word you write has to sell.
This may be a psychological block for you. It shouldnÆt be.
Copywriting students have said to me: "I can write, but I canÆt
sell --- can I still write copy for businesses?"
My answer's simple. OF COURSE YOU CAN! Everything you write is a
sales job. You're vying for readers' attention, so whatever
you're writing, you're selling.
=> Research Internet marketing on the Web itself
Internet marketers, those merchants who own online businesses,
are the people who need your writing skills, so you need to
research their needs. Type "Internet Marketing" into any search
engine, and you'll be inundated with material about Internet
marketing.
I've listed a couple of sites to get you started:
Michael Fortin is a well-known Web writer. Reading his site is an
education in Internet marketing:
http://successdoctor.com/
Web Marketing Today also has good information:
http://www.wilsonweb.com/
The next step is to create a (small) site of your own. Please
donÆt be intimidated at the idea of this. The entire process
shouldnÆt take you longer than a weekend, at most. All you need
to get started is to create a home page for the site, which in
the beginning will only contain a bio, links to your portfolio
(writing samples), and a price list.
=> Pricing your writing services for online marketers
Copywriting for the online market pays very well. For example,
for an online sales page, you can charge around $1500. An online
sales page is a simply long, highly informative advertisement.
Here's a sales page from our Digital-e site:
http://www.digital-e.biz/ebook_internet_age.html
As sales pages go, this one's quite short; you'd look to charge
around $1500 for a page of this length.
If you're asked to write a page which is longer than around 1,000
words, you will of course charge more. Some copywriters charge a
percentage of each sale made from pages they've written.
There you go. If you're serious about making money from your
writing skills, learn how to write for the Web. The Web will be
around for a long time, and you'll always have eager buyers for
your work.
If you need help getting started, take our Digital-e Web writing
coaching course:
http://www.digital-e.biz/coaching.html#web
You can also join Pro Write, to learn how to become a highly
skilled, successful copywriter:
http://www.prowrite.biz/
*** Resource Box *******
*Pro Write: Professional Writing Secrets* turns your a love of
writing into a highly paid career. For both novices and
experienced, selling writers. A new interactive writing workshop
every month, for fiction, nonfiction and copywriting, plus
writing coaching and writing manuals. Subscription includes
access to writer's forum, three ezines, and writing markets. JOIN
TODAY ---
http://www.prowrite.biz/
*****************************