Skills a Copywriter Should Have

As an extension of my previous post about article-writing, I decided to blog a bit more about a couple of things my life as a copywriter has taught me.

But first, a bit of background info: my job involves being given titles for articles which I then have to write, thereby producing content for the various websites owned by the company. These have to conform to a certain length, style, and format, whilst also having to include various key words or phrases in order to make the article more 'Google-friendly'. It took a bit of getting used to, especially as I have to be able to write in various styles, from long feature articles to 100-word sound bites, but I'm pretty much in the swing of it now.

So, two of the most important skills to pick up as a copywriter (in my humble opinion) are:

1) The ability to reword

(Source: www.brownhouseonline.com)

Although there are many enjoyable things about being a copywriter, the SEO aspect can be a bit of a pain. In essence, for this company it means that in the interests of being able to catch all customers, the wording that searchers use to search should be the title of the piece, and there are always numerous ways to ask a search engine for information, of course. But this does not mean my carefully researched and planned piece that perfectly encapsulates the topic can be used as an answer for all. No - unfortunately, articles with the same wording will be penalised and not show up at all. Therefore, it is often necessary to write the same article countless times and on each of those occasions, find a fresh way to say it.

What I have learned: That Google's algorithms are annoying and also that I had a secret talent for writing about hot flushes in twenty or more original ways all along, which has only just surfaced now.

2) The ability to accept your limitations
Whenever I do get given a brand new title (which does happen), I am always struck with the familiar fear that I do not have a PhD in the topic, and this can cause me to procrastinate (although I justify as 'research' of course) before I really can't anymore and have to get on with writing the damned piece. Well, I was more like this at the beginning, but have now realised that writing a mere 500 words about the symptoms of bipolar disorder does not require that I know everything there is to know about the psychological, philosophical, neurological, and medical aspects of the illness. It is enough to use reputable sources to simply find out what I need to know and back them up with evidence. Anything else is superfluous and a complete waste of my time and energy.

What I have learned: Save that precious time and energy for more important things, like exploring Peru, or other such activities.

Although there is a lot to learn and get used to, there is a lot to like about copywriting. That feeling of satisfaction after finishing an article/review/research piece is wonderful, and I do like being paid to write all day - flexing my creative muscles and all that. Although the job, almost by definition, involves creating for others rather than yourself, which can be good or bad depending how interesting or boring the topic happens to be, this can mean finding out things you never thought you'd know, never thought you didn't know, or didn't really know you wanted to know. Phew, now my head's spinning. I think I need to lie down.

Clubbing and Cakes

Having spent the week toiling away informing the world about the perils of menopause, I was looking forward to letting my hair down last weekend, and the activities of choice were clubbing and eating cupcakes.

I had been looking forward all week to the Festival Del Cupcake that was held over the weekend, and had spent my working days dreaming about all the gorgeous delicacies that would be on offer. However, my timing could not have been more off.

Festival Del Cupcake

At about midday I set off on foot to find this festival, which seemed to be in quite an out of the way place, and 45 minutes later I finally arrived (feeling I had definitely earned a cake or two!). The sweets that were on offer looked gorgeous, but I must say - the fest was a lot smaller than I had been expecting. It also seemed I had managed to arrive just after they had set up. As a result - hardly anyone was there. After walking around a few times, eating some free samples, and buying a 'trifle'-type dessert consisting of layers of jelly, crumbled chocolate brownie, and cream, I left, feeling remorseful that I had not waited until the late afternoon.

Delicioso!

However, my sadness was soon abated as I put on my dancing shoes that evening and headed to Mokka Disco in Miraflores for its 6-month 'anniversary'. Fortunately one of the girls we were with knew a worker, who let us all in for free. To add to the excitement, upon entering, we were given a glass of champagne and then had to pose with a cake for an 'official' picture before going into the packed main area.

Posing with a cake

I think luck must have been on our side that night because, after a few hours of dancing, my housemates and I ran into our Peruvian friend we had made during our first week, who happens to work as a club promoter. Pretty soon we were in the VIP area sipping yet more free drinks. Wasn't a bad night at all!

Dancing the night away

And then this week I was reluctant for the fun to end, so I have bought myself an earlybird ticket for the 'Life of Color' paint party which is coming to Lima this December (by happy coincidence just a day after my birthday), and have booked a trip to the jungle for the end of this month. In the words of Chandler Bing: Could life BE more exciting?!

Potato Lovers Unite

If you were wondering about all things potato, your dreams have come true; another one of my exciting articles has been uploaded by my boss for all the potato-enthusiasts of the world to enjoy.

Writing an Article - Hints and Tips

 After one and half months of churning out numerous articles every day, I have developed some habits that I think are definitely worth sharing. If someone had told me 3 months ago that I would be able to research, write, proofread, and edit a 650-word article from scratch in an hour and a half, and do this three times every single morning, I would have written him off as a madman. But being forced into producing really does hone certain skills, the most important of which I'm going to list below.

Researching
It's the most tempting thing in the world to get caught up in reading reams and reams of information on a topic and not have anything meaningful at the end. Believe me, I spent my whole academic life doing this, and I know I'm not alone! Therefore, it's helpful to know how to filter information right from the beginning, and also how to get it from reliable sources.

• If you want your article to be actually informative and helpful, there is little point just copying what you've gleaned from Wikipedia. Now, don't get me wrong - I think it is a great springboard site, providing an overview of a situation before you start writing about the nitty-gritty, and it can also direct you to helpful websites - but it must be used sparingly. Don't read it as a procrastination technique (which I am prone to doing occasionally).

• To ensure you are getting information from reputable sources, type any of the following 'filters' after your search word or phrase: 

          site:.gov  
          site:.edu
          site:.org

• Also - don't forget that books can be a useful resource too!! The upside is that they also tend to be more reliable. Whether they are appropriate or not depends on the topic of course, but don't discount them if they are. I have a few 'go-to' books here at work that I find invaluable.

Writing

• Before you start researching, write down your title on a piece of paper and brainstorm ideas of what to include - this doesn't have to take long, maybe 5 or 10 minutes, but it allows you to focus your research and you will save time in the long run. After this you will have a clearer idea of which areas of the topic you will write about.

• Decide on a few 'sub-headings' or topic areas (as a rule of thumb, I would say stick to four or five, but of course this will depend from article to article). I also used to do this for essays at university too, and I think I've saved days of my life using this trick.

• Copy and paste certain blocks of text that you think will be useful into a word document. This page will seem chaotic at this point but resist the urge to organise it now - this will only slow you down.

• Scribble down useful words/phrases/ideas on said piece of paper as you research. I usually write down the research under the relevant 'sub-headings' (which I might or might not include in the actual article). This means I have a visual aid of where I have enough research and where I need to find out more.

• Now is the time to type out the first draft. The trick is not to overthink it. Just make coherent sentences out of the information you have, and delete and cross out your notes as they get written up. Seeing this visually really keeps me motivated.

You should end up with a reasonably intelligible piece.

Editing

• The hard part is done, but don't rest on your laurels yet. Now is the time for reading through and rewording, restructuring, and replacing some words with better ones (the thesaurus is your best friend at this stage).

Proof-reading

• Take 5 minutes or so away from the article (at this point I normally get up and make myself a cup of tea and then stare out the window for a little while). Then with a fresh eye, read through the article, tidying up any little typos or other errors that weren't picked up on during the editing stage.

This is the basic plan I've developed for myself and have found it works for me. Of course, every article is different but I do believe there are some tips which will help across the board. Hopefully I've managed to list some of them here!

Wednesday 13th August - Summer Sun

Today I couldn't have been happier. A far cry from the usual depressing cloudiness I have become accustomed to, I was ecstatic to step out of the office at lunchtime and see that the white veil had parted to reveal the azure wonder underneath. Feeling the sun beating down on me and actually being able to wear my sunglasses in Lima since I first got here made me want to skip down the street and burst into song, Disney-princess style (and yes - Lima does make you prone to being disproportionately happy when the slightest ray of sun reveals itself).

Friday 25th July - Birthday Madness

Today I felt like I was dying. This bug/cold/infection I have was about three times worse today and I can now feel it in my ears. On the upside, we did have a nice little birthday party in the kitchen for two of the colleagues at work today, complete with food, music, and cake. Learned that Peru has a strange tradition pertaining to birthday cakes - they cut a circle out of the middle and only cut and serve the outer ring. When I pressed for information about why they did this, no-one was able to tell me, and I'm still none the wiser.

And this evening, on the advice of my flatmate, I ate two raw cloves of garlic (mixed in with potatoes and cheese) in the hope it will clear my symptoms. Didn't taste great but I've got my fingers crossed it will work by tomorrow morning.

Wednesday 23rd July - That Holiday Feeling

So three weeks in for us and next week the office is closed, so we are already mentally preparing for our holiday in Mancora, a beach town 700 miles north that looks pretty beautiful. Deciding not to stay at the chain hostel Loki, which is a popular destination there, we have booked a place at a little independent one - Misfit Hostel. Consisting of a few little huts that overlook the beach, I can't say I'm not a little bit excited. However, definitely NOT looking forward to the 20 hour bus ride.

Monday 21st July - Back to the Grind

After a weekend of such joy, getting up this morning to my freezing cold, damp room was the hardest it's been so far.

Friday 18th July - Raspberry Fields

Was pleased to learn 1 out of 24 of my articles has been published. And now the world has to wait no longer for my expertise in the field of raspberries. You're welcome world!

http://www.herbazest.com/herbs/raspberry

Wednesday 16th July - Jaunt to the Bank

Opened our shiny new Peruvian bank accounts today. Could have been signing my life away for all I knew. Haven't quite reached the stage of being able to read complicated legal documents yet.

Tuesday 15th July - ¡Hola Señorita!

So, today my housemates, Mariah and Marie, and I finished our 10 hour day before heading out the office door for our date with Peruvian hunk Moises (and by date, I mean Spanish lesson, and by Peruvian hunk Moises, I mean our lovely, smiley, middle-aged Spanish teacher with oodles of patience and very little English). But, lovely as he is, he is also a liar - after insisting numerous times during our first lesson that Spanish is easy, I'm still yet to progress from 'Me llamo Jessica'. The overwhelming urge to launch into German whenever he asks me a question in Spanish (which, at the moment, I'm only understanding after A LOT of pointing, hand gestures, and contorted facial expressions) is something I´m still struggling with. However, onwards and upwards, as they say - by the end of my time here I am hoping for a level of fluency to rival my English.

Monday 14th July - Mullein

Beginning of my second week as a Copywriter. Today learned that there's a plant called mullein, which from what I can gather is pretty much a miracle cure for anything. Will have to try it next time I have a cough.