Thursday, February 23, 2017

The Secrets to Hiring and Developing the Best Copywriters for Your Website

Poor web content is the silent killer of online sales leads and revenue generation—silent because the companies publishing poor content do not realize it is substandard.

So the very first order of business in helping your staff or freelance copywriter write for the web is to make sure you have someone in a position of leadership who knows how to evaluate web content and communicate publishing standards to the writer. In most organizations, this person is the editor. We will return to the editing function later in this article, but for now, let’s quickly review the criteria of good web writing.

What Makes Web Content Good?

For a simple yet complete definition of good web content, look at Google’s content quality guidelines. The five criteria are:

  1. Useful/informative
  2. More valuable/useful than other sites
  3. Credible
  4. High quality
  5. Engaging

Many companies pay a great deal of attention to the first criterion (useful/informative) and neglect the other four. Content produced by such companies is loaded with product/service/company features and benefits, presented in such an uninteresting way that users click off rather than inquire or order. But if you accept that web content must be more than a regurgitation of facts, these five criteria provide the basis of what to look for when hiring a staff or freelance writer.

What to Look for in Your Copywriter

Let’s begin our profile of the ideal copywriter with reference to Google’s five quality criteria.

  • Useful/informative. The copywriter must be able to communicate factual information clearly and concisely. If your company sells a complex product or service, then you will need a writer who is extremely strong in this area.
  • More valuable/useful than other sites. If your product or service is complex, and/or you are in a very competitive niche, again, you will need a writer that excels in this area. The next criterion plays into these first two.
  • Your writer must be able to convey authority. This is a real challenge in B2B, where a lack of business experience in the writer quickly becomes apparent to seasoned, industry readers. When authoritative writing is important, hiring a writer with industry experience is imperative; fortunately, many copywriters specialize in one or a few verticals. These are your ideal candidates.
  • High quality. Perhaps surprisingly, a great many copywriters have little or no formal training in the field and make simple (but conversion-killing) mistakes in grammar, usage, and exposition. Such flaws are always damaging, but particularly so in fields where a company’s expertise is the linchpin of conversions, such as law and healthcare.
  • Bland, jargon-riddled corporate-speak is another conversion killer, as today’s web audience prefers a conversational and creative tone. The appropriate writing style varies from organization to organization; before hiring a writer, you must define your style so you know what to look for.

In addition to these criteria, other things to look for in a copywriter:

  • Able to meet deadlines
  • Able to work under pressure
  • Accepts direction, criticism, and edits in a professional manner
  • Able to learn quickly
  • Knows SEO, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and web design basics
  • Can do independent research
  • Has high quality standards but is not a perfectionist

The importance of these latter criteria vary depending on your needs; for example, if you have an e-commerce website, then CRO knowledge will be extremely important.

Hiring tip: Audition

The best way I’ve found to screen copywriter candidates is to give them an actual assignment.

An actual writing assignment, with a 1-3 day deadline, gives you an opportunity to see the candidate in action, and get an extremely good sense of not only the writer’s technical skills, but also how well he or she works with your editor.

In our own hiring, we have given assignments to finalist candidates, telling them if we use their content we will pay them for it and give them a byline if appropriate. All of our candidates have been eager to take us up on the offer.

Compensation

Copywriting is like anything else: you get what you pay for. Companies that underpay copywriters tend to be the ones I mentioned at the top of the article—ones that don’t know the difference between good and substandard content. Good copywriters don’t come cheap, and great copywriters command very high pay. Here are some references to help you set your pay scale.

Compensation tip: Pay freelancers by the project

This is the big question for freelancer compensation. At our agency we’ve offered both, and when I was a freelancer I was paid both ways. In all cases, the clear winner, for writers and employers, is to pay by the project, not by the word. Here is why.

  • Paying by the word puts an often arbitrary and always overly rigid cap on the assignment—bad for quality because it leads to padding that bores readers or skimming over details, which confuses them.
  • Paying by the word is administratively difficult, as word counts change through editing.
  • Paying by the word creates a built-in resistance to cutting down copy, and a built-in incentive to pad copy. Neither is healthy for a good working relationship and a high-quality finished product.

Training the Copywriter

Once you’ve hired a copywriter—staff or freelance—you need to familiarize him or her with your industry, company, products, services, competitors, marketing strategy, sales strategy, and content style guide. This can be accomplished in several ways:

  • Prepare a training manual elaborating on the points noted above.
  • Meet or teleconference with the writer for an onboarding session.
  • Give the writer field training.

Training tip: Field training

If you have a field sales force, the very best training for a copywriter is to have him or her spend time in the field with your sales reps. Field training:

  • Gives the writer a hands-on feel for your product/service
  • Exposes the writer to the language of your business and the language of the customer
  • Lets the writer hear the common sales rejection and the sales rep’s response
  • Accomplishes these things much faster and more deeply than “classroom” training

For giving your writer the ability to write authoritatively and engagingly, there is no substitute for field training—even if the writer already has experience in your industry.

The Creative Brief

When an assignment is ready, the copywriter needs a proper creative brief. The creative brief is a template document that provides the critical information the writer must have to complete the job. It should include:

  • The working title
  • A 2-3 sentence overview of the purpose of the content
  • A description of the target audience
  • An explanation of what action the reader should take after reading it
  • The high-level talking points
  • Additional secondary talking points (if applicable)
  • Specific call(s) to action
  • Links to supporting research (if applicable)
  • Keywords (if applicable)
  • Approximate word count

A solid creative brief gives the writer context as well as specific instructions for creating the piece. The test of a good creative brief: if the editor, client, or company leader looks at the finished piece and says, “This is exactly what we wanted!” the creative brief is a smashing success.

Creative brief tip: Listen to the writers

Companies seldom if ever roll out perfect creative brief templates the first time around. However, by listening carefully to questions from the writers after they receive the brief, you will spot weaknesses; that is, things that are not clear.

Research

Certain copywriting assignments require supporting research—op-ed pieces, competitive analyses, white papers, etc. Here are the key issues to nail down:

  • Who does the research? Some organizations have staffers that conduct research; others rely on the writer. Just make sure the expectations are clear from the outset. If the writer is doing the research and is a freelancer, it is important to consider the research time in setting the cost of the project.
  • What are your acceptable sources? Everyone knows the Internet is chock full of bogus information, but it’s not always possible for the writer (or staff researcher) to know credible sources. The editor, in conjunction with company leadership, should compile a list of credible sources. This reduces the risk of publishing erroneous information that damages credibility—or worse.

Research tip: Produce your own research

Some of the most useful research data a piece of content can have is data that comes from your organization. Original data makes on-site and off-site content very appealing to customers, prospects, and off-site publishers because it is so hard to come by. Original data also elevates your credibility and brand image. All of this makes it much easier for your copywriter to succeed.

Editing, Quality, Feedback, and Continuous Improvement

Every great copywriter has a great editor. Editors typically serve as the point of contact for communication with the writer, set and enforce quality standards, and manage the flow of online content through the review and publishing process.

Functionally, there are five types of editing:

  1. Substantive editing: Editing for overall clarity
  2. Copyediting: Editing for style
  3. Fact checking: Editing for accuracy
  4. SEO: Making sure content conforms to SEO best practices
  5. Proofreading: Editing for technical precision

For a deep understanding of this, check out an article I wrote a few years ago for Smashing Magazine, Editing Tips For Business Web Content. Having a solid editing function in your organization will help you make mediocre writers good, good writers great, and great writers legends.

The challenge for any business is to determine how good is good enough. Basic English is always important, but if your business is repairing mufflers, your content doesn’t have to adhere to the quality standards of The Wall Street Journal. Most companies cannot afford to invest in five editors and legendary copywriters—and for the most part that level of commitment isn’t necessary. Get a line on the level of quality appropriate for you by

  • Comparing your content to competitors—better, worse, or about the same?
  • Reviewing website data. High bounce rates and low time on the page are indications that prospects are not wowed by your content.
  • Interview readers. Surveys can tell you whether your message is being received, and what readers perceive as deficiencies in your content.

Editing tip: Give the writer feedback

Copywriters should always see edits, always see the published content, and always hear or see feedback on the content (e.g., anecdotal feedback to sales reps, published comments and reactions). Feedback is how copywriters learn. Without feedback, your writers will make the same mistakes over and over, and just as important, will never feel a sense of accomplishment, or even closure, in the work they are doing for you. This in turn leads to job dissatisfaction and turnover. If you nurture your writers, they will improve the conversion power of your content day after day, year after year.

Additional Reading

For more about writing for the web and tools to improve your web content, the following resources are helpful:

The post The Secrets to Hiring and Developing the Best Copywriters for Your Website appeared first on AllBusiness.com

The post The Secrets to Hiring and Developing the Best Copywriters for Your Website appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Brad Shorr.



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