Writing for the Web Archives - Page 7 of 26 - Courses and Tools for Freelancers

Selling is giving way to storytelling. Are you ready?

Selling with stories on a typewriter I have seen a lot of changes over the course of my career as a copywriter.

Back in 1979, when I got started, I wrote my copy on lined paper, with a pen. Then a secretary typed it up using one of those trendy new IBM “golf ball” typewriters.

By 1985 I was working on an Apple Macintosh computer, saving my files to those huge floppy discs.

Fast forward to 1995, when I wrote and published my first website. I fell in love with writing for the web from day one.

Over those first 15 or so years of my career, my job was the same. My job was to sell with words. I was a copywriter, plain and simple. I wrote sales copy.

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The copywriter’s cure for being slapped around the head.

by Nick Usborne

the elephant and hat story Let’s open with a story.

Way back in the mists of time I had a boss and copywriting mentor called Dave.

I was a total newbie when it came to writing hard-selling, direct response copy for our clients. I was a decent enough copywriter, but had yet to develop the edge that would make me a worthwhile direct response copywriter.

Enter Dave.

He’d look over my shoulder as I was writing, and whenever he came across a line of copy he thought wasn’t as strong as it should be, he’d give me a slap around the back of the head.

Yes, this was back in the days when you could get away with that sort of thing.

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Help me choose the topic of my next course…

by Nick Usborne

Survey behind the barn door I have a question for you… if I may.

And a very short, two-click questionnaire.

I’m trying to figure out a topic for my next course, and would really appreciate your help and input.

As you may know, a couple of months ago I launched a short course on Web Content Optimization.

This is a short-form course, delivered on the Udemy platform, and takes about 3 hours to complete.

Right now I’m working on getting a second course published, also on Udemy.

This second course is about Selling with Stories. (You’ll love this one if you’re an online writer who doesn’t feel terribly comfortable with the direct, hard-selling aspect of copywriting.)

Selling with Stories should be available within 3 or 4 weeks. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

And that brings me to my question…

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Impress your clients – and earn more – with this simple Content Optimization Framework.

by Nick Usborne

content marketing framework

There is a huge demand for quality web content.

The trouble is – for us writers – many, or maybe most companies have a nasty habit of low-balling us on price. They want great content, but don’t want to pay much for it.

When we tell them the content we write is worth more than they are offering, they may point us to sites like Freelancer.com, where they can find content writers for peanuts.

How can you break free from that kind of comparison?

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Allow for sudden outbursts of unexpected content.

by Nick Usborne

Unexpected bicycle on wall

Recently I have written a fair bit about optimizing web content.

My thinking has been, and still is, that too many companies rush to publish new content without first establishing a clear purpose for each page or post they create.

In other words, marketers often feel that the simple act of publishing a new page or post is enough.

It’s not.

For web content to deliver value – to both your audience and your company – it has to be purpose-driven. You have to figure out WHY each piece should be published, and then optimize it accordingly.

For example, one post might be optimized for the search engines, while another is optimized for social media. Another might be optimized to attract inbound links, and so on.

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