I’ve been reading Computer Magazines since i was 12 and im going to be 24 this Saturday, along with many other IT Related publications ince that age.
I’ve also often read many bollywood film reviews.
With regards to the computer magazine, i think technically i would be a little lacking, cos you have to be really really good, and im only ‘good’ and not ‘really really good’, if that makes sense. But i think i could write as well as some of their journalists do. People tell me i have great knack of beautifying a paragraph, or presenting a set of thoughts and ideas in writing.
Even, bollywood review articles. I was looking at some reviews on RadioSargam the other day, and i thought to myself, i could do better than that.
I did all the content writing for my company website, and people are often very impressed. they say its straight to the point, but also very well written.
Does anyone know what steps i should take to get into this Content or Copywriting? I mean only want to do it on a part-time basis (Freelance if poss), i dont want to do it full-time.
eemo, I would suggest that you can start by visiting different websites and offering people your services. For example if you notice a website can use major improvement, just pick a small paragraph out of it, and rewrite it, then send it to the person in charge of the site or perhaps some associate and maybe someone will like your work, upon which you can tell them you will charge a set fee to do other parts of their site.
Some companies that I worked for paid me to rewrite/write stuff for their site, and that was pretty cool. Mash'Allah. (You can either charge by the hour or by the amount of words.)
The other thing to do is go to the library and read up about copywriting careers. Maybe there is an association where you can obtain valuable information.
If you feel you can write, then by all means try and use that ability to the benefit of yourself and others. Insha'Allah. smile
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*Originally posted by eemo: *
thats a good idea.
I shall have to try it :)
Dont you think it would a little cheeky to do a re-write on someone website though? and which sites would i target realistically speaking?
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No, I dont think so at all, most people welcome constructive ideas about their site. You simply have to mention to them that you would like to help them to help others by fine-tuning what they have written.
I have done the same for some of my friends sites. They didnt ask me but I suggested to them that they write things in a different manner, upon which they asked me to rewrite stuff for them. Give it a try! Sometimes the strangest things work out pretty well. Insha'Allah, something will come through. smile
ok, well what i did was put together a letter of introduction and my willingness to do copy writing and sent it to all the local web agencies as they already have a customer base. I also sent them some samples of my work for a website i did of my own.
Have only had one response so far, and the lady said she'll keep me on her records :(
Next week , i'll contact all local marketing agencies.
Please pray it goes well
Well, i emailed a whole load of Web Design Agency offering my services as a professional. They all ignored me except for one agency which said they would keep me on their records.
The agreement is to do it on a voluntary basis at the mo and then hopefully it will lead onto bigger and better things.
The guy in charge has also offered me some free cinema tickets to aid my work. Now all i gotta do is balance my workload between my IT stuff and this. eek !
eemo, thats great. What do you mean by web agencies? I dont know what they are. confused I simply meant emailing people that owned sites, but I guess that is a little tedious to do. hehe.
It is much easier if you just talk to people, whom you find out have a site. Most of the people that used my service were people I met online that owned companies, meaning I first became friends with them, and when they found out I like to write, they asked me to write for them (Mash'Allah). Then the companies that hired me, saw that I had interest, and they paid me to work on their site. That is simply the easiest way. You can however start off by simply visiting peoples sites, and emailing them. Tell them you will do it for very little cost, but pick sites that need a lot of things rewritten. Then when you do one page for a lesser amount, they may get you to do the other work, and pay you more reasonably. The other thing you can do is offer a mini-brochure, especially to small businesses that are looking to advance their marketing techniques.
Other than that, I guess what you are doing sounds great. Tell me how it goes, insha'Allah. Whatever you do, dont give up. Remember, people can always recommend you, if you do a good job on their site. smile
Web agencies as in Web Design Houses, companies that do websites.
I know most of them have a customer base, and therefore i thought i could offer my services to them who could in turn offer it to their existing clients. It didnt work out too well, but never mind.
I think individual web sites and emailing their owners is to tedious, because it means i have to write new content for every customer that i email, and i have to find the sites first too. I dont have the luxury of time for that one. I guess i could always offer my services to anyone else that i know has a website in the future, but when it comes to people i know, it often means i gotta do it for free :P
Am waiting on the tickets for the bollywood stuff, i'll keep you informed of how it goes. In the meantime if i do spot any sites that can be tuned up, i'lll let them know