Copywriting Projects
There are many ways to acquire copywriting assignments. This article will discuss how to take advantage of personal contacts and websites to locate copywriting projects.
A great way to find writing projects is through online freelance marketplaces. Three in particular stand out from the others: The first is www.guru.com, which is the largest online freelance marketplace. The second websites is www.elance.com. And the third is www.findafreelancer.com. Each of these websites has a search agent, which can e-mail you jobs based upon criteria you enter. Findafreelancer.com is a European version of the others. It is smaller but is still a significant resource for locating copywriting work. Most websites usually charge a monthly or quarterly subscription fee, but this is a great investment giving you access to far more work than other services.
Cultivating personal contacts will also produce many opportunities for work. This will allow you to creatively sell yourself. The Internet is not the first stop for many companies looking for a copywriter. Local contacts and sources will often be their first choice because they prefer to physically meet with someone. You can take advantage of this if you make contacts in your region. You should join local civic groups and your Chamber of Commerce. Make business cards and prepare a thirty-second explanation of what you do but do not to sell yourself, rather just let people know who you are and what you do. It is better to simply make the connection and then let potential customers come to you. People are more willing to do business with someone they know over someone who just gave them a sales pitch or from the Internet.
You also need a website. Many copywriters do not have a website, which can give you an edge. Here, you can publish some of your past assignments so people can look at your work. If you get your site indexed, then people searching on the Internet for a copywriter could stumble across your website. This way those needing a copywriter come to you, hassle free.
When looking for work you must sell yourself and think outside of the box. If you set yourself up and use some of the techniques described above, you will be consistently inundated with work.