Education

Freelance Commercial Writing – A Short Introduction To Writing For Businesses

For starters, we should define this field for those of you who are unfamiliar with the field. Freelance commercial writers create copy, or a text, to be placed on websites, newsletters, advertisements, magazines, newspaper, and many other media.
In today’s world, companies use freelance commercial writing most frequently on websites for blogging, Facebook, Twitter, and the like. For example, Facebook boasts 500 million active users, and such writers produce copy to attract visitors to the company’s Facebook page.
Other commercial writing includes e-mail newsletters. To attract customers, one often sends a newsletter by means of an e-mail distribution list to update customers on sales, new products, and company projects.
Companies need commercial writers; no one can doubt that. Companies need to advertise their names and products. Often times, small business owners attempt to transact business and write commercially, and more often than not, their writing fails its objectives because the owner is a business- man or woman, not a writer.
Freelance commercial writers obviously differ from full-time marketing writers because freelancers, as the name suggests, work from job to job or project to project. Such writers often write proposals to businesses for their services, after which the writer and business sign a contract and the business employs the writer as a vendor.
The beauty of this profession is that one often works from home!
Do not mistake me; freelance commercial writing is not always easy. If writing itself proves difficult for you, you might consider another profession. Writing commercial copy, in my humble opinion, is not even the difficult part.
Copy placement, or the media through which you advertise some company, can be the most daunting part. Marketing copy, particularly online, involves methods commonly known as search engine optimization (SEO) and social media optimization (SMO).
SEO focuses in on keywords or sets of keywords that best describe your business. Through use of website configuration and generating links to the company website, SEO helps your business appear higher in Google search results.
SMO focuses on networking with others in similar fields or customers. Through twitter, and many other social sites, companies can generate a great following of interested customers.
If you’re writing copy off-line, then yet many more questions emerge. Should a gas station advertise in magazines or interstate billboards? Yes, it’s a silly question but it illustrates my point well.
How does one become a freelance commercial writer? From my personal experience, I would answer: by patience. It doesn’t happen overnight, it takes practice, failure, more practice, and more failure, until the right opportunities emerge.
Possible entry points are internships, entry-level marketing positions, or find another freelance writer to teach you. It is also important to build a website and develop a portfolio, so that you can let others know who you are.
Many other options exist and if you’re really creative, you may find freelance commercial writing jobs quickly, but you should always practice your writing.
Companies employ so many forms of commercial copy that I could not cover in full. However, I hope this articles serves as a helpful introduction to freelance commercial writing.

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