Have you ever suffered from that frustrating disease we call ‘writers’ block’? Or had a certain word in the back of your head but couldn’t quite get it out ? I’m sure you’ve all written copy before which reads pretty well, with a few fancy words in there – but it just wouldn’t make people jump out of their seats and run frantically for their credit card!

Don’t worry if you have, we’ve all been there.

So imagine having a magical list of words up your sleeve – words that have been proven to make people buy products and services. Words that you could sprinkle into any copy – for ads, direct mail, press releases, websites, headlines, jingles, brocures etc – and every single time these same powerful words would massively boost the selling potential of your copy… Sounds pretty cool, right?

Well it’s not just a fantasy. We call them ‘Power’ Words’. They automatically trigger certain emotions in the readers that make them want to buy. These are definitely a must-know for any creative copywriter.

The list I’m going to show you is thanks to Bob Kaslik, vice president of consumer marketing at Interweave Press, one of the nation’s leading multiplatform craft media companies with businesses in magazine and book publishing, interactive media, broadcast programming, and events for craft enthusiasts.

Bob shared with Mequoda Daily this list of power words that he says Interweave uses interchangeably for newsstand magazine cover lines, promotional copy, and email subject lives. Have a little look…

• Improve
• Trust
• Immediately
• Discover
• Profit
• Learn
• Know
• Understand
• Powerful
• Best
• Win
• Hot Special
• More
• Bonus
• Exclusive
• Extra
• You
• Free
• Health
• Guarantee
• New
• Proven
• Safety
• Money
• Now
• Today
• Results
• Protect
• Help
• Easy
• Amazing
• Latest
• Extraordinary
• How to
• Worst
• Ultimate
• Hot
• First
• Big
• Anniversary
• Premiere
• Basic
• Complete
• Save
• Plus!
• Create

‘You’ is generally considered the most powerful of these powerful words. But cramming in as many of them as possible is not the answer. A good creative copywriter must use them cleverly in context. Your writing should still be sexy and must grip the attention of those potential customers.

Now you have the top 46 copywriting power words. Use them wisely my friends…

Technorati Tags: copywriter editor, copywriter online, copywriting tips, creative copywriter, power words

Blogging is important nowadays. And stress-free blogging is the key to a successful blog. What I mean by this is – don’t stress out about writing your blog!

Don’t chew over what words to use, or worry how you’re gonna sort those sentences into the smartest possible order. As a creative copywriter, or anyone else with a blog, your ideas should flow onto the webpage naturally and easily. Us readers want your genuine ideas about the topic – not a brilliantly-crafted piece of copy. If you write it naturally and cheerfully – then we’ll read it like that. If you write it like an emotionally-detached robot, we won’t be interested.

So here are 3 invaluable tips to good stress-free blogging…

1. Talk to your readers. I mean really talk them. Like they were just one person sitting with you in the room. Be personal. Address them personally by using the word ‘you’ and talk about things they can relate to. If you  write like you’re talking to a mate, then your readers will feel like one. They’ll take in everything you’re saying, feel comfortable reading your thoughts and will come visit again. They’ll trust you.

2. Don’t think, just write. This is how you can blog with ease. Once you start thinking before every word then you start worrying. You worry about the best sentence structure and the ideal words to slot in etc. As a creative copywriter you may feel like you should represent your talent with every paragraph, but trust me, fluidity is the key to blogging. Write down your thoughts as they come to you and your readers will appreciate your honesty and genuine-ness. (And if you end up writing words that you aren’t  sure really exist – like genuine-ness – just go for it!)

3. Know your topic. If you don’t, then how can you educate others? Knowing your stuff is crucial. If you’re blogging for an employer on a subject you’re clueless about, then read-up on it! Learn about it and get interested in it, quickly. Otherwise your readers won’t be interested in what you have to say. A truly creative copywriter should have the skill to absorb any new topic with speed and grace.

Here are a few other blogs I’ve rustled up lately (created and written by me) …

www.urbantshirt.net

www.unusualdresses.net

www.handmadepurse.net

www.marilynmonroeart.net

www.popart-paintings.com

Check them out… And if you like them and need a creative copywriter for your blog, then feel free to contact me today! Email me now at konradsanders@yahoo.co.uk

Cheers guys and girls. See you soon. Have a stress-free week!

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogging tips, business copywriting, copywriter online, creative copywriter, how to blog, stress-free blogging

So I’m a creative copywriter, we know this much. But why have I set out on this risky and lonesome journey to be a freelance copywriter online?

Surely it would be safer and much more glamorous working for some big fancy advertising agency?

Well the answer to this is… maybe.

But let me give you my 5 main reasons for choosing the path of a self-employed copywriter online. Then you can make up your own mind.

1. Flexibility is awesome…

Being employed by me makes this profession very flexible. I get up when I want, work whatever hours suit me and accept whichever jobs look interesting. Don’t get this muddled up with being lazy. If you wanna mope around all day drinking cans of Heineken, eating natchos and watching Big Brother Live – then go ahead – but don’t expect to earn an income from it.

Working for yourself as a creative copywriter online requires great responsibility, self-discipline and hard work. But the flexibility – to choose my hours, my clients, my holidays and my location – is fantastic. An ad agency works differently. You’re tied up by the restrictions of normal office working hours. These tend to be much longer for a copywriter and there’s a big bad boss making sure that this happens.

2. The comfort of my PJs and a pair of slippers…

As a self-employed copywriter online the office I go to everyday is my house. Therefore I don’t regularly go anywhere – apart from the nearest corner shop to re-stock on milk for those all-important cups of tea (British-style). This trusty laptop is my tool and the web is my channel to the outside world. This is very comfortable and convenient.

Even if I wanted to come to work dressed up in a shoulder-padded blazer, a mullet-shaped wig and girls’ make-up like one of the band members of Spandau Ballet – not saying that I do – then I could!

Don’t take advantage of this too much though. Lack of social interaction can send you crazy – well, me anyway. Make sure you get out and about a bit. That initial face-to-face contact with clients can also be really useful for sealing the deal, building up some rapport and for truly understanding what they really want from you.

3. The UK, Europe, America, Israel or a small tropical island off the coast of Thailand…

Reason 3 is location. As my own boss and as a copywriter who works mostly online, I can pretty much live wherever I like. Although I mentioned face-to-face interaction, lots of jobs these days can be done solely through the use of Skype, emails and other internet resources.

So you could be copy-writing for a local firm, while actually chilling out far far away in a beach bar on a tropical island, sipping Rum & Coke through a colourful straw. (And getting fanned by palm leaves and hand-fed grapes).

You can also target customers from any country in the world. Advertising in English is in growing demand pretty much everywhere. A copywriter online can snap up any of these international jobs…and if you’re feeling adventurous – why not jump on a flight right over to your client’s homeland and live there for a while?

Having a wife from Israel, whose family and friends still live in the “Holy Land”, makes this perk a vital asset to my lifestyle. I also lived in Australia and I’m a bit of a traveling fanatic, so think of myself as a man of the world…Some might even say an international man of mystery (but are unlikely to). Anyway, as a Creative Copywriter who loves to travel – being a freelance copywriter online allows me to fulfil my desire.

4. You ain’t the boss o’ me!

In fact, no one is…apart from me. And aside from the flexibility and ‘frolicking around the globe’ bits, there is another huge perk to this.

It’s the feeling you get from being your own boss – from running your own company, dealing with all the responsibilities, from overcoming obstacles and from having your very own clients. It’s all kinda exciting and self-rewarding I must say.

A freelancer may not get close to writing for national brands by themself, but their clients are their own. They have the satisfaction of choosing which clients and projects they want, working with clientele on a personal level and accomplishing their goals all by themself. Freelance copywriters will also get hired by ad agencies when they’re in need of extra talent – so don’t rule out the possibility of writing the new jingle for the Coca Cola campaign!

5. An unlimited income…

How much you earn as an ad agency copywriter fluctuates, depending on where you live and the size of the agency. Level I copywriters usually get between the low $30Ks and the low $50Ks (or 20 Pound Sterling – 40 Pound Sterling if you’re a fellow Brit!). Level III copywriters can earn up to the $80K mark (65Pound Sterling).

This gap is even bigger when it comes to the world of freelance copy-writing. A self-employed, full time copywriter online can earn anything from the meager teens up to a massive 6 figure yearly sum. So if you’re an optimistic, high-goal-setting, creative copywriter like me – and want to be the Bill Gates the copy-writing market – then freelancing can give you that opportunity!

Technorati Tags: ad agency, business copywriting, copywriter editor, copywriter online, copywriting tips, creative copywriter, freelance

Well no, not exactly. I studied Philosophy at Nottingham University. I loved the subject and came out with a 2 , 1 BA Hons Degree in Philosophy from a good uni. But once I’d finished, the question dawned on me - OK so what do I do now?

Philosophy doesn’t really give you much direction. It doesn’t push you down any particular career path. So I felt some regrets afterwards, wishing that I’d chosen some kind of business/marketing-money-making-related subject instead…

But as I ventured into the world of employment, and picked-up some sales and leadership skills while downunder (in Australia), I began to understand the use of my degree. Philosophy teaches you to think. It stretches the boundaries of your mind.

I realised that philosophy had equipped me with the skill to tackle any task or dilemma in a logical way. It gave me an analytical perspective, which is proving to be pretty darn useful afterall… So maybe it didn’t teach me how to succeed as a creative copywriter, but it gave my brain a kick in the right direction.

So was ‘thinking’ the only thing I did at uni?

No. I also drank several pints at the student union,  watched many episodes of  ”The Mighty Boosh” and “Family Guy”, went to parties dressed as a pirate, learnt (very) basic Spanish, and took salsa lessons to pick up chicks. But those things aren’t very relevant right now.

The other major skill that I developed at uni was of course my ability to write… If there’s one thing you have to do a lot of on a philosophy course – apart from pondering about deep stuff – it’s writing. I had to hammer out loads of lengthy essays on abstract and intricate subjects. Although they were very technical and brain-numbing in parts, my essays always included wit. Maybe too much at times. I guess it was the creative copywriter inside trying to break out.

It was this growing hunger and talent for writing, combined with my sales experience and love of advertising that led me to the copywriting world. And that is the tale of a creative copywriter.

Stay tuned for how to be a creative copywriter online, links to my work, information about ‘The Institute of Copywriting’, and all kinds of other hints, tips, stories and lots more…

Technorati Tags: copywriter online, creative copywriter

So how did I become such a creative copywriter? Where did it all begin?

I’ll take you back to the very beginning.

The first hefty thing I can remember writing was written by me, aged 10. Actually I began at 10 and only finished this project as an awkward 14-year old boy, who still looked just like a 10-year old.

It was a Fighting Fantasy book. One of those interactive kinds, where you (the reader) are the main character …if you want to drink the old wizard’s potion turn to page 163, if you’d prefer to dive straight into the perilous pit of burning decay then turn to page 11 – that kinda thing.

It involved  a whole lot of planning, creativity and young teenage-brainal activity. I mapped out the entire plot beforehand – by drawing a chain of huge A3-sized maps (they seemed huge at the time) with all the possible twists and turns of the story. I hand-made the book from coloured card and paper. Cellotape was my secret binding agent. Then I filled it not only with creative language and inventive storylines, but with elaborate hand-drawn pictures of dragons, monsters, goblins and warriors. A lot of early teenage free-time and sweat went into it. It was called ‘The Forest of Fear’.

This little fantasy book captured a growing adolescent’s 4-year long voyage of thought and literary development, on coloured paper…and then my brother lost it! So that was the end of that.

You could say it was the first stepping stone on my path to becoming a creative copwriter... Or you could say it was a story I wrote, then lost. That’s up to you.

What was school like for me? Did I always dream of becoming a creative copywriter?

The answer to this is no. The thought of becoming a creative copywriter never occurred to me at that stage of my life. Probably because I didn’t know what one was. That’s not to say that I lacked creativity however; I loved my Art and story-writing in English Language class. I impressed teachers with my uniquely creative writing style.

The secret to my success at that age was pretty much just throwing in really short sentences all over the place…It doesn’t seem so ingenius now.

‘Moving. Moving slowly. One hand grips the bark, and then the next. The sloth moves along his sturdy branch, inch by inch. Climbing slowly. Gradually. Slowly. Slowly (etc).’

This isn’t an extract, but I remember writing something like this. I thought it was so very inventive at the time.

As a boy of that age who likes to write, you have dreams of becoming a famous author or maybe a Clark Kent/Superman-style journalist. Little did I know that these days were actually the making of a creative copywriter.

Technorati Tags: creative copywriter

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog!

My name is Konrad Sanders. I’m a young talented copywriter from the Big Smoke of London. If you haven’t guessed, the creative copywriter is me and I’m composing this blog for you with 3 main goals in mind…

Firstly, I want you all to follow my epic quest to become the most internationally renowned, outageously successful and wildly creative copywriter online.

My second goal is to share this eagerly growing fountain of knowledge with all you other aspiring copwriters. I’ll be posting hints, tips, links, articles and all kinds of cryptic copywriting tales.

This blog is here thirdly as a prequel to my official website. It will help develop an all-powerful online presence that’ll grow stronger and stronger as I flourish as a freelance creative copywriter online. It sounds kinda evil i know, but I’ll use this power purely for good, I promise.

Infact, in one year’s time, I expect I’ll be some kind of copywriting superhero…”If your business is in a twist and you need great copy fast… Do not fear… The Creative Copywriter is here!”

All I need to do now is work on a costume.

So enjoy the blog everyone. Feedback is welcomed with open arms!

Technorati Tags: creative copywriter