Outsource copywriting to copywriters is a very popular method of acquiring content. Nowadays, not everyone has the opportunity or time to write the text for their website on their own, and with large commercial sites it is even technically impossible. However, when finding a copywriter and giving him an assignment, it is worth doing it the right way for several reasons. In this text, we present all the elements that should be included in an assignment and suggest why you should hand over a brief to a copywriter.
Table of Contents:
- Why give a specific brief to a copywriter?
- Determining the subject matter and language of the text.
- Guidance on the quality of the text.
- Determination of text length (number of zzs).
- The importance of keywords and SEO optimization.
- Text formatting - what is worth knowing?
- Budget - how to determine the rate for the text?
- Schedule and time - when do we expect a finished text?
Why give a specific brief to a copywriter?
If you outsource your copywriting to a copywriter found on Google, on a freelancer portal, on a copywriting portal or on social media, it's a good idea to communicate your prior verbal findings in a structured format. This has many advantages. The first is to avoid misunderstandings. By communicating the order in writing, for example, in an email or text document, we will get the text exactly as we want it. For the copywriter himself, this will also be quite an advantage, as he will be able to create the text simply and quickly capturing all the elements. A summary of the order and the arrangements of previous discussions will also be a clear highlighting of the situation and will prevent the emergence of ambiguities. The order itself in this form is simple, does not take much time and greatly facilitates the work of the copywriter, who can focus on the qualitative side of the work, rather than finding a lot of information in the correspondence. All the following elements are worth stating clearly and specifically. Clearly communicated order, will also be a sign of our professionalism.
Topics and language
The first elements that should be included in a text creation order are the subject matter and the language to be written. These are the most important elements - key to the entire text. If possible, it is advisable to give a specific title or range of topics in which the text is to be created. You should also specify exactly what texts we do not need, for example, because we already have them on our website. In the brief for the copywriter, we must specify the language with which the text is to be written. It can be informal or even journalistic language. It is a good idea to specify where and to whom the content will be published. This way the copywriter will know what language to write our article and what arguments to use in the text.
Text quality
The second very important factor that we must specify in the order is the quality of the text to be produced. It is on this element that will largely determine whether we will be satisfied with the order. The quality of the text should be matched to the purpose of the publication and the website. It is not worth ordering a text of too high a quality that exceeds our needs, as we can use the surplus spent on a more qualitative text differently and more effectively. In general, several types and qualities of text are distinguished. These are precl, back-end, SEO texts, high-quality articles, blog posts or product descriptions. Preclass texts are texts that retain only the general sense and grammatical rules and they are intended for the purpose of positioning the site by Google search engine. Back-end texts are thematic and good quality texts, the purpose of which is to build a back-end for the main page, blog or basic part of the site. They are supposed to be correct, substantive and generally have to cover a given topic. Specialized articles are the highest standard of texts, which involves the use of journalistic language along with the substantive nature of the text or interesting presentation of the issue. Blog posts, on the other hand, are a specific type of text written in the first person addressed directly to the reader with a loose character.
Number of zzs or length of text
An element that many people forget or do not specify is the length of the text. It is what determines how a copywriter will create a given text and whether you get a sufficiently long text. When outsourcing work to copywriters, the text is denoted in characters with spaces - zzs. This is the most popular type of billing for text purchase. A thousand characters with spaces is usually several sentences. The price for them can range from a few to even a few dozen zlotys. It is worth commissioning a copywriter and specifying whether the number of characters must be exact or can be longer or shorter. You should add to this whether you will pay for any excess and longer text.
SEO keywords and optimization
Another element to take care of when giving an assignment to a copywriter is to highlight all information related to SEO and positioning. If we want the text to be optimized for SEO, we should specify the phrases and keywords to be in the content or leave it up to the copywriter. We can also request only basic optimization or indicate in the order that we do not care about this element. For the copywriter, this is the key data that will allow him to create a properly tailored text. In the order we can include, for example, instructions on the frequency of adding phrases or the type of positioning. We can also include information about other elements of SEO optimization in this section, so that they are performed according to our preferences.
Formatting
An important piece of information for a copywriter is the one about text formatting. We can include formatting details such as the use of bullet lists and tables, bold and italics or underlining. We can also indicate whether we want it to expose headings and sections and, if so, whether we want them created in the right way, e.g. as to length or order. We can also specify whether we want the text to be formatted for publication or not, since we add the texts on the page ourselves anyway.
Budget
One of the most important elements we need to think about when commissioning a job is the budget. This is one of the key pieces of information for a copywriter who wants to know how much he will receive for a given text. You should specify the gross and net rate per 1,000 characters with spaces, and whether the rate will be increased if the limit is exceeded. It is also a good idea to specify how the payment for the text will be made and when it will take place. This information is motivating and shows the professionalism of the person commissioning the text.
Schedule and time
The last element we need to keep in mind when ordering copywriters is the schedule and time of publication. When ordering the work, it is a good idea to set a deadline for receiving the work a little earlier, for example, a few days before the actual publication. In case of problems, we will have time to react or, for example, outsource the work to another copywriter.
