Ep 292 // 4 Things to Look For in a Copywriter (So You Don't Waste Thousands)

Speaker A: Listen, friends, I have watched business owners, uh, multiple business owners, very savvy, very smart, very successful business owners, even hand over thousands of dollars to a copywriter who genuinely could write beautiful sentences, craft beautiful words, but they couldn't sell with those words. And so today, I'm handing you the exact filter that I wish everybody would use when they hire a copywriter. Whether you work with me and my team or somebody completely different. Even if you never, ever, ever hire me or subscribe to my emails or anything, I really, really, really need you to run copywriters through this filter. Because the fact of the matter is, no matter how good AI is or how good AI gets, if you have something that you genuinely need to sell, and sell really well, you still need the human touch of an excellent and well trained copywriter. So let's get into it. Hey there, fellow entrepreneur. Welcome to simple SEO and marketing. Do you want to grow your business with sustainable traffic sources? Have you heard about the power of search engine optimization? And you want to take advantage of it to get more traffic, more eyeballs on your business. But when it comes down to it, does SEO feel complicated and hard to implement? Are you tired of wondering what in the heck to do with your website to get more traffic and more leads knocking on your door? What if I could tell you that there was a simple, proven system for using SEO, blogging and copywriting to get leads from your website and not just any leads, high converting leads. Hey, I'm Faith Hannon. Why? Wife, mama, copywriter, SEO strategist and barrel racer. And for the last eight years, I've been figuring out what works and what doesn't work in the world of online marketing to get organic traffic. And now I'm here to share all the things I'm learning in the trenches of SEO, copywriting and content marketing. How does 300%, 500% or even 12,000% more traffic in a year sound? What could your business do with that kind of traffic increase? How many more people could you help? So listen in and prepare to take notes. I'm about to drop simple, actionable SEO, marketing and copywriting tips, all with a heavy dose of Jesus loving encouragement. Let's get you more traffic and more leads so you can help more people with your God given gifts. Okay, so I know you're sitting here and maybe you're thinking, faith, I have so many things that I need to spend money on in my business right now. Please don't tell me that I need to fix my copy. And, uh, you know, until I look at your Stuff, I mean, you may not. Right. It's obviously like individual things, but here's, here's the under writing current that I want you to, to kind of frame your, uh, thought process with as you listen to this episode and learn is. And that, that under current is this, is that copywriting is one of the highest leverage investments that you can make in your business when it's done correctly. Because the copy surrounding everything in, on your website, your sales pages, your copy is going to help sell your stuff. You can have all the eyeballs in the world. You know, through your blog, Your podcast, your YouTube, your social media, you can have all the eyeballs and all of the attention in the world. But if that attention and those eyeballs don't convert, then your business is not going to scale and grow and pay you and your family and your team like you need it to. Okay? When your copy is done wrong or not in a way that is designed to strategically sell the way that you want it to sell, when your copy is done wrong, it doesn't just cost you the investment, whatever you spent on that copy and the time that you spent on that copy, it costs you the opportunity of another six months, year, two years of sales that doesn't convert. So if you can think about it like that, like the work that you do on your website copy or your messaging in general, like that work is going to convert for months and months and years and years when it's done correctly, or it's going to kill conversions for months and months and years and years when it's done incorrectly. Okay? And truly, the difference between great copy and, you know, mediocre copy is, is who writes it and if they're a good fit and if they have the skill set and all of the things that we're going to cover in this episode. So for, for, um, you know, framing purposes for this, for this episode, I want to clarify what is copy? Copy is sales in word form, period. Okay? And a copywriter, for the purpose of the purposes of this discussion, is somebody who writes words that are designed to sell. Okay? And so sometimes, just for lack of Clari or, um, you know, confusion in the industry, people are marketing themselves as copywriters, and really, they are content writers. Um, content is by nature more designed to nurture than just like straight sales. And we do both here at, in my agency and in my business, we do both copyright copywriting and content writing. But today, I want to talk specifically about copywriting and what I want you to look for in a copywriter for your business okay. Okay. So number one, the number one of four things that we're going to talk about in what you should be looking for in a copywriter, whether you ever, ever hire me or not. Promise, number one, I want you to look for somebody who knows how to sell. Look for somebody who knows how to sell. Because if they don't know how to sell, then it's a moot point. Like, they're just crafting pretty words. And, y', all, I love pretty words probably more than the next person. Like, ask me how much good lyrics in a song make my heart go pitter patter. Right? Like, there are some songwriters, Joel Houston, for one, like, they're just absolute wordsmiths. They can craft words that are just like, oh, uh, so beautiful, like, right to the heart. Okay? But copywriting is not just crafting beautiful words. Copywriting has to be words strategically written to sell. And so when you're looking for a copywriter, you need to find somebody who knows how to sell. There is a lot of strategy and a lot of framework and a lot of, uh, buyer psychology behind good copywriting. Okay? Now, obviously, those are. Those are skills that can be learned. Somebody can be really, really amazing with words and a wordsmith by nature, but not know how to be a good copywriter because they just don't know how to sell. Those are skills that can be learned. And there's also people that have more of a natural knack for that, that have more of a natural knack for selling than other people. Right? If you're great at convincing, if you're great at persuasion, then you're probably kind of going to have a step up when it comes to sales. Um, ask me, ask me which, Which. Which side of the road I fall on there. I fall on the easy to sell side. I promise you that. So, like, I'm selling is. It's pretty. It's pretty easy and pretty natural for me. So, anyway, number two. The number two thing, I want you to look for, and I think this is extremely important on both, like the. On both sides of the equation here. Number two, I want you to look for somebody who will take the time to actually know your business. I want you to look for somebody who will take the time to actually know you and your business, not just your offer, not just your voice, although those are extremely important, not just your goals. I want you to hire somebody who takes the time to get to know your heart, the heart behind your business, why you're in business, why this matters to you. Why are you putting and pouring your Your life, this business, and you want to, you want to work with a copywriter who wants to take the time to get to understand that and know that about you. Okay, um, and here's just a little red flag for you. I, major red flag actually is a copywriter who doesn't ask you a ton of questions before writing. In my business and in our processes, I, I block off hours, literal hours, to get to know the client, to get to know their business, to get to know their voice, to get to know their heart. Before I ever move into the quote unquote writing phase. Now I am literally always writing in my head. I have a notepad, I have, you know, calls being recorded. Like, um, I'm, I'm, um, my brain is always working, but I want to get to know you, I want to get to know your voice, I want to get to know your goals, I want to get to know your offer ladder and your structure and your heart and why you're in business. The research and in my world, and in my opinion, the research and discovery phase of, you know, starting to build out that copy project, the research and discovery phase is the work. That's where the good copy comes from. Okay? And the number three thing I want you to look for is I want you to look for somebody who understands and uses SEO. I've had multiple business owners come to me and be like, well, I paid somebody to do my copy, but I need you to do my SEO. And I'm like, well, that's cool. But like, the two are married. They're completely intertwined in how I write and in how I do copy because I can't, you know, call a spade a spade if the SEO term for it is a club. Okay? And so there, they cannot be separated. Now there are definitely ways to work around, you know, like I, you, um, really want to say this phrase like this, and it's not SEO friendly. Great. We can work around that. We can organize the, you know, H1, H2, H3 so that it still works for SEO. But this, this particular phrase that isn't SEO friendly is not very high up in the h, you know, H hierarchy. But you need to un, um, you need to work with somebody who understands SEO or go to them with proven research backed keywords that you are telling your copywriter, these are the keywords. This is where you need to integrate them and you give them the plan and they work. Now most, most business owners don't want to do that, and I understand that because the SEO part of that is a ton of work. But you need to work with somebody who understands SEO or go to them with the entire SEO strategy already already built out. Okay. Um, because you really cannot separate SEO and copy. Like, they don't work without each other very well. And I don't say this to toot my own horn. I say it because I've seen what happens when SEO and copy are treated as completely separate departments, and it doesn't work. Okay. Good copywriting that doesn't find anybody is a waste. Right. But also on the flip side, good SEO that doesn't convert is a waste. Y' all need both. You need both. Okay. Um. Okay. And the last thing that I want you to think through when you're hiring a copywriter is I want you to look for somebody who can write in your voice, who can and will take the time to know your voice, represent you well and right in your voice, because everybody has a different voice, and that's okay. Like, that's the beauty of having your own business or. Or a brand that is, you know, really well crafted is it should be distinguishable among the masses because you have a voice not just like a, um, you know, physical voice that makes noise, but you as a person and a. In a brand, you have a distinct voice, whether you realize it or not. And that should come across in your copy. And this, again, is back to number two. Like, we're getting to know you, and the interviewing and asking a ton of questions comes into play. And I think it's a really important point to make here, is you need to work with a copywriter who will respect and honor your brand values in your voice. If. Let me. Let me explain that a little bit. Um, I'm gonna. I'm gonna pull back and tell this from, like, my side as a copywriter. So there have been clients that I worked with that they were little cussers. Like, they. They were little cussers, and they said words that I do not say. And my mama would slap me for saying, okay. And just in our working relationship, um, I had to say, like, I'm not going to write that word. I can't write that word. I cannot in good conscience type that word. If you would like to add that into your copy later, have at it. And this particular client laughed and then said, sure, that's fine. Doesn't bother me. Okay. And from the copywriter perspective. Right. I understood that that was something that she would genuinely say. Um, that's fine. She can. She can do that. It's her business. But my conscience would not allow Me to write that word. Okay. Because it's like, I, yeah, my mama would still slap me for saying that. Okay? So you, as you as an individual, you as a brand, your business, you have a voice, you have a way of speaking, you have a way that you want to be represented online, whether that is a very, very buttoned up, very professional, very corporate, you know, vernacular that you want to use, or it is a very country bumpkin vernacular. If you're like me and you open your mouth and you sound like cornbread, sometimes it's like, oh. But you want that to come across correctly in your copy in a way that still sells. And it is possible. It is totally possible. You just need a copywriter who understands how to sell and to, um, how to understand your voice and to craft copy in a way that represents you well and actually leads you, get you more sales. So when you're interviewing a copywriter, I want you to ask some questions about how they get to know your voice, how do they capture that voice, how do they represent that, your voice well and still lead to more sales? Because there are some people in this world. I have one friend I'm thinking of in particular. Um, I love him dearly, but if it's. If it is a five minute story, I promise you it will take him 45 minutes to tell that story. And we have a whole joke running joke in our families about how long it takes him to tell a story. If I was doing copywriting for this friend, I would have to shorten that, still make it sound like him. But I. You can't take 45 minutes to say something that should take five. Right? And your copywriter, a gray copywriter, should be able to help you craft copy in a way that maintains the integrity of your voice and still leads to sales. So if you are listening to this and you're like, dang, Faith, I. I know I need help with my copy, but I don't know what to do. Or I. Maybe you already know what to do and you would love to work with us. Click the link in the show notes. Faith Hannah.com booking or, um, just go to faithhand.combooking and book a call and we'll chat. And I, I have genuinely narrowed down the, and streamlined the process of copywriting so well, and I know so well who I want to work with and who I'm a good fit for that. I've turned people away before because I'm like, hey, I'm not the best fit for you. There's somebody else out there that's going to do a better job for you or people who I don't feel like I can genuinely represent well, you know. So I am taking bookings for this fall, um, for copy clients. They are limited because it is a very hands on, very in depth. I am all up in your business. We're on lots of calls. Um, I'm streamlining your voice, I'm making things sound like you and sell. But the copy that we create, the copy that we can work together on, it goes beyond just your homepage. We can work through launch campaigns, sales pages, um, your overall messaging. We can work together to help you create copy, have copy on hand that works across every platform and helps you sell more without feeling like a giant sleaze ball. So go to that link and snag a spot. It's no obligation spot to just talk through if, uh, if finessing your copy is the next best step, uh, for your business. All right, y', all, we'll come back at you and chat some more next week. Bye. Thank you so much for listening in today. Hopefully this episode gave you some really tangible tips for better SEO and marketing to get more leads and more sales from your website. If it did, can I ask you a quick favor? Would you please share this episode with a friend and then, uh, just take 10 seconds and go Leave a written review on Apple Podcasts. That is the very best way to help more Jesus loving entrepreneurs scale their businesses so that they can help more people with their gifts and make an even bigger impact for the kingdom of God. And guess what? We now have a Facebook community where we can learn, hang out and laugh. Go join the Facebook group now. It's linked in the show notes and all the other things, courses, coaching and copywriting can be found at my website, faith hannon.com until next time. God bless and I'll talk to you.