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HTML clipboardWhether you're marketing yourself as a freelance copywriter or you're searching for a copywriting job at an advertising agency, publishing your copywriting samples online helps prospects learn more about you instantly.
Here's why you should consider putting select copywriting samples online:
1. You're Competing with Other Copywriters
Freelancers are competing with other freelancers. Permanent full-time agency copywriters are competing with other copywriting employees.
2. You're Advertising Yourself
Your online portfolio should stand on its own as a solid example of your copywriting skills. It's part of your personal ad campaign.
Just as you want to know more about companies you do business with before you buy something, potential clients and employers want to see what you have to offer before they give you a call. By making your portfolio easy to access online, you're saving them time by giving them access to your work right away. You're also showing confidence in your writing.
3. Your Online Copywriting Portfolio is an Extension of Your Paper Portfolio
Employers and agencies are interested in seeing your work before they bring you in to discuss projects and hire you for the job. You could spend hours Emailing your samples to every single prospect.
With an online portfolio, you can showcase your work and promote your website by including a link on your letterhead. You don't have to duplicate the portfolio you would present in person but you can offer a nice sampling of what you have to offer.
You will still want to make sure the portfolio you present in person is up-to-date and ready to go in case a local client or employer wants to meet with you. But your online portfolio can get you past that first evaluation round and closer to landing the gig.
4. In-Person Meetings Aren't Guaranteed
You could be saving your portfolio to show to a client or employer in a face-to-face meeting that is never going to happen. Your resume looks good but what kind of writer are you? Entice your prospect to get in touch with you. You're motivating him just as you would motivate a customer to buy something in your copy.
You still need a portfolio you can show to prospects in person but you have to convince them to bring you in first. If you're freelancing, you could be trying to tap into markets on one coast when you're on the other. You won't be able to meet with a client in person so you'll never have the luxury of showing your copywriting skills.
5. Your Online Copywriting Portfolio Shows You're a Professional
Anyone can wake up and decide today's the day he wants to become a copywriter. He can put together a website to see if any clients come strolling by looking for a copywriter. He can write some copy that touts himself as the one to hire.
Your online portfolio is crucial to making you stand out from the inexperienced. Even if your writing samples are SPEC ADS, you can still write effective ads to put into your online portfolio.
Prospects can be impressed by the big-name clients on your resume. However, it's your writing abilities that will get you the job or force the potential client or employer to keep looking.
