I’m on a tear tonight. It’s copy writing imposters who give real copywriters a black eye.

Because so few people know any great copywriters personally–or what they should be willing to pay to get a great one–they all too often hire unknowns and wannabes at secretarial-level wages…and the results dismay and discourage them so thoroughly that they never have the courage to hire a copywriter again.

I’ve written at least half a dozen articles about how to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to looking for a professional writer. Chief among the first things you need to do is ask to see their websites, online portfolios, and client testimonials! If they don’t have all of these things,  that should raise a serious red flag!

Federal Trade Commission requirements are that portfolios and online testimonials must be legitimate. Not that they always are, so if you ever suspect that someone’s portfolio or testimonials aren’t real after hiring them and finding out they do a crappy job (or before), report them to the FTC for investigation. That should put the fear of God into them… and with any luck at all, it’ll also put them out of business and facing hefty fines and perhaps jail time.

 
Until every potential copy writing client knows how to protect him or herself from the charlatans, far too many people will keep falling victim to people who hang their shingles and then give the copy writing industry a black eye and their clients a bad taste for the profession.

Visit wordwhisperer.net to find out how to choose a good copywriter. There’ are a couple of special articles there, along the left-hand side of the home page, that you can click that will help you.