Copywriters That Rip You Off?

Hi Ray

Looks like I must be one of the lucky ones. I found a copywriter via the warrior forum, and I have been amazed by the results that my site has achieved thanks to her work. I made my money back within a week of the site going live, and next time I need anything done I know exactly where I will be going.

Sorry to hear that you copywriters have some bad apples spoiling it for the rest of you.

Andrew Stark

Here’s a good one.

Two weeks ago I responded to an ad on Craig’s List for a “content writer” in the niches of “internet marketing” and “personal development”.

As I’m looking to hone my skills as a copywriter I responded with samples of my writing, a resume synopsis and a cover letter with a link to my Linked In page.

Time invested: 3 hours

A week later I received a reply… complimenting me on my writing, and explaining that, as part of an interview process, I would be paid $50 to edit an audio transcription for a well-known (and rich) internet marketer.

Naturally, I was elated at the opportunity, so I immediately got to work. At 4:30 the following morning - about 16 hours turnaround time - I submitted my masterpiece, again with a cover letter and contact information.

Time invested: 10 hours (generously accounting for breaks)

Next I received a quick reply asking where to send the $50 check, and to which I replied, in effect, “… this one is on the house.”

As I’ve been on this big-time marketer’s subscriber list for more than a year, imagine my surprise when I saw his reformatted nine-page PDF file I had invested so much diligent, agonizing time… editing and revising… being proffered as a downloadable free gift on his blog… three days later.

The message was professionally presented as an only- slightly-revised promotional “gimme” in order to stir up interest in a high-priced coaching program with a recurring monthly fee - which, in and of itself, was to be expected, and “no big thing”.

But what will be interesting to see happen is if I get another shot in the “interview process”.

Thus can it be said, “the drama continues to unfold”, and “the story never ends”.

Hi Ray,

I don’t have any real copywriting jobs. The last
copywriting job that I hired out, I had you do
Regards,
Willie Crawford

Andrew, glad to hear you’ve had a good experience!

Lark — sounds like an interesting scenario. I hope your “rich, famous” benefactor does the right thing by you.

Willie: good to hear from you, my friend! Thanks for stopping by with a comment.

C’mon folks… I know there are some good juicy stories out there. Just remember to change the names to protect the innocent (or the guilty, as the case may be).

Hi Ray,

I had one good and one bad experience…

First the good one… I meet a copywriter at a seminar lat year and he did a great job for me at a fraction of what he usually charges. The conversion of that page increased a lot and he kept giving improvement suggestions that I could split test long after I paid him.

BTW… you can see the result if you click on my name.

The bad example is what happened when I hired and 50% pre-paid another copywriter that contacted me via email and offered to rewrite some of my script sales pages.

After several months he still only returned part of what he offered to re-write… and then completely gave up and even told me not to worry about paying him the remaining 50%.

Wasn’t that bad… I know. But that’s the only “bad” story I have.
Best regards,

Frank Bauer
http://FrankBauer.name

Ray,

You hit the nail on the head. Copy is of the utmost importance in this industry.

Take Care

Alex Mandossian
Alex Mandossian.com

Hi Ray,

We hired a well known copywriter for a Life Coaching Company, the deal was it was going to be $15000a month and he was going to recraft our site and write a sales letter and organise traffic to be driven to the site by adwords.

Our first call was a basic 1 hour intro into copywriting and we were told we needed to craft our USP, we agonised over it… Came back a week later and were told we had a slogan not a USP fair enough, it was a slogan and it was rubbish.

We were sent away again for another week, we didn’t have the skills, we were too close to our business to see it ( where was the expert copywriter to help us nowhere)

We were told what we came up with the second time was not very good, but if that was the best we could do then he would write the sales letter based on that.

Thats when we decided to pull the plug and run.

Gavin
http://www.OutsourceSuccess.com

I’m a writer, but I also hire other creative people on a regular basis.

I can find plenty of designers, programmers and web devs. But good copywriters are in short supply, especially in the online space.

In fact, 4 out of 5 writers we audition fail to impress. Consider this opening line from a would-be writer:

“I have a train wreck of a resume but…”

Next.

Ouch. That IS unimpressive!

Do you really want to hear all my negative experiences? LOL

Actually I just posted them on my own blog & yes, I did use names.

I’m not afraid.

The arrogance & ego of almost any of the copywriters I’ve come into contact with is embarrassing.

The only ones who weren’t arrogance & mean spirited or wasted my time were the ones I hired several years ago who really didn’t know the first thing about long sales letters or ARs. They went out of their way to do a great job.

Isn’t anyone in the industry secure, down to earth, friendly, honest & actually keeps their word?

My word means a lot to me. I know I’m in the minority here, but really.

And on a MB (won’t say names) I’ve been lied about saying I don’t pay my bills which is not true, so it all seems very clicky & childish to me.

What are copywriters doing hanging around on MBs for if they are sooo busy? And they have nothing better to do than bash innocent people?

I even had one copywriter (he was too much for me) tell me he avoids those MBs like the plague & he told me what they were like before I really understood what was going on. I was shocked to hear him say that.

Just a brief rundown…

1. I had one string me along for over a month saying he would do my work. We had come this close (see my fingers) to agreeing on a price & if you come this close, IMO, the deal is done, it’s just tying up loose ends. He ignored my e-mails & phone messages coming up with a whole bunch of excuses which at first I believed b/c I believe others tell me the truth until they prove me wrong.

When I mentioned what was happening on one of the MBs, everyone stuck up for him saying he was sooo great. Yeh well, that’s their experience, not mine, & these were writers, not biz owners who were saying this.

I wasn’t questioning his work, I was questioning his word, him stringing me along.

2. Again another one wasted my time after 3-4 wks. went by of me waiting for him to come back from vacation (never told me he was even going, but did tell me he would start on my copy in 3 wks.), & I had already sent him 50% like he asked for. In fact I sent it the day after we talked on the phone.

First he claims he didn’t get it for 2 wks. which is his first lie, it takes like 3-5 biz days & most people get it in 3.

Then he lied saying he asked for 100% upfront.

Thank god I got my money back, but hey, my time is worth money, so I lost money there too, not to mention the stress of dealing with unethical people & me needing the work to get done asap.

So far all I’m doing is chasing these people. So I’m supposed to give them my hard earned money & chase them at the same time?

Who’s the client here????

3. Another one kept saying he’d do my copy (this was for a smaller site, not my main one), then he just disappeared. This went on for about 3 wks. as well.

4. The last one charged me a fortune even with his discount, did an okay job in some areas, bombed in others.

What I didn’t like was the fact that he barely did any work (it was a rewrite for most of the items - 2 sites, 2 sets of ARs) on all 4 items, & when I went thru his work b/c my website coder stated not much had changed, I realized he was right.

He also didn’t do something we had agreed upon.

When I personally went thru his work a 2nd time, I realized he made TONS of factual errors, & his copy was sooo salesy it was embarrassing for me b/c I don’t make promises I can’t keep. I don’t lie, so I had to adjust a ton of his work editing it all myself.

I even made notes of all his mistakes (he clearly didn’t edit a thing) just in case he ever came back claiming I was the one who caused the problems.

The ARs never sell, till this day they never sell, even the one he wrote from scratch doesn’t sell, & I’ve been looking for someone to figure out why.

When I called him on the copy (just the fact that not much had been done as I didn’t know about all the other mistakes at the time), he started bashing me trying to make it seem like this was all my fault.

I told him I don’t appreciate being talked to this way - you’d think I was talking to a lawyer LOL, & he disappeared.

Thank god I hadn’t given him 100%, but still 50% was a FORTUNE for me.

I won’t ever give anyone 100% now. I’ve NEVER had to give any of the ICs I hire 100% upfront, & IMO, that’s just arrogant to demand that out of all the positions one can hire online.

I know some companies can rip ICs off, but most are not like that.

5. The last one wrote a lot of copy (again not for my larger sites), but got the entire concept of the product wrong. It was also a rewrite, & when I called him on it, he stated on a rewrite he doesn’t do any research b/c it’s a cheaper price & he just went by what I had written down.

I started laughing.

What research?

The product was clearly stated in my own copy, & on the company’s website - I’m a distributor. I even talked to him about it on the phone.

He did rewrite it, but I’ve since had to have editors go in & tweak it & I have too.

It seems I never get great copy I can just place on my site, I always have to pay someone else to correct mistakes, or take time out of my precious schedule to rewrite a lot. Some even make mistakes with proper usage of the English language.

I did make the mistake of letting my friendliness get in the way of biz.

I liked this guy, so I paid for 2 other sites upfront (50% of 3 sites in total) before even seeing his first bit of work.

My mistake - I won’t ever make that one again. He almost wouldn’t give me my money back stating on his site it claims there are no refunds even if he doesn’t do the work.

Of course I never saw this policy & I was never asked to sign anything relating to this policy.

He did give me my money back, but once again, the stress was too much. I should be happy w/ my copy 98% of the time, not worry about copywriters doing terrible work, ripping me off, stringing me along, gossiping & lying about me b/c they all stick together & aren’t objective.

And no I’m not saying every single copywriter is like this, I just haven’t come across any who aren’t.

It seems to be the old “boy’s club” where they stick up for each other even if they don’t know what happened, or have read the quality of work (lack thereof) being output.

I’ve given up on finding good copywriters. Even this last one I came across a few days ago said he’d get me a quote on Monday.

Not only do I not get the quote at all & an e-mail on Wedn., he now tells me he’s too busy.

What? He didn’t know this when I first started talking to him 2-3 wks. ago????

In March I even wrote my own copy & finally got that online so I’m going to split test it. I keep hearing “no one should write your copy BUT YOU!”

I’m still out on that one. I consider myself a writer, but clearly I can be verbose, but yes, I do know my product & a lot of copywriters seem older in the sayings they use in my copy.

I mean I haven’t heard these sayings since I was a little girl LOL, yet they are writing to an audience anywhere from 21-35.

I’ve decided to hire an apprentice & have them train themselves via books & well known copywriter’s classes - I hear John Carlton’s is the best.

I’d rather invest in training, get someone who really cares about writing, not just how much they can gouge businesses, people who wouldn’t even think about ripping businesses off, & is a nice person & easy to work with.

They get to become better at writing (most aren’t copywriters to begin with), I get a good price I can live with (still a very small biz, so affording thousands of dollars without any guarantee that the copy will even produce is out of the question) & it’s a win win.

Thank you for listening & have a great long weekend : )

Michelle

Do copy writers use a contract specificly stating that the person doing the hiring owns the exclusive rights to the work?