Mmmm…Free Samples!

There are at least 10 new web samples on the (wait for it…) Web Samples page. Can you pick the new ones out of the 30-or-so on the page? Would it kill you to try?  Web Writing Examples.

Also, I added a link on the Video Writing Samples page to the Veterans Administration Tribute Videos I produced. Go there! Aloha.

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Double or Nothing

Ah, the things a Charleston copywriter does these days to keep the checks coming!

This tale is about “these times” and the strength of professional relationships. First, these times. What can we say? By every objective economic measure, these times suck. It is all around us – people out of work, underworked or underpaid. And yet, as I said a while back, I keep chugging along. Not setting the world on fire by any means, but staying busy – and staying Thankful.

Then, a regular client comes to me with a proposition. A relative of his is a Realtor here in Charleston. He is representing a seller with about 500 acres of land in Manning SC. This is a large hunting property with many improvements where you can annihilate deer, doves, ducks and turkeys by day, while enjoying the amenities of a handsome new 4-bed, 2-bath cabin by night. If you know anything about hunting properties (and I do not,) you know that this is a rarity.

Of course, times being what they are, the sellers can’t sell as quickly as they would like. They want to sell, the Realtor wants his commission, so what do they do? Well, the Realtor turns to his cousin/uncle/whatever who runs a website development firm here in Charleston. This property needs a well-designed, well-written and well- optimized website – better designed, written and optimized than is currently affordable. The proposal is as follows: if we sell, I will pay you double. If we do not, it’s free.

The web dude agrees, but only if he can get his trusted designer – and his trusted writer (me) – to go along with it. So, I have a choice. It’s not like I need any more practice writing Real Estate. Since I moved to Charleston, I have done plenty. And, will this property ultimately sell? Who knows?

For me, it all turned on the professional relationship with the web dude. I asked myself, what would make me comfortable with the possibility of not being paid for my work? And the beginning, middle and end of the story is that I trust the guy. Of all my clients, I have precisely two that I would trust with this sort of arrangement.

I guess the point is that, despite the economic conditions, you ALWAYS have a choice who you work with. And it isn’t always about money. I have clients I have known for 20 years who take their sweet-ass time paying me, and I have clients I have known for about a minute who are my fastest pays.

I don’t want this to seem like a tortured decision process that took days…I trusted the guy, and I agreed. And I agreed to do my best work, fully aware that I may not get paid.

So I invite you to check out the site, and judge for yourself. Does this look like a guy doing a favor for his nephew, and dragging his begrudging web buddies along for the ride? Deep Creek Land for Sale.

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The Fishin’ Magician!

Research was BRUTAL on this gig!

And now, number 600 in the copywriting master series, “Topics I Never Considered Until I was being Paid to.”

Do you know the difference between in-shore, near-shore and offshore fishing? A bay, cove or sound? A boat and a skiff? Yeah, me neither…until now.  I was never much of a fisherman, I must admit. In fact, one of my earliest memories was at a fishing lake. I might have been three. I remember drawing the rod back and making a mighty cast. Instantly I felt a yank on the line and heard a scream. I had hooked my mother by the earlobe!

Anyway, the topic is fishing charters, and they are BIG business in Charleston SC.  The tourism base here is strong already and, when you combine that with abundant fishing opportunities, you have a lot of competition in the angling trade.

The challenge, as usual, is differentiation. In my research I learned that absolutely every one of these fishing boat captains has:

• Spent his whole life on the water;
• Knows every secret fishing hole, channel and reef in the Charleston area; and is
• Fully licensed, bonded and insured.

Fortunately, I worked with a web design dude who had a little more on the ball in terms of the subject matter. He also had loads of ideas in terms of structure, with SEO in mind. This included a glossary of fishing terms, a detailed equipment list, exhaustive descriptions of the territory covered, and so on. Also, though our client runs a strictly in-shore charter, we included descriptions of all the other types of charters you might experience in Charleston, just to get those stray Google hits.

Anyway, take a look.  Did I capture the fishing mojo?  By Gar, I hooked it by its lip and hauled it up out of the vast sea of my own fishing ignorance. Then I gutted and filleted it right on the dock!

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