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LinkedIn100 spam trigger words that can kill your email copy
The same qualities that make email attractive to legitimate advertisers also make email attractive to spammers.
To combat the ongoing flood of spam, Internet Service Providers, email marketing services, and even email program companies (such as Mozilla or Microsoft) analyze millions of messages and compile lists of “trigger” words and phrases most often associated with spam. These trigger words and phrases are then used to filter incoming messages.
This is a good thing, since it helps reduce the amount of unwanted messages we all receive. But it’s also a bad thing, since it invariably snares legitimate messages from honest advertisers.
This means that when you’re writing email messages for a client or for your own business, you face a unique challenge. Because, like it or not, seemingly innocent copy, especially in the subject line, can kill your email copy.
Here’s one example of a spam trigger word list from Vertical Response:
Writing compelling copy with a stick and red feathers
Getting people to say “yes” is the goal for any sales message. It’s what psychologists call “compliance.”
However, my first exposure to the idea of compliance was not in a psychology book, but beneath a tree decades ago when my grandfather, in a moment of playfulness, showed me something startling with a stick and a few red feathers.
One day, he handed me a long stick with a clump of red feathers taped to the end and said he wanted to show me something. He had a familiar, mischievous look in his eye, so I knew it would be fun.
In a tree near his tool shed, a family of robins had nested. We slowly and quietly worked our way to just beneath the tree, and my grandfather told me to raise the feather end of the stick up to the nest.
Nearby, a male red breasted robin stood guard. When he saw the red feathers, he immediately attacked them, chirping wildly and flapping his wings in distress. I was dumbfounded.
The importance of being trivial
Do you like the title of this article? I stole it from chapter 3 of The Art of Readable Writing by Rudolf Flesch.
Back in the 40s and 50s, Flesch was hailed as the guru of clear, direct writing. His advice remains powerful and relevant today.
When Flesch recommended being “trivial,” he meant you should use details to energize your writing. That requires researching your subject and sharing specifics with your reader to create vivid mental images.
I can illustrate this simple idea with the following two descriptions:
89 Reasons I LOVE Being a Freelance Copywriter
1. It’s my business so I call the shots.
2. No suits.
3. No ties.
4. I can wear outrageous Hawaiian shirts 365 days a year.
5. Pants optional. Just joking. I almost always wear pants.
6. It’s more of a challenge than having a job.
7. No cubicle.
8. My victories and failures are my own.
9. I don’t have to “do lunch.”
10. I work at home. No commute.
11. No road rage.
12. No commute saves me 2 hours a day, 10 hours a week, 500 hours a year. That’s over 20 extra days annually. Whoo hoo!
Should you ask for freelance referral fees?
I get a lot of questions from readers. Generally, I answer them with a short email.
But now and then I get a really good question and like to answer it as a blog post to share with everyone.
Here’s a question about referral fees I received recently from Trace Conger, a freelance commercial writer.
Hi Dean. Continued thanks for the great site. I learn something new every time I stop by. I was hoping you could throw some of your wisdom my way on the topic of freelance referral fees.
For the first time in my freelance career, I had to turn down work. I picked up three new clients over the course of a month and each had significant projects due ASAP (as if there is any other timeline).
5 essential smartphone apps for the organized freelancer
Whenever people find out I freelance, and have done so since the 1990s, they invariably say, “Oh, I’m not disciplined or organized enough to do that.”
Well, maybe if they had some of these handy smartphone apps, suggested by app guru David Sumner, they’d change their mind.
***
Everyone knows the score; a freelancer has traded in the confinements and limits of a traditional working life to enjoy the freedom and flexibility of being self-employed.
However, not having a boss there to tell you what to do means you are solely responsible for your work and success, which will only come with some organizational skills.
There are many apps out there perfectly suited to organizing your work and expanding your client base with ease. However, many apps are developed purely for entertainment purposes so you need to know which smartphone apps are the real deal.
Become a freelance god in 7 (sort of) simple steps
The world is filled with dreaming writers who have heard golden stories of the great beyond (working full time as a well-paid freelance copywriter), but who have yet to make the mysterious transformation from mere mortal to freelance god.
Many of my fellow immortals would keep you in the dark, struggling to find the secret.
But I, in my infinite mercy, shall now reveal to you the 7 steps for breaking the bonds of earth and ascending in glory to the pantheon of six-figure writers who …
Okay, even I can’t continue with that silly metaphor.
The fact is, there is very little difference between you and those “godlike” writers you admire and envy. Going from struggling writer to successful freelancer isn’t effortless, but it’s not as complicated or mysterious as you might think.
Really, it’s about 7 pretty simple ideas:
12 boring copywriting tips (that lead to exciting results)
In marketing, people are always looking for the next new thing. New technology, new lists, new creative formats, and all sorts of new whiz-bang stuff.
But when it comes to copy, the old ideas are generally the best ideas. Why? Because selling is about communicating with people, and people are pretty much the same today as they ever were.
Oh, is that boring? Would you rather that I reveal some spectacular new copywriting discovery?
Well, too bad. Because for the most part, the stuff that worked a hundred years ago still works today. And a hundred years from now, it will be working just as well.
Buzzwords come and go, of course. The style of marketing copy is generally shorter and more to-the-point now.
But if you pick up an old magazine or catalog or look at a direct mail package from decades ago, you’ll see the same principles at work as you would in any of today’s efforts.
Here are a dozen of the most important:
How to handle those pesky ASAP copywriting requests
Rush work. We all hate it, but it’s a fact of life for freelancers. Trouble is, some clients abuse our good nature with repeated requests for quick copy.
Sara Lancaster takes on this problem and provides a few suggestions for dealing with it.
***
On Monday, a client sends you an e-mail requesting brochure copy. The company’s sales team is going to a conference next week. NEXT WEEK!
On Tuesday, a potential client calls to ask if he can have 50 articles about cell phone repair ASAP.
On Wednesday, an old co-worker IMs and asks you to be a professional reference. She’d love it if you could review her résumé that afternoon.
On Thursday … oh, never mind. You get the point.
What is with all these rush copy projects?
The freelance guide to working with clients that SUCK
This post originally appeared at Men With Pens.
Ah, the freelance copywriting life. You get to sit at home, work when you feel like it, and tackle only choice projects from smart, easy, free-spending clients who love and adore you.
Well, not quite.
All those e-books and courses that promise freelance nirvana may be bending the truth just a little bit. Yes, you can work from home. But you’ll probably put in long hours, especially for the first few years. And you won’t get all plumb projects.
Some of your clients will be wonderful. Most will be average. But some are going to suck. That’s the way it is. Some can suck so bad, you’ll be temped to get out of freelancing altogether if you’re not prepared to deal with them.
So let’s look at the various ways clients can suck and how you should handle it.
Here are some of the basic sucky client categories:
