So, the startup is you offering your services as a contractor? That was the longest ad-read pretending to be a blog ever. Many times you used quotes without an author making attribution very difficult.
sounds like she knows the kind of words you have to use to get the attention of her target demographic (which is kinda her thing, apparently). same bunch that hangs around HN. stable companies and contractors are boring, even though they make the world go 'round. startups are interesting!
Or who has missing punctuation, or poor formatting, or bad grammar, or incorrect use of idioms, or, or, or...
Sure, "everyone's a critic" (and sorry to join the crowd), but if you're going to promote yourself as a professional copywriter you should at least have a grasp of the basics.
In fairness her focus is much more on message and content than on correctness. I do agree that she would benefit from a copy editor but the main challenge a lot of business owners have is with what to say, rather than saying it with perfect grammar.
So I imagine she may well be able to help people who struggle with that. Which in my experience is almost everyone in business.
Grammar and spelling are table stakes for copywriting. A copywriter shouldn't sell themselves on it, or mention it, because it is an assumption that it will be good.
When a copy writer is offering a service with bad copy, it casts into doubt their ability to write or edit copy.
I ran this sentence from the article through google docs:
>There was overwhelm of not knowing how to start a website, what pages to include, and what those pages should even be doing.
Google docs correctly picked up the error, and made the correct suggestion. I expect that a copy editor will NEVER turn in copy that has not been run through a basic automated check.
Hey, I get it. I totally understand if writing "there was an overwhelming feeling" seems more correct to you. But my goal is to relay a message as I hear it from the target audience which explains a lot of those strategic choices I made in the blog post (trust me, me and Google spell check were good friends throughout the writing process). But I try not to use Google spell check like it's a God. More like a helpful angel on my shoulder.
Overwhelm is a verb that is being used as incorrectly as a noun in this sentence. It can’t be the subject of the sentence since it is a verb. This isn’t about what seems more correct, or about an accepted although incorrect usage. If you have examples of it being used in this way please do point to them.
Otherwise, realize that this is your target market giving you very direct feedback.
Edit: I love that you are responding and open to feedback. But, again, the mistakes that people are mentioning are not trivial, nitpicks, or a matter of opinion. You are the only person that search can find who has ever used the phrase “there was overwhelm of”…
At $600+ the prestation it has to be perfect grammar wise, especially for a service focusing on text. I was also annoyed by the wrong use of kahuna and begs the question and I'm not even a native speaker of English.
That's the thing: the copy does not need to demonstrate perfect grammar. All that matters is that the copy results in sales. Although I do realize that some may disagree with that sentiment. To each his own!
That's a fair point, as that is the primary role of a copywriter. However the author is targeting startups who are unlikely to have the budget to hire an editor to fix the copy provided by the copywriter. It should be part of the package, but on the basis of the OP's own sales copy, it isn't.
It's OK these days, in common vernacular, to use "begs the question" to mean something that prompts or suggests a question. It's really only in the context of "Philosophy 101" (where the meaning is the logical fallacy of the premise assuming the conclusion) that it should not be used that way.
If you're going to get pedantic on the Internets, you better be prepared to go all the way down. :)
I've got to say it's a good thing that I'm not hired to write blog posts. Thanks for sharing your opinion! Every critique helps to build valuable skills.
Language changes based off usage. Her use of "begs the question" isn't it original meaning, but it is perfectly acceptable today. It is similar to how the dictionary definition of "literally" now includes it meaning "figuratively". Continuing to complain about these things after society has moved on just makes you sound like an old crank.
Although I'm a language traditionalist at heart, this is a reasonable point. Nevertheless, the site does suffer from a number of unquestionable copy-editing errors, which do not inspire confidence in the product -- given that it is entirely focused on website copy.
On the other hand, as evidenced by this thread, there exist a nonzero number of people who still care about the old "correct" choice of language. If the author is targeting people in this demographic specifically, they should know better than to provide easy ammunition for people to criticize the article.
It might be fine in general writing, but if I'm a startup paying for an ostensibly well-written press release, I don't want to pay for something that spawns this exact discussion, rather than discussions about the content I want to communicate.
I double-checked for you. Ultimately I think I was right not to submit this to Show HN since it links to a blog post. According to the HN guidelines, it wouldn't meet the criteria for Show HN based on that fact. But I got a chance to refamiliarize myself with the guidelines so thanks for mentioning this!
This is flagged now--I assume because there's no "Show HN"?
But, just wanted to add that if you read that blog post, it's extraordinarily good at relating to its audience and the problems they face. The problem statement is clear and concise. The example email excerpts are well chosen and highly relatable, giving the reader a chance to connect his/her own experience in an almost first-person voice.
The itemized dead-end alternative paths are also relatable, and she does an excellent job of differentiating her offering from others the reader may have considered or with which the reader may have been disappointed.
In all, it demonstrates considerable proficiency in precisely what she's offering: conversion.
While the points about copyediting have some validity and some tightening could help solidify the offering, they are largely pedantic in the main.
The only suggestion I would offer is that, this being a new product, it may be difficult to grasp exactly what you're getting and where it leaves you (i.e. how it's actionable). A before/after-style case study or example deliverable could go a long way there.
Best of luck to you. I did this in Aug 2018. My app was already generating a few thousand a month (net revenue), and I still had an incredibly hard time. My biggest failure was 1) not finding a cofounder and 2) not targeting a big enough market.
Good job, I've noticed that copywriting is a major pita when designing a platform with no good solutions atm. Unfortunately, I don't see how your service solves it (please correct me if I don't understand it). After purchasing your service I'll get feedback on my existing copywriting and a copy for one of my sections (how big?).
This doesn't solve my problem, because now I still need to write the copy for the rest of my site based on your feedback.
I'm glad you mentioned that. Might be necessary for me to optimize this post.
Basically, one of the huge problems I heard over the years was that founders wanted to write their own website copy. Or at least, their budgets necessitated that they did. However, once they did that, they weren't sure what was and wasn't working on their websites as far as copy goes. So they came to me for advice. I'd say about 75% of the people I talked to were in this bucket.
The other 25% wanted to hire a copywriter to actually write it. For the majority of founders, that option was not only cost prohibitive but also required more work in their eyes than writing the actual copy.
It sounds to me like what you're in that 25%. Would you agree with that assessment?
In regards to the custom copy, it would depend on which sections of your website needed the most TLC. But as a ballpark, you're looking at half a page.
I had a similar experience, except that it wasn't my choice. I was given no recourse, but to strike out on my own. Since I am fortunate enough to have the means (I believe that it used to be called "f**k you money," but I always thought that I was the one that got to to say "f**K you," not the potential employers), I was able to do it. In the aggregate, it has turned out better than I ever could have imagined.