Maybe I'm thinking more about ONLINE copywriters but since I entered the
market about six years ago I've seen the playing field change a lot.

When I first created my website I had an automatic position on Google's
first page along with Yahoo and MSN. There were few websites offering
copywriting services. I think that only about 8 other copywriters were
using Google Adwords at that time so 10-25 cents got you on the first
page for Adwords as well.

Now you have to work really hard and pay about 4X that to get on the
first page.

Then along came a few well-known OFFLINE copywriters who entered the
online market and boosted the competition still more. (I often wondered
why these BIG WIGS, making millions in royalties, will want to enter the
online market.)

As mentioned before, if the Warrior Forum is any indicator, $97 sales letters
are now the competitive price to beat! Of course there are ways to
differentiate yourself but it is getting tougher to get clients who don't
know how to judge between all the people who add "copywriter" to their
names.

I find that offline businesses coming online are quite happier to pay the
decent fees but online marketers are getting cheaper with the minute.

Again, this may just be my experience.

-Ray L.,

Copy writing is a business and copywriters should be prepared for changes in there market, and face supply and demand changes just like a soybean farmer.

Can we look at copy writing as a product/service lake any other - making steel or answering telephone calls? With globalization, the market is going to change. For a copywriter in India, the pay may go up. For one in England the pay may go way down. For one one in the US it will go down, but not as much as for the Englishman because the dollar is so low in value today. If the dollar were to return to parity with the euro, US copywriters would be at even more of a disadvantage.

One answer would be to become more entrepreneurial, either using your abilities in your own IM or start your own business providing inexpensive overseas copywriters.

AS long as you are just a freelance worker, you will be totally at the mercy of the changing market.

Frankly the only place it's becoming harder to find clients who can judge (and understand the value of) good copy is the Warrior Forum. And that's more to do with lots of newbies coming in rather than any shrinking number of real prospects.

If anything there's now more people who understand the value of good copy, it's just that you have to wade through more idiots before you get to them.

I have decided to just give these people my rates and they evaporate. I don't want clients I have to hard sell on the benefits of good copywriting. But I do know what you mean. I'm getting contacted by more people who want an entire website with print ads for $100 and can I deliver next week? I don't remember having as many of these until the last few months. They'll either give up or be in business long enough to recognize the value. By that time, they are ready to be my client.

I think the internet has a cheapness to it.

Plus it seems like everybody, their brother, sister, cousin. etc. want their own internet business so they can work from home 4 hours per week and make 100 grand a year.

No question, WF has changed dramatically over the last few years with a flood of newbies joining. Now I don't have anything against newbies -- everybody started out as one at some point in their careers -- but they frequently don't have much money or an understanding of what great copy is.

Copywriters who want to charge $97 are serving part of the copywriting needs market that I have no interest in, so I don't consider them my competition. In fact, I don't consider any copywriter to be my competitor because there's a ton of copywriting work out there IF you know where to look.

Over the last 8 months or so, I've been doing a lot of copywriting work for offline clients where I"m writing their entire marketing campaigns (offline and online copy). If you know where to look, there's plenty of gold in the offline markets still.

Recently, I hosted a free roundtable discussion with John Ritz, Jay White, and Mike Capuzzi. The discussion lasted almost 2 hours long and we shared literally dozens of ways to generate copywriting work for any copywriter.

Here's the opt-in page where you can get access to the call.

Copywriters Recession-Proof Roundtable

Hope that helps,

Mike

"Over the last 8 months or so, I've been doing a lot of copywriting work for offline clients where I"m writing their entire marketing campaigns (offline and online copy). If you know where to look, there's plenty of gold in the offline markets still."

Mike, I applaud you. This is just the type of enterprise that is needed. Even just having an impressive web presence would put you ahead of 95% of the "overseas" copywriters.


If the "overseas" copywriters are becoming low price competition on the internet, then find off line clients that they can't reach as easily - as you have.

SteveWT

Steve, it actually positions me differently from cheap copywriting services, regardless of where they come from. I know several non-US copywriters who charge a serious chunk of money to hire on, so physical location is not a true indictator of a cheap copywriter.

The owner of this forum, Michel Fortin, is a great example of my point. He's a Canadian but due to his high level of copywriting and marketing skills, he's one of the popular online copywriters today.

Ultimately it comes down to being able to demonstrate to the client that you can deliver a high level of customer service and quality. Then price is much less of a factor.

Hope that helps,

Mike

I think becoming a marketing consultant too, would be a big help.

IMO, being able to advise the client on the whole campaign, from start to finish, (from print mail, news papers, web copy and layout, magazines ads, developing a UPS, selecting the right target market/clients, etc.) would separate yourself from long distance competition.

And as far as I know, 85% of all sales are still made by off-line companies.

I was listening to Chet Holmes a few months ago, he said 99 out of 100 "new" online business go under.

thanks