What I’m about to share will make other copywriters grin.
It involves a topic every copywriter experiences. But first, let me share a story.
Last Monday I changed the PHP code on my application form. You know, the form people fill out when they wish to hire me.
It was a small change, so I didn’t think much of it. Didn’t test it either.
Well as it turned out, I BROKE it. DESTROYED it. An enthusiastic copywriter might even say I EXPLODED my business. (No injuries reported yet.)
So my application form ceased to take applications.
A freelance copywriter could go broke very fast this way. 🙂
Thank goodness something inside my head reminded me to test it the next day. And that’s when I discovered the error and was able to fix it.
The moral is – be sure to test even small tweaks. They DO matter.
And now the part that will make copywriters grin. Ever had a conversation with a client that went like this?
Client: Sales have suddenly dropped, how can we fix it?
Copywriter: Let me take a look… (Pause)… Wait, how come you changed the headline?
Client: Oh it was just a small change, it shouldn’t make much difference.
🙂
Riiiiiiiiight.
Copywriters and marketers – you’ve gotta test the small tweaks as well as the big ones.
I had a client hire a new PPC firm and then called me because he wasn’t getting any leads. Not a single one in a month!
I had written the copy a few years prior and he was still using it. He wondered why “all of a sudden” the copy stopped working. (You can see where this is going…) So I went to the page, entered my contact info, hit submit — a broken form.
He had let his Aweber account expire, so the form wasn’t working. Neither he nor the PPC firm had bothered to test this. Yikes!
.-= Ryan Healy´s last blog ..How Freelance Copywriting Nearly Broke My Back! =-.
lol, nice post. A copywriter without a contact form is like a chef with an oven – that guy lost his job quicker than a skydiving sumo wrestler.
Probably best to make sure the contact page is working every couple of days. Your post reminds me of a time when a glaring error slipped through the editorial net on one of my posts. Good old Microsoft speller check changed ‘forensic’ to ‘foreskin’ – an amendment which caused a few eyebrows to be raised.
See if you can spot any more typos in my copwriting secrets blog category – here’s a post to get you started http://creativepen.co.uk/2010/12/13/copywriting-secrets-and-tips-keywords-in-title-tags/
thanks again, nice read!!!
Matt
.-= Matthew Pattinson´s last blog ..Overnight- Film Review =-.
Thanks for the comment Matt, funny story. Hope to see you around. Cheers!