FREELANCE WRITING

Get Copywriting with Write Label

Diversify your writing income at writelabel.com

Disclosure: this article contains an optional link to be a contributor at Write Label from which the author may derive compensation. Writers may join writelabel.com of their own accord via the company website directly

Having taken two in depth copywriting courses years ago, I’ve always wanted to write copy. Unfortunately, such a path didn’t unfold for me at the time.

I interviewed once for a full time entry level copy writing job and was not the successful candidate. I hung out my shingle on some freelance gig boards and listened to the crickets chirp as nothing further happened. I interned for a few friends and acquaintances with small start ups so as to have a portfolio and still nothing.

All this while I held down a day job. As I was the only bread winner at the time with young children, you could say my career mobility was restricted.

My writing world began to open up when I joined Medium. I have now been sensitized to the world of possibilities in online entrepreneurship for someone with writing skills.

While surfing through an e-mail ad from LinkedIn, I came across Write Label. With all of the news circulating about becoming a News Break creator, I thought I’d branch out with Write Label.

The first step is to take an online writing test and qualify yourself. Once you qualify, you will be prompted to set up a stripe account to attach to Write Label for payment.

Although I was able to use the same stripe account I have attached to Medium for use with Vocal media, I was not able to use that same stripe account for Write Label and had to establish a new one. I don’t know about you, but I have found setting up Stripe on both occasions to be cumbersome as there is no one to advise as to which type of account to open. I ended up contacting Stripe support to learn this.

Once your Stripe account is linked with with Write Label, you can begin to receive work.

Radio Ad Copy

The first kind of project you will qualify for is writing copy for radio ad scripts of a 30 or 60 second duration. Each project comes with a creative brief with elements to be incorporated into your script:

• Company or Product name
• Market demographic
• Existing copy they may or may not want you to work from
• Website or phone number
• Call to action

This needs to be read in detail and understood before commencing.

If you get this wrong, your copy will be rejected and you will have wasted your effort. None is more important than the Call to Action because this is what the advertiser wants the listener to do.

Sometimes, there is no specific call to action and the ad is being broadcast simply to create awareness and build a brand.

Calls to action include:

• visiting a website
• enrolling in a contest
• visiting a retail outlet
• obtaining a free sample or consultation
• calling the phone number to book an appointment
• donating to charity or participating in a fundraiser
• downloading an app to your smartphone
• buying tickets to time specific event

Project Tickets and Writing Portal

Once you are convinced you wish to proceed with the project, you must open a ticket.

There are a limited number of tickets per project and each project has a time limit. Once you claim your ticket your time starts to elapse.

Each project has a guaranteed payout pool to be split among a limited number of tickets.

As I was ticket number 8 and the prize pool is for the first six writers, my compensation will be less than the first six entrants unless my copy is chosen by the client or recommended by Write Label. I must have been cocky!

After you claim your ticket, the writing portal opens from which you can start working on your script. On radio scripts, you are asked to make an election of four elements:

• Speaker(s) — male or female characters or announcer
• Voice direction — tone, age and gender of speaker
• Music bed — background music for ad
• Sound effect — added for context (i.e., sound of baseball bat hitting a ball for a sports ad)

Music bed and sound effect are optional. Once in the portal, you enter copy for the speakers. If there is more than one speaker, each spoken part would need to be in a separate conversation bubble for that character.

When writing in the portal, every syllable in your text is measured for spoken time. There is a meter running at the bottom of the portal screen telling you whether you are over or under time for your 30 or 60 second radio ad.

You will not be allowed to submit a script that is over or under time.

If writing a phone number you would need to spell it out in words, not digits. Same for website addresses.

I find I can complete a 30 second radio ad script in about 30 minutes.

There is a project specific help portal if a client’s intentions aren’t clear, but once a ticket is claimed the meter is running and there’s no certainty that the support person can answer your question before the time is up.

Other Copywriting Projects

Other types of projects available on are:

• TV ads
• Spanish language radio ads
• product descriptions
• Greeting card copy

Each of these categories requires a written test before you are admitted to writers in this pool of projects.

Write Label says their top writers earn over $2000 monthly. Once you are admitted to the full range of copywriting projects there are approximately 80 a day to work on.

I have only been on the portal for a few weeks and am finding the work enjoyable and payment regular. I am thrilled to finally put my copywriting skills and education to work in an arrangement that doesn’t require me to give up my day job.

If you do not have formal copywriting training or experience, I’d still encourage you to give it a try. There is no cost attached and you can write as often as you like where projects exist in categories you qualify for. I

am finding the portal and ticketing system user friendly and easy to navigate. There is solid support material for writers.

I can also export my portfolio as proof of my work as long as I don’t submit the same scripts elsewhere for compensation.

Once submitted, your work belongs to Write Label.

I am sincerely enjoying this leg of my writing journey. If you wish to add Write Label to your arsenal of online writing income sources, you can do so on this link.