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Guide to Hiring a Freelance Copywriter for Your E-Commerce Business

By Eizel Nepomuceno | June 26, 2023

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Nearly one-third of Americans contribute to the freelance economy, worth over $1 trillion. And with so many businesses looking to hire freelancers, knowing the best ways to get professionals such as freelance copywriters on your team is essential. Nationwide low unemployment workers also mean tough competition!

First, know what you need and determine your budget. Also, learn how to write a job description.

Here’s more on hiring a freelance copywriter for your e-commerce business.

Know Your Needs

Sit down with your e-commerce business partners and determine why you need to hire freelancers for e-commerce copywriting. List all the projects, accounts, and campaigns where you think copywriting is necessary.

Blogs, websites, and product descriptions all require different skills for a freelance copywriter.

Blogs

For example, a copywriter who writes a blog post must research and conduct interviews for each topic. Moreover, they must also write the post.

Blog writers must have the content generation tools necessary for a well-informed blog.

A recent survey found more than 40 percent of bloggers create content from original research. Your customers will connect with original content because it will be exclusive to your site. A candidate with good content generation tools might cost you more, but the benefits will outweigh the cost with more people visiting the site.

Websites

In addition to blogs, copywriters must also be skilled at creating landing pages and even sales pages.

Knowing the right words and phrases is imperative when creating marketing and messaging.

Production Descriptions

Using a copywriting expert for product descriptions means they must know the ins and outs of the product.

A copywriting expert should also understand the marketing aspects of the product. Copywriters must take into account the sales history and demographics of the product.

Moreover, they must understand any niche marketing portion when writing the copy.

Determine Your Budget

Every project requires a different budget. Depending on the circumstances, you can pay freelance copywriters for e-commerce copywriting at different rates.

Knowing how to move forward with a project is tough until you know how much money is in the budget.

Different projects also require different skill sets. A more experienced freelance copywriter will cost you more money.

Hire a Professional

Take the effort out of looking for freelancers. Hire a professional company to look for freelance copywriters.

These headhunters are industry specific. Regardless of your expertise, they will find the people you need for each project or task.

Write the Job Description

Be upfront about exactly what you are looking for in a freelancer. You’ll get the right person when you and the job seeker know what to expect. Describe the company, the project length, salary, portfolio, and working conditions.

Length of Project

Freelancers will want to know how long they expect to work on a project. Since freelancers simultaneously juggle several jobs, they will want to know how long each task will take.

Be upfront. Freelancers will appreciate your honesty.

Salary of a Freelance Copywriter

Many freelance copywriters will not respond to a job unless you list the salary and/or hourly rate. Also, include whether this is a short-term or long-term opportunity.

Portfolio

Ask for a portfolio that will highlight the best work of each candidate.

Freelancers expect to show their work. You might also ask for their last three projects (with references). Taking this route shows how they work from project to project.

Working Conditions

Will you require freelance copywriters to work in the office, or can they work remotely? Allowing people to work off-site will increase your candidate pool.

You’ll get the best applicants from all portions of the country (or worldwide).

Post the Job

While there are general job boards to hire people, several exist to hire freelancers. These freelance copywriters will visit these websites weekly to look for opportunities. They will also set ‘job alerts’ to have jobs sent right to their inbox.

Connect with other industry experts about associations and professional organizations. Many have their job portals for job hunters.

In addition, connect with local business groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce, to determine a regional network of freelance copywriters. You never know who might be looking right in your backyard!

References

Ask for a list of references.

Questions to ask each reference include determining their relationship, asking about their work ethic, and questioning their overall work. Also, be sure to ask if they completed tasks on time.

It’s not uncommon to ask about their strong and weak points.

Interview a Freelance Copywriter

During the interview, ask freelance copywriters why they want to work for your company and the current projects.

Ask what specific skill set they bring and how the project will benefit from their expertise.

Talk with them about their current (and most recent) freelance jobs. Discuss what they liked and didn’t like about each project.

Ask about why their skills made the project a success.

Develop a List

Reduce your need to constantly post jobs and develop a list of reliable freelancers for different projects.

Organize the list by expertise. Keep good contact information. It’s also a good idea to reach out to freelancers occasionally to see if they are still interested in work.

Reach out to other copywriting agencies to see if they might be interested in sharing their list. In some cases, you might not share the same project goals.