[...] the biggest problems that occur when clients have dreams they really care about is that they have trouble telling their service provider how they [...]

[...] Questions to Ask Clients About Their Website Content at Men with Pens [...]

[...] of Men with Pens, James has a post for those of you that may be in the copywriting [...]

[...] them, please read Should You Specialize in Website Content (our first post in the series) and Questions to Ask Buyers About Website Content (post number [...]

Generally speaking, these questions apply to all customers, though each client of course demands personalized questions to really hone in.

I’ve never met a client who doesn’t appreciate that I’ve asked pertinent, relevant questions to do a better job.

I have noticed that writers who ask vague questions or ones that require long responses and can’t be answered in bullet points tend to annoy their customer – not good, that. Keep it short, keep it sweet and keep it really easy to answer. Multiple choice works great.

I don’t believe writers should assume or answer questions based on what they think. No one is a mind reader. Observation is great, but if you want a happy customer, you find out what they want and you provide it or provide better suggestions.

But I meant a different thing: writers should customize that question list depending on the client, the current order etc.

Most of my clients like to be asked questions, but those who don’t, appreciate greatly when I take this task upon myself.

Did you happen to write for people who disliked answering questions? Maybe you know how to deal with them?

Copywriting 911’s last blog post..8 Reasons Why You Are a Good/Bad Copywriter

Also, we’re not talking writing style as in APA or Chicago or whatever. We’re talking STYLE. Flair. Sound. Image. Look. Appeal. Don’t get all caught up in the arTEESTe factor of which punctuation trend or citation pattern you should follow.

“Do you like professional or friendly? Do you prefer authoritative or warm?” These things are easily asked and make a client think about what sort of style they want to show off to customers. That’s not embarrassing at all.

Plus, if you feel that one shouldn’t be asking questions and analyzing instead, I’d like to see how that works when a client has no site built, has no previous content and isn’t even really the client but acting on behalf of another client. Should be interesting.

Copywriting 911’s last blog post..8 Reasons Why You Are a Good/Bad Copywriter

[...] post was inspired by James of the Men With Pens blog who writes a useful blog that helps writers and online entrepreneurs. I regularly ask clients the [...]