Sales Copywriter Moves To Borneo, Writes for Peanuts!

Got Peanuts?

 

From Alan P. Carr,
Sarawak, Borneo.

You wanted a professional copywriter but couldn’t afford one?

You just got lucky!

A professional copywriter usually costs serious money, you know that. You also know why you want a pro’ on your side, sweating bullet points and sub-headings on your behalf: MORE SALES from the same number of visitors.

More cash coming in forever, from a one time investment. That’s a sweet deal, If you can afford it.

So how about..

 

An affordable copywriter?

No hourly rate or commissions. You’ll be pleased to know my fees are fixed, no extras or silly stuff. I slave over your salesletter for as long as it takes, without demanding a share of your profits.

I’m not going to upsell you my “full” service or hit you with some huge price then dangle my “budget” service either, useful as those techniques can be. Here’s what you get:

Native English speaker, experienced, knows what he’s doing, will seriously improve your sales and doesn’t charge thousands of dollars. What a refreshing change!

copywriter testimonial

What’s The Catch?

At this point you may be thinking “Too good to be true” or “What’s the catch?”

If I just said “There isn’t one” you wouldn’t believe it, so let me quickly explain just why I’m so affordable. Then we’ll tackle that “Is he any good?” stuff.

I’m a 42 year old Englishman, formerly a high-level manager in the UK, currently living on the Island of Borneo with my beautiful Malaysian wife. The cost of living here is very cheap and I already have my own successful internet business.

I actually enjoy copywriting and helping others achieve this lifestyle, so it’s almost a hobby. I charge enough to keep me motivated but don’t have to charge extra just for credibility (or ego).

So yes, you really can afford me but no, I don’t travel to attend meetings! Email me.

 

Is He Any Good?

Well it’s true that I’m somewhat cluessless at controlling the gap between paragraphs in WordPress (!) – but you’re reading this because I already achieved the first principle of copywriting.

I got you to read the copy. And keep reading.

I did that by understanding your needs and yes, starting a sentence with “And” is bad grammar but part of good copywriting is knowing when to break the rules.

Have you noticed I’ve barely even touched on the benefits of a professional copywriter? I haven’t talked about how you rake in easy money on autopilot, your PC an ATM, just throwing money all over your keyboard? Well I’m guessing you know all that, which is why you’re looking to hire a freelance copywriter like me, right?

I’m guessing you’ve looked at hiring a good copywriter, you know professionals charge around $5,000 upwards and “cheap” is $2,500. A pro’ copywriter like myself will squeeze you around $500 just to “critique” your sales copy and $5K is perhaps way beyond your reach at the moment?

You may have even seen figures like $25,000 thrown around, while being told clients were delighted to pay it and so on. Yes you’d love a proper copywriter but you can’t afford that kind of money, right?

Top level copy is typically the most expensive yet most valuable thing you can buy for your website. You were rather hoping though, that through the magic of Google you could find $5,000 of value for… a lot less!

If your search results have turned up “Our dedicated team of professional writer will guarantee the finest maximum sellings!” then you have my sympathy, but we both know you wouldn’t hire at that level anyway. So what you need is some kind of affordable middle ground to help your business grow.

Why’s that so hard to find?

Another copywriter testimonial

Why Professional Copywriters Are Expensive

Imagine, if you will, that you have a magical yellow keyboard with black keys.

When you write text for your website with that keyboard your visitors will do EXACTLY what you TELL THEM to do.

Write “Buy now” and they buy it! You write “Sign up” and straight away, with no resistance, a high percentage sign up!

Think what you could do with your golden keyboard? How much do you think it would be worth? It would certainly be worth a few thousand dollars, in fact it would be pretty much priceless, agreed? And probably illegal!

You understand then, that a copywriter’s service is very valuable to you but there’s more to it. One important point is that a professional copywriter could, if they chose, concentrate on selling products themselves instead of helping others. Many writers in fact do that (including me) which raises your next question – if so good at selling via text, why write for anybody else?

Good question!

The primary reason is that copywriters spend so long learning and honing their craft that they come to specialize in doing this one thing, really well. They also know their limitations! Really it’s like you employing any other sales professional, with one big change:

Via text your ONE copywriter can sell to hundreds or even thousands of customers at the same time.

There’s a downside to that though…

Yet more copywriter testimonials

The Danger Warning

Both you and your copywriter only get ONE CHANCE regardless of how many people visit your site!

Get it wrong and even if you get 10,000 visitors a day it just means you’re getting it wrong 10,000 times every day. Ouch!

You see then that professional copyrighting is a high stakes game. It can be a huge help or a huge hurt. The only difference between your two results is the skill of your copywriter.

Still want a cheap one?

The upside is that you’re lucky enough to have found me. Unlike anyone living in the UK, America (or most of Europe) my living costs are ridiculously low. In addition when I moved here it was partly to get away from that rat race. I need to earn a living but I just don’t need the usual trappings of wealth. In fact I’d feel positively awkward “showing off” in these beautiful but simple surroundings!

I can literally reduce what you’d expect to pay by 50% at the budget end of real copywriting, saving you $2500 or more yet still lead a very comfortable life. Let’s just call it a “win win” situation for both of us. So…

Can I Help You?

When I work with you I’m extremely professional and that’s where I take my pride from, rather than high fees. I am however rather fussy who I’ll work with and what type of copy I do.

That’s one of my few perks as a freelance copywriter and I’m not letting it go; it’s a lifestyle thing!

You should be equally fussy. You know the really cheap writers out there are not just ineffective, they may even damage your business. Yippers!

Living here in Borneo I only need to work on one or two sales letters a month, keeping me in comfortable lifestyle. This means that aside from all the usual benefits of professional copywriting here’s 3 good reasons you should be working with me rather than somebody else:

My fee is only $1500 (that’s not a typo) so your investment is much lower. Some projects may be less – ask me.

I’ve more time for your project, so you really do get $5,000 of personal attention, for half the cost.

As a preferred client you also have access to my other writing services…

 Even MORE happy clients!

Other Writing Services?

Gorgeous as the weather is in this tropical paradise it’s not always perfect (think “monsoon”). When stuck in the house I’ll often take on smaller writing assignments, such as press releases. As a rule I only consider doing that kind of low-level work for existing clients.

 Copywriter testimonial number 492....

This is getting silly now, just hire me why doncha?

Hire me now or the kitty gets it!

If you fit the following criteria you really should get in touch:

Are you willing to help me with things such as a detailed specification, free sample, previous advertising materials or anything else I need to do the job properly?

Do you have a decent product or products to sell?

Do you have a $750 deposit?

If the above accurately describes you, then we’re a good fit!

Sometimes I’m booked two or three months ahead, so do use the form below to give me a rough idea of your project, right now. We can fill in the blanks later but if I’m booked I’m booked; don’t delay, not for my sake but yours!

You get a polite, friendly and helpful reply within 48 hours or less, even if I am currently engaged.

Fill in the little contact form and poke the send button to write now:

Benefits of Cloud Computing?

If you think perhaps you could benefit from using cloud computing – but you’re not sure – then you need to read this page!

I’m often called upon to help explain these benefits, so I’ve put together this little site as a reference and reminder.

Why? Because my clients tend to use a lot of long words and jargon, confusing everybody including themselves!

OK, so first a quickie over-view…

What is Cloud Computing?

I have helped dozens of software companies offering online services and even some of them are confused and call themselves “cloud based” when technically they are “software as a service (SaaS).

Here’s what cloud computing is not:

  • It is not merely software hosted remotely
  • The Internet and a cloud are not the same thing
  • Software as a Service, or ‘SaaS is not (necessarily) the same thing

Cloud computing is more about the computing than any software, i.e. it’s about computing power as a service.

Any software supplied is simply to facilitate your use of their computers. That’s the technical cloud computing definition, which could also be expressed as:

You’re outsourcing your computing requirements to people with the skills and capital investment for providing faster, higher capacity and more reliable computing than you can.

For most providers it’s also true that you only pay for the capacity you use and need, yet your provider can supply a lot more for any sudden or unexpected surges in demand.

Most people talk a lot about the cost savings of not paying for what you’re not using. Personally I think the fact you’re not paying for all that back-up redundancy is the more important part of the value of cloud computing!

The buzzword is “scalable”.

It’s priced less because it’s pay as you go but for peace of mind it’s literally priceless.

The benefits of cloud computing are more than just cost savings though…

The Cloud Computing Benefits

 

World Class Power…

…for pennies!

Ever noticed when you’re dealing with a really big company online that their website is quick and responsive, while their downloads are really fast?

YOUR company, big or small, can have that same kind of power.

What about storage?

Oh yes…

Super Storage

Quick, think of the hard drive in your PC or Mac?

I’m guessing you’re not thinking of its silvery color, the green circuit boards or funny whirring noises – you’re thinking storage capacity.

That’s the stuff that matters, right?

So how do you fancy “unlimited”?

Without Capital Investment?

 

Cloud Computing. Not an actual photo.

I try hard to follow the Rule of Wealth (RoW) which is to ensure you invest in assets rather than buying liabilities. However it is usually a falsehood for most companies to think of their computing hardware as an asset.

Enterprise-level computing facilities cost a lot of money, they rapidly deteriorate – despite expensive on-going costs – and have little resale value.

In short such things are certainly investments but NOT assets, so why blow your capital on them?

Besides, cloud computing is…

Cheap(er) to Run

You may have to sift through the numbers to see it, then it soon becomes obvious; one of the major benefits of cloud computing is it’s cheaper over the long run!

Servers (a fancy name for computers) cost a fair bit to run just for the electrical energy. Yes, modern machines are “efficient” yet they still suck up energy and produce considerable heat.

Before you go thinking that could cut your heating bills (!) bear in mind computers need cool and stable conditions. Sudden changes in temperature, such as opening a door, can play havoc with condensation, uneven heat expansion (warping) etc.

Yep, data loss.

Then you have to think of physical security.

Once you factor in aspects such as climate-controlled and physically secure premises, well the costs soon add up – and that’s before you consider the full-time experts on your payroll!

Hiring real experts means 99% of the time they’re sitting around being expensively idle or “updating” stuff but cloud computing is…

Always Up to Date

Another issue is how quickly both software and hardware become out of date. You might not realize how big an issue that is; for example many websites were crippled when their hosting providers stopped allowing earlier and insecure database software such as mysql4

Keeping up to date in the computing world isn’t about keeping up with the Joneses, it’s about ensuring compatibility! It also makes repairs (or upgrades) a heck of a lot easier.

Talking of which…

…and Very Easy!

Just how hard is it to set up a bunch of interlinked servers, complete with all the hassles such as firewalls, authentication, long stringy cable thingies and… well who cares about that stuff? With cloud computing someone else does all that for you!

They’re usually smart cookies too, because…

It Does Take Skill

You know that go-to guy in your favorite IT department?

Cloud computing specialists are just that, specialists. They’re the kind of people that your go-to guy goes to when HE gets stuck!

Now imagine not having to go anywhere, because an entire TEAM of these people are giving your system the kind of warm hugs and affection it desperately deserves – because it’s their system too.

Motivated, see?

It also means you’re not paying through the nose for all this serious expertise just for stuff that can be easily…

Automated!

Backups, updates, defragmentation, all that stuff? Done for you.

Not to mention it’s all very…

Flexible!

Cloud computing allows for rapid changes of plan, which can be virtually impossible if you’ve already sunk capital into an existing system.

However one of the best benefits of cloud computing’s flexibility is…

Disaster Resiliency

Earthquakes, volcanoes, planet-destroying asteroids, NOTHING can bring your system down!

Well, 99.9% of the time anyway, because automated fail-safes re-route your data, just like the Internet itself. Sometimes things can still go wrong, like Amazon’s famous failure (F2?) but it’s extremely rare and the cloud is generally much, much more robust than anything you or your company can provide privately.

Of course if you really do have to get out of Dodge it’s good to know your entire IT department can be…

Mobile Too

Any time, any place, get yourself online and you’re already there.

If you’re already using Yahoo Mail or Gmail or anything similar then you’re already using a form of cloud computing, so I don’t need to explain those benefits, right?

But…

Common Objections to Cloud Computing

Suppose you can’t access the Internet?

Suppose the company goes broke, or racks their prices sky high, or…

I can list 100 different benefits of cloud computing but that doesn’t necessarily answer the objections, so let’s look at the 4 most common:

Suppose I/we can’t access the Internet?

That certainly would be a horrible problem but does it really affect you?

Statistically the most common reason you lose your internet connection is because you’ve lost electrical power, which would also knock out a local non-cloud system, true?

The Internet was literally designed to withstand a nuclear strike. It’s incredibly resilient and usually comes back again after a short delay. When you compare that to the failure risks of running your own hot hard drives, backup power systems and so on, you’ll probably find your internet connection actually has less downtime than your private hardware!

Let me put it this way, which would spoil your day worse, losing your net connection for 3 hours – or your C: drive seizing up?

Suppose My Cloud Supplier Goes Broke and Closes Down?

Ouch!

Realistically though you’d probably have plenty of warning and time to make up-to-date backups.

If your data is in cloud-ready formats, such as simple HTML, it’s also very easy to upload to a new supplier. Talking of which…

Suppose My Cloud Supplier Dramatically Increases Their Fees?

That would also be painful but it’s a bit like asking “Suppose MacDonald’s started charging $50 for a burger?”

No, there’s nothing stopping them from doing that – apart from the desire to stay in business!

Some simple backups and being careful what you sign should be enough for peace of mind. The idea is to outsource your computing power, not your common sense…

They’ll be Able to Access Our Data!

This IS a serious concern, mostly for companies in Europe, as privacy laws can make you liable for data revealed.

There is of course one perfect failsafe – encrypt your data before it goes up into the clouds.

I can tell you one thing though, after years of working in the advertising industry I’ve seen vastly more paranoia than I’ve ever seen abuse of “secrets”.

Don’t be that guy that asks me to write their sales copy but doesn’t want me to reveal the features or prices “In case the competition find out”!

Your success is about the implementation, not the inspiration.

The Bottom Line

The benefits of cloud computing are many, the few downsides are barely relevant and I leave you with this thought – your competition almost certainly will make use of cloud computing.

Why give them such an edge?

Buy Alan’s Book!

Yes, you can buy a condensed DIY version of Alan!