Seven principles for creating modern web applications. Development of a Web-oriented information system for an IT enterprise. Rendering pages on the server

33 min. reading

Updated: 03/05/2019

In this article, we will look at who a copywriter is and what it is like to work as a copywriter. Let's find out what copywriting is, what types exist (rewriting, SEO-copywriting, lsi-copywriting) and how they differ. We will tell you stories and reviews of real copywriters who earn decent money from this. We'll tell you how to become a copywriter and where to look for vacancies in this specialty. We will also give advice that will help you quickly start in the profession and reach a stable, high income.

Hello, friends! I'm proud to call myself a copywriter because it's my dream job. A job that allowed me to move from the cold north to the sea, to be my own boss, not to depend on anyone, to earn decent money, to develop creatively. In this article you will learn about who a copywriter is and what he does, I’ll tell you how I got into profession, I will share the tricks and subtleties of work that will help you get started in this field faster and start earning decent money.

In this article you will encounter the following terms and concepts:

Content- what an article on the Internet consists of: text, pictures, video, audio, graphics, etc.

Content Exchange- a special intermediary site where Customers and Contractors meet. Customers need content, and Contractors are ready to provide this content for certain prices.

Webmaster- creator and owner of the site. On content exchanges he acts as a customer of articles.

Uniqueness of the text(rarity, originality, exclusivity, uniqueness) - a parameter by which the presence or absence of duplicate text on the Internet is determined. Measured in percentage. If the written text is not found on the Internet, then its uniqueness is 100%. If the text was compiled based on existing materials on the Internet, that is, copied from other sources, then its uniqueness will be 0%, 30%, 60%, depending on how much content was copied.

Copywriter – who is he and what does he do?

To understand who a Copywriter is and what he does, you need to do small excursion into history, since the meaning that was originally inherent in the word Copywriting in our country now has a different meaning.

Copywriter is not a Russian word and came to us from the West (English copy - manuscript, text material + write - to write). There, copywriters are people who create advertising, political and presentation texts, commercial proposals, advertising scripts, slogans and appeals. The main task of such texts is to persuade and sell.

A copywriter in the West is a person who knows how to sell goods, services, ideas using text.

One of the founders of copywriting is John Caples, who became famous with an advertising booklet distributed by mail in 1927. In this letter, he “sold” the services of the music school and began it with the words:

THEY LAUGHED WHEN I SAT AT THE PIANO. BUT WHEN I STARTED PLAYING!..

The text itself begins with a story about a party from a time when there were no DJs, tape recorders, deafening speakers, nightclubs, and people whiled away their evenings at gatherings like those in the picture above.

One of the party participants named Jack was able to captivate the audience with his masterpiece piano playing, although it all did not start out very well for him. Those present had never seen him sit down at a musical instrument before. They giggled behind his back, egged him on and waited for this unfortunate man to disgrace himself. But everything changed as soon as he touched the piano keys.

The hero was able to captivate the audience with his performance. Everyone rushed to congratulate him and began to ask where he could learn to play so incomparably. To which he told those present about the “American School of Music,” which is engaged in accelerated distance learning to play the piano, where everyone can master the instrument and notation in just a few months.

Having composed an interesting, breathtaking story, John Caples was able to organically fit the advertiser and his services into it. Those who read this message had an irresistible desire to master the piano in order to become the king of the parties. .

Here are a few examples of selling copywriting from the times of the USSR. Yes, yes, at that time we also already had copywriters, although they called them something else. Click to enlarge the picture.

And here are the “masterpieces” of modern copywriters:

Those copywriters that I described above are now commonly called advertisers and marketers, and the example of John Caples would now be called “selling text.”

In RuNet, the term copywriting has an ambiguous concept. There are also employers and adherents of the old school who mean by copywriters authors who write advertising and selling texts. These, offhand, are no more than 10% percent. In their vacancies, they usually specify that they need “selling” copywriting. By the way, if you want to dive more fully into the topic of “selling” copywriting, I recommend studying the books of John Caples, Joseph Sugarman, David Ogilvy, Robert Cialdini, Dan Kennedy - these are the classics of selling text, the authors of real masterpieces.

Video: TOP 5 books on copywriting

In other cases, in RuNet, copywriters mean authors who will write texts for websites. The concept of texts for websites includes:

• Information articles for websites, blogs, portals. What you are reading now is just an example of an information article. An informational article answers questions and/or entertains the reader.
• Descriptions of goods for online stores.
• Texts for social networks. Similar to an information article, only in a compressed format.
• Comments on forums and blogs, or posting in a different way.

Copywriting received a modern interpretation thanks to Content Exchanges. These are special service sites, intermediaries between copywriters and site owners. They bring together customers and performers. The exchange, in addition to its pandering function, also plays the role of an arbiter, a judge in cases where controversial situations arise between authors and customers. We'll talk more about Content Exchanges below.

Why did the Exchanges root a different understanding of copywriting in the RuNet? It's simple. They needed to separate the texts into different types so that there was no confusion between authors and customers.

So, in addition to copywriting, such concepts as translation from foreign languages, LSI copywriting, posting. We will definitely analyze all these concepts a little later, but for now let’s decide that in the rest of the article, when mentioning the term copywriting and analyzing the work of a copywriter, we will start from modern concept this term imposed on us by content exchanges. Why? Because 90% of all work related to texts is now located on content exchanges. And if you want to master the work of a copywriter, then you need to accept the rules and communicate in the language of the platform on which you want to perform as a player.

The work of a copywriter, in the modern sense, is very similar to the work of a journalist. However, an article that is written for a newspaper and an article that is written for a news website are different.

What common?

• Topic of the article. Both in the newspaper and in some blog an article may be written on a specific topic, for example, How to inexpensively renovate an apartment.
• Event coverage. For example, presidential elections. In both cases it will be approximately the same article.
• Solving a reader's problem. An article for a newspaper or online magazine can be written with a specific purpose - to solve some problem of the reader, for example, a description of a new diet, tips and tricks for self-care, culinary recipes For New Year's table etc.
• Outline of the article. As a rule, an article for a newspaper or any website is written according to the classical canons: Introduction - Main part of the article - Conclusion.

Now let's go over the differences.

• Article size. The newspaper is limited in size and circulation, so articles for them are written in a certain volume. The site does not have such restrictions. Therefore, the article can be as long as a whole newspaper.
• The content of the article. If we are not talking about political materials, then an article for a newspaper is tailored to the reader. That is, it must be interesting and useful to him, otherwise the next time the reader will not buy this newspaper or magazine. An article for a website is tailored for a search engine (Yandex or Google) and only then for the reader. This is what 95% of sites write. Another 4% try to find a middle ground to please both search engines and readers. We include our site in this category. And the remaining 1% of sites are written exclusively for the reader, without reference to search engines. It's about about large, serious publications such as Forbes, Vedomosti or Kommersant. Essentially, these are the same newspapers, but there are websites without printed publications.
• Errors and punctuation. Sites have fewer requirements, so errors are much more common here.
• Collection of information. This point could also be attributed to similarities, since often the collection of information for an article is approximately similar in the newspaper and on the website. It is necessary to study the available materials, interview experts, go through some experience in order to write an article based on it. But here I would like to focus on mistakes that can cause harm. This can be clearly seen on medical websites, where articles are not always written by competent doctors and specialists. Advice from such unverified articles can cause real harm to your health. A reputable newspaper will never allow itself to publish unverified information, but on websites this happens all the time.
• Education. If it is unrealistic to get into a reputable publication without a specialized education, then the doors to the world of copywriting are open today for any person, even for those who write with errors and got a C in Russian at school.

Is not full list similarities and differences, but this list is enough to show you the difference between the work of a copywriter and a journalist.

Let's consolidate the material with the following wording of copywriting and copywriting:

Copywriter is a specialist who collects and processes information for subsequent publication on various sites for a certain fee.

Copywriting- this is the activity related to the preparation and subsequent publication information materials on the Internet, in which the customer and the contractor participate.

Who pays a copywriter and how?

The work of copywriters is paid by site owners, they are also called webmasters. This can be either an ordinary individual or an individual entrepreneur. IN last years the sphere of information websites has become widely developed and yesterday’s schoolchildren who made websites at home, as they say “on their knees,” have today turned into large businessmen with a staff of specialists, so it is possible that a job will be offered to you by a reputable LLC with accountants, an editor-in-chief and a bunch of other workers.

Copywriters are most often paid based on the number of characters.

Here is an approximate gradation of rates:

• Low prices - from 30 to 50 rubles. for a thousand characters.
• Average prices - from 50 to 100 rubles. for a thousand characters.
• High prices - from 100 to 300 rubles. for a thousand characters.
• TOP - from 300 rub. for a thousand characters.

For example, for an article of 10,000 characters, with a bet of 50 rubles, you can get 500 rubles. Articles are different. Some can be written in a few hours. And some will take several days. Therefore, it is very difficult to say exactly how much you can earn in this business in a month. But in the next section we will show examples of several copywriters who will share their success stories, tell how much they earn, how they got into the profession, and share the tricks and subtleties of the craft.

In the screenshot below you can see how orders are distributed on one of the most popular content exchanges, Advego, depending on the rate:

The lion's share of the work comes from cheap orders with rates ranging from 30 to 100 rubles. for a thousand characters. This is due to the fact that there are a lot of people who want to make money on the Internet. People (webmasters) create websites, but for them to start bringing them money, they need to have a lot of content on them.

And since most novice website builders do not have a large budget for content, the rates they offer are low.

It makes no sense for a beginner to immediately aim for expensive orders unless you have a diploma from the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University and many years of experience working in a well-known publishing house. You need to be mentally prepared for the fact that at first you will have to work “for pennies.” Be sure to read the article to the end - more is waiting for you practical advice that will help you increase your income in copywriting.

Now let's see how prices are distributed depending on the type of work. To do this, let's take another popular exchange Etxt:

As can be seen from this graph, the most expensive orders are for copywriting: 126 rubles. per 1000 characters on average over the last 3 months. This means that an article of 10,000 characters of the Copywriting type would bring you 1,260 rubles.

Distribution different types The work can be seen in the following screenshot:

It is worth noting that not all employers on the Internet pay for work based on the number of characters. There are also those who pay a specific figure per article. For example, in Tinkoff Magazine (financial magazine of Tinkoff Bank) they pay 10,000 rubles. for the article. It doesn’t matter how many characters there will be, what matters is what content it will have, which is why only an experienced author who writes interesting and professional materials can get there.

How much do copywriters earn?

Types of text works

All work related to texts can be divided into the following categories:

• Posting
• Translation;
• Rewriting;
• SEO copywriting;
• LSi-copywriting;
• Selling texts.

Let's look at these types of work in more detail.

Posting

This is commenting on messages on various forums, blogs and other Internet resources.

To revive newly created projects, their owners need a demonstration of visitation and visitor activity. This role is performed by copywriters who leave comments under the specified topics. This could be a discussion of products, an exchange of opinions about a movie watched, or stories about how much the author earned thanks to cooperation with a brokerage firm. Despite their apparent simplicity, such tasks require creativity; each comment should look natural and, preferably, evoke a desire to continue the conversation.

Sometimes you come across tasks where, in addition to a comment, you need to insert into the text a link to a resource specified by the customer. The difficulty of such work is that the link should not look like an alien advertisement, but form a natural part of the comment. Another problem is that if such a link is recognized as advertising, it will be deleted by the resource moderator and payment for the work will not be received.

Example: to the question “Why do you need a switch?” a response was given that included a link to a switch in an online store selling equipment.

I describe this type of work in such detail because many beginners start with posting, which becomes a good school, after which they can move on to writing articles.

Translation

There are webmasters who choose foreign sites as a source of content for their website and give exchanges the task of translating this or that article into Russian. Such work with text will be relevant primarily for people who are fluent in English, since this is the most common language. However, on exchanges you can find translation tasks from other languages ​​(German, Spanish, French).

Rewriting

The essence of the work is that the author needs to rework an existing text without changing its content and structure. Essentially, this is rewriting other people's articles in your own language. The main requirement of rewriting is the uniqueness of the new text. However, a simple rearrangement of words or replacing them with synonyms is not rewriting, but “synonymizing”; payment for such work may be refused, even if the uniqueness meets the requirements. The easiest way is to read the text and then write what you remember in your own words.

Rewriting tasks can have different types:

• rewriting from 1st source;
• rewriting from 3-5 sources;
• according to a source provided by the customer;
• With independent search a source on the topic specified in the assignment (this costs a little more);
• rewriting with a decrease or increase in the volume of the source;
• “deep rewriting”, the purpose of which is to convey the information contained in the source so that the external similarity with the initial text is not noticeable.

Example: two texts tell about one event in different words. It is impossible to determine which of the texts was the original source and which was a rewrite.

First text:

Second text:

In both examples, the essence is the same - an experiment on mice and its consequences are described. But the texts are written in different words, which makes each of them unique. We'll talk more about how to check the uniqueness of text a little later.

IMPORTANT! Do not confuse rewriting and synonymizing - rearranging words or replacing them with a synonym.

Original - “American biologists transplanted human brain cells into mice”

Synonymizing - “Scientists from the USA implanted cells of the human mind into rodents.”

Such work will most likely not be paid. In the process of synonymization, the text turns into an unattractive set of words that can distort the meaning of the originally written text. And rewriting, leaving the same meaning, can be written even more interesting and attractive than the original source.

We have a separate full article about rewriting, in which we give tools and techniques that allow you to achieve excellent results, show more examples, and also give step by step plan steps on how to become a rewriter from scratch and start making money from this type of activity:

SEO copywriting

The abbreviation SEO comes from the English “search engine optimization” - search engine optimization. SEO copywriting is the creation of texts that are aimed at promoting a website in search engines.

The difference between this type of copywriting is that the text must contain a certain number of key phrases, be easy to read and, like any other text created by a copywriter, be highly unique.

“Keywords” are phrases by which potential users of a particular resource search for information in search engines. Most often they are given by the customer and are part of the technical specifications ( terms of reference, which describes the requirements), but it happens that the customer names a general topic, and suggests that the author himself select the “keys”.

For this purpose it is used special resource Yandex Wordstat – wordstat.yandex.ru.

Let’s take for example the key phrase “Who is a copywriter”:

The service shows how much this request was shown in the Yandex search network per month. Please note that the number indicated next to the request is not the number of unique users. This is the total number of requests, which means that a person could type this request several times during the month and it will be counted towards the total.

The service also shows what other queries with the word copywriter were typed by users and in what quantity. Based on this, you can decide how many articles to write and how to distribute the received requests among different articles.

In the table below, queries are grouped in the left column, and in the right column are the topics of articles into which these queries need to be organically included.

If you do everything correctly and write an interesting, useful article, it will take first place in search engine results, which will bring many visitors to the site, and with them, profit for the site.

The tasks of SEO copywriting include:

• promoting a page with an article on top positions search engines;
• increase in traffic (number of visits) to the site;
• increasing conversion (visitor response to the article: channel subscriptions, callbacks, product purchases, service orders, etc.);
• attracting the target audience (precisely those visitors who are looking for what is written about in the article);
• increasing the popularity of the site.

This is a general explanation of what SEO copywriting is and how it differs from other tasks. Read more about this in a separate article.

LSi-copywriting

The name is derived from the English “latent semantic indexing”, which translates as “latent semantic indexing”. Essentially, this is a type of SEO copywriting, only more advanced. Its main task is to find and include additional words and phrases in the text of the article that will increase the likelihood of the article getting into the TOP.

The LSI optimization process differs from SEO in several ways:

• in SEO keywords must be embedded in certain places (headings, text itself, meta tags ( program codes, which show specific text in search engines), in LSI keys fit only into the body of the article;
• SEO tracks the percentage of keywords, and LSI tracks the number of words related to the topic in question;
• V SEO keys are the main one on which the text is built; in LSI, keys complement the text and reveal it more fully.

The essence of LSI is well demonstrated by the following screenshots:

These phrases usually appear in search bar at the moment of typing the phrase. Yandex itself shows the words that users most often type in.

And if you scroll the page search results to the very bottom, then there will be a block that shows what else users are looking for with this phrase:

From the point of view of LSI, the presence of these phrases in the text of the article, as well as additional articles, such as “Freelancer who is this” or “Rewriting this” maximally covers the entire pool of requests, which makes both a specific article and the entire site most attractive to the user, because it answers all possible questions.

Selling texts

Selling texts are texts whose task is not only to advertise a product, service or other offer, but also to push the reader to take some action: buy a product, call, subscribe to a newsletter, etc. A competent text does not force or “persuad” you to make a purchase, it motivates and encourages you to take action. As noted at the beginning of the article, selling texts are copywriting in its original form.

There are a lot of techniques and tips for creating selling texts. As an example, I will give a few of them:

• A, attention - attention;
• I, interest - interest;
• D desire - desire;
• A, action - action.

It starts with describing a person’s problem, attracting attention, then arouses interest (usually this is done using a USP - a unique trade offer), makes you want to take advantage of the offer and at the end offers options for action.

2. PMPHS

• Pain - pain
• More Pain - more pain
• Hope - hope
• Solution - solution

In this case, it is proposed to find “ pain point” reader, identify his problem or desire, strengthen it, then say that the problem can be gotten rid of and offer a specific solution.

On the Internet, selling texts are most often used on one-page sites where it is offered to buy training courses, services or specific products.

Here are some examples where selling texts are used:

Where does a copywriter look for work?

Copywriters use the following sources to find work:

• Content Exchanges
• Freelance exchanges
• Job search sites
• Direct search for employers

Let's look at each option in more detail:

Copywriting exchanges

Not only copywriters are looking for customers, but customers are also looking for copywriters who can complete their tasks for a certain price. Exchanges are online platforms that act as intermediaries between these two groups. It is on such resources that VMs (webmasters) post tasks, and copywriters have the opportunity to take them into work or offer their candidacy for completion. The exchange receives its percentage from both the former and the latter (sometimes only from one of the parties).

In addition, the administration of the exchange considers disputes arising between authors and customers, monitors cases of fraud (the approach to this determines the reputation of the exchange, so suffer from fraudulent activities on such resources is almost impossible), provides access to the tools necessary for copywriters.

The first thing you need to remember is that you can start working on any exchange without any prepayment! This is exactly what they are looking for in search engines: “”. Any offers to “pay the down payment”, “pay for registration” or similar ones are a scam! The exchange will receive its due anyway – after the newly registered author starts working. Moreover, it is beneficial for the exchange to teach beginners for free - the higher the level of specialists working on the site, the higher its reputation, which becomes one of the tools that generate profit.

There are a lot of content exchanges (the same as the copywriting exchange), I will briefly describe some of the most popular ones (the more popular the exchange, the more VMs turn to its services, and, accordingly, the more orders it receives).

Advego

Positions itself as “Exchange No. 1”. There are a lot of orders, there are quite simple ones, like work on social networks: “like”, “repost an article”, for posting, and there are also enough complex ones, designed for experienced authors. Much depends on the author’s rating (the higher it is, the more orders become visible and accessible to him).

Talking about the average cost of a job is tantamount to talking about the average temperature in a hospital, but there are minimum prices below which the customer cannot pay (from 0.2 USD per 1000 characters). Very convenient platform for novice authors, for whom special topics have been created on the forum to fully understand the operation of the system.

There is an article store (articles can be written not only to order, but also for sale; some authors make money only from this), a forum, and the administration takes an objective position when analyzing disputes. Even in the event of fraud attempts, the exchange bears the costs of eliminating losses.

Example: the author completed the work, the customer, on a formal, but in accordance with the rules, refused to pay. After a while, the article that the VM rejected appears on the Internet (it’s very easy to find your own texts using a program that calculates uniqueness - if the text is indexed, it turns yellow in the verification card and the address of the page on which it is located is given). The author files a complaint about an unlawful refusal to pay, and the exchange automatically withdraws from the account of the unscrupulous customer the amount that was agreed upon in the task. If the VM has this moment there are not enough funds, the exchange pays its money to the author.

SEO text analysis and uniqueness checking programs are available (there are two such services: software for downloading to a computer and online checking - the second is more reliable, but paid).

Withdrawal of funds to WebMoney, QIWI wallets, bank cards, the minimum withdrawal amount is 500 rubles or 5 dollars (the copywriter himself chooses in which currency to receive payment; this does not affect the cost and availability of orders). The withdrawal period depends on the method and ranges from 1 minute (with a payment of 5%) to 16 days. Exchange commission - 10% on both sides (subtracted from the cost of the work performed or article sold in the store).

Etxt

Job search platforms

We are talking about job sites such as HH.ru, Superjob.ru, Avito, etc. These sites usually publish offline vacancies such as Manager, Driver, etc. But they are also looking for copywriters.

We ourselves periodically post our vacancies there, as we are constantly looking for different candidates. .

Here is a list of our vacancies on the website HH.ru

If you know how to work with texts, you can submit your vacancies for the positions of Journalists, Authors, Editors, Copywriters. These names often mean the same person - a person who knows how to work with texts.

Well, in the vacancy itself, employers usually indicate the essence of the work and the requirements for the authors. Here's what it looks like for us:

If interested customers appear, all communication takes place directly. The advantage is that you don’t have to pay interest on what you earn. The downside is the possibility of encountering a scammer who will receive the finished text and not pay for it. In this case, there is no way to get what you honestly earned.

Here's what vacancies look like on job sites:

Direct search

Direct search for employers means that you yourself will contact the companies, websites, and publishing houses you need and propose your candidacy. When used skillfully, this method will allow you to find interesting employers and work with them directly, which will allow you to save on the commissions that are paid when working on the stock exchange.

Here are some tips:

• If you are a beginner, then start with exchanges. Learn to write, get better at it, create a portfolio, and then start looking for direct customers.
• Remember those sites and blogs that you saved in your browser bookmarks. Find the Contact section on these sites and submit a commercial proposal.
• Browse new sites on topics in which you are strong. If you are well versed in banking services, then ask various queries on this topic, open sites, see what content they have and whether you can write in the same vein. If yes, then feel free to send them your resume and portfolio.
• Find companies that develop websites and promote them. Send them a letter telling them about yourself and how you can be useful to them. Typically, such companies offer their clients copywriting services as a package.

Copywriter Tools

Each text must comply with certain rules. One of the indicators that must be taken into account when submitting a prepared article is uniqueness.

What is text uniqueness

Search engines compare each text with those already posted on other sites. This is a complex algorithm that calculates the percentage match of individual parts of what you wrote with existing text content

An overall uniqueness rate close to 100% means that the text is original and not copied from another resource. Both Google and Yandex value such texts, and pages with unique content have a better chance of getting a good position in the search engine results.

If the placed text information will have large percentage coincidence with something that already exists somewhere, it will not only be useless, but will also lead to sanctions from search engines - they will simply ignore such a site and may lower it for all key queries.

Uniqueness checking programs

It is impossible to evaluate the uniqueness on your own; for this, there are special services called “anti-plagiarism”. Most exchanges provide this verification for free.

Shows the percentage of uniqueness of the text and the address at which matches were found, conducts SEO analysis.

This exchange offers the “Plagiatus” program, which is downloaded to your computer, and an online verification system. The first one is free, the second one can be used by registered users. However, there is a limit on the number of characters being checked (the higher the author’s level, the larger texts he can check), additional characters can be paid for.

The text to be checked is inserted into the window that opens and the program “Check” is launched.

On the same page you can download Advego Plagiatus - it does not show many matches, but it is convenient for searching for your own previously written articles. If your work was posted on a website, the text will be completely yellow, and plagiarism will show the address where it was published.

Very handy tool to compile a portfolio.

There are services that specialize in checking uniqueness, for example, Content-watch.

After the copywriter receives the results of the check, he must correct the passages recognized by the program as non-unique and check the article again.

Another tool that a novice copywriter will need is an SEO analysis system. The principle of SEO was mentioned in the description of types of copywriting, and you can check the text both on copywriting exchanges and special services, for example, istio.com, which produces results with highlighted keys, percentages of water.

Regardless of which service you use, the process is the same everywhere - insert text and click the appropriate button.

Using SEO analysis services, you can check for text nauseousness, wateriness, and stop words. Read more about all these parameters in the article What is SEO copywriting.

Some tips regarding details that beginners very often do not take into account:

1 Choose the nickname you will work under in advance. At the same time, it is not necessary to strive for originality - you will be remembered not by your pseudonym, but by your work. But choosing an online name for work is a serious matter, because it is work. And your “name” can influence customers’ decisions. Nicknames written in such an ORIGINAL way may catch the eye, but are unlikely to confirm the seriousness of the author as a performer. And an article about the advantages of drilled injection piles may not be given to the author who called himself “SexiGerl”, and it will not be possible to change his nickname.

By the way, don’t think that you will never write an article about these piles. When I first went to the exchange, I saw an assignment that required me to describe the process of producing can lids. Then I thought that, probably, no one could write this, how could it coincide that the manufacturer of these caps also works as a copywriter at the same time? Now I could write such an article in an hour maximum.

2 Add an avatar. Empty place instead of an avatar, it is associated with a newcomer, whose chances of receiving orders are significantly reduced. It is advisable that this be your personal photograph, and not at a table or in a cheerful company. You will work, and the avatar, in a sense, will become your “face” in the workplace. The avatar is remembered even faster than the nickname. And your task is to be remembered.

On the advego exchange forum there was a funny character who loved to give everyone advice on something that he did not understand at all. As a result, he disappeared long ago, but he is still remembered by his avatar: “The one with the carpet in the background.”

3 Emergencies, failures and other troubles. Emergency is a black list, one of the customers’ tools. An author who has been added to such a list by a specific webmaster will not be able to accept his order for work, write a comment, or participate in a tender. Usually, novice copywriters who accidentally find out that they are on such a list panic and get upset to such an extent that they try by any means to find out why? Similar topics with accusations or complaints periodically appear on the forum. As a result, such an offended author ends up in a dozen more emergencies of other customers who read a similar complaint.

4 Another trouble that almost every author faces at one time or another is refusal to pay. If you are sure that you did everything correctly, and there were no errors in the text (any!), you can contact the exchange administration (if, of course, you work through the exchange). But if they confirm the legality of the refusal, you can’t give up, you just have to keep working. This happens to everyone.

5 All misunderstandings, everything with which you disagree, should not be brought to the general forum - for this there is an administration, which is obliged to decide similar problems.

Regarding exchange forums, take advantage of the opportunities they provide. The “old guys” are always ready to help and give an answer to what may seem like an insoluble problem to a beginner (we’re talking about questions related to copywriting). The only condition is to formulate your questions correctly, don’t be shy to show that you don’t understand or don’t know something (everyone started with this). It’s not a shame not to know something, it’s a shame to try to tell everyone how wrong they are and how they themselves don’t understand anything.

Activity (appropriate) on the forum has a second advantage - many customers find authors this way, who are included in the BS (BS is a white list, the opposite of the “black” list, those who are included in it can work with orders that no one except those entering in this particular BS, does not see).

6 Revisions - if for some reason the customer is not satisfied with your text, he can send it for revision with comments. You should not be upset or surprised - the customer is thus giving you another chance, and the comments should be taken into account for the future. Don’t think that the customer himself likes this - his goal is not at all to do something unpleasant to you, the customer is more interested in you in getting what he needs as early as possible.

By the way, neither revision nor lengthy verification of the work brings benefits to the webmaster - the funds necessary to pay for the work are reserved in his account from the moment you accepted the order for work.

7 Literacy is a prerequisite. Prepare to have to remember school rules and clarify controversial issues. If you don’t know how to spell a particular word, then ask Google about it. Use literacy and spelling check services, such as Gramota.ru or Orfogramka.ru.

Even one extra space or its absence can formally serve as a reason for refusing payment. Quite seriously - there was a customer who became famous for the longest emergency, in which he brought the authors for missing spaces, refusing to pay for the work.

8 Don't be afraid. Do not be afraid high prices: “I work for 40, but here it’s 100, I probably won’t be able to do that.” Don't be afraid of detailed, large technical specifications. The customer, who explains in detail what he wants, wants to get a high-quality result, but is also looking for authors who can provide him with this result. Very often, it is precisely this kind of cooperation that becomes permanent.

9 Read the TK - it seems that this is not necessary to advise, but in fact, inattentive reading of the task or misunderstanding of it leads to refusals.

10 Save all your work on your computer or Google Docs. Make a portfolio out of them, in which you divide all the articles into different groups. For example, sort articles on banking into one group, cooking into another, etc.

Always include your portfolio when applying. This is where breaking your work into groups comes in handy. If you apply for an article about phones, then attach a link to a portfolio with this topic. Often authors make a grave mistake and send their portfolio, where all the articles are in a pile and the customer needs to find an article on his topic from all this mass.

If you need more tips that will help make you a professional copywriter and increase your earnings, here you go:

How to become a copywriter from scratch

If you decide to master the profession of a copywriter, then here is an action plan that you can print out and keep before your eyes:

Step #1: Get trained

Training does not have to be paid. Read articles on copywriting, journalism, article writing. Download free books from the Internet. Read, absorb information.

Step #2: Start writing for yourself

There are different ways to write for yourself. You can start Personal diary, this could be a physical journal or an online version such as Evernote. You can write to social media. Post a photo and write interesting text underneath it. It could be anything - how you spent your weekend, how you started playing sports, how you went on a diet, how you implement early development techniques in raising your child, how you toughen up, etc. The main thing is to start practicing.

Step #3: Register on content exchanges

Start doing easy tasks like posting. At the first stage, you need to master the competent presentation of your thoughts. At the same time, continue to read books, read interesting blogs, in which the articles are written in an interesting and engaging manner. Celebrate interesting points, then model your articles based on them.

Step #4: Try submitting articles

At this stage, don't look at the price tag. Be mentally prepared for the fact that you first need to work for the name, and then the name will work for you. And while you work for a name, it is quite possible that it will be free for you.

Step #5: Look for regular customers

Clients are different. With experience, you will develop a “smell” and you will immediately be able to identify a one-time client and a long-term one. Aim for long-term clients, because in the process of work you will be able to tune in with them on the same wavelength and subsequently understand each other perfectly.

This will save you a lot of time, which you can use to create content, which means you can earn more money.

Step #6: Write, Edit, Write, Edit

No matter how trivial it may sound, it is unrealistic to become a pro in 2 months. You need to write a lot. And devote no less time to the process of editing the material. Usually I do this:

• I'm writing in the first aisle. I’m just writing while I have something to write. I try to get all the available information out of my head.
• Editing in the first pass. We go through the text as a reader. We look for errors, repetitions, look where “” is missing.
• We write in the second pass. Essentially these are improvements. But it happens that in the second pass I can write a section of 5-10 thousand characters into the article, which is equivalent to a separate article.
• Editing again. Editing is a bird's eye view of your article. You need to find the “crooked” places and put them in order. Add facts, examples from life. In general, make the article killer.

Then we put the article aside for a day or two and do other work. After a while, we return to work with a clear head to go through the text again and make it even better. Rebooting helps clear your mind and a fresh look allows you to find weak points in the text and make the material even better.

Pros and cons of the profession, its prospects

Copywriters are one of the most in-demand professions on the Internet and will remain so for a very long time. This is due to the fact that all websites are text based. Almost all questions that you type into a search engine are answered in the text.

Even on Youtube, where there are only videos, text is important. Firstly, experienced video bloggers write a script before each release or hire copywriters to write it for them. Secondly, the text is inserted under the video in the description, where they indicate some important information from the video, key thoughts and points, links and descriptions of some services or products discussed in the video.

If you look deeper, the reason for the popularity of text is that the ranking mechanisms of Yandex and Google are based on text processing. Therefore it is still very for a long time the text will be the main tool for webmasters, with which they will be able to create articles answering user questions, promote their sites on the Internet and thereby earn money.

Therefore, if you intend to make money on the Internet, then copywriting is a profession that will not undergo a trend, the amount of work will not decrease, or any ban will be imposed. This work will always be in demand.

Here are a few more advantages in favor of copywriting:

• You only need internet access and a computer.
• Mastering copywriting is much easier and faster than, for example, programming, design or video processing.
• Work at a convenient time. You may only work in the evenings or on weekends. No one is tying you to a five-day work week from eight to five. This can be done as permanent basis, and combined with other types of income or permanent work.
• Mental development. When doing copywriting, you will constantly learn some new information. This will help expand your horizons, increase lexicon, will make you a more well-read and interesting interlocutor.
• No connection to the workplace. You can earn this income while traveling. I know authors who move to Thailand or Bali for the winter; the income from copywriting is enough for them to rent a small house there, swim and sunbathe, and eat fruit. The author of these lines has been living in Gelendzhik for more than a year, where he moved with his family from Moscow, where he lived for three years, and before that he lived for another 30 years in Nizhnevartovsk, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, where winter is almost 9 months a year. It is worth mentioning that this became possible not thanks to copywriting, but thanks to the opportunity to make money on the Internet in general. I had several online projects, including several online stores. But each project could not be carried out without competent texts, which I mostly wrote myself. So you can’t go anywhere without copywriting.

To be completely honest with the reader, it is necessary to give some disadvantages, before you make a final decision whether you should engage in this type of activity or not.

• For most authors, this will be a low-paying job. Due to its accessibility to a wide range of people, copywriting is a low-paying job. The webmaster, when posting his task, will receive a large list of applicants and will choose the cheapest ones. All in your hands. You are what you think about yourself. If you think like a loser, you will be a loser. If you set ambitious goals for yourself, methodically move towards the goal, have endurance and self-discipline, then everything will work out.
• Copywriting is not always interesting. You often come across tedious tasks on some construction topic that you may not understand, but in order to earn at least something you will have to understand.
• You need discipline and responsibility, which not everyone has. If you are late with any order, you will lose your rating, and with it, access to more expensive orders. You will have to develop a rating from scratch, which is not always fast.
• Hemorrhoidal customers. You will come across customers who sometimes themselves do not understand what they want and therefore cannot clearly set the task, and then they begin to “trick your brain,” which will irritate and irritate you.
• Copywriting is a sedentary job, which affects your health if you don’t take breaks and exercise. Fortunately, a free work schedule allows this. You can pause work at any time and go for a walk. However, sometimes you get so busy that you simply forget about it. And then you look sadly at the scales, red eyes and hunched back.

As a conclusion

So, friends! Our article is coming to an end. The topic of copywriting is very broad. But we tried to reveal the main points so that every beginner has a clear idea of ​​who a copywriter is and what he does.

If you intend to seriously engage in copywriting and produce high-quality texts, then study all the materials on the hashtag. There are a lot of tips there that will help you correctly determine the audience of your future article, prepare a plan (structure) for the article, make an exciting beginning, teach you how to format articles beautifully, find and correctly include real-life examples in the article, exclude “water” and add “meat.”

Video for dessert: A clever cat masterfully escaped from the gopnik cats

Do you know why in 10 years good copywriters will receive huge fees? For two reasons.

First: everyone will have to engage in content marketing in conditions of information noise, the amount of which will be prohibitive, and the consequence of this will be only one thing: the audience will ignore average quality content, just as they ignore television advertising today. This content will be equated to information noise. Only exceptional texts will work, which can only be created by copywriters who put the super-correct words in the super-correct order.

Second: there will still be few such copywriters, and the need for them will only grow.

Copywriter - a common person with unusual ability to work. There is a 10,000-hour rule, which says: to become a professional in some business, you need to devote exactly that number of hours of your life to it. Naturally, if you have potential in this direction (your soul lies, to put it differently), your chances of success increase.

Basically, from childhood I knew that my profession would one way or another be related to writing texts. She started as a journalist for a municipal newspaper, later worked on one of the cable channels as a news editor and announcer, and at the same time was the editor-in-chief of another municipal newspaper. But the moment came when I realized that all this made no sense. The target audience printed publications began to flow onto the Internet, the topics on which I had to write were not interesting to me. This is how I ended up in a company that was engaged in interior design and needed content support for the website. My bosses liked my work, and soon, at their request, I began writing for third-party companies. And then I ended up at Texterra, whose position is to write texts for people, not for search engines– I immediately liked it. Perhaps this is exactly what I would like to do.

Our profession is an excellent training for the brain and fine motor skills :) Seriously, I like that within the framework of a given topic you have a sufficient amount of freedom, the opportunity to look at the topic with different sides. And the skill of quickly immersing yourself in any topic to an expert level is very useful in life: choosing a camera, providing first aid to an injured person, making repairs in a house...

Perhaps the only difficulty is finding an approach to routine work. When you have to write several texts on the same topic (for example, when filling out product cards), it is important to avoid “clichés” and maintain originality in each of them.

When writing any text, including advertising, the most important thing is to remain honest and objective, not to write about advantages that do not exist, and not to create the illusion of the absence of disadvantages. And, of course, there should not be a single unverified fact in the articles.

I hope that in 10 years, meaningless texts written on a turn-key basis will completely disappear from the market. And I would really like to believe that the level of literacy on the Internet will increase: when you see text with tags on the website of a seemingly reputable company, it is terribly annoying.

I liked to write essays at school. Wrote materials for a corporate newspaper and local media while working in the financial sector. In 2009, I realized that copywriting is an opportunity to make my profession an activity that I really like. I believe that I help people get the information they need, which means I am doing a good job.

Having to work with technical topics was the biggest challenge for me. I am a humanist, so I was afraid of mistakes when I made materials, for example, about pipeline fittings. I realized that the more time I spend studying a topic, the better the text turns out. Main secret- look at the material through the eyes of the reader while working on it. This helps to make the article specifically for the audience.

Speaking of expectations... Personally, I expect convenient and inexpensive voice input devices. While working, I usually walk around the room, thinking about the material. It's inconvenient to get up and sit down all the time :)

Once upon a time, I received a certificate of higher philological education and the official specialty of “teacher of the Russian language.” And I immediately realized that teaching was not for me. I went into advertising, worked in journalism, and was a full-time copywriter. When I was about to go on maternity leave, my employer offered me to work from home. And I never returned to the office.

For me, working with words is what my soul is about. It's interesting, it poses new problems and allows you to improve by solving them.

Starting my journey in copywriting about three years ago, I could not even think that this activity would become my main one, because... The initial goal was to earn a little extra money. I very quickly realized that this profession, like any other, requires a serious approach, so I took several educational courses and trainings, which, in addition to knowledge, gave me self-confidence. Since then, I can’t imagine my life without copywriting, which I no longer associate only with making money: new knowledge, new discoveries, constant movement forward - that’s what attracts me most!

A copywriter has to be a jack of all trades, or rather, a jack of all trades. Texts on various topics require relevant knowledge, and sometimes you need to immerse yourself in a narrowly focused, complex topic. But this is also a huge plus at the same time - a copywriter is improving all the time.

This activity gives space to the creative soul. Therefore, if you like to create something new, and hundreds of ideas are constantly born in your head, perhaps the profession of a copywriter will become your calling.

We must try to write for people, because the easier the text is to understand, the more effort you need to put into writing it. The reward is the feeling of satisfaction from a job well done!

What will be tomorrow

Currently, the main customers of copywriting services are commercial organizations. Text writing is carried out taking into account the requirements described in the technical specifications, in which the client provides information about how he wants the content to be seen. Today, the material is accepted if the customer is satisfied. Tomorrow, the customer’s opinion will play a significant role, but much more important will be the real facts that are important for marketing: the number of natural links to the page, audience comments, whether the text converts customers. You will understand that content marketing is not a general feeling; success can be measured in numbers. It doesn't matter what the client thinks about the text, what matters is whether the text works. Only super professionals can create such content. Victor Ignatiev, one of our copywriters, suggested that in 10 years the market will be fiercely competitive, in which only competent copywriters with extensive knowledge in marketing and advertising will survive. We are sure that it will be so.

copyrayter-kto-eto

After reading the article, I recommend that you read a girl's real story about remote work - tips from a copywriter.

My name is Babaskin Alexander. The profession of copywriter is my main job and today I will talk about the nuances of this specialty. If after studying the material you have any questions, you can find me Here.

I thought for a long time where to start. I’ll be honest: if you expect to make quick and a lot of money from articles, then you won’t succeed. Remember three things:

1. writing texts is the most common and hard work in the Internet;
2. all copywriters are mercilessly criticized;
3. Copywriting cannot be combined with your main job.

If you are in doubt now, stop reading and move on to other blog articles. I completed my mission. I talked you out of the hellish work in which only text fanatics achieve success.

If you read the article to the end and decide to act, you can master a profession from scratch and start earning money.

The choice is yours.

Professional path

You have thought about my words and are reading this subsection. Based on this, I conclude that this is a future colleague.

To make it easier to understand the specialty, let’s agree that we will consider a copywriter to be an author who fills sites with useful texts. We will not go into details, since this is too multifaceted a profession and now these nuances are not important.

Here is a map of the professional development of a copywriter.

P.S. Click on the photo for easy viewing.

At the beginning of your career, you will write articles for sale and hunt for customers on your own. Over time, you will form your own brand and a base of satisfied customers.

If you don’t get tired of your profession, you will eventually manage your own studio.

It took me 2 years to complete the above stages. Next, I will tell you the basics and tips that will help you achieve a similar result much faster.

Create a continuing education program

Without education, you won’t be able to write quality articles. Below we will look at an indicative plan, following which you can quickly understand the basics of the profession.

• Set aside time every day to read.
• Try to write at least 1 article per day.
• Select 5-10 topics and devote 80% of your texts to them.
• Write different types of articles

• Study the structure and bring order to each text.

• Learn the basics of SEO optimization.

• Start a blog and start publishing your work.

• Organize your own newsletter.

• Learn to write selling texts.

After implementing the plan, you will have the basic level of knowledge necessary to start working as a copywriter without experience. To make learning easier, reinforce each theoretical aspect with practice. Find text exchanges for beginners, take simple tasks and start working.

Save time and take preparatory courses

To speed up your learning, use ready-made copywriting training. There are many of them on the Internet, so I will recommend only a few options.

1. Online University Netology.
2. Course by Vasily Blinov on information and sales copywriting.

Using educational programs, you do not waste time preparing a plan and collecting material. You get acquainted with the lesson → gain a skill → apply the acquired knowledge in practice.

Personal experience

I started homeschooling. My first training was free courses Yulia Volkodav. If you are new, be sure to visit Yulia Alexandrovna's blog. The available material will last you for a year. When free content was studied, I switched to " Copywriting school" Let's figure out what this program is and what its advantages are.

The school consists of three levels: “Beginner”, “Specialist” and “Professional”. A month is allotted to study one level. Right now, go to the school’s website and check out the program offered. After that:

1. select the desired level;
2. make a payment and get access to the closed part of the site;
3. study the proposed video lessons;
4. complete all homework;
5. receive a certificate from Yulia Volkodav.

Certificate of "Beginner Copywriter"

Certificate of "Specialist"

Certificate of "Professional"

If you study well and complete your homework on time, you will receive an invitation to the Yulia Volkodav Agency.

You can view the agency's website Here.

Below I have prepared a comparative table of advantages and disadvantages paid courses. Study and draw your own conclusions.

Paid training
Advantages	Flaws
You will have a mentor and a clear plan on how to become a good copywriter.	You have to pay for the courses.
The skills necessary for work can be obtained in a short time.	Completing the course does not guarantee an abundance of customers. The ability to attract clients and negotiate payment are separate skills that are acquired with experience.
In parallel with your training, you will earn money on your knowledge.
You will be confident in own strength and you will be able to communicate on equal terms with customers.

After going through copywriting school, I gained confidence, fell in love with the profession, and increased my income. I recommend to everyone.

Copywriter income

I am writing this proposal on January 29, 2017. I linked it to the date so that you understand how much a copywriter earns. Let's look at a few places where you can find work.

Exchange eTXT.

• 5 rubles per 1000 characters is the minimum that we could find.
• 180 rubles is the maximum.

Freelance.ru.

• Minimum: 10 rubles per 1000 characters.
• Maximum: 45,000 rubles per month.

Rabota.ua.

• Minimum: 3000 hryvnia per month.
• Maximum: 32,000 hryvnia per month.

Work.ua.

• Minimum: 1500 hryvnia per month.
• Maximum: 15,000 hryvnia per month.

OLX.

• Minimum: 1000 hryvnia per month.
• Maximum: 10,000 hryvnia per month.

As you can see, salaries can vary. It all depends on the place of work and your skill.
Next, we will talk about professional secrets that will help you more easily immerse yourself in your specialty.

Write standing half the time

Such modernization of your workplace will increase your productivity and save you from obesity and other problems caused by a sedentary lifestyle. While standing, it is easier to monitor your posture and maintain the correct distance from the monitor. A standing author is less distracted and spends more time on the project.

Master touch typing

When you acquire this skill, you will be able to get more done and be less distracted. You will always think about the article, and not about the letters that make up it.

Have a voice recorder ready

During the day, each of us is visited by a lot of useful ideas. As a rule, they come unexpectedly, stay for a short time and rarely return. For the author this is an unaffordable luxury. Therefore, develop the habit of collecting thoughts in a voice recorder. You will be shocked by your genius.

Keep a copywriting notebook

It is convenient to use the voice recorder on the go and in times of time pressure. If the situation allows, write down all explosive ideas in a separate notebook. Believe me, this is an excellent cure for creative block.

Always work for quality, not quantity of characters

Most copywriters start their professional careers with text exchanges. Here, the key requirement of any technical specification is the number of characters. This is not entirely true.

Let's say you need to write an article on the following topic: “How to become a successful forex trader and buy a yacht in Portugal in 7 days.”

The entire article will consist of one word: “No way.” Your customer will not appreciate such an honest and truthful answer. Instead, he will require an SEO-optimized article with 15 keywords for 5000 characters. A self-respecting author will refuse such an order, since it is impossible to carry out such work efficiently. There is no truth in it.

Plan your time

If you don't manage projects, you won't be able to work effectively. Get a diary and use it to plan your next day. Divide the work on each article into parts and record the time for completing intermediate tasks. Here are step-by-step instructions for you.

1. Studying and collecting material (5 hours).
2. Preparing a plan (30 minutes).
3. Draft (2 hours).
4. Finish version (2 hours).
5. Editing (2 hours).
6. Reserve time (3 hours).

Take breaks

If you don't rest, you won't be able to work effectively. Here are some common load balancing options.

• 25 minutes work – 5 minutes rest
• 40 minutes work - 20 rest
• 50 minutes work - 25 rest
• 1 hour 30 minutes work – 30 minutes rest

From Web Sites to Web Applications

Part 1. Website or Web Application?

Make smart decisions by analyzing your web presence

Content Series:

In our world of iPads, iPhones, Androids, and app-focused devices, it's no longer modern to say, “I have a static Web site.” If you don't have a sophisticated search engine, at least three payment methods, and a couple of pages with tricky Ajax interactions, you might be called "stuck in the 1990s." Many developers have to make some tricks to satisfy management's requests: Add some interactivity! Keep up with Amazon.com or Bing or IBM! Make a Web site... a Web application. However, if you expand existing sites, the result may be a less focused and sometimes less functional Web presence.

Web sites are fundamentally different from Web applications. If you're building Web applications, you need to know what makes them different from average Web sites. And if you are used to creating static pages without using JavaScript, then you may be pushed to turn your site into a Web application.

In this article, you'll learn how to make informed decisions that will help your Web projects achieve their goals. You will learn about the difference between Web sites and Web applications and how the two concepts differ from each other. Once you understand the key differences, you'll be ready to make (or at least influence) decisions about what your Web presence should look like.

Websites don't have to be Web applications

There are situations when you have a website and No good reason to convert it to a Web application. Or, sometimes people spend a lot of time creating and improving a Web application, but instead of improving it, they just run around in circles. Perhaps it would be better not to do all this work and stick to a fairly simple Web site. In this section, we outline the differences between Web sites and Web applications.

Websites are primarily for informational purposes

The simplest definition of a completely static Web site is the word informational. A classic example of such a site is Wikipedia, which was intended solely as an information site. The appearance of Wikipedia is not striking or exciting, and it is not littered with pop-up images and maps with scroll bars. As shown in Figure 1, its content is simply information presented in a slightly more complex form than a hyperlinked dictionary.

Figure 1. Example of a Wikipedia page

Often in the best possible way transferring information are simple static Web sites. If your goal is to disseminate information about a product, service, or information itself, then a Web site is a good starting point. Of course, Web sites have to deal with pushback. They are not noticeable, they are in no way connected to the world of Twitter. However, most people still turn to Wikipedia when learning about a new topic, so static sites can be valuable.

Websites can be dynamic

Most blogs are actually Web sites. Although blogs are managed by programs such as WordPress or Movable Type, they result in information sites consisting primarily of simple, non-interactive pages. This highlights an important distinction: a Web site is defined not by how it is generated, but by how the information and features it provides are used by its visitors. Understanding this difference can help you focus on what your Web presence looks like from a user's perspective.

In the early stages, you should focus on the user experience of the site. The user is not interested in what technologies your site is built on: HTML and CSS, ColdFusion, PHP or Perl. Users simply rate a site based on what they see. To understand what type of site you are creating or researching, you need to take a little break from programming. Just open your browser, visit your site and rate it.

Web applications are typically interactive

If your site is not informational, then most likely it is interactive. This means that the user is not a passive consumer, but active participant site. The user searches, presses buttons, fills out forms, makes purchases, and generally works with the keyboard and mouse all the time.

The standard of interactivity can be considered computer game. In the game, users constantly interact with the computer. Whether they're shooting zombies or walking through a minefield, players are constantly pressing buttons and making decisions that require them to press buttons again, and so on. Of course, most websites don't achieve this level of interactivity.

Most Web sites are hybrids to some extent. For example, take a look at the home page of Amazon.com, shown in Figure 2. Amazon.com is a hybrid that is, however, an information site.

Figure 2. Amazon.com

The screen shown above provides a lot of information. Books, authors, prices and categories are all different types of information. However, on this page the main goal of the user is interaction. The user can go to any product category. Or he can familiarize himself with a book in detail and buy it. The user can search or see what is in his/her cart. All this - different types interactions.

Since any website represents any information, you need to determine the balance between information and interactivity. What do you do more: read or interact? Do you spend 30 seconds or 10 minutes on one page? If you interact a lot and spend little time on each page, you have an interactive site.

What is the difference between informational and interactive sites?

So far, we've discussed a fairly simple way to evaluate websites. The site is either informational or interactive. Black or white.

Most interactive websites are actually hybrids. If there is no information, then it turns out that there is nothing with which it would be possible to interact.

Imagine what it would be like if Amazon.com had nothing but buttons - no books, no DVDs. The site wouldn't make sense. You need to have some information to work with. Thus, even interactive sites are actually hybrids: a combination of information and interactions.

You may ask: why even think about the differences between interactive and informational sites? It is important to think differently about a site through which you want to provide information to users and a site through which you want to provide interactivity. These differences in vision will actually drive most of your major design decisions. Even though you will rarely create purely informational or purely interactive sites, it is important to determine what your site leans towards.

Information is best submitted without processing

If your site is more informational, this determines the scenario for its use: use it to convey information to your audience. After this, all that remains is to determine the means of implementation. Given that users need information, what is the best way to convey that information? What is the best way to present data, which is usually available in large quantities, for online reading? At this point, the folks working on e-books, enhanced editions, and the next generation of publishing products are starting to wave their hands excitedly. Information should be conveyed to a new generation of readers modern means

, right? There are new ways to present information: floating annotations, pop-ups with additional information, and embedded videos.

Yes, there is a place for expanded information.

I'm not saying that you should avoid augmented media, or that you shouldn't try to push the boundaries of what's possible with a Web 2.0/3.0-style approach to information. However, such tools aren't exactly about getting information out quickly and efficiently. Most of the new ways of presenting information are used in immersive and even entertainment applications. These methods not only transmit information, they change the mechanism of its perception.

The information site is not trying to be experimental. If the purpose of your site is entertainment, then you need an interactive site. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it assumes that history matters little and that users have no inertia. People got used to it read books, read dictionaries, read Wikipedia. They read by moving their eyes from the top of the page to the bottom and, in many languages, from left to right. They are reading a large number of text and, as a rule, read it without being distracted. In fact, they want Read this information without distraction.

Informational sites shouldn't strive to be the flashiest, most attractive, and full-featured sites. At the same time there is ample opportunities For examples of using images for illustration, you can look at popular sites such as dictionary.com, Wikipedia and other sites with big amount text. It is certainly worth considering the possibility of using different visual elements: Try using different fonts and work on making your site navigation easy and clear. You provide access to information, so anything that distracts from it will ultimately work against you.

Interactivity is based on intermittent operation

What distinguishes interactive sites from sites that provide information? If informational sites try to distract the user as little as possible, then interactive sites try to do this as much as possible. Your site should constantly make users want to click, drag, or highlight something. You create an environment in which you can transfer information in one direction or the other. It is no longer enough for users to passively read text and view images; they need something do in order to move on.

Therefore, the key to interactivity becomes the implementation of these interrupts. You need to be intentional about creating touchpoints. If there are places on your site where you can go exclusively using hyperlinks, you may be doing a poor job of designing information and interactions. On the other hand, if the user needs to click a button, fill out a form, and then expand the section with necessary information, then you are most likely moving in the right direction.

Another approach to solving the problem of embedding interactivity into a website is to build a sequence map. Take a screenshot specific page, and then determine what you would like to see next page of your website. Take another screenshot, then another, and so on, until you have four or five (or ten) screenshots illustrating the steps to get a user from point A to point B.

Determine how the user moves from screen to screen. Does he click on a regular link? Does he press the button? How much does he move the mouse? How much action happens on screen? What is the user does? This great way determine what the interrupts should be. How often should the user be involved in deciding where to go next? How many interrupt options do you provide in case the user is not involved in the decision?

Example of an interactive site: Audi.com

To see how useful a trail map can be, let's look at an example. Take a look at the web site sequence of one of the leading manufacturers expensive cars. Since this site offers very expensive purchases, the site must lure and surprise the user.

Figure 3 shows start page, Audi.com website. The site looks glossy even before you interact with it.

Figure 3. Audi.com home page

The user can immediately begin interacting with the site. Figure 4 shows what the site looks like after a mouse click. Below the car there are several colored pieces, clicking on any of which instantly changes the color of the car. Without searching through menus or anywhere else, the user can instantly begin interacting with the page.

Figure 4. The image on the start page of the Audi website changes with a mouse click

On at this stage Audi.com uses a lot of relatively old technology. Menus that drop down when you hover your mouse over them are nothing new; this could have been done with DreamWeaver a long time ago. However, Audi's website tries to be interactive. So instead of displaying menu items and clicking on any of them, they display full-fledged images, specification tables, and embedded pages.

Figure 5 looks more like an internal page rather than a home page. Audi.com uses menus for much more than just navigation. When you hover your mouse over the menu, not just clickable items appear, but full-fledged images and lists of vehicle options.

Figure 5. When you hover the mouse over the menu, full images and lists of options appear

It's a smart approach to interactivity. Users don't have to click a lot, but the site provides them with rich, visual feedback. It seems to the user that there is a lot going on on the site. Interaction doesn't always involve complex Flash animations or joystick manipulation. Sometimes a well-placed image, like on the Audi website, is completely enough.

Figure 6 reveals another aspect of interactivity: simplicity. This is a regular text menu, appearance which is nothing extraordinary. However, the menu drops out very clearly, and the current item in it is highlighted in color. There's nothing revolutionary about this, but given the way the whole site works, it turns out that you spend minimum time. You simply hover your mouse over the menu, move it to the desired item and click. There is simply nowhere to get confused. You are always sure that you will get what you want.

Figure 6. Navigation menus are simple and beg to be clicked.

Figure 7 shows the inside page. Sure, the inner page is a bit weaker and less immersive than a well-designed home page. There are many more options here, clicking each of which changes the car image in the center. Each model page has many images that change according to user actions. Selecting a color, wheel type or interior instantly changes the image.

Figure 7. On internal pages requires more clicking than reading

Obviously a lot of work from designers and programmers has been put into this site. It is not a model of interactivity that many sites will be able to use. However, the key here is that users must interact with the site in order to move on. Greater interactivity allows you to get from the site more information.

By printing screenshots, you can easily see how users interact with the site and what they get from those interactions. Take some time to do this exercise. It may seem stupid to someone to look at screenshots laid out on the floor, but this is better than having a website, upon entering which the user begins to get bored and quickly leaves it.

Adding interactivity is not so easy

With an interactive approach, the main question becomes where exactly There must be interaction on the screen. This is not just reasoning like “Should this widget be placed in the upper left corner? Or maybe on the right?” There are two basic approaches (one of which is not very good):

• Interactivity does not have to be physically located in the center. It should be where the user's attention is directed. The user must interact with the site to proceed further.
• Interactivity is placed everywhere there is information. The interactivity is impressive, but it's not necessary to move on.

The first approach is preferable. Interactivity cannot be “screwed on” to an existing site. Why? Interactivity doesn't fit well around information. Instead, it should be within the information itself. In the figures shown above, , , and interactions are tied to the information itself - menu items. You can't have one without the other.

Mixing information and interactions

Returning to the idea of ​​hybridization, even the most interactive sites must present information at some point. Consider video games, for example. Here and there in games there are pauses, during which the player is a passive spectator of scenes that provide the information necessary for the player.

On the other hand, most information sites must at some point allow the user to click or search for something. Imagine if all Wikipedia information was stored on one page! And even then, the user must scroll the page; and this is also an interaction. All sites are hybrids. Most sites do not have an overwhelming predominance of one of these aspects, for example, 90% information and only 10% interactivity (or vice versa). On most sites the ratio is around 75/25. You will need to make a decision about the amount of information on your interactive site, or the number of interactions on your informational site. Of course, these must be good decisions.

You can create amazing interactions, but you still need to be able to provide good information. You may have great information, but at some point you will need to provide some interactivity.

Creating hybrids is much more difficult

The crux of the problem is this: no matter how well you create interactive interactions, you also need to design information well. If you're the best information designer, you still need to learn how to create interactive experiences. It's not easy to do both well at the same time. Most people are good at one thing, causing their sites to stand out for what they are good at. The strangeness and irony here is that if a site is really good at one thing (interactivity or information), then, as a rule, other side of it is poorly developed. Of course, the goal is to do both well to end up with a very strong site or application.

The first and most important rule is that you should not work exclusively on interactivity at the expense of information, or vice versa. Most likely, you will be good at one thing and bad at another. Try to work hard on one and work on the other as needed. If you have adopted the 75/25 rule (about the ratio of informational and interactive content on the site), perhaps you should also distribute your time in the same proportion. This is definitely a good place to start.

The next step is to run the tasks again. Design sites and design interactions continuously. Designers who continue to create Web sites in their spare time tend to become the best designers than those in free time learning to play the guitar.

And finally, you need to practice and strengthen your weak points. If you spend your days working on information-filled sites, look for where on the site you could add a little interactivity. Create collapsible areas using JavaScript or jQuery. Grow your information site to have a 60/40 ratio of information to interactivity. The opposite is also true. Look for ways to increase the amount of information on your interactive site. Create sidebars with information that appear in right time, which will display more information than you would normally provide. Strengthen your weak points.

Use your sites

Here you can roll your eyes and decide that they are telling you something completely obvious. Take your time to be surprised.

Use your websites. Often and a lot.

Sounds simple, doesn't it? However, just as actors don't want to watch their performances, or many musicians don't listen to their own CDs, many Web designers don't actually visit the sites they design. They write the code, do the design, upload the site and forget about it. They have no idea about the future fate of the site. They strive to complete a fictitious use case involving an invisible and non-existent user as quickly as possible. This is not a good habit.

So, you need to use your website. If you don't like it, your users might not like it either. Don't be so quick to dismiss problems with "well, it's just because I know how it works" or "none of the users are like me." A much better question to ask yourself is: “how can I improve the experience of the site, regardless of whether the site's users are similar to me or not?” This way of thinking can fundamentally change the way you think about your site.

Conclusion

The path to great Web design doesn't involve you quoting this article—or any other—over and over while you create page layouts and write JavaScript code. Instead, you should adapt the principles outlined in this article for yourself and then use them as a springboard to formulate your own principles. Your websites and apps will be better if you think about this article and don't just blindly apply it.

In this article, we introduced principles that can help you determine whether your Web presence is more like a Web site or a Web application. Whether you decide that your Web presence should be more informational or more interactive or that it's good the way it is is important. think out what you are going to do. Now you can make conscious, informed decisions.

Now is the time to break the rules or argue with the authors you've read. This means you need to figure out what works best for you. Your situation is different from mine or anyone else's. You need to "write your own article" about what is right for you. This is a good thing. For now, I hope this article gives you some good thoughts. Leave a comment at the bottom of the article and let me know what I'm right and what I'm wrong. I'm interested in hearing about your situation and how your Web presence is evolving with it in mind.