To enter, you need to create a Provider Profile for your company on ProteaSource. You need to be a South African web designer, developer, content writer, marketer, or ad agency. In other words, you should be interested in using ProteaSource.

ProteaSource is a new website, where buyers from South Africa and as well as overseas, can find, manage and pay South African web design, development, marketing, writing freelancers. The site is currently in Beta.

All freelancers who sign up to create a free profile stand a chance to win the iPad.

More at http://www.proteasource.com/blog/.

To ensure that the final result meets your expectations, a good copywriter gives you the following:

1. A reasonable time-line for first draft - if you have to wait two weeks for 2 pages of content, this may be a problem
2. Included re-writes if these are needed - copywriters should allow for any changes, and include a limited number of re-writes in the estimate/invoice
3. Professionalism and friendliness - approachability, attitude and overall ‘niceness’ should mandatory when dealing with any client
4. Prompt replies to queries and emails - delays can happen, but generally you should receive replies within a day or so at the very most
5. Realistic expectations of limitations - if they can’t do development, they shouldn’t promise to build you a website from scratch
6. Reasonable rates within industry market standards - do your research and find out the average rates of freelance copywriters before you agree to their quote
7. A good work ethic - fair, reasonable, hard-working and reliable are all much-needed traits of a good copywriter
8. Good work samples - samples presented on their portfolio should reflect the quality of their work
9. Experience and the right skills - if you are unsure, ask them how many years they have been in the game
10. Recommendations and references - look them up on LinkedIn, ask around and see if they can offer references of past work

Once you’ve found the best copywriter for the job, you can be sure that your content is in good hands - leaving you free to focus on the important stuff, like sales and business.

But first, here is a quick comparison of proofing, editing, refinement and rewriting:

* Proofreading: this is checking for typos, grammar issues, formatting issues and any other errors. Changes are not stylistic however, but attention to detail is vital to ensure that every sentence is 100%.

* Editing. this includes proofing, but also style. If a sentence could be improved, then small changes are made for better readability and style, to ensure a well-written piece of work on all fronts.

* Refinement: this is taking existing work, optimising it for search engines, editing where necessary, bulking up if the word count is low or neatening up if it is too long.

* Rewriting: this is taking existing content and rewriting it to read better, whether for search engines or humans. This is ideal for clients who want to bring across specific information but are not experienced writers and require a writer to ‘translate’ their information to read well.

The main point of proofing, editing or any of these services mentioned is to ensure that your website or document is free from errors, well-written and professional to send out the right message to your audience. Just like you wouldn’t do a DIY job on website design or brochures, copy should also be handled by someone with the know-how and experience to ensure a job well done.

With a wide range of newsletter and promotional mailshot options available, and a number of newsletter programs to make creating and sending newsletters a cinch, sending out newsletters has never been this easy.

Here’s a quick look at what makes a successful newsletter…

1. Concise, Well-written and Adds Value
Newsletters should give your customers relevant and newsworthy information simply, clearly and effectively. No one likes to be spammed with unnecessary information, or have to scroll down the page to find what they are looking for. Make it something customers WANT to read, and they will read it.

2. Timing is Everything
Ideally, newsletters should be sent out on a specific time of the month consistently. Even the time of day and day of week could affect newsletter response. Recent studies have shown that roughly 80% of newsletters are read between 5AM and 5PM with about 62% being opened between Tuesday and Thursday. Use a reliable mail software such as Aweber, and schedule newsletters to be sent consistently on whatever date you choose.

3. Adding Extras For Fun
You may use your newsletters to update customers on new deals or promotions, or simply to give them a breakdown on what’s been happening over the past month. Your main news story is the central force of your newsletter, but that doesn’t mean you can’t spice it up with additional features. Suduko, customer feedback, jokes, product of the month, employee of the month or any other extra features add value and interest, which will keep readers coming back.

4. Growing and Maintaining Your Mailing List
An awesome newsletter is pretty much worthless without a mailing list, and as such you need to develop your database on a regular basis. Simple tricks such as adding ’send to friend’ buttons to your newsletter, and simple referral promotions can do wonders, and having opt-in subscription forms on your website, blog and even in your regular business email signatures will also help you boost your mailing list.

5. HTML vs. Text Mailers
This is a tricky one. Overall, HTML emails are best for monthly emails or newsletters which have a lot of content. Branding is essential on these, and you are also able to add images and colour. Promotion emails which are to the point and quick however can easily be text emails. These can be sent out for special events, such a giveaway, or product launch, and are much simpler with a hard-sell approach.

6. Tracking Your Clicks
Newsletter software such as Aweber is a great way to ensure that you can monitor the clicks in your newsletters. This means that all links in your newsletter have a special tracking code, so every time a reader clicks one of these links, their click is recorded. You will be able to see how many readers have clicked through to your website from the newsletter, plus you can also see how many newsletters were delivered. Tracking is essential to monitor newsletter campaign success to help you continually improve your newsletter service.

7. How to Lose a Reader in 10 Days
The quickest way to ruin an e-marketing campaign is to spam your readers, sell their email addresses, send out an error-riddled newsletter or accidentally-on-purpose sign them up for messages from your partners. Newsletters are not about pushing, they are about gently coaxing. The focus should be on promoting, but also informing - it is a communications tool, and as such should not be abused.

Above all, your newsletters need to send out the right message to your customers. A well-crafted, nicely branded newsletter which keeps your readers’ attention throughout the entire email is one of the best marketing tools in the box, and adds huge value to your online marketing campaign as a whole.

I’ve also finally upgraded my Wordpress version, which means I can now finally get rid of the insane volumes of spammy comments I was getting, yayness!

Otherwise, I’ll be adding some more features throughout the next few months - stay tuned for details!