So many copywriters think that it's enough to be a stellar writer and grammatical genius. Oh, but this is so far from true. One of the most important aspects of copywriting is project management. When you're tight and together, you can deliver a perfect draft BEFORE the anticipated deadline, that the client can easily decipher and that whomever is designing the project will absolutely love you for.

As a polished copywriting professional, your writing drafts should include:

- Copy that's contextually structured in a logical fashion
- Copy that's emotionally geared to the audience in tone and message
- Copy that's non-repetitive or redundant
- Copy that conforms to the grammatical and stylistic rules within its unique category
- Copy that's structured to the medium in which it shall be presented; i.e. web, print, radio, TV etc.

Your client is entrusting his projects to you, and therefore you are the Keeper of the Order.

As someone who has signed a contract that commits you to be responsible for someone else's content, you owe that paying client:

- Copy that can be easily transferred from text to a graphic design or web format
- Project draft documents and emails that are consistent in their naming convention
- Text files that contain necessary headers and page numbers
- Fonts that are uniform in size, easy to read and used consistently
- Seach Engine Optimized copy (as it's requested) delivered in a standard document format

While creativity is a beautiful thing, the copy draft is the last place where we want to wow our customer with distracting graphics, multiple sized fonts, and inconsistency. Your designer will be working from one document set at one font face and size that he can copy and paste from. Make that document clean and consistent. Categorize everything so the client can tell "what goes where."

An example of what not to do: Send a long copy block via email and "html format" your fonts to "make it pretty."

First, a long copy block that's picked up from an email will inevitably contain those dreaded << symbols after every line. These symbols are a designer's nightmare, as they must be removed from every line and they mess up the spacing and returns. NEVER submit text via email without packaging it in a document first.

Second, the person who is designing the document or web page will be implementing their own style sheets, fonts, etc.. They may already have a design in place, and the last thing they need from you is a headline set at Spumoni 18 point that they must now reduce to fit a tiny textbox.

The exception to this rule is a case where the copywriter and artist are working together on creative concepts; for example, a logo and tagline package where one may want to "visualize" the words in a creative design format.

Whether you're just starting out as a freelance copywriter or you've been doing this for many years but could stand to improve your delivery process, it's wise to implement a Copywriting Protocol and Procedure to guarantee yourself as a writer who is "a dream to work with."

Apply the following rules as you develop your own method of organization.

- All drafts and revisions must be thoroughly spell-checked and proofread prior to submission.

- All drafts and revisions must conform to a Copy Submission Template that you will create.

- All text documents shall include accurate headers containing project name, author, date, and draft number.

- All files shall be saved in accordance with a Standard Naming Convention.

- All email subjectlines shall contain the campaign name, project title and draft number.

- Any "SEO Optimized" copywriting work drafts will adhere strictly to a standardized SEO Copy Format Template that will help you communicate with your designer in the most straightforward way possible.

If you work in teams with other writers, and they do not follow these rules as they represent your business in the professional world...

I recommend that you find yourself some new writers. ;)

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Dina Giolitto is the author of ARTICLE POWER: Create Dynamite Web Articles and Watch Your Sales Explode... a 49-page manual covering every aspect of article marketing on the web. Learn about article marketing, copywriting and more at http://www.wordfeeder.com