Clients and Writing Samples
These two things go together, so I’ll talk a bit about who hires me, and then I’ll show you a few website samples so you can see my work in the wild.
Who Hires Dan?
It sounds cliché, but I work for any size business in any industry. I’ve worked for chains with hundreds of locations, and I’ve worked for kitchen table startups. And everything in between. I even write letters for private people.
That said, the majority of my clients have between 5 and 500 employees, with the owner/president still being pretty hands-on. They are successful and want to work with professionals, but don’t need an in-house / full-time copywriter.
Ok, I don’t really work for kids. But my client base is so diverse in business type and industry that any standard “business picture” becomes exclusionary. So this seemed like a fun way to get that point across. These kids can all grow up to be my client, no matter what profession they choose.
Writing Samples
A note on samples: I only post websites as samples, as they are public. Everything else (PDF’s, internal stuff, letters, emails, etc.) are selectively distributed, and may have a shelf life too. So I don’t share that work.
Second: While I wrote copy for the websites I post here, there’s a chance someone else wrote on them as well (I cannot control that). So if you see any terrible writing, it’s not mine! Also, for blogs and advertorials, I generally give the company’s executives credit.
Lastly: this is a teeny tiny sample of sites I’ve done (I’ve written for more than a thousand websites). But it should give you a good cross section of my writing. Plus, if you really want a great sample, I wrote every word on the site you are reading now.
Oh, the links will all open a new window or tab. Just so you know. I’m a “right-click / new tab” guy myself.
Equipment Financing by Crest Capital. Over the last 16 years, I have written thousands of webpages, blog posts, thought leadership articles, sales emails, phone scripts, process instructions, and more for this excellent Atlanta-based B2B equipment finance company. I handle all of their content, and work directly with the CEO, who I like and respect a lot (I also have a title: VP of Strategy). I write about equipment financing and related topics, like leases, rates, Section 179, using equipment to fuel growth, etc.
Honestly, Crest shows what’s possible with good digital content and a forward-thinking, customer-focused strategy, because they completely dominate their very-competitive industry in every measurable sense: Customer service, SEO, website conversion, content marketing, innovation, and more. Every competitor plays second fiddle to Crest, and routinely copies everything we do.
I also write a lot of thought leadership articles for Crest in respected trade publications. Like this one on Bonus Depreciation, this one on Best Borrowing Practices when rates are going up, and this one on used equipment having a hidden lien. These are great marketing because they demonstrate expertise on topics, and are also good for SEO. Plus I like writing for good publications.
Direct Response Sales and Leads. I write hundreds of ads and advertorials for interesting direct response consumer products and services. The ads are targeted by demographic, and appear on CNN, Weather.com, and other top traffic sites, and lead to a specific landing page. The one pictured is for leads – the ad will say something like “new rule for <state> drivers”, and leads to a short page for the lead service (full page here). Don’t be fooled by the simple language and brevity – that’s all on purpose, and this page has converted massively for years. This layout / savings pic was my idea too.
I write for all demographics. Men, women, boomers, millennials… If I had to guess, at any given time on the bottom of cnn.com are 2-3 ads / advertorials I wrote under various pseudonyms (Dave Freeman, Audrey Beck, etc).
E-Learning by Clearly Trained. Here’s an example of a small company (2 or 3 guys when they first came to me) who does really unique work, and serves much larger companies. I wrote the entire website, and they even chose my suggestion for the company name. Now this one is a case where they used me for a big project when they launched the website, but that’s prettymuch all they needed. That’s cool. And my copy has been working for a decade. That’s a deal and a half! That’s also why I included it here – converting evergreen sales copy is really good.
Restaurant Furniture by Soft Touch Furniture. I love these folks. I’ve written their website, catalogs, tons of monthly newsletters, all kinds of internal writing and memos, I’ve written letters to clients on their behalf, and more. I discuss marketing and strategy with the owners, and even hung out at the trade show in NYC with them.
Shrewsbury / Worcester Tree Service by New England Tree Experts. This is a local Massachusetts tree service. And Greg and his crew do the best, most professional work possible. In an industry where there are a lot of “Buck With a Truck” type guys, Greg wanted his attention to detail, equipment, crews, and similar to come through in the website’s writing. It does, and as a result, he gets constant inquiries from the site.
Speak Your Way to Cash by Ashley Kirkwood. Ashley is awesome! I started working for her about two years ago. She’s a prominent Chicago lawyer who ditched a $300k/yr corporate attorney job to do it on her own. She started a virtual law firm, but it quickly became apparent she was an extremely talented speaker and trainer. I write web pages, emails, and landing pages for her. I also helped her rebrand.
Strata Management Software by Power Strata Systems. I’m experienced in a lot of industries, but I never heard of Strata Management Software before these folks contacted me. But I quickly “got” it, and wrote them a very effective website that brings in consistent business.
Artificial Plants by Nearly Natural. These folks are the #1 seller of artificial plants in the country, and with good reason: their products are very high quality, and look so real they can fool anyone. I wrote hundreds of product descriptions on this website. And they keep selling over and over and over again.
