Jeff Kirby • Copywriter and Content Specialist

Describing anything and everything

For over a decade, I have been working with some of the world’s most recognizable brands to create compelling and informative product copy. I began working in-house at content26 in Seattle in 2010 as a Content and Production Specialist. In this position I was responsible for writing unique content for a wide variety of manufacturers selling on Amazon, Walmart, and other online retailers, and designing and building product pages using web publishing platforms, HTML, and CSS. When I decided to move to Berlin in 2015, I continued working with content26 as a freelance copywriter and expanded my services to other marketing and content creation companies, solidifying myself as a trusted resource able to create large amounts of quality content with quick turnaround.

My regular roles as a copywriter include blog writing, article writing, ghost writing, social media content creation, search engine optimization, SEO writing, research, marketing copywriting, email writing, copy editing, proofreading, fact-checking, creating case studies, website copy, and online publishing.

But my primary role as a copywriter is creating product descriptions for manufacturers selling on Amazon, brand sites, and other online retailers. The majority of this copy is Essential and Enhanced product page content. Essential content is the foundation of any product page: SEO-infused product titles, bullets outlining the features and benefits, and impactful and concise product descriptions. Enhanced content is found further down the product page, with comprehensive sections for each key feature, accompanied by product photos and rich media. Informative and well-written Essential and Enhanced content is crucial for instilling customer confidence and winning conversions on the digital shelf. Since 2015, I have created product detail copy for thousands of products, as well as extensive content audits and content refreshes for entire product catalogs. 

Notable Projects:

·      Created Essential and Enhanced content for more than 1000 products across multiple channels for Newell-Rubbermaid brands, including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Elmer’s, Paper Mate, Pure Fishing, First Alert, Coleman, Crock-Pot, Mr. Coffee, FoodSaver, and more. Additionally, I standardized and SEO-infused product titles for nearly another thousand SKUs, bringing consistent formatting and search optimization to catalogs with no previous naming conventions.

·      Wrote factual and easy-to-understand Amazon Essential content for 1200 chemical solvent, roofing, and plumbing supply SKUs for IPS Corporation, with no real previous knowledge as to how any of these products worked. I have also written more than 300 pieces of content for Moen plumbing supplies and bathroom fixtures. After researching and writing about all these products, I felt like I was actually qualified to fix the leak in my bathroom sink.

·      Gained a minor medical education penning more than 230 Enhanced Amazon pages for McKesson Medical Supplies. Seeing that more and more healthcare providers have begun to use using Amazon for B2B sales, McKesson decided to make that channel a priority. I was tasked with expanding upon existing one-sheet product PDFs to make their Enhanced product pages comprehensive and informative to both laymen and medical professionals alike.

·      Worked with Johnson & Johnson to create and revise website content, email briefs, rewards, and announcements for their Care Club customer service program.

·      Wrote more than 400 product descriptions for Unilever brands, including Lipton, Country Crock, Best Foods, Hellmann's, Knorr, Pure Leaf, Suave, Dove, Vaseline, TRESemmé, Degree, Seventh Generation, Axe, Klondike, Magnum, Breyers, and Ben & Jerry's. I have also written over 130 descriptions for Dreyer’s ice cream brands Häagen-Dazs, Skinny Cow, Ed's, Drumstick, and Nestle Tollhouse, to name a few. You will likely never encounter another copywriter with more experience writing about ice cream (though many of the brands I wrote for are not legally allowed to call their products that).

·      Learned the fundamentals of industrial air compressors so I could confidently write more than 90 Enhanced product pages for Ingersoll-Rand.

·      Had a much easier time writing 170 product descriptions for Calphalon pots, pans, and kitchen supplies, thanks to a pre-existing love of home cooking. Perhaps my favorite product catalog to tackle was 150 SKUs for Roland Specialty Foods. With little existing copy to pull from, I was able to utilize my own culinary experience to explain to Amazon shoppers the myriad features and benefits of a can of beans. They truly are a versatile food.

Clients In Every Aisle

This work requires that I am able to accurately and effectively describe anything, as the manufacturers I represent sell every product imaginable. It also requires a deep command of rhetoric, as each individual brand has pride in its established, specific voice. The thousands of products I have described span a wide variety of departments. Here is a curtailed list of more notable brands I’ve written for, with SKU counts noted for larger projects:

Consumer Electronics: Samsung, SanDisk, Linksys, Belkin, ASUS, PowerA Gaming, Cisco, Philips

Grocery: Hershey (180 SKUs), Smuckers (140 SKUs), Lindt (100 SKUs), Maple Leaf Foods (300 SKUs), Primal Kitchen, Peet’s Coffee, Pernod (Jameson, Kahlua, Malibu, Glenlivet)

Health & Beauty: Johnson & Johnson (Band-Aid, Aveeno, Neutrogena, Lubriderm, Listerine), Cover Girl (140 SKUs), Guy & O'Neill, Tena, Zarbees, Vicks

Tools & Home Improvement: Schneider Electric, General Tools, Mr. Chain, Irwin Tools, Melnor

Sports & Fitness: Rawlings Baseball (1200-SKU product title audit), Body Solid, Bushnell

Home & Office: BIC (130 SKUs), Staples, Parker Pens, La-Z-Boy & Serta (100 SKUs)

Toys: Crayola (200 SKUs), Just Play, Insect Lore

Blog and Article Writing

In addition to writing product descriptions as a freelancer, I also contributed regularly to content26’s blog on topics such as best practices for selling online and trends in content merchandising. While I can’t directly share the copy I’ve created for the many Fortune 500 companies I’ve worked with, I can share the writing I’ve done about creating that content. My decade of experience in e-commerce has left me uniquely qualified to try and convince brands that they should communicate in complete sentences and use their product descriptions to actually describe what the product does.

Unfortunately, content26 was acquired by a holding company and then dissolved in 2023 and their website has since been decommissioned. The dozens of articles I published solidifying myself as a thought leader in e-commerce are now lost to the digital aether. So it goes. I have re-published some highlights here on my website.