I am hearing lots about copywriting and although I don't want to consider myself a salesman, it did sound really nice to be able to write and to do lots of it. I have a friend that makes websites for random people, he gets most of his business from the "word of mouth" and he says that if I can prove myself worthy, then he would refer me to his clients. I thought this would be great because I am would be writing and also getting paid a little. I am fresh into college, trying to get my english degree, and again I wouldn't want to make copywriting a career, but it allows me to write and the more I do that the better chances I will be becoming a better writer for that one day I can clarify myself as a full-time writer, meaning: I write my fiction 8-5 everyday, my passion and goal. This is just my thinking, anyone object? Anyone have any tips or anything of that sort? I know this isn't a copywriting website, but thought i should try. Thanks
It really isn't a copywriting site. We deal with creative writing, not marketing or advertising, so you probably won't find many people here in the same mindset. Copyrighting relies heavily on the impact of key words and phrases chosen by the client, which goes against the grain of most creative writing. We do have a strict policy against advertising here, which will limit what you can post. However, if you wish to discuss general writing principles, by all means do,
Copywriting isn't easy (I've done a bit in my time) but it does focus the mind wonderfully. It does take a different mindset than creative writing though and I'm not sure what to suggest other than getting some books on copywriting and learning the basic principals. I never did that myself, which is why I'm not a copywriter today.
i was a freelancer for years and wrote copy for a variety of clients, including nestle's... it's interesting work and can pay the bills, but you have to keep finding clients, to make it a steady thing... today, with so many needing internet copy, and with the ease of touting your services on the net, it may be a lot easier...
copywriting is writing advertising copy. It can range from print ads and scripting commercials and trsilers to developing high impact commercial web elements. The key element is that it is used to promote a busines, service, or product. Copywriters work closely witj marketing teams. Companies have specific prodiuct branding that they wish to retain and highlight, so your creativity as a copywriter will be constrained by considerations of corporate identity. Web site copywriting also takes into account things like keywords for search engine hits.
>Web site copywriting also takes into account things like keywords for search engine hits. I'm actually an SEO (Search Engine Optimizer) by day, so I'd like to add a little to this to answer your question. Yes, you are asked to use certain phrases and keywords. The reason for this is because you are not only writing for a person to read, you are writing for a search engine like google to index the results in its database. The reason for this is because it is a cheap way to bring traffic and sales to your web site. Let me take you through the basic process. 1. A client that sells widgets will approach an SEO and say "We want our site to rank well on google for our product." What this means is that when people type in "widgets" into google, they want their web site to come up on the first page of google's search results. (Called SERPS by those in the industry.) 2. The SEO will use tools to find phrases that people like you and me search upon when trying to find information about the client's widgets. (Usually this list can be anywhere from 200 words to 1,000) For example: widgets - 3,256 Red widgets - 675 blue fuzzy widgets - 324 3. The SEO will often work with a copywriter to rewrite the content on the client's website to incorporate the words and phrases they found into the web copy. There is a big demand for people to write copy for sites that only run google advertising. The same rules apply: the copywriter will be given a list of words and phrases to use in the copy and a minimum word count or keyword density percentage. Usually, the copywriter is paid by the word. Yes, you can make a good income doing this: particularly so if you create your own web site about high money phrases and run your own google advertising on it.
Copywriting is probably the most profitable way to make a living with your writing, actually. Many writers support themselves with copywriting or business writing while they are trying to write and publish a book. But to make a living wage the copywriter usually has to be working on several jobs at once and must constantly look for new clients. Some business acumen is certainly preferable because you won't have an agent helping you out.
Very interesting thread! My friend's mum is a copy writer (and apparently makes good money) so I considered researching it further. Alas I was juggling too many writing projects at the time and so never got around to it.
hey guys.. hope everyone's doing good.. just wanted to know if anyone on here knows or have any experience with copywriting (yes it is spelled correctly). from what i have read it is basically writing ads and headlines for businesses, sorta like marketing.. it has peaked my interest and i would like to get some more info on that especially from someone who has experience in this field or knows people in this field.. thanks alot all.
copywriting involves a lot more than just ads and headlines... nowadays, it also includes writing content for websites... it can also mean writing text for tv/radio news stories, coffee table books composed mainly of photos, and various other projects requiring 'copy'... the relevant definition of 'copy' is: i was a freelance copywriter years ago and have recently become one again, writing dialog for an RPG, so if you want to know anything more about it, feel free to drop me a line anytime... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
I realize that the vast majority of people here only want to write fiction. I am different in that respect, and that's why I haven't posted in a while. Anyone here do copywriting? Have taken a course with AWAI? Six months ago, I self- published a more than four hundred page collection of essays on a variety of serious topics but discovered that there is little, if any, market for this. I may be good at copywriting, and then again, I might be terrible at it. At least it's worth a try. Bill
I used to do some copy-writing. It was a way to make some extra change on the side. Also reviewed metal albums and movies a few years back.
I'm so unaware of the topic I don't even really understand what you mean. I thought copywriting was, like, advertising copy, or marketing materials. But a collection of essays counts as copywriting? I didn't know that. So what does copywriting mean? Is it just a synonym for non-fiction?
That is essentially what copywriting is -- writing for advertising, promotions, clicky stuff ... you get the gist. I thought the essay comment was the reason OP thought he might be good at writing copy. This is how I interpreted it: "I wrote a collection of essays, but there isn't much market (read:money) for that. I might be good at copywriting, though ..."
Before I got my stupid anxiety disorder, I used to do copywriting for my friends e-marketing business. He mostly targeted logistics companies, and since I did my degree in business studies, it was a pretty easy task with some research. I also wrote a few monthly newsletters for the actual business itself. The quality of my writing was no were near as good as it is now, though, but my friend said the companies seemed happy with the stuff I did.
Essay writing is entirely different than copywriting. If there was any money to be made with essays, I would still be doing it. That's why I may pursue copywriting.
How does one "get" an anxiety disorder? You may just be going through a hard time - I did in my early to mid twenties - and don't really need any medication or psychotherapy, although it might help in some cases. A month ago, I read that highly verbal intelligent people tend to more anxious than others. That's actually a good thing, since it shows that you are more socially aware than average types and think about the consequences of your actions and of the many bad things that could happen to you and others, both now and in the future.
Copywriting's my day job. It's not for everyone, but I do think it's probably the most reliable way of making a living out of writing. Your best bet for getting started is working out what you're interested in. To write advertising effectively, you need to be able to understand the market - and while eventually, you'll want to be able to research and get into the heads of pretty much anyone, you'll have an easier time to begin with trying to sell to people like you, who are interested in the kind of stuff you're interested in. So: what are your hobbies? What are your values? What do people try to sell people like you, and how do they try to sell it? What was the last thing you bought and why did you buy it? Then, read these books: Cashvertising, by Drew Eric Whitman Influence, by Robert Cialdini How To Write Sales Letters That Sell, by Drayton Bird Cashvertising will give you some great ideas. Influence is more a psychology textbook but a fascinating read, and will explain why those ideas will or won't work. How To Write Sales Letters That Sell will give you some excellent (if slightly dated now) examples of those ideas in action. If you're still interested when you've done that, start writing some ads.
To be honest, I'm not really sure. I got that job because my friend who I'd known since primary school ran the company. I started off doing research and constructing databases for him, but he knew I also enjoyed writing, so he asked me if I fancied giving copywriting a try. I did a piece for this logistics company website and he said it was decent so it became a regular thing. From what I could tell from my experience, you need to study and understand a few factors, such as what you're writing for, the audience you're targeting, using specific words that will burn into the readers psyche, and understanding the media platform you are writing for. Like, for websites, it would focus more on relatively short but punchy paragraphs, but try to convey as much information as I could within them; the one thing you always want to avoid in copywriting is writing irrelevant information that has little to do with the product you're trying to sell, because a lot of time, you have limit workspace. I was never actually deemed as a professional copywriter or anything, though, and I wouldn't be surprised if my work was actual quite crap to a trained eye. I'd always been quite a nervous person, but I could deal with it fine and lead a normal life. However, a little over a year ago, I was preparing to study a PGCE to go into teaching, and I was doing a lot of teaching observations at my local college. During one of them, I had drank a shit ton of coffee that morning because I'd only had about 4 hours sleep, and during the observation I started to feel really light headed and dizzy resulting in a panic attack. This was not totally unusual as I'd suffered with them before, but only rarely -- one a year, if that. Anyway, a few days later, I went out with one of my friends, and when I was in his car I started suffering another panic attack and made him stop so I could get out -- that ended my trip to the pub pretty fast. And then again, a week later, during the initial mandatory English and Math test for teaching, I suffered another panic attack. So what had happened is, because I'd suffered a number of panic attacks in a short period of time, it had burrowed itself into my subconscious, and every time I went out to do something, that niggling thought that I might suffer a panic attack made me actually suffer a panic attack. It created a loophole, because it's self reinforcing the notion that I'll have a panic attack, even though I realise how absurd it is, it always lingers in my subconscious. Over the months, I unwittingly let it consume me, until I got to the point were I can't even walk into shops now without dread pouring over me, and then it's like the Countdown clock to another panic attack. On a good note, I have actually got a lot better over the last few months, and I'm starting to beat it. I refuse help or medication of any kind, though, because there are things I still want to do in life that would be difficult to achieve with such medical records. In fact, I couldn't even got the doctors if I wanted to; I'd suffer a panic attack. Edit: As for the intelligent people suffering such things, very true! A lot of the greatest minds in history suffered anxiety and other weird conditions, like Howard Hughes, and Nikola Tesla.
TL;DR - however, one can easily "get" or "develop" an anxiety disorder. Many people don't develop mental illness/disorders until later in life. Sometimes they aren't permanent, either. So you can just as likely grow into one as you can grow out of one.
For those who are unaware aberdeen has a history of trolling. I'm not going to tell anyone how they should or shouldn't interact with that member, but it's something to be keep in mind.
