That’s what I think, and I’m sure many people who know what copywriting is all about would agree with me. It seems appealing in so many ways. You get to work from home, no need to commute to the office, and no boss sneaking around. You can take a power nap whenever you feel like and travel to places you dreamed of, without waiting for a leave application to get approved. And the best part – you can earn an outstanding amount and get to choose whom you want to work with while being a copywriter. These are some of the top perks of choosing copywriting apart from the freedom you get and the time you can spend with your loved ones. Sounds cool, isn’t it? So, if you ever thought of venturing into the copywriting business, this article is for you. As a copywriter myself, I will discuss a few important things about copywriting and some of the best resources you can take to get started. This article and the resources mentioned herein can help beginners and someone looking to get better at their copywriting skills. Let’s dive-in!
What is copywriting?
Copywriting is the art of writing marketing materials and sales promotions for products or services to persuade people to take action. Here, the “action” means convincing people to buy something, clicking on a button, donate money, get their email addresses, and more. It is an essential skill to possess when it comes to advertising and marketing your business. Copywriting is needed to write web pages, sales brochures, product descriptions, emails, magazine ads, billboards, sales letters, and more. Copywriting is an integrated part of digital marketing that often combines with SEO and growth hacking to give your brand a wider reach and influence more prospects. The better the copy is, the more are your chances of converting prospects into customers. And the person responsible for writing such a copy is a copywriter. If you utilize your writing skills to craft a compelling story that can convince people to buy something or take action, you can grow a profitable business out of it.
Is copywriting a recession-proof business?
You see, a copy is everywhere; from the products you use and services you adore, to fundraising events you like to donate to. Brands always need a copywriter to advertise and market their offerings. They employ copywriters to convey a clear and concise message to the target audience. Hence, copywriting is evergreen, and the industry is recession-proof. Even though a recession grips the economy, the demand drops very slightly for copywriters and quickly picks the pace. That’s why if you love writing and want to make a career out of it, it totally makes sense to get into copywriting. Now, many people confuse between content writing and copywriting, thinking both are the same. But in reality, they are different majorly in terms of purpose and writing style.
Copywriting vs. Content Writing
Content writing is done to educate, inform, or entertain the audience with a clear purpose reflected in the copy and editorial. It represents a brand’s voice and must be a delight to read that includes articles, blog posts, e-books, white papers, emails, social media posts, etc. Content writing aims to create productive engagement and build a connection with your audience so that they could trust your company or brand over time. It needs consistency with quality content that makes people interested in your products and/or services, so they eventually become your customers…loyal customers! Copywriting, on the other hand, is done to generate sales and is more straightforward and advertorial. It sells people an idea and pitches the audience to use the products and/or services of a brand. It includes a relatively shorter copy with compelling headlines plus direct CTAs in order to prompt customers to buy the offerings of a brand. The type of writing includes ads, web page content, press releases, SEO content, brochures, catalogs, and other marketing materials. So, what’s better, you ask? The best content marketing strategy, in my opinion, is to combine both of them. Brands must produce informative content with a clear objective and post them consistently while employing copywriting to market their products and services.
How to become a copywriter?
To become a copywriter, you don’t necessarily need a degree. If you have a knack for writing, you just need a boost in order to write like a pro copywriter. You can enhance your skills by understanding copywriting techniques, the structure of an effective copy, and the way to streamline the writing process. And always practice and practice to sharpen your skills because just learning without implementation won’t get you anywhere. So, if you want to learn copywriting, I am going to discuss some of the best resources and tutorials that can help you enhance your copywriting skills.
Blackford Centre
Claiming to be the #number 1 copywriting course in the World, Blackford Center for Copywriting offers the Diploma in Copywriting. Here, they will teach you the tools of copywriting and the secrets of successful professionals in the copywriting field. The course will introduce you to writing copy that sells, how you can win clients, and earn handsome income out of it. Study this course online within the comforts of your home plus get a printed edition of the course as well. This course includes learning from videos, quizzes, challenges, and fun assignments. In addition, you will have a course tutor and advisor and the opportunity to contact other learners. You would learn by working on real-time assignments out of real clients, which builds your portfolio. After finishing the course, you get loads of supporting activities that will help you get started quickly as a certified copywriting professional. On successful course completion, you’ll get two certificates:
Diploma in Copywriting by the Blackford Centre Certificate of Achievement by ABC Wards & Certa Awards, including a Learner Unit Summary listing things that the learner accomplished during the course.
Udemy
Udemy offers almost every course for modern learners. Let’s look at two of the courses I found worth sharing with you:
The Complete Copywriting Course Secret Sauce of Great writing
The Complete Copywriting Course is one you can take up to polish your copywriting skills. It will guide you on how to write effective copy and grow your career and business. You can access infinite copywriting formulas, FREE tools, and templates. Here you will learn how to sell products and services through your writing, persuade people into taking action NOW, and hacks from the world’s successful copywriters. Most importantly, the course will teach you sales psychology that helps grow a profitable business and compel the readers through powerful writing and ethical persuasion techniques. It will help you combat blank-page anxiety and stage fright. With the course, you get instant access for a lifetime to the techniques and systems needed to improve your conversion rate. It will also include 3-hour engaging video tutorials, scientifically-proven strategies, dozens of downloadable resources like guides, and PDFs. Secret Sauce of Great writing is taught by Shani Raja, a former editor in the Wall Street Journal. Here, you will learn the 4 essential ingredients of great writing – clarity, simplicity, evocativeness, and elegance. You will get to understand how you can add these ingredients perfectly that make sense and stand out from the rest. It will also help you identify your weaknesses and improve your writing dramatically. The course is free, but if you want the instructor’s certificate and assistance, you can pay for it.
Handbook
If you are a writer, associated with copy approval, or aspiring to be one of them, this classic guide can help you. The course’s name is – The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy that Sells. The book includes some great tips on copywriting such as:
8 practical headlines that actually work and the way to use them A motivating sequence in 5 steps to generate greater sales 10 tips to boost the conversion rates of landing pages 15 methods to make sure your emails receive higher opening and click-through rates 4-S formula to make copy clear, compelling, and concise Ways to build powerful lead magnets to double your response rates
The power-packed edition of this book has all the essential information you need to master copywriting. It also includes content marketing, creating landing pages, online videos, and more.
For Beginners
Copywriting for Beginners: How to Write Web Copy That Sells Without Being Cheesy by SkillShare is another good option to nurture your skills. This can be a great help to beginners, and a veteran web copywriter himself delivers experienced writers alike and the lessons. The course encompasses web copywriting fundamentals and helps your words channelize in the right direction, engagingly and excitingly. If you struggle with what you should write next and sit ideally with a blank screen before you, this course can help you. It is a 60-minute class that is delivered in 16 different short lessons in the form of videos. Here, you will learn to write effectively and convert site visitors into potential leads and then customers. The various lessons the course includes are:
Basics of web writing and how to write catchy headlines with 3 proven templates 8 research questionnaire to understand your target audience and their issues, fears, and desires and uncover suitable words you can use in your writing based on the target market Templates to write headlines, sub-heads, and CTAs quickly and effectively How to cut through the noise in the saturated market of copywriters How to convert boring features into sizzling benefits that readers find irresistible to. It’s because they care more about how a product/service can help them rather than just knowing about the features. 3 ways how you can fight writer’s block. Every writer in the world goes through writer’s block, whether they accept it or not, and so do you. Hence, learn these three steps to break free of this deadly curse and bounce back to writing.
Copyblogger Pro
Copyblogger is a famous name in the copywriting space that almost everyone looks up to. You can access a lot of educational stuff and assets worth over $600 at just $495 for an entire year with Copyblogger Pro. Each month will bring new skill sets, ideas, and information to transform your copywriting, life, and business. The level of coaching, education, network, plus opportunity that they are providing is hard to match. The course includes:
Content writing masterclass Email writing masterclass SEO Masterclass Online business masterclass Advanced masterclass and seminars
With the membership, you can access their Strategic Thought Leadership MasterClass, Supplemental Session over guest posting, AMA, and Q&A session that builds stronger skills. In addition, you get a wonderful community, accountability, and networking that can help deliver a huge ROI for your copywriting business. If you don’t find the membership useful, you can email them for a refund, without any trouble or lengthy procedures.
IDM
The Copywriting Masterclass by the Institution of Data & Marketing (IDM) helps you learn some advanced copywriting methods that promote engagement and help improve sales. Improve your writing with insights into the way people read plus what encourages them to take action. They will teach you practical tips that you can apply to your writing, no matter what the context is. You will understand the real science behind how people engage with copy and then utilize the same to your advantage. You would also be able to articulate and define the true value of sales propositions. It will help you understand the rational and emotional drivers that persuade and compel readers. The course will help you structure, adapt, and write your copy that can suit the mainstream marketing media. You will also get to understand more about the design typography, images, and other graphics that suit your copy. They will teach you the best practices for copywriting that include advanced tips and exercises to make you better at writing.
Kopywriting Kourse
This is one of the famous courses for copywriting with a quirky name – Kopywriting Kourse available on YouTube. In this channel, you can learn some basics of great and converting techniques of copywriting. In addition, you also get to learn how to create effective emails for sales prospects and fail-proof processes to create content that sells. You can learn some of the basic mistakes that writers make and how you can avoid them. Writing and working from home come with certain challenges that you need to overcome daily, such as productivity. The videos on this channel can also help you improve your productivity with some actionable tips, DIYs, and so many other related ideas and information that help you stay motivated on writing and enhance your skills.
Creative Writing
Creative Writing Specialization is yet another option for you that you can find on Coursera. It covers important elements of 3 main creative writing genres – short story, memoir, and narrative essay. It will help you master various good writers’ techniques like bracing stories, fresh descriptions, interesting settings, etc. Post the course completion, you will receive a shareable certificate and learn on a flexible schedule.
HubSpot Academy
Direct your professional writing career to the next level by learning from the online and FREE training from none other than HubSpot Academy. There are so many courses you can choose from that come with free certifications as well. Try its content marketing course to learn the framework for content creation effectively and consistently. It will help you create as well as repurpose content that search engines and humans both love.
QuickSprout
Turn up to this interesting article published by QuickSprout to get a comprehensive idea on copywriting. It covers the following areas:
An explanation for copywriting How to become a copywriter The importance of understanding product or services and the audience before writing Creating effective product descriptions How to write attention-seeking headlines and persuasive copy
The article is, beyond a doubt, written with a mindset to help beginners as well as experienced ones looking to enhance their skills. It blends everything from the market, audience, and the art of writing, which can help you write the copy that can actually make an impact on readers and converts when combined and implemented correctly.
Copyhackers
Copyhackers offer some really good copywriting resources, all for FREE. These resources will help you create better content strategies and write effective copy before launching a product/service. In addition, you can learn how to write great headlines and subheads, evaluate value propositions, copy formatting, and so many more. So, check those articles out and read the ones that can help enhance your skills.
Some copywriting tips you can consider
Understand your audience’s pain points. Pay attention to their expectations, fears, and dreams and write so that the copy can help them understand precisely what they are looking for. Don’t beat around the bush! Incorporate basic rules of copywriting such as effective copy structure, persuasion, empathy, emotion, catchy headlines, to-the-point body, and clear CTA. Highlight the right balance of benefits and features, showcase some proof like testimonials, and be specific. Cut the fluff after writing the copy and avoid jargon and clichés. Practice more and more because then only your copy will improve. Besides, evaluate your writing periodically as well to track improvements by comparing your past write-ups with the new ones. If English is not your first language or needs some help, then check out these learning resources.
Conclusion
Becoming an effective copywriter is not something you can achieve overnight. And even if someone guarantees that it’s better not to believe in such promises. It’s because copywriting requires regular practice to sharpen your writing plus focus on the audience for whom you are writing the copy. Leverage writing tools and AI-powered content optimization tools to master your skills. However, you can always learn to enhance your skills, whether you are a beginner or experienced. Thus, follow the resources and tutorials mentioned in this article to get better at copywriting that converts like crazy!. Keep learning! Keep writing!
