Beginner’s Guide To Copywriting
13 April 2023
What is Copywriting?
Copywriting is the art of using words to sell goods and services. Yes! It is an art. For some, it comes naturally. That’s how it started before being taught to others. Meanwhile, for others, it needs constant learning and practice to develop and master the art.
A copywriter is someone who understands the way people behave and use strategic words and patterns to influence their behaviors. The goal of a copywriter is to influence people to buy a product or service.
Why is Copywriting Important?
If you are a beginner in copywriting, here are some reasons copywriting is important and these should get you even more interested in this art.
- You’ll always be needed — in the present and the future — in good and bad times. In good times, companies need sales and in bad times, they need even more sales.
- It is a
high-income skill. The better you get at it, the more money you make. Companies will pay more to get more. - Your value is high. If it is easier to find an alternative, it becomes less valuable. Copywriting is not one of those skills that have alternatives. So, they will always turn to you who is useful to them.
- It comes along with a flexible schedule.
As a copywriter, to create good copy, you must make sure to encourage consumer action without sounding too pushy — the pushy side gets annoying. No matter whether your copy is on a newspaper, website, or social media platform, it must be punchy and catch someone’s attention. That’s not an easy bone to crack. Unless you implement these guidelines as you begin your copywriting journey.
1. Write Often and Keep Writing
The only way to be better at copywriting is to write often. At the start, your copies will not be up to standard. No matter how bad it is, keep writing. You may not have clients who are willing to pay well nor have clients at all. You just need to keep writing for yourself. At some point, go beyond writing for yourself to writing for platforms like Medium, writing persuasive emails to people you will like to write for, or just writing on your blog. Keep this in your mind: DO NOT STOP WRITING!!!
2. Use Storytelling When You Can
Stories capture the minds of your audience. It could be stories of what happened to you, or someone else, or stories written in a book. Don’t get carried away; keep your stories straight. Always remember that your copy is always written to accomplish a goal. In this same light, write in the active voice. Do this throughout your writing, from emails to copy to articles and novels. It can be a hard habit to break, but copy in the active voice suppresses passive voice — passive actions.
Explain the benefits of your products or service to your audience. Benefits make sales, and features make failures. Features are aspects of a product or service that differentiate it from others because features are abstract. While you connect your story to the reason to write, state how it will benefit the readers and why they should take positive action.
3. Maintain Conversational Copy
One simple way to quickly transform bland content into great copywriting is to relay your message, in the same manner, you would when speaking to a friend. This means explaining things in very simple ways while being descriptive. It also means using contractions to mimic a casual tone. Your audience will best relate to you personally if you keep it simple.
One reoccurring copywriting mistake brands make is writing in a way that’s too formal and
For example, instead of saying, «a cup of tea A every morning will make you energetic throughout the day," you could say, «you’ll be energized each day with tea A.»
Sometimes, even forgoing traditional grammar rules will make your writing more impactful. Keep aside the formal language at times and speak in your audience’s language; they’ll connect with your message easily and act on it.
4. Do Competitor Research
Your company is not the first to get into business, and neither will it be the last. When you get into copywriting, have it at the back of your mind that there are people who are in the same line of business. Before writing a new article, blog post, or copy for a webpage, do thorough competition research. One of the easiest ways to do this research is to Google search the target keyword you plan to write on and read through the posts or pages of the sites that rank for that keyword.
They’ll offer you leads on what readers value and what Google thinks is the top resource for that keyword. For example, if you’re writing an article about how to do transcreation, Google ‘how to do transcreation’ and review the top results for the following:
- The number of words the articles have
- The different additional resources in the articles like videos, images, graphs, etc
- The structure and division of the article
- The page’s formatting
You shouldn’t copy the top posts. Use the information you have gathered to make your piece more informative and unique than that of the top competitors. A combination of elements from the top posts, in particular, will be helpful. Titles and meta descriptions of the top posts will give you clues as to what you should address in your title and meta description.
5. Master the Subject Matter
Be an expert in your subject matter. As a beginner, this will be challenging because you must take any client who will come to you. What they want you to write on is what you will write on. So, you have to be versed in several subjects; study and do a lot of research on the subject matters you are writing on. As time goes on, you could work toward focusing your efforts in one industry, such as healthcare, sports, education, technology, retail, or finance. You’ll be more valuable to potential clients when you don’t need to learn how to write convincing copies.
Also, learn how to interview people and write a compelling narrative. It adds some spice to content such as blog posts and engages your audience quickly in ads, email copy, and social media posts. To master your subject matter effectively, research the ten concepts that form the basis for your subject, write down the questions you are trying to answer, and use creative and critical thinking.
Bottomline
The beginning is never easy. As a beginner in copywriting, it will be difficult for you to write good copies or get clients. You might feel frustrated by this difficulty at some point. The goal is to be good at it and you can’t be good if you give up at the beginning.
However, by using these guidelines and implementing some discipline and hard work, you’ll become one of the best copywriters around the neighborhood in no time.
Are you ready to foray into the exciting world of copywriting but still not sure how to get started? Drop us a line and an expert will be in touch.