When the internet started becoming popular, it didn’t take people long to figure out that they could make a whole lot of money. While the dot-com boom has since subsided, there are still a lot of people making money online. This is often done by selling products, or by getting paid to promote products people make. This means that if you have a talent for writing promotional material, you can get a large chunk of this market.
Copywriting is simply writing various kinds of advertisements promoting a product. We often see ads and slogans, but a lot of copywriting is other materials like blogs or sales letters.
A good sales letter will include an eye-catching headline to get your attention, a short blurb in the beginning to reel you in, and then information, testimonials, previous results, and anything else that will help make the sale.
If done correctly, copywriting can help sell your product, or bring in great income selling other people’s products. High quality copy can sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars a page. While this is quite lucrative for those who do it well, there’s also a lot of competition.
It sounds simple, right? Just write some praise about a product and you’re done. However, if it were that simple, everyone would do it and a good copywriter wouldn’t be so pricey. Quality copywriting requires not only knowing the basics, but also understanding psychology, knowing how to research a product, and even extensive knowledge of marketing principles.
So, how can someone get started in copywriting? A quick search on “copywriting” will bring up a whole slew of courses and e-books on how to get started. You may find these helpful, but since these are available to everyone, they won’t get you very far if you don’t have something else to give you the edge. Many people go to school for marketing, persuasive writing or psychology to help learn basic principles of sales and learning what gets people excited.
The best thing a copywriter can have is a good product. If you’re selling something common or useless, it makes it a lot harder to promote. But a good copywriter can write a sales pitch for pretty much anything.
Just because you take a course, read some materials, or just really want to be a good copywriter doesn’t mean you’ll be able to succeed. Good copywriters must have discipline, good communication skills, good reading skills, and an understanding of people and what motivates them.
If you think you have the skills to be a copywriter, but freelance work just isn’t your thing, there are jobs available with companies in the field. Many businesses hire advertising firms to do their marketing for them. While these jobs are difficult to get, they can be very profitable. You also have the option of working in a large company that does their own marketing instead of hiring out. While these can be rewarding jobs, you have much less flexibility than you would working on your own.
