Copywriting 101: How To Become A Copywriter & Earn Handsome Income

Copywriters are the chosen fellows, gifted with the art of writing. They can turn almost any thing to gold through their awesome words and inspire the readers to buy the gold at the rate of diamonds wilfully. Cutting it short, a copywriter writes a striking marketing copy about a product or a service that entices the prospects toward buying it instantly. 

If you are wondering how to become a copywriter, it is easy. Just find out if you possess this talent hidden somewhere inside you. No, you don’t need to do a sumptuous copywriting course to join this profession. In fact, no course can teach you how to write a tempting copy from scratch. As already mentioned, it all comes from within; you are born to write! But any such course could well groom your in-built talent to make a better copywriter out of you!

We have much more to talk about copywriting, like what does a copywriter do, what are the skills required to be a copywriter, the available opportunities for a copywriter, the challenges you may face as a copywriter and of course, the most lucrative part – Earnings you will make from copywriting.

Copywriting – In a nutshell

Put into simple words, copy is the content or the matter written to market a product among the target customers. It holds the potential to convert a random visitor into your customer. So, it could be anything like:

• A newsletter that informs you about the launch of a product
• A hilarious commercial that you just watched on your TV
• A voicemail received from a sales rep, promoting a service
• A landing page in your inbox consisting of a call to action
• A webinar that talks about a particular company or its services
• A product specific video on YouTube that you can’t stop watching repeatedly
• An advertisement that you saw in a newspaper or heard on radio FM

All these types are ideal to define copywriting and as for the size of a copy, it could be anything from just a couple of words to an entire page full of gripping content. It could be simple, amazing, hilarious, controversial, relatable, seductive or almost anything else that could drive you like crazy toward the endorsed product. 

Some short and succinct copywriting examples

These famous taglines of the big brands are a perfect example of stunning copywriting. You just read any of them and the image of the concerned brand captures your mind instantly. Not surprisingly, you should be aware of one or more of them already.

• Lay’s – Flavored Air
• Kohler – The bold look of Kohler
• Apple – Think different
• Nike – Just do it
• De Beers – A diamond is forever
• AT&T – Reach Out and Touch Someone
• Old Spice – The original. If your grandfather hadn’t worn it, you wouldn’t exist.
• MasterCard – There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.”
• Airbnb – Belong anywhere
• Taco Bell – Think outside the bun.
• Tag Heuer – Don’t crack under pressure
• Gillette – The Best a Man Can Get

These one-liners will give you a better idea of what does a copywriter do. Be aware that these are only the examples of copywriting with respect to brand advertisements. Besides, you can have many other forms like blog copywriting, web copywriting, email copywriting and so on. 

Copywriting skills

Now that you are well aware about copywriting, let’s move forward to know about the skills to be a conversion copywriter. By the way a conversion copywriter is the one whose copy could enable businesses to convert prospective leads into sales. So, prior to knowing about the skills that you would need to be a copywriter, it is important to understand that:

• You should have a crystal clear idea about what is copywriting and what does a copywriter do.
• You need to follow a process to be a copywriter, you just cannot start writing almost anything 
• It is simple to write a copy but equally challenging to use it to lure the target audience 

Becoming an experienced and highly paid copywriter would need you to master several core skills. You ought to go past the writing skills that people usually rely on, and build a copywriting brand out of yourself. The widely demanded skill list included here could prove to be a staunch companion on your journey to become a copywriter. You can learn some or all of them to prove your mettle in the ad mad industry.

1. Master the art of writing a headline

Headlines are the premier attention grabber for a copy. If you manage to enthral the audience through the headline, you will end up executing half of your job. The better your headline, the more chances you garner to have more clients for your business. 

These bite-sized tips would be helpful when you are about to write headlines:

• Keep your headline simple, focused and direct – Men’s Leather Jacket – 40% Off 
• Use factual information to make your heading impressive – ABC Now Penetrates 30 million households; even newspapers know that
• A more personalized and friendly heading will connect instantly with the audience – XYZ Face wash: Adding grace to your face
• Let the people know about your business through your heading – They Used Easemytrip to plan their vacations 
• Ask questions that tempt the people to think: Looking for the Best Copywriter to Sell your Product? 

To bring perfection to your heading and make it market ready, you can also seek the help of several headline analyzer tools. Here are some of the prominent ones:

• MonsterInsights Headline Analyzer
• IsItWP Headline Analyzer
• Coschedule headline Analyzer
• OptinMonster’s Headline Analyzer
• Sharethrough Headline Analyzer

2. Find out how to draft a value proposition

A value proposition is a short and succinct statement that describes the offerings of a business, followed by its value and its targeted audience. Communicating the strong and unique value proposition of a brand is undoubtedly an inseparable part of an appealing website copy or a landing page. But organizations face a hard time articulating the exact value of their business through a crispy and concise phrasing. 

This is where the role of a copywriter becomes all the more important as you will find the person highly capable of writing a value proposition that: 

• Connects with your audience
• Conveys your value
• Boosts your sales

Your value proposition should compel the prospects to buy your products instead of your competitors. Below images give a few successful examples of attention seeking value propositions for your help. 

The moment you arrive on the Unbounce page, you will know about its value proposition straightaway. This web copywriting is specifically appealing for small businesses that find the overhead of A/B testing cumbersome.

The value proposition defines the new iOS 16 in a clear cut manner, leaving nothing to the imagination of its users. The iOS update offers new features, deeper intelligence and enables the customers to communicate and share things the better way.

WordPress speaks of its dominance in the web domain when it mentions about 43% of the web built on WordPress. From bloggers to Fortune 500 companies, all use WordPress to gain audience attention.

Throughout these examples, you will find some points in common. They are able to: 

• Identify the customer’s pain points
• Express the advantage of their product for the customers
• Promote their product through a clear and concise value proposition
• Convey the unique selling proposition about their product

If you too wish to don the skills of a copywriter for a job or as a freelancer, considering these points while writing a value proposition would be worthwhile.

3. Know how to create a landing page

You can call a landing page an integral part of online copywriting. Abiding by the definition, a landing page is the standalone web page of your website where your customer lands after clicking the link or Call to Action that you advertise through Google Ads, Facebook Ads, email or any other online medium. You may have to do blog copy writing or web copywriting to create a landing page. In either case, coming up with a clickable copy ought to be the paramount requirement. 

Indeed, landing pages are an important part of your overall advertising or marketing campaign; in fact, it is one of the success parameters of your business. Let’s take a live example to understand it better:

• Step 1: We searched for “best laptop”
• Step 2: The first two paid search results we saw were that of Apple and Lenovo.

• Step 3: We clicked the Apple page to find a stunning Landing page with all the possible details required to convince you to buy the company’s laptop.

 If you were looking for the best laptop and have a good budget, there is no reason to switch over to some other page after checking out this landing page. 

The call to action button in the blue, “Buy” is there on the top right, making it easy for the visitor to view and click it.

Landing pages likes are a one time investment, hence organizations prefer hiring the services of a skilled copywriter at a lucrative rate to get a flawless landing page copy. Once you deliver a killer web copy, you will never run short of work and of course, money. Learning to write a landing page is therefore one of the most important skills to be a copywriter. As some tips to write win-win landing pages, you could:

• Write only testimonials
• Highlight benefits instead of the product
• Use numbers or stats specific landing pages, etc.

For example, check out the below image of a sample landing page mentioned on HubSpot:

More tidbits about landing pages

Advertising your business through landing pages can help businesses to generate more leads, increased sales and higher returns. Moreover, they leave your visitors with a memorable experience due to the specific offer, copy or the message conveyed through it. No wonder, it can contribute to your brand credibility immensely. 

So when you are about to learn the nuances of creating landing pages to brush up your copywriting skills, make sure to gain proficiency in writing both the lead generation landing pages (having a form) and click-through, landing pages (having a CTA button). In addition, make sure to consider the following points before you go on to write an amazing copy.

• Know your goal
• Know your audience
• Know the way your audience arrives at the landing page
• Know your competitors

Once you are clear about these points, you can proceed to start writing the landing page while take care of several important concerns:

• Include an attractive offer
• Write a killer headline (we already discussed about it earlier)
• Write a concise yet gripping copy that sells
• Use a thank you page to follow up

Let’s now move over and find out how to gain above excellence in writing for advertisements

4. Gain excellence on advertisement writing

Advertisement writing needs you to have an in-depth knowledge of the concerned business, accurate choices of words, and a sharp acumen to write a short ad copy in order to entice the potential readers. Usually two types of ad writing are prevalent – Corporate ads and small business ads.

Since corporate houses have their in-built teams for every department, they are likely to have their copywriting team as well. Usually, they task their junior copywriters with these ads, without giving them much credit or money.

Just the opposite, small business ads are a regular among the PPC service providers. So, to write a seasoned ad copy and earn a respectable amount, you would need to be a PPC specialist firsthand. Alternatively, you could join a PPC professional who is in the lookout for skilled copywriters to write click worthy ads for Facebook, Google Adwords, etc. 

Here is one example of Google Ads and Facebook Ads each.

Notice the to-the-point content included in the ad.

Next, check out the Facebook Ad and observe the selection of words to know how to convey your intended message in just a few impactful words.

5. Learn to write a high pitching sales email 

Like all the types of copywriting, email is also widely in demand but unlike copywriting for bloggers who need 1-2 posts per week, you would need many more emails to send to your potential customers. While going through your inbox, you will find countless of those email advertisements that try you to lure into buying their services. 

Unless that ad is really high pitched or makes sense, you either delete it or mark it as spam. Don’t you? There is no other way to deal with such emails but before taking any action, do think of the effort being put forth by the copywriter in that cold email copy at least once.

The stats below by Mailchimp would encourage you to write email advertisements even further:

• The government related mails have the highest open rate, i.e. of 28.77%
• Emails delivered as per the recipient’s hobbies grab the second spot with 27.74$ open rate
• Religion specific emails copies have 27.62% open rate
• Finally, industry wise open rate of the emails is 21.33%

So, if you have the requisite copywriting skills for email drafting, you now have more clarity on choosing your clients and the associated industry. To add further, do you know that email copywriting is one of the best to kickstart your copywriting career; all thanks to numerous case studies and templates available online for free.

This email from Paypal conveys an ideal example to describe high pitching sales email copywriting. 

6. Master the art of video script writing to perfection

An engaging video script is the next in the line of high performing emails, attention stealing ad copies, enticing headlines when it comes to copywriting. If you could believe, the online education market full of webinars earns multi-million dollars every year. Each of these webinars relies solely on script. 

And then, how could you forget YouTube where the users upload almost 300 hours of content every minute. All these videos are high on scripts and less on extempore speaking. With the demand of video script writing being insane, your copywriting skills in this domain could prove to be a dominating source of your freelance income.  

To find out how to be a copywriter for video script, Udemy, Mediabistro, Skillshare, etc. are among the best resources. So go on to tap the insane demand of script copywriting.

The template above from Jasper gives you a little bit of idea about writing a video script.

Becoming a copywriter: 11 Smart tips to level up your game

As a bonus to the detailed skill info provided above, here are some quick pointers to help you become a successful copywriter.

1. Keep improving your writing skills  
2. Have attention to details regarding spelling or grammatical errors
3. Try to read copywriting books to hone your skills further
4. Listen to your clients attentively
5. Be creative enough to have a unique perspective
6. Pursue professional copywriting courses to gain a settled edge in your profession
7. Know your copywriting niche, whether ads, blurbs, academic copy, etc.
8. Create an impressive portfolio of your own. We will be talking more about it later in this blog
9. Start your career with an agency and then switch over to an in-house copywriting job
10. Create your own copywriting website to display your creative work
11. Have some knowledge of SEO and content writing as well

How much does a copywriter earn?

The extent to which you could earn through your copywriting skills depends largely on whether you are a regular employee or providing your services as a freelance copywriter.

As per Glassdoor, the average annual salary of an in-house copywriter is a little less than $60,000. Likewise, for a freelancer, it could go up to $80,000, provided that the person holds experience of at least a couple of years. Surely, earning such a lucrative amount is a pleasing thought but you won’t get these bucks for nothing. 

Instead, you ought to work hard to get the money you deserve. If your employer or client is paying you around $5000 per month then he would expect you to make at least 5 times more for his copywriting campaigns. Performance rules the roost and it takes years of practice, training and experience to deserve a six-figure salary from your copywriting skills.

Getting the copywriting jobs 

Once you feel prepared to become a copywriter, creating an excellent portfolio on platforms like Upwork, Freelancer.com, Fiverr, Copychiefs.com etc. should be your utmost priority. Your profile should include your past and existing published works. 

Even better would be to create a blog or a website of your own and publish your works over there. You can divide your portfolio into three parts:

• Homepage: The first page that will create your impression through your work samples
• About Me: To give an idea to your readers on what do you do as a copywriter
• Services: Let your potential clients know about the types of copywriting services you provide

You can share the link to your portfolio website on your various profiles created online. If you are looking for a job for an agency copywriter or an in-house copywriter, make sure to equip your resume with all the important information you can furnish about your personality, copywriting skills and your top rated work so far. Don’t forget to share the link to your portfolio on your resume. In the end, your resume should make you stand out of the crows and project you as the most deserving candidate for the job. Upload your resume on the prominent job hunt websites and apps. Hopefully, you will start getting calls within no time.

Challenges of a Copywriter

Like in any other profession, you are bound to withstand several challenges during your stint with copywriting as well. Let’s know about them in brief:

1. Client handling: Dealing with the clients or your boss regarding deadlines, pricing, feedback, etc. could be a nightmare. 
2. Payment hassles: There may arise payment issues, especially for freelancers if there is no work agreement.
3. Cutthroat competition: The high market competition would compel you to do even sharper and better copywriting.
4. Client feedback: Persistent feedback pertaining to quality, turnaround time and communication would keep you on your toes.
5. Project hunting: Being in the hunt for projects on a continuous basis is a big challenge, as you can’t survive on a single project as a freelancer.
6. Vision difference: There could be a sea difference in the vision of your client and what you think about the tone, intend or the audience you are writing for. Perhaps, following a style guide could help.
7. Vision difference: There could be a sea difference in the vision of your client and what you think about the tone, intend or the audience you are writing for. Perhaps, following a style guide could help.
8. Time management: Writing for multiple clients could cause undue delays in work delivery. Several tools available for time management, scheduling and project management could be useful in this context.

Learning to brave the odds as soon as possible will only help you to be a better copywriter with time. Of course, your skills will be your best companions throughout your journey as a professional copywriter.

The Final Word

Summing up, a copywriter serves an important responsibility of luring the prospects toward a business through an astounding copy. It could be an email, advertisement, a headline, a video script, a value proposition or anything else. In each of these forms, penetrating copywriting skills is the foremost requirement. 

Beyond doubt, copywriters make big money through their creative words, but it’s not that easy as you may imagine. Before landing a job or a freelance gig to get a lucrative amount, a copywriter has to face several challenges and overcome them with his talent, creativity, diligence and proficiency in his professional content writing domain. So, if you think of becoming a copywriter, it is inevitable to try hands on all the skills that you would need to gain perfection in this domain.