Copywriting is often billed as a quick and easy way to make money online. However, becoming a copywriter is often more complex than most “get rich quick” articles claim. This field is very dynamic and ever-changing, so becoming a copywriter requires keeping up with the times.
Copywriters use persuasive written content to drive engagement and sales. They’re key parts of brand recognition and can have very engaging careers.
Luckily, while you can’t become a copywriter overnight, taking the first step is pretty straightforward.
What is Copywriting?
Copywriting is the art of using words strategically to persuade and influence an audience to take action. It is a vital component of marketing and advertising, as it shapes the narrative to engage and convert potential customers. Copywriting aims to captivate the reader’s attention and inspire them to purchase or sign up for a service.
Simply put, it’s advertising through a story.
Types of Copywriting
Not all copywriting is the same. Some professional copywriters focus on one specific niche, while others do a little bit of everything (or may focus on a particular type of client instead). There are tons of different types of copywriting, including:
- Website copywriting: This type of copy appears on a website. It’s the text on the homepage, about page, and other important web pages.
- SEO copywriting: These copywriters focus on helping companies show up on search engines through search engine optimization (SEO).
- Product copywriting: This category includes product descriptions, such as what you’d find on Amazon or another online store.
- B2B copywriting: This type is designed for businesses that sell to other businesses. Often, it uses more technical language that’s appropriate for a professional audience. HubSpot’s home page is a great example of this:
- Direct response copywriting: This is a type of copywriting that is designed to elicit a specific response from the reader, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter
- Ad copywriting: As you might guess, this category includes all types of advertisements, including print ads, online ads, and radio ads. However, only the written language on the ad counts as “copywriting.”
- Social media copywriting: Anything found on a business’s social media page would fall into this category. However, exactly what that is depends widely on the company and particular social media platform. Some copywriters may specialize in only specific platforms.
- Technical copywriting: This writing includes the more technical materials that a company may need, such as manuals and white papers. Often, a freelance copywriter in this field will specialize specifically in technical copywriting.
What Do Copywriters Do?
Copywriters produce content that resonates with a business’s potential customers and helps the business achieve a desired action (like more followers or sales). This content can vary widely, from email campaigns to social media posts to product descriptions.
Do You Need a Degree to Be a Copywriter?
No, you don’t need a degree to be a copywriter. Often, companies care more about your writing portfolio and work history than your degree. I, personally, have never had someone ask me for my degree. Getting an education may be helpful, but you can also learn many copywriting skills online (often more efficiently than going through a degree program).
Do Copywriters Make Good Money?
Copywriters can make a competitive income, with companies willing to pay good money to an effective copywriter. According to Builtin, the average copywriter salary is $73,288 in the United States. However, many copywriters also report getting paid regular bonuses, which can account for a few more thousand dollars each year.
Agency and in-house copywriters often make a specific salary, and this salary usually tops off just above the average salary. However, freelance writers can make far more or far less. Of course, freelancing also means running your own business, which requires a whole new set of skills.
1. Learn the Basics of Persuasive Copywriting
Before you can hope to get a copywriting job, you need to figure out how to do copywriting. You don’t have to do anything fancy to learn these skills. It just requires a bit of persistence. There are tons of online resources, courses, and books that can teach you these skills.
I highly recommend considering an online course like Udemy, at least for the basics. These courses will give you the basics and provide a foundation for other resources. I recommend this one:
If you want something more in-depth, you can also try Copyschool, which has many courses.
While you’re at it, I recommend the books “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini and “Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads” by Luke Sullivan. When you have an extra moment, look at the Gary Halbert letters archives, too. They can make for some very educating, quick reading. Read them when you’re bored or need some inspiration.
Actionable Advice: Sign up for the Udemy course and block out time on your calendar to complete it.
2. Choose a Copywriting Niche
Once you’ve gotten your toes wet learning copywriting, you need to start figuring out the exact kind of copywriting you want. Yes, it may seem like I’m trying to rush you along a bit. However, until you have a niche chosen, you can’t start building a copywriting portfolio or hunting for clients.
There are two main ways you can select a niche. The first is to choose the exact kind of writing you want to do. You could also select a few related types, like web copy and search engine optimization, as these tend to interact with each other quite a bit. Email marketing, landing page copywriting, and ad copywriting are all on the table.
Alternatively, you can select the exact industry you want to specialize in. You could select “healthcare” if you have some experience in that industry, for instance, and write any kind of copywriting as long as it has to do with healthcare.
Other industry examples include marketing, technology, fashion, and finance. You can get a good idea of the different niches by going to job boards like Problogger and looking at current job opportunities:
Actionable Advice: Select a niche. Really. Pick one that you can at least stand and move on.
3. Create Copywriting Samples and Build a Portfolio
Next, you’ll need to create a portfolio that showcases your skills. This is the primary way you’ll convince clients to hire you, so feel free to spend a lot of time on this step. (But not too long!)
Of course, in most cases, you won’t have any actual clients or samples. Luckily, you can create your own by “pretending” you’re working for a client in your niche. Start by looking for job postings or websites you like in your niche. Then, imagine that you were writing for them. Tailor your samples to address each pretend client’s unique needs and viewpoints.
Do this with a half dozen “clients,” and you’ll have a working portfolio.
You can host this portfolio on a free website like Clippings.me. You can quickly create a beautiful, functional portfolio that you can then share with all your potential clients (and it’s far more professional than just attaching Google Doc links). Just look at MD Copywriting’s portfolio as an example:
Actionable Advice: Pick one website or job advertisement to use as a fictional client for your first sample. Think about the blogs and companies you like in your niche.
4. Here’s How to Get Copywriting Jobs
Now that you have a niche chosen and a portfolio, it’s time to start landing clients. You’ll never feel 100% ready for this step, so don’t use any nervousness as an excuse to procrastinate. Your portfolio is fine (and even if it isn’t, you won’t find out until you start trying to land clients).
There are a few main ways you can find clients. Often, your copywriting career will take many twists and turns, so you may find yourself in all of these areas eventually:
Work With an Advertising or Marketing Agency
Many advertising agencies hire copywriters regularly. After all, they need them to fulfill their client’s needs. Often, this can be low-hanging fruit, and the pay may not be great. However, it’s a great place to start if you aren’t interested in freelancing.
You can keep an eye out for job postings. LinkedIn is a great place to start, especially if you follow marketing agencies you’re interested in. You can find lots of agencies by simply looking up “marketing agency” on Google and then finding their LinkedIn page. For instance, I found Titan Growth in my research:
Following their LinkedIn will let you see job postings as soon as they are posted.
Work With a Company That Needs a Copywriter
Alternatively, you can work at a company on their in-house marketing team. Most larger companies have these, while smaller companies tend to outsource to agencies or use freelancers.
Often, these companies post their job advertisements in the usual places, including LinkedIn and SmartBlogger. These copywriting jobs may or may not be remote. Landing them is often similar to getting a job with an agency.
However, unless the marketing department is very large, companies may expect you to have some degree of experience and take up-level responsibilities.
Become a Freelance Copywriter
Becoming a freelance copywriter allows you to work with many copywriting clients, set your own hours, and decide how you work. However, it also involves running your own business and may not have the security that the options above carry.
You can find freelance copywriting jobs on Problogger and similar freelance job boards. Be sure you brush up on the business skills you may need to run your business as a freelancer, including setting your own rates.
You should also market your services through LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Many freelance writers also have websites, which can be another place to advertise your work (and even host your portfolio). Crafting your own website is another topic, though, and not especially necessary for this stage.
Elna Cain has a great website that showcases her work as a freelance copywriter (and ghostwriter). Notice how she focuses on the benefits she can reap for her clients – instead of just focusing on herself.
Actionable Advice: Find a place or two where you can find jobs that fit your niche. Set a time to check them regularly for new jobs.
5. Network and Build Relationships
As you become more experienced, you’ll get many jobs through the relationships you build. When you land your first few copywriting clients and do well, they’re more likely to recommend you to their associates (or for other tasks at their company).
LinkedIn is a great way to network with past clients, test the waters with potential ones, and meet fellow copywriters. In my experience, writers are very eager to connect with other writers, so don’t feel shy about sending an invite.
Once you’re following a few other copywriters, your LinkedIn feed becomes a helpful place to peek at every now and then. You’ll often find other writers posting tips and even other writers sharing job opportunities:
Consider becoming active on Twitter, as well. You’ll be surprised by the number of companies that post freelance writing jobs on Twitter directly. Plus, by joining in the conversation, you can show that you actually know what you’re talking about, which may draw in copywriting clients.
Actionable Advice: Create a LinkedIn profile if you don’t have one, and try to connect with ten people, preferably past or current clients. If you worked for someone with other writers on their team, find out who these writers are and send them a connection request, too.
6. Keep Promoting Yourself and Find a Channel That Works
You should always try to move up in the copywriting world. However, how you go about this depends on your job.
If you go the freelance route, now is the time to make a website if you haven’t already. Consider starting a writer’s blog and becoming relatively active on social media. Twitter and LinkedIn can be great places to promote yourself at practically no cost. However, you can also consider paid advertising for a more targeted reach.
Kayla Hollatz is a great example of a successful copywriter who leverages Twitter. She has over 12K followers and posts regularly:
Full-time jobs are a little different. You should try to build a brand that is separate from your employer. Once again, LinkedIn and Twitter can help with this (though a website often isn’t necessary). You can also consider starting a blog, though be careful that you don’t compete with your company.
Always seek opportunities for internal promotion (or external promotions, depending on how you feel about your company). Try learning new skills your company needs to make yourself a valuable asset to the team and further your own copywriting career.
Actionable Advice: Brainstorm ideas for LinkedIn or Twitter posts. Then, pick your five favorite ideas and schedule a time to write them.
7. Keep Upgrading Your Copywriting Skills
You should always be learning new skills, as the world of copywriting is always changing. For example, AI has suddenly become a huge part of the market, and many companies are now asking their writers to use AI to some extent. (Others have banned its use, so it depends on who you talk to.)
Therefore, you may want to familiarize yourself with ChatGPT and similar AI tools. At least know how to use them so that you can if asked.
You should also consider learning SEO, especially if you write primarily for the web. Getting traffic organically through search is a huge plus for many businesses, and some even make it their main business model.
There are also several podcasts you may want to consider. For freelancer copywriters, I highly recommend the High-Income Business Writing Podcast, which helps freelance copywriters take their business to the next level.
Freelance copywriters may want to build entrepreneur-related skills to improve their copywriting business. For instance, you may learn how to use a new invoicing software or properly track deductions for your taxes.
Actionable Advice: Find time in your week to further your skills. Then, pick a course, podcast, book, or other resource to use first.
Will AI Replace Copywriters?
While AI can assist, people largely read content for opinions – which is one thing that AI cannot have. We probably haven’t seen the end of AI, it doesn’t have the same human touch and believability that a human does.
When I visit a website regularly or follow someone on social media, I trust that person and their opinions. Often, this is because I’ve connected with something they’ve said in the past or agreed with their advice.
I cannot have that same history with AI, nor can I trust that what AI says today will match what it said yesterday. AI just doesn’t have the same credibility that a real person does.
Can You Use Chat GPT for Copywriting?
Yes, you can use ChatGPT for copywriting theoretically. Often, this takes more effort than most people imagine, as it takes skill and luck to get ChatGPT to do what you want. It won’t just spit out a ready-made ad or newsletter. You’ll have to write the copy yourself, as well.
However, using it for brainstorming or similar tasks is completely possible.
That said, be sure this is allowed by your clients or boss. In my experience, many larger companies banned the use of AI shortly after it became popular.
Begin Your Copywriting Journey Today!
The hardest part of becoming a copywriter is getting over the beginner’s hump and getting your first client. Once you land your first client, everything else becomes much easier. After all, you’ll be a “tried and true” copywriter at that point, making it easier to land new clients.
However, to get that first client, you must develop your copywriting skills, pick a niche, and build a portfolio. There is no better time to start your own copywriting business than right now.
