Education

What does a copywriter do and what useful skills he should have

March 15, 2021
Thomas Williams

All you really need is a computer or laptop and Internet access. You don’t need a powerful PC – you can work with texts even on a weak netbook. There are copywriters who write texts on tablets or even phones. But this is a very controversial decision. Sometimes it is not the technical part that is much more important, but your personal qualities:

Desire to write.

It is impossible to work for a long time “under the stick.” The result of such work will definitely not suit you or the client. You must love working with texts.

Perseverance and organization.

Be prepared for the fact that you will have to sit over one text all day or even several days. Especially if it is a large long read with 15-20 thousand characters, text for a Landing Page or a commercial offer. If you find it difficult to concentrate on a task and deal with it for several hours in a row, some orders will be difficult for you.

Creativity and imagination.

 Let’s move away from terminology and think, copywriting – what is it? And this is, first of all, creativity, albeit not in a direct sense. The text should be interesting, engaging, understandable and selling. Therefore, you need to write not only competently, but also creatively.

If you want to try your hand at copywriting, give it a try! Studying on copywriting course with homework will be enough to understand if you like this profession and if you want to move in this direction.

Useful skills you should have

You will most likely be involved in two types of tasks during the initial phase of your copywriting career:

  • Writing SEO texts. Typically, the client will give you a subject and a list of keywords and phrases that should be in the text.
  • Rewriting. You get a theme and source code that you need to rewrite and make unique while preserving content and structure.
  • One of the main requirements for such texts is uniqueness. If the text is not unique, it is bad for the site where it is posted. And search engines may well drive the entire resource or its individual pages under filters. To check uniqueness, you can use various services (as a rule, customers themselves tell where to check):
  • In addition to uniqueness, spaminess, “water”, academic and classical nausea, and other parameters can be taken into account. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with these concepts and always check with customers if they have such requirements.
  • A copywriter can only deal with SEO texts and rewrites, earning good money.
  • It is quite real income of 500-700 dollars per month only on them.
  • But in order to earn more, it is worth expanding the list of your competencies:
  • work with infographics;
  • creation of texts for Landing Page, commercial offers, Email-mailings;
  • drawing up and adjusting a content plan;
  • creation of presentations, press releases, preparation of cases;
  • writing scripts for videos, advertisements, etc.
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The following knowledge and skills will be a big plus for a copywriter:

  • basics of layout, HTML and CSS;
  • understanding of the principles of modern internet marketing;
  • knowledge of English at the pre-intermediate level and above;
  • experience in admin sites: WordPress, Joomla, UMI and others.

These are not required skills, but they will allow you to take on more complex and expensive orders. And potential clients are more willing to hire specialists who are ready to cover more tasks on their own.

Where can a copywriter look for work?

So we come to, probably, the main part of the article – job search. It is with this that many beginners (and not only beginners) often have difficulties. At the very beginning of the journey, it is worth considering the exchanges:

Freelance exchanges: freelancer, up work, fiverr. Here, orders regularly appear not only for copywriters, but also for other specialists. You can find interesting projects and regular customers. But many sites require the purchase of a PRO account in order to respond to customer suggestions.

Copywriting exchanges: you can find orders online,  and you will find orders specifically for copywriting. In most cases, you don’t need to pay for access. But the income at first will be very modest.

If you do not want to contact the exchanges (and this is a completely justified desire), you can go the other way and look for orders on various thematic portals and in social networks. For instance:

Groups in social networks. For example, “Overheard Copywriting”, “@ need a copywriter”, “Let’s Write” on Facebook and others. Here you can search for orders yourself or offer your services. Convenient, free, and highly effective.

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These are just the main ways to find orders. There are actually many more of them:

  • sending your commercial offer to companies;
  • creation and promotion of your own website, contextual advertising;
  • targeted advertising on social networks, etc.

And sometimes word of mouth works best – when your clients recommend you as a good specialist to their colleagues, partners and just acquaintances in the course of communication. Work well and you won’t have to look for orders.