So, you want to be a copywriter? Taking an online course can be a great investment in your career. Especially if you aren’t sure where to start and need a boost of self-confidence. Personally, course brochures and prospectuses are my weakness. I’m drawn to them like a moth to a flame. Or an over-eager student to an essay question.

This type of learning works for me. I work well solo and enjoy self-paced learning. Watching tutorials and being part of an online student community suits me well and having a dedicated tutor has been a massive benefit. I’ve completed a few distance learning courses and thoroughly enjoyed each of them because of these reasons.

Every aspiring copywriter arrives at the moment when they need to take the plunge. When it’s time to put yourself out there and begin your freelance career. It’s probably something you’ve dreamed about for a long time, googled more times than you want to admit and are more than a little bit nervous about starting.

However, don’t worry as you’re not alone. Many have gone before you and if they can do it, so can you! So, how do you find that first elusive copywriting job?

As a novice copywriter, you are likely to be raring to go with your first job. You’ve done your research, completed some practice projects and feel ready to take on a brief from a client and begin your career.

So how do you find work in the first place? It is easy enough to find any amount of freelancing sites that offer work for aspiring copywriters. One Google search is all it takes to find multiple adverts looking for a talented writer to fulfill their brief.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Maybe. There are pros and cons to freelance copywriting sites. Let’s have a look at some of the most popular and if they are worth using as a new copywriter.

It wasn’t until my second year of university that I was diagnosed with dyslexia, and all the pieces fell into place. All the years of silent struggles with essays and assignments finally had a reason. Not long after this discovery, I decided to leave university. I had fallen out of love with my course of marine zoology, and wanted to take my life in a different direction. In the months after leaving, I was able to truly engage with my love of writing.

A quick Google search shows that over 70% of copy online is written by copywriters. That means there are billions of pieces of copy that you could be involved in writing, there’s plenty to go around.

So, you don’t need to dismiss the idea of a copywriting career as a pipe dream. It is a perfectly solid career to work towards. And as every copywriter has a unique voice, there is a place for you. Especially if you are prepared to do a little door-kicking to get your unique voice heard.

Put simply, it is content writing that is generated by a computer. This includes blog articles, landing pages, email marketing, product pages and social media posts. AI writing software can be designed to make marketing material. Writers provide a content generator with the information needed to generate original content to secure organic traffic through a blog post or ad copy. Sounds simple, right? Almost as if there is no need for human copywriters…

A copywriter is someone who persuades a target audience to engage with a product or service. They sell with their words. It is essential that a copywriter can be engaging, persuasive and knowledgeable about what appeals to customers. They need to have their finger on the pulse of current and upcoming trends, as well as ensure that a brand gets noticed.

Only around 19% of people actually click onto page 2 when they’re searching for answers on Google - so it’s essential to be up there on page 1 to get noticed.

So, what are the key things to think about when you’re optimising your page?

Copywriting is all about persuading someone to do something with your content. The best way to learn how to persuade people through your writing is to learn how it has been done before. The basics of persuasive writing can be found all over the internet or through a course with CCA.

Copywriting is a useful skill to have, whether you are intending to embark on a career as a freelance copywriter or wish to use it to promote your own business or company’s products.

Basically, copywriting is a form of advertising intended to drive a potential customer to take action – either to buy a product or service or to follow through on their interest by visiting a website or signing up for a newsletter or blog.

Try writing some copy for products you have seen or use yourself and pass it to someone else for their impression of your work. Make sure they give you honest feedback. It won’t do your learning progress any good if they shy away from hurting your feelings.

Remember that the whole purpose of copywriting is to get the reader to take action. Would it motivate your reader to want to find out more, or to buy the product?

Hiring a professional proofreader can really make your writing stand out from the crowd. Having someone who is dedicated to making your work look professional can have a really positive effect on your readers and increase your following.

Nearly everything we do in 2021 is electronic. It’s convenient and it saves a lot of resources having access to everything either online or stored on our PC.

However, proofreading can sometimes require a manual touch, and printing out your work can help you spot things which aren’t always apparent due to computer lighting.

Using an editor is the best solution to achieve a perfect final piece. That second pair of eyes can help you spot plot holes, spelling mistakes or grammatical issues and give that magic touch to your end product. But it’s a good idea to consider what type of editor you need first.

In the editing and writing fields, freelancing sites can get a bad rap. And it’s true, you can find people there who are willing to do the worst job for the lowest price. But actually, freelancing websites can throw up some real gems too, you just need to know what to look for.

Sure, they might pick up the odd spelling error or missed question mark, but the problem is, software doesn’t actually understand what you’re trying to say, the context you’re saying it in, or the tone of voice when someone reads it.

Advertising, on the surface, seems like it’d be the easiest form of writing, as it’s generally so short. However, when writing their own advertising content, business owners tend to fall into the same traps over and over again.