14 Feb 2024
- 21 Oct 2015
- 4 Min read
4 steps to becoming a successful copywriter
- by Peter Wright
Here at Glass Digital, our copywriting department is growing quicker than any other. Content is a fundamental component of digital marketing, which means that we require more copywriters as our impressive client base continues to increase. As content is so important across SEO, digital PR, advertising, etc, we wanted to offer advice to anyone considering a career as a digital copywriter.
Geek up
If you want to work in SEO, you will have to learn as much as you can about it. What attracts many businesses to spend their budgets on SEO, for example, is that it has very trackable, tangible gains, where businesses can see the exact rise in their rankings, the rise in traffic to their website and the increased conversion rate at the purchasing stage.
As a web copywriter, your content is part of each stage of this process: it optimises a webpage, making it easier to find on Google; it pulls people onto the page from the Google results page; and it explains or sells your client’s product or service in a way that encourages users to make a purchase on the website.
The more you understand about the technical aspects of SEO, the better your copy is going to be. It’s not enough to be a great writer; you have to work on your professional knowledge as well. Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO is a great place to start. You can also read our SEO-focussed blog posts, which feature in-depth industry insights and tips.
Get to know your client
Whether you want to work in digital PR or SEO, you will probably have to work with clients across a range of industries, so it pays to do a lot of research before you even begin writing. Digital copywriting often involves writing press releases for clients, rewriting parts of their website, or writing editorials that will be published on third party websites. This content usually stays online for good, so it’s your job to make sure that it’s perfect.
As copywriters, we are often expected to write in our client’s tone of voice, using their industry’s lingo and knowledge. This can be challenging, as there sometimes isn’t much time, but researching clients is an essential part of being a good copywriter, and you can’t and shouldn’t avoid it.
Get to know your audience
This is an extension of getting to know your client, as their customer base is usually the audience you’re writing for. For example, if your client is a professional tool company, then your audience might be tradesmen with their own small businesses. With this in mind, adjust your copy to appeal to this demographic.
The rules change when you aren’t writing for your client’s website, but are writing on behalf of your client for a third party website. This is a huge part of digital PR and it also plays an important role in SEO as well. Whether you’re writing for a fashion blog, an engineering magazine, a newspaper, or a government website, you must ensure that your style fits into the publication.
It’s also a good idea to read a few articles or posts on the website and get a feel for the style and tone of their pieces. Look at how they reference their sources, and ensure that you follow suit.
Form follows function
Bad copywriting sticks out like a sore thumb — often because the writer is trying too hard to sound smart or poetic. You’re writing to inform and often to sell, so forget ego and forget unnecessary big words, as they usually just alienate readers who switch off as soon as they’re confused. Attention spans are very short when people are online, so work out exactly what you need to say and write it clearly.
The style of your writing will follow from this, even if you don’t feel as though you are putting a lot of effort into this side your writing. Being understood is key: as a copywriter, your job is to make people understand your clients and, ultimately, to buy something from them.
If you’d like to enquire about our copywriting services, or about a possible job position, please get in touch via our contact us page.
