- Written by: Jan McGregor
A Complete Guide To Copywriting Jobs
Introduction To Making Money From Copywriting Jobs | |
---|---|
Do you consider yourself to be a bit of a wordsmith? Do you think you might be someone who could use words to convince others to your way of thinking? Maybe you are have previously studied creative writing, marketing or something similar at university or college and are pondering a career centred around your writing talents. If this is you, then one way of making some extra money is by doing copywriting work. Copywriting online jobs could mean you can work from home, while other copywriting jobs are office-based. Depending on who you work for, the types of copywriting jobs you are doing, and the amount of experience you have, copywriting work can give you a good income. They could even be a lucrative full time career for you, especially if you invest in specialist copywriting courses where you can pick up valuable tips to boost your skills. |
This sounds like something I might be good at - but what exactly is copywriting?
|
|
---|---|
Copywriting is a special skill, even for writers, because you are playing with words in a particular way. It’s not for everyone. Quite often, copywriting jobs will be centred around marketing where you will be writing a group of words that come together to either encourage people to part with their cash and buy a product; or, other times, your words will raise awareness of something as part of a campaign. This could be a political campaign or a local charity campaign to raise awareness of the charity’s presence and the work they do, for example. If you enjoy promotion of events, goods and people by writing in ways that really resonate with your readers, then copywriting jobs could suit you down to the ground. These types of roles are usually known as direct response copywriting jobs because your words are encouraging people to take some form of action. Copywriting is all around us and can be used to sell ideas, too, as well as goods. It’s not all about trying to persuade people to spend their money. And it’s also not just about writing. In order to keep picking up copywriting jobs, a good copywriter, whether they are working from home or within a company, needs to be extremely organised and have excellent time management skills. |
If I wanted to get into copywriting, what types of copywriting jobs are there?
|
|
---|---|
Since the invention of the internet, copywriting has become one of the most essential components of online marketing and, of course, the internet has opened the door for people to be able to do copywriting jobs from home. The good news for people who are thinking about trying to get copywriting work is that, because of the internet, freelancing roles are increasing all the time. This means you can work flexible hours to fit in around your studies/family or another job and perhaps take on more projects during your holidays for instance. Freelance copywriting jobs from home could be ongoing projects or short, one-off jobs. You can choose how much variety you would like by choosing to do projects for different types of companies. Web copywriting jobs could involve writing blog posts for companies (and often accompanied by doing their social media such as Facebook and Twitter campaigns) writing copy for company websites and doing direct marketing such as writing emails and newsletters. For people who are seriously considering careers in copywriting, working for an advertising agency, marketing firm, public relations company or for newspapers and magazines can give you valuable experience. Copywriting jobs at places like this will give your CV and your portfolio a real boost and it means you could also get to work with the art director of a large company who will create the visuals around your writing to produce the complete picture for the readers. |
I Haven’t Got Any Previous Experience. How do I go about landing these copywriting jobs? | |
---|---|
In years gone by, landing that first copywriting job was a pretty tough task. Experience was asked for and it was preferred if you were part of an established copywriting team. The good news is jobs in copywriting are now far more accessible and are increasingly so, moving forward. You can thank the internet for that. People who want to do online copywriting jobs now have doors ajar for them, even for solo copywriters. Copywriting jobs from home are also on the rise, too. So, let’s say you haven’t got previous experience in copywriting work but you would really like to do this type of job, either as a short term money earner or as a full time future career. What can you do to make the door that is slightly ajar suddenly burst wide open? Here are some tips for landing copywriting jobs: Start to build a portfolio - Obviously, copywriters who have been in the copywriting business for some time are going to have lots of professional examples of their previous work - but just because you haven’t got that does not mean you can’t start to add examples of your best work to a portfolio to show to potential employers. If you have a blog, choose some of your best examples of your writing from your blog to add to your portfolio. . Do you write for a community newsletter or have you helped out with the design of any flyers for events, for example? If so, add those, too. Your portfolio should demonstrate to any potential employer that you have a passion for writing, a gift for persuasion and a determination to do the job well. Make social media work for you - Social media is not just about sharing photos of your friends and telling everyone which bar you have just checked into. Whether you are looking for copywriting jobs or some copywriting work experience, join relevant Facebook groups and join in discussions - without leaving typos of course. Tell people your intentions. Twitter also has an excellent search service. Create a list of companies who advertise their vacancies on Twitter so that you can be one of the first to jump in there in applying for the job. Follow people in the business and create lists of those people, too. You can build up relationships with them and this could help you get a foot in the door. Are you on LinkedIn? Tailor your LinkedIn profile so that it shows your keenness for writing, and especially your passion for copywriting jobs. If you are hoping to find copywriting jobs in London, for example, make sure this is clear on your LinkedIn profile - and, you never know, you may just get spotted by a London company looking for a copywriter. The key is, for any copywriting work, if they are entry level copywriting jobs and you have no previous work experience to speak of, show the company how keen you are and do this across all of your presence on the different social media channels. If it is a genuine passion and you are being yourself, that will come across in your profile. Join online freelancing companies - Websites such as Freelancer.com are especially useful for those looking for extra jobs such as copywriting jobs from home; especially online copywriting jobs. While the pay might not be as high as other copywriting work at first, you can do a few jobs and and use this to build up the portfolio mentioned above. The good news about these types of websites is they usually have an automatically generated profile for you that shows all your previous jobs and what the person you did the job for said about you. If you have a good profile, be sure to add this to your CV for future employers. |
Are there any particular skills or useful tips I need to be successful in copywriting jobs? | |
---|---|
Love creative writing!
|
Examples of where you will see or hear copywriting | |
---|---|
Copywriting is all around us both in the written form and in speech. Let’s take a look at some examples of where you will see copywriting in action in the real world. As mentioned, if you are keeping your eye out for examples, this will invariably improve your own work and increase your chances of getting copywriting jobs. Manchester, London, Leeds and other big cities like these will be packed full of examples - but you will find examples just about anywhere. |
What are the advantages and disadvantages of content writing jobs? | |
---|---|
|