Website Copywriting for Dummies: A Crash Course

Table of Contents

• The Role of a Copywriter 
• 5 Skills to Become a Website Copywriting Superstar
• Key Takeaways
• Conclusion
• FAQs 

Website copywriting can be confusing for many, as people do not know the exact meaning of copywriting or what a copywriter does. To put it simply, copywriting is the art of putting words that will gain leads and lead that audience to act. It is an ace skillset for people who wish to go into advertising. 

The Role of a Copywriter

A copywriter is a person who writes ads for different mediums in a way that will drive the audience to your product and make them want to buy it. Ads can be written for different mediums – not just newspapers or television. Social media has proven to be an excellent platform for marketing your business, and you will need copywriting to make sure you reach the right audience and drive sales. 

In this blog, we will go through the skills a copywriter needs to succeed. You can also learn how to look for consistent clients and deliver positive results by understanding the products and audience. 

A copywriter can choose many niches to specialize in. You would think all these things require just writing words. But a copywriter does much more than write blogs. You cannot just write and be successful. You would require several other skills and knowledge to have a copy perfectly written for a client. 

You’ll find a copywriter working on the following:

• Blog posts 
• Internet ads 
• Emails 
• E-books
• Social media posts
• Whitepapers 
• Case studies
• Product reviews 
• Press releases 
• Newsletters 
• Sales presentations and slide decks 

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5 Skills to Become a Website Copywriting Superstar

You need to know all about copywriting if you want success in the field. Because, unless you are working in a big corporation with abundant resources, you will have to do everything by yourself, which is why you need to excel and polish your skills. 

A copywriter does everything from proofreading, editing, checking the increase in sales, reporting that to the clients, and managing all the projects and campaigns. 

The technical skills required to be able to make it to the list of a copywriting star are:

• SEO and keywords research skills
• Sourcing from the internet, citations, and research about references and backgrounds 
• Writing and blogging web-based content
• Email marketing 
• Social media
• Meta tags, so HTML 
• Basics of designing 

As mentioned earlier, your work as a copywriter would not be restricted to just writing. It will have much more responsibility on your shoulders as you are the ace of any advertising agency. So, the requirements of a copywriter would also need you to have the above skills. 

These were all the basic requirements to drive yourself into being a successful copywriter. 

Now, let’s focus on the broader skills you need to become a copywriter. 

1. Be focused on research

Research decides the fate of your copy. Whether you will make it successful or not depends on your research skills. Extensive research will allow you to write a copy that will make your audience act now. 

Try to know the brand you are working for and the product you will market for. This will be important to research because you will need to know everything about the product, which will help you analyze its unique selling point. Ask the necessary questions to your client—all of its features, benefits, how it works, etc. Get information on everything about the product. 

Secondly, you also need to know your audience. When you understand the audience, you will market it to and know when they will be willing to act. Not every campaign will be about buying a product. You would be having them sign in for some newsletter or an e-mail subscription. So, you need to be specific about the content and let your audience know the advantages they will get if they decide to act. If you research well about your audience, you will be able to know, 

• The type of audience who are going to read your copy.
• What is bothering them?
• How does the product benefit them?

All of these will help you write a perfect copy that will garner your audience’s attention. 

Research skills will also include searching for keywords and templates which will be used for presenting your copy. If you are working as a website copywriter, you will have to currently research all the keywords, analysis, and everything relevant on the internet. 

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2. Listen more, speak less.

When you are writing a copy, research may not be effortless. You cannot just depend on Google for the entire part of your research. When you are speaking to the client you are working for, always listen to them. Ask them relevant questions and listen to what they think makes their product unique and what they plan to do with it. Always listen to your client to get ample data for your research. If you would not personally connect to the product and understand its purpose, it will not reflect in your copy.  

With so much competition around, you need to listen and see what your competitors are doing to advertise the same products you are selling. For example, to write an excellent copy telling your customers to sign up for a newsletter, you need to see what the most people subscribed to similar newsletters as yours are doing. 

Also, listen to your audience and focus on what they are willing to act on. Know your audience’s interest. Check the previous campaigns, look out for what worked with the audience, and listen to what the audience said. 

When you listen to your client and audience, you will implement all of that into your copy. The copy should exceed your client’s expectations. They should observe that you were listening to them, and you have put that in the copy. The audiences will be provided with what they want, even if they do not ask or talk about it directly. These will motivate them to take action as they are served exactly what they want. 

3. Write creative headlines

It is one of the most significant aspects of your copy. Your headline will be the deciding factor of your audience to decipher if they want to read your copy further. If the headline does not manage to pique your audience’s interest, you can say that your copy has failed to make an impact. Your headline should be your most powerful weapon, where only by using a few words would you be able to have your audience’s attention to your copy. Because of this, your headlines need to be perfect, not average, not good, but perfect. There is no room for committing errors when it comes to headlines. 

To write a perfect headline, you need to be creative and quirky with your words. Also, draw emotion from the audience by using words like sale, hurry up, etc. There can be many words that could evoke a feeling in your audience. Use these words to drive your audience towards making a purchase. 

While writing headings targeted for the audience to buy something, it should be direct, brief, and only focused on one thing, and it should quickly reflect on what the audience can expect out of it. These will help your audience get a clear message of what you want to communicate to them. With creative headlines, they will also be impressed with the usage of your words. 

For example, if you write something that will make them subscribe to a channel and do not need to purchase anything, explain briefly the benefits of subscribing to it and what they will get from it. 

4. Perform unlimited testing

You never know what will drive your customers to respond with an action. That is why you need to keep testing your copies, and then you will be able to provide copies that will work. If your prospect fails to acknowledge your copy, then you are doing something wrong. 

You can generate headlines while writing blog posts to see which one works and has more views and readers. You can test your CTA, your headlines, the content of your body, everything. 

We are in a constant learning process as copywriters. You would have to change your style, CTAs, formats, graphics until you figure out the one that yields you the most conversion rates. You would have to constantly try to write something that will inspire your audiences to make a purchase. This can only be acquired after continually testing what works and does not. 

5. Pick a niche

Work towards strengthening your skill towards a specific niche of copywriting. Because of this, you get a loyal customer base, and you would be perfect in what you do. You can pick out a specific niche you want to work towards and build your career further in it. 

The company seeks people who have experience writing for the niche they are looking for. So, if you are specializing in a niche, companies in that niche will seek out your services.

So, it is better to pick out a niche to have a consistently increasing client base than work for every client. You should make yourself stand out as a specialist. Your client should trust you with their work and be assured that you will give an outcome that will work in their favor. 

If you are beginning as a copywriter, you can work as a general copywriter. There is no loss in that. But if you have already passed successfully as a general copywriter, you should consider looking for the niche you want to specialize in. 

You must constantly evolve your knowledge and test different, unique techniques to get your audience to act in the copywriting business. 

Key Takeaways

• A copywriter is a person who writes ads for different mediums in a way that will drive the audience to your product and make them want to buy it. 
• Copywriting is the art of putting words that will gain leads and lead that audience to act. It is an ace skillset for people who wish to go into advertising. 
• A copywriter does everything from proofreading, editing, checking the increase in sales, reporting that to the clients, and managing all the projects and campaigns. 
• Try to know the brand you are working for and the product you will market for. This will be important to research because you will need to know everything about the product.
• Your headline will be the deciding factor of your audience to decipher if they want to read your copy further.

Conclusion

You have to keep learning and increase your knowledge. If you improve your skill and are open to constantly learning and accepting the changes in such a vast industry, you will be successful as a copywriter. You will need specific knowledge of designing and formats to have a perfect copy with excellent writing skills. 

FAQs