Part One: What Makes a Good Copywriter?

If you are considering a career as a Digital Copywriter, you may find this introductory post useful for starters.

In this post I will be doing a basic run through of the key skills you will require to not just be a Digital Copywriter, but to be a good one.

Two Core Qualities

Other than having a good grasp of English (presumably) with a decent vocabulary and a basic understanding of grammar, there are fundamentally two main qualities required as a Copywriter; creativity, and the ability to thoroughly research your target market/audience.

Creativity does improve with practise, but if you are not imaginative in the slightest to start with – then copywriting may not be the career for you.

Psychology and Sociology

The best Copywriters are people people with a deep interest in both psychology and sociology. You need to be deeply interested in what makes people tick to be a great Copywriter. You must understand what compels people to do what they do and buy what they buy. People are complex, and without a deep understanding of them, as a Copywriter you’ll be shooting in the dark too much to frequently hit your target.

Google

Copywriters have to be good with Google. You will be required to research your target audience and your Client’s competitors. You may be required to analyse performance data and read/watch findings from User Testing and Interviews etc. The more you understand about your market and your audience – the more focused and appropriate your imaginative copy suggestions will be.

You will develop quickly as a Copywriter if you use Google to find excellent examples of existing copy that is on similar lines to your own project. Go to the award winners.

Read books on Copywriting and come to understand why they chose the words and the tone and the style and the length that they chose.

There is always a reason why they decide a certain approach, and when you learn to understand how to decipher their approach – then you will be able to develop your own similar quality approach on your own projects.

Whole Brain Approach

Good Copywriters essentially have to utilise a whole-brain approach. First, we use our left brain for research, and then we use our right brain to create, using the findings from the research as our paint palette – so to speak!

Over time, with experience and seniority, you will develop the ability to put yourself in nearly any person’s shoes and see through their eyes. Once you deeply understand human psychology and sociology you will be able to sell to anyone effectively without them even realising they are being sold to.

User Experience (UX) and Pain

When writing ‘sales’ copy, it is vitally important to be able to figure out what your target audience’s current pain points are, and then provide solutions for them in the copy you are writing for the product/service you’ve been hired to work on.

It is important to speak in the customer’s language as a good Copywriter, and, as author Steve Krug says: ‘don’t make them think!’

Make everything so easy to understand that the copy does not tax or confuse the customer/audience at all.

User Experience (UX) is all the rage these days – and rightly so. With the vast array of options available to online customers – if they feel frustrated by their user experience on one site – they will quickly click off onto a rival site.

Therefore, as a good Digital Copywriter it is essential for you to understand the principles of UX and user centred design so that your copy harmonises with those principles.

Great Opportunities for GOOD Copywriters

There are a lot of decent Copywriters, but not so many that are truly good, and far less that are actually great.

This post is for starters - if you aspire to at least be a good Copywriter.

If you believe you would enjoy Copywriting and you are suited to the nature of the work as described above, it is a great time to be a professional Copywriter.

There aren’t enough Copywriters to meet demand – let alone good ones! If you commit to becoming a good one, you will get noticed. You will not struggle for offers. So, the steeper learning curve at the start to become truly good is well worth the extra effort.

Copy is the most important aspect of a brand’s online presence and their marketing – now more than ever. Get the copy wrong and it is very difficult to compensate for that in other areas.

Good Copywriters are in increasing demand as businesses come to understand that good UX and copy are so essential.

You can create a great career for yourself as a good Copywriter. It is worth the time and effort to gain experience in the areas discussed in this post. If you do, your services will always be in high demand, and you will be able to pick and choose from well-paid, interesting projects.

Your stock will only continue to rise as the importance of good copy and UX continues to.

Signing Off

I hope you found this small introduction useful. Please get in touch if you have any questions and stay tuned for posts of a similar nature!

Thanks for stopping by!

Steven Cook

www.contentdesignsolutions.co.uk