It’s a content-driven world we live in and the demand for skilled copywriters has never been higher!
Copywriting combines creativity with strategy and is what allows brands to have a unique voice, persuade their audience to act, and grab attention in a crowded market. Whether you’re considering shifting your writing career towards copywriting or diving into it as a brand-new field, now’s the perfect time!
From social media and niche websites to writing for marketing agencies and beyond, a career in copywriting offers you the chance to use your creativity to drive real results for businesses everywhere!
So, if you’re looking to break into the world of professional copywriting, this guide is for you! No matter your starting point, we’ll take you through the essential steps to give you the tools and knowledge you need to turn your passion for writing into a rewarding career!
Let’s get started!
Why Copywriting is a Great Career for Creatives
Why are professionals in a variety of different fields turning to copywriting?
There are many reasons why a career in copywriting appeals to writers and other creatives looking to broaden their horizons and expand into new fields.
Here are just a few:
- Endless Variety – Copywriters get to work with clients from many different industries, from fashion to tech, with an endless stream of new challenges and projects. It’s hard to get bored!
- Creative Problem-Solving – Being a copywriter means having to come up with unique ways to engage audiences and inspire action, whether it’s through storytelling, catchy taglines, snappy headers, or persuasive sales copy.
- Room for Expression – Crafting brand messages, developing ad campaigns, writing emails; whatever content it is, this content allows copywriters a chance to flex their creative muscles to express their ideas and shape brand’s voices.
- Freelance Flexibility – Copywriting is one of the most adaptable careers for creatives. It offers the chance to freelance, work remotely, or join a creative agency — all of this allows for a more flexible work-life balance.
- Expand Your Scope – If you're a designer looking to diversify your income, learning copywriting can open up additional job opportunities for you to net more clients and boost your earning potential.
- Constant Learning – Everything evolves so quickly these days, meaning copywriters are constantly learning about new platforms, trends, and techniques.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming a Professional Copywriter
So, if you’re ready to become a copywriter, we’re ready to help!
Breaking into copywriting might seem like a daunting, unreachable task at first, but by following the steps below, you can start building the skills and experience you need to get you there in no time.
Just check out what it’s going to take and jump in at the step that most closely aligns with where you are in your journey:
1. Familiarize Yourself with the Basics
Before getting into copywriting, you should first understand what it truly is; what the different subcategories are and the different ways they serve business needs.
We’ll break them down here:
- Ad Copy – Creating snappy, attention-grabbing, and persuasive copy for advertisements, whether for print, digital, or social media.
- Website Copy – Writing the content for a website’s pages, including homepages, service pages, and about sections, focusing on clarity and engagement.
- Product Descriptions – Creating detailed and persuasive descriptions that highlight the benefits and features of a product, usually for eCommerce sites.
- Email Marketing – Writing emails designed to engage subscribers and hook new customers, whether through newsletters, promotional campaigns, or drip campaigns to nurture leads.
- Sales Copy – Writing copy specifically designed to persuade the reader to take an action, like purchasing a product, signing up for a service, or contacting the company for a quote.
- Script Writing – Creating marketing scripts for videos, podcasts, or commercials to help brands convey their message, promote products, or explain products and services.
Understanding these will give you a clearer idea of the different copywriting opportunities available and help you decide on which you’d best like to focus on.
Best Online Copywriting Courses for Beginners
Taking an online course is a great way to learn the fundamentals of copywriting and help you not only find your niche but equip you with some valuable insight for starting your career.
Below are some of our favorites. Check them out and see which fits your learning style best:
- The Complete Copywriting Course: Write to Sell Like a Pro (Udemy) – Covers the basics of writing for marketing, sales copy, and content creation.
- Copywriting Master: Secrets to Writing Brilliant Ad Copy (Udemy) – Writing tips, tools, tricks, and formulas to help beginners become professional copywriters.
- The Creative Copywriter Academy – Everything you need to know to be a confident, client-winning copywriter.
- IDM Award in Digital Copywriting – Learn how to write copy for digital channels and how to produce copy that builds brands and gets results.
- Copyblogger Academy – 9 full-length courses to learn how to create captivating content that wins over readers and buyers.
2. Find Your Niche
While having general copywriting skills are important, specializing in a particular area can help you set yourself apart and get more copywriting jobs.
So, what are you good at? What are your interests?
Whether it’s tech, fashion, finance, wellness, focusing on a specific industry can help you better understand your audience and speak their language. Find what excites you the most and then spend some time researching how copywriting works for those fields. Study successful campaigns, look into industry trends, pay attention to the type of language and tone that works best.
Finding your niche will help you not only build credibility in your writing but allow you to offer more value to your clients, which can lead to more and high-paying opportunities down the line.
3. Develop Your Writing Skills
Copywriting requires a mastery of language, sure, but it’s also about communicating with an audience concisely and persuasively.
Practice writing as much as you can. Focus on clarity, brevity, impact. How can you say the most with the least number of words?
You should also study the rules of grammar and storytelling techniques to make sure that your writing is error free, flows naturally, and is designed to grab your reader’s attention and keep them reading until the end.
For practice, study as many copywriting examples as you can; landing pages, snappy ads, billboards, product descriptions, email sequences — all of it! Study them and see what makes them work (or not work) and learn how to replicate any successes in your own writing.
4. Build a Portfolio
This is perhaps the longest step but, if done well, can consistently net you the kind of copywriting jobs you’re looking for!
“But I just got started and I don’t have anything to use to build a portfolio!”
That’s okay, friend. If you’re just getting into copywriting, it’s okay to start from scratch. Don’t worry about not having clients yet; just make up your own.
Write sample website copy for a fictional brand, create a fake ad campaign, write a blog about a trending topic or create a how-to guide for a product you use; whatever it takes to create a stunning online portfolio and fill it with examples of what you can do.
If possible, get on sites like Upwork or Fiverr and start taking small freelance jobs to gain experience. You can also offer your services to friends and family or even non-profits (they’ll definitely take you up on it!) to start building out your portfolio with a variety of diverse work.
Be sure that you showcase a variety of copy types in your portfolio too to demonstrate how versatile a writer you are!
5. SEO and Digital Marketing
In today’s digital, Internet-first age, the next best thing you can have next to a great-looking portfolio is a strong grasp of SEO (search engine optimization) and digital marketing principles.
Understanding the tools to use to find keywords, how keywords work, and how to optimize content for search engines will set you apart in a competitive market.
Here are some resources you can explore to up your SEO and digital marketing game:
- The Complete Digital Marketing Course (Udemy) — A comprehensive course covering SEO, social media, email marketing, and Google Ads. It’s great for beginners and frequently goes on sale for $15-$20.
- Digital Marketing Specialization from the University of Illinois (Coursera) — A more in-depth course covering SEO, social media, content marketing, and analytics. Free to enroll with an optional certificate for $39/month.
- LinkedIn Learning: SEO Foundations — A concise introduction to SEO basics, including keyword strategy and site optimization. Free with LinkedIn Learning trial, then $29/month.
- Introduction to SEO: Tactics and Strategies for Entrepreneurs (Skillshare) — A practical course on SEO tactics for entrepreneurs, covering keyword research and backlinks. Free with Skillshare trial, then $14/month.
- Fundamentals of Digital Marketing (Google Digital Garage) — A free, beginner-friendly course from Google that covers SEO, social media, display ads, and email marketing with a certificate upon completion.
- SEO Fundamentals Course (SEMrush Academy) — A free course that dives into SEO topics like keyword research, on-page SEO, and link building. Includes video lessons and quizzes to test your skills.
6. Network
As you build up your reputation as a copywriter, building relationships with other writers, marketers, and professionals is always a good idea.
If it’s not feasible to do so in person, consider joining online communities, attending webinars, participating in writing workshops, or even connecting with professionals online via X or LinkedIn.
Networking gives you an opportunity to glean valuable advice and tips from other experts, helps you stay up to date with trends and, who knows? Meeting the right person at the right time might even lead to a future job opportunity!
7. Start Applying for Jobs
Once you’ve developed your skills and built a portfolio, the next step is applying for a part-time or full-time gig!
There are many ways to go about this, whether it’s through freelance platforms, job boards, or direct applications to in-house positions at marketing or copywriting agencies.
Whatever post or job board you’re applying to, be sure that you’re strategic about it. Tailor your resume with cover letters personalized to each job and keep your messaging relevant to the specific needs of those employers or their clients. This personalization not only helps your resume stand out among others but also helps you get past any applicant filters that scan for keywords before a human even lays eyes on your resume.
Be patient and be persistent! It may take some time to get your foot in the door, but once you do, you’ll be well-positioned to land your first professional gig!
<div class="c-blog_comp-cta cc-component-2"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-wrap"><img src="https://global-uploads.webflow.com/61cdf3c5e0b8155f19e0105b/63695243d096983691046ac3_Potential-Creative.png" loading="lazy" alt="" class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-img"></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-right cc-dark"><div class="c-blog_comp-content"><div class="c-text-wrapper cc-mb-32"><div class="c-title-4 cc-bold"><strong>Like to work as a freelancer with consistent income?</strong></div></div><div class="c-text-wrapper"><div class="c-text-2">Designity's collaborative model is designed to give you all of the perks of being a freelancer without the income instability.<br></div></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-wrapper"><a href="http://designity.com/creatives" target="_blank" class="c-button w-button"><strong>Join Our Creative Community</strong></a></div></div></div>
Looking for Consistent Copywriting Work?
Now, that you’re equipped with the tools and knowledge you need to start your copywriting journey, we’ll leave you with one more suggestion:
If you’re at the point where you’re ready to start getting more copywriting gigs, why not join Designity’s creative community?
Designity is made up of the top 3% of all of the talented creatives who apply each year, meaning that our community is made up of only the best of the best in fields like graphic design, motion graphics, video production, and — you guessed it — copywriters, SEO experts, content writers, editors, and more.
As a Designity Creative, you’ll also enjoy sweet perks like consistent writing work, a variety of different projects for a variety of different industries, competitive pay, plenty of growth opportunities, a flexible you-decide-it schedule, and a 100% remote work environment.
If these perks are making Designity sound like a pretty sweet gig, then we have to agree! We’d love to have you, so why not put your skills to the test with our one-of-a-kind application process and let’s see where Designity can take your copywriting career!
Are you ready to become a professional copywriter?
