Copywriting for Beginners: How To Start Earning Money

Did you know that you can earn $40-$120 hourly by merely writing words? This amount rounds off to $6,400-$19,200 per month. Copywriting can be a highly lucrative domain if you are willing to turn words into feelings and feelings into actions…

Now, you might be wondering - Who is a copywriter, and what exactly does copywriting mean? In this blog post, we will dive deep into this topic. At the end of the blog, you'll get a clear picture of the freelance copywriting profession and how you can make great money in it.

What is copywriting?

In the simplest terms, copywriting means writing words to convince people to take certain actions. It is the art and science of using written words to persuade the reader to take a specific action. Now, this action can be persuading them to click on a link, collecting their email address, or convincing them to make a purchase.

Every writing process that consists of writing the right words to make the reader take a particular action is copywriting.

How much do copywriters make?

The income that a copywriter earns generally depends on the level of experience that the copywriter has. In the copywriting space, we can find an assortment of copywriters, ranging from beginner copywriters to world-class professional copywriters. The ones who have extensive copywriting experience charge even up to $1 per word or $200 per hour.

Let's see how much copywriters make based on their experience levels:

0-1 years of experience: $28-$30 per hour or $0.07-$0.1 per word
1-3 years of experience: $30-$50 per hour or $0.1-$0.3 per word
3-7 years of experience: $50-$100 per hour or $0.3-$0.5 per word
7-10 years of experience: $100-$200 per hour or $0.5-$0.9 per word
10+ years of experience: $100+ per hour or $0.9+ per word

(The above-mentioned are estimated rates that freelance copywriters typically charge.)

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How to make money copywriting?

Making money as a freelance copywriter is not only possible but also achievable. However, to become a successful copywriter and make good money, you need to possess some basic writing and marketing skills.

So if you want to start your journey into the world of freelance copywriting, you first need to build up your portfolio with work that showcases your best writing samples and SEO knowledge.

Additionally, it’s essential to develop strong copywriting skills, such as understanding how to create effective headlines, write compelling content for various industries or niches, and use targeted keywords correctly in articles or blog posts while staying within the boundaries of Google’s algorithms.

Those who want to take their career even further can consider taking online courses on freelancing and business management. With enough dedication and hard work, anyone can become a successful freelance copywriter by leveraging their online writing abilities into making great money!

Can AI tools be helpful for copywriters?

AI tools can be a game changer for copywriters. These tools can automate and streamline many aspects of the writing process, increasing productivity. For instance, AI tools like Grammarly can significantly aid in grammar correction, ensuring that your writing is more polished and professional.

Additionally, AI tools can help you generate content ideas, provide insights into trending topics, and even write drafts, leaving copywriters with more time and mental energy to focus on the creative aspects of their work. Finally, AI tools such as Frase and MarketMuse can help copywriters optimize their content for search engines, making it easier for potential clients to find their work.

Equipped with AI tools, copywriters can produce high-quality content more efficiently and effectively, increasing their earning potential. As you can see, leveraging AI tools can be pivotal in your journey as a copywriter.

How to make money copywriting with AI tools?

Harnessing the power of AI writing tools can significantly enhance your copywriting skills, opening up new avenues for making money as a copywriter. AI tools can generate ideas, provide SEO suggestions, and even create drafts, accelerating the freelance copywriting process. By automating some of the more tedious aspects of the job, you can focus on the creative aspects and take on more clients, which helps you make money. AI tools, when correctly applied, can be a game changer in the world of freelance copywriting.

What does a copywriter exactly do?

The ultimate goal of a copywriter is writing copy for online or offline publications. They create content that educates their target audience and steers them towards taking a desired action. They may also write copy for landing pages, web pages, social media posts, white papers, emails, blog posts, sales pages, and even video scripts.

Another thing that you should note is that writing content is just the principal task of being a copywriter. As a copywriter, you may have to perform an array of other tasks:

Researching
Editing
Content marketing
Proofreading
Interviewing
Handling projects
Searching for relevant images
Developing marketing and email campaigns

Also, if you are a marketing copywriter, your role can entail SEO planning and social media management. If we boil down the key tasks that a copywriter has to undertake, they would be to research and write content that essentially captivates readers and convinces them to take some action.

How to become a copywriter?

Aspiring copywriters may have the talent to write compelling content, but it takes more than that to create a successful freelance copywriting career. Copywriters are responsible for creating content that persuades and sells products or services, while also engaging audiences. If you want to make money as a freelance copywriter, you need to possess certain basic writing and marketing skills and develop your own unique style of writing captivating content.

Let’s break down the key steps necessary for developing strong copywriting skills and, ultimately, making money as a professional freelance copywriter!

The 5 steps to starting a business as a freelance copywriter

1.Immerse yourself in the learning process

Copywriting is a skill that can be learned with enough dedication and commitment. To embark on your learning process in this domain, the most fundamental thing you can do is to start reading relevant books.

You can begin with Robert Bly's "The Copywriter's Handbook". This book covers the basic nitty-gritty of copywriting and gradually goes deeper into the copywriting sphere. Some other books that you can consider reading:

Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz
Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy
Influence by Robert Cialdini
Boron Letters by Gary Halbert.

These books have pragmatic copywriting strategies as well as tons of handy copywriting tips. You can also read blogs and find additional resources on the internet.

2.Practice copywriting exercises to polish your skills

Once you've gotten familiar with the fundamentals, you can start practicing copywriting exercises to polish your skills. There are many exercises that you can do to hone your skills.

One of the most profound copywriting exercises you can do is to rewrite successful copies. It will train your brain to grasp the psychological patterns that the copy possesses. Your brain will then automatically tune into these patterns the next time you're working on a new copy. You can go to www.swiped.co to find countless copies that have been successful and start writing.

Another great exercise you should do is to read your copy aloud. It will help you understand if your copy flows well or not. If your copy doesn't flow well, the readers will be more resistant to taking action. You should also write copy in the way you talk. It makes the copy seem more natural and fluid, rather than something artificial and hard to connect with.

3.Join communities to learn from others' failures and successes

Nothing is more powerful than a group of people marching towards the same mission. When you have a community of individuals who are focused on improving themselves as well as their associates, you're almost assured to improve with them. The same goes for copywriting.

You can find many supportive copywriting communities on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, and many others. When you join a community, you get a glimpse into the failures as well as successes of other community members.

Some good communities you can find on social media are:

4.Write your elevator pitch to onboard new clients

When you've got a grip on the basic principles of copywriting, you can hop into the process of creating your elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a concise introduction of yourself, emphasis on the issue, and offering the solution while communicating your value proposition. It's known as an "elevator pitch," as it virtually takes the same time you'd spend in an elevator with a person.

Some examples of an elevator pitch:

Hello, I'm Becky. Work can be chaotic irrespective of which domain you’re in. However, dynamic project management software can surely enhance efficiency and productivity. If you’re wondering how it could assist your team, revert back to me, and I will share some numbers with you.
Hello, it's Robert. I came to know that you are facing some communication issues. My team and I also used to face those issues. But those issues vanished when we adopted project management software that gave birth to a new wave of overall communication and improvement in teamwork. Let me know if you need more information on this.

5.Start networking and pitch your services to the decision makers

Once you are equipped with the necessary skills and your pitch is ready, you can step right into the copywriting world. You can build an eloquent LinkedIn profile to get started and connect with professionals who have the potential to do business with you. These people would mostly be decision-makers like founders, co-founders, or people who have the authority to assign you work (such as creative directors or HRs).

You can spend about a week researching and connecting with such designated professionals. Then, gradually you can start posting content related to copywriting that is valuable to these folks and their businesses.

You can also go the extra mile and engage with their posts and personally in their DMs. But remember: don't try to ram your services down the throats of these professionals. Genuinely ask them if your skills would be valuable for their businesses, and if they say yes, you can explain how you would help.

The 4 must-have skills for new copywriters

Copywriting is all about bringing a set of skills together and blending them to produce determined results. But very often, copywriters tend to overlook these skills, which renders their copy useless. Let's take a glance at some of these crucial skills.

Connect with your target audience and their pain points

The ability to empathize with your audience is often undervalued. In any copy, the number one thing you should remember is to efficiently focus on the pain points that your target audience has and drive them smoothly to the solution, i.e., the product or service. For instance, let's take a look at two examples. These are ads for a weight-loss product for women.

Advertisement One: If you want to stay healthy and lose weight, then you should try our Weight Loss Concoction. Our product has organic ingredients that make you slimmer and fitter.

Advertisement Two: Are you tired of people's comments on your weight? Do you feel envious when you look at women with hourglass figures? If yes, then all your worries can come to an end with our amazing Weight Loss Concoction.

Notice how the first ad doesn't focus on the pain, while the second does. This minute element of pain incorporation can be a game-changer for a business.

When the reader reads through your copy, he or she must instantly relate to it and feel, "Hey! I can relate to this problem so much. It's literally my own problem. " Once this feeling arises in their minds and hearts, they automatically start looking for the solution. This is the point where you should introduce your offering.

Learn how to sell benefits and not just list features

A feature is an attribute a product or service has. Whereas the benefit is the output that the consumer would receive while using the product. Hence, stressing about something that's beneficial, i.e., benefits, will make your copy sound more valuable. For example, let's consider the different headlines in two identical scenarios. In both of these marketing copy, we are selling fans.

Headline One: Try our X-brand fans that are powered by the latest ultra-spinning technology.

Headline Two: Use X-brand fans to cool yourself off in this scorching heat.

Do you see the difference? In the first headline, we emphasized the feature of the product, while in the second one, we focused on the benefit. Thus, when you are selling products or services., make sure that you primarily stress the benefits and subsequently mention the necessary features. This copywriting formula is leveraged in various successful advertisements.

Your aim should be to get the reader emotionally engaged. This allows the potential clients to envision how exactly the product or service would help them come out of a painful situation or help them achieve a desired goal.

Use the language that your audience uses

As we have seen above, establishing reliability is of paramount importance when it comes to convincing the reader to take action. Understanding your target audience’s pain points is absolutely critical, but you must also pay heed to whom exactly you are speaking with. Let's consider that we are writing a project pitch email to a Fortune 500 company for an app development project. Here are two pitches for the same:

Pitch One:

Hey dude, what's up?

Just wanted to tell you that the software development thing you asked my team is awesome!!! We have some amazing tools to make the software that your startup needs. Our software app will be fab for your business operations. Let's talk more about this tomm.

Thx

Jon

Pitch Two:

Greetings,

We are glad that you shortlisted our company for the app development project for your business. Our cutting-edge technology would ensure that the software would be highly valuable for your business. Let us know an appropriate time slot to take this further.

Thanks,

Yours Respected

John Taylor

There is a big difference that is clearly evident and needs no justification! By going through Amazon reviews, Instagram comments, Quora answers, and even your DMs, you can get a more comprehensive understanding of how to talk to your audience. If it's a B2C audience, you can lean more towards a casual and informal tone, but if it's a B2B conversation, it's always safe to be formal.

8 types of modern copywriting you need to know

If you're considering a career in copywriting, there are many different types of modern copywriting that you need to become familiar with. Copywriting is the art of writing persuasive messages for promotional campaigns, marketing materials, and other forms of written communication. From creating short-form content to long-form ads and webpages, becoming a successful copywriter requires an understanding of the various types of copywriting.

1. Marketing Copywriting

Marketing copywriting is a vital component of any marketing agency. Writing copy that successfully captures the target audience's attention requires a specific set of skills that a copywriter must have. With the shift towards digital marketing, copywriters must now have an understanding of the marketing funnel to effectively create marketing copy. This includes understanding the different stages of the funnel and how to write copy that moves potential customers from one stage to the next. A successful marketing campaign can hinge on the effectiveness of the marketing copy, making it crucial for businesses to invest in talented copywriters.

2. Brand Copywriting

Brand copywriting is a type of copywriting that requires specialized copywriting skills. Successful copywriters must be able to write content that promotes and communicates the unique identity, messaging, and values of a brand. It involves crafting compelling and persuasive language that resonates with a brand’s target audience while maintaining the brand’s voice and tone. You should also be knowledgeable about things such as marketing funnels, creating effective messages for promotional campaigns, and other digital marketing strategies.

3. Social Media Copywriting

Social media copywriting is a rapidly growing field in the world of copywriting, making it increasingly important for those considering a career in this profession to understand what's involved in this ever-changing field. A social media copywriter creates written content for social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more, where you’ll engage and connect with a brand’s audience through social media channels. Effective social media copywriting requires a thorough understanding of the target audience and each platform’s unique characteristics, tone, and culture. It’s important to create content that is not only engaging and shareable but also aligns with the brand’s values and voice.

4. SEO Copywriting

SEO copywriting is a critical aspect of digital marketing, and it can be the difference between your website being found on Google's first page or buried deep within the search results. As a copywriter looking to become specialized in search engine optimization (SEO), there are many opportunities available to you. With more and more companies investing in digital marketing, the demand for SEO copywriters is higher than ever.

Freelance writing is a great way to start building your experience in this field, and from there, you can progress to working for a company or agency. To succeed in SEO copywriting, it's essential to understand the workings of search engines and how they rank websites. This includes things like keyword research, using meta descriptions and tags, and incorporating internal and external links into your content. SEO copywriting can be a lucrative and rewarding career for those who are willing to learn and adapt to the constantly evolving world of digital marketing.

5. Public Relations Copywriting

Public relations copywriting is a niche within the field of copywriting that requires specialized writing skills and creative thinking. Copywriters who specialize in PR must have an understanding of how to craft sales letters, press releases, website content, and other forms of online media. It’s also important for them to be able to create engaging stories that can help sell products or services and build relationships with customers. This career path offers lucrative opportunities for those wanting to break into the world of copywriting and embark on a fulfilling creative journey!

6. Technical Copywriting

Technical copywriting involves creating technical documentation and manuals for products that are complex in nature. To be a great technical copywriter, it’s important to have a deep understanding of the subject matter, have excellent research skills, and produce readable content. Using an appropriate copywriting framework that breaks content into logical segments and provides clarity to the text is crucial for effective communication of the message. With companies constantly innovating and launching new technologies, demand for technical copywriters is ever-growing, making it a promising career path to pursue.

7. Thought Leadership Copywriting

Thought leadership copywriting allows businesses to demonstrate their expertise and thought leadership in the industry. This type of writing requires advanced knowledge and understanding of the various topics discussed, as well as strong research skills.As businesses grow and expand into new areas, having skilled writers on hand who are able to create engaging content about those topics becomes increasingly important for business growth. By taking advantage of these opportunities to hone your craft, you’ll soon find yourself ready to take on thought-provoking projects that entice readers from all over the world!

8. Direct Response Copywriting

Direct response copywriting is a unique form of content writing that uses human psychology to elicit a response from the reader. Professional copywriters who specialize in this field know how to use specific words and phrases to provoke readers into taking a desired action, such as subscribing to a newsletter or purchasing a product.

Becoming a copywriter in direct response is an excellent choice for those who want to combine their writing skills with a keen understanding of human behavior. By mastering the art of direct response copywriting, writers can provide their clients with exceptional content that yields high conversion rates and increased sales. With the growing demand for personalized and engaging content, a career in direct response copywriting is a promising field that showcases the importance of words in the world of marketing.

Master a few copywriting formulas

When it comes to great copywriting, you should be aware of copywriting formulas that have been proven to work and generate the expected results. Some of the most prominent formulas in copywriting comprise:

PAS Formula

The full form of the abbreviation PAS stands for Pain, Agitate, and Solution. To understand this formula in-depth, let's break it down into segments.

Pain

To write copy that triggers a response, you should be well-versed in the challenges that your audience faces. The more expressively you can concentrate on their pain, the more you showcase your understanding of it.

As the reader reads your landing page copy, the person should experience that you're validating the conversation taking place in their mind.

Agitate

Your next move is to amplify the pains of your audience. To make it fruitful, you should use emotional language that makes them go nuts for a solution. Once they feel like they have the biggest pain in the world, they will begin looking for a solution.

Keep in mind not to agitate excessively. Or else they'll start to realize that they are being manipulated. Instead, plow a path for them to walk to the ideal solution, that is - your product or service.

Solution

This is the final destination where you slowly start to make things better. This is the point where you uncover the golden solution - the pain-soothing ointment they have been looking for so long.

In this part, you can demonstrate the value of the offering that you are promoting. Once you're able to shed light on the pains successfully and agitate them properly, selling the solution becomes a cakewalk.

The 4Us Formula

The 4Us formula is another formula that is quite popular. The 4Us in this formula stands for Useful, Urgent, Unique, and Ultra-specific. Let's dive descriptively into 4Us.

Useful

Your writing must convey something that is useful and demonstrates value. If it doesn't sound useful, the prospect is going to turn a blind eye to it.

Urgent

Most of the time, a prospect remains a potential customer because the writer is unable to incorporate a sense of urgency into the writing structure of the offer.

Unique

It's important that you effectively communicate what's unique in your offerings. This differentiates you from the noise in the marketplace.

Ultra-specific

As Seth Godin, the renowned marketer, says, if you're selling to everyone, you're selling to no one. Make your offer ultra-specific and focus on a specific target market.

AIDA Formula

The AIDA formula is another proven formula used to disintegrate the buying process into the segments of Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

Attention

The prime step of this formula is to capture the reader's attention, mostly with an appealing headline of an ad or subject line in an email.

Interest

Evoke the interest of your audience by focusing on things that are necessary for their lives. Don't boast about the company or the offering, but rather hammer the challenges that they are facing.

Desire

Create a strong desire and outline the major benefits of your offer. Also, elaborate on how it will positively impact the life of the reader.

Action

Lastly, in a subtle but hassle-free manner, drive the prospect towards the offer and convince them why they should purchase at that very moment.

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The diverse copywriting jobs and their salaries

In-house copywriter

An in-house copywriter is someone who engages in copywriting and (sometimes content writing) for a specific brand or business. You are employed by the business on a full-time basis to create copies for their brand. In this role, you understand and incorporate the style and tonality of their brand into various content pieces. In-house copywriters, on an average earn between $48,332 to $84,667.

Agency copywriter

As an agency copywriter, you’ll be writing content for a plethora of clients that the agency has. Similar to other copywriting roles, your main objectives here would be effective communication and persuading the audience directly or indirectly to purchase certain products or services. But, in an agency, you will work closely with other team members to create content marketing campaigns. Agency copywriters, on an average earn between $47,037 to $88,210.

Freelance copywriter

Freelancers are some of the most seasoned copywriters in the domain as they've worked with a ton of businesses and industries. Freelancers have the freedom to cherry-pick their clients. Hence, most of them have profiles that cater to a few niches. The incomes of copywriters based on their experiences have already been alluded to above.

Where to look for your first copywriting job?

Once you have stepped into the world of copywriting, you should start looking for a job so that you can practically implement what you've learned. To start your copywriting career and get your first job as a copywriter, you can:

Apply on job sites

The number one thing you can do in terms of finding a copywriting job is to apply for jobs on job portals. To find these jobs, you can turn to many job search engines and filter for the copywriting role you're looking for. Some popular websites for copywriting freelancing are Upwork, Freelancer, PeoplePerHour, Fiverr, and many more.

Reach out on social media

We have briefly elaborated on how you can connect with potential clients on LinkedIn and pitch your copywriting services. You can shadow the same process with other social media platforms and promote your services.

How to become a successful copywriter? 10 Tips for aspiring copywriters

Still thinking of becoming a copywriter? Here are ten valuable tips for aspiring copywriters:

Constant Learning: Stay updated with the latest trends in copywriting, marketing, and your chosen niche. The world of copywriting evolves constantly; to thrive, you must evolve with it. If you want to make money copywriting you need to grow professionally. No matter if you work in a marketing agency or if you are a freelance writer.
Practice Regularly: The old adage "Practice makes perfect" holds true. Write every day to polish your skills and develop your unique writing style.
Read Widely: Reading widely exposes you to various writing styles, tones, and perspectives. It can be beneficial to your growth as a copywriter.
Understand Your Audience: A deep understanding of your audience's needs, desires, and pain points is crucial. This empowers you to write copy that resonates and drives action. It is important for typical sales copy as well as for blog post writing.
Develop a Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Differentiate your writing services from others by developing a unique selling proposition. This could be your writing style, turnaround time, or niche expertise.
Master SEO: In today's digital age, understanding SEO (search engine optimization) is crucial. This knowledge can help your content rank better in search engine results, driving more traffic and engagement, and as a result, make your copywriting business more profitable. Successful copywriters are constantly improving their SEO skills and making them an important part of their copywriting services.
Proofread and Edit: Always proofread and edit your work meticulously. Copy that’s free from grammatical errors and typos is more credible and professional.
Value Proposition: Clearly communicate the value your writing brings to your client. This can make your copy more persuasive and result-oriented. It is important for blog post writing as well as for sales pages.
Diversify Your Writing Skills: As a copywriter, you should be adept at creating a variety of marketing materials. Your copywriting services should extend to crafting compelling sales pages, engaging landing pages, persuasive video scripts, and captivating social media posts. The ability to deliver diverse content can significantly enhance your marketability and demand.
Maintain Determination in your Copywriting Business: Navigating the journey to a prosperous copywriting business may pose numerous challenges. However, persistence is key. Continuously refine your craft and maintain an unwavering commitment to securing and satisfying your copywriting clients. Remember, every successful business was once an idea that refused to give up, so keep pushing forward!

Final thoughts

To say that copywriting is a great career would be a huge understatement. As more and more businesses emerge, the demand and value of copywriters will also grow parallelly. Learning copywriting takes some time, but once you're geared up with the necessary copywriting skills, there's nothing that can stop you from living your dream life.

Copywriters who are freelancers are typically the ones who are able to mint the largest amounts of money. This is because they have the freedom to choose the niche they want to work in, the client they want to work with, and most importantly, they set their own rates.

If you're a freelancer looking to begin your journey as a copywriter, you should be able to organize your tasks properly and conduct transactions seamlessly. If not, you'd be losing a lot of time and, eventually, clients.

Indy is an amazing 9-in-1 tool that allows you to send proposals, approve contracts, keep track of billable hours, generate invoices, and receive payments. This tool also has a ton of other features that freelancers across the globe are using daily. Commence your freelancing journey with this outstanding tool and join the clan of thousands of productive freelancers who are using Indy.