Would you like to be a freelance copywriter as a career? Excellent choice. Every company, regardless of size or specialties, needs copywriting services. So here, we cover all you need to know on how to start freelance copywriting as a career.
Companies need copywriters to work on advertisements, emails, social media postings, presentations, product descriptions, landing pages, and a variety of other content. Copywriters has main role in any types of content marketing, that aids a company’s growth and achievements of its objectives.
A profession as a copywriter is satisfying in addition to being in great demand. It has good advantages like working from anywhere in the world and work time flexibility.
Without any prior expertise, anyone may be an excellent copywriter who knows how to inspire others to take action in words.
Furthermore, you may choose your category (niche) and write about topics that interest you. So this guide article will help you in starting your career as a freelance copywriter.
What Is Freelance Copywriting and Copywriter?
Copywriting is a broad term that refers to written content created for marketing reasons. A freelance copywriter is someone who works for a range of customers while self-employed.
What differentiates freelance copywriters from other types of freelance writers is the type of content they create. Copywriters generate copy for websites, commercials, email campaigns, printed marketing, digital media, and any other marketing form of media.
Freelance copywriters work in the persuasion industry. They are familiar with their client’s company, consumer pain issues, and how to connect the two in order to create successful content.
The freelancing aspect focuses more on how you manage your business. Freelancers are self-employed individuals that work on long-term contracts or one-time projects for numerous clients at the same time.
Freelance Copywriting for Beginners
Self-employed copywriting, like any independent business, requires you to promote or market yourself, your ability to meet a deadline or finish work on time, and also to budget sources by leveraging your strengths and expertise.
As a copywriter, you might choose a certain market space or product. And you are supposed to generate almost everything your prospective customer want.
You must be able to explore a specific issue, while also, knowing your clients and target consumers is critical to becoming a great and effective copywriter.
You must have outstanding research study and comprehension abilities, as well as inventiveness and flair to keep your proposals rolling while keeping your customers impressed.
What Does a Freelance Copywriter Exactly Do?
A copywriter’s ultimate objective is to produce content for online or offline media. Their target audience is informed and guided to take the necessary action by the content they write.
In addition, they may produce content for emails, social media postings, landing pages, sales pages, web pages, white papers, blog posts, and even video scripts.
In 2021, most copywriters work as a freelancer (self-employed), according to the BLS.
Before you can gain clients and work for yourself, you may need to work for an ad agency or marketing company.
Another thing to keep in mind is that being a freelance copywriter is more than simply creating content. You might have to complete the following tasks as a freelance copywriter:
- Doing research
- Content promotion or marketing
- Proofreading
- Graphic Designing
- Editing
- Handling projects
- Doing Interviews
- Searching for suitable pictures
- Performing marketing and email campaigns.
In addition, as a marketing copywriter, you may be responsible for SEO strategy and social media management. If we narrow down the fundamental duties that a copywriter must perform, they are to research and compose content that captivates readers and tries to persuade them to take action.
What Skills are Essential for a Freelance Copywriter?
You don’t need any expensive equipment or software to work as a freelance copywriter. However, you need to have some essential skills to work as a freelance copywriter, the most essentials are listed here.
Grammar Skill
So grammar is the first and key skill for copywriters. Excellent spelling and grammatical abilities are a must for a freelance copywriter. Clients are unlikely to request further work from you if you provide for them work that is full of faults and blunders.
Time Management
Secondly, freelance copywriters require a solid understanding of time management. To fulfill the deadlines set by your clients, you’ll need to schedule your research and writing sessions, thus time management skills are essential.
Recently, several copywriters have begun to use AI technologies to save time and enhance productivity. However, most copywriters and bloggers do not recommend AI tools. So now, people are confused about AI copywriting worthiness.
Writing Experience
If you have more writing experience, that can help with your copywriting. The experience doesn’t have to be official or professional. Do you regularly write a blog? Have you ever written articles for a small project? Share links to your work and prove your abilities.
If you don’t have any links to give right now, create a blog and show off your writing skills. Choose a topic that interests you, be original, and begin posting examples of work you may produce for your customers.
Market Research
It is vital that you are intimately familiar with your customers. What do they need? Why do they demand it? How can you give them the most for their money?
If you have the market information and you understand your customer’s needs, that can help you as a copywriter to deliver your copy that fits exactly what clients want. It simplifies and increases the profitability of working as a freelancer.
How to Start Freelance Copywriting Career?
Now, we listed the main parts all new freelance copywriters need to start their careers. So, make sure to read and understand those lists before you start your copywriting business process.
Understand copywriting basics
Before you start your own freelance copywriting business, you should ensure that you have a thorough knowledge of what copywriting entails. Copywriting is the artwork, and it’s not as simple as it seems. Writing good content requires a lot of work and talent.
You won’t be able to generate great work for your clients if you don’t have a good grasp of copywriting. Before beginning your business, learn and understand copywriting and hone your talents.
Find your specialization (Niche)
Copywriting may be classified into several categories, including SEO copywriting, market copywriting, email copywriting, and much more.
You must identify your specialty and concentrate on that style of copywriting. This will help you stand out from the crowd and attract clients that need someone with your specialized skill set.
Create a portfolio
You should always establish a solid portfolio before or after starting your copywriting business. This will clearly show your abilities to potential clients and assist them in determining whether you are a suitable copywriter for their needs.
Make sure to include a range of copywriting samples in your portfolio and highlight your best work. This will provide potential clients with a solid indication of the sort of job you are capable of doing.
Build a website
For every company, particularly for copywriting services, having a good website is crucial. Your portfolio, pricing, and contact information should all be included on your website. WordPress makes it reasonably simple to create a website.
Make your offer stand out from the rest
Making your offer unique from that of your rivals is crucial when you’re first getting started. This will allow you in standing out and attracting clients that are seeking something different.
You can provide services that your competitors do not. You may, for example, offer to write a free sample of content free SEO service for possible clients.
Set up the work process and make contracts
Before you begin dealing with clients, you must build a process and contracts. By doing this, you can maintain organization and make sure that your clients and you are all working toward the same goals.
Your contract must outline your fees, the extent of the task, deadlines, and any other necessary details. A template or a custom contract are also options.
Set your fair payment
As a freelance copywriter, you must ensure that you get paid what you are worth. Don’t undercharge for your services only to attract customers. This can only lead to fatigue and will ultimately harm your business.
You must charge enough to pay your expenses and generate a profit, but not so much that clients are discouraged from employing you.
Investigate what copywriters in your region are costing and price your services accordingly. Use this information to determine a rate that is competitive while yet allowing you to earn. As you have more experience, it’s a smart idea to increase your prices.
Market your business
Clients will not find you just because you have a website and a portfolio. You must aggressively advertise your company and market yourself to potential customers.
Online advertising (SEO + Google Ads), social media marketing, and content marketing are all effective strategies to advertise your copywriting service. Experiment with several marketing methods to see which ones perform best for you.
Create your own brand
Your brand is what distinguishes you from other copywriters in your sector. It is critical to creating a distinctive brand that clients will remember and identify with high-quality services.
Everything you do, including your website and online personas, should be consistent with your brand. Before you establish your business, take the time to develop a good branding plan.
Types of Copywriting, to Start as a Freelancer
The phrase “copywriting” is wide. In addition to producing texts, it has a lot in common with brand presence development, marketing techniques, advertising, or specialized SEO skills.
As a result, there are numerous types of copywriting you may work on, so we listed here 8 of the most profitable types of copywriting to start a freelancing career.
Website Copywriting
The writing of copy for a website’s home page, product page, landing page, and other similar pages is known as website copywriting. Website copywriting is one of the most advantageous sorts of copywriting, and it is applicable to all online businesses.
This copywriting strategy involves writing the text for static pages on a website. You may write web copy for a website’s service page, about page, and other similar pages. These are websites with content that is updated infrequently.
SEO Copywriting
In SEO copywriting words need to write following SEO principles. That impact the position of a website in search engine results. As a result, an SEO copywriter should have a technical understanding of ranking, be able to utilize SEO tools, and produce and optimize texts in line with SEO rules.
Brand Copywriting
Brand copywriting is the process of writing copy that talks to the reader in some brand tone. Consider it a vocal version of your company’s logo. This type of copywriting is beneficial to organizations since it guarantees that the brand’s mission statement is followed.
Furthermore, copywriting in branding must be that the message is consistent with the company’s marketing strategy across all touch points.
Social Media Copywriting
Focuses on writing copies for social media, mainly as post content. A fantastic option for people who are well familiar with the inner workings of particular social networks. A social media copywriter should create copy that will increase reach.
Any social media efforts that increase community interaction are frequently included, such as beginning conversations and enticing followers to like and comment. It’s also critical to adapt the information to recent trends and optimize copies for the requirements of particular social media platforms.
Ad Copywriting
Ad copywriting is the process of writing content for ad campaigns in an attempt to attract readers to take action.
Copywriting for advertisements aids in the creation of favorable impressions in the minds of customers. It’s also one of the strongest methods to attract new clients to some companies or businesses.
Essentially, ad copywriting is one of the most profitable forms of copywriting since it places your client’s items or services in front of targeted prospects.
Email Copywriting
Email marketing is one of the most successful ways to reach out to, engage, and convert your client’s audience into leads and customers. However, in order for your emails to be effective, they must be convincing enough to compel recipients to take action.
User Experience (UX) Copywriting
User experience copywriting is the profitable type of writing that assists readers in navigating a website or using a software program or service.
The art of writing microcopy for digital content such as software and websites that is clear for user engagement and usage is known as copywriting in UX.
Blog Copywriting
The practice of producing content for your client’s blog in order to attract and retain targeted visitors is known as copywriting for blogs.
Remember that blogging is an inbound marketing approach that allows bloggers to provide great information for educational reasons to develop long-term relationships.
As a result, when you develop appealing blog copy, you bring targeted readers and prospects to your client’s company.
Freelance Copywriter Salary
US copywriters regarding Payscale statistics make, on average, $54,535 a year in base salary.
A copywriter, on the other hand, has no salary limitation. You may make a six-figure wage if you polish your talents and commit to creating better copy every day.
The amount of revenue you’ll make is determined by your experience, the amount of time you spend writing, and the availability of tasks.
Your revenue will increase as you improve your copywriting skill. Of course, you won’t make as much money at the start of your copywriting career as you would later.
Final Words
By following the steps described above, you’ll be well on your way to starting your side hustle as a freelance copywriter. While copywriting may not make you rich overnight, it will help you create a consistent source of extra revenue.
I hope that was useful to you. Thank you for coming to my website and taking the time to read this post.