Search Engine Optimization is the act of trying to get ranked in the top results on a search engine such as Google. Essentially what SEO copywriting attempts to do is: 1.) Find a keyword you’re trying to rank for. 2.) Write articles about the subject.
Copywriting is the act, or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing.[1] The product, called copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or group to take a particular action.
Copywriters help create billboards, brochures, catalogs, jinglelyrics, magazine and newspaper advertisements, sales letters and other direct mail, scripts for television or radio commercials, taglines, white papers, social media posts, and other marketing communications.
- 2Employment
- 3Formats
- 3.2Internet
Basic Copywriting Rules[edit]
Some of the rules to a good copywriting are:
- Creating a strong headline: This rule means that you are wanting to create a headline for your material that will grab the intended audience attention and hold it. Having a strong headline will help engage the audience to look further into your work.
- Make your copy engaging: With this rule, you are wanting to act as if you are talking engaging with the audience yourself. You want your audience to feel as if you understand them by using the proper language and materials.
- Get to the point: This rule is important because your audience will give up if they have to search or read more than desired to get to the point of the work. Getting to the point will engage your audience and will help build a connection to the work.
- Keep a singular focus: Keeping a single focus helps the audience understand the point you want them to understand without confusing them. Keeping a single focus will prevent your audience from wandering away from your work to another work that could have been brought up in yours.
- Tell the truth: Telling the truth will help your audience trust you and the work that you are giving them. If you do not tell the truth on one piece of work then you can expect your other work to be seen as untrustworthy and make your audience leave.
- Use a call to action: Giving your audience a call to action will help them engage in your work. A call to action will help the audience understand what you now want them to do with the work you created whether it is to read an article or buy a product. This is clear instructions on what they can now do.
These golden rules are there to help you to understand the basics of what it takes for copywriting. While there are many more rules that come along with copywriting, there are a few basic steps that are important for everyone to understand. Understanding this will help those who desire to be copywriters a basic knowledge of what this will need to follow before beginning their career in this field.
Employment[edit]
Many copywriters are employed in advertising agencies, public relations firms, or copywriting agencies.
- Advertising agencies usually hire copywriters as part of a creative team in which they are partnered with art directors or creative directors. The copywriter writes a copy or script for an advertisement, based largely on information obtained from a client. The art director is responsible for visual aspects of the advertisement and, particularly in the case of print work, may oversee production. Either member of the team can come up with the overall idea (typically referred to as the concept) and the process of collaboration often improves the work.
- Copywriting agencies combine copywriting with a range of editorial and associated services that may include positioning and messaging consulting, social media, search engine optimization, developmental editing, copy editing, proofreading, fact checking, layout and design. Copywriters clients are normally large companies.
Copywriters also work in-house for retail chains, book publishers or other big firms which advertise frequently. They can also be employed to write advertorials for newspapers, magazines, broadcasters and cable providers.
Some copywriters work as independent contractors, doing freelance writing for a variety of clients. They may work at a client's office, a coworking office, a coffeehouse, or from home.
Copywriters are similar to technical writers and the careers may overlap. Broadly speaking, however, technical writing is dedicated to informing readers rather than persuading them. For example, a copywriter writes an advertisement to sell a car, while a technical writer writes the operator's manual explaining how to use it.
Famous copywriters[edit]
John Emory Powers (1837–1919) was the world's first full-time copywriter.[2][3][4] Since then, some copywriters have become well-known within the industry because they founded major advertising agencies, others because of their lifetime body of work. Many creative artists worked as copywriters before becoming famous in other fields.[5]
Formats[edit]
Book publishing[edit]
In book publishing, flap copy or jacket flap copy is the summary of a book which appears on the inside of a hardcover dust jacket; back cover copy is similar text, usually briefer, on the outside back cover; and catalog copy is a summary written for a publisher's catalog.
Internet[edit]
The Internet has expanded the range of copywriting opportunities to include landing pages and other web content, online advertisements, emails, blogs, social media and other forms of electronic communications.
The Internet has brought new opportunities for copywriters to learn their craft, do research and view others' work. Clients, copywriters and art directors can more readily find each other, making freelancing a viable job option.
Search engine optimization[edit]
Web copy may include among its objectives the achievement of higher rankings in search engines. Known as 'organic' search engine optimization (SEO), this involves the strategic placement and repetition of short-tail & long-tail keywords and keyword phrases on web pages, writing in a manner that human readers would consider normal. However, in a SEO sense, over-populating digital content with keywords will negatively impact a ranking position within search engines.
See also[edit]
Look up copywriting or copywriter in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
References[edit]
- ^'copywriter | Definition of copywriter in English by Oxford Dictionaries'. Oxford Dictionaries | English. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^Patrick Robertson (11 November 2011). Robertson's Book of Firsts: Who Did What for the First Time. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 1893–1894. ISBN978-1-60819-738-5.
- ^Jens Olesen (1998). Normal People Do Not Work in Advertising. Dados internacionais de catalogacao na publicidade. p. 2. ISBN978-85-900682-1-1.
- ^Joel Shrock (30 June 2004). The Gilded Age. ABC-CLIO. p. 53. ISBN978-0-313-06221-6.
- ^Myers, Ben (18 January 2008). 'Copywriting is still writing'. The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 21 February 2017.