Copywriting for Beginners: 10 Quick Tips

Are you someone who wants to start copywriting but have no idea how to start? Maybe you want to dip your toe into the lucrative world of freelance copywriting?

With copywriting having an expected 8% growth by the year 2026, this is an industry you may want to get into. 

If you want to become a copywriter but have no experience, just know with the right mindset, hard work, and a few tips along the way, you could become a master at it.

​Below are ten quick tips to start copywriting for beginners. 

Best Copywriting for Beginners Tips

With copywriting on the rise, you may be wondering how you can break into the industry.

​Here are the top 10 easiest tips to get you started on your copywriting journey.

1. Decide What Type of Copywriter You Want to Be

There are several types of copywriters that write copy for various platforms. Some of these include SEO copywriters, technical copywriters, and creative copywriters. 

An SEO copywriter writes specifically to make the article they are writing visible to the public. Their job is to optimize their copy to make sure it ranks high on search engines. 

A technical copywriter focuses on writing for a specific industry. Usually, they have a lot of knowledge on a specific topic or industry and write for them.
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A creative copywriter writes catchy slogans or jingles for a company's advertisements. It is their job to bring a brand image to life through their words.

2. Figure Out Your Brief

Your client brief is like a puzzle that you now have to figure out. The client brief contains important information about the client and what they want to see in the ad you are making for them. 
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Even if you are working alone, you should still write out a client brief. Writing a client brief will help you define your target audience, clarify your goals, and figure out how you want your brand to be seen. 

3. Research Your Audience

Research is quite possibly the most important step in the copywriting process. Without audience research, you have no idea how to formulate your copy in order to reach that audience.

You want to write copy that makes the audience feel like you know them personally.

When copywriting for a target audience, it is important to know the who, what, where, and why. 

The "who" is very simple, as this is simply answering who your target audience is. For example, if you are a nutritionist, you may be determining whether you want to target people who want to lose weight or people who need a nutritionist for health-related reasons. 

The "what" is finding out what common rants or raves your target audience has. This is also where you find out the type of language or common words and phrases your target audience uses.

The "where" is finding out where your potential audience hangs out and talks about their issues. Finding out if they use Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or another platform can inform you of what channel to advertise or push your product on. 

The "why" is finding out why your target audience may or may not be interested in your product. This part of your research should give you insight into your customers' wants, needs, and fears. 

Once you know the answer to your 4 W's, you should know your target audience's issues they need help with, along with common objections they may have with your product that you can try to overcome in your copywriting. 

You will also have insight into how they speak, so you can adopt their language and popular words and phrases into your copy.

​This will help write to them and make it feel personal. You never want your copy to feel general. 

4. Write an Interesting Headline

First impressions make lasting impressions, even in copywriting. Your headline is the first part of the ad or article that your reader, audience, or customer will see, so you want to make it interesting and eye-catching. 

Good headlines set an expectation of what your audience will receive and shows the clear benefits of your product or service.

Having a bad or uninteresting headline could be the reason that no one ever reads your copy.

There are a few things to consider when writing a headline.
 
Budgeting Time
The headline is oftentimes more important than the main text and is treated as such by professional copywriters.

Copywriters often spend more time on the headline than the body text because the headline pulls most of the weight in whether an audience will read your copy. 

The headline has to grab the attention of the reader and give them a reason to keep on reading, so spending more time on this is vital.

Additionally, if you are writing for the web, you need to ensure that your headline is optimized for search engines, so your article or ad ranks high when that topic is searched.

Keep It Short and Sweet
Headlines should always be short and easy to read. The main point of your headline should be clear when reading it, so your audience knows what they will be reading. 

In addition to making it easier to read, keeping your headline short helps with search engine optimization. Search engines will use your headline as the search result title. It is important to keep this under 65 characters as anything longer will be cut off by Google. 

Tap Into Your Emotional Side
To better promote your product or service, you must be able to connect with the wide range of emotions your audience feels. This can include fears, passions, desires, and frustrations. 
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Targeting a customer's emotions will allow them to relate easier to your content. When they feel they can relate, they will be more likely to engage with it. 

5. Use AIDA

This formula is used to create structured and well-thought-out copy that will grab the attention of the reader and ultimately convince them to buy your product. The steps are attention, interest, desire, and action.

Attention is the step where the audience is made aware of a problem they have and are actively seeking ways to find a solution or improve the situation.

This is when your potential audience goes looking for you, so you need to grab the attention of them in the field of competitors.

Interest is the step in the process where the audience is aware of their product, but now you must tell them about what you are offering to gain their interest.

Point out what sets you apart in this step so they stay with you.

Desire is the stage where you are trying to build the audience's want and need for your product.

​You have already captured their interest and attention so, if they are going to buy, it will most likely be from you, but you must make it, so they desire your sales offer.

Action is the last step where you finally seal the deal. In this step, you show them how they can get your product. You have proven that you know their problems and how to solve them, so all that is left is for them to access your product.

6. Utilize Powerful Words

A power word is a word that someone reads or hears which evokes an emotional response.

​A power word instills the desire or want for someone to respond to whatever you are presenting them with, making this a great tactic for marketing.

7. Always Include a Call-To-Action

A call-to-action creates urgency in a situation. The point is to gain the attention of your audience and make them take urgent action to buy your product or service.

​People are more likely to react when it feels urgent. ​

8. Make Your Copy Pleasing to the Eye

To hold the attention of your audience, it is important to make the text easy to skim and visually pleasing so, they stay on your article, ad, or website longer. 
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A few things you can do to make your copy more pleasing to the eye are to use short, 3-5 sentence paragraphs, utilize bolding, italicizing, and underlining, and use subheadings to break the information up.

9. Try to Influence

Your content should be influential to your reader and should make them take action.

​To do this, you should utilize the principles of influence to persuade your audience.

The principles of influence are scarcity, reciprocation, social proof, authority, likeness, consistency, and commitment.

10. Use Psychology Techniques

Using psychological techniques is a great way to persuade your audience into continuing reading and potentially buying your product.

​A few things you can do it tell stories, use positive language, and use "how" and "what" questions.

11. Make Sure It's Easy to Read (Bonus Tip)

Making your content easy to read is one of the most important ways to persuade your audience and make your copy great! 

It is important to break down complex ideas into simple terms in order to appeal to more age ranges and break down language barriers.

The most important things to do when making your copy easy to read is to keep it short, write as if you are speaking to someone, and use active voice as opposed to passive voice. 

Where Can You Learn More Copywriting Skills?

These are simply tips for copywriting for beginners; however, if you are considering taking copywriting more seriously, even as a career, there are many opportunities to improve your copywriting skills and build your portfolio.

One way to do this is to attend an online or in-person ad school or copywriting school. Click here to learn more about The San Francisco School of Copywriting and why it should be your next step in your professional copywriting journey.
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