Are you thinking about starting an exciting career at a copywriting agency but don’t know how to prepare for the role? There are some important facts about this profession you should know about first. Copywriting has always been an important part of any company’s marketing department, but today has taken on a new life at the center of many search engine optimization, or SEO, strategies.
If you want to write effective copy that helps get your employer’s website ranked better in searches to produce great leads and conversions, you’ll want to build up your expertise and learn how to position yourself well for this dynamic career.
1. You May Want To Gain Marketing Agency Experience
For anyone just starting out in SEO copywriting, some time spent at an agency could prove invaluable. Although many copywriters do work freelance, learning the ropes of SEO in-house at first can provide you with a good baseline of skills that you can then continue to draw upon throughout your career. You may learn, for instance, how to select and strategically place keywords throughout your copy and how to create backlinks for maximum efficacy.
2. Consider Pursuing a Relevant Writing or Marketing Degree
If you’re looking to get hired as a copywriter for a business, a degree may not always be required but could certainly help. The most relevant degrees for those interested in this career path include bachelor’s degrees in marketing, English and even other writing-centric subjects like journalism. For advanced directorial positions later on in your career, a master’s in marketing or even an M.B.A. could prove helpful as well.
3. You’ll Need Equal Parts Creativity and Strategy
Copywriting is a unique mix of thinking creatively and thinking strategically, so to do well in this career long-term, you’ll have to be able to juggle both types of thinking at once. The ideal worker in this space could both, for instance, come up with ad copy that catches the eye and stays on-brand while also understanding how it fits into the company’s larger search engine optimization strategy. You can start by asking yourself how a given piece will contribute to larger SEO marketing goals.
4. Weigh Whether In-House or Freelance Work Is Right for You
The two typical paths for a copywriter are to either stay with an agency or business as an in-house employee or to offer independent services on a freelance basis. Though freelancing may be more suited to experienced workers with more contacts, the route you choose depends on several factors. For example, someone who works well independently and prefers a more flexible schedule may be drawn to freelancing, while someone who likes office camaraderie and a fixed nine-to-five schedule may enjoy in-house work better.
5. Build Your Portfolio and Expand Your Area of Expertise
Perhaps the best way to move forward in your career as a copywriter is to start building up a strong portfolio that really showcases your range of expertise. If you’ve been working in the field for a while and have really become adept at writing short search engine ads that get a lot of clicks, for instance, you’ll want to display this ability in your portfolio to score future job opportunities.
As search engine optimization has become increasingly important and has taken a more central role in many companies’ marketing strategies, SEO-friendly copywriting has become ever more critical as well. Though this skill is in high demand in just about every industry and niche, relatively few workers have the skills to write great copy that can help bolster SEO efforts at the same time. That means that if you follow these tips as you enter this exciting career, you could be setting yourself up for a unique and fulfilling path ahead.