What Is Copywriting?

If you've ever been browsing writing forums, job websites offering work in writing or been handed a business card from somebody claiming to be a 'copywriter', then I'll bet if you've never heard the term before you don't know what 'copywriting; is, right?

It kinda sounds as though it's the term which should be used for somebody who goes around sticking circled Cs on everything.

But copywriting is actually a fairly easy concept to grasp - it's just a fancy way of referring to a certain kind of writer.

A copywriter is a writer who makes a living out of offering their professional skills with the English language primarily to businesses, writing their 'copy' for them for a fairly sizable fee.

'Copy' quite simply means the same as 'content'.

That's right, a copywriter is just a content writer, and as you know content can include an awful lot. Here are the most common types of writing a copywriter will create:

• Web Content. Web content is primarily the words you see when you click on a company's website. The homepage, the about us, the product and services - all of this is called either web content or web copy, and when a copywriter is hired for this kind of job, these are the pages most likely to be written
• Sales Copy. This is largely the letters sent out by businesses to other companies or individuals who might be interested in their services. Its main intention is to lead to sales, and sales copy can also include writing the words for specially designed 'landing pages' which a customer will land on after clicking a link, designed to direct and prompt a customer into following a set channel which inevitably leads to a sale
• Article and blog writing. This also constitutes a small amount of a copywriter's work - although most copywriters will aim to land better paying jobs such as those listed above and the ones about to be listed below
• Brochure And Leaflet Copy. As the title suggests, this is writing the words for brochures and leaflets. Similar to writing sales letters, but a more specialist approach related to the specific design of brochures and leaflets
• Proposal Writing. Also called 'Grant Writing', this is the type of writing which usually involves using skills in the English language to create the wording for letters intended to be sent requesting something from another company - such as a financial package, loan or investment
• Press Releases. A press release is often the name given to a cleverly disguised marketing technique used by businesses to promote their product. A press release (whether used for this purpose or for purely neutral purposes) is a piece of writing announcing a new product, service or event

Being a full time copywriter, I could talk all day about copywriting and list a hundred more job roles completed by a copywriter, but instead I thought I'd leave you with just the main job roles fulfilled by a copywriter to give you an idea.