Copywriting skills are in high demand and it's not hard to see why. Copywriting skills are used in marketing, advertising, public relations, copywriting agencies and on freelance blogs.
And skilled copywriters make a lot of money for themselves and for their clients.
Developing copywriting skills are a key to helping freelancers, coaches, and small business owners connect with their readers and get them to purchase their services and products.
What Are Good Copywriting Skills?
Good copywriting skills use the science of persuasion to get your target audience to take action.
Good copywriters use words to stimulate their audience's emotions and get them to do what they want them to do, like clicking on a link, purchasing a product or service, signing up for an email list, or scheduling a discovery call with them or with one of their sales people (if they have a sales team).
If you're new to blogging, affiliate marketing, or e-commerce, good copywriting skills are a must in your business.
Good copywriting skills are a must for selling physical products, digital products, training, coaching, experiences (travel agencies), etc... persuasive copy writing is vital to you if you want increase your revenue and earnings.
You can either outsource your copywriting to a freelancer like me, or you'll need to learn how to write persuasive copy yourself so you can create your sales pages and product descriptions.
If you would like to explore how I can work with you to write content for your blog or write copy for your sales pages, email me: mike@contentigniters.com.
How To Learn Copywriting Skills Fast
If you want to learn copywriting skills fast there are a few options.
You can learn the copywriting skills you need by taking a copywriting skills course, such as at a university. These copywriting courses teach you how to master the skills needed so you can write copy that engages and sells.
Copywriting skills courses include examples from the real world of advertising and marketing campaigns and provide students with practical exercises to help them hone their copywriting skills.
Regardless of the current level of your copywriting skills, whether you're a beginner or a grizzled veteran of copywriting, you should be committed to improving your copywriting skills. The best copywriters in the world are continually testing and learning how to continuously improve their copywriting skills.
So, in this post we're going to cover the copywriting skills you need to succeed as copywriter and show how how to develop them.
Copywriting Skills For Beginners
In your minds eye, I want you to picture a rookie in a professional sports league.
She or he may be an exceptionally skilled athlete who stood out from everyone else when she was playing in college or in a junior league.
But now that she's on the biggest stage in her sport, surrounded by the best talent in the world, she's got to learn a lot of new skills.
"Many good writers find that in the professional copywriting league they're surrounded by people whose copywriting skills are on a much higher level."
Likewise, many beginner copywriters are skilled writers who stand out when it comes to writing blog posts or articles for websites, magazines, or newspapers.
But when they enter the professional league of copywriters, which is the biggest stage in the writing game, they find themselves surrounded by the top talent in the writing world whose copywriting skills are on a much higher level.
Top copywriters are in high demand in every kind of business regardless of size, market, or niche. And they earn a lot of money, in some cases even millions of dollars a year for their work and the copywriting skills they possess.
The good news is that anyone, through study and practice, can learn and master copywriting skills to a level where they can earn a comfortable living using them.
And with determination and commitment, even solopreneurs can learn the copywriting skills needed to increase their revenue.
So, let's look at the steps involved to learn the copywriting skills you need to succeed as a copywriter, whether for your own business or to work for other freelancers, coaches, and businesses.
Copywriting Skills You Need To Succeed As A Copywriter
Here's the list of 10 copywriting skills you need to succeed as a copywriter. You'll find the details for each skill below this list.
- Read and analyze
- Prospect and client knowledge.
- Know who your target audience is.
- Write to persuade not to inform.
- Know, understand, and use the power of the right words.
- Make it easy to read.
- Write a compelling headline.
- Use effective calls to action.
- Test, test, test your copywriting skills.
- Monitor your results.
Copywriting Skills You Need - No. 1: Read and Analyze
How did you learn to do the job you do right now? You had to read something at some point to learn your job and do it well. You also needed to analyze what you were learning through reading to understand the reasons for doing things a particular way or for certain policies at your company.
Learning copywriting skills also requires learning how to analyze the copy created and written by other professional and successful copywriters.
KEY POINT: Don't just read, you also need to learn to analyze copy to understand:
- The framework of great copy (there are numerous copywriting frameworks used to write persuasive copy that engages your audience and gets them to take action).
- How keywords and keyword phrases are used great copywriting.
- Why is a particular piece of copywriting, such as the copy on a sales page, persuasive? What is it about the words, phrases, questions, social proof, references and calls to action used that move people's emotions and get them to take an action?
When you can answer the kinds of questions above, it means you've learned the first and foremost of all the copywriting skills for beginners.
Copywriting Skills Needed - No. 2: Prospect and Client Knowledge
When we read, hear, or see an advertisement that speaks directly to us, that identifies a problem or challenge we're facing, or refers to fulfilling a goal or dream we have had for a long time, we are persuaded and often moved to take action.
And if we're looking for them and aware, we realize that that ad was written by someone with great copywriting skills.
Such ads resonate with us because the copywriter spent time learning as much as possible about their prospects and/or clients.
Prospect and client knowledge are vital copywriting skills because they allow us to write the best copy possible.
Knowing a prospects business, goals, policies, products, services, target market, vision, mission, benefits and features of their products and services is essential.
If you want to be a successful copywriter you're going to need to do a deep dive into most aspects of your customer's business and market. And knowing as much as you can about your client's products or services will help you ace your copywriting.
And when your copywriting skills show, you're client's are going to be pleased and will recommend you to others.
Copywriting Skills No. 3: Know Who Your Target Audience Is
Copywriting skills are all directed at communicating clearly, concisely, and persuasively with people.
Whether you're a veteran copywriter or not, you must know who you’re talking to through your copywriting.
Before writing one word, you need to know your target audience inside and out.
- What do they want?
- What do they need?
- What do they like and dislike?
- What are their dreams and desires?
- What do they fear?
- Are they motivated away from pain or drawn towards reward?
So, as a copywriter, how are you going to learn the answers to those questions?
KEY POINT: Research your audience on message boards, through your email list, on social media, and even in-person. Talk with them and find out as much as you can about the answers to those kinds of questions.
Doing that is going to make it much easier for you to write copy that resonates with them and you'll have a much better chance as a copywriter to convince them and convert them into customers.
Copywriting skills like that are invaluable!
#4 On The Copywriting Skills List: Write To Persuade, Not To Inform
The highest-skilled copywriters know that the only objective of great copy is to persuade readers, listeners, or watchers to take an action.
Many beginner copywriters make the mistake of trying to inform their readers instead of focusing their copywriting skills on persuasion..
Those with the best copywriting skills know that copywriting is not about telling the reader about a product or service. They provide relevant information about a product or service, but their main objective is to persuade readers to take a desired action.
That means that every word you use in your copy must be carefully selected and every piece of information is relevant to the desired action you want readers to take.
Your copywriting skills must compel your reader to purchase your product or service now. Great copywriters show clearly and concisely the benefits their prospects and customers will get from buying their product or service.
As a beginner copywriter or a veteran copywriter, give your target audience emotionally moving and undeniable reasons to take action, and do this in a manner that's easy for them to understand.
Copywriting Skills #5: Know, Understand, And Use The Power Of The Right Words
Words are powerful.
The right word used at the right time can be the difference between a new customer and someone who leaves your website or online store without purchasing anything.
The highest paid writers have this copywriting skill, and in many cases have spent years to develop it.
We all make decisions based on emotions, and afterward we "justify" our decisions with "reasons."
Want proof?
Look at the two CTA phrases below to get you to join an email list and note the difference in how they make you feel.
1. "Sign Up!"
2. "Join Us!"
Both of these phrases have the same objective, but they both don't create the same feelings in us.
The first one creates the feeling that we're enlisting.
The second one creates the feeling of a community of likeminded individuals that we can become a part of, and we all like being a part of a community of people who are like us.
That illustrates the incredible power of words and why carefully choosing the right words is vital to improving your copywriting skills.
We want our audience to feel something, not just be aware of something. Words that stir your reader's emotions are the strongest way to appeal to and persuade them.
Persuasive copywriting taps into the desires, dreams, and fears of our readers, and can convince even the most reluctant individuals, whereas the wrong words can turn away even the most eager readers.
Use the power of words to persuade your readers to take the action you want them to take and you've aced a vital copywriting skill.
Here are the five most persuasive words in English. What great copywriting skills? Then learn to use them as well as the additional twenty that follow:
- You
- Free
- Because
- Instantly
- New
And according to David Ogilvy, the 20 most persuasive English words are:
- Suddenly
- Now
- Announcing
- Introducing
- Improvement
- Amazing
- Sensational
- Remarkable
- Revolutionary
- Startling
- Miracle
- Magic
- Offer
- Quick
- Easy
- Wanted
- Challenge
- Compare
- Bargain
- Hurry
6th Of The Needed Copywriting Skills: Make It Easy To Read
Learning sentence structure is an important copywriting skill. This can have a big impact the reactions of your readers to your copywriting.
Is your copy difficult to read?
Then you risk losing their attention and interest which means you lose the ability to persuade them, which is the main purpose of copy.
Improve your copywriting skills by breaking up your sentences into shorter chunks of text.
Using bold and italicized words to highlight significant points is a persuasive form of copywriting, too.
This makes your copy easier to read and also makes it easier to understand and increases its persuasiveness.
Copywriting Skills No. 7: Write A Compelling Headline
Every article, product description, and sales page begins with a headline. This is the first piece of copy your audience reads, so it’s crucial that it grabs their attention and makes them want to read more.
The headline is the part you have the most control over, and it will make or break your copy, but the writers with the best copywriting skills spend a lot of time crafting and testing headlines.
So, learn how to write headlines that "hook" your reader right away so he or she will want to read more of your copy.
There are a variety of headline types that you can use to persuade your readers, such as,
- a number headline.
- an interesting question.
- a startling statement.
No matter which type of headline you use, make sure it’s compelling so it persuades your audience to keep reading.
Eighth Of The Copywriting Skills Needed: Use Effective Calls To Action
A call to action (CTA) is the part of your copy that tells the reader what to do next.
Whether your copywriting is for an ad, sales page, or a blog post, you need to include a call to action.
As we already stated above, your main goal as a copywriter is to get readers to take action and buy your product or service.
Your CTA's copy must be clear, easy to understand, and easy to click or sign up for.
You want your readers to follow your instructions to the letter and take the action you want them to take.
Use your copywriting skills to write a call-to-action strong enough to persuade your readers and help them overcome any doubts or fears they have about doing what you're asking them to do.
Copywriting Skills - No. 9: Test, Test, Test Your Copywriting Skills!
The best way to test your copywriting skills is to test them.
Try different headlines, different introductory paragraphs, and different variations of your main body copy to find out which ones resonate best with your audience and persuade them to take the action you want them to take.
There are too many copy testing tools and software programs to mention here that you can use to test your copy. Some of them are simple and easy to use, while others are more advanced and complicated.
But, no matter which tool you use, make sure you’re testing your copy. See what variations work best. See what persuades your readers to take the action you want them to take. Testing is a great way to help you know where to improve your copywriting skills.
The 10th Of The Needed Copywriting Skills: Monitor Your Results
There's a saying in business, supposedly made famous by Peter Drucker, that "if you can't measure it you can't manage it."
To effectively manage your copywriting, besides doing all of the previous 9 things, in the end the only thing that matters is if your copy persuades your prospects and customers to take the action you want them to take.
So, get your copy in front of people, and measure the results, e.g. what percentage of people who read your copy took the action you wanted them to take. Your copywriting skills, for better or worse, will show real fast.
Measure the results of your copywriting and you'll be able to manage the it by continuously improving your copywriting skills.
Check out this post: Persuasive Copywriting: The Shrewdly Clever Secret You Must Employ.
Summing Up
The right copywriting skills can persuade your audience to take the action that you want them to take. This means that you must:
- read and analyze copy to understand why and how it persuades readers to take action. What copywriting skills did the writer use?
- know as much as you can about your prospects and clients.
- understand the wants, desires, needs, likes and dislikes of your target audience.
- write to persuade your readers instead of simply informing them.
- understand and know how to use the power of the right words at the right time.
- make your copy easy to read by breaking longer paragraphs into sentence chunks.
- learn to write compelling headlines that "hook" readers so they want to know more.
- create clear calls to action (CTAs) so your readers know exactly what you want them to do.
- continually test your copy to see what works and what doesn't work.
- monitor results because the only thing that matters is whether your copy works.
Wow! There they are. All of the copywriting skills you need to succeed as a copywriter, whether you're a beginner or a grizzled veteran, and I trust you'll take action to start learning and using your copywriting skills.
I would love to hear your input on this topic of the copywriting skills needed to succeed as a copywriter, so please feel free to drop a comment below or leave a question.
And finally, if you would rather hire a freelancer to write the sales copy you need for your business, reach out to me at mike@contentigniters.com. I offer copywriting services for freelancers, coaches, and small business owners.
I write your copy and you focus on the parts of your business where you're needed the most. Email me at mike@contentigniters.com and we'll set up a time to hop on a Zoom call and discuss your copywriting needs.
