The most common question I get asked as a copywriter is: does this mean you work in copyright law? My first instinct is to cry about it, but instead, I politely answer, no, but I’d sure get paid an awful lot more if that was the case!
The confusion that comes from starting a conversation with I’m a copywriter brings to mind many myths I – and copywriters just like me – answer every day to existing and prospective clients. So I thought it wise to debunk some age-old myths about what I do for businesses like yours. So let’s take copywriting out of mythology once and for all (I also don’t fight dragons and put spells on people – sorry to disappoint):
1. ‘We don’t need a copywriter, we can write our website copy ourselves.’
To this, I have many things to say. If everyday business people had the skill set to write captivating, engaging, and action-inspiring copy for their brands, I wouldn’t have made a successful career out of this industry! In fact, it wouldn’t even be an industry at all. I have had many prospective clients come to me with their website, email and social media needs. Yet after recognising that it isn’t cheap to hire someone external to write their copy, they have decided to try their hand at writing it themselves. After struggling to attract traffic to their websites, newsletters, and social media posts, they have finally decided to invest in a wordsmith.
Sure, you can put some word to paper and call it copy but you wouldn’t get a plumber to fix your windows or a photographer to write up a university thesis, would you? So why would you expect yourself to naturally know how to best portray your brand to your target audience? Chances are, an expert will know how to get your brand seen and heard a lot quicker and more successfully than a non-expert.
2. Good copywriting will get you instant results (wrong!)
Even the best copywriter on the planet couldn’t get you a quick fix solution to be front and centre on Google’s search engine. Many copywriters specialise in SEO copywriting, but this doesn’t mean they know how to figure out the ever-changing Google algorithm and how it’ll get you immediate success. Anyone who promises you rapid results isn’t being honest with you, and this should be seen as the huge red flag it is!
Good copy will certainly help your website be indexed as more reputable and credible than not-so-good copy, but it is just one step in a brand’s marketing strategy to get your brand seen by the most people online as possible. A bulletproof marketing strategy is a multi-pronged approach, not just having beautiful words on your website.
“Copywriting is the art and science of writing to promote a product, a business, a person or an idea. And carefully selecting, editing, weaving and constructing those words in a way that they’ll persuade the reader into taking a specific and measurable action.” (Source: copywriting.com)
3. Copy is not important for Google search engine ranking (wrong again!)
The internet is an overwhelming place for a business owner to be. You’ve got marketing people coming at you in every direction claiming that they will be the one to get your business to the top of the infamous Google search engine. Everyone is telling you something completely different on how they’re going to get you the results you want.
In short, someone may have told you that the backend of your website is the most important way to get your brand front in line. Another may claim backlinking, indexing, global navigation, white space, and so on is the first priority. Does your brain hurt yet? Mine does.
What I’m trying to say is, ALL of these elements are just as important as each other, and copy is one of the first impressions your user gets of your website so it should definitely be a main priority. You can be the most tech-savvy SEO specialist when it comes to the geeky analytics stuff, but if the words on your homepage look funny together, you’ve got no chance in converting users to lifetime value customers.
Content is queen – copy is just as important as every other element of your brand’s marketing strategy. It’s time to start giving it the royal treatment it deserves. Want to ask me all those niggling questions you have about copywriting? Book me in for a FREE 30-minute consultation here.
‘Til next time,
Eva Akyol