Starting Out in the Web Copy Business
Maybe you began writing on the web through a blog, or opened a free writing account with Associated Content or Helium or Hubpages, or one of a dozen other online content sites that let you share writing and even earn a few dollars while you’re at it. Technically, this type of creative web contribution is called User Generated Content, but it’s launched some very popular blogs, YouTube videos and juiced the bank accounts of more than a handful of amateur online writers who’ve tapped a marketable traffic vein using them to self-publish.
Or you could be a frustrated English major looking to get a foot in the web copy door.
Maybe you started writing your company’s newsletter or helped a friend put some informational copy on a new website. Heck, maybe you even cranked out a killer sales letter on a cocktail napkin for a buddy on the fly and it earned him/her buckets of customers and clients. Whatever brought you to web copy--Welcome.
If you’re new to web writing what are your greatest needs and concerns?
- Do you want to write for fun or profit?
- Do you want to connect with likeminded bloggers and writers?
- Do you want to learn more about web copywriting?
- Do you aim to be one of the best web copywriters at work today?
I bet a little profit would be nice, since you’re here. I also bet you’d like to connect with others like you and, why not, the Internet has made it almost impossible NOT to find someone who shares your same interests.
Open up every avenue of online communication:
- Create or join a community in Digg, BlogCatalog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning, Twitter and in online copywriting forums.
- Bookmark everything you write—Delicious, Digg, Furl, Reddit, Stumble, Sphinn, etc.
- Add links to your articles in your own blog roll or link list.
- Participate in free webinars.
- Sign up for low-cost community education writing classes in your area.
- Follow a few bloggers and become a frequent commenter.
Profit can be a bit trickier, but plenty of online writers are carving out some extra cash flow. You need to write copy that performs one way or the other: compelling blog posts, solid web copy, “owning” or dominating in a particular knowledge niche. And you’ll find strategies of all of this and more crammed throughout The Copywriter’s Kitchen.com.
“Niching” Your Writing – Dominate a Small Copy Market
If your writing is focused on a particular business or industry niche then you also have the potential to dominate if you know how to leverage that know-how properly. Maybe you have expertise in:
- fishing and boating experience
- automotive know-how
- healthcare inside track
- finance and banking expertise
- real estate experience
- fitness and wellness know-how
These are just a few of the highly trafficked online markets. But each of them requires the expertise of knowledgeable web copywriters. If you can take your writing one step further—ratchet up your content so it’s a rung or two higher up on the web copy food chain, you’ll have more opportunity to provide performance copy for clients and create more jobs in the future. Better copy and content eventually creates valuable business leads.
Web Copy Tip:
If you could pick one small niche in just one high-traffic market, know it, learn it, breathe it and then be able to write about it better than almost anyone else—you’d have a market cornered in web writing. Better yet you could drive traffic to your own revenue-generating sites via marketable articles, bookmarks, social media and good old-fashioned link-building.
