WTF is copywriting?

Copywriting involves writing text for various materials online and offline. Materials can take the form of website pages, blog articles, newsletters, press releases, product descriptions and scripts for videos. It is an essential part of having an online business in the information age.

Often mixed up with the legal term copyright, in this case, the word ‘‘copy’’ refers to text.

Who needs copywriting?

If you have a business, you should find a copywriter. Using descriptive and engaging content is a huge part of the customer experience and building your brand awareness. It helps to motivate customers into taking some form of action, whether that be purchasing a product, subscribing to a service or donating to a cause.

The digital world has reshaped how consumers shop. Without a bricks and mortar store, companies must communicate their entire brand ethos and sell their product or service without speaking a single word. Proper copywriting helps to translate this across many mediums.

Just as you walk into a store and expect to leave with knowledge of the company and its products or services, copywriting on a website should provide the required information in a clear and concise way. No questions asked. When implemented correctly, it ensures a seamless process, heightened customer experience and repeat custom. Happy days!

Copywriting and SEO

The term SEO refers to search engine optimisation. It is a way of ensuring that your website ranks highly for specific queries on search engines, such as Google. Optimised content helps your website to grow visibility in organic search engine results - organic meaning ‘‘free’’ and not paid marketing. SEO will improve rankings, drive traffic to your website and increase brand awareness.

It requires formulaic writing on the frontend and backend of the website. On the front of your website, it consists of incorporating keywords and structuring content. In the backend, it is called meta data and it helps search engines to understand what pages on your website are all about. If Google doesn’t understand what each page is about, how can it expect users to? As such, it won’t display your page as a search result even if it is exactly what the user was after! How often do you go past page 3 of the search results? Thought so… That is why you need SEO to rank.

There is a special way of optimising content, writing meta data and structuring content - enter alt.