A copywriter is someone who creates clear, compelling copy to sell products and educate and engage the buyers, flexing persuasive writing muscle on websites, blog posts, product descriptions, social media platforms, including Twitter and Instagram, and other marketing communication vehicles. So how can you become a freelance copywriter with no experience?
A freelance copywriter writes copy on a contract or project basis for commercial purposes.
The freelance writer will work on projects hourly, day, or “per project” basis. These projects can include adverts, websites, digital media, or blog posts. The copy will have a specific aim to persuade, inform, rank well in search engines (primarily Google), convert customers, and more.
Not only to write copy for various materials, but you’re also your billing department and marketing team to get new clients. You are your boss, and you do get to set your hours.
Most freelancers work from home or desk space in an ad agency. They usually work alone or with a group of designers, writers, and art directors. Still, They typically don’t meet most of their clients in person.
12 steps Become a Freelance Copywriter with No Experience
To become a high-paid copywriter from home, even if you are a total beginner with no experience, that’s what you are going to learn in this article.
Copywriting is writing the words that sell products and services. Maybe you have seen those long scrolling web pages that sell things, and you wonder who reads those kinds of stuff, only the people who buy that stuff, and this is the highest paid form of writing in existence.
You can get paid anywhere from 3000 to 5000 dollars per letter up to 10-20 thousand dollars or even more for a single note that sells a product.
Here are the steps you can follow to become a high-paid copywriter as a beginner
Enjoy Writing
You’ve got to enjoy writing. If you hate writing, you’re going to hate this occupation, but if you love writing, you can imagine how it would feel like to get paid well for what you love
Improve your writing skill
Polishing up your writing skills is very important as you need to write, and for writing, you need good skills and grammar.
Read some books that improve your skills or maybe do some
Read and story excellent copy
Become a connoisseur of an excellent copy. It is finding the pieces that have worked well that it sold will have made millions of dollars or even billions of dollars in sales.
And emulate them, read them, such them carefully
Read books on copywriting
Reading classic books on copywriting is very crucial as it helps to understand how to become a good copywriter and apply what you learn from those books in your work
Be a student of copywriting
If you are a well-trained academic writer, you need to unlearn many things you’ve already learned.
You must be humble enough to be like a beginner and relearn things and try to be open to trying new things
Find a copywriting mentor
Find a great teacher or coach and get feedback. A good mentor is someone who can guide you to be a good copywriter. They can give you feedback and suggestions on how to improve.
You will also learn a lot more from teachers than books as they will have a lot of experience, So find a good mentor to guide you
Write a lot of copy
Suppose you are a beginner with no experience; you need to write a lot of copies. Practicing writing a lot will help you the most as you get more confidence and improve your writing.
Also, by writing more, you will get more experience to be a perfect copywriter
Test your copy
You’ve got to test your copy in the marketplace. There is no test that any coach, teacher, or person grading your paper will give you will be more complex.
And also more challenging and more realistic than testing in the marketplace.
Putting your copy out in front of people and seeing that they buy that’s the only test of a copy. If it sells, then it is a good copy, of it doesn’t you need to improve
Read copy that works
Read a well-proven piece of copy every day. Just read it, soak it up. Read it or lots even because you invoke the emotions from the words, and you tell as if you’re telling a story to yourself. You will start to get the rhythm of copies in your bones.
One exercise you can perform is after you’ve read the copy through, every day write some of it, copy it by hand
Keep learning
One more important step is always to keep learning. There’s never an end to learning. It’s always good to improve your skills and get better and better by learning more things every day.
You can learn from books, journals, teachers, or good copywriter works and also from many online courses
Get Copywriting clients
It simple as that until someone pays you, you’re not a paid copywriter
Connect to more people in the Copywriting industry to get more clients
Sell your copy
Become your own best client at some point in timeYou need to do some extra work to make yourself a highly paid copywriter.
Also Read: What services should I offer as a copywriter in 2022
How to make a copywriting portfolio with no experience
It’s simple if you have the basic skills and some training.
Take 10–20 different ads. Make a simple folder with the original ad on one side and your revised ad, with your copy, on the other.
You can use these methods for almost any ad in any media. Radio, TV, websites, social media.
You should:
- be honest in admitting your newbie status- let your portfolio brag for you
- be ready to explain why your changes will work. Copywriting has a systematic element that you cannot ignore.
- show the research you did before your rewrite to validate your updates
While a portfolio like this may help, nothing breeds interest like results. So try to get some small gigs and show you can get results. A portfolio is bragging about you. No matter how small the gig, effects let your clients brag for you.
Some tips on building a portfolio:
- Get guidance and help from family and friends.
- Create a website or blog
- Show samples copies to your clients
- Continue to expand your knowledge by learning more things.
- Look and learn from online and offline samples of other copywriters.
- Organize your work into categories to sort them easily
- Keep your copywriting profile updated.
How New Copywriters Can Get Copywriting Clients RIGHT NOW
Write some marketing or ads on your own. It doesn’t matter if it’s for a real business or an imaginary one. It doesn’t matter if it’s an offline or online business either.
Prospective clients want to see how well you can write. Does it grab their attention if they read a sales letter you wrote? Could it generate a desire to buy the product/service sold?
Does it make sense? Or is it a pile of fragmented sentences and gibberish? (Hint: It better make sense. If not, work on your overall writing skills before worrying about being a professional copywriter.)
Most prospective clients hate that type of response. I’ve always written a personalized response to any ad I’ve ever answered. Off the top of my head, at least 20% of the prospective clients have thanked me for doing so.
Write a response that fits what the client is asking from you. If they want to see a portfolio sample of a weight loss for a women’s sales letter, then don’t show them many forex trading emails.
If you don’t have a suitable portfolio piece to share, then your options should be:
Find something that you have written similar to their request or for the same target audience. You’re demonstrating you understand who is the target audience.
Write something that would work for that target audience.
Don’t apply for that opportunity at all. There are always more client projects out there than copywriters to write them. You have to do the work of finding those opportunities and not just grab any client who will hire you.
Few more tips:
- Whatever job you’re currently in, there are opportunities to write. Suppose your company has a blog and offers to write a post for it. If your company has a newsletter, help produce it or contribute an article. Contribute to their social media.
- Start your blog. Write the kind of content you want to write to demonstrate your abilities. You can submit content on sites like Medium or start your own.
- Make fake examples. You can use Canva to create professional materials. Pick a topic for a mock client, and create blog posts, brochures, ads, etc., for that client. It’s just to demonstrate your skill.
- When you go to apply for copywriting jobs, be confident. Have a portfolio of samples. Ad copywriting can be taught – all you need to do is demonstrate that you are a good writer. Everyone gets their start somehow. Stand behind your work and be proud of it. If you don’t get the job, ask why – and then apply that advice to your writing.
The BEST freelance writing sites that make money writing
To start freelancing as a content writer, sign up with the usual freelancing sites like Freelancer, Upwork, Toogit, etc., and make sure you have your profile set up correctly. Shortlist your competition on each site, browse their profiles and emulate the aspects that you liked most in your profile.
True, you might not have many experience details to share, but remember to share your skill details. Add writing samples. If you haven’t written for anyone else earlier to create your writing portfolio, make many articles on topics you like.
And put them together to create your writing portfolio – everyone will ask for that! Once you have more experience, you can add to this portfolio and profile.
Another important note you have to remember while working on these websites is building a relationship with your anonymous employer.
Build it by taking a personal interest in the project at hand. E.g., If you are bidding on a project that says they need a 400-word piece on business analytics, do some research first and list questions you can ask yourself.
This step will let your prospective employer realize you know what you are doing. Most people mention the fees but don’t care about the message they are sending across. Employers can choose to be abrupt in their communication. Still, as a freelancer, you have to follow proper etiquette and protocol to bag a loyal customer.
9 website for freelance copywriting
Some great websites that offer you work as a writer are:
- Fiverr
- Upwork
- Freelancer.com
- Guru
- People-per-hour
- iWriter
- FlexJobs
- BloggingPro
- Craigslist
Is Copywriting For YOU
Do you like to write? Copywriters spend a good part of their workday writing sales promotions.
Are you good at sales? If you have a background in sales, that gives you an edge in this business. Copywriting is the art of selling through the written word.
Do you like to do research? Copywriters spend a ton of time researching before putting a single word on the screen.
Do you have a knack for appealing to people’s emotions and persuading them to do things? An effective promotion will hit those fears and desires that keep folks awake at night — and present the product as the best solution.
Are you disciplined enough to meet deadlines? Every piece of copy you write as a copywriter will have a deadline. Your client/boss will already have a marketing schedule in place. On it are launch dates and mail dates for promotions. And every piece of copy must go through edits, compliance, and graphic design before it’s ready to go out to the public. If you blow a deadline, you mess up the work.
Are you self-motivated?
Some days, you are not going to feel like writing. Maybe you’ve hit a wall and have writer’s block. But you will have to write anyway. Can you do that?
Those are a few things to consider when looking at a career in copywriting.
You have good days and bad days. Some of your promotions will rocket sales. Others will bomb. You can go from hero to zero practically overnight in this business. You need to have the drive and determination to press on through the highs and the lows. And it would help if you believe in yourself.
How much MONEY can you make as copywriting
The answer to that depends on a few things:
- What skills do you have when you start. Both in terms of writing and persuasion.
- Your ability to market yourself. Finding clients is an ongoing process.
- Your confidence to charge appropriate fees. Many writers, when starting, feel they aren’t “good enough” and lowball on costs.
Your ability to learn from your missteps will help you increase. Your ability to accept feedback and criticism will help you improve.
Defensiveness about critiques will hold you back. You may not agree with all the reviews that come your way but open your mind to hearing them – and thinking about them.
It is the highest paid form of writing inexistence
You can get paid anywhere from 3000 to 5000 dollars per letter up to 10-20 thousand dollars or even more for a single note that sells a product
We hope this article about how to be a copywriter you liked. And will also expect to drop your comments and suggestions in the comment section.
Thank you!
keep the conversation going
Hi, i’m Akash shaw creator of Adsvast agency , Hello, I am a perfectionist with deep love for aesthetics,
a graphics designer with expertise in logo design and branding.
My only goal with Notamartwork is try to help others to freelancers to get jobs and learn how to do freelancing.