Yeah, dumb question I know. I've been a member for about 2 months now, and I never knew what copywriting is, I thought I would pick it up. I didn't, so can anyone give me the 411 please?
Wikipedia is your friend Copywriting is the process of writing the words that promote a person, business, opinion, or idea. It may be used as plain text, as a radio or television advertisement, or in a variety of other media. The main purpose of writing this marketing copy, or promotional text, is to persuade the listener or reader to act — to buy a product or subscribe to a certain viewpoint, for instance. Alternatively, copy might also be intended to dissuade a reader from a particular belief or action. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copywriting
Copy is the written content that is in advertisements and salesletters. For online marketing the form of copy you want to learn is Direct-response copywriting. This is the advertising message that asks the reader to buy or move forward towards buying by requiesting a call or more information. Download and read "Scientific Advertising" by Claude C. Hopkins. It's free because it was written long ago. It's generally aknowledged to be the most important book on direct response advertising. After you have read it you will have a much cleared idea of what advertising and copywriting is all about.
How can I give you a 411 if there is no dialing tone? Jokes aside, I read a whle back a brief but concise definiton; "Copywriting is writing the verbal (written or spoken) elements of an advertisement." Just as already explained posts above