Copywriting And Article Writing Is NOT The Same

I see a lot of people who are misinformed about what Copywriting really is.

There seems to be quite a few people who think content creation and Copywriting is basically the same thing because after all, it's "writing" right?

Copywriting is an art, and it's the art of selling. Your job as a Copywriter is to tap into the mind of the perspective customer browsing that page and analyze them. Why are they there? What problem could they possible have that has lead them to that very Copy? What emotional and psychological triggers could you implement that will cause them to make the purchase?

There's so much more to Copywriting than just essentially "writing" or speed-typing out filler content just to get a job done.

For Clients:

"How Much Should I Pay My Copywriter"?

It's a question I've seen come up from time to time on various forums. A Copywriter is worth whatever you value the product or service you're selling. If the Copywriter wrote a killer Copy that could earn you 10,000 sales at $7, do you think that the Copy would be worth $2,000? At a $68,000 profit margin, I would certainly think so.

"I don't have the money for an awesome Copywriter though"!

There lies the problem, people aren't willing to or don't have the money to spend on a qualified Copywriter to get their product out there. My advice? Write it yourself.. if all you have is a penny budget and you're only willing to pay a Copywriter $50-$100 for a Copy page, you're basically just pissing money down the drain. Save that $100, practice your grammar and write it yourself if that's all you have.

Article Writing and Copywriting are two completely separate charges for any true writer because of the different jobs involved. Copywriting requires market research and requires a lot of fundamentals behind psychology.

 

I agree with you, copywriting need more skills and experiences in marketing and psychological knowledge to achieve the sales .

 

for me the main difference between writter and copywritter is amount of received reward

 

I agree. I use a totally different skill set when writing sales copy. However, I've moved into the ADVERTORIAL space recently. It's that subtle space between informing and selling.

 

Totally agree with what your saying Jimmy Russel. Really good informative post.

 

This is nonsense in so many ways. First, you assume that everything except the amount paid to the copywriter is profit. Aside from the copy you pay to have written, there is the other costs of the goods or service being sold, the other costs that the seller has to cover. The math, on the most basic level does not make sense. Second, while I totally agree a skilled copywriter should be compensated well for their skill, it would never be based on the end profit of what is being sold unless the copywriter was a partner in the venture. Would Apple pay the people who do copy writing for the iPhone based on the total sales or profit of the iPhone? Of course not. They should be well paid for doing high level copy writing, but to even think of calculating their wage based on the profit their work brings is nonsensical.

So, while I do agree that you usually get what you pay for. A good copywriter should be well compensated. I wholeheartedly disagree with the way you tried to show this with the example I quoted.

 

With direct sales copywriting, writers ARE often paid based on sales. Additionally, if their copy does not perform as well or even at a higher conversion rate than the material their work is replacing, they don't get paid anything.

 

Copywriting and article writing are not the same.

Articles could be used to attract traffic to a website. This is done through what is called syndication sites. One puts an article for free on these sites. at the bottom of the article is author's bio. This has a link to the author's site. Traffic is effectively driven from that link.

An article could, in a similar way, be written to earn the author some money. It could be put on a site and allow google to place relevant adverts with links. Traffic is re-directed to a website from a paid for advert beside an article.

Well search engine optimized could equally attract traffic to a website. Those who surf the web can search using a keyword found in an article. The article could be lined up with those carrying the same keyword.

Article writing is not as well paying as copywriting. It requires less time for research.

Copywriting covers any written material to market a product. Newspaper adverts, sales letters, web copy,brochure, product launches etc are some of the areas copywriting covers.

Copywriting requires skill.

A copywriter should know how to craft a compelling-to - read headline. He/she should discover desires, fears, hope, frustrations etc of his/her prospects. A copywriter should figure out what emotions should be aroused to create the burning desire to buy the product or service.

A good copywriter should know how to compose unquestionable promise and proof. He/she must be able to give an effective proposition.

To do this understanding of the product and the market is very important. Knowing the strength or weakness of the competition is equally important.

There is more to copywriting than article writing. They serve different purposes, but their roles are be complementary.

 

As I've heard it expressed, copywriting is salesmanship in print. My copywriting mentor here in England is the one who thought this: 'You Can't Get Better Than A Kwik Fit Fitter.' That's just a slogan if you will, a smart turn of phrase. But he boasts of headlines that caused a competing business to shut up shop. No, his copy wasn't knocking, it just was so excellent for the car showroom that employed him. Articles don't generally have that sort of power. They instruct, entertain and all of that

 

I agree that a lot of people are not aware of the difference between copywriting and article writing. Between the two, article writing is much easier. Copywriting requires research and the intuition to know how to reach out to your target market through words.

Have a good day!

 

There's a reason copywriters who are good at their trade earn well into the six figures, while content writers are being paid $XX per article irrespective of how long they are going at it. Copywriting provides the potential to actually move up the rungs of success, something sorely lacking in the world of content writing.

 

Quality is one single thing a copywriter aims to maintain. There is no way a copywriter could craft a control disregarding quality. Articles could be written to earn a few dollars from Google (adwords) As long as the keyword is carefully and properly used, the article can still attract traffic that can be redirected to various websites. Quality in this case is disregarded.

A good sales letter will sweep all corners of the prospects' mind. It will unearth the deepest rooted desires, fears,frustrations, objections and feelings.

When a copywriter knows what a prospect wants. When he knows the deeper reasons why a prospect could buy --- he is in a better position to make a sale persuasively. Many writers would look at features and benefits derived from them (features) but frankly speaking, there are other subtle reasons.

Does it not surprise you to see that two men living in one location drive to work using different cars that they bought at very different prices? Both men could have been employed as Accountants --- earning same salaries. Why buying an expensive car when there are cheaper ones?

As copywriters these are the reasons we look for in our research if we want to make our copies highly persuasive.

 

One other little point: money isn't always the best measure of things. It's a bit crude. Nevertheless, to carry on...Clayton Makepeace one of the greats at the copywriting game, and still plying his trade, kind-of, once got paid $600,000 for a piece of copywriting. No one gets remotely near that for a brilliant or super super-brilliant article.

One other of describing a key essential difference in both disciplines is with the use of the word 'power.'

A copywriting friend of mine, employing every ounce of his skill in an ad campaign for a car showroom, caused what some might have viewed as the swift demise of their rivals. The rival company just threw in the towel and realised the only way they could keep going was to merge with their competitors.

That just isn't the kind of result you ordinarily get from article writing. No matter how expertly it's executed!

 

Now theres a man to know! If there was a top 10 Uk ad slogans of all time list, that would not be far from No 1!!

 

Definitely agree. Copywriter is a subject matter expert whose expertise will help people in the industry learn a lot, they are the ones who will be able to write engaging content mainly in a particular niche which normal content writers can't write. Article writers are the ones who can literally write on any topic which can mainly be used for posting on article marketing sites and for creating content farms.

 

Excellent point. I would like to add that, though copy writing is by most means is no way closer to article writing, yet a copy writer can be both an article writer and copywriter.

 

I completely agree with Affilorama. Almost everyone these days are jumping into article writing because if you know English and if you know How to write in your own words to pass Copyscape then article writing is really not a big deal. You just have to browse the topic in any S.E. and you will get ton of information. Just read and write it in your own words is what any article writer does

But When it comes to Copywriting, then you can't expect everyone to write a killer sales copy or sales letter that will help you selling your product.

Selling is a art and you have to Tap into the mind of the potential buyer and while copy writing, a skilled copywriter always take care about the fact that he himself should think as a buyer while assessing his/ her own written copy to test whether that content is capable of convincing him/her to buy the product/ service on sale. Whether that copy is capable of targeting its market and generate more sales than its compititors.

So, Copywriting is much different from Article writing.