Can any one please explain me the difference between copywriting and content writing? Also how both differ from technical and instructional writing? I would be grateful if any one explains the difference. Thanks in advance.
i think the main difference is that in copywriting you're basically talking about someone, a product, a software, a website, a service with the main purpose of promoting or marketing it. content writing is just like our old general knowledge article, they don't promote anything specifically, i cannot give an example of such content but perhaps title like this will make you understand: "How smoking harms your family" of course article marketing is another way to promote the author and perhaps his site, so i think basically copywriting and content writing is almost the same thing now. i am not an expert in this matter either, so if I am wrong here, i apologize, just my 2cents
Content is written to inform or entertain - think about simple how-to articles, movie reviews, etc. Copy, as we're often talking about it here, is written to persuade or incite some kind of action - such as to get someone to buy, sign up for an email list, subscribe to feed, etc. Things like homepage text, a site's About page, etc. would also fall under copy, as they're used in a marketing capacity, even if subtle at time (such as encouraging visitors to return or look at the company or individual as an authority provider or resource). As for article marketing (and I'm sure some will disagree), I consider the articles themselves to be basic content writing, with the copy (or persuasive / marketing element) simply being the writing of the resource box or paragraph - where you're actually trying to get the reader to do something (in this case, click on your link and recognize you as an authority so they trust the content).