How to Become a Copywriter, Start a Freelance Career & Earn $100K in 2024 (9-Step Guide)

Copywriting is the skill that helped me break free from the 9-to-5 and become my own boss, and you too can start a lucrative career as a freelance copywriter — even if you think you have no writing skills or connections.

In this detailed guide on how to become a copywriter, I’ll share my story about how I got started and explain how you can copy the most effective strategies I used so that you too can start making money online from the comfort of your home office (or couch!) with a freelance copywriting business.

The beauty of copywriting is that:

• Literally, anyone can do it — If I could start a copywriting career when I was working as a chef before that, you can start one, too.
• Once you learn the ropes, you can make absolute BANK as a copywriter (I’m talking six figures with the opportunity to make millions over time if you do it well).
• You can work remotely from anywhere as a copywriter, so peace out, traditional office (and hello, hammock office).
• You can learn how to become a copywriter for free, and then find high-paying clients all across the world (makes me wish I never paid for college…or culinary school, for that matter. So it goes.)

I’m big into context, so before we dive into the step-by-step nuts and bolts of this how-to, I’ll share my own freelance copywriting backstory to give you a real-life example of how this could play out.

That way, you’ll get an idea of what my writing experience entailed leading up to my first copywriting gig, and you’ll learn how to best prepare yourself in a similar fashion so that you’re as “ready” as can be when an opportunity comes your way.

Of course, if you’re not the backstory type, feel free to skip ahead and jump into the section that’s calling out to you in the Table of Contents — it’s your world!

Ready, friend? Let’s get started.

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How I became a copywriter and started freelancing full-time

Here’s the truth of it:

Every freelance copywriter has a unique story about how they got into the game.

If you read my story, then you know that I was working in restaurants, making 11 bucks an hour as a line cook, before landing what I thought would be a life-changing gig as a personal chef for a pro athlete, when I sorta, accidentally began my writing career in an attempt to promote my chef business.

In a nutshell, I started writing food articles and restaurant reviews in local print publications for free, in exchange for advertising + publicity for my culinary company.

The strange and wonderful irony of it all is that it didn’t help me build my chef business at all, but it did help me build a writing portfolio that led me away from the kitchen and into a career transformation where I became a freelance copywriter, food + travel writer, and SEO content consultant.

So here’s how I broke into freelance copywriting after having only written print articles about food:

A fellow chef who knew I was into writing sent me a link for a freelance copywriting gig he saw on a job board.

What’s wild is that he wasn’t a close friend, but one of those so-called “weak ties” that a major LinkedIn study showed can actually help us with job referrals more than the people we consider our tight-knit friends and family.

It was the first message he ever sent me, and the only conversation we ever had on that social media platform.

Call it Rando. Call it Serendipity. Call it Luck.

Whatever it was, even without having any prior “copywriting” experience, somehow I felt ready, thanks to all the other published writing I had gotten under my belt doing those food articles and restaurant reviews.

It helped that I had always dreamed of finding legit work-from-home jobs so that I could stop sweating my life away and accidentally chopping my fingertips off in restaurants, so I applied immediately, figuring it could become another income stream on top of my chef business.

Two writing tests, four emails, and three weeks later, I started freelance copywriting for LivingSocial doing email and website copy.

Fun fact: Up until I got that message about that freelance copywriter position, I never thought about becoming a copywriter once in my life.

And while I do have a degree from Tulane University, it has nothing much to do with writing per se (marketing + finance), and I firmly believe that you don’t need a formal education to become a copywriter.

I never even considered myself “a writer” until I actually started writing with no real training, save for the grammar tips I had hammered into my brain in 11th-grade English. But that’s another story.

What My First Freelance Copywriting Gig Was Like

I didn’t earn much at first — I think my first month’s paycheck was $300.

But over the next few months, I developed a solid relationship and trust with my editor by following directions, meeting deadlines, and doing quality work, and I started getting referred to more and more editors who each started feeding my daily assignments.

It got to the point where I was getting dozens of assignments each day, and at its peak, my monthly income was nearly 20X my first month’s.

Soon enough, I got referred for a similar freelance copywriting gig with Amazon, which was fortunate because the gig at LivingSocial didn’t last much longer than a year.

As I added more copywriting work to my resume, I constantly updated my LinkedIn profile with each new job experience, and soon enough, I had a consistent stream of messages coming in with new freelance copywriting inquiries.

I’m extremely grateful that my client list kept on growing (and helped me branch out of my culinary content comfort zone), and today I’m proud to say that I’ve been a full-time freelance copywriter, content creator, and SEO content consultant for 11+ years, with clients ranging from savvy startups like AWAY to Fortune 500s like Mastercard, Amazon, Oracle.

Becoming a freelance copywriter also helped me land a six-figure executive role as the Head of Content Marketing & SEO at a B2B SaaS, where creating copy for the blog, website, email, and social media was all part of the job description — and I still held down high-paying freelance copywriting jobs in my off-hours.

So you could say I’ve seen some sh!t when it comes to copywriting in both a freelance and a full-time context, and I’ll always take freelancing over a soul-sacrificing salary situation.

I’m certainly not the “purest” professional copywriter there ever was, and I still suffer from imposter syndrome at times even after working for some of the biggest companies on Erf because I’m not some “classically trained” copywriter in the way that I am as a chef.

Still, if my decade-plus of experience copywriting for companies in a variety of industries tells you anything, it’s that I can share some real-life, actionable, step-by-step guidance on how to get into the freelance copywriting game.

It’s my ultimate hope that this article can guide you on how to start copywriting and take control of your career, skyrocket your earnings, and regain your time like you never possibly could do in a salary job.

Here are the takeaways from my freelance copywriting backstory to consider applying to your own:

• Don’t be afraid to write for free about the things you like — having published bylines and experience can become extremely useful when trying to convince someone to hire you. (And you never have to tell anyone that you’ve written for free, unless you want to.)
• Let people who think highly of you know that you’re writing — and looking to write more, for money. 🤑 Do it on social media and IRL because you never know who can and will step up to help (remember those “weak ties”).
• Have faith in your writing abilities and take calculated risks — once you get some practice and experience, start applying for freelance copywriting jobs even if you don’t feel “ready” because you’ll be able to learn on the job, after you get it.
• “Luck” is something you can create by doing the initial work of becoming prepared — I got “lucky” when I got the message that led to my first freelance copywriting gig, but I was able to cash in on that “luck” only because I had taken the initiative to start writing in the first place.

Now, without further ado, let’s dig into the details so that you’ll understand exactly how to become a copywriter and know what it takes to start a lucrative freelance career copywriting for businesses of all kinds.

What is a Copywriter & What is Copywriting?

If you’re not exactly sure what defines a copywriter and the copywriting they do, it’s simple:

A copywriter is a person who writes for sales, advertising, and promotional purposes for a business, brand, or organization.

Copywriting is the act of writing these sales, advertising, and promotional materials, and the end result of what copywriters create is called copy.

Please don’t ask how many people get copywriting confused with copyrighting, which has to do with obtaining the legal rights to intellectual property, as copywriting and copyrighting are not related words, unless you’re talking about a copywriter who owns the copyright to their copy.

(Thank English, the most confounding language on the planet, for all these confusing hunks of homonyms.)

There really is no such thing as a “classically trained copywriter.”

If you ask the most successful copywriters how they got their start, you’d hear some of the most random and varied stories of all time.

On top of that, while there are still some tried-and-true copywriting formulas that still work like a charm, some of the old persuasive writing methods aren’t as effective as they used to be, as newer, bolder styles of communication have emerged to become the best copywriting tactics to use in the 21st century.

More on that later.

What Do Copywriters Do?

It may sound like a dumb question with an obvious answer — what does a copywriter do?

After all, it’s in the name: Copywriters write copy.

But, of course, like any job, there’s more to being a copywriter and copywriting than meets the eye.

On top of creating compelling brand messaging, drafting snappy headlines for blog posts and email subject lines, and putting together copy decks with numerous ideas for each project, copywriters have some key non-writing work that goes into their day-to-day to-do lists, like:

• Meeting with key stakeholders about projects and charming the crap outta them (likability goes a loooong way when you’re freelancing).
• Research, research, and more research on the company you’re writing for/about so that you know what’s up.
• Did I mention research? Also about your client’s competition so that you can one-up those schmohawks with your witty wordplay.
• Crazy amounts of planning and organizing your work so that you can communicate ideas clearly and people don’t hate working with you.
• Listening to feedback from editors (and probably a bunch of other people) to “hammer out” your copy
• Editing as much as it takes to git ‘er done.

What is the difference between being a copywriter for a company and being a freelance copywriter?

If you work for a company as a copywriter, your focus will obviously be more narrow, and you can really dig into the details of the product or service you’re writing about.

On the flip side, a freelance copywriter has the option to work for anyone they choose, and they can branch out and cover a wider range of topics that appeal to them (or gravitate toward covering subjects that are typically higher-paying copywriting gigs).

The interesting part of being a freelance copywriter is that you probably will end up covering subjects you know little to nothing about at some point, and that’s absolutely fantastic for sharpening your skills as your career progresses.

Delving into a subject matter you’re unfamiliar with requires you to research and gain new understanding of things fast, which is some of the best practice you can get when learning how to become an effective and productive copywriter.

For instance, when I was copywriting daily deal descriptions and offers for LivingSocial and Amazon, I had assignments ranging from writing copy about fun stuff like food + wine, sports + fitness, and exotic hotels and resorts, to copywriting about less-sexy topics like Lasik eye surgery, carpet cleaning, and toenail fungus removal.

Having to write copy about such varied subject matter at the start of my career as a copywriter helped hone my writing skills to the point where I now earn hundreds per hour, four-figure day rates, and nearly five figures for a week of sharing my knowledge in enterprise “design sprints.”

Time-wise, you’ll spend a lot more time writing and editing copy if you work a salaried copywriter job for a company, which, some might say, is the more “stable” path to take.

Same goes for agency copywriters, whose job will be more exciting (or less boring, depending on your preferred framing), since you’ll likely be tasked with juggling a variety of different copywriting projects at once.

As a copywriter, SEO content creator, and subject matter expert for the award-winning content marketing agency Skyword for nearly 7 years, I’ve had the chance to write about everything from restaurants, rutabaga, and Halloween cocktails for Vitamix to customer experience essentials for Oracle and Google algorithm updates for The Content Standard (although you might consider some of these articles to be more like content writing than copywriting; more on that in a minute).

Whereas when I was Head of Content & SEO at informed.co, I was responsible for all things copywriting, from the website, blog posts, and landing pages to the email copy, social media copy, and anything else that needed the written word.

But, while I was creating copy across a variety of media, the subject matter was solely about one company and its competitors, and one niche software product that didn’t particularly resonate with my interests at the time.

Needless to say, agency work is my preferred choice of the two.

Still, when I work for agencies as a copywriter, I typically do so as a contracted freelancer, which means I work on a 1099 and not a W2, and I get to select the assignments I work on.

This gives me ultimate control over the clients I work with and the type of copywriting projects I decide to take on, something I would not trade for anything, and I highly recommend you pursue a freelance copywriting career if you’re looking for the most control of your schedule, your earnings, and the topics you spend your time writing about.

As a freelance copywriter, you’ll obviously still be writing for clients quite a bit, but your time will also be spent:

• Running your business – legal stuff, taxes, accounting, etc.
• Marketing yourself on places like LinkedIn and TikTok
• Creating and delivering pitches to get new work
• Dealing with back-and-forth communication that comes with any client work

Managing all that other stuff like a MF boss is what makes or breaks any freelancer in any industry, so understanding that these are all essential responsibilities on top of copywriting is absolutely vital before you embark on a freelance copywriter career path.

Copywriting Examples You See Everywhere

Copy is all around you, everywhere you look.

Don’t believe me?

Check this out:

Any time you’re reading a magazine, website, blog post, email, social media post, or even a billboard with messaging that’s trying to convince you to do something, whether it’s to whip out yer wallet and throw down, vote for some smarmy politico, or to believe in some abstract concept, that’s copy.

Whenever words are trying to sell you something, those words can be considered copy.

Now let’s dissect a few different types of copywriting you’ll find out there in the advertising world.

Special Types of Copywriters (Conversion Copywriting vs. Direct-Response Copywriting vs. Brand Copywriting)

Some writers learn to specialize in specific types of copywriting, namely Conversion Copywriting, Direct-Response Copywriting, and Brand Copywriting.

Allow me to quickly break down the subtle differences between the two so that you can decide if one niche is better for you (or you wanna try your hand at all of ‘em).

What is Conversion Copywriting?

Conversion Copywriting aims to get a reader to take action or say “Yes!” to something, typically online, either by opting in or signing up to an email list or subscription service, or spending some of the hard-earned cash.

You’ll typically find conversion copywriting in email sequences, sales landing pages, and other places where copywriters employ their research into the customer’s voice into the copy they create for each audience.

According to my favorite copywriting resource, Copyhackers, conversion copywriting includes some of the elements below:

• UX, Interaction Design & Human Factors
• Voice of Customer Research
• SEO
• Voice Development
• Message Mining
• Direct Response Framework
• Creative Advertising
• Value Proposition Development
• Tested Copy Formula
• Audits
• CRO
• Messaging Development
• Data Analysis
• Persuasion & Human Decision Making

What is Direct Response Copywriting?

Copywriting that has a goal of getting your audience to respond right away with a sale or donation is known as Direct Response Copywriting.

Typically found in print materials, this type of copywriting must be compelling enough to get a direct response (what’s in a name?) from its audience, like when your favorite (or least favorite) non-profit attempts to solicit donations from you via mail flyers before the holidays.

Still, you may also see Direct Response Copywriting in social media ads designed to generate clicks, landing pages attempting to generate signups, a billboard designed to get you to stop at the World’s Largest Turtle exhibition four miles ahead, or an email that’s written so well that you just can’t not reply to.

What is Brand Copywriting?

While brand copywriting may not be the technical name for copy that’s not aiming for immediate results, it underscores the point of what this kind of copywriting is all about.

Brands would be nothing without the messaging they use, and consumers find brand messaging everywhere they find brands.

Simply put, companies need copywriters to help define their style, image, and “brand personality,” and nothing does so quite like words.

Copywriters understand that not all copy has a goal of getting an instant reaction, and they learn how to convey brand messaging in ways that appeal to a company’s ideal customers.

Learning how a brand’s ideal customer thinks, speaks, and acts is essential to any copywriter’s success.

Here are a few instances of brand copywriting in action:

• Holiday-themed blog posts showcasing a brand’s humanity, generosity, and fun side to build connection and engagement.
• LinkedIn company posts highlighting new hires, designed to attract other talented people to the company and showcase its diversity.
• White papers, ebooks, case studies, and high-profile guest posts written to build trust in thought leadership and boost authority for a brand and its executives.

The above brand copywriting examples are still striving to get people to take action, but not right away, for example:

• Fun holiday blog posts aim to build a connection with your audience in hopes of gaining subscribers and generating sales down the line.
• LinkedIn posts about new hires are made to lure more talent to the company to fill important future roles.
• Heady white papers, ebooks, case studies, and guest posts want to cement a brand’s name and expertise in readers’ minds so that they remember it when it’s time to buy something the brand provides.

It’s super important for aspiring and seasoned copywriters alike to understand that getting an instant response isn’t always the goal, and trying to get one can actually lead to the opposite results you’re hoping to achieve.

Think of it like this:

Your readers need to bask in the sunshine of your copy for a bit in order to see what’s so shiny about the product or service you’re promoting and actually buy it.

What is the Average Copywriter Salary?

We already discussed that you can find work as a copywriter by following three main avenues:

1. Start a copywriting career for a company’s in-house marketing team.
2. Get a job as an on-staff agency copywriter.
3. Establish yourself as a freelance copywriter and be your own boss.

When it comes to copywriter salaries, I decided to consult the leading job search sites, including Payscale, Glassdoor, Indeed, and Salary.com to see what their extensive data sets had to show for what copywriters earn these days.

Here’s what you need to know about the average copywriter salary.

Average Copywriter Salaries for Full-Time Company + Agency Jobs

• Junior copywriters earn an average of $45K/year and in some cases can make up to $60K/year, according to Payscale, with similar data from Salary.com approximating these salaries.
• Copywriters start at an average $55K/year and can earn up to $78K/year, according to Payscale, while Salary.com has a less optimistic range of $49K to $61K per year.
• Senior Copywriters, if you can mange to work hard enough to rise through the ranks of company copywriters, can start bringing home an average salary of $78K/year and in some cases can earn just over six figures at $103K/year, according to Payscale, with similar figures from Glassdoor and Salary.com affirming this.

Freelance Copywriter Salaries / Earnings Potentials

As a what freelance copywriters earn, there aren’t a lot of reliable sources online that are very recent, but a 2019 survey of 1,400 freelance writers by Make a Living Writing found that 22% earned $76 – $100+ per hour for freelance copywriting work, including 10% of “newbie” copywriters, and 52% earn at least $50/hour as freelance copywriters.

Source: makealivingwriting.com

While those numbers clearly show the potential for freelance copywriters to outearn their salaried copywriter counterparts, the story that isn’t being told is how difficult it may be to attract clients when you’re starting out.

That means you likely won’t be bringing in the same earnings as a freelancer initially compared to what you’d make in a full-time in-house marketing team role or at an agency.

BUT, and this is crucial, you will ultimately be able to earn multiples more as a freelancer over time than you’d ever be able to earn while stuck in a full-time time-suck.

That’s because you’ll be able to control your rates and raise them over time, putting your financial future back into your hands instead of in the hands of a cost-cutting corporation that has only one goal: minimize expenses (like your salary) and maximize profits for owners and shareholders.

Also, many freelance copywriting projects and assignments you’ll get will be paid per project, so you’ll essentially be able to “determine your hourly rate” by how fast you’re able to complete this kind of work.

From my own personal experience, I’ll give you some numbers to play around with.

When I worked my first ever job as a freelance copywriter for LivingSocial and Amazon over a decade ago, my starting rate was only $20 per assignment, and I was only getting a few per week.

But, it’s vital to note that each assignment was super short — I think they wanted a maximum word count of 135 words, and there was a pretty formulaic template to follow that was 5 to 6 sentences, each with a clear purpose, which made it easy for me to eventually crank the copy out fast AF.

At the time, I was still working as a personal chef, giving in-home cooking lessons, and catering small-scale parties by myself, so the extra income, as minuscule as it was at the time, was sweet. (Extra weed money, yo!)

From the get-go, I let my editor know that I really enjoyed the work and that I’d like to take on as much as she was willing to give me once she thought I was ready.

After a short time, my editor decided that I was ready for more work, and she proceeded to introduce me to more editors, who each started giving me more assignments from different regional markets.

Within a quarter, I went from getting about 5 copywriting assignments per week to getting literally dozens in a day, upping what at first felt like small-fry side-hustle money into a respectable $5K per month, nearly 20X what I earned in my first month.

Then, they boosted my rate from $20 to $25 per assignment, which doesn’t sound like much, but equates to a $20% raise (unheard of in the corporate salary world), and I got referred by my editors to Amazon, which was partnering with LivingSocial and embarking on its own similar (albeit short-lived) path into daily deals with AmazonLocal.

The assignments may not have paid much, but when I was able to get a high volume of work, it got to the point where I was doing 3 to 4 an hour, making my effective hourly rate something like $80/hour.

The fact that I didn’t have to leave my house, get yelled at by an a-hole boss, or wear pants to do this work made it that much more awesome.

Unfortunately, if you read my story, you know that those sweet freelance copywriting gigs didn’t last, and I lost what was essentially a full-time income in a blink early on in my career.

But thanks to all that experience and bulking up my LinkedIn profile as a result, I was quickly able to land other freelance writing and copywriting jobs to make up for all that was lost — and then some.

Now, let me share some insight into how I was able to break into the world of freelance copywriting so that you can copy my strategies and start making money from the comfort of your computer, anywhere in the world you choose.

Why You Should Become A Freelance Copywriter

If you didn’t already know my thoughts about it, let me come right out and say it:

Being a freelance copywriter is one of the best work-from-home + remote jobs you could ever have.

Not only is it more lucrative compared to many other jobs, but freelance copywriting is also something you can do from anywhere in the world where you have a computer and an internet connection.

That means there’s really no barrier to entry, save for the time it takes to learn essential copywriting skills to launch your career and land your first copywriting clients.

The beauty of being a freelancer in any industry is that you get more control over:

• Your time and schedule
• Your earnings: hourly + day + project rates
• How you operate and do your work thing
• Who you decide to work collab with
• How you market yourself + present yourself on social media

What I love about becoming a freelance copywriter, and I think you’ll probably love too, is that you get to work with people (like editors, content marketing managers, and SEO professionals) who respect your craft and understand its value.

Of course, as with anything good in life, there are some not-so-awesome aspects of being a freelancer, copywriter, or otherwise, such as:

• the uphill battle of gaining initial traction in your market
• managing the “business side” of things
• putting yourself out there for marketing, especially if you’re introverted

Becoming a freelance copywriter is also not something anyone can just instantly be amazing at, although some people will naturally be more gifted than others and achieve positive results faster — that’s just the way it is in any industry.

For some, the first phase is the roughest, and as an Aries moon myself, I understand the struggle with instant gratification, so it’s important to manage your own expectations if you know you’re prone to impatience.

In a nutshell, you should consider freelance copywriting an intelligent creative career choice because it has the potential to free you from mundane days at an office, afford you a life of freedom to work on your time and terms from anywhere you wish, and solidify your financial future like a salary job could never do.

In the next section, you’ll learn exactly how to become a copywriter with your own freelance business, so you’ll already be ahead of the game.

How to Become a Freelance Copywriter (And Make Six Figures Without Burnout)

Okay, so you’re ready to find out what it takes to become a freelance copywriter so that you can start making the big bucks.

I like your style.

So here’s the deal:

You don’t really need to do a ton of stuff to prepare yourself for getting your first client, but there are a few copywriting tricks to add to your repertoire that will help you out before you start putting yourself out there as a copywriter on some flashy website and hitting people up on LinkedIn.

Here’s the basic step-by-step way to become a freelance copywriter and succeed in today’s digital world in 8 simple steps (with an optional bonus step for extra credit):

1. Learn to Do Great Research
2. Teach Yourself Copywriting Basics: Persuasive Writing + Proven Copywriting Formulas
3. Discover Essential Copywriting Skills: Headlines, Value Propositions, Emails, Landing Pages, Social Media Posts + Ads, Scripts
4. Get to Know SEO
5. Market Your Freelance Copywriting Biz: Website, LinkedIn, Other Social Media, Networking
6. Score Your First (Paying) Client, Rinse & Repeat
7. Learn What Works Best + Refine Your Workflow
8. Build Your Reputation + Recurring Business
9. Optional Extra Credit: Start Teaching + Influencing When You Reach Expert Level

With patience and persistence, you’ll be able to get there before you know it if you follow the details laid out in the next sections.

It won’t be easy per se, but if you truly want to escape the grind and embrace the remote work lifestyle, the road to becoming a freelance copywriter won’t feel as difficult as many other career paths.

The journey is full of rewarding experiences that will help you learn and grow into someone who can confidently say they are their own boss and on the way to making six figures, and depending on how hard you like to hustle, you might find yourself there sooner than you think.

Now, let’s delve into each step so you can become a freelance copywriter ASAP.

1. Learn to Do Great Research

How long it’ll take: A day or two of reading and practicing hypothetical consumer and competitive research so that you get the hang of it.

Let’s just get this outta the way fast:

Copywriting is impossible to do well without great research.

That’s because it’s vital to understand your clients, their ideal customers, and the competitive landscape before you start conjuring up compelling copy ideas.

Without a firm grasp of the market you’re writing for, and without understanding your client and their competition in and out, you won’t stand a chance of being a successful copywriter.

The more you research upfront, the better off you’ll be when it comes time to pitch and present your copy ideas.

Copywriter Daniel Doan has a great resource on copywriting research that I highly recommend checking out.

2. Teach yourself copywriting basics (persuasive writing + power words + copywriting formulas + grammar)

How long it’ll take: A few days of chill reading at your pace + consistently consuming more as you go.

The first place you’ll want to start when embarking on a freelance copywriting career is learning the ropes of copywriting in general.

Copywriting is essentially sales writing — words that are expertly crafted to either sell a product, a service, an idea, or a brand itself.

If copy is not attempting to influence an immediate purchase decision, then it is trying to convince someone of an idea’s importance, a brand’s merits, or a service’s usefulness — all of these scenarios inevitably lead readers to purchase something in due course.

So, how do copywriters use the same words that everyone else in the world has at their disposal to create messaging that actually influences or converts your audience into taking action, and how can you learn to do the same?

Persuasive Writing

As Copyblogger’s Brian Clark says in his excellent article on persuasive writing, the “secret” to becoming a better copywriter is understanding that “[c]opywriting is not about trickery, manipulation, or even trying to convince people. Great copy is about storytelling, empathy, relatability, and service.”

Brian also boils down persuasive writing essentials into the follow list of 10 copywriting tactics you can start tinkering with immediately, which anyone can master with a little practice:

• Repetition
• Reasons Why
• Consistency
• Social Proof
• Comparisons
• Showing You Understand a Problem and Solving It
• Seeing the Future (Prognostication)
• Selective Unification (or, The Exclusive Group Effect)
• Addressing Objections
• Storyselling

For more information on these persuasive writing essentials, check out Brian Clark’s article on Copyblogger.

Copywriting Power Words

Next, add some copywriting power words to your vocabulary so that you have a go-to repertoire for eliciting any emotion that fits the situation.

Jon Morrow of SmartBlogger put together a fantastic list of 801+ power words broken down into 7 different emotions:

• Fear
• Encouragement
• Lust
• Anger
• Greed
• Safety
• Forbidden

You definitely don’t need to memorize any of these, as you can reference the article at any time, but it’s a great idea to get acquainted with these words and understand what makes them “power words” versus “whatever words.”

Copywriting Formulas

After that, give the Queen of Copywriting, Joanna Wiebe, your undivided attention by checking out her phenomenal piece on copywriting formulas over on Copyhackers, one of my favorite copywriting resources in existence.

Copywriting formulas are an easy way to help you organize your copywriting and get a flow for what you’re trying to say. Many of these copywriting formulas are acronyms for what they are trying to do, such as AIDA, PAS, and QUEST.

AIDA, for example, stands for;

• Attention
• Interest
• Desire
• Action

PAS represents:

• Problem
• Agitation
• Solution

And QUEST spells out:

• Qualify
• Understand
• Educate
• Stimulate
• Transition

Some of these formulas are very similar in nature, adding or removing certain steps, or using different words to convey the same ideas.

Still, these copywriting formulas are essential for helping you save time by quickly breaking down what you need your writing to do in specific copywriting situations, from web pages, video sales letters (VSLs), and emails, to ads, blog posts, and social media posts.

Plus, they’ll help you develop your micro-copywriting skills with on-page elements like headlines and email subject lines, bulleted lists, button copy, and calls-to-action (CTAs).

Grammar

Back in 11th grade, I had an English teacher named Mr. Carbone who worshipped Tommy Hilfiger and insisted on having all of his students memorize grammar tips like an old-fashioned headmaster.

If you forgot or misused any sort of punctuation on quizzes, tests, or reports, including Oxford commas, M-dashes, and even dreaded semicolons, you’d be subjected to ridicule, mockery, and failing grades.

What’s wild is that it eventually got to the point that students complained about his fanatical grammatical policies so much that the principal intervened and literally made him stop teaching grammar tips.

While I didn’t agree with Mr. Carbone’s intensity regarding grammar, his teachings definitely helped me learn the ropes of using punctuation and syntax like a pro.

If you didn’t have a Grammar Czar for 11th-grade English class as I did, thankfully there’s an awesome app called Grammarly that anyone can download for free and use as a grammar tool to ensure you don’t make any mistakes in your writing.

The beauty of Grammarly is that it can be used with Google Docs, Gmail, and even WordPress, so your grammar checks will be covered everywhere you write.

And if you actually wanna learn grammar instead of just having an AI writing tool like Jasper help you do it right, you can read the following awesomely nerdy books:

• Lynne Truss’ quintessential book on grammar, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero-Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
• My awesome friend Emmy Favilla’s book on modern-day language, A World Without “Whom”: The Essential Guide to Language in the BuzzFeed Age

3. Practice Essential Copywriting Skills: Headlines, Value Propositions, Emails, Landing Pages, Social Media Posts + Ads, Scripts

How long it’ll take: A week or two of reading and practicing copywriting by integrating what you learned in Step 1 into specific real-world examples.

All businesses need to communicate what they do and what they’re all about to potential consumers, which means that copywriting will always be in high demand.

And the beauty of learning these copywriting skills is that they’re not just extraordinarily useful for starting your own freelance copywriter career — they’re also incredibly beneficial for literally anything you ever want to do in your life, from starting a blog or business in any other field to raising awareness about issues you care deeply about.

When it comes to selling your services as a freelance copywriter, it pays to specialize in 1 to 3 niche areas, such as:

• Headlines + Email Subject Lines
• Value Propositions
• Sales Emails
• Websites + Landing Pages
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads
• Video Scripts and VSLs

While you can make a career out of being a specialist in as few as one of these copywriting niches, it pays to practice all of them however much you can when first starting out so that you can identify your copywriting strengths and weaknesses.

Your goal is practice, not perfection, so don’t feel like you have to go too deep into all of the above. Headlines and value props are always a good place to begin because they’re short and to the point, and from there you can expand into one or two longer-form areas down the list.

One practice I recommend when learning these copywriting fundamentals is rewriting websites for brands you know and like.

Start with their headlines, writing as many variations of each individual one as you can until you’ve exhausted your brain of possibilities.

Then, rewrite the value proposition, informational blurbs, product descriptions, and other web copy as you see fit.

You can also practice writing brand stories that convey understanding and empathy when it comes to problems customers face, addressing objections, throwing in social proof in ways that sound natural versus braggy, and offering valuable comparisons using metaphors, similes, and stats.

Show a trusted friend who understands marketing and persuasion to read your copy and give you feedback, and adjust your techniques as you learn new lessons.

Even if you never use this copy for anything other than practice, it’s a good way to get used to what copywriting entails day-to-day.

Here is some more information on how to practice these copywriting essentials:

Copywriting Headlines + Email Subject Lines

If you ask most copywriters, they’ll tell you that writing headlines is the quintessential copywriting skill to get good at.

While it’s unlikely you’ll ever get a company to hire you simply to “be the headline copywriter,” having an uncanny ability to write short, descriptive, click-worthy headlines is an absolute gift that companies will pay top-dollar for, so long as you can package it with another vital copywriting component like email copywriting or landing page copywriting.

Because a headline or subject line can make or break the most well-crafted article or email, it’s so, so, so crucial to spend time crafting the best copy you can to maximize organic clicks and open rates, respectively.

Acronyms are fun, so to craft great headlines, remember to make ‘em SCUDPU:

• Short
• Clear
• Urgent
• Descriptive
• Powerful (see Power Words above)
• Unique

Learn more about headline copywriting in this tutorial on writing headlines for beginners from Copyhackers.

Copywriting Value Propositions

According to Hubspot, a value proposition is:

“a short statement that communicates why buyers should choose your products or services,” but “it’s more than just a product or service description — it’s the specific solution that your business provides and the promise of value that a customer can expect you to deliver*.”

*[all bold my own for emphasis]

Like headline and email subject lines, chances are you won’t ever get hired to simply write value props all day. After all, a company can only have so many.

Still, there’s an art and balance to conveying a product or service’s main solution and promise of value in a concise and memorable one-liner, and a product or service’s complexity will have a major impact on how copywriters write their value props.

Needless to say, it helps to have some familiarity with any industry you’re writing for, as it can be difficult to write about tech, finance, and health/medical topics, just to name a few if you don’t have some knowledge of the subject matter and jargon.

Still, writing about things you’ve never actually used and have only researched and read about is often part of the game when taking on client work. This is especially true for quick-turnaround projects with 48-hour-max deadlines, where you need to start writing right away.

Check out these examples of eCommerce company value propositions for more ideas to inspire your value prop copywriting.

Copywriting Websites + Landing Pages

Let’s be real: Every business needs a website, and someone’s gotta write all the words on it to make it a success.

That’s where website and landing page copywriters come into the picture.

Between writing copy for a company’s Home, About, Services, and Contact pages, along with the Blog landing page and any other specialized pages (think: “Our Philosophy,” “Testimonials,” “Portfolio” or “Resources”), web copywriters can find lots of work, especially if they niche themselves down into a particular industry or sector.

There are also copywriters who specialize in sales landing pages, which are created specifically to sell one thing, such as an online course, a new product, or a pricy piece of business software.

Writing copy for websites tends to be a high-paying copywriting job because it involves a lot of moving parts and can take weeks to complete, depending on the scope of the project.

And since there’s so much riding on a website to determine a business’s ultimate success, companies are willing to pay top dollar to copywriters who understand the intricacies of compelling web copy.

If you’re looking to dive deeper, check out this handy guide on writing landing page copy.

Copywriting Sales Emails

Email is one of those things that people always assume is a dying medium, but if you actually look at the data, you’d see that those email naysayers are dead wrong.

According to data from Statista, worldwide revenue from email marketing is set to increase more than 45% from 2024 to 2027.

Image source: Statista

With that in mind, countless companies are going to be needing email copywriters to help them craft compelling campaigns revolving around this resilient medium.

The beauty of email copywriting is that it’s not one-off work (or every-other-year work), but regular, recurring work when you find the right clients, as email is a constant and consistent form of digital marketing that can be crafted around multiple campaigns throughout each quarter.

Companies with newsletters may need email copywriting on a weekly or monthly basis.

Businesses with established email lists are always looking for copywriters who can change the game for their bottom lines with groundbreaking email drip campaigns.

Email copywriting is easy to track thanks to countless email marketing tools that make analytics simple to understand. You’ll be able to see your open email rates and click-through rates (CTRs) for any links or buttons you include in your copy, so that you know what’s working and how well you’re performing with each campaign you create.

If you’re looking to expand your email copywriting skills, I recommend taking Copyhackers’ 10x Emails course, something I was able to do a few years back that has proven to be priceless in my development as a freelance copywriter.

Copywriting Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads

Back in the day, magazine ads were the thing, and you can see old-school ad men and copywriters portrayed in Mad Men coming up with slogans and catchphrases back in 1950s America.

These days, magazine ads are still around, but the big thing has become online ads in the form of Pay-Per-Click advertising, or PPC Ads.

These are the Google search results that have “Ad” written before the link URL at the top and bottom of the search engine results pages (SERPs), and they represent a form of headline copywriting and micro-copywriting that can be quite lucrative if you choose it as your niche.

Learning about PPC keyword research and how to effectively bid on different keywords is essential is you opt to go down the PPC ad path, and you can do a deeper dive into this realm of copywriting with this PPC ad copy guide.

Copywriting Video Scripts & VSLs

With video marketing being more popular than ever and its presence only expected to continue dominating, there is an incredibly high demand for video script copywriting and video sales letters (VSLs).

The beauty is that video scriptwriting is still a nascent market for copywriters, so you can study the best VSL, webinar, and video script copywriters and “steal like an artist,” incorporating the techniques and tactics you like best into your own copywriting cache.

I haven’t written many VSLs or video scripts in my copywriting career — just one, to be exact — but that assignment happened to be one of the most memorable freelance copywriting experiences of my career.

As a consultant for Neil Patel’s marketing agency, NP Digital, one day I was tasked with editing a VSL script that had been drafted for the digital marketing and SEO icon himself for a webinar on international expansion.

With no prior script copywriting experience and having to write something for my freaking SEO idol, I turned to what I knew from every other form of copywriting I was versed in, and somehow managed to produce something I later found out Neil said he “loved.”

I never got to meet Neil Patel in person while consulting for his agency, but hey, at least I wrote a bomb-ass webinar script for him.

My point in sharing this wild story is that anyone can dive into VSL copywriting without any specific training video script writing if they’re well-versed enough in other forms of copywriting.

So, if you’re into videos and are tapped into creative communities where video is a primary form of communication, don’t sleep on this niche as a potential profitable path in your freelance copywriting career.

For more information, check out this in-depth guide on video sales letters (VSLs).

4. Find Your Copywriting Niche + Voice

How long it’ll take: A day of brainstorming to find your niche, with your writing voice developing over time with practice.

The next step to becoming a successful copywriter is finding your niche, which means tapping into your expertise, passions, and interests.

What kind of businesses or organizations do you want to write for? What topics are you passionate about? How do you want your audience to feel when they read your writing?

Answering these questions will help you find your writer niche and voice.

Think of the things you know, like, and love, and then start looking into companies within those categories to see how their copywriting is done.

If you read my story, then you know I started as a food and drink writer because of my culinary background as a chef and my passion for eating.

For you, the journey might start working within one specific niche, like poker, health & beauty, cybersecurity (which I heard pays pretty well), finance (also high-paying), or tech (a broad category in which you can sub-niche your way to success).

It’s purely up to you to decide what niche(s) make(s) the most sense to start with based on your expertise, background, passion, and market demand.

As long as you leverage your background and expertise and apply it to a lucrative niche (or find a writing gig that allows you to do high-volume, low-paying work), you’ll be able to find your way and eventually thrive as a freelance copywriter.

Once you’ve chosen a niche or two to concentrate on, it’s time to start practicing your writing voice.

One of the best ways to find your writing voice is by reading examples of great copywriting. Study the style, use of language, and process of persuasion. Then, start practicing writing in a similar style.

As you become more comfortable with imitating other writers’ styles, start experimenting with your own voice until you find one that feels natural for your writing process.

Another great way to find your niche and develop your voice is by writing copy for business owners you know and like.

This could be for businesses you’ve worked for in the past, businesses run by friends or family members, or even just business owners whose products or services you’re familiar with.

You don’t even need to do this “officially;” you can simply open up a Google Doc and write about any company you choose for practice, then show your work to someone you trust (and who actually understands marketing and writing on a deep level) for feedback on your writing.

Not only will this help you develop your skills as a writer, but it will also give you some real-world experience that potential clients can see when they visit your website or social media profiles, and you may even be able to generate some solid testimonials from these projects to use in your marketing to build credibility and trust (more on all that later).

5. Get to Know SEO

How long it’ll take: A week or so of reading, messing around with SEO tools and plugins, and playing with Google search.

One of the most lucrative moves I ever made in my freelance copywriting career was teaching myself search engine optimization, or SEO, back in 2015.

My partner was working on building a new website for our destination wedding photography company, and I had an idea to help us get more leads.

As we’re based outside of New York City and do a lot of photoshoots in Central Park, Top of the Rock, and other iconic locations, I decided to write an extensive guide on NYC engagement photo locations to see if I could rank on Google organically for the keyword nyc engagement photos.

Lo and behold, we were ranking on Page 1 within a week, and while we haven’t updated the post recently (as we’re currently in the process of giving the site a makeover again), we’re still holding strong in position 2, and getting multiple photos in the first row of the Image results.

For years now, this one blog post has been the source of the majority of our leads, and it has led to more income than I can calculate.

And all of that is thanks to teaching myself SEO by reading free blogs and then applying what I learned to my partner’s photography site to integrate the knowledge and see it actually work.

SEO is a combination of:

• Keyword Research + Search Intent
• On-Page Optimization (Headings, Keyword Placement, Etc.)
• Link Building (Getting Backlinks)
• Technical SEO (Server-Side Stuff Like Redirects)

The most important part of SEO for freelance copywriters to learn for client work is on-page optimization, although keyword research and search intent are also incredibly valuable to learn about for yourself and others.

That’s because link building and technical SEO will typically not be your responsibility when hired as a freelance copywriter, but if you decide you’d like to expand your offerings to become an SEO Content Consultant like ya boy, then I highly recommend teaching yourself these skills.

It takes time to learn SEO by reading online, but the knowledge is there and free for the taking.

And who knows? You could follow my footsteps of teaching yourself SEO and then becoming an expert who gets paid to write in-depth articles on Google algorithm updates and how AI is impacting search engines for legit online publications.

There are also many powerful software tools for SEO, and you can learn how to leverage the best SEO tools in my in-depth article on the subject.

6. Market Your Freelance Copywriting Biz

How long it’ll take: Depends on your website-building skills and/or budget for having someone build a site for you. If you don’t struggle with perfectionism and you know the basics of building a WordPress site, it could take you less than a week to build a site and set up minimum social media profiles. Most people with average site-building skills will take about 2 weeks to do the action items outlined in this step.

Now that you’ve built your knowledge base with copywriting essentials and SEO skills, it’s time to get your name out there with marketing.

That means:

• Building a simple website + blog for your copywriting business
• Sprucing up your LinkedIn profile to show people what you’re up to
• Getting social media accounts set up with appropriate handles
• Networking with anyone and everyone you meet online and IRL

Let’s start with your website:

Build a Simple Website + Blog

Consider your own personal website your first serious copywriting project, something you’re doing pro bono for yourself.

Copywriting for your own website is some of the best copywriting practice you can ever get.

I recommend using WordPress to build a website with a simple four-page setup at first:

• Home
• About
• Services
• Contact

Start by getting web hosting and a domain name from the company I use, Bluehost, which offers very affordable web hosting starting at $2.95 per month and a service for purchasing your domain name.

For your domain name, you can choose your own name as I did for my SEO Content Consulting website, or you can come up with something creative that includes “copywriting” or some other related term in the name.

Then, you can build a simple site using the Kadence Theme (another product I use on this site), adding a few vital plugins as you go.

Plugins I’d recommend at the beginning to protect and optimize your website are:

• WordFence Security Plugin (Free with Premium Upgrade)
• WP Rocket (Caching Plugin for Site Speed and Optimization – $49/year and up)
• RankMath SEO (Free with Premium Upgrade – Perfect for On-Page Optimization)

In regard to listing two SEO plugins in Yoast and RankMath, I think they’re both among the best SEO tools and each worthy of testing out, since the main differences amount to UX and overall feel, as opposed to SEO guidance and quality of recommendations.

I used Yoast for years and it helped me learn the ropes of SEO, and it comes with a free and premium upgrade version. I recently started using RankMath on this site because I wanted to try something new and see how it measures up, and after a few months, I am very happy with the free version and am planning on upgrading to a premium plan to try it out.)

Spruce Up Your LinkedIn Profile

Linked has been an invaluable tool for me in my freelance copywriting career.

Not only has it led me to some of my biggest clients, it did so without me having to do anything to actively market myself other than creating and constantly updating my profile.

If you’ve always hated the blandness of resumes and having to bullet-point out all your responsibilities, then LinkedIn is the best thing you’ve ever seen for your career.

Think of LinkedIn as your dream resume, where you can add color to your career history and actually tell a good story about yourself.

You can even put links and attach PDF documents to each work experience you’ve done, making it easy for people to see your writing and understand what you’re capable of as a freelance copywriter.

Use the Publications section to bulk it up your profile even more, and add in any relevant volunteering, accreditation, and education/courses into the appropriate sections to round out the impression you make on recruiters and potential clients.

You can even alert recruiters that you’re looking for opportunities through a one-click feature, so take advantage of that if you’re open to full-time copywriting work, contract work, or agency work.

Create a Writing Portfolio

On top of showing your work on your LinkedIn profile, it’s a smart idea to make a separate digital portfolio of your writing work so that you can link it in your resume, email signature, and social media profiles and showcase your work in a dedicated place.

I’ve used Contently to host a free writing portfolio for years, and I love the way it looks considering I don’t pay a dime to use it.

You can add articles by linking the URL or uploading a PDF document, and you can add a custom featured image if it doesn’t automatically load one you like.

One very important thing I’ll mention to anyone who gets their work published online, especially with a byline:

You’re always at risk of losing access to your work if any website you’ve been published on goes offline or does a site restructuring.

That said, if you really care about one of your published pieces, take a screenshot of it and save it as a PDF somewhere safe, like a backup hard drive so that you’re not bummed out when a site decides to pull the plug.

I lost literally hundreds of restaurant reviews I wrote over a six-year period for Blackboard Eats, a site that no longer exists, and you can’t even find 90% of them on Wayback Machine, so I know how heinous it feels.

I also noticed over the years that a bunch of articles I wrote had my byline changed to say some generic thing like “[Insert Site Name] Editors,” totally erasing acknowledgment of my effort.

While it mos def sucks porcupine nuts to see your name erased from a byline, this is one of those “choose your battles” situations where maybe you decide it’s important enough to contact a site editor and venture down that road, or maybe you just chalk it up to a life lesson and let it be, making sure you screenshot your sh!t the next time around.

Setup Social Media Accounts

While I’m not a big social media person, I know how valuable it is to be able to market yourself for free with the potential for massive reach to a target audience.

The thing about social media is that it isn’t going away any time soon, so even if you’re kinda introverted like me, it’s becoming tougher to ignore.

Do yourself a favor and dip your toes into social media to see if there’s a platform that resonates with you.

It’s important to remember that you don’t need to be everywhere at once — one social media platform is enough, as long as it’s something that works for you.

Consistent posting is important, but not just any posting. It’s crucial to make your social media posts packed with value for your audience, without making it too much about yourself.

If you want to ensure your social posts are timely in the easiest, most efficient, and most effective way, I highly recommend investing in a product like Social Media Calendar to help plan your posting process with seasonal templates, calendars, books, and more for creating on Instagram (including Stories and Reels), TikTok, and your other favorite platforms.

Consider the pros and cons of each platform, including what’s popular with your target demographic.

You may find that LinkedIn is more than enough for you, but don’t sleep on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and even Facebook for business development opportunities if you think you can create valuable content for them.

Network Online and IRL

Once you have your website built and your LinkedIn and other social media accounts set up, you can start actively networking online and in person.

The best way to do so is to post informative, valuable content, and to comment on and share other people’s posts when you find them to be helpful and worth showing to your network.

If you plan on doing any in-person networking, you can be eco-friendly by avoiding paper business cards and creating digital business cards with Blinq, which definitely makes a positive first impression and acts as a good conversation icebreaker at conferences.

By being kind, showing your appreciation and gratitude to others, and offering useful insights about your field of expertise, you’ll be able to build a following, solidify your work reputation, and become a trustworthy voice in your industry that will lead to more and better business opportunities as you progress.

7. Score Your First (Paying) Client, Rinse & Repeat

How long it’ll take: By the time you start searching for your first legit paying client, you should be 1 to 2 months deep in your reading, researching, and writing practice on copywriting.

Depending on how well you’ve set up your site, LinkedIn profile, social profiles, and portfolio (if you’ve gotten some free work), it doesn’t have to take very long to snag your first paying copywriting customer. And if you’ve got some solid connections, don’t be afraid to ask for help! That could be the fastest way to serious $$$.

Now that you’ve got your online presence and some copywriting knowledge and skills to your name, it’s time to get paid, yo!!!

The number one best way to find freelance copywriting jobs is by searching for copywriting on LinkedIn Jobs.

As of the time I’m writing this, there are more than 30,000 copywriting jobs listed there, with 8,530 of which are fully remote.

Yes, not all of them are freelance jobs, but that’s cool — you might find something full-time that compels you to apply, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

You may remember from earlier in this article that I took a high-paying full-time job as Head of Content Marketing & SEO, where I used my copywriting skills to get hired and improved them exponentially while on the job.

You may also remember that I did a lot of writing for free before I ever got paid to do any copywriting, and my first copywriting gig featured low-paying assignments, starting at $20 per project.

Back then, I didn’t really know what the market rate was, in all honesty, and I was in no position to negotiate since it was my first ever freelance copywriting job.

At the beginning of your freelance copywriting career, depending on how desperate you are to bring in the plant-or-pig-based bacon or how eager you are to get started, you’ll find that you’ll be willing to make more concessions on who you work with.

That could mean what you’re willing to accept rate-wise or do responsibility-wise, or even how much creative control you’re willing to relinquish in order to get new clients booked and establish recurring revenue streams.

And that’s totally cool.

It’s 100% okay to take some low-paying or even free work to polish up your skills and get some legit company names on your resume.

After all, helping other people helps you build strong connections, and nothing says “Ah’m helpin’ you out, yo” like some pro-bono copywriting work for your buddy’s small business website.

This free work amounts to great practice, and if you strive for excellence with these free clients, you can usually parlay the goodwill you build by offering pro bono copywriting services into gushing testimonials you can use on your website (and on LinkedIn if you ask them to specifically leave you a recommendation through the platform, a practice I highly recommend!)

Plus, credibility builds on credibility, so the more brands you have on your copywriter resume, regardless if they’re already established companies or not quite known yet, the better your chances of landing bigger and better clients with higher budgets for freelance copywriters in the future.

The idea is not to rush into trying to get massive five-figure copywriting contracts because those aren’t so easy to get right away, and there’s no reason to discourage yourself when you can find other work that actually encourages your growth and helps build your confidence so that you’re able to wow those high-paying future clients in the future.

And the thing about low-paying copywriting work that often goes overlooked is that it doesn’t take very long to do, so you can control your effective hourly rate by becoming a faster copywriter.

As you know from my story, you can potentially turn low-paying copywriting gigs into high-volume gigs by getting super speedy and letting your clients know that you’re willing and able to take on as much work as possible.

The best ways to start getting your first copywriting clients (aside from LinkedIn Jobs) are by setting up profiles and searching for work on:

• Fiverr
• Problogger’s Job Board
• Freelance Writing Gigs
• Upwork

You can also reach out to your network by posting on LinkedIn or other social networks, sending cold pitches to prospective clients you think are a good fit, and actively answering job postings with links to your site, portfolio, and social profiles.

It’s so important to remember that clients can come from anywhere, so don’t sleep on any one network because one isn’t necessarily better than the next.

By putting yourself out there on multiple platforms and having an owned digital property in the form of your website, you’ll be able to set yourself apart as a true professional and attract good clients easier than other freelance copywriters who appear less prepared and put together.

8. Learn What Works Best + Refine Your Workflow

How long it’ll take: After you’ve worked for a few months as a freelance copywriter on paid jobs, take a week or so to assess everything you’ve been through up until this point to figure out what’s working, what’s not, and what you can do to make your workflow optimally organized and your client experience as positive as possible.

Up until now, you’ve been focused on building your online presence, securing your first client, and delivering the highest quality copy for your clients.

Now that you’ve gotten the hang of dealing with prospects, turning them into paying customers, and wowing them with your witty wordplay, it’s time to ask yourself:

What can I be doing better for my clients and myself in running this freelance copywriting business?

Do an honest self-evaluation and deep-dive into your business practices to help you figure out the next priority steps in setting the foundation for your freelancing financial future.

Start by considering probing, open-ended questions like:

• Who is my ideal client now that I’m a more experienced copywriter?
• What can I do to attract better prospects?
• How can I book more clients?
• What can I do to communicate more clearly with clients?
• How can I make working with me easier?
• What can I do to produce better work faster?
• How do I evaluate my work?
• What are my benchmarks for success?

Write your answers down in a Google Doc, Word Doc, or journal of some kind like a Bullet Journal or Clever Fox Planner, and use your answers to figure out the best course of action for improving any areas of weakness you’ve identified.

For example, when I was freelance copywriting for LivingSocial, there was one editor who I could have had better communication with, and as a result, we decided it was best not to work together anymore. Thankfully I had other editors who had my back, so severing that one relationship didn’t really impact my earnings too much.

Still, it taught me not to be so self-righteous about my writing, even when I may technically be “right” about a point in question, and to basically chill the F out about copy edits that have nothing personal to do with me or my business.

Maybe this won’t resonate with you (good, if so), and you’re more concerned with how you bring in new leads on your website and nurture them through email (or maybe you don’t do that yet, and you want to work on setting that up with an email list tool like ConvertKit.

The point is to really think about your process so far in how you deal with clients end-to-end and how you produce and deliver your work.

There are bound to be cranks and kinks in your system — it’s kind of impossible to “nail it” when you’re starting a freelance copywriting career, so don’t feel bad if you feel disorganized after your first few months of client work.

Your to-do list as a freelancer running your own small business is virtually endless, so it’s all about strategically picking and choosing what you work on (remember how we talked about only using 1 or 2 social media platforms so you don’t spread yourself too thin? That idea extends to everything now.)

Figure out your problem areas, like lead generation, clients communications, and/or closing sales, and then implement solutions to refine your business practices, for example:

• Learn about lead magnets and create an undeniably awesome one
• Discover how to start an email list that builds trust and connection with subscribers
• Read up on how to nurture leads with engaging email campaigns and killer content
• See how to become a sales-closing savant by studying the psychology of selling
• Become a clearer communicator by learning how to set client expectations
• Charm the crap outta your clients and showcase your way with words by refining your email templates
• Increase your client touchpoints and keep them from nagging your ass by creating an automated email communication system

Some of these will be quicker fixes than others, while some will be more impactful on your overall bottom line, so the next step is creating a priority list of short– and long-term projects for improving your business.

In the short term, you can create your first lead magnet for your site if you don’t have one, like a downloadable PDF document that provides value to your prospects without giving too much away for free.

Then, you can get an email list management tool to help you capture the email addresses of leads who download your lead magnet.

Over time, you can have long-term goals to create engaging email drip campaigns that give your subscribers valuable information and help solidify your relationship with people who’ve shown an active interest in your business by opting into your email list.

Every freelance copywriter will discover a different process that works best for them, just like every freelancer will work with some companies that basically tell them exactly what they need to do, as well as companies that need more guidance when it comes to orchestrating a successful copywriting campaign.

Use this time to really think about what would serve to best organize your business, bring in recurring, high-quality leads, and close as many sales as you can comfortably take on before you have to outsource work, hire your own freelance writers, and scale your copywriting enterprise to new heights.

9. Build Your Reputation + Get Recurring Business

How long it’ll take: This totally depends on how hard you hit the hustle (and I’m personally more into balance), but be patient and give yourself about a full year to “establish yourself” as a badass freelance copywriter.

As you know if you’ve made it this far in this article, the nature of being a freelance copywriter is that your income can be sadistically severed from you when you least expect it, as happened to me early in my career with LivingSocial and Amazon — right after making a huge, cross-state move.

Did that totally suck and cause me and my partner some serious anxiety?

You bet your aZz it did.

But thankfully, I had been doing a lot of the things I outlined for you above in this article, and so I had built a pretty good reputation across my professional network (read: LinkedIn) where I was getting a consistent stream of leads for copywriting, as well as content creation, editing, and SEO work.

The best freelance copywriters understand that they’re nothing without a steady stream of prospects coming their way, and to really make beaucoup bucks, as they say, you’ll need to copy their best strategies en route to the coveted six-figure annual earnings.

To achieve what freelancers consider bragging right status, a cool $100K+/year, by building a consistent stream of leads, I recommend investing your efforts in the following areas to establish expertise, authority, and trust in your industry:

• SEO ~ Search Engine Optimization
• LinkedIn Posts
• High-End Guest Posts
• Paid Advertising

Let’s quickly hash out each of these strategic pillars of your freelance copywriting business.

SEO ~ Search Engine Optimization

On your website, you can create a Blog page and start writing strategic articles using keyword research and SEO best practices to determine what topics to cover and start ranking on Google for search terms that will help boost your copywriting business’ visibility.

You can also publish landing pages that are optimized for strategic keywords like local search terms (think: NYC copywriter, copywriter in London, etc.), industry-specific keywords (cybersecurity copywriter, fitness copywriter…), or both (beauty copywriter in NYC).

SEO is a brilliant way to gain credibility, as well, because you can cover topics like the expert you are and show the world exactly how your writing voice sounds when you’re writing for yourself.

To see this in action, consider this very post you’re reading right now, which I’m hoping will eventually rank for the keyword how to become a freelance copywriter, as well as how to become a copywriter and start a freelance career.

By no means is it guaranteed that this article will rank on Page 1 of Google, but my hope is that eventually, it will find its rightful place at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) for these and other related keywords, where the search intent is that someone is hoping to break into copywriting and seeking information to help them.

Over time, you can continue publishing relevant content (and showcasing your awesome copywriting and blogging skills) on your site to share on social media and build industry clout, thought leadership, and recognition, with the added benefit of attracting new clients through Google organic search results.

As someone who has been practicing SEO for nearly a decade, I’m one of the biggest proponents of it that you’ll meet.

But I’ll also let you know about what you might consider SEO’s downsides, which are that it:

• Takes some time to learn and understand how to implement SEO best practices
• Is more of a long-term strategy than a huge overnight impact
• Is under the strict control of Google, which is taking up more digital real estate on its search engine results pages (SERPs) with each update they make

Still, none of these take away from the fact that SEO goes hand-in-hand with creating valuable content that can be used to prove your expertise before they even start bringing in organic Google traffic.

You can link your SEO articles in your emails to share them with your subscribers, and you can send article links to prospective clients to showcase your expertise and help close more deals.

Plus, you can offer to write guest posts for blogs that your clients might read, in exchange for links back to your own articles. This is a practice known as getting “backlinks,” and it’s an integral part of SEO and getting your site and its content to rank higher on Google.

LinkedIn Posts

Not gonna lie: LinkedIn has always been my bread-n-butta for lead generation and finding new freelance copywriting clients.

I’ve always put stock in updating my profile with each and every new opportunity that comes my way, and it has paid dividends in literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in straight cash money.

Between all the freelance jobs I’ve gotten that were utterly life-changing for my finances at different points in my career, to all the relationships I’ve made through my stellar connections, LinkedIn has my utmost gratitude for allowing me to circumvent the traditional 9-to-5 way of life for a remote work lifestyle that I couldn’t live happily without.

The beauty of LinkedIn is that it’s made for professionals, so networking is the name of the game.

Simply put, it’s a place where it’s actually okay to promote yourself and your services, so long as it isn’t spammy, self-centered, or lacking in value for your audience.

You can even create your own LinkedIn newsletter to start building a following on the social network, offering sound ideas and intriguing insights into copywriting and other aspects that set your business apart.

No matter your level of experience, LinkedIn is a place where you can make an impact and share value, making it an essential online platform to set up shop for building your freelance copywriting career.

Here are some smart reasons to leverage LinkedIn for your freelance copywriting biz:

• You can showcase your expertise with millions of potential clients
• There’s no learning curve – just write about yourself and what you know
• It’s an awesome way to meet and network with like-minded people
• You get to put yourself out there in your written voice and attract new clients

While you’ll always be at the mercy of any social media platform you post on, LinkedIn is worth the risk for the foreseeable future because of how quickly it can make an impact on your freelancing career.

High-End Guest Posts

Writing high-end guest posts entails reaching out to well-known blogs and websites with article ideas, known as “pitches,” in an attempt to write for their site.

Keep in mind that when you talk about “guest posting,” it is implied that you’d be writing for free.

So, why on Erf would you spend your time writing content for other people’s sites when you could write stuff for your own site?

I’m thrilled you asked.

Doing guest posts has a multitude of benefits that cross over into SEO and LinkedIn, which is what makes it a brilliant avenue for freelance copywriters to pursue when building their reputations and becoming thought leaders.

Here are some reasons to consider high-end guest posting:

• You can get backlinks to your site within your article and author bio, and the higher the linking website’s Domain Authority and the linking page’s URL Authority, the better “SEO link juice” for your site, helping it appear higher in Google search engine rankings
• You can showcase your knowledge and expertise by writing about things within your wheelhouse and land new copywriting clients
• You can practice and hone your writing voice to continue building your portfolio with ever-improving content and get more and better guest posting opportunities and paying freelance writing gigs

All of these are major benefits of guest posting that make it an attractive strategy when you’re trying to build your reputation as a freelance copywriter.

You’ll also be able to connect with other experts in your niche, which could lead to lucrative business referrals, powerful partnerships, and even life-long friendships that transcend what you’ve had in the past. (Hey, you never know.)

The idea is to remain consistent with guest posting because, much like writing SEO content on your own blog to get organic traffic and leads, it is a long game that requires the hard work of constant outreach and continuous high-quality output.

You can get in touch with companies to make guest posting inquiries in a number of ways, such as:

• Sending a message through a company website’s Contact page
• Messaging or InMail-ing someone at the company on LinkedIn, typically a Content Marketing Manager, Editor, Head of Content, etc.
• Use LinkedIn to find the right person at the company, and then use an email finder tool like Snov.io or Hunter.io to find that person’s email address and send them a cold pitch

There’s an art and a science to writing cold emails + LinkedIn messages, especially ones containing pitches, but here’s the gist to ensure you maximize your chances of hearing back a “Yes!” of success:

• Keep your message short – aim for it to take no more than 90 seconds to read
• Introduce yourself — in one or two concise sentences
• Let them know your pitch(es) in as few lines as possible
• Thank them and peace out

Bonus points if you use one of the top SEO tools like Ahrefs to run a Content Gap Analysis so that your pitches incorporate smart SEO keyword research strategies.

The idea is that if you send enough polite, well-written messages and emails to enough people in charge of reputable company blogs and top media outlets, you’ll eventually get some of them to greenlight you to create content for them.

It may not be possible to get approved to write for the most popular sites at the start of your career, but with time and effort, along with fearlessness and understanding that rejection is simply part of the game, you’ll eventually start to hear more positive responses that provide the chance for you to get your foot in the door as a guest poster for different company blogs and media publications.

Over time, the more high-profile clients you work with, whether through freelance copywriting or writing guest posts, the easier it becomes to convince company blog managers and editors at respected media outlets to let you write guest posts for their sites.

Over time, you might consider outsourcing your guest posts to talented bloggers on the platforms you may have initially found work on, such as ProBlogger, Fiverr, and Upwork.

That way, you can concentrate on churning out copy for high-paying clients, marketing and biz management stuff only you can handle, or taking a much-needed break to calibrate and reclaim your zen, while paying it forward to other freelance writers you hire on Upwork or other platforms as they grow their own careers.

What I love most about guest posting is that it often turns into paid freelance writing gigs, where you still get all the sweet benefits that guest writers receive, with the added bonus of getting paid for your work.

The backlinks, reputation-building, and free publicity are all still part of the equation, and you can use these paid writing gigs to further fuel your freelance copywriting business to new heights.

You can use your guest posting experience to get hired as a ghostwriter, doing similar high-end guest posts on behalf of CEOs when they need writers to create content for top media outlets like Forbes Business Council and Entrepreneur.

I’ve done this a few times, and it can be lucrative, recurring work if you find the right clients.

Stick with your pitching and outreach and keep creating high-quality content, and you’ll build strong relationships with other writers and a stellar reputation in your industry as both a content creator and a copywriter.

Paid Advertising

The final channel for getting your name out there as a freelance copywriter is paid advertising, or PPC ads, namely Google Ads or ads on your preferred social network.

I personally have not used this for myself, but Google Ads is something I’ve used and managed while leading SEO content for a B2B SaaS company, and my partner and I have used Instagram and Facebook Ads for advertising our destination wedding photography business.

What I learned is that creating high-performing PPC ads is a lot like doing typical SEO, namely:

• Doing smart keyword research
• Writing clickable headlines
• Providing detailed meta descriptions
• Using the URL parameters to add enticement

Check out this page with Google Ads best practices to learn more.

When it comes to creating social media ads, it’s still about all of the above, with the addition of adding an enticing image to grab scrollers’ attention. Without a colorful, striking image, you risk having people scroll right past your paid ads without thinking twice.

Perhaps the best part of putting some money into paid ads is that you’ll get to learn the ropes of yet another lucrative freelance copywriting service you can offer clients, making you more well-rounded and elevating your earning potential.

10. Optional Extra Credit: Start Teaching + Influencing When You Reach Expert Level

Once you start earning a six-figure income as a freelance copywriter (and potentially as a recurring paid contributor to some of the sites you originally guest posted for), it’s time to sit back and bask in the glory of what you’ve been able to create for yourself and your loved ones.

From your humble beginnings, you were able to build a successful freelance copywriting business that you could run from anywhere, where you could control who you worked with and that ultimately freed you from the relentless grind of a traditional job.

For that, you’re awesome, and you deserve a congratulatory bear hug, some celebratory birria tacos and beers (or your preferred vegetarian/vegan alternatives), and a weekend of sleeping in, binging Love Island and leftover, and getting a much-needed massage from all that sedentary work.

(Hopefully, you have an adjustable-height desk — if not, take a look at this guide on the best desks for working from home for writers like you to optimize your WFH workstation and save yourself from back aches.)

But it also begs the question:

What’s next for you at this point in your copywriting career?

Sure, you can consider yourself a success, but if you’ve gotten to a point where client work no longer stimulates your brain like it used to, maybe it’s time to consider what else you can do to leverage your reputation for copywriting excellence, without having to deal with the kind of work that eventually leads to burnout.

That’s where teaching comes into the picture.

Here’s the idea:

You know things about copywriting, being a copywriter, and writing as a career in general.

Things that other people don’t know.

And lots of people would pay to learn those things you know.

Especially from someone who’s actually done those things before.

Someone like you.

There are plenty of places where you could build an online course and share the knowledge you’ve acquired over the years.

These are a few of the most popular online course-building platforms:

• Teachable
• Thinkific
• Kajabi

Or, if you’re looking to build a cohort-based online course, check out my friend Wes Kao’s awesome company, Maven, where you can create a community around your course and monetize your expertise like never before.

You can also check out the Maven Course Accelerator “a free two-week program to learn how to teach online” with “over 900+ experts to start building your own course.”

The beauty of becoming an expert copywriter is that now you’re able to make money by sharing your knowledge and experience, and an online course is just one way to do it using the power of the Internets.

How To Become A Copywriter & Start a Freelance Career: Wrapping it Up

And that about wraps up this detailed guide on how to become a copywriter so that you can start a freelance copywriting business that allows you to make money from anywhere, earn more than ever before, and regain the time and freedom to work when you wish.

If you follow the step-by-step guidance in this article, you’ll be on your way to landing freelance copywriting clients and earning a six-figure annual income before you know it.

In the meantime, you can learn more about how to set up your workspace for success with this post on work-from-home office essentials and get ready to work remotely from anywhere in the world with this detailed article on travel essentials for remote workers.

Thanks so much for reading!

I hope this post helps you on your path to becoming a freelance copywriter, and I’m excited about where the journey is going to take you!