Copywriting

Copywriting is a hugely misunderstood occupation. When reducing costs on a project, one of the first expenses to be cut is often the copywriter. After all, we all knew how to read and write when we left school, so shouldn't we be suitably skilled to write the copy for our websites or marketing material without paying someone else?

I may know how to hold a paintbrush and open a tin of paint, but I still open the Yellow Pages and pay someone in reassuringly splattered overalls when the front of my house starts to flake off in the sun.

Many people don't see copywriting as a skill in the same way they see house painting, or car maintenance, or even chainsaw juggling. Copywriting is less tangible to the outsider than seeing a new colour on the front of a house or getting a rundown wreck of a car to start. The impact of words on readers isn't as immediately apparent to the unskilled eye.

This misunderstanding results in poorly written websites and brochures with the ability to turn off potential customers. Nothing says 'unprofessional' like a misspelled product catalogue and nothing fails faster than web copy that doesn’t get you to read to the last line.

In my current role as Online Editor and Copywriter for Netregistry, I produce copy for a huge variety of websites. One day, I may need to produce a home page on Latin dance classes, the next it could be blogging about accounting software, or skin care, property sales and dating. The world-wide web is vast, with each new day bringing me a fresh project unlike the last.

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