Last Updated on 5 months by Christopher Jan Benitez

The list is endless when it comes to ways of becoming a better copywriter. From taking paid courses to reading mountains of literature, everyone swears by something different.

And that’s great! Copywriting, and writing in general, is often developed from within. Even a product description starts as a story within a writer’s mind. Still, there are plenty of no-nonsense tips that any writer can use to hone their craft and generate more business.

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Understand the Industry and its Audience

The research doesn’t stop with the product. In fact, keen writers will understand how to deliver that product knowledge to the intended audience. Writing compelling marketing copy begins with recognizing who you’re writing to, and what they want to hear.

For example, a tech product is likely to feature a savvy audience of knowledgeable consumers. They will get their product news from blogs and tech sites. More than likely, they’ll also read those features from their mobile device. From there, they’ll go to the product site and make an online purchase.

The target audience will also help a writer form how they write. It can take some trial and error, but every industry will have its specific flavor of audience. The tech crowd will likely be connected with daily trends. Therefore, a writer could apply a more topical, “down-to-Earth” writing style, with some choice slang or everyday terms. Writing as part of the audience helps the writer capture the audience.

A simple method of learning about a particular audience is to study other writers of that industry. Find bloggers, writers, and reporters who provide respected stories and analyses. Once you have a list of writers that you admire, study the following:

How do they craft their words? (Grammar, sentence structure, and layout.)
How do they format the page? (Titles, anchor text, and headlines.)
How “familiar” are they with the audience? (Close and friendly? Reserved and professional?)

Start with these three questions. As you begin to answer them, you will see how the top writers shape their copy. This will differ based on the industry, but every writer will see how the big names deliver the content that makes the sale. Use that as a basis of education.

Understand the Product

Once you’ve got the market down, take some time and research the products you write about. Listen to first-hand interviews and find your own online sources. Learn the product inside and out. What is it designed to do? Who will it help? How was it designed, and why is that important?

More importantly, understand what the audience wants to know about the product. By understanding it, you can offer the readers the authoritative source they’re looking for. By researching the product, you’ll be able to communicate:

The features of the product, including new or improved details.
The benefits of the product, especially over competitors’ products.
Who will see the heaviest use out of the product? Who should buy it?
Which experts have weighed in on the product.

Become an expert by becoming an expert; it’s a simple notion. As a copywriter, when you’re not writing, you’re researching. In fact, understanding the product often helps unlock the story potential of the brand itself.

The goal of a copywriter is to inform, and the best way to do so is to use an approachable, relatable writing style to tell a story. Depending on who you’re writing for, you’ll be able to harness story elements into your writing.

By understanding the product, you can incorporate narrative into your writing. This engages readers and helps compel them to action. The more you understand the product (and the brand and the readers), the more relatable you can make the writing. Using your storytelling skills can thus deliver a personable, catchy copy.

Hone Your Personal Style for the Web

Once you’ve found any kind of success, focus on what is working. Whether you’re an agency writer or finding freelance gigs, a style persona, specifically an SEO-based one, strengthens your web writing. Honing your SEO content writing style will help your copy impact the Internet’s many algorithms, which in turn will increase your work’s visibility.

When looking where to begin, start simple. Where do your editors offer consistent praise or critiques? Is your sentence structure clean and efficient, or does it sometimes feel clunky and lacking impact? As you continue to write, the feedback you receive from editors and audiences will help hone your style.

You will discover the perfect sentence length to keep readers engaged. You will understand how to break up your writing with lists and formatting. And, you’ll understand how to use keywords, titles, and anchor text to strengthen your search relevancy.

If you’re a freelance writer without a direct editor, all is not lost. Become part of an online SEO writing community. Share some content and ask for feedback. Even if you aren’t specifically writing SEO content, it will help you write for the web. In other words, an editing group will help shape your copy into the most impactful expression of your mind.

Common SEO writing guidelines include:

Fluent keyword usage (while sounding natural)
A 5th-grade writing target (easy content means faster reading)
Deft anchor text and use of links (relevancy is key)
Research-based hooks (statistics drive decisions)

You won’t be able to edit every piece of writing through a group, but it can help highlight your common issue areas. From there, you can address the features of your writing that often need extra work. These are great opportunities to personalize your writing style while cleaning up your content.

Learn Another Language

There are many benefits to learning another language. It’s great for your brain; it enhances your ability to multitask; it improves non-verbal communication, and it forges new neural pathways in your brain. To be precise, learning new languages enhances the neuroplasticity of your mind.

Professionally, learning new languages opens up worlds of opportunities. Bi- (or multi) lingual writers can communicate with clients all over the world. Multilingual copywriters have access to more writing jobs, especially overseas. Those skilled in a second language could even become professional translators.

Even if you don’t know a second language, a good writer can start learning one now. Take a look at your current industries. Do you write tech-based content? Look into Japanese or Chinese to connect with Asia’s massive tech markets. Are you writing for a southwest United States-based pet food company? Start learning Spanish to increase the outreach of your content.

Learning a second language isn’t difficult, but it does require some dedication. Think of it as a professional skill-building exercise. The best writers have the most skills, and they are always ready to use them. However, they all started at the beginning. To get started, look at free online resources, which include:

Taking a free (or paid) online course (Duolingo, LingQ, and Rosetta Stone, to name a few).
Learning with an online tutor (Preply offers lessons and free materials, such as printable Spanish flashcards.
Using language learning podcasts before and after work.
Reading foreign language content, once you’re skilled enough.

The final point is a great way to ensure your writing matches the audience. A good writer will understand how the audience wants to be told a story in their own language. When learning a second language, surround yourself with the everyday words spoken by regular people. Or, if you’re in a specialized industry like finance or tech, hone your words to those readers.

Enhance Your Writing With Art

When you spend all day writing for work, it can be difficult to write for pleasure. However, good writers will find ways to stay creative and maintain their love of writing. Expressive art is an easy answer.

Art therapy is an approachable technique to keep your mind centered and happy. As a writer, you may already use several of these techniques in your normal routine. There are professional art therapists, but anyone can use art therapy prompts at home. These prompts can help spark ideas and keep your mind engaged. Some ideas include:

Collaging your daily emotions to create colorful displays of your mind
Drawing mandalas to focus your thoughts before work
Paint a scene based on a favorite quote or passage

Using art to stay creative allows your mind to rest its writing functions while staying active. Indeed, a mind that stays creative is flexible and can avoid writers’ block. Art drives inspiration. And as writers, that inspiration will often translate to words on the page.

Art can also help hone your professional writing for the same reasons. A creative mind can better adapt to the needs of the customer. A flexible mind can create stories and words that resonate with the audience. With those skills, your work will flourish.

Becoming a better copywriter starts with a love of learning. Whether learning a new language or researching a new product, copywriters are always studying. To enhance your writing, get to know what the audience wants to hear and how they want to hear it. Use storytelling to craft compelling narratives throughout your copy.

Finally, understand how the Internet wants you to write. The best copy can still get buried beneath competitors if your writing isn’t optimized for search engines. With these tips, copywriters can enhance their craft, score more leads, and make more sales.

Article written by Jessica Larson of SolopreneurJournal.com