Hey this is Jesse Forrest from StartCopywriting.com. Welcome to my brand new series of videos called Ask the Copywriter. This is where I answer reader’s questions all about becoming a copywriter and starting your own freelance copywriting business.
So I just got back from three weeks in Asia and I sent my loving fans and followers both on Facebook and email database and I asked them that I\’m in Asia right now. I\’ve been to Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and Cambodia. And I said “Which of these countries do you think I like the most?” Trying to see how well you guys know me.
Most people said Vietnam which I thought was interesting. Vietnam is a wonderful country. I really enjoy being there in Ho Chi Minh but also in Hoi An And if you\’ve been to Vietnam, let me know what you thought about it in the comments below.
But actually my favourite would probably be Hong Kong. I love that it\’s this new kind of, it\’s not a new city but you\’ve got a new part of Hong Kong in mainland and you\’ve got Kowloon and Mongkok which is another area. And I just love the ties between the old and the new Hong Kong and the food there is amazing.
People are really friendly and I was able to do business over there. I did some copywriting workshops to some corporate marketing managers. So Hong Kong was amazing. Vietnam was also pretty cool as well.
I decided a few years ago that the internet is where a lot of business is being done now a days and I decided to specialize. So I called myself thewebcopywriter.com.
That was my old copywriting website. My new one now that I have is an agency called copywritingcrew.com.au. So feel free to check those out if you want to see how I\’m specializing in marketing my copywriting services.
You can check out how I setup my website. But obviously, don\’t just copy what I\’m doing exactly. Take inspiration to use it and to create your own copywriting website.
Imagine you had a sales person in the offline world or someone selling door to door. Imagine they just had all the right words, they were charismatic, knew what to say and knew the product inside and out. But they were wearing a crappy old suit.
How likely are we going to trust that salesperson? Probably unlikely. It\’s the same online. Copy needs to be compelling, engaging and effective. But you also need great design.
Sometimes you see long form sales pages and there\’s red headlines, five different choices of font, huge paragraphs, the design is kind of crappy and nonexistent. That\’s going to really affect the conversion rate and the effectiveness of the copy.
Design is important. Design is almost as important as copy nowadays and so you really need to factor that in.
Nowadays with copywriting, I\’m not just writing copy for myself and my team, we\’re also working with the clients and you need great visuals such as:
But actually my favourite would probably be Hong Kong. I love that it\’s this new kind of, it\’s not a new city but you\’ve got a new part of Hong Kong in mainland and you\’ve got Kowloon and Mongkok which is another area. And I just love the ties between the old and the new Hong Kong and the food there is amazing.
People are really friendly and I was able to do business over there. I did some copywriting workshops to some corporate marketing managers. So Hong Kong was amazing. Vietnam was also pretty cool as well.
Reader Question
Anyway I\’m here to answer some readers questions about copywriting which is from Deborah Harada:Seems like copywriting is changing a lot these days. Can you address the changes you\’ve seen and how they\’ve affected your business?Great question. Thanks Deborah! So the change that I\’ve seen is that I\’m getting more requests for online copywriting. People are asking for Facebook ad copy, social media copywriting, for landing pages and websites. Whilst I\’m getting a lot less for direct mail or brochures or even the white paper reports.
I decided a few years ago that the internet is where a lot of business is being done now a days and I decided to specialize. So I called myself thewebcopywriter.com.
That was my old copywriting website. My new one now that I have is an agency called copywritingcrew.com.au. So feel free to check those out if you want to see how I\’m specializing in marketing my copywriting services.
You can check out how I setup my website. But obviously, don\’t just copy what I\’m doing exactly. Take inspiration to use it and to create your own copywriting website.
Copywriting and website design matters
Another thing I\’ve seen Deborah, is that design is really important nowadays. For years copywriters said: \”Design doesn’t matter, it\’s the words that do the selling\”. In fact I even still say that on some of my web pages but I need to update those. What I mean is design is really important.
Imagine you had a sales person in the offline world or someone selling door to door. Imagine they just had all the right words, they were charismatic, knew what to say and knew the product inside and out. But they were wearing a crappy old suit.
How likely are we going to trust that salesperson? Probably unlikely. It\’s the same online. Copy needs to be compelling, engaging and effective. But you also need great design.
Sometimes you see long form sales pages and there\’s red headlines, five different choices of font, huge paragraphs, the design is kind of crappy and nonexistent. That\’s going to really affect the conversion rate and the effectiveness of the copy.
Design is important. Design is almost as important as copy nowadays and so you really need to factor that in.
Nowadays with copywriting, I\’m not just writing copy for myself and my team, we\’re also working with the clients and you need great visuals such as:
- You need to have a compelling product image.
- You need to layout the page effectively
- You need to have professional design
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About Jesse
Hi, I’m Jesse Forrest! As an 18-year freelance writing veteran, I’ve worked with clients in over 153 industries, covering almost every topic imaginable. Passionate about helping others break into freelance writing, I’ve trained over 35,000 people, including teams at Chanel, Disney, and Sony. For the past 6 years, I’ve traveled the world with my trusty laptop, currently residing in Thailand. To kickstart your freelance writing career, download my free guide:
