Copywriting

What it means

Copywriting is writing text meant to persuade the reader to take a step: buy, call, sign up, ask for a quote. It covers website copy, ads, emails, product descriptions and social media posts.

It differs from content marketing in its aim. Content marketing explains and builds trust over time, while copywriting drives a decision now. In practice they overlap: a good article has a clear call to action, and a good sales page explains.

Good copy starts from who reads it. That is why copywriting relies on a buyer persona: what problem they are solving, what language they use, what they fear. Copy that talks about the company instead of the customer usually does not sell.

How it works in practice

For professional services such as accounting or tax advice, copy must also be factually accurate. A wrong deadline or rate on a website damages trust, and on money topics search engines judge expertise strictly against the E-E-A-T criteria.

Website copy is also written for search engines: clear headings, answers to the questions people search for and natural use of keywords. For SEO, usefulness and structure matter more than repeating phrases.

If an outside copywriter writes the texts, the contract should settle copyright, especially a licence for unlimited use and edits. The fee is a deductible expense for the company, and for an individual it is usually business income or income from use of a work.

What to watch out for

Advertising that promises more than the service delivers, or compares with competitors without evidence, is risky. Such copy can amount to misleading advertising and unfair competition, and for consumer products the supervisory authority penalises it too.

With AI-generated copy, facts and originality must be checked. Search engines do not penalise AI as such, but generic text with no first-hand experience and with errors persuades neither the reader nor the algorithm.