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Copywriting Vs Content Writing; What’s the Difference

  • December 23 2014
  • Comments Off on Copywriting Vs Content Writing; What’s the Difference
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If you’re interested in writing for the Internet yourself or if you want to hire a professional writer for your blog or website, it’s critical that you understand the exact difference between content writing and copywriting. Many people make the error of thinking that the two are the same thing, when they are actually two drastically different types of writing, and using one when the other is more appropriate will not be effective in most scenarios. Understanding the difference will ensure your success in whatever writing endeavor you are on.

 

What is Copywriting?

The very first thing that you need to know about copywriting is that the actual title itself is an advertising term. This may help give you a basic idea of what copywriting is all about—promotional advertising copy. Many people put copywriting and online writing in the same box, however copywriting actually refers to the literature that is meant to promote something. Whether it’s a pamphlet, brochure or some other type of advertising copy, it’s used in order to promote a product, service or business.

 

Online Copywriting

In the online world, copywriting usually refers to the sales page of a website. A copywriter’s focus is typically to persuade their readers to purchase their product or service. In order to do this, copywriters utilize plenty of action words in order to encourage their readers to act swiftly and purchase their product or use their service. If you’re reading through a webpage and come across a lot of phrases such as “hire us” or “purchase” or “act now” then you are likely looking at a copywriting piece.

 

Copywriting and Emotion

Copywriters usually try to evoke a lot of emotion in their readers. Feeling an emotion towards a certain product or service is intended to make people feel as though they absolutely need to purchase the product or service in order to improve the quality of their life, whether that’s through a beauty aid, weight loss program or money making opportunity or something else completely.

 

Copywriting Takes Research

Good copywriting take plenty of research due to the fact that writers need to learn more about their audience in order to fully understand how to properly persuade their readers into making the move to purchase their product or service. You may notice that copywriting can seem a bit pushy, but great copywriters are able to make this pushiness much more subtle.

 

What is Content Writing?

Content writing is drastically different than copywriting for a couple of reasons. Primarily, content writing is used in order to entertain and inform readers. Although content writing can mention buying something simply in passing, this type of writing usually doesn’t try to strongly persuade readers to purchase anything. Instead of trying to persuade you to take action, content writing encourages you to think about a certain topic, or teaches you something about it. Good content writing should also make the readers feel connected to the author’s view, and encourage them to think deeper and form their own opinion on the matter that the content is written on.

 

Examples of Content Writing and Copywriting

If you’ve ever come across a sales page that is attempting to sell a certain product, such as an eBook then you likely have an idea of what copywriting is all about. You may also have gotten a few promotion emails now and again from a copywriter. On the other hand, a content writer usually writes blog posts. Additionally, articles and other informative pieces of writing are usually written by content writers, and so if you ever need help with something and Google it, the page you come across will likely be considered a content piece.

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Cameron Mackey

Cameron is the Content Manager for the Vorongo Blog. He has spent three years in various content marketing roles. When he is not working with Vorongo he enjoys photography and hiking.

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