Writing is the lifeblood of astir online businesses. Whether that’s blog articles, landing leafage copy, oregon merchandise descriptions, the written connection is indispensable to pull and person readers.

But determination are 2 types of writers you tin go (or hire): A contented writer oregon a copywriter.

What are the differences betwixt these 2 crafts? Which should you larn to bash oregon prosecute for your business? Let’s instrumentality a look.

Content penning is, well, penning content—typically to pass oregon entertain the reader.

Examples of contented penning include:

• Blog articles
• Social media posts
• Email newsletters

Copywriting is tweaking written contented to transportation the scholar to instrumentality action, specified arsenic making a acquisition oregon signing up for a newsletter.

Examples of copywriting include:

• PPC ads
• Landing page copy
• Product descriptions

While the extremity of contented penning is to pass oregon entertain and the extremity of copywriting is to sell, they spell manus successful hand. You typically privation to beryllium skilled astatine both, careless of your goal.

That said, determination are places wherever copywriters and contented writers differ:

Length of content

Traditional contented writers typically constitute longer contented that’s 1,000 words oregon more. They are usually hired to constitute long-form blog articles, ebooks, oregon email newsletters.

Traditional copywriters constitute short, snappy contented that’s conscionable a fewer 100 words. They are usually hired to constitute short-form advertorials oregon merchandise descriptions.

That said, contented writers tin constitute short-form contented similar societal media posts and copywriters tin constitute long-form contented similar landing pages. These are generalities, not hard rules.

Purpose

Traditional contented writers are often hired to make blog contented with the extremity of ranking precocious connected Google. They are often good versed successful on-page SEO and integrated societal media. 

Traditional copywriters are often hired to constitute ads, merchandise pages, and landing pages. They cognize however to usage almighty wording to get the scholar to instrumentality action.

Again, however, these are generalities. There is specified a happening arsenic SEO copywriting wherever you harvester these 2 disciplines to some fertile good connected Google and besides get radical to acquisition your products oregon services.

Great content—and large copy—both bash 3 things well:

1. Entice the scholar to support reading
2. Solve a request for the reader
3. Give Google thing worthy displaying

Let’s speech about these.

Great contented is enticing

Interesting, captivating, enticing—if these words don’t picture your writing, it needs editing. 

How bash you marque your contented much enticing? By:

• Knowing your audience.
• Being concise successful your wording.
• Writing successful a conversational tone.
• Editing, editing, and editing some more.
• Mastering transitions and affectional wording.

I wrote a full guide to becoming a amended writer, which I urge you work to learn more.

Great contented solves a need

I mentioned you indispensable cognize your assemblage to constitute large content; portion of that means knowing the problems they person and however your merchandise oregon work solves those problems.

I don’t mean the superficial problem, though—people don’t often bargain a T-shirt to enactment warm. They bargain a T-shirt to enactment their favourite group, amusement disconnected their interests, find like-minded people, oregon consciousness much charismatic and confident.

You indispensable uncover the underlying occupation your people marketplace has. Also, amusement what you person to connection and however it solves that underlying problem.

For example, covering marque Bombas speech astir the nonstop problems its socks solve, not conscionable that they’re comfortable:

Great contented is optimized for hunt engines

Even though I said SEO is typically pursued by contented writers implicit copywriters, some tin payment from learning it—and complaint more too.

Search motor optimization is the process of creating contented that is optimized to fertile connected Google for a peculiar keyword. While there’s a batch to larn astir SEO writing, it boils down to:

• Doing keyword research to find the champion people keyword for a page.
• Knowing the search intent for that keyword, i.e., what is the searcher genuinely looking for?
• Understanding and implementing on-page SEO.

For example, this leafage targets the keyword “copywriting vs contented writing.” 

We recovered this keyword done keyword research. We chose it due to the fact that it gets tenable postulation and has a comparatively debased Keyword Difficulty (KD) score, according to our Keywords Explorer tool.

Next, we looked astatine the hunt intent for this keyword by reviewing the competing pages successful the hunt results. I recovered that astir searchers look to beryllium looking for accusation connected the differences betwixt the 2 successful bid to take a vocation way oregon marque a hiring decision—so that’s what I focused this nonfiction on.

Finally, to assistance with on-page SEO, I looked astatine the People Also Ask container connected Google. I’ve included answers to immoderate of these communal questions wrong this article:

Of course, there’s much to SEO than conscionable what I’ve shared here. Go work our beginner’s usher to SEO to learn more.

According to Indeed, the mean contented writer’s wage successful the U.S. is $56,076 per year. Compare that with the mean copywriter’s wage of $58,560 per year.

Copywriting tends to wage much than contented penning due to the fact that it’s casual to spot the contiguous interaction of bully transcript connected a company’s bottommost line.

Think astir it. Say you prosecute a idiosyncratic to constitute copy. The transcript they wrote past instantly increases your conversion complaint by 2% and puts an other 1000 dollars successful your slope account. 

You’d wage them more, wouldn’t you?

Compare that to hiring a contented writer who writes a blog nonfiction for you, which you aren’t definite whether oregon not the nonfiction did oregon volition marque you wealth back. It’s casual to spot wherefore copywriters marque much wealth than contented writers.

That said, I person ne'er advertised myself arsenic a “copywriter.” I besides marque acold much than a emblematic copywriter for penning content. That’s due to the fact that I recognize SEO and selling arsenic well, and the articles I constitute for my clients typically marque their mode to the apical of Google’s hunt results.

Also, I recognize some copywriting and contented writing, which allows maine to complaint more.

Keep successful caput that my first-ever freelance penning gig made maine a measly $5 for a astir 3,000-word article. So cognize that it takes clip to larn the skills—both penning skills and being capable to marketplace yourself—to scope higher pay.

If you’re present wondering who you should hire—a copywriter oregon a contented writer—the reply isn’t wholly achromatic and white.

If you privation idiosyncratic to constitute merchandise descriptions, landing leafage copy, oregon transcript for PPC ads, see a copywriter. If you privation idiosyncratic to constitute blog posts, email newsletters, oregon ebooks, prosecute a contented writer.

But honestly, the words “copywriter” and “content writer” are conscionable antithetic titles for what is fundamentally the aforesaid job—putting words connected a surface that inform, entertain, and yet get radical to find and privation to bargain from your brand.

My proposition is to look for a copywriter with SEO skills. They volition beryllium the astir costly but besides (hopefully) the astir adjuvant prosecute for your business.

Check retired my usher to hiring an SEO team for much insight.

Final thoughts

Copywriting and contented penning person their differences connected paper. But ultimately, they’re conscionable titles.

The existent quality is whether the idiosyncratic who claims a rubric is really a skilled writer successful the manufacture they are advertizing themselves. If they are, their rubric doesn’t matter, and they volition beryllium an plus to your business.

Questions oregon comments? Ping maine on Twitter.