Copywriter

I write copy for entertainment sites, tech sites, and general marketing.

Copywriting is often confused with Content Writing. Personally, I define Content Writing as writing that is done for purposes other than marketing, i.e. Editorial Writing, Blogging, and under some circumstances, general website writing. Anything that involves a voice or opinon is Content Writing.

[Waits...]

Ok. I assume the rest of you are still here to read how I define copywriting.

Copywriting is any writing that is done for the purpose of convincing a user to do something, or that is intended for commercial use. For example, I've worked for Crew Creative Advertising writing advertising taglines and re-titles for movies and television shows. This involves writing about 100 of each and then crossing my fingers that the client chooses mine. (Don't get me wrong, I'm paid whether they choose mine or not, but still.)

I wrote copy for MTV's websites (most of the following are now defunct, so don't bother clicking on these. No I don't think it was my fault): Real World, My SuperSweet 16, Am I Hot or Not?, What's Hot Right Now, various dating sites, and a soon-to be launched gaming site. In some cases I wrote the entire site from menu items to instructions to marketing documents. Sometimes I just wrote the About Us section or taglines.

How is that different from web content writing? Well, I guess it's debatable. I wrote the content for the express commercial pupose of sounding cool and establishing a voice that would speak to MTV's audience. Many of my words were chosen deliberately for that audience, and wouldn't necessarily be anything that I would say. MTV asked me write words for a certain section, and I did so.

Similarly, I wrote copy for many telecom websites, but primarily for a site called All Conferencing, which does audio, video and web conferencing. In this case, I was trained on the system, and then I wrote a manual explaining how to use it. I took the same information and made it web friendly, working within the website's framework to create easy to understand instructions that moved a user through the site.