Copywriting is one of the most valuable skills you can learn.
Learning the ins and outs of copywriting will be a massive help with whatever you’re doing online. When you learn the principles of persuasion, everything you write grabs more attention and more convincing.
If you clicked on this article, you probably want a clear answer to the question: how long does it take to make money from copywriting?
There’s no clear cut answer. You could start making money as a copywriter tomorrow. That’s unlikely, and it’s not the best path. A better answer is ~300 hours. Some copywriters say 3–6 months, but it really depends on what you’re doing and how you’re learning.
You could go from knowing nothing about copywriting to landing a decent copywriting gig with 300 hours of study and practice. How many days, weeks, or months that takes is up to you.
Gary Halbert — a very famous copywriter — was asked how quickly someone could become a decent copywriter. He said 30 days, but that was 30 days of intense work.
If you have other responsibilities, you couldn’t complete his copywriting challenge in 30 days.
What is copywriting?
My simple definition of copywriting is words that inspire action.
Copy is writing with the primary goal of action or conversion. The action is usually in the form of a sale or booking a sales meeting. Copy can also be used to inspire other actions, like coming to a free event or joining an email list.
Copywriting is different than content writing because the primary goal of content isn’t action. Of course there’s some overlap, but the goal of content is to educate or entertain.
I’m using some copywriting principles in this article, but my primary goal is to inform you about copywriting. If I was writing a sales page for my copywriting course, my goal would be for you to sign up. Those are two very different things.
Different types of copywriters
There are 100s of unique opportunities under the umbrella of copywriting.
Since your goal is to learn copywriting and get paid quickly, the best thing you can do is pick one and stay focused on it. Trying to learn everything about all different kinds of copy will wear you down and take 10x more time and effort.
Here’s a short list of common types of copywriters:
Within each of those categories, you could write copy for 100s of different industries. That gives you 1,000s of different options.
To start, I’d pick an industry to focus on — ideally something you enjoy and are interested in. Copywriting involves countless hours of research, which becomes less and less enjoyable when you don’t care about the industry you’re writing about.
Many of the same copywriting principles carry over from one type of copy to another, but you’ll make progress much faster when you’re laser focused.
Generally speaking, email and social media copywriting is the easiest to learn. You’re more familiar with these, they’re in high demand, and they’re lower risk.
An eCommerce business might send 25 emails and 12 social media ads every month. A business coach only launches their new program twice a year. Writing a few emails is much lower risk compared to the coaching program sales page or VSL script.
I can’t tell you exactly what type of copywriting or which niche you should pursue. Your best bet is to start with shorter, lower-risk copy in a niche you're familiar with.
Learning the basics of copywriting
There’s an abundance of free resources that will teach you the basic principles of copywriting and persuasion. If you’re starting from scratch, I recommend some free resources before paying for a copywriting course.
Books, Blogs, Videos, & Podcasts
One of the greatest books about copywriting is Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins–and you can read a free PDF version of it.
Here are 3 other books I'd recommend reading:
There are tons of great blogs, YouTube channels, and podcasts about copywriting.
It's easy to get overwhelmed by information overload. You could spend years learning the different copywriting tactics and formulas, without making much actual progress. Remember–your goal is to learn what you need to know and start working on projects.
After you understand the basic principles, the best way to get better at copywriting is to write copy.
Pick one format (blog, videos, or podcast) and spend 5-10 hours a week consuming the content. In total, aim to spend half your time (~150 hours) learning from books and other resources.
Blogs
Youtube Channels
Podcasts
Another popular way to learn copywriting is called copywork. This involves hand copying a proven piece of copy. This helps you recognize the common patterns of effective sales copy.
There are mixed opinions about this, but I've done it and can say it works with confidence.
I created a copywork course that takes the practice to the next level. You'll do the copywork and analyze the copy so you start to understand why it works.
Building your portfolio
Once you have a decent understanding of the type of copy and niche you want to start in, you can build your copy portfolio.
The first thing your potential clients or employer will want to see is examples of copy you’ve written. This is where people run into the chicken and egg problem.
You need experience to get hired, and need to get hired to get experience.
That’s not the case at all.
You can start with something called “spec ads”. Find a product or service in your niche and write sales copy for it. Do this with your end goal in mind. If you’re aiming to write emails for fitness eCommerce shops, write a “fake” email campaign for a real product and brand.
You won’t send these out, but put in the same effort as you would for a client.
If creating something from scratch still sounds intimidating, start with a copy revision. Join 5 email lists and rewrite some of their emails, or find 5 relevant Facebook ads and rewrite them.
Another easy option is to write copy for your friends and family for free.
You'll get:
Keep in mind that relevancy is key. Your portfolio should be relevant to the copywriting jobs you're applying to.
The last tip I'll share here is an easy way to get paid to practice copywriting in the real world. Find something in your junk drawer or the back of your closet that you can sell. A pair of shoes that are in decent condition, an old gaming console, or piece of furniture.
Do some research to find what it's selling for and write an ad for it. Your goal is to sell it for more than market value. To do that, you'll need to write some persuasive sales copy.
This one might not go in your portfolio, but it's an easy way to put your copywriting skills to the test. And you'll get an epic confidence boost that you can write words that sell.
In total, I'd spend at least 50-60 hours rewriting ads, building your portfolio, creating spec ads, and doing free work for friends and family.
Landing your firstclient and Delivering results
Once your first client pays your invoice, you're a professional copywriter.
While that's worth celebrating, you're not done learning yet.
This is where the rubber meets the road. There's a lot you can only learn by writing copy for a client about a real product or service.
You'll learn a lot about persuasion by marketing yourself to your potential clients. You'll also make plenty of mistakes working on your first projects. Some of my clients gave me brutally honest feedback about the copy I sent their way.
I spent two days writing and rewriting an email campaign for a potential client. I was upfront and told him I didn't have much experience writing the emails he wanted, but I'd give it a shot. In the nicest way possible, he said my work was trash. He gave me some helpful tips, but it made me want to run away and hide.
That's all part of the learning process.
If NFL quarterbacks never missed a pass or threw an interception, it would mean they're not throwing the ball nearly enough.
You need to put yourself out there and be willing to potentially embarrass yourself.
When you get to this point, I've got the perfect guide on how to deliver award-worthy results. It's what I wish I read when working with my first clients. Check it out and you'll decrease your chances of being a complete and total failure.
After working on 3-5 projects, you'll get a lot more comfortable with this whole thing. Of course, you never stop learning about people, persuasion, and copywriting.
This is a lifelong journey.
I hope this gives you a better idea of what it looks like to learn copywriting.
Drop a comment if you have any questions or want to share your copywriting journey. You can find my 7-day copywriting course here:
