Copywriting is the process of writing the words that promote a person, business, opinion, or idea. It may be used as plain text, as a radio or television advertisement, or in a variety of other media. The main purpose of writing this marketing copy, or promotional text, is to persuade the listener or reader to act — to buy a product or subscribe to a certain viewpoint, for instance. Alternatively, copy might also be intended to dissuade a reader from a particular belief or action.

Copywriting can include body copy, slogans, headlines, direct mail pieces, taglines, jingle lyrics, World Wide Web and Internet content, television or radio commercial scripts, press releases, white papers, and other written material incorporated into advertising media. Copywriters can contribute words and ideas to print ads, mail-order catalogs, billboards, commercials, brochures, postcards, online sites, e-mail, letters and other advertising media.

On websites, copywriting may also refer to the methods of writing and wording used to achieve higher rankings in search engines. Often referred to as content writing, it includes the strategic placement and repetition of keywords and keyword phrases on webpages. As search-engine algorithms get smarter every day, this search engine optimization (SEO) copywriting is more and more about writing for human visitors as well as for search engines, about offering fluent and readable content written in an SEO-wise manner.

Copywriters can work for themselves as independent contractors, freelancing for a variety of clients. They may also work as employees within larger organizations, including advertising agencies, public relations firms, advertising departments within larger companies, TV or radio stations, newspapers and magazines.

A copywriter often works as part of an advertising team. Agencies and advertising departments partner copywriters with art directors. The copywriter has ultimate responsibility for their advertisements' verbal and textual content; the art director has ultimate responsibility for the visual look and appeal. Both are responsible for coming up with big, effective, persuasive ideas.

Copywriters are similar to technical writers, and the careers may overlap. Broadly speaking, however, technical writing is dedicated to informing readers rather than persuading them. For example, a copywriter would write an ad designed to sell a car, while a technical writer would write the operator's manual to explain how to use it.

Because the words sound alike, copywriters are sometimes confused with people who work in copyright law. The careers are unrelated.

Well-known copywriters include David Ogilvy, William Bernbach, Robert W. Bly, and Leo Burnett. Many creative artists spent some of their career as copywriters before becoming famous for other things, including Dorothy L. Sayers, Viktor Pelevin, Eric Ambler, Joseph Heller, Terry Gilliam, Salman Rushdie, Don DeLillo, and Shigesato Itoi. (Herschell Gordon Lewis, on the other hand, became famous for directing violent exploitation films, then retired to become a very successful copywriter.)

The Internet has proven to be an incredibly powerful tool for copywriters looking to make a living through writing. Web content writers are one of the fastest growing segments of the copywriting profession worldwide. The impetus of continuous Internet business expansion and the emerging emphasis on various effective writing techniques, brings increased demand for copywriters today.

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