How to start copywriting?

[skeeter]

Agreed.

I'm a qualified Business Analyst or Systems Analyst. I do very little of that now unless a customer asks.

Being a "professional" is v.different to running a "good quality service for customers". You don't need to be "a professional" to run a good quality service. Careers mean not a lot in business. For instance, you don't need to be a web designer to run a web design business...you just need good staff.

I've had to unlearn professionalism for the sake of understanding "what makes things work".

I am enjoying seeing the wave of professionals join the small biz market. It's funny.

[Indizine]

pointless getting knickers ina twist of words and a perception of what they mean. Its how others see you anyway, not what you proclaim yourself as. I am only professional if people think I am. I am only qualified if I prove and demonstrate I am. Other than that, it's just words anyone can say.

[skeeter]

I'm sure Los wouldn't think so. BSc (Hons).
I personally don't think so. BA (Hons). SSADM / UML / PRINCE / etc / etc

These are not just words. They mean something. To me and other professionals.
Call yourself as you wish, but some things are not just words.

What I am saying is "these professional things" have nothing to do with running a business and serving customers.

[Indizine]

those are qualifications. I know qualifed people who are not 'professionals'. I think its a perception of what the word means to you perhaps. Anyway, its back to mincing over words which is pretty pointless.

[skeeter]

I've just checked Wicki for you

The word professional traditionally means a person who has obtained a degree in a professional field.

The second part says...

The term professional is used more generally to denote a white collar working person, or a person who performs commercially in a field typically reserved for hobbyists or amateurs.

This is not mincing over words. It is very specific.

Like I said. Professional is exactly that. Lots of hobbyists and amatuers pretending to be professionals. I don't care, but professional is professional. Business is business.

Less mincing, more knowing your field.

[skeeter]

Also quote

Less technically, it may also refer to a person having impressive competence in a particular activity

Some people do have impressive competence...this is always a grey area. Especially in the world wide web AKA (wild wild west).

I don't mind challenging a persons competence. Especially Freelancer/Sole Trader. I also don't mind being challenged either.

Seems people miss use the term. I don't mind offering a little correction here and there.

[Indizine]

it says oxo on buses but they dont sell 'em (an old phrase you might have heard, maybe not)

that's my point

[skeeter]

Now that's my sense of humour.

I like it.

[AdrianTCW]

I've found, in terms of copywriting that (when writing for websites) it's a careful balance of writing for bots and writing for humans.

Search engine bots love keyword density, so the ideal page for them contains lots (though not too many) repetitions of the keyword(s) that are relevant to the page. Yet you have to be careful not to go over the top and write a page that ends up being "spammy".

On the flip side, such a page by its very essence wont be very "people friendly" and will be a nightmare to read or look at and not very appealing. So you need to make sure you have plenty of images and keep the page short and concise as well.

I've found that all of this goes against my natural instinct as a writer (I like to write fiction in my spare time) where I try to use as many different words as possible and avoid repetition in order to make the writing flow for the reader.

The trick is to write a page, see how it does (using webmaster or other SEO tools) then try re-writing it. The search engines love fresh content, but they also like pages that are regularly updated, so perfecting a page can be beneficial in several different ways.