From Creative Writing to Copywriting, Online Presence

Writing for a living is a more diverse field than ever before, with the inflated needs of modern marketing, mixed with the pure amount of creatives typing away at their newest story. They both strive to earn a living from the same source.

It’s not a big surprise. No doubt after receiving your 5th rejection letter for your short story, the creative writers look towards the stability of a copywriting position with envy and jealousy. On the flip side, after your 7th straight hour of attempting to create a memorable landing page for a specific brand of fruit-blended drink that doesn’t revolve around fruity and totty, your mind aches for any kind of creative stimulation.

This has reflected my journey. I attempted to turn my creative writing studies into a full-time career as an author, despite the high cost of tuition. After years of performing manual labor jobs, it was refreshing to write a book and seek publishing…until the money ran dry and now I’m looking to that labor market with ever-growing anxiety. Naturally, when the Instagram Algorithms noticed I stayed longer on any ad or post to do with writing, it threw anything with the word writing in it at me. One of those things was Copywriting.

It intrigued me. Writing for a living was always a dream, but hope couldn’t pay the bills while I waited 3 months for another rejection for my book. It seemed like a temporary secure substitute. And it would be easy to get into! After all, I’ve got a degree that says writing on it, that should translate well.

2 months later, still with some progress towards that, I think I can give major respect to copywriters who rose out of the mass of obscurity down here. I’m only just getting noticed, just making progress after months of preparation.

After all that rambling, this article offers helpful advice I had to learn myself. A series of blogs to aid transition from Creative Writing to Copywriting and similar pursuits. This 1st post will deal with increasing your online presence!

This one is probably just me, but getting hired these days for positions that are likely remote has become harder than ever. Local competitors were the only hurdle before. Now, it’s the country and then some outside of it. On things like Indeed and LinkedIn, you can see jobs with over 1,000 applicants. How will you stand out without relevant experience?

An increased online presence. You need to get past that 1st hump, and that is past the swarm of barely filled out profiles and inactive posts. I bet half of all applicants get rejected because they have nothing visible online or left some details unfilled.

So, how do you increase your online presence? Social Media, a Website, and regular posting.

Social Media

To start, a variety of social media platforms is both an easy step to complete and an important one. Companies prioritize researching you for employment, so your cooperation is necessary. You’re trying to sell them on you and your brand.

Have a complete LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn itself has several training videos to show you how to do this, but the basics is that it should reflect you professionally. Regularly update it with the content you want the world to see. You should have Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Using these platforms to link to other works can be vital, even if you don’t update them often.

A Website

Next, a Website. Many companies will ask for a direct link to your website, or otherwise a portfolio of your work that they can view. This is a great way for independent clients to discover you. Some of you may already have a website, but is it current? Is it updated? Is your current work included, along with a summary and contact information? You should update it if not.

Having something to link to is easier than ever with websites like Wix, where you can get a free and unique page. This is an important step if it’s your first time diving into the online world. Your website should reflect the brand you’re trying to present. Branding will be covered later. Think about how you want to be perceived in the meantime.

Regular Posting

Now, complete the most important step after creating a website and social media accounts. You need to post consistently. Find and engage with your peer communities. Like the content, comment, and even write some posts yourself.

Write blogs just like this one and share it. Grow your community of friends and contacts and followers. Show whatever company might be looking into you as a potential hire than you are active, that you post and write regularly. To take part professionally in the digital world, you must show personal proficiency.

Demonstrate commitment with active and engaging posts.

This isn’t an exhaustive list, and it’s not perfect either. You’ll appear more favorable for your next job by completing these!

Thank you for reading. I think I’m getting the hang of this blogging thing.

This will be part 1 of a 3 part series of blogs about transitioning from creative writing to copywriting. Be sure to check out part 2 next week, dealing with your portfolio.