Brisbane Copywriting

If you’re in market for a copywriter, you have four options:

• Generative AI tools like ChatGPT
• Freelance copywriters
• Full-service marketing agencies (who have internal copywriters)
• Specialist support firms

If ChatGPT was placed on a copywriting bell curve, it would be better than the bottom ~50% of copywriters. It can help solopreneurs and micro-businesses with low budgets quickly craft average-sounding copy (but avoid using raw AI output on websites that are designed to rank in organic search).

For a project with a predetermined strategy that require a skilled technician to execute, a freelance copywriter can be a good choice. Keep in mind that freelancers vary hugely in quality and price – make sure you review samples and project completion times before hiring anyone you haven’t worked with before.

Full-service marketing agencies are the best choice for hands-off projects. Although costs for full-service agencies are significantly higher than for freelancers, you won’t have to manage the project yourself. Agencies often don’t employ senior copywriters due to retention costs, so make sure you check which writers will be working on your project before you sign anything.

Specialist support firms (also known as boutique marketing agencies) combine the flexibility and quality of leading freelancers with the processes and strategic insights of agencies. They typically specialise in a specific discipline, like writing or content creation, which means they don’t have the quality control issues that many broad-spectrum agencies do.

Exactly which of those four options is best depends on your project, your budget, the required quality of the deliverables, and the level of involvement you want.

Need help deciding which option is right for you? Book a free 30-minute strategy session with a content strategist here.

‘SEO copywriting’ (also known as ‘web copywriting’) is a term marketers use when they talk about copy that’s optimised for performance on Google and other search engines. SEO (search engine optimisation) is the process of optimising a website to achieve the best possible position in the Google SERPs (search engine results pages), and on-page SEO (optimising a webpage’s text and images) is a big part of that.

That’s where SEO copywriters come in. They make sure your website’s words are both human- and search engine-friendly – you don’t want to climb to the top of the SERPs only to lose most of your prospects to poorly worded copy.

When digital marketing was still a young industry, the term ‘SEO copywriter’ was used to differentiate specialist web writers from ordinary copywriters. Now, in an increasingly digital world, most copywriters are SEO copywriters, because a comprehensive understanding of on-page SEO is essential for producing website copy that actually generates results.

SEO copywriters use several different strategies to make their words easier for search engines to understand.

• They make use of paid keyword research software like Ahrefs and SEMrush. These tools help their users find out which keywords people are searching for, which lets SEO copywriters optimise their copy accordingly.
• They structure their writing logically. Search engine algorithms process information very differently from humans, but structuring information logically is useful for both types of readers! Good information architecture can make a big difference to how well Google and other search algorithms understand writing.
• They cover concepts holistically. Search engines aim to serve people the most-helpful content, so web copy that covers a topic in its entirety is more likely to rank well.

While most freelance copywriters have the tools and experience to write for both search engines and humans, it’s important to ask contractors the right questions before you get them to write a website for you.

Good question. Many people get copywriters and content writers confused, because they both have similar jobs (and many copywriters also write content, like us).

A copywriter will write copy for your business, which is text designed to get people to buy your product or service. A content writer, on the other hand, creates written content for the purpose of helping, entertaining and inspiring your customers – they’ll form the basis of your content marketing strategy.

Copywriting and content writing use different skillsets. Although both require a proficiency with words, copywriting needs a greater understanding of marketing, sales and consumer psychology, while content writing benefits from strong research skills and good information architecture.