My friend Jenny asked me:
“Should I become online copywriter or online affiliate marketer?
Which one is easier to learn and brings more money?”
Well, if you are like Jenny, then this post might be just FOR YOU.
I will tell you that you might be just as surprised as she when I told her the facts.
However, please sit comfortable, pick your favourite drink(whatever that is) and enjoy reading.
It won’t be long, but to the point, I promise.
I know your time is valuable and you want to get solutions.
Shall we?
What is Copywriting?
In the simplest form, Copywriting is using the language to persuade people to take certain action.
As the action can differ, read the blog post, sign up for newsletter, buy a product are examples of sort of actions, the aim is the same, the ACTION.
If people won’t take action after reading your copy, it is hardly successful one.
How do you (and Jenny) do that?
There are simple formulas, you’d have to follow, if you want people actually read it.
Ultra Specific Headlines
Whereas 80% people read the headline, just 20% people read the actual copy.
How this can happen?Maybe, the copy is not good enough, or they miss some other part of the formula (about it later).
The point is, you want to use 4 U’s when creating your headline.
ULTRA SPECIFIC
UNIQUE
URGENT
USEFUL
Keep It Short
I know you like to talk. Almost everyone does it.
The problem is, you also have to be listened, right? When it comes to you, who do you rather listen to Ross from Friends or Joey form Friends?
Especially when it comes to the COPY, you want to be listened or read.
According study from American Press Institute, average reader is able to comprehend 90% of the text up to 14 words.
But if the sentence is longer than 43 words, it drops below 10 %. Yeah, we people are just dummies sometimes.
Benefits over Feature
When people decide which product to buy, they think about what benefits it will bring them.
If you have to choose a car, do you mind the leather seat, or do you mind the comfort that seat is bringing? You don’t mind what material was the seat made from, unless your ass fits in, correct?
There are more copywritings steps you need to follow, but these could get you a basic idea.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate Marketing is in simplicity selling other people’s product. During the sale, you will earn money through commission.
As there are different affiliate programs, there are different commissions you will earn. It varies from 10-90%.
It sounds sweet, does it?
The issue though is, how you SHOW people this products? Because if you don’t have people visiting your offer, you are going to make exactly $0.
Now, you might start seeing similarities between being online copywriter and affiliate marketer. Wait, it will get better.
Things to bear in mind when considering being successful affiliate marketer.
Choose a Niche
Although, this word being used lately, it is wise to repeat it.
Go Niche or Die. Is the other wording of the same meaning.
To translate it in the world of affiliate marketing business, you really have to narrow down the TOPIC you are going to sell the products in as specific as possible.
Because if you won’t you are making huge mistake at the beginning.
How’s narrowing down looking in practice?
Write SEO optimized content
Let me break that down for you.
When you chose your niche, you are going to write a ton of content about it.
You want to have people FINDING your offer.
People visiting your website are so called TRAFFIC. In order to drive that traffic to your offer 9in your niche), you have to write high value content and optimize it for Search Engines, like Google or Bing.
Let people know about your great offer
Next to the SEO optimization, you want to share your posts.
So search engines are not the only one, who will help you drive traffic to your CONTENT and OFFERS.
YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter are the most used nowadays.
If you want to run successful affiliate marketing business, being VISIBLE on SOCIAL NETWORKS is almost must. Especially if you are small business.
Which one is easier to learn and more profitable?
I dived in to both.
Online Copywriter and Affiliate Marketer.
Honestly, I don’t think there is one way easier compare to another one. As there is no formal education for either of them, you will be learning a lot of stuff on your own.
In my eyes, Copywriting has a bit more “traditional education forms” than AM.
When starting out, you will (almost) always have to learn the things the hard way.
It can take you whenever from 3 months as well as up to 3 years to become significantly paid as CW or AM.
There is some ongoing discussion if it’s better to join in-house copywriting company or starting out as freelancer. Some prefer to be mentored and surrounded by “colleagues” others do prefer to learn all on their own.
If you opt for in-house, you will have higher chance to learn as you go. The issue here can be the lack of freedom (or money ha) you have when freelancing.
That said, you must be prepared there are some scammers ready to take your money for invaluable courses. Be cautious when choosing any course.
#Here You Can Discover 100% Legit and The Best Affordable Affiliate Course
#Here You’ll Discover The most Affordable and 100 % Legit Copywriting Course
I’ll explain why below.
It is not advisable to learn both simultaneously.
Do I need to make a choice?
You might have recognized similarities in both.
Online Copywriter and Online Afifliate Marketer wants to :
- help people solve an issue
- provide value in the content (blog post, emails, ads)
- write intriguing enough that people will make a purchase
So in a nutshell it looks like this:
- If you are AM you want to acquire some skills of Copywriter
- If you are Copywriter you don’t necessarily need skills of AM (you still might want, when creating a copywriting course on your own for instance)
You shouldn’t acquire knowledge in both purely out of time consumption. Out of my experience, both qualities take a lot of time to practice.
Therefore if you want to be successful in either one, you should make a choice.
Before You Go
My advice to you and Jenny is therefore, if you like writing, go for Copywriting.
If you suck at writing, pick up Affiliate Marketing. You might need to write a lot as Affiliate Marketer too, but at certain point you might outsource the writing part by hiring someone.
Then you will be able to fully enjoy the advantage of passive income.
In the same time you can make very good money by Copywriting as freelancer or in-house. The royalty fees can be in some cases interesting enough and could you give the perspective of passive income as well.
Probably for shorter period, but if you make it to the top like this guy, you’ll be way ahead of average Affiliate Marketer.
Whatever you choose just remember to have a fun with it.
Otherwise you just trade your time for money and that’s not fun at all.
We understand what a content writer is and what an Affiliate marketer can do, and they are quite the same, and as you said, you need to pick one and be proficient in it. Looking at this article, we now are in Affiliate Marketing and can not stop trying to help others. We picked a specific niche and stuck with it; we are going to say that we hope Jenny makes an informed decision with this article as we did.
Thanks guys. Jenny made her decision already -;) When you picked your niche, then you made already great, and maybe the most decision, if you feel like, you can share it with us, how did you do it? Otherwise, just happy you found your way. Cheers
Hi Julius,
Thanks a lot for recommending two excellent platforms that suit people’s needs. For me, I think I’ll take both of them to run an online business. Just like you mentioned here, you need to write a lot when it comes to affiliate marketing. I can relate since I’ve run a blog for 2 years now, and I consistently created content. I know how hard it is to create quality content to help solve people’s problems. If you know copywriting, it’ll only boost your business like a skyrocket because you know how to write the copy that sells. I am still learning, so I can find value from this post. 🙂
Cheers,
Matt
Happy you found this post valuable Matt. Indeed, as blog owner, especially young one, it is all about writing and writing. Copywriting skills could definitely help to progress it quicker and for longer run.
I am an affiliate marketer, so I know the value of good copywriting skills. For myself, the choice is AM. However, as I grow, I will be looking to hire copywriters in the future. So I am sure I am not the only one. I think the copywriting market has a very bright future, if you like to write.
I never though of taking a copywriting course, but you have me thinking about it after reading your article. Something to consider for some self improvement, as well as a way to earn money.
On another note, I had no idea that readers attention dropped so significantly after 43 words, but that would be an extremely long sentence. I try to make 2 sentences out of my long ones.
Thank you for this informative copywriting information.
Chas
Hey Chas. 43 words would be very long sentence. The point is that up to 14 words you have 90% reader’s attention. The longer sentences, the less attention from readers. Taking the copywriting course, can definitely help you along the way. It will strengthen your skills in any writing text to become it more engaging. I think this is the great course to start. Focused and engaging audience, is would you want in the end, right?
Quite an interesting and engaging article.
My thought while reading was, how about combining affiliate marketing and copywriting?
Isn’t that awesome? I feel with those two; I will be on top of my game.
I will appreciate your feedback.
Thank you.
Hey there. Very good question. Yeah, you want to combine them at some point, because it can really bring you at top of your game, as you said. Just remember to master one first, and ideally decide which one of them will be the main focus. And add the second one accordingly. Otherwise, (assuming you are starting out) you will get overwhelmed and could easily get stuck. Also think on, when you will be expert in AM let’s say, you will want to get basic of CW under your belt, you don’t have to master it. Hope that helped.