As soon as you decide you want to learn copywriting, you discover that there are a whole lot of copywriting courses out there. But which ones are good? And which ones are a waste of money? Today’s article is all about the five things a copywriting course absolutely must have to be worth your time and money.
1. A copywriting course must cover all kinds of copy
There are some popular courses out there that promise you’ll make tons and tons of money just by learning to write sales letters. Well, I’ve been in the business for 15 years, and I’ve never met any of these rich sales letter writers. In fact, I’ve never met a copywriter who made any significant income writing just one kind of project.
Copywriting training needs to teach you the fundamentals of copywriting (which are very different from any other type of writing), the more advanced techniques, and then how to use these techniques to write for a wide variety of projects: from magazine ads to banner ads, from emails to direct mails—and beyond.
2. A good copywriting course will be self-paced
There are a lot of concepts to learn within the overall topic of copywriting. After all, it’s an entire career, right? There’s a lot to learn.
Some of these concepts will come easily to you, and some will take a bit more time for your to wrap your head around. The best copywriting courses will allow you to work at your own pace—and, even better, allow you to learn when and how you want to.
If you’re looking to transition into copywriting from another career, you probably already have a busy life. How realistic is it for you to dedicate three hours every single Wednesday night for nine weeks? Probably not very. A good copywriting course should allow you to log in and learn when it’s convenient for you—not when it’s convenient for the company.
3. A copywriting course shouldn’t make unrealistic promises
This one is a big pet peeve of mine. There are a few copywriting training courses out there that promise you’ll be able to “make six figures working from home in your pajamas within your first year.”
Look, it is completely possible to make six figures as a copywriter. It’s even possible to eventually do that from home. But guess what? It’s not going to happen in your first year.
Copywriting courses that sell these big, unrealistic promises may make a lot of sales, but they can’t deliver on what they sell. All that happens is would-be copywriters lose out on time and money, and end up frustrated and disappointed.
Copywriting is a great career that pays well—in fact; it pays better than any other writing job. But it is a career and not a get rich quick scheme. Any copywriting course that promises an easy, instant fortune should be avoided like the plague.
4. A copywriting course needs to provide training on how to get experience
Learning how to write copy is the first step in building a copywriting career. Once you learn how to write it, you need to get experience writing it. This is where a lot of trainings leave you high and dry.
Any copywriting training course worth its cost needs to give you practical steps for how to create spec ads, build your portfolio, find your first clients, and then parlay all of that into bigger projects with more clients.
Now, a copywriting course isn’t going to provide you with clients. In fact, I would strongly argue that it shouldn’t provide you with clients—finding clients or jobs is a crucial skill to learn in order to have a successful copywriting career.
But what a copywriting course should do is train you in the exact steps you need to take to build your experience and find those clients. Your copywriting training doesn’t end when you’ve learned how to write copy; in many ways, it’s only beginning.
5. The right copywriting course needs to come from working copywriters
Believe it or not, there are some copywriting courses out there that have been created by people who aren’t copywriters or have never earned income as copywriters. It’s appalling, but it’s true.
You need to be learning from copywriters who are in the trenches with you; copywriters who have experience working at both ad agencies and in-house agencies, and who have experience working on-staff, as well as working as freelancers or contractors.
And copywriting isn’t something anyone learns once and masters forever; any copywriter—but especially the ones you’re learning from—need to be constantly learning, growing, and honing their skills.
Now, you’re probably aware that we offer a copywriting course, but selling you on that course is not what this article is about. No matter which copywriting training you decide to pursue, be sure that it offers real career training and real value. When you’re building a career, you have no time or money to waste.
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