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Copywriting lives in the shortest texts with the biggest effect: the headline at the top of a page, the two lines of an ad, the words on a button. David Ogilvy wrote in 1963 that five times as many people read the headline as the body copy. Online that ratio is no kinder: people scan pages and rarely read word for word. A headline that does not say who it is for and what they get loses the reader before the second sentence.
The word comes from newspapers, where copy was the text sent to the typesetter. It has nothing to do with copying or copyright. Around 1900 the American adman John E. Kennedy called advertising "salesmanship in print": a text should do what a good salesperson does. That is still the bar.
One roofer, two headlines
The figure shows a made-up roofing firm twice. The first headline is about the company. The second is about the reader: which problem, where, what they get, why they should believe it, and what to do next.
The same roofer, two headlines
Welcome to Harper Roofing
More infoFlat roof leakingproblem in Leeds?who We fix it within the week,promise with a ten-year guarantee.proof
A made-up example. The promise must be true: only write a deadline or guarantee you really give.
What a better line is worth
The same goes for search results. Your title and description in Google are copy: a sharper line raises your click-through rate, and more clicks at the same position are free visitors. You can see how yours read with the SERP preview tool.
What copywriting costs
In the United Kingdom, the 2026 survey of freelance copywriters by ProCopywriters puts typical day rates between £300 and £1,800, with a median of £440. A homepage, five service pages and a set of ads is often three to six days of work once the briefing is clear. Compared with the worked example above, a single landing page that converts better pays back a day rate within the first month of a modest ad budget. Rates per hour, per word and per day are compared in copywriter rates.
Translated copy rarely sells
If you sell into several countries, copy is where translation shows first. A headline that works in English can sound stiff in German and odd in Dutch, and the objection a French buyer has may not be the one a British buyer has. Good multilingual copy is rewritten per market from the same brief, with the same promise but its own words: some call it transcreation. Our page on multilingual websites explains how we run that.
| Copywriting | Content writing | SEO copywriting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | An action | Inform, build trust | Be found for a search |
| Length | Short: headline, ad, button | Long: guide, article | Long enough to answer the question in full |
| What counts | Every word, the promise, the next step | Completeness and accuracy | The search term, structure, the answer up front |
In practice they blend: a good service page gets found, explains, and ends with a clear step. Pages written to be found are covered in SEO copywriting, and content that draws buyers in under content marketing.
From our work: legal language a founder understands
For K&A Law we built each service page from three parts: what the area of law covers, who it is for, and an example from practice. Legal language became something a business owner understands in a minute. And the cost calculator on the SN Group site does not end with "Submit"; it asks the visitor to request the estimate they just worked out.
What clients ask about their copy
Can AI write my copy?
AI writes a first draft fast. What it does not know is what really holds your buyer back, which promise you can keep, and how your company sounds. That has to go in before it works.
What makes a good call to action?
It names the result, not the mechanism: "Get your price" or "Book a call" rather than "Submit" or "More info". Use one label per intent across the whole site.
How long should web copy be?
As short as possible for the action, as long as necessary for the question. An ad is two sentences; a service page that wants to rank is often a thousand words.