Are you a skilled writer, and do you want to start a career in eCommerce? If so, then you may want to consider becoming an Amazon copywriter.
Amazon copywriters are in high demand. This position is also one of the better-paying VA jobs commonly posted on the FilipinoIncome.com website.
Not sure how if you are a fit for this type of job? Read on to learn what Amazon copywriters do and how you can start a career in this space.
Table of Contents
- What is an Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistant?
- Who hires Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistants?
- Filipino Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistant Hiring Process
- How much salary can you expect as an Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistant?
- What are employers looking for?
- What are your responsibilities as an Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistant?
- Career Paths Available for Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistants
What is an Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistant?
An Amazon Copywriter is a virtual assistant who creates the text content of Amazon product listings, ads, and other marketing materials. If you want to become one, you should have the skill of convincing people to buy products through your writing. Employers expect you to have the following skills:
- Mastery of the English Grammar
- Creative writing
- Proofreading and editing
- Persuasive writing
Those are the minimum skills requirement of most job posts. Employers will pay higher if you have Amazon or other e-commerce copywriting experience. If you don’t, the recruiter may ask you to present a portfolio of your previous work to prove your skills.
Who hires Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistants?
All Amazon sellers need copywriters to create product listings and ads for their products. Here are some of the employer options you have if you want to pursue a career in Amazon copywriting:
- Start as Freelancer for Small Sellers
Low revenue sellers often do their own copywriting or they hire freelancers. This way, they will be able to control the cost of their business by avoiding hiring a full-time employee. If you are just starting as an Amazon copywriter and don’t have experience yet, you can gain experience by working as a freelance copywriter. You can start your freelancing gigs on websites like Fiverr or Upwork.
- Become an In-house Copywriter VA for Big Brands
Companies that handle multiple brands and product lines may choose to hire an in-house copywriter. They may do this if they plan to add more products on Amazon in the future. Companies like these tend to prefer full-time and contract hires. They usually require 2-3 years of Amazon copywriting experience when hiring.
- Work for an Amazon Advertising Agency
A third option is to work for an Amazon advertising agency. This type of company does the listing and ads management for their Amazon seller clients. Copywriters in this type of company need to be ready to write copies for all sorts of products.
Important:
Generally, the types of employers listed above provide minimal training to new hires. If they do, they are mostly about company standard operating procedures and best practices. Most of the time, they will not teach you how to write.
When you start, they expect that you know how to write listings from day one. Because of this, it is common for employers to require 2-3 years of Amazon copywriting experience in their listings.
Filipino Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistant Hiring Process
The hiring process usually follows the following sequence:
- Check the job boards for Amazon Copywriter listings
- One or Two Interviews
- Copywriting Test
1. Check the job boards for Amazon Copywriter listings
Most companies will post their open copywriter jobs on job board websites. In it, they will include the requirements, the description of the role, and, ideally, the salary and the benefits that come with the job. They may also include instructions on how to submit your resume.
You can check the Filipino Income Job Board to check if there are openings for this position. If you think that you are a perfect fit for a job position, you may want to submit your resume and portfolio immediately.
Video Resume:
The hiring process for hiring remote workers is evolving as more companies refine their methods. It is now common for employers to ask for a link to your video resume. Here is a link to a tutorial on how to make a video resume in case you need to make one.
Just create a video talking about your education, experience, and the skills you want to highlight. In this case, make sure you focus on your copywriting-related experiences and skills.
Keep it short (no more than 2 minutes). If you hate making one, just remember that the HR personnel watches hundreds of those in a week. If you have some editing skills, you edit it by adding text and effects to make it look more professional.
2. Multiple Interviews
When your application is received, human resources will check your experience and skills to see if they align with the job requirements. If you make the cut, they will invite you to an interview. While waiting, you may consider applying to other companies. If one does not pan out, you will still have other opportunities to pursue. In most cases, you will need to go through multiple interviews.
In this stage, the recruiters will check many factors such as your communication skills and the way you carry yourself in a remote meeting. This is also a chance for HR to check your connectivity and device performance so make sure that you have backup internet for the day of the interviews. Here you will be asked more general questions. HR will also ask you about the details of your resume.
After an initial interview with HR, you may be asked to go on another interview with your future manager. You can expect questions more specific to the position in this interview.
3. Copywriting Test
There is a good chance that the employer will ask you to write a listing copy before the second interview. Here, they will give you a product, and you will write the title, bullet points, and description. This is your chance to show the employers your copywriting skills. Some employers will add more parts but these are the basic parts of an Amazon copy.
The manager will then compare your work and interview performance to those of your fellow applicants. If you are the best among the shortlisted group, you will receive an offer email from HR.
Important:
Use Grammarly and Hemingway app when writing your copy to ensure that your composition is free of errors and easy to understand. They are both free to use so if you don’t have an account yet, create them right now.
How much salary can you expect as an Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistant?
The starting salary of Amazon copywriters varies per company. Writers with no copywriting or content writing experience may be offered US$600 per month or below for full-time and contractual positions.
People with copywriting or content writing experience can expect US$750 per month and above. This applies to agency and in-house full-time and contract positions. A monthly salary of US$1,000 is quite common for employers with more demanding requirements.
Freelance vs Full-time/contract
Amazon copywriters always have the dilemma between accepting a full-time job or going freelance. You may also face this dilemma when you start.
Freelancers don’t have a fixed shift, and they don’t need to deal with the challenges of working with a team. They just need to please the client by submitting the copy on time according to the project specifications.
If their account on the freelancing website gets enough positive reviews, they may even charge higher per copy than the full-time employee. The biggest downside of freelancing is the lack of security. If you don’t get clients for a month, you have no income.
On the flip side, full-time workers cannot control the price of their service after accepting the job offer. Their employers expect them to clock in daily for their shift. Some companies also use time tracking tools like Hubstaff and TimeDoctor to make sure that the employee is working during their shift.
The advantage of a full-time job is the security of receiving a monthly salary. Some companies (even US companies) offer healthcare coverage and Paid Time Off. You don’t get that as a freelancer.
The choice is up to you. If you value job security and career growth, you may want to take the full-time option. If you value your freedom more, then maybe freelancing is the better option for you.
How to Get Paid?
Freelancers:
Freelancing websites offer a variety of ways to withdraw money from their platforms. Fiverr, for example, allows freelancers to withdraw via Paypal and Payoneer. Upwork also offers these options and they also offer direct bank transfer to your local account.
Before you start accepting jobs on a freelancing website, you may want to ensure that you can withdraw your money from their platform. Also, be mindful of the fees. Upwork direct transfer to dollar accounts, for example, charges an atrocious $30 per transaction.
Full-time Employees
If you work as a contractor or as a full-time employee for an Amazon seller or ad agency, you may negotiate the payment method with your employer.
The first option is to use a remittance service. I don’t recommend you use this option because of the high fees.
If your employer has a Paypal account, you can also use this option. The fees are negligible but the dollar exchange rate may not be the best.
Wise.com (formerly transferwise.com) is also becoming more popular for US companies handling multiple Filipino contractors. Wise.com’s exchange rate is usually better than Paypal’s.
Do you have other suggestions for payment options? Place them in the comments below.
What are employers looking for?
Experience Requirements:
When applying as an Amazon copywriter, employers always check your experience in copywriting. If the employer has an HR, you will not get past them if you don’t have any writing experience. Ideally, you should have at least 2-3 years in a creative writing position.
Portfolio
If an agency or company is accepting entry-level applicants, they may still ask for your portfolio. This is a document or a link to a webpage where your past work may be published. If you don’t have one, you could easily create one as a PDF and save it in your Google Drive. You can then share it with the employer. Make sure that your document can be accessed by anyone who has the link. Otherwise, the employer may be blocked from viewing it.
Resume
Aside from your portfolio, the employer will also ask you to submit a copy of your CV or resume. If you already have any writing experience, make sure that you highlight it by placing your work experience near the top of the resume.
If you are new to content writing, you may want to adjust your resume to focus on your skills. You could then direct the attention of the reader to your portfolio. If you need help with this, click here for an in-depth guide to creating a resume.
If your resume game is not strong, you could hire someone with more experience to create your resume for you.
Important:
When creating your resume, cover letter, or video resume script, use Grammarly’s free proofreading service. Grammarly is useful in identifying issues in your grammar and writing style. Employers will automatically delete your resume if they see one glaring grammatical or writing style mistake.
What Tools do Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistants use?
Amazon Keyword Research and SEO Tools
- Helium 10
- Jungle Scout
- Sellics
- Data Hawk
- Teikametrics
Workforce & Project Management Tools:
- Slack
- Asana
- Notion
- ClickUp
- Trello
- Jira
Composition and Grammar Check Tools:
Time Tracking Tools:
- Hubstaff
- Time Doctor
What Certificates Do You Need?
Employers don’t require applicants to have specific certificates. If they do mention it, they may say that these certificates give you added points. If you have the time, give some of the free courses below a try:
Amazon Learning Certificates
Amazon offers free lessons on the AmazonAdvertising.com website. If you complete the lessons and the corresponding certification exam, you will get a certificate that you can add to your resume and your Linkedin profile.
LinkedIn Learning
If you like beefing up your Linkedin profile, you could also take the Selling and Marketing Your Products on Amazon course in the LinkedIn Learning platform. You may be able to access the course but you will only get the certificate if you subscribe to LinkedIn learning. You can then add the certificate of completion to your LinkedIn profile.
Learn from Fiverr
If you are planning to work as a Fiverr freelancer, you can boost your profile by taking courses from Learn from Fiverr. They have courses on Amazon and internet marketing.
If you finish the course and pass the assessment, you will earn this badge:
What are your responsibilities as an Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistant?
As the content writer, you will write the various parts of the product listings. These are the details about a product on Amazon.com’s product page.
Master writing the different parts of the listing
To be accepted, you should already know the parts of the product listing. These are the title, bullet points, product description (EBC – Enhanced Brand Content). Some companies also ask copywriters to write a separate copy for the paid ads (PPC).
Be mindful of Amazon Listing Rules
Amazon has a lot of listing rules. There are some words that you just cannot add to your listings. Amazon will flag your listing if they contain these words. You need to be mindful of these rules while writing your copy.
Apply Amazon SEO Best Practices
The clients also expect you to know basic SEO. You will use tools like Helium 10 to find keywords and scout the competitions. It is part of your task to choose the keywords that are relevant to the product. You may then use these keywords in the copy without compromising its readability.
Some companies may also ask you to write other types of marketing content such as website articles, documentation, and email copies.
Career Paths Available for Amazon Copywriter Virtual Assistants
Amazon copywriting is not a dead-end job. If you choose to become one, you can pursue higher posts related to it.
Level 1: Copywriter
As a copywriter, you create copies every day. To excel in this position, you need to submit your copies on time and make sure that they fit the clients’ expectations.
Level 2: Team Lead
As the team leader of the copywriting team, you will manage the performance of other copywriters. You will monitor the timeliness and the quality of their submissions. If some copywriters are performing poorly, you will need to determine the root cause of the problem, create an action plan, and execute it to improve the performance of your team members.
Level 3: Content Manager
As the content manager, you are responsible for all the content marketing strategies of a company. The scope of your role widens to include graphic design (EBC) and display advertising. If you are working as an in-house content manager, this may include the website content strategy of the company.
Level 4: Creative Director
As the content director, it is your responsibility to make sure that the content plan of the company is aligned with the mission and vision of the company. You will have to work with multiple managers to craft long-term content marketing strategies. They present their marketing strategy ideas to you, and you have the final decision to have the company use it or scrap it. The creative director’s decisions impact the company’s relationship with its target audience and the general public.
To be promoted, you should show your western bosses that you are an asset in the company and not a liability. Make them think you are not easy to replace and show them the value you add to the company.
You will be required to become a leader as you reach higher positions in the company. As the leader of a team, you are in charge of keeping team camaraderie together. Your goal is to make life easier for all stakeholders of the business.
If you think you’ve got what it takes to become a professional copywriter, prepare your resume and portfolio ready because there are a lot of opportunities waiting for you in the Filipino Income Work-from-Home Job Board.
Look for Amazon VA Jobs: