Journey as a Copywriter

Getting a full-time job while still a 3rd semester student,
and honestly… still kinda clueless — who wouldn’t take that?

Copywriter was my first job,
and from there, I was exposed to so many new things.

But before I talk about my experience as a copywriter,
I want to go a bit back —
so the story actually connects.

I studied Communication and Da’wah.

Which basically means…
writing, and more writing.

But not the “I love writing so much” kind.

For me, writing was enjoyable when I had to work on essays —
when I could pour ideas, explore different perspectives,
and try to make sense of things.

What made it fun was the logic behind it.

Because the goal wasn’t just to write,
but to make the reader think.

I tried to join journalism clubs a few times.

Got rejected. Every time.

But it didn’t really bother me.

Because what I actually liked about journalism
wasn’t the club itself —
it was the investigation,
and the way journalists think and discuss things.

Back in my first semester, I was very ambitious.

I wanted something big.

But nothing really happened.

And at some point, I realized something:

I was ambitious…
but I didn’t actually know what I wanted.

Entering my second semester,
I started exploring.

I got into radio and advertising.

That’s where I learned about theater of mind —
how you can make people imagine things
just through audio.

Then I created a podcast.

A 5-episode audio drama.

Everything was done by myself:

writing the script
editing
voice acting (drama & ads)
all the production

Looking back now…

I was already learning how to build something
and put it out there.

After that, I got curious about something else.

Those clickbait articles
that always show up in search results.

I kept seeing them.

So I thought —
“how does this actually work?”

Then I started learning Blogspot.

I tried setting up a news-style blog,
writing articles based on trending topics,
and learning basic SEO.

Including:

structuring content
optimizing keywords
and writing actual articles from different sources

At this point,
I was still just a normal student,
enjoying the world of communication.

Then one day, just out of curiosity,

I applied for a copywriter role.

And got accepted.

My first task was simple: Fill the website with content.

The writing style itself was nothing special,
just like normal articles.

But the focus was on keywords.

And the result?

3 Articles ranked in the top 5 search results

right after they were published.

I kept thinking…

“How did that happen?”

And I started to realize a few things:

You need to know which keyword you’re targeting
From that keyword, define your point of view
Use tools like Ahrefs or Yoast to support SEO
Use theater of mind — read your own writing like a stranger:
- is it structured well?
- is it easy to understand?
- does it actually solve something?
Share the article across platforms
Understand timing — I usually posted around 2 hours before peak traffic

Then came the next challenge:

Social media.

I tried using a persona approach.

I treated the account like it was a real person — with certain characteristics.

The content style was adjusted:

chat-style posts
specific caption tone
design requests based on the persona

But the result… wasn’t great.

Low engagement.

Looking back, I think I know why:

The niche wasn’t specific enough
The content felt too “company” — too stiff
It wasn’t really human
I didn’t hit any real pain point
The persona wasn’t strong enough
Too many images, not enough video

But here’s the interesting part.

Even with low engagement…

Sales increased 5x compared to the previous year.
(at least, that’s what the owner said — I never saw the data)

At first, it sounded exciting.

But the more I thought about it,
the more I felt… it wasn’t just because of what I did.

There were other factors

From my own assumptions:

The product itself had a seasonal trend — and that year happened to be its peak
(I checked it later on Google Trends)
Repeat customers
— social media activity might have reminded old buyers to come back
And of course… COVID-19
— people had limited offline options,
so when they saw content or ads online,
the chance of conversion naturally increased

I came to this conclusion for a reason.

In my second year,
when engagement was actually better — more structured, more “correct” —

sales didn’t go up.

They went down.

No more lockdowns.
The trend started to decline.

And that’s when something clicked for me:

Engagement doesn’t always equal sales.

At least, not on its own.

There are always bigger forces behind it —
timing, market behavior, external conditions.

And understanding that…
changed the way I look at growth.

Because sometimes,
what looks like success
isn’t fully under your control.

And what looks like failure
isn’t entirely your fault either.

That realization slowly pulled me
into something beyond just writing —

not just creating content,
but thinking about how things actually sell.

And that’s where the next part of my journey begins —
Sales.