ZEYNEP PEHLİVAN

İzmir-After the introduction of the smartphone technologies in our lives, the internet has become much more accessible for everyone. Being aware that the painful situations caused by the internet, the internet has created different tech jobs. The idea of making money online and working as a freelance is much more understandable for most of us. One of these new tech jobs is content writing. After the radical changes in Google's Search Algorithm and other search engines, producing original and qualified content for websites is one of the essential criteria to be at the top of the search engines’ ranking systems. This situation motivates all companies working on online digital advertising. The owner of the first content writing agency opened in Izmir is a woman: Ezgi İbili. Ezgi managed to establish her own content writing agency two years ago after working in this field as a content writer and she has provided employment opportunities for 22 content writers. We talk to her about her job and content writing. 

First of all, we would like to get to know you. Could you tell us about yourself and how did you start working as a content writer?

While I was studying at Selçuk Anatolian High School, I was very interested in music. I started writing and composing my own songs. In the last days of school, I thought to study music at a conservatory. Just before the university entrance exam, I asked myself which department should I study in and talked to my family. I took the exam and passed it. I started studying Tourism Management at Dokuz Eylül University. As I was studying, I began to think about an alternative profession. I kept composing songs. I wanted to turn my writing practice into a potential profession. I did researches and found content writing jobs. Surely, it was not as popular as it is today but I liked working as a content writer. I worked as a content writer until I graduated from  university. After graduating from the university, I had two alternatives; working in tourism or establishing my own content writing agency. I chose the second one. Maybe it is harder than working in tourism but I like it.

Could you describe the job? What is content writing? 

Most of us use the internet in our daily life and the content is actually a part of our internet habits. Most people think that concept of content writing is like concepts such as articles or text. We can think as a self-thought in which all the audio-visual elements are together. It forms wholeness with many elements such as logo, video, audio, photo; however writing is the principal focal point of the content. Content writers work on article copy, blog posts, press releases, web page information, product descriptions, and other corporate material.

Why is content writing popular now? 

There are two reasons. The first is surely the increasing usage of the internet. We are in a consumption period and needs and demands are constantly changing. A content we wrote yesterday may lose its meaning today. We have to bring ourselves up to date. The second reason is the changes in Google's Search Algorithm and other search engines. Search engine optimization is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. Companies naturally want to rank at the top of the search results and they have to always produce new and original content.

You have one of the first content writing agencies in İzmir. Could you tell us about your agency?

I tried to do all works aloe as a content writer; but after a while, I was not enough for all works. So I decided to establish my own agency. To be honest, I was afraid; it wasn’t easy to work with people you don’t know. But I established my own content writing agency called, “Ajans Kriter”. 

Many women, who read this article, will be inspired by your success story. What do you want to tell them? 

This job is not the same as writing a script or a story. For this reason, people who like doing research and writing can do this job in some way. But I think people who will do the job for a long time must really love it. I can suggest them to work on some companies’ small projects at the beginning. As they write, they will understand they can do this job.