Meet Krista Walsh | Website Copywriter & Strategist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Krista Walsh and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Krista, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Many people in my life would probably consider me a risk-taker. And, when I zoom out and look at my choices, I can see why.

I graduated college with a niche degree in Book Publishing, pretty convinced that I didn’t, in fact, want to work in book publishing after less-than-great experiences in the industry. Instead, I moved to Spain on my own to teach English part-time in a public elementary school, knowing no one else in the country.

Then, I moved to Los Angeles and started my freelance copywriting career, again without knowing anyone in my life who had pursued a creative career at all, let alone a freelance creative career.

In the suburban town I grew up in on the east coast, everyone I knew had a career that required a license and had a fixed pathway to relative success — lawyers, doctors, teachers, therapists, etc. They were, frankly, terrified for me, when it became more and more clear that I wasn’t going to end up in law school.

But, for me on the inside, the riskier choice has always felt like the opposite. Assign myself to a long contract with a corporate company… or to a career with an 8-year path? Try to find fulfillment and belonging in my hometown? These prospects always scared me.

Since making LA my home 4 years ago and finding a community of fellow creative business owners, I feel an even stronger sense that the “unconventional” path is a lesser risk than trying to force yourself into a more conventional career path if it just doesn’t fit you.

I have never regretted embarking on this entrepreneurial path, even when the future feels uncertain, and I’m so grateful for the people who supported my choices. I look forward to being that support for anyone considering a move into working for themselves or daring to pursue a creative career.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I run a website copywriting and strategy company called Krista Walsh Copywriting, where I help client-based business owners turn their websites into lead-generating machines.

There are three things that I do differently than many others in the website copywriting world:

1) I use a strategy-driven + holistic approach to websites that includes UX vs. just focusing on words and voice.

2) I interview people in my clients’ target market to write empathetic messaging vs. “guessing” about what a target market needs to read to convert.

3) I include SEO in my process, with a streamlined approach for smaller client-based businesses vs. SEO strategies meant for enterprise-level companies (which can feel overwhelming and hard to understand for non-techies)

The single most important thing I did to get here was niching into a specific platform for copywriting: websites. This allowed me to become an expert more quickly, get better and better results because I was refining my process with every project, and ultimately charge sustainable rates.

Now, I’ve started scaling by bringing on junior copywriters to follow the proprietary, results-driven process I developed. I think this would have been much harder to do if I had stayed a generalist or even if I had chosen to niche by industry, rather than platform/deliverable.

My ultimate goal is to build a website agency, where my company has full control over the website process from start to finish, leading with copy and ending with design and conversion rate optimization.

I’d love it if the world came to see my company as THE place to go when you want your website built to sell from the ground up.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’d spend each day in a different part of the city of Los Angeles, probably broken into themes.

1) The east side, where I live. We’d go to brunch in Los Feliz (All-Time is a favorite spot), hike up to the Griffith Observatory, spend the night at bars in Koreatown or Highland Park.

2) Head to the coast, driving through the rolling hills out to Point Dume in Malibu (stopping at Lily’s for the best breakfast burrito in SoCal!). Then down the PCH to Santa Monica for dinner at UOVO.

3) Explore Hollywood and “the industry” tourist spots, like the Hollywood Walk of Fame (gotta do it) and a tour of WB Studios. We’d probably take a breather from touristy stuff in Larchmont Village and grab an amazing sandwich at Larchmont Wine & Cheese.

4) Do some of the west side highlights, including Rodeo Drive and The Getty. At night, we’d check out The Comedy Store or Largo in the WeHo area.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I owe much of my success to the following people and organizations:

-Stephen Sesso, who’s always believed in me even when hardly anyone else did
-Confident Copywriting by Belinda Weaver, my first business mentorship program that gave me the community and support I needed in the beginning
-My best friends in the world (you know who you are), who also dared to pursue your dreams, giving me the confidence that comes with knowing you’re not alone
-Every single person who’s ever hired me or referred me to someone else! I’m truly so grateful for each of you!

Website: https://kristawalshcopywriter.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristawalshcopywriter/

Image Credits
Heidi Garcia and Meg RaeLee