This is the often overheard cry of the small business owner who needs some great content written for their website, blog, or social media accounts but either lacks the skill, time or desire to write it. With content being used as a powerful marketing tool, many small business owners are in need of a writer who can create content that not only gets the attention of customers, but also encourages their customers to connect and do business with them versus a competitor.
Creating great online content has become one of the leading ways businesses brand themselves, advertise goods and services, and establish their expertise, with the aim to garner a customer’s business and loyalty.
As an experienced copywriter, the first step I always take with clients is to create an effective content marketing plan based upon what purpose/objective the content is intended to fulfill. To do this, I meet with the business owner and ask these 3 main questions:
-What is the product/service you are marketing, and who are your competitors?
-Who is your target audience and where can they be found online?
-What is your core message and how can we use it to drive business?
The next step is to build up some content pieces, including a variety of sources such as videos, photos, white papers, how-to guides, testimonials, press releases, marketing sheets, etc. I highly recommend clients have a blog as it is one of the easiest ways to keep content fresh and relevant, which improves a website’s search engine rankings. Ideally, content would be added to the blog on a daily basis, but even adding one post a week will get content built up over time and strengthen their online position.
A word of warning- creating content without an overall plan and/or creating content that is amateurish or poorly written can be a fatal mistake. Although quantity helps with search engines, quality is what keeps customers returning AND sharing – which is key in today’s market where social media plays such a strong role. If you either don’t have the skill, time or desire to write quality content, hire a good copywriter who can provide a steady stream of well-written, informative and engaging content that has real value for your targeted consumer.
If you are a small business in need of hiring a quality content writer, contact Write by Design today at 415-218-8560. With years of experience creating unique and optimized content for a variety of industries, we can help you get well on your way to advertising and growing your business with either on-going or single project assignments. We have some clients that we re-write their entire website content due to a redesign, but we also have clients that we write one blog article per week with postings to their social media sites for the mere cost of $50-$100 per post – a very affordable way to get started! If you’ve been wanting to get started, but feeling stuck (aka the cartoon,) let us help you!
