Having an online presence is an important part of running a business. Firstly, it’s a great way to show off a wide variety of stock and services - and much more than you could in a bricks and mortar store. It means you can reach more people and potential customers, and will have the opportunity to sell products almost 24/7.
If you already have a website or online store, the next best thing you can do to take your business to the next level is to hire a content writer.
Content writers create a plan of priorities that can be flexible or fixed, depending on your preference. They will help you create and distribute digital content to reach and interact with new audiences, generate more enquiries and conversions, and build up your brand awareness and credibility.
A marketing team with a professional content developer is the best way to implement a successful strategy. With your initial guidance and insight, they can be across all of your content needs.
So, read on for our top 5 reasons why you need a professional writer to be a part of your business…
1. They will cover all areas
Although you may not realise it right now, there are actually A LOT of areas of your brand that require content of some kind. Content covers many things, from the written copy side of your business, to imagery, videos and audio.
Common content examples include all the text on your website (the homepage, about page, services page, product and collection descriptions, headings and subheadings etc) blogs and blog pages, social media posts, advertising assets, publicity campaigns, EDMs (which stands for electronic direct mail aka e-newsletters) and more.
It can also include physical promotional materials, such as business cards, flyers, tags, and customised bags and wrapping.
A content writer will ensure that all of these sections are utilised (or at least the parts that directly relate to your business) and that no stone is left unturned when it comes to capitalising on every area where good content is needed.
2. They are professional
When you run a small business, it’s not uncommon to be a bit of a jack of all trades, as long as you don’t spread yourself too thin and end up a master of none. Because it’s your own company, you want everything to be perfect, but often, it’s a fresh set of eyes or an outside influence that will do the best job.
Your strength is being the face of the brand, the person people talk to in the store or get updates from online, so let an expert help do the rest.
A content developer will not just be a talented and versatile writer, but they will be an attentive proofreader and speller too. Issues such as typos, bad syntax and grammar, misused punctuation, and messy page structures are very unprofessional and off-putting for readers. If you don't have someone on board who is dedicated to checking and editing it, errors will go unnoticed and start to make your efforts look amateur.
They will help you and the wider marketing team stay vigilant and organised, and keep track of all the minute details. Consistency is also the key to good content, so a set tone of voice for your brand can be adopted and used in all forms of content.
3. They will include SEO
If you’re not overly familiar with the ins and outs of SEO, this is yet another reason why a professional writer / editor is necessary.
SEO (which stands for Search Engine Optimisation) is the name of the process of obtaining online traffic from free, organic and paid sources in major search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.
The overall aim of an SEO strategy is to improve the quality and quantity of visits to your website, and move its search results position up as close to the first page as possible (because basically, the higher your site is listed, the more chances you have of people being able to see it).
In short, there are 3 main types of SEO:
- On-page (product & web copy, blogs, internal linking, meta descriptions)
- Off-page (ads, backlinks, press releases)
- Technical (site load times, usability, identifying errors, cannibalism & duplication)
A content creator will always strategise and analyse with SEO in mind, implementing industry, product or service specific keywords and phrases to boost your business’ visibility online.
4. New content will be engaging
SEO, however, is not the only way to get consumers to check out and invest in your business. Being interesting, exciting, fresh and original will also greatly improve your e-commerce conversion rates.
Good content will not just rely on keywords and technical work to be seen. It should focus on various ways to get engagement, such as capitalising on current topics and trends that relate to your business and customers, and being creative about how you go about promoting your products or services.
A website content writer will highlight and use tried and tested techniques, such as writing attention-grabbing headlines as a hook to get readers in, using subheadings and graphics to break up walls of text, including lists and dot points so people can easily identify key areas, and adding a call-to-action.
5. Old content will be updated
With so much effort going into new content, it can be easy to neglect your old work. Unless it’s completely irrelevant now, it’s always good practice to keep it and redo it to bring your brand up-to-date.
By updating old copy, you can get Google to crawl your site more effectively and frequently, in lieu of having to publish new pieces all the time.
Content writers will read over, revise, rework and correct old content. They can date their revisions so they know the last time they checked it, and put titles and descriptions in easy to access documents or files for quick reference.
Ensuring your old content is refreshed as much as possible is a great way to make sure nothing out-of-date or off-brand is still representing your business online.
TR Consulting offers a range of content writing & marketing services. Get in contact with us today to find out how we could help your business grow online!
