Content Writing Tips Blog
Short, Sweet and Right to the Point

Your business website is getting traffic, either through PPC ads or organic search rankings. Lucky you.

But for some reason, people are leaving your site without buying. Unlucky you. And you just can’t figure out what’s wrong.

Two Fixes

You’ve been staring at your website so long you can’t see it objectively anymore. Maybe it’s time to ask for outside help. It doesn’t have to be expensive outside help, either.

1. Ask me for a free content analysis. I’ll not only look at your website copy but I’ll also review important usability factors like your navigation, design, etc. If there’s something turning off your visitors, I’ll find it and give you suggestions on how to fix it.

2. Ask the Feedback Army for help. For just $20, you’ll get unbiased feedback about your site from their army of reviewers. Many of my content clients have used this service and found it really eye-opening. Sometimes all you need is a fresh perspective!

I’m a freelance content writer, which means I get to work on a huge variety of business websites. A question my mom has often asked me is, “Heather, you’ve never worked in software development or the linens industry or martial arts… so how can you write about it?”

If I only wrote about the things I know, it would have been a short career indeed!

One of the benefits of being a freelance content writer is the constant variety. One of the drawbacks is… the constant variety. It means that every few days, you have to learn about a new sector and learn enough so you can write about it intelligently.

Content – Research = Fluff

Many small businesses are burned by copywriters who don’t make that effort. And the content that results is a disappointing waste of money.

It just barely skims the surface of the subject matter, tends to be repetitive, and is usually full of platitudes: we pride ourselves on…, our service is second to none…, etc.

A good freelance content writer will do thorough research before entering one word on the screen. Research into the client’s business, their competitors, the industry overall. The terminology. The features and benefits. The problems the business solves for their customers.

Putting Background in the Foreground

Research is the most time-consuming part of any writing project. The up side is that once the writer’s head is full of all that background, the writing becomes easier. And it becomes better.

So if you’re toying with the idea of maybe hiring the cheapest freelance content writer you can find, odds are they’re cheaper because they aren’t doing their homework. And they’re hoping you won’t notice.

I’m reading about a concept called Sticky Marketing by Grant Leboff. The main thrust of his message is that businesses need to engage better with consumers.

Instead of talking at them, converse with them.

Instead of selling to them, help solve their problems.

Become relevant and useful to prospects and some day you may do business with them.

But as I read both his website and ebook, I keep tripping on his language. Stumbling over sentences that are not conversational or natural or in keeping with his message. Instead, it puts up a barrier between writer and reader because it’s stiff and formal rather than relaxed and chatty.

Online business writing is warmer, friendlier and easier to read when it relaxes and loosens its tie. Go ahead, split an infinitive or two. Dangle a participle.

Having said all that, I think Leboff’s forward-looking concepts are very worthwhile for everyone in business or marketing. Membership on his site is free and gives you access to some useful tools and lessons.

And his ebook Sticky Marketing will force you to rethink everything you thought you knew about marketing your business.  www.StickyMarketing.com 

So. You’ve launched a new business site or you’re revamping the old one. Before you write a single word of content for your website, you need to do some basic “soul searching”.

Not your own soul, but your business’ soul. The things that make it tick and make it unique.

• Who is your target market?

• Who are your competitors?

• What differentiates your business from theirs?

• What kind of experience do you want visitors to have using your website?

• How do you plan to attract traffic to your website?

• What’s your guarantee (if applicable)?

The answers are not just going to help you write the content for your website… the answers will help you focus on every aspect of creating your online presence. The design, marketing, advertising, customer service, everything.

So before planning the content for your website, do a little navel gazing. “Know thyself.” It’s good for the soul and for the business.

I was just doing some research for a new writing project and came across a paragraph of web content I wanted to share with you. I’ve isolated just the first few words of each sentence. See if you can spot the trouble:

“We pride ourselves on… Our honest approach is… We provide our service… We hold ourselves accountable… We even go so far as to…. We encourage you to… We hope you…”

Yes, it can be hard to write web content about your company and its products without using the occasional “we” or “our”. Hard but not impossible. And it’s worth stretching yourself creatively to rewrite those self-centered sentences for one very good reason: your prospects are self-centered too.

They just want to know how you can help them — solve a problem, improve their life, get informed. So every sentence on your site should be geared towards filling that need.

So try this. Go to your own home page or any other top level page. Count the we/our statements (including the company name) and the you/your statements. Is there room for more customer in your copy?

Most webmasters and site owners understand the importance of keyword optimized content. But I still see far too many sites overlooking the single most powerful (and simple) way to use keywords to improve a webpage’s rankings — keyword optimized title tags.

Let’s say you are optimizing your home page with these 3 keyword phrases that you have carefully researched and selected:

1. natural hair loss treatment
2. treatment for baldness
3. hair loss solution

Once those 3 phrases have been correctly written into your content (not overstuffed), your title tag needs to comply. This is not the time to get creative.

It’s not even the time to include your company or product name in the title tag, unless it’s so well known that large numbers of people will search on it.

No, this is the time to religiously devote your title tag to the keyword phrases on your list and in your content. You can even sneak in more than one. For example:

Title tag: Natural Hair Loss Treatment for Baldness & Hair Loss Solution

Note: Keyword optimized title tags don’t have to read like grammatically correct sentences. They just need to contain your top keyword phrase (or phrases). That way, the search engines AND the people typing your phrase into an engine will both be rewarded.

And then they may reward YOU with their business.

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It’s easy to spot search engine content that exists solely for rankings. It looks like this:

Need a plumber in Blahtown? Our Blahtown plumbers are top grade, you won’t find another plumber in Blahtown with as much experience. So make us your one stop shop for a plumber in Blahtown.

The first clue you’re looking at spammy, overstuffed content is your eyes start to glaze over with boredom after reading just a few sentences. So just where is that sweet spot between well-optimized and over-optimized content?

Often I’m asked by clients to write search engine content that has, say, a 2.5% or 5% keyword density. First of all, there are so many different ways to calculate density that these target percentages become very confusing. Secondly, it leaves the reader completely out of the picture.

This excellent short video from Google’s Matt Cutts offers a sensible explanation on how to achieve the ideal keyword density without going overboard and offending the spam gods.

Or you could just do the less sophisticated but highly effective “eyes-glazed-over” test mentioned earlier. If the content fails the test, it may be time to consider a professional search engine content writer.

It not only can, but it must. Search engine algorithms are getting better at detecting user-unfriendly SEO tactics like:

• hidden content
• keyword overstuffed content
• paid incoming links
• doorway pages

Reader-friendly content and SEO content are becoming one and the same – and this seems to be a struggling point for businesses; a recent Forrester survey shows that just 3 percent of B2B companies think they “wow” prospects with content.

In the 10 years that I’ve been working as a website content writer, the field has exploded. Now, if you Google “website content writing services” you’ll get millions of results. How do you weed out the pros from the many pretenders?

Here are some assets your next web writer should bring to the table… and don’t be shy about asking:

1. What credentials do they bring to the job? Find out if they have an appropriate background like journalism, advertising, marketing, or public relations.
2. How many years of experience do they have?
3. Do they write your content themselves or outsource it?
4. Do their website and marketing materials meet your standards for well-written content? Can you spot spelling and grammar mistakes? Does it reek of English as a second language?
5. Ask for samples, whether it’s website content writing, search engine copywriting, a sales letter, brochure or news release.
6. Be wary of website content writers who take too long to respond to emails and phone messages. 
7. If they know more about search engines than they do about writing, run away. Truly excellent search engine copywriters understand both.
8. If you’re satisfied so far, commission a small project first. Then you’ll know if you can send them more important work.

There are many ways to prepare a home page that gets attention, builds interest, and persuades would-be customers. Here are the top 7 that can make the biggest difference but are most frequently omitted:

1. Provide a brief but clear description of what your company does or makes.
2. Address the pain (i.e. problem) it will solve and the benefits that users will enjoy.
3. Tell them your USP: Unique Selling Proposition. And make it truly unique, something your competitors can’t or don’t offer.
4. Adopt a casual, non-corporate tone that invites people in rather than holds them at arms length.
5. Leave out jargon and boastfulness. Even industry insiders appreciate an easy, breezy read.
6. Use the word “you” more than the word “we” to engage your readers.
7. Include calls to action: Click here for more info; Contact us for a quote; Sign up here for our free whatever.