You can always contact us directly if you’ve got more questions about basic concepts of SEO, website content, blogging, etc.

Already pretty informed about SEO and the rest and want to know more about our company’s copywriting process? Have a look at our FAQ and learn how we help clients get better website content, newsletters, press releases and more.

I contacted my friend, Kathryn Haley the owner of the recently-launched Vancouver-based business Home for Her to ask her about her experiences in setting up and maintaining the content for her online presence. Kathy’s business serves independent women homeowners by providing guidance and creating confidence in all areas related to owning a home. Because of the nature of her specialized business, she needs to communicate very clearly what she has to offer her target market.

Here’s what she wrote when she had put the finishing touches on the website:

This site is finally ready to go live and I am filled with excitement, exhaustion and hope.

I am excited because this process has taken me far out of my comfort zone and I have discovered I thrive on that feeling. I must…I seem to put myself there a lot these days.

I am exhausted because setting up websites is not my strength, and it has taken a lot of tweaking, screaming and several bottles of wine. It is a work in progress so please give any feedback or comments to help improve your experience.

There you have it. Putting the website together in the first place is not an easy thing. Frankly, this early step in developing a business can be so intimidating that some people realize that perhaps they weren’t ready to become entrepreneurs after all and quit the project entirely. (That’s awfully sad, but if you can’t do it yourself and you don’t have the budget or willingness to out-task the web copywriting, there aren’t a lot of alternatives — unless you’ve got one of those businesses that can thrive just fine without the web. Selling crack, for instance…). But those who do launch often find themselves re-energized and full of purpose as soon as their business goes “live”.

How do you maintain the website content? Well, you’ve got a few options. First, write the stuff yourself. Again, if you haven’t got the time or talent, the next option is to hire a copywriter, such as… me.

A third option which I often make use of myself to supplement my own efforts and maximize content freshness, is to cross-post content with strategic partners. Of course, it also helps build links which help gather Google juice to turn a lonely website into a well-trafficked, SEO-friendly site.

Whichever method you choose has benefits but can also pose challenges, as Kathryn notes:

The written content for the site comes from myself and from guest writers. I have posted a couple of articles that I have written myself. The content comes from conversations I have with design clients or friends and simply thinking about some of the biggest problems I have had to deal with over the 13+ years of being in the renovation industry.

Once I determine a topic and actually start writing it usually only takes about 1 hour to finish it. My challenge is getting into the head space to write… I find myself second guessing whether readers will think the posts are silly.

What kind of content seems to work best for Kathryn? It’s important to mix it up:

I believe it is the variation of writing styles, topics and experts that provides the best experience for the reader. It creates a ‘something for everyone’ site that has mass appeal. The variation of topics also allows me to use SEO on a wide range of keywords, maximizing exposure to Google and other search engines.

The site also benefits from the cross promotion that each writer brings.

Are you having difficulty launching your website? Or are you finding it difficult to ensure the content on your website is fresh and Google-friendly? If you would like a free consultation about your website content strategy or need a copywriter to get your articles written, go ahead and contact me

If you have other tips about creating and managing website content or just want to reply to this post, please leave a comment!

Is This Content Still “Fresh”?

RSVP for the Vancouver Blogger Meetup happening April 13

We’ll be talking about how to use your website, blog, newsletters, sales letters, press releases and more to promote your business.

This upcoming session is already sold out. Of course, if you didn’t manage to register for this back in February but want to learn more about how we can help your business with professional copywriting services, give us a call for a consultation

Putting aside the design side of things, does this describe your company’s website?

1. Hasn’t been updated with fresh website content in months or years.
2. No SEO (Search Engine Optimization) work done at all. Obvious keywords are not prominent anywhere.
3. There is no blog, or if there is one, it hasn’t been updated since the week it was set up.
4. Long pages of content that force readers to scroll down and down and down.
5. Page titles don’t refer to anything specific about your business. Instead, you’ve got generic statements like “Call now!” or “Learn more about why we’re the best!”
6. Calls to action are not prominent or compelling.
7. You can read a page down to the fold and still not know for certain what the company sells.

Does this describe your website? If so, isn’t it time that you got the help of an SEO website content copywriter?

I’m presenting on this topic at the Lower Mainland’s Better Business Bureau’s Seminar Series in downtown Vancouver on Thursday, February 17. Hope to see you there! Here’s a quick synopsis:

How does your company get the word out? From websites and blogs to newsletters, brochures, direct mail sales letters, case studies, white papers and press releases, you’ve got plenty of tools. But different tools are used for different purposes. Learn how to use them to reach different target audiences effectively.

UPDATE: The event now appears to be sold out! Thanks to those who registered. For those who couldn’t make it, I’ll let you know when a new seminar is on the way. Of course, if you’d prefer some one-on-one business communications consulting, feel free to contact me directly

Check it out. Here’s the synopsis:

How does your company get the word out? From websites and blogs to newsletters, brochures, direct mail sales letters, case studies, white papers and press releases, you’ve got plenty of tools. But different tools are used for different purposes. Learn how to use them to reach different target audiences effectively.

Presenter: Jonathon Narvey, President of WRITEIMAGE, Website Copywriting Professional

Cost: BBB Accredited Business $25, Non BBB Accredited Business $35 (includes light lunch)

Register online: www.eplyevents.com/BBBSeminarFeb

Most marketing plans work on reaching directly to your customer base. In contrast, press releases are read by the media sector, including reporters, editors, as well as bloggers. They are always looking to find new stories to increase their viewership and thus their advertising revenues.

This unique dynamic can be used to your benefit with a cleverly-crafted press release. Capture the media’s attention and they will actively seek out your participation in their stories. Being “in the news” offers two great advantages:

• Authority. The media must provide their audience with reliable and useful information, otherwise they will lose their market. A positive or even neutral write-up by a respected reporter or writer carries far more weight in the public’s mind. More importantly, it avoids stimulating the audience’s sales resistance.
• Economy. Ads can cost a lot of money. Whipping off a press release and distributing it costs comparatively little.

With relatively little investment and creativity, you can be reaching a wider audience and getting the same kind of publicity as Fortune 500 corporations.

Start generating some buzz. Call us to take care of your press release writing needs

(Contributed by Vancouver copywriter Michael Yamashita)

One objection I sometimes hear from businesses that haven’t started a newsletter is that they have no news to announce. Really? How about that new 2.0 version of your main widget? A discount on a particular service? A time-limited promotion? Or your company’s participation in some sort of environmental, human rights or disease-fighting cause?

Don’t have any of that going on? Then you’ve got bigger problems than missing a newsletter. Many companies market themselves with eye-catching promotions, events and awards. Do that. Then promote what’s happening in your newsletter. Insert some links and strong calls to action and you’re off to the races.

Worst-case scenario? Someone might unsubscribe. But that’s actually a good thing, since now your email list is even more targeted. Why would you want someone on your email list who doesn’t care about what you’re doing? So you’ve got nothing to lose.

Best case scenario?

1. A customer reads your newsletter
2. They click a link
3. They come to your website to get more information
4. They like what they see
5. They call you, buy something from you online or do whatever it is that you want them to do.

Clients
Nothing sells your product better than an impressive list of customers and enthusiastic testimonials.

Steve’s company probably had more experience killing blood-suckers than any other vampire hunting firm on the west coast. But how were potential clients supposed to know that unless he advertised that?

This page was easy to create. We grabbed some logos from businesses that had hired Vampire Hunters Inc. for corporate gigs. I called up Steve’s clients to get some testimonials, which we added to this page and also sprinkled throughout the website.

My favorite came from Electronic Arts’ Human Resources Director Sally Worthington:

“We would definitely recommend Vampire Hunters Inc. We had a huge problem with vampires in our office. It was totally out of control. We called Steve and his team was able to come to our location that day. Vampire Hunters found the blood-sucking fiends, stabbed them through their unbeating hearts and sent them back to Hell. They even took care of the werewolf in the mailroom at no extra charge!

“We’ve been vampire-free ever since, but if we every had vampires again, we would hire them without any hesitation.”

Case Studies and White Papers
Many niche business services require more explanation to sell. You can provide extra information to persuade your customers by publishing case studies and white papers.

Case studies show off your product or service in a one or two pages, describing a problem a customer had and your solution that fixed their situation.

White papers provide information that customers will be able to use, presented in a way that makes your company look like the experts.

Both types of marketing materials are soft-sell pieces, typically used for gaining leads.

For Vampire Hunters Inc., we wrote a series of case studies describing a range of customer problems (unsustainable staff absenteeism and turnover due to blood loss; extreme stress and fatigue at home from nightly visits by a vampire; and client injury and death) and the company’s solution, usually involving a wooden stake traveling at high velocity. We also developed white papers on how to prevent vampiric blood infection and dealing with loss due to rampaging undead.

These pieces of collateral generated huge web traffic due to incoming links and also generated a high number of sales leads from visitor registration to download the materials.

Media
Media spots are another great way of showing off your company’s reputation and expertise. But when reporters interview you for a story, the finished TV segments, radio spots and articles get hosted elsewhere, which may only augment your website traffic for a short period.

It’s usually not too difficult to get permission to host the media content on your own site, in whole or at least as an excerpt. Publish the content on your own site as well, so customers will get a more complete impression of your company’s achievements. You may want to put your press releases into this section or a related page.

“To be honest, we were not getting a huge amount of new business from our media hits,” Steve admits. “But once we started publishing the content and links on our site, people really took notice. We had one guy call in to say he never knew we were the company that had done the big Transylvania job. But when he made that connection from seeing all those links in one place, he hired us for our biggest gig we’d had in weeks. A few hours later, we were taking down giant demonic bats in his warehouse.”

Contact
Make it as easy as possible for your customers to contact you. Publish a phone number and at least a main business email address. You may also wish to use a form to allow customers to pre-screen themselves and make specific service requests, particularly if you don’t have an e-commerce page with a shopping cart.

“We don’t use a shopping cart because we have specialized consulting services that require people to call or email us to provide details of their situation,” Steve explains.

“No vampire plague is exactly the same, so we can’t really offer an out-of-the-box solution that any customer can just purchase automatically. But we do publish all of our contact information clearly and we always have someone in the office who can pick up the phone. We don’t use one of those automated voice recognition directories. The last thing a customer wants when they’ve got a vampire intent on draining their jugular is a recorded message saying, ‘if you have a billing inquiry, please press 1. If you are a residential customer and have a vampire that’s trying to kill you, please press 2…”

Continued in part 4 of this series in Blogs That Don’t Suck