Writing your own content for your website – it’s pretty much on par with cleaning the cat’s litter box or getting a root canal. But there’s no escaping it as a small business owner, unless you decide to hire someone to do it for you. And even then, you need to be closely involved in the process.
Your website can rise or fall depending on the quality of your content. That’s why it’s so important to invest yourself in the process of creating well-thought and well-written content for your site. It’s hard work. Trust me, I know. I recently relaunched my website and found it extremely daunting to write my own content. Go figure! Writing for clients’ websites generally goes quite smoothly, but writing about what I know best (i.e. ME!) gave me a run for my money.
Expect to spend hours and hours and more hours on your website content. It takes time to figure out what key points and details you want to communicate on each page – and even more time to sit down and write about them. Then there’s the likelihood you’ll find yourself not 100% pleased with your first draft – or maybe even your second or third. Because you’ll want your content to be nearly perfect when your website launches, anticipate you’ll be doing a fair share of rewriting your own content, too.
You know your services and products inside out. You know they’re really good. You know they can help your audience. Now you need to inform, convince, and convert your site visitors. That means your content has to give readers the details they need about what you offer, tell them what’s in it for them, and give them reason and motivation for calling, emailing, or completing your online contact form.
As you’re writing your content, you’ll need to keep your brand’s personality in mind. Your content needs to sound like your company in tone and formality. Does it make sense to push the envelope with a degree of edginess or is your brand more conservative? For nearly every type of business, I think a conversational style is effective, but to what extent varies.
Certain design frameworks and templates have elements like text blocks, sliders, etc. Where they occur on your website, your writing will need to be brief and to the point because there’s not enough space to fit long chunks of text. Easy enough, right? Believe it or not, writing less can often prove more difficult than writing more. You’ll need to choose your words more carefully because there will be fewer of them to get the message across.
Your turn! If you’ve written your own website content, what challenges and frustrations have you experienced? If you’ve outsourced your website writing, did you find it worth the dollars spent?
By Dawn Mentzer
(This has been another Insatiable Solopreneur™ post)
I view my role as more than an independent contractor for hire — I become a part of your team. You’ll find that I dig into the details to understand what’s important to you — and your customers. I embrace collaboration, communicate openly, and craft content to help you achieve your marketing and business goals. Read More...
Great post, Dawn! I’m a big fan of your tip about internalizing the VOICE of the company or product in your copy. “Personality In Copy” — very critical idea to really get for best results.
-Jason Clegg
Hi Jason! Thank you very much! I agree that letting your personality shine through is so very important…it’s one way to differentiate when products and services are similar to a competitor’s. BTW, I’m a big fan of what you and Stephanie are doing at Convert with Content. Always solid content and smart info!