Tips On Outsourcing Web Content Writing for Small Businesses
June 21, 2018
For most SMBs today, the big challenge with developing a website isn’t the design. With a plethora of competently designed templates and CMS editing tools, creating a decent looking site isn’t difficult or expensive.
Instead, the challenge lies in creating content that’s unique, clear, and persuasive.
Today many business websites are a version of Beauty and the Beast. While the aesthetic appeal of the site is mesmerizing, its use of language is a blight.
Business websites bombard readers with buzzwords. They bore people with trite anecdotes and vague promises. They labor through endless descriptions of when the business started and all they’ve overcome to get where they are.
Or – all too often – the writing is nonsensical filler used to plug-in keywords or just take up space.
Businesses under-invest in copywriting. Even today, it’s often added to designs as an afterthought. Many companies that design sites still outsource web writing to countries where English is a second language.
This problem condemns many websites to abysmal conversion rates because it’s words that communicate the business’ value proposition. It’s words that clarify and educate. It’s words that trigger emotional responses and motivate action.
Let’s explore why this problem persists, and what can be done to improve it.
Who Will Do the Writing?
This is often a tough question to answer.
Ideally, many business owners would like to do the writing. They know their business, their offer, and their customers. They have the knowledge.
But they lack the skill. They don’t write professionally, and many proclaim their hatred for the writing process. It’s daunting and time-consuming
Furthermore, even those that can craft decent explanations aren’t advertising copywriters. They can’t encapsulate their ideas into concise, memorable phrases.
Indeed, capturing the essence of an argument is a refined skill. So they decide to outsource this work.
The business first talks to the design company who did the website. They offer “SEO copy” for a nominal fee.
When all is said and done, the business ends up with copy like this from a dental website:
Preventive dentistry is extremely important when it comes to dental patients avoiding the many and various mouth issues that can occur when regular dental appointments are not made. Special Needs dentistry can provide the preventive dental treatments patients need since it is a form of dentistry that focuses on solving any special-needs issues a patient experiences. The sooner we can diagnose special-needs issues, the sooner a patient can receive the necessary dental treatments that help to resolve any special-needs issues.
This copy is provided as part of the template. The web company uses the same copy on all the dental websites they build.
Read the paragraph. Notice how it says absolutely nothing. What little sense it makes is circular reasoning. They “diagnose special-needs issues” so they can “resolve any special-needs issues.”
Here is some content from an event planner website:
In 2004, Carol decided to quit her job in corporate accounting and follow her passion as an event planner. From an early age, Carol loved to plan birthday parties for her friends and family, so she knew her destiny was to start her own event planning business.
Carol is passionate about turning your dreams into a reality. She wants to dream with you and transform that vibrant energy into an event that will stun everyone who attends. If you can dream it, Carol can create it.
A sure sign of amature web copy is leading off with the business backstory. Nobody cares when you started or how your “passion” (one of the most overused buzzwords of them all) brought you to where you are today.
This is followed by more vague ideas and circular arguments.
“Cheap” writers for hire composed both of the above passages. Neither makes a compelling case for why someone should hire the business, nor do they provide pertinent information.
Unfortunately, they are representative of much of the copy that exists on SMB websites today.
How Do Writers “Get” My Business?
A legitimate concern that comes up with outsourcing web writing is how the writer can represent the business without in-depth knowledge of the offer. This is a greater concern with businesses that offer a technical solution.
There are varying ways this is dealt with.
First and most common is to understand that the vast majority of business website writing – even for technical solutions – is written for a lay audience.
In other words, the goal of the copywriter is to take a technically complex idea and make it understandable for the non-expert.
When this is the goal, it’s an advantage to use a professional writer who must view the subject from the lay perspective. Their job is to gain an elemental understanding of the technical offer, then explain it in a way that highlights the benefits the solution delivers.
Here is an example of a page written by a Marketing 360® writer explaining the benefits of a wireless internet hotspot device.
This displays an important characteristic of web copywriting. The idea is not just to explain the solution. It’s to highlight its benefits in a persuasive way so customers will want to buy it.
Which brings up another point. If you need a technical treatise written about your offer, don’t hire a copywriter. Hire a technical writer with a background in what you do.
The job of a copywriter is to understand your value proposition; if you don’t have a crisp UVP, they can help you develop one. The value proposition is the central topic copywriters work with.
When the writer understands what you need to communicate, they create clear, concise writing with a voice that fits your brand. This content will often follow the AIDA structure (attention, interest, desire, action).
It will be focused on the needs of the audience, usually written in second person voice (this is why you need this product instead of this is why we offer our clients this product).
The argument they develop will be solid, easy to understand, and memorable. It will avoid jargon, buzzwords, and circular reasoning.
Last, remember that the more information you can provide for your copywriter, the better the final copy will be. They are not mind-readers, and if you leave them to guess at the underlying message you need to convey, you’ll end up with vague language and circular arguments.
Many underestimate the value of strong website copy. Don’t make that mistake.
Hire a professional web copywriter and pay them for the high value they deliver. It will give you a competitive advantage over all the businesses that skimp on copy, leaving their pretty website void of the words that give it meaning.
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