Should you hire a writer to create website content?

Mon, May 24 2010

By Dan Morton, The Right Words

Your website is a reflection of your business, so it should be professionally designed for maximum impact. Your website is also a selling tool: think of it as an online brochure. Customers are going to judge your business based on what they see (and read) on your site.

If your website content is crafted by a professional writer who is experienced at targeting your audience, it can be the source of dozens or even hundreds of new customers. However, the reverse is also true: a poorly targeted message will discourage new business and cost you thousands.

For the small fee that a professional content writer will charge, you can have a website that is clear, effective and designed to bring you new business. Exactly what a website should do.

How to Get Your Customers to Eat Their Peas…

Nobody knows your business better than you do. Right? If you are a small business owner, there is no question about it. However while that may be the case, you need to ask yourself this question: Are you truly the best person to articulate your business to potential customers? It seems like a simple enough question doesn’t it? Most business owners would instinctively say “yes”, but as we’ll see, that kneejerk reaction may not be in your overall best interest.

As a small business owner, you wear many hats. You have to. You simply don’t have the ability to hire a specialized staff like Coca-Cola or IBM does. Of course, just because you do most things yourself doesn’t mean you should. For example, most small business owners hire a CPA to do their taxes and a lawyer to fight their lawsuits. These are important matters: taxes and lawsuits, so it makes sense to hire an expert in these areas. But did you know there is an area of expertise that is even more important to a small business?

Stumped yet?

How about getting customers! Without acquiring and retaining customers, your business will not even have the money to pay taxes or worry about lawsuits. Customers are like fresh air to your business’s lungs – you can’t survive without them.

How do you obtain customers? There are many ways of course, but here is something to consider: Just about every potential customer will interact, in some way, with your writing! Maybe it is your website they see first, or a flyer promoting your business, or even a print ad you placed in the local paper. The fact is a customer is going to judge your business based on what they read before they ever step foot in your store or pick up the phone.

Talk about matters of great importance!

When you realize that fact, it makes the thought of hiring a professional writer a little more reasonable and maybe even… urgent? Depending on what you are saying to the world right now, you could be losing dozens of potential customers every day.

A professional writer can help you organize your thoughts and communicate your message clearly and effectively. Good writers are like the mashed potatoes on your plate when you were four years old. Do you remember how your mother expertly used them to hide the peas on your fork so she could sneak something healthy past your tightly closed lips?

Customers are like those tightly closed lips; they see so much advertising that they are instantly skeptical about your business. They refuse to open up and taste the wonderful products and services you can provide them. That is, of course, unless you give them some mashed potatoes with their peas…

When your first impression is often your only chance to snag a new customer, it pays to make sure what you are putting out there is the best it can be. The best representation of your company might actually not be written by you, but instead by a professional writer who can hide your message in something more palatable to skeptical consumers.

Expert word smith Dan Morton crafts text so clients get the right point across to their customers.

One response to “Should you hire a writer to create website content?”

  1. Judi Leavenworth says:

    I agree that good content is vital for any business looking to attract customers. Business owners who need quality content for their websites should consider outsourcing the creation of that content as a wise business investment. As a business owner, your time is better spent in managing your operation, not writting website content.

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