Should you write your own website copy? It’s a question many founders ask themselves, especially when their business is still relatively new or small.
The answer isn’t black and white. There’s inevitably a cost associated with getting a professional copywriter involved, and it may be that your budget simply won’t stretch to it. But there could be costs if you do the writing yourself too.
Too many people are quite happy to pay for a graphic designer, photographer or web developer to ensure that their website has the right look, but when it comes to the copy they shrug and say, “Oh that’s ok, I can write it myself.”
Unfortunately, being able to write an articulate email or even a blog post isn’t the same as writing effective website copy. So before you get started, it’s worth asking yourself a few questions to make sure that you’re not going to inadvertently let your website down at this hurdle.
1) Have I got a structure in place?
Before you start writing, you need to think about both your sitemap and the structure of the page content itself. It’s not just about deciding which words to use but which ones will go where and in what sort of hierarchy. This is both a design and a copy decision.
You’ll need to understand user experience (UX) and the journey people will take from arriving on the site to taking some sort of action. And you’ll need to support both those visitors who are willing to read every word of copy on the page and those who will be doing no more than scanning the homepage.
2) Have I worked out my core message?
Speaking of scanning, if someone does spend just 30 seconds on your site, what is the one thing you want them to know, think or feel about your business? Have you ensured that your top level copy communicates this quickly and easily?
As well as your core message, you’ll want to think about your supporting messages and how the copy serves these to the right visitors in the right places. People only read an average of 20% of the copy on any given web page, so you need to make sure they get what they need as quickly as possible.
3) Do I know how to balance benefits and features?
You may have heard marketers talking about how copy should highlight benefits over features. What this means is that you need to sell the outcome of doing business with you, rather than the actual facts of your product or service. As someone clever once said, “No one wants a 2 inch drill bit, they want a 2 inch hole.”
But there’s a balance. If you keep going on about how your customer or client’s life or business will be transformed, without telling them how, they’re going to get frustrated quickly. A good website will balance emotive and factual copy, and a good copywriter will know where to prioritise each one.
4) Can I see from my client or customer’s perspective?
One of the benefits of having an external copywriter creating your website copy is that they will bring an outside perspective. Too often as business owners – and even marketing managers – we are too close to the subject.
We are so knowledgeable about what we do or sell that we forget what it’s like to be new to our business. We think as people supplying a product or service, rather than people looking to buy these things. And we use the word ‘we’ too often, forgetting that good website copy should always be about the reader first.
5) Do I know how – and when – to move people to action?
It’s no good just getting people to read your website copy. The copy needs to encourage them to do something. This is where calls to action (CTAs) come in. In some cases you might want a visitor to click through to another page to get more information. Will you ask them to ‘read more’, ‘meet the team’, ‘discover the latest features’?
At some point you’ll also want to ask them to buy, or get in touch, or download something, or sign up for something. Again, wording your CTA is crucial if you’re going to turn their interest into an actual sale or lead.
6) Can I really write?
Ooh, now this is a tough question. Because you’re likely in one of three camps. You either know you can’t write nearly well enough to do your website justice (probably not, otherwise why would you be reading this?). Or you believe you can write well and you’re correct in your assumption (in which case, fantastic).
Or you believe you can write well but the truth is that you can’t (ouch). If you’re not certain, get feedback (more on this later). Don’t ask people who will flatter you. Ask those that care enough to tell you the truth. Tough love doesn’t feel nice, but neither does not getting any leads through your website.
7) Have you got the time?
This is a purely practical point that is nevertheless worth considering. After all, if you run a business then you’re bound to have a lot on your to do list. Think about how long it’s likely to take you to write your own website copy, and then think about what else you could be doing with your time.
What would you be charging a client if you spent those hours delivering your service? Is it as much as you would have to pay a copywriter to write your copy? Or perhaps you could spend the time writing a business plan that gets you funding, or a presentation that will win you a huge new contract. What use of your time is going to add the most value to your business?
Whatever you decide…
Even the best writers need a good editor. If you’re going to write your own copy, make sure you get feedback before you press the ‘go live’ button. Feedback, as we’ve already said, from people you can trust to tell you the truth. That might be people in your industry, clients or any professional writers offering a feedback service like our Website Health Check.
First ask them to scan the copy quickly, and report back on what their first impressions were. What do they think you do? Who do they think you work with? What do they think makes your business different to others in your field?
Then get them to read more deeply. What impression do they get of your brand? Are there any words or phrases that stand out as being ‘not quite right’? Is any of it confusing? Do they know where to go to get the information they need.
All of this feedback will help you work and rework your website copy until it becomes something that not only reads well but will actually deliver results for your business. Then give it to one last person to proofread it for typos.
If, in the end, you decide you need professional help, don’t be disappointed. Even professional writers don’t automatically make good website copywriters. There’s so much more to it than being able to craft an articulate sentence. Deciding to work with an experienced website copywriter could be the best decision you ever made!
If you’re considering hiring a copywriter, you’ll want to assess a number of different factors. The two key ones are “Can they do the job?” and “Do I get on with them?” Inevitably though, at some point you’re going to need to find out one important fact: how much does it cost?
Of course, asking how much it costs to hire a copywriter is a lot like asking how much it costs to go out for a meal. It depends on whether you’re going to McDonalds or a Michelin starred restaurant. On whether you’re having one course or seven. On whether you’re having soup, pasta and salad, or oysters, lobster and steak.
That said, we can give you some factors to consider when it comes to costing your copywriting project, and some guidelines that should help you set your expectations realistically.
Day rate vs project rate
The first variable comes in how people charge for their work. Some freelancers and even agencies use a day rate. For a freelancer, you’re paying for their writing time, plus a small margin to contribute to their other activities, such as admin and marketing. In an agency, you’re likely to be paying what’s known as a “blended rate”, which takes into account the various people who might input into your project, from account execs to strategists.
Now for the actual numbers… New freelancers might start off charging as little £150 per day, and end up charging £700 and even beyond for specialist work or once they’re at a senior level. The top end of freelance rates and the bottom end of agency rates overlap – sometimes by a surprising amount. But not everyone uses a day rate.
At RH&Co, we don’t think they’re a particularly sensible model to work with. Yes, we factor in how long we think any given project should take. But what if one of our writers is having an off day and takes twice as long as they normally would to get a job done? We don’t think our clients should have to pay extra. Nor would we expect to charge less if, in a moment of creative genius, we whizzed through a piece of work in half the time planned.
That’s why we price projects on a, well, project basis. This balances time invested, value delivered, the complexity of the subject matter and a number of other factors. For us this feels like the fairest way to charge for our work.
The cost for retained copywriting work
You might want to engage a copywriter on a longer term basis. For example, you may want them to provide you with weekly blog posts, for which you’d most likely be invoiced on a monthly basis. Or you might decide you need someone available for a set number of hours or days each month, with the actual work being decided as you go.
With retainer work, you may want to – or need to – agree to a retainer rate. This is an ongoing (usually monthly) fee that tends to be paid over a set contract period. Agencies and more established freelancers will often get a service level agreement (SLA) in place so everyone knows what’s expected.
It’s harder to put a price on retainer work, as it very much depends on what and how much you need doing. If your retainer is based on a set number of hours or days then it will be fairly straightforward to work out. But if it’s tied to deliverables, then you’re back to the variations of project pricing.
One thing you can be sure of is that you will get more for your money if you commit to a retainer, as the copywriter or copywriting agency you employ can count on the work coming in. By removing uncertainty from their income projections, you can effectively earn yourself a discount.
Why it’s not about price per word
Newspapers and magazines tend to pay journalists per word. This is because the copy being produced is, in relative terms, fairly standard – a news article or a feature. Although we’re generalising for simplicity here, the more words involved, the more work is likely to have gone into the piece.
With copywriting, there is a much greater variety of projects. And word count is a less dominant factor when it comes to deciding on the value of the copy delivered.
Sure, a 3,000 word white paper takes more effort than an 800 word blog post. But a six word strapline can require more input than both – by a long shot. In this case, pricing is much more to do with the value that’s being added through conceptual input rather than the ‘writing’ itself.
Understanding what you’re paying for
One important factor to take into consideration when gathering pricing information from potential copywriters is what’s included in the cost quoted.
Let’s take blogging as an example. On the one extreme, you may have a strategy in place, customer research done, titles set and a series of briefs written and ready to go. In which case, all your copywriter needs to do is craft an engaging narrative to tie together the information in the brief in a way that authentically represents the brand.
With our clients though, we’re much more involved in the process. Blogging contracts begin with a strategy and onboarding session. We advise on topic and title selection. Our briefings draw out the right information from the client’s experts, and keep them from getting lost in the detail. Once a writer has produced the first draft, a separate editor quality checks and proofreads it. We can even support clients with social sharing copy to help get their blog out there.
When we send an invoice for a blogging project or retainer, we’re charging for a lot more than just a few hours of writing.
Factors that will make your copywriting project more expensive
As you’ll have seen in the last section, there’s a lot more that goes into a copywriting project than pure writing. The more elements you add, the more you should expect to pay.
Here are a few non-writing jobs that you might want included in your project:
- Brief creation: Have you got a clear brief written and ready to go or will you need support with this? The more support you need, the more a project will cost.
- Concepting: Creating straplines, campaign messaging, ad copy and so on may require less writing but they need a lot more thinking time, adding to the final invoice.
- Complexity: The more complex your subject matter, the more you’ll need to spend, either on a specialist or on the time it takes to get a generalist to understand it.
- Add ons: Do you need image research or copy uploaded into a CMS? Extra tasks will add to your bill.
- Amends: Although a reasonable number of amends will be included, if you’re anticipating the need for more e.g. because of a high number of people inputting their thoughts, this might cost more.
As you can see, coming up with a straightforward answer to the question “How much does hiring a copywriter cost?” is virtually impossible. The best way to get a sense of how much to budget for your project is to get out there and get a few quotes.
Just remember to be clear about what you really need. After all, it’s better to pay that bit extra and get results, than spend a smaller amount and find it’s been wasted because you didn’t get what you were hoping for.
Our newest team member, project administrator Kassi Marshall, opens up about a host of important topics, from mental health to the LGBTQ+ community and the positive power of pink hair!
Where are you from and how did you end up in Bristol?
I was born and grew up in Bath and went to school there. I think we moved to Bristol when I was 11. I’ve lived in Bristol longer than in Bath now so I would consider myself Bristolian.
I think my favorite thing about the city is the variety of people and places. My boyfriend and I just moved into a new flat and when we walk around it’s so quiet, you can hear the birds singing, you wouldn’t think you’re in Bristol at all. But then 10 minute walk the other way and you’re in the city centre.
What did you dream of being when you were a kid?
When I was younger I did gymnastics and ballet and really wanted to be a ballerina. In my teens, I was rebellious – well, I thought I was rebellious – and wanted to be in a rock band. I had singing lessons and took up guitar but I didn’t get very far! And then when I was leaving school I thought about teaching, but then went and studied drama. I was very indecisive.
I actually fell into admin through temping and realised I’m not only good at it but I really enjoy it. Which is weird, because in my personal life I’m completely disorganised. And I don’t exactly look like an administrator. My last job was as a legal support assistant at a law firm.
Your hair is definitely one of your stand out features – is it always pink?
I’ve had my hair lots of different colours. I’ve always been the weird one and I embrace that wholeheartedly. My friends and I never really fit in at school and I was bullied terribly. For a while I tried to fit in but slowly I came to accept the fact that I was different.
The moment I left school I put blue streaks through my hair and got my first tattoo as soon as I was old enough. I just feel better with bright hair and tattoos, more me.
What are your go-to hobbies when you’re not at work?
I’m really into craft, especially cross stitch. I also like working with epoxy resin, making jewellery and trinket trays and things like that. Both started as hobbies and grew from there, so I now have a small Etsy shop where I sell my work.
I do a bit of knitting and crochet too, although I’m terrible at it! But I do love to sew and do quilting. A friend of mine has a degree in costume design and makes a lot of outfits for drag queens, and I had a 1-to-1 session with her to make a gorgeous skirt.
Other than that I play video games, watch Netflix and enjoy spending as much time as I can with family. My mum, my sister and I are all very close and message every day.
You’ve used your craft shop to raise money for Pride – why is the community so important to you?
I’m always very open about being part of the LGBTQ+ community and I’m passionate about representation. It’s important to me to be a voice. I never used to be, I used to get imposter syndrome – I’m in a straight presenting relationship, and I am quite femme-presenting. But I think it’s important to be able to talk about being non-binary and all that entails.
In my last job, which was at a law firm, I wrote an article for the company intranet about why Pride is important to me. I was worried about what people might say but everyone was really respectful and asked really relevant questions. It helped me realise I do have a voice.
What other subjects are you passionate about?
I’ve struggled with my mental health, so that’s another thing I’m quite open about. I have anxiety and depression, and I’m neurodivergent.
I think there’s a taboo around talking about how you feel but as soon as you open up, people can start to understand more about how you experience the world. Learning to communicate effectively about how I feel has significantly helped.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
“Do good recklessly” – I have it tattooed on my right arm. It’s a quote from my favourite podcast, The Adventure Zone, which I’ve listened to four times through now! The quote is something I like to live by. It’s not about being reckless, it’s about not holding back on doing good. Do good whenever you can, at every opportunity. I like that.
I’ve written many times about the fact there are no silver bullets when it comes to marketing and blogging is no exception. Even a blog that is well targeted, well planned and well written will take a while to gain traction as you build up your bank of posts and word starts to spread.
However, if you’ve been plugging away at your business blog for months and months and still aren’t seeing results, it could be you’re missing something. Here are some common problems we’ve identified that could be holding you back.
1) You haven’t set any goals
This might sound obvious but how can you know whether your blog is generating results if you haven’t actually set any targets? Whether you want to increase brand awareness, establish your authority as an expert or generate leads, it’s important to be clear about what you’re aiming for and how you’ll measure your progress. By keeping these goals in mind, you’ll also find it easier to know what content to include and what’s merely a time consuming distraction.
2) You’re writing about what you want to write about
In this time poor age we live in, no one is going to read something they don’t actively want to (or have to) read. So your starting point for your blog needs to be your target audience. What subjects interest them? What problems could you help them solve? What stories could you tell that would resonate with them? What insights could you share that will benefit them? If you have your own agenda at the forefront of your mind rather than theirs, you won’t get very far.
3) You haven’t included a CTA
If you don’t have a call to action at the end of your blog post, you’re leaving your reader at a dead end and they’re likely to click away from your site. You need to guide people to take further action, whether that’s emailing for a quote, sharing the link with their network, or simply reading another post.
4) You’re not making the most of SEO
We don’t pretend to be SEO experts but we do know that there are some very simple things you can do to improve your search engine rankings. Most important is to do your keyword research and then make sure you’re including those words and phrases in your blog posts – especially titles. Remember that you need to use H1 tags for your main title and H2 for your subheads because this is how search engines rank page content for importance.
5) You’re not socialising your blog
Especially when you’re first getting started (and in our experience, for as long as you blog for your business), you will need to get active on social media. It’s the best way to get your posts under the noses of the right people. You need to share every single one. Do this more than once, on different days, across as many channels as you can. Test different calls to action. Use images. Create graphics. Basically grab people’s attention any which way you can and make sure they end up clicking through to your website.
6) You can’t write
Gosh, that sounds a bit harsh, doesn’t it? But sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. And there’s no point in you wasting your valuable time creating post after post after post no one is ever going to read. Writing well isn’t just about being able to spell and punctuate properly. It’s about inspiring and educating and entertaining and provoking your reader. It’s a complicated blend of art and science, as much about psychology as it is linguistics. There’s a reason why people get paid to write – it takes skill, experience and a lot of practice to do well.
There’s no shame in admitting that writing isn’t your strong suit. If you can’t write – or you don’t enjoy it, or you simply don’t have the time – then why not let us help? Contact us today to find out more about our blogging packages, which start at two posts a month.
The words we use make a big difference to how people perceive us – and it’s no different for brands. In today’s blog post, RH&Co founder Rin picks through the vocabulary choices she has deliberately made in order to make a subtle statement about our values as a business. What impression do the words you use make about your brand?
You know how sometimes you meet someone and you just get a feeling about them that you don’t like? You might not quite be able to put your finger on what it is, but you just sense that they’re a bit arrogant, or condescending, or untrustworthy.
Chances are that if you were to analyse the language they used in their conversation with you, you’d be able to spot a few words that helped you make this impression.
The words we use are incredibly powerful in communicating our personalities and our values. Naturally, as a writer, I find this fascinating. But is it something that you as a business owner or marketer should care about? I would say yes.
Building a brand one word at a time
Brands are built on a million small things. Just look at how much thinking goes into the colours in a logo, for example. Businesses can spend thousands working out whether a particular shade of green is likely to be seen as trustworthy or whether a sample group of clients feels a certain shade of red feels aggressive rather than bold.
Language is similarly important. Your brand voice says a lot about who you are as a business. Are the words you use passionate or playful? Sassy or serious? Are you informative or irreverent?
Today’s consumers care about company values in a way they haven’t in the past and they’re more likely to spend their money with businesses that have similar values to their own. So it’s vital that you are clear about who you are as a business and what you stand for. And that you communicate this not only in what you say but how you say it.
Here are some of the language choices we’ve made at RH&Co and the reasons why we’ve made them.
A statement about relationship
There’s something about the word staff that makes me think about Downton Abbey. If I were to talk about “my staff”, I feel like it would immediately place them below me. It would suggest a hierarchy that simply doesn’t exist at RH&Co.
Instead, I always talk about the team, because that’s how I see us all. Yes, technically they’re employees and I’m the “boss” (another word I can’t abide!) but that’s just not how we work. We operate as a cohesive whole. No one tells anyone what to do. We respect each other’s positions, skills and experience.
In the same way, I always talk about the people who work with me rather than for me. The way I see it, we’re all working for the business, because the business is all of us. The better the business does, the better we all do, and vice versa. Again, it’s a team effort.
Creating a positive impression
At RH&Co, we try to speak in a positive way. That doesn’t mean we don’t say things that might inherently have a negative aspect. It’s just that we try to use language and phrasing that presents it in the most positive way possible.
For example, when talking about our website health check, we might tell prospective clients that this service will help them identify what’s working and what’s not. But we don’t want the focus to be on what’s not working, which is negative.
Instead, we talk about where there might be room to get their copy working even harder for their business. In this way, we keep the focus on the positive end results of changing that copy which isn’t working.
What does this have to do with values? Well, as a business we want people to feel encouraged rather than disappointed. Yes, there’s a lot of really terrible website copy in the world. Yes, there are many businesses that aren’t blogging strategically. But being critical isn’t in our DNA. Instead, we’re enthusiastic about the possibilities for improvement and the benefits this can bring to our clients.
Language, gender and equality
There’s no getting away from the fact that we live in a world dominated by white, middle class men. In order for this to change, we need to make changes ourselves, both big and small. Language may not seem like a priority, but it can be powerful for shaping hearts and minds.
For example, as a society, we tend to default to a male pronoun. I notice this a lot when I’m talking to my children. They will often refer to, say, a toy or a creepy crawly in the garden as “he”. As a result, I make a concerted effort to use “she” as often as I can, as in “Oh look, a caterpillar – isn’t she colourful?”
In a work context, we recently had a client who adjusted a phrase we’d written, switching the original “he or she” for “she or he”. Again, an incredibly subtle difference but so easy to change and, along with millions of other small changes, important in the long run.
Of course, this particular conversation will need to continue as more people choose not to identify with an assigned gender at all, preferring the pronoun “they”.
In the meantime, other ways we try to address the gender balance in our language include making sure never to refer to women as girls, and avoiding adding a gender reference where it simply isn’t needed. For example, there’s no need to talk about a female CEO, a female surgeon or a female engineer when CEO, surgeon and engineer will do just fine.
One or two words or phrases taken in isolation might not seem like much. But they make a difference. That’s why our strapline reads: you don’t need many words, just the right ones. If you want to talk to a professional about your business’s brand voice and core messaging, get in touch to find out how we can help.
Creating original content is one of the most powerful ways to establish your expertise as a brand and help build your reputation online. The challenge is that it takes time, effort and probably budget to do it well. Which is why it’s important to repurpose that content so you can share it in lots of different ways and increase the ROI you’re getting.
Repurposing content in different forms also means you’ll catch a larger audience, because everyone has a different way they like to consume information, whether that’s through visuals, the written word, audio and so one.
The first step is to decide what your foundational content is. Are you going to focus on blogging, on video, on podcasts? Perhaps you’ll invest in white papers or webinars. You may well end up using all of them, but it’s hard to do lots of things really well, especially if your budget is restricted. Better to have one as your base and build off that.
For us, blogging is the heartbeat of our content marketing strategy. Blogging is a powerful tool for both social engagement and SEO, it doesn’t need lots of equipment to produce and can easily add huge amounts of value for your audience.
If you blog for your business, here’s how we’d recommend squeezing the most value you can from each post, to ensure that you’re reaching as many people as possible.
1) Write a valuable, strategically informed blog post
Step one is to create the original piece of content, in this case your blog post. At this stage, don’t think too hard about how it might be repurposed. You want to focus on making it the best blog possible, with a headline designed to engage your audience or perform well from an SEO perspective, formatting that makes reading it as easy as possible, and most importantly, as much value as you can possibly include. By doing this, your blog will start adding value from the moment it is published.
2) Share it on social media – more than once
Before we move onto repurposing per se, make sure you’re sharing your post as it is on social media – ideally more than once. Your first share can be a straightforward one, introducing the topic and encouraging people to click through and read it by selling the benefits of the post. You can also use questions, stats and quotes pulled from the blog itself to vary the social sharing copy and encourage more engagements and views.
3) Summarise it in your newsletter
Your email list is made up of people who are at least moderately interested in what you have to say, so don’t deny them the chance to read your post. There are several ways you can share posts via email:
- Include the whole post – this reduces the need for your reader to click through, but means you won’t get the website traffic.
- Use the first few paragraphs followed by a ‘keep reading’ CTA, which will hopefully hook people enough that they want to read more.
- Write a headline and short ‘sell’ as part of a roundup of newsletter content, encouraging people to click to read. This is the method we use in The Right Words.
4) Turn it into a press release
If your blog post has a strong news hook, original research, controversial opinion or anything else that might be of interest to a journalist, why not repurpose it as a press release? Make sure to understand the publication you’re pitching to and what you’re hoping to gain e.g. do you want to write a similar piece for them or do you want to go on their expert contact list? Many online publications have submission guidelines that will help you understand how best to approach them.
5) Film a video blog
We’ve already talked about doing one thing well rather than lots of things poorly, but there’s no reason why a well written blog post shouldn’t help you create a video blog. Unlike brand videos, which are worth getting a professional for, video blogs can be filmed with a decent laptop or smartphone.
Again, there are several ways to tackle this. You could go through all of the points from your blog post in one longer video. You could chop it up into different sections e.g. if you have 5 tips, you could film one video for each and make a series. Or you can use video as a teaser, for example sharing just one tip and encouraging people to click through to the blog for more.
6) Use your post as a chapter in an ebook
Chances are that once you’ve been blogging for a while, you’ll have a collection of posts around several key topics. This is a great opportunity to create an ebook. As an example, we had three blog posts covering different sales and marketing challenges faced by B2B businesses, which we then turned into an ebook. These can be useful tools for your sales team to use as part of any outreach campaigns.
7) Record a podcast series
Another way to repurpose a whole collection of blog posts is to record a podcast series. Once again, you can do this in different ways. The most straightforward would be to simply record audio versions of each post for people who don’t have the time to read and prefer to consume their content on the go. But you might also prefer to be a little more free flowing and conversational, using the key points in each post as a starting point rather than a script. Or why not get a guest on to discuss each blog to get a variety of views?
8) Create an animation
This isn’t a cheap or easy option so we certainly wouldn’t recommend it for every post you write. But if there’s a particular piece of pillar content that is foundational to your content strategy, animation is a powerful way of getting – and keeping – people’s attention.
9) Put together a presentation
Next time you’re asked to give a presentation at a networking group or industry event, don’t stress about what you’re going to talk about. Dive into your blog and you’ll find plenty of inspiration. Chances are that many of your posts are a talk in themselves, containing an introduction, several main points, and a conclusion. All you have to do is create the slides.
10) Design an infographic
Depending on the information included in your post, it might lend itself nicely to an infographic format. These are great for sharing on social media and also rank well in terms of image search on Google. Remember, you don’t want to include all the words from your post in the infographic – it needs to be primarily visual, so take the core concepts and use text sparingly.
11) Send it to a prospect
Some blog posts naturally fit within your sales process. For example, you might have a buyer’s guide designed to help your audience make the right choice of product or service. Do put these posts on your website, but don’t leave them there. Send them directly to prospects too. You might do this at the same time as sending a proposal, for example, or as a follow up that feels a little more valuable than “Have you had a chance to consider our proposal?”
While all of these repurposing techniques take a level of input in terms of time and effort, they should ultimately take the knowledge you put into your blog – the research, the concepting, even some of the phrasing – and give it different forms.
By doing this, you get the most business value out of the expertise you put into your post. And you reach more people, both by using different content forms that appeal to different people, and by simply showing up more times in people’s digital landscape.
As a copywriting agency, a big part of what we do is provide ‘done for you’ blog writing services. Which sounds relatively straightforward but is actually quite an intricate process. After all, our expert clients need the work we produce to read like they wrote it – only better.
And they need it to deliver real results, adding value for their audience, building trust and loyalty, and ultimately moving people along the buyer journey towards a place where they are ready to, well, buy.
Over the last four and a half years, we’ve written over 1,000 blog posts for dozens of businesses ranging from local Bristol-based startups to SMEs operating out of a dozen countries around the world. And we’ve learned a lot about what it takes to consistently create high-quality posts that deliver results.
The strategy session – getting to know you and your audience
Before we begin work with a new client we always hold an onboarding and strategy session. This allows us to get clear on the processes that will define the way we work. But more importantly it’s a chance to get to know our clients inside out.
We need to know not just what they do or sell but the benefits their services or products add for their clients and customers. We need to understand what makes them different, what their brand personality is, what their goals are and so much more besides.
We also need to understand the audience they’re speaking to. What are they looking for? What are their pain points and their aspirations? Are they aware of the product or service on offer or do they need educating? What might stop them from engaging with our client?
Only then can we begin to formulate a strategy for their blog. Do we need to focus on one particular audience group e.g. the decision maker rather than the user? Are we trying to engage people early in their awareness journey or those ready to make a purchase? What objections can we handle with a blog post? Where can we add the most value?
“The clients we work with are, without a doubt, experts in their fields. But experts usually have such depth of knowledge that they can find it difficult to see the wood for the trees.”
Brief creation – drawing out your expert knowledge
“How can you write for us, if you aren’t experts in what we do?” That’s a question we often hear from prospective clients. And it’s a fair point. We don’t profess to be experts in financial modelling, men’s skincare, app development, Spanish property or leadership development – all subjects we’ve written blog posts about.
That’s why the briefing session is so important. It’s where we use a journalistic approach to draw out the information we need to create credible and engaging posts. This isn’t always the information the client thinks is the most important but the information that their audience is interested in. Our job is to put ourselves in the shoes of the reader, using what we’ve gathered about them in the strategy session to ask “Would I read this? Would I care? What’s in it for me?”
The clients we work with are, without a doubt, experts in their fields. But experts usually have such depth of knowledge that they can find it difficult to see the wood for the trees. They try to pack too much into each post, making it hard for readers to navigate. Or they pitch too high, assuming everyone has the same base knowledge as them rather than explaining important concepts.
As an agency, one of our core skills lies in picking up new subjects quickly, pulling out the most enticing, useful, informative nuggets and packaging these up in a way that makes each and every post engaging and valuable for our client’s audience.
The writing process – adding our copywriting magic
Once we’ve extracted the information we need from our client, the writing team gets to work. There’s no formula here, as each post needs to be bespoke to the client, showcasing their expertise clearly and authentically in their brand voice.
One thing that is common to all the posts we write is that they combine the client’s expertise with our understanding of what makes a blog post engaging. From the title to the opening paragraph, the structure and the subheads, and the call to action at the end, we do a lot more than string a few grammatically correct sentences together.
Although content marketing is all about adding value for the reader, it also has to deliver a business benefit. Our clients may be experts at what they do but they’d be the first to admit they’re not copywriting experts. Our job in writing blog posts for them is to balance the needs of the reader with the needs of the business, keeping strategy at the heart of all we do.
Once a batch of posts has been written, it is edited and proofread by another member of the team before being shared with the client. We use Google Docs to make the process simple, allowing more than one member of the client’s team to add their comments. Once this is done we get the amends done ready for the client to start publishing.
Additional services – social sharing and lead magnets
The thing about blog posts is that they’re only useful if people are reading them. While some of our clients have a well defined SEO strategy, which we use to inform the way we write, others rely on social media engagement. This means they need to be using social media consistently, which many simply don’t have time to do.
Our ‘social sharing copy’ uplift gives our clients three short pieces of copy for each blog post, which they can copy and paste onto their LinkedIn or Facebook feed with a link to the post. They don’t need to think about what to write – it can be trickier than you think to come up with a couple of catchy lines to introduce a piece of content – and they can share each post multiple times without sounding repetitive.
We can also create lead magnets related to the blog posts we are writing – downloads that allow our clients to capture email data and nurture a relationship with potential customers and clients. These include checklists, ebooks, guides and more.
Blogging is a powerful tool for any business. According to DemandMetric, companies that blog produce an average of 67% more leads each month compared to those that don’t. But just bashing out 1,000 words every now and then isn’t enough in a world where over 4 million blog posts are published each day. That’s where we come in.
If you’re ready to transform your blog into a tool that helps you establish your expertise and grow your reputation online, get in touch for a quote today.
Do you know what we always find really sad? The number of poorly written websites in the world. So many businesses invest heavily in design, in development, even in photography. But when it comes to written content, they get the poor marketing manager to cobble something together. Anyone can write, right?
There’s no doubt that design and development are both vitally important elements of a highly performing website. But written content is what your audience will be looking at to determine whether you can do what you need them to, whether you know what you’re talking about, whether they can trust you.
And getting it right is about a lot more than having your A-level English certificate. You need to take a strategic approach to your written content and make sure you’re not making any of these common mistakes.
It’s hard to understand quickly what you actually do
If you teach yoga classes or you produce craft cider or you offer accountancy services, it should be relatively simple to explain what it is your business does. But not every product or service is as easy to understand, especially if you’re talking to an audience that is less knowledgeable than you.
One of the best ways to quickly communicate what it is you do is to focus on the value you can bring to your audience. How will buying from or working with you benefit them? Why will their lives – either personal or professional – be better for having chosen your product or service?
But don’t be too obscure or generic. “Disruptive software that transforms organisational paradigms” doesn’t really mean anything when you break it down. And “A unique formula that’s better for the planet, better for you” could apply equally to a host of eco products from washing powders to facial scrubs.
There isn’t a clear reason to choose you above the competition
Clarifying what it is you do and how it’s beneficial to your audience is one thing. Now you’re on their shortlist, you have to show them why you’re the best option for them compared to everyone else on the market.
This is where you have to think about everything from your value proposition to your brand personality – and make sure it’s conveyed in your website copy. Perhaps you’re a recruitment company that prides itself on its strong values and ethics. Maybe you offer the widest range of bike hire options in the South West. It could be that you’ve got multiple awards, hard-to-get accreditation, a stellar client base.
Whatever you believe your audience will most connect with, you need to be showcasing that front and centre in your website content. Chances are it will inform your messaging throughout your site.
It’s difficult for people to find what they’re looking for
People will navigate through your website in one of two ways. They will use the menu, and they will also scan subheads and follow calls to action (CTAs) through the body copy (the main text on each page). Both options must be as simple as possible to use.
On your homepage, you need to ensure that the body copy links through to each of the most important areas of your website that you might want people to visit. Obviously this should include your product or service pages, but might also include your About page, case studies page or blog.
If you offer a range of product or service categories or work with distinct audience groups, make this as clear as possible on your homepage so people can quickly get to the section that’s most relevant for them.
You haven’t provided any social proof
You can say you’re an expert or your product is the best on the market until you’re blue in the face, but you’re never going to be as convincing as someone who has already benefited from working with or buying from you.
Your website should, at the very least, include testimonials. These don’t need to be extensive. A few lines capturing how you made a difference to your customer or client is enough. You can clump these together on a dedicated page but they’re far more powerful spread through your site where people can’t help but see them.
Case studies are even more powerful, especially for service-based businesses and especially if that service is relatively complex. These longer pieces of content should set out the challenge you helped to solve, the way you did it and crucially the results. If you can pepper your case study with quotes from your client, even better.
You aren’t telling people what to do next
Getting people to visit your website is the first hurdle. The next is to get them to stay and engage – to actually read enough of the relevant sections of content that they at least move along the customer journey towards working with you. But you don’t want to leave it there.
A call to action is one of the smallest segments of copy on your website and yet it is potentially the most powerful. Your audience needs to know what to do once they’ve finished reading a page – do you want them to buy something, sign up for a newsletter, join a webinar, book a demo?
Be clear on what you want your audience to do and then test different CTAs to see which has the most impact. The difference between ‘buy now’ and ‘add to basket’ could massively increase your conversion rate.
How to fix your website content so it delivers results
If you’ve identified one or more issues with your current website content, don’t panic. Knowing there’s a problem is the first step towards fixing it, after all.
It may be that before you can actually fix the copy, you need to go back and do a bit more work on the fundamentals.
Who is your audience and what problems are you solving for them? How do you communicate what it is that you do so that people will both understand and care? What is your value proposition? Why should people work with or buy from you and not the competition?
One you’re clear on these, you’ve got a much higher chance of creating website copy that resonates. Then it’s just a case of coming up with engaging messaging lines, crafting punchy and persuasive paragraphs to back them up and structuring the copy so that it supports the customer journey.
As a marketing manager – especially one without a large team under you – you may well at some point need to hire an external copywriter. But how do you go about finding the right one?
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as posting a shoutout on LinkedIn and waiting for your contacts to tag their favourite copywriters. To find a good match – one that will deliver results and be worth every penny that you pay them – takes planning.
Here is a step-by-step guide for marketing managers looking to hire a copywriter.
Define the scope of your copywriting project
Have you got a detailed brief ready to send to your chosen copywriter? Without a good brief, you are setting your copywriter up to fail, no matter how good they are. To write effective copy, they need to understand things like:
- Who the audience is that they’re writing for
- How the product or service benefits the reader
- What the copy is supposed to achieve
- What you want the reader to do once they’ve read the copy
- Why they might not want to or be ready to do that
If you aren’t used to writing copy briefs, it’s worth finding out if your potential copywriter has the experience to help you do this. Agencies tend to use freelancers themselves and are therefore used to creating as well as following briefs.
Have an idea of your budget
You might have a set marketing budget for the year or it might be that your company is a little less rigid and you can apply for what you need on a case by case basis. Either way, you’ll need to think about how you’re going to fund your copywriting project.
Obviously, the final cost will vary hugely depending on what you’re looking for and who you use. For example, a simple five page website selling yoga classes will cost less than a large and complex website for a financial analytics consultancy. And a freelancer who’s just getting started might be charging as little as £120 while a specialist might charge five times that amount.
Sticking with pricing models, some people charge on a day rate, others on a project basis. And agencies usually have some sort of blended rate to cover the various people who will be looking after your work, from the account manager to the writer and possibly a strategist or even the creative director.
It’s worth noting that some copywriters – particularly the more experienced freelancers and agencies – may have a minimum fee that they will accept.
Work out what type of copywriter you need
Not all copywriters are the same. Here are some of the different types of copywriter you might come across:
- Content writers, who produce long-form copy like blog posts designed to add value and build relationship.
- Advertising copywriters who are skilled at coming up with snappy campaign concepts and billboard lines.
- Technical copywriters, who specialises in areas like SaaS or finance or biomedical engineering.
- SEO copywriters, who can seamlessly weave keywords into your copy to improve search.
- Brand copywriters, who can help you create a strapline or articulate your value proposition succinctly.
- Conversion copywriters, whose specialism is creating landing pages and sales emails that will sell.
Although many copywriters will be able to work across more than one, few can do everything. If you need input into a range of copywriting projects, you might be better off looking for an agency with a bank of different writers that can be pulled in as needed.
Freelance copywriter vs copywriting agency
In fact, let’s take a moment to talk about the choice between using an individual freelance copywriter and a copywriting agency. The first thing to say is that one is not better than the other! There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
A freelance writer, being a single individual, is likely to have a degree of flexibility to the way they work. They might be able to come and work in-house with your team one day a week, for example, where an agency might not offer that service.
Because they don’t have the overheads of an agency, a freelancer is also likely to be relatively cost effective. Although make sure you get a range of quotes and that you compare like for like. In many cases our rates are lower than that of specialist senior writers!
The problem with freelancers is that the best ones get booked up fast. An agency, on the other hand, will usually have a stable of tried and tested writers they can call on, plus an in-house team to handle the strategy, brief creation, editing and so on.
This also helps when it comes to illness or holiday. With an agency you know there will always be someone available to look after your needs. And of course there’s that team we mentioned, bringing a range of experts together to help with all aspects of your project, not just the writing.
Starting your search
Once you know what you’re looking for and what you want your copywriter to achieve, it’s time to start your search properly. Having said that hiring a copywriter isn’t as simple as putting a shoutout on LinkedIn, that’s not a bad place to start.
Be as specific as you can with your post. If you need a technical copywriter, say so. If it’s an ongoing project that needs a commitment of six months, put that in your request. The more detailed you can be, the better the referrals you’ll get.
A Google search is also a good option, especially if you’re looking for an SEO copywriter. After all, if they’re good at what they do, they should rank fairly well.
But there are other places to search too, such as creative networks. Here in Bristol, for example, we’ve got Bristol Creative Industries (formerly Bristol Media) where you can search the membership directory by sector.
Checking the quality
Once you’ve got a few options on your radar, it’s time to work out whether each option is able to deliver what you need. In some cases it will be obvious – you need a website copywriter for your SaaS company, but Option A specialises in advertising copywriting for FMCG brands.
But when it comes to quality, it can be incredibly difficult to decide how good a writer actually is until you’ve worked with them. Hopefully they will have a website where you’ll be able to see examples of their work, testimonials and even case studies. If you want specific examples, get in touch to ask for them.
If someone has referred a copywriter to you, ask them about the experience they had with them. What kind of project did the copywriter work on? Did they help with the brief creation and if so, was it helpful? Did they deliver when they said they would? How many amends stages did the work need to go through?
Once you’ve narrowed your choices down to a small selection, arrange a face-to-face or video meeting with the most promising individual copywriters or copywriting agencies so you can get a sense of who they are and whether you get on. If they seem like a good fit, you can move forward to the quote stage.
Don’t forget the details
During your exploratory meeting, make sure to dive into the nitty gritty. Here are some additional details to establish:
- What exactly is included? What are the deliverables? How many rounds of amends will you get? Will they do a final proofread of your website copy once it’s designed? Can they provide social sharing copy for your blog posts?
- What are their processes? How quickly can they start work on your project? What’s their turnaround time? What tools do they work with (Slack, Google Docs etc)?
- What are their payment terms? Will they invoice before the project or after? How long will you have to pay? Do they offer payment schedules?
- What contracts need to be in place? Do they need to agree to sign an NDA? Will they want you to sign an SLA?
Making your choice
So let’s recap:
- You’ve established the scope of your project and made sure you have access to a realistic budget.
- You’ve thought about the kind of copywriter you might need, and whether a freelancer or an agency might be right for you.
- You’ve used your networks and Google to come up with a list of possibilities and checked out their online profiles.
- And you’ve met a few candidates, getting a feel for whether you get on and nailing down the details.
By the time you’ve gathered up all this information, you should be in a good position to engage a copywriter or copywriting agency that will be a good fit for you, your business and your project. It’s time to get in touch with your preferred choice and get your project started.
If you’re searching for someone to help you with a copywriting project, do have a look around our site – you can find out more about our copywriting services, read case studies, explore more blog posts or our FAQs, or get in touch if you’d like to chat.
Do you have to wait for your reputation to rise or is there a way to establish your expertise right out of the gate? Our #WriterInResidence, Sam Whitlock, looks at five businesses that impress their expertise on you from first glance.
Typically, you will trust the opinion of only two types of people: people you know personally, and people who are established as experts. Whether it’s your go-to mechanic or marketing guru, your trusted financial body or film critic, your software developer or your camera manufacturer, you’re unlikely to want anything less than an expert.
As a business, if you play your ‘expert’ card right, you can find it easier to win sales, loyalty and opportunity with those who haven’t got you on their radar yet.
I should mention, demonstrating you’re an expert in your field isn’t right for every business. You don’t need to be a thought leader to sell toilet paper, for instance. Or if you’re Coca Cola, you don’t need to be the sommelier of fizzy drinks, you only need to be ‘the thing that everyone wants’.
But if you’re reading this, you’re probably looking to do more than make your next hard sell. So let’s look at some companies that are experts at demonstrating their expertise.
Sony
What Sony gets right from the get go is that although they are primarily an electronics company, they don’t spend much time talking about microchips and wiring.
If you check out Sony’s corporate site, they use stories to catch the eyes of investors, partners and talent. There are stories about using robotics to fuel creativity in Michelin cooking, using AI to analyse the movements of professional ping pong players, or using Sony’s new cinema camera to capture the perfect getaway in a Hollywood blockbuster.
They’re not primarily trying to establish themselves as hardware people, or even design people. Sony has cut out a piece of the market that aligns with their self-stated purpose: to fill the world with emotion through the power of creativity and technology. They’ve married tech expertise with the ability to inspire emotion – and it works.
Fjallraven
Fjallraven makes backpacks, outdoor clothing and just about everything you need for your next hike. Although they probably know a little about looking good, and a fair bit more about outdoor pursuits in general, hiking is where they’ve chosen to hammer home their street cred (or maybe it’s mountain cred).
If you browse their ‘stories from the trail’ you’ll find location guides, tales told by trekkers and advice on how to camp in the tundra. There are a few pointers on the kind of outdoor wear you might want to take with you – but it’s not the be all and end all here.
Fjallraven wants to make clear: they don’t just understand materials and backpacks. They understand what it’s like to be on the trail, chasing adventure. When you read their articles, they come across as explorers who learned through experience the kind of kit hikers need. They’re not trying too hard to be Bear Grylls, nor do they sound like Mountain Warehouse simply trying to sell you another jacket. Fjallraven pitch it just right.
MoneySavingExpert
Expert is in their name but it’s also the essence of what this company does. While this one-stop-knowledge-shop is in some ways the gold standard for demonstrating expertise, it requires serious commitment to imitate. A build-the-basis-of-your-business-on-it kind of commitment.
While MoneySavingExpert is chock full of the information their audience is looking for – from how-to’s, to recommendations, to comprehensive guides – the scope of their content turns their site into a journal or magazine.
If businesses put their nose to the grindstone, they might be able to put out a blog post or two each week but unless they can hire their own inhouse editorial team, they’re not going to become a knowledge shop in the same sense as TechRadar, Which? or MoneySavingExpert.
So what should you aim for then? Well, if you’re trying to focus on a subject as broad as saving money, you’re likely to be overshadowed by giants in the field. But if you can settle on a narrower niche of expertise and share consistently on that theme, you will begin to establish your own place in customers’ minds.
FoundHea
FoundHea is a Bristol-based ethical clothing shop that established itself as an expert through research and curation.
It’s not just that they’re really picky with their inventory. On every product page they lay out exactly what each brand is achieving from an ethical standpoint – and even go out of their way to tell you how those brands could make improvements.
This transparency and unfiltered criticism goes a long way. FoundHea doesn’t come across simply as a more ethical place to shop but as an authority on ethical clothing standards.
Mr B’s Emporium
‘Opinionated bookselling’ is what Mr B’s Emporium offers and while few people want anyone’s opinion, an expert opinion is a commodity worth capitalising on. And Mr B’s do it with gusto.
For a start, they bet on their opinions enough that they sell surprise recommended reads, in which you have no idea what you’re ordering except for it’s genre. Or you can go a step further and subscribe to be sent a book each month based upon your reading tastes, which Mr B’s gets a feel for by having a short consultation with you.
Looking towards their content, you can find recommendations from every member of their team online. You can read articles and listen to podcasts that highlight books from particular genres or that tackle certain topics. Mr B’s even produce their own catalogue each year to draw attention to the 101 books they most recommend.
In everything they do, they’re selling their knowledge. And the upshot of it is: you might not judge a book by its cover but you can judge it by Mr B’s recommendation.