Content Writer Micky’s Blog

Archive for April, 2009

As a professional Website Copywriter, I get almost daily emails from people asking me if I can write clear, persuasive and optimised content for their business website.  Sure I can. But what is involved? What do I need from you and what can you expect of me?

Here are 10 Steps in Hiring Me to Write or Rewrite and Optimise your Website Content:

1.  Send me an email & tell me exactly what you need.
Include as much information as possible, such as answers to these questions: 

• What website is it for (URL and/or explanation)?
• How many pages do you need me to write (if possible with the page names/topics)?
• Roughly how long do you want the pages to be?
• Is it writing from scratch or rewriting/editing existing content?
• Will you give me enough information to base the content on or do you expect me to do research?
• Who is your target market and where are they located?
• Do you know what SEO keywords you want me to use or do you want me to do keyword research?
• What is your timeframe?

2.  I will email you a quote.
The quote will briefly set out what I will do and what’s included. If I don’t have enough information to prepare a quote, I will email you back with questions and I’ll send you a quote once I have the answers.

3.  You accept the quote.
Send me an email to say you would like to hire me for your project.

4.  I email you my Terms & Conditions and an Invoice for the deposit.
My standard Terms & Conditions document sets out what is included and protects both you and me in case of any misunderstanding. I require a 50% deposit of the estimated total fee before starting the project. I will also give you an indication of when I can start and how long I think the job will approximately take.

5.  You accept the T&Cs and pay the deposit. 
You can scan and email the signed Terms & Conditions document or simply confirm in an email you accept them. For the 50% down payment, I prefer a direct deposit into my bank account. However, I also accept payment by cheque, PayPal or credit card (also via PayPal).

6.  I confirm receipt and request further input from you. 
You would have already emailed me some information in order to give you a quote, but I may require further input at this point to actually do the writing. Please send me everything you think may help me to understand your business, products and services and to help me write good content for your website. 

Things that may be useful could include:
(not everything may be relevant for all projects)

• Link to your current website, draft new website on a test server or screenshot of your web design.
• Overview of all pages you need written with dot points of what each page should cover.
• What your USP (unique selling proposition) is, i.e. your ‘competitive edge’, and what your most important or most popular services/products are that you want me to highlight.
• Copies of relevant marketing materials, company brochures or publications.
• List of SEO keywords and phrases you want to target (word combinations you would like to be found on when people type them in search engines such as Google).
• If you know your direct competitors in your area, please give me links to their websites. 

7.  I start writing your web content. 
I will consider how best to present your company. I’ll write clear, professional and persuasive web copy in chunks that are easy to digest, and use important SEO keywords throughout the content and in suggested META page titles. Throughout the process, I will remain in touch with you and I will ask you questions if anything is not entirely clear. I will not write content based on assumptions but will always clarify things with you to ensure I get it right the first time.
 
8.  I will email you the draft content.
Depending on our arrangements, I normally send people the content in a Word document.

9.  You email me your feedback and I make revisions if needed.
All my clients so far have been very happy with the copy I have written for them, but sometimes I’m asked to change or tweak a couple of paragraphs. One round of revision is included in my services, and I’m more than happy to make changes where needed based on your feedback. You need to provide your feedback within 7 days, or with large projects within 14 days, for me to make the changes, so that the subject matter is still reasonably fresh in my mind.

10.  Final step: I close the project and send you the final invoice. 
I will close the project and send you the final invoice 7 days (small projects) or 14 days (larger projects) after sending you the content, or earlier if you don’t need changes or any changes are done sooner than that. Payment of the outstanding amount is due 7 days after the date of the final invoice.
 
What’s next? This is usually where you give the final content to your webmaster and they incorporate it into your website. I love it when clients alert me when the new content is up so I can see the final result. I also often write about finished projects on my blog and link to client websites using SEO keywords, which helps with their search engine rankings.

Want to know more?

If you think you may be interested in hiring me to write your SEO Website Content, please email me, Content Writer Micky Stuivenberg, with as much information you can give me as per item no. 1 above.

For more information about my services, visit my Content Writer website, refer to my standard hourly rates, see my SEO copywriting portfolio or read some client testimonials.

Writing content for websites is never the same. I deal with completely different clients with completely different requirements and preferences and write about completely different subject matters. What I like about my job is that I learn so much about such a varied range of topics and industries.

One thing that all my website copywriting projects have in common, is that I approach things as if I were my client’s customer, the visitor to their website. I think “If I came to this website, what would I want to know, do,  buy or find out?” 

Then I make sure I write clear and concise copy that answers the most important questions and highlights the main benefits of the company’s products or services to the customer. This is especially important on the homepage or other main landing pages that people may come to straight from search engines or online ads.

Most people who click on a website take just a couple of seconds to see if they can find what they’re looking for. If not, they leave. And you lose a potential client.

One of my recent clients is RosterPortal.com, a new service that lets company managers and supervisors create staff rosters and shift schedules online. All employees get a log-in and enter their availability for the coming week or weeks. The software automatically sorts it and presents it in an easy format for the supervisor, who only needs to shuffle things around a bit to create a new staff roster – in just a few minutes.

RosterPortal also acts as an internal communication tool, like a staff intranet. To make things even easier, the online staff roster software can send email and SMS alerts to staff with new rosters.

“Why would people be interested in something like this?” I asked myself and my client. Because they’re going crazy doing things manually, trying to sort out everyone’s availabity and creating a roster that suits everyone. Staff forgetting to say they’re away. Spending another hour or so shifting things around. People not being aware of a new roster. Basically, their main problems are: 1) they’re not being efficient, 2) they’re losing valuable time (and time is money), and 3) a lot of people are constantly annoyed.

So I made sure the website content clearly explains that using RosterPortal solves those problems. Hopefully people reading it will think – “I need this program! Where do I sign up?” And to make that task as easy as possible, there are various obvious links to a free 1-month trial. 

I wrote search engine optimised content for RosterPortal’s five main pages, while the client himself will be adding further information such as FAQs, help files and tutorials.

That brings me to this point: Some people may think they need to hire me to write or edit the content of their entire website. Although that is ideal (for maximum success, consistency, continuity and individually optimised pages), you can hire me as your SEO website copywriter for as few or as many pages as you like or your budget allows. Or do things in stages, starting with just your Home and About us pages, for instance.

Need professional, persuasive website content for your website? Written not from YOUR point of view but from that of your potential customers – so they like (and understand) what they read and ultimately buy from you or get in touch with you?

Contact me, SEO Web Copywriter Micky Stuivenberg, via my Content Writer website to discuss what you need and get a cost estimate for your project.

Just another completed project I wanted to mention in my blog – writing appealing, search engine-friendly and sales-oriented website copy for Surfers Century Oceanside Apartments on the Gold Coast.

The website had existing pages but the content wasn’t very strong nor was it optimised for search engines. There were also a couple of blank or very short pages. New pages were also added to specifically target different types of visitors - couples, families and groups.

Gold Coast holiday accommodation is a very competitive market, and it can be difficult to differentiate between all the beachside holiday apartments in Surfers Paradise. For me, the project consisted of trying to understand what visitors want from their Gold Coast accommodation and highlighting exactly those positive points right away.

People coming to the website now immediately get confirmation, right in the first paragraph, that Surfers Century Resort is 4-star accommodation, very close to the beach, near all the shops and restaurants in Surfers Paradise, but in a quiet street, the apartments are modern, self-contained and have fantastic ocean views, and they are available at attractive rates. They can then read on or click on any of the other pages to get further details.

I hope that thanks to the new content, this client’s central Surfers Paradise holiday apartments will perform better in search engines and more people who visit the website will end up visiting Surfers Century Resort.

I started this blog about six months ago with no knowledge of WordPress whatsoever. I had managed to import the header image from my website and change a few colours in the default WordPress theme to make the blog look slightly similar to my website. I wasn’t very happy with the way it looked, but it worked.

If you are not a techie web developer/programmer, it can be quite difficult to modify existing WordPress themes and end up with a nice blog design just the way you want it.

Today, I found a solution. I’m sure there are other applications available that can do this, but I happened to stumble upon Artisteer - theme generator for Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal.

After downloading the trial version and playing around with it for just 10 minutes, I had decided to buy it.

I am very impressed with the incredible detail and the unlimited number of variations possible with this blog theme generating software, and I have used it to make this blog, my Content Writer blog which runs on WordPress, look quite similar to my Content Writer website (but with the addition of nicer sidebars etc.!)

Just playing around with Artisteer and creating all sorts of different blog designs is a lot of fun, and I wish I had many more blogs that I could give a make-over with this theme generator software. My Things to do in Coffs Harbour blog may be next to get a new design thanks to Artisteer. I may also try to use it to create WordPress-driven websites (not just blogs), which is something I’ve been meaning to look into for a while.

If you’re looking for an easy WYSIWYG tool to create designs or themes for your Joomla, Drupal or Wordpress website, I recommend you download the free demo version of Artisteer and try it out.

NB – I am not linked to this company in any way, don’t have any idea who they are, but simply genuinely think their product is good.

Is your small business easy to find in Google? No, I don’t mean by typing in your exact business name, that’s easy. Does your business come up on the first search results page when you type in the kinds of products or services you offer, perhaps in combination with the town or city you’re located in or your service area?

Not only are more people going online to search for certain products, services, shops and restaurants, Google is also increasingly moving towards a more locally oriented search engine. You may have noticed getting more and more search results targeted at your local area, lately often even without entering your location in the search box. Google seems to recognise that many people are actually searching for a business or service in their local area.

What do people type into the search box? 

A very common way that people search is by typing the general service or product they’re after into the Google search box, followed by their city or town. Example: “sports physiotherapists Coffs Harbour” or “Italian restaurants in Sydney”.

What can you do if you are a local business and have a website?

Make sure that those common search terms for your kinds of products or services plus your location or service area (these important terms are referred to as the SEO keywords you target) appear on your website. That way Google can make that match and your website comes up in the search results.

You should know that search engines can only understand actual words in the HTML code, they cannot interpret the meaning of images, graphics, video or Flash files. That’s why it is very important to use all the keywords that people may use to look for your services liberally throughout the text on your website and in your page titles and headings, among many other things. If your business is local, also make sure you include your full address and telephone number on your website, possibly even on every page.

Bottom line: Optimise your website for search engines and you’ll rank well in the free search results and won’t have to spend money on Google Adwords.

What if you have a business but DON’T have a website?

Don’t worry. Although you’ll always perform better online if you do have your own website, there are still many things you can do to appear in the search results in the categories your business is active in. There are dozens of websites where you can list your business for free, often with a description of your products and services, location, contact details and a link to your website if you have one. Even if you don’t offer online transactions, many people do their research online and select a business before picking up the phone or visiting the outlet.

Where to list your business?

If you only have time to list your business on 1 website, make it Google’s Local Business Center. Sign up for a free account and you can add a description, contact details, opening hours and even images and video.

Very importantly, in Google’s Local Business Center, you can select up to 5 categories you wish to appear under, and place your business on the map. So now, when people search for your type of business in Google (the search engine that accounts for about 90% of all online searches), your company will be included in the search results and your location will even be shown on a map! To include your business, go to http://www.google.com/local/add

But wait, there’s more. Once your business appears in Google’s Local Business Center, people can also leave reviews. Ask your loyal customers to spend a few minutes online to leave a good review, and not only does your business show up, but it will appear higher in the list, and potential customers will get a good impression of your business too!

Other local online directories where you can submit your business details for free – whether you have a website or not – and that may show up in search engine results pages, include: AussieWeb, HotFrog, LocalBusinessGuide, OurPatch, StartLocal and TrueLocal. These are some of the major ones for the Australian market. Other countries will have other popular local, regional or national directories. Also look out for major local and regional directories. And if you do have your own website, make sure to add a link to it, and if possible include some keywords within the link.

Be aware that after adding your free listing, you may get a call from a sales rep who will try to sell you a premium, advanced listing. Just be firm and resist if you’re not interested. Your free listing has no strings attached.

So take advantage of the free listing opportunities available on the Internet and you’ll see that more people will find you, even if they had no idea you existed. And if you have a website, make sure it is optimised for search engines so it will show up in relevant search results.

If you need help optimising your website, you can contact me, Micky Stuivenberg, a certified Search Engine Optimiser and Website Copywriter, for advice and rewriting of your content and page titles or making any other changes needed to rank higher for your targeted SEO keywords.

For the wide range of SEO, web design, copywriting and editing services I provide, please refer to my website at www.contentwriter.com.au.