As a small business owner or freelancer you’re called on to manage a variety of tasks. One of those tasks, due to the importance of good content, is writing. You need content to create blogs, sales copy and to use on social media. This can be a daunting and a potentially overwhelming concept. Many people fear writing or put it off because they don’t consider themselves to be writers. Well, here’s some excellent news!
There’s a difference between an article published in newspapers and magazines and content published on most websites. The blogs and copy on your website don’t need to appeal to a broad audience. Quite the opposite, actually. Your content will be quite specific and aimed at your audience.
As an example, you may want to write a blog on “Ten tips to grow prize winning tomatoes.” It provides value to a very specific audience. And, if you have a business where you grow vegetables, then you can write this article without thinking a great deal about it. You know it. The information is already inside of you and ready to flow out of your finger-tips.
Web content is also more conversational. It’s written to feel personal – as if you’re speaking to your audience. Newspapers and magazines are generally more formal. They use third person perspective.
You’ll use bullet points, numbers and headings and subheadings to break up your content into bite-sized pieces.
So what does all this mean if you’re not a “writer”?
It means that writing for your website is pretty straightforward. You:
· Write what you know and what your audience will benefit from
· Write conversationally
· Write so it’s easy to read online
The simplest method to use when you’re writing your online content is to spend a few minutes creating the structure for your article. It’s the method I use. I write a rough headline and subheadings. Then fill in the content. Write it as if you’re writing a letter to a friend. Don’t worry about grammar and spelling on the first draft. You can go back and edit for easy reading and clarity later.
Then, add your keywords in to optimise for the search engines and publish it.
I write blogs for a few of my clients’, sculpt social media posts and workshop handouts for them. In all of these instances I am not an expert in my clients’ business niche. They give me the subject, I research it and then I write as someone who is not a writer. It just takes knowledge and creativity; so in the first instance just write a ‘letter’ to a friend about the given subject, let it flow, add keywords, then publish.
If however after reading this advice you are still staring at a blank screen, unable to climb that brick wall, lets have a chat about how I can help you create readable content for you.
