Writing

It's so easy and tempting to do. You're trying to get some new content/pictures up on your website and you can't come up with anything good. But you remember when you were browsing the web earlier in the day, you came across something you really liked.

After thinking for a while, you copy over the content/picture to your own site. Now it's perfect.

When I visit a website to check out its products/services, the first thing I look at is the homepage. The second thing I look at is the content on the homepage. And more often than not, I'm disappointed. This is not because of a poor site design. And its not even because of bad web content (although it's highly related).

The biggest mistake I see on the homepage of a lot of business websites: The content does not give the visitor a clear idea exactly what the business does.

One of the most frequently asked questions we get from new clients is: Why are you estimating/billing so many hours? The client will then go on to say that it's a "quick project" that should only take a few hours. This is a perfectly reasonable question for a new client to ask, and each client deserves a clear answer.

Since my focus is copywriting, I'll give you a writer's perspective on the process I go through when writing copy for a client. Writing copy, even for a simple website, is not as easy as sitting down and starting to write (although I wish it was that easy).

Email is so widely used that most people have several email address just to keep the madness to a minimum. For example, it's normal to have a work email, personal email, and a "junk" email that you give out when doing so will most likely result in unwanted spam and solicitations.

And, with all this email flying around, how many emails do you actually open and read? How many do you just delete? These are important questions, especially if you regularly send out email for your business.

Copywriting is much more than sitting at a computer and pounding out a few pithy lines of advertising material. Any copywriter will probably tell you that research is an integral part of his/her job.

No two companies are alike. Writing copy for a small pizza parlor is quite different than writing copy for a large industrial manufacturing company. Yet freelance copywriters take on such diverse jobs all the time. So what's the key to writing quality copy that is personalized to your specific needs?

The answer is research.

Imagine a website that has tens of millions of users that you can access for free. This is the idea behind the social networking site Facebook. The site isn't just for giddy teens and college students looking for a good time either. Facebook is also a great way for small businesses to reach out to their customers and potential customers.

Chris Anderson says in his new book Free: The future of a radical price (page 163) says:

Blogging can seem like a daunting task, especially if you want to post to your business blog regularly. For some people, finding enough ideas to write about is the problem. For others, just finding the time to write a post can seem almost impossible.

Twitter is becoming one of the fastest growing social networking and micro-blogging sites on the internet today. The whole idea is to say whatever you have to say in 140 characters or less. So the question becomes: If you already have a business website and a blog, then how do you incorporate Twitter into your business's marketing plan?

No matter what type of writing you do, whether it's copywriting or writing steamy romance novels, there are some basic books that it's always good to have on your bookshelf for quick and easy reference.

To survive in today's competitive business world, most companies need some kind of presence on the web. Whether it's a basic website describing their products/services, or a fully interactive site complete with e-commerce, a company can benefit greatly just from having a website.