Are you building a new site, or does your content need a review and some revisions to ensure it’s still accurate and communicating the right messages? Here are some good reasons to outsource your web content development and maintenance.

Cost/Time
An experienced web content writer will usually work faster and more efficiently and perhaps at a significantly lower rate than you earn yourself. And wouldn’t you rather spend your time focusing on doing things only you can do to build your business, organization, or personal brand?

Expertise
A seasoned web content writer is not only a professional communicator who is a whiz with the written word and helps you convert site visitors to customers. He or she is also someone who stays up-to-date on technology trends in things like search engine optimization, digital marketing techniques, and information architecture that will help your website be found, compelling, and easily used.

Insights
A fresh perspective from someone who is outside of your organization and works with a variety of clients can bring new ideas and insights to your website, which can help you get more attention, and translate to more sales.

Zoom Fatigue
Back in the spring, for many people using Zoom or other video conferencing platforms for the first time to connect with family and friends as well as work colleagues was both a novelty and a blessing. It didn’t take very long for “Zoom fatigue” to set in, however, as people tired of sitting in front of screens and trying to remain engaged for sometimes hours on end.

But I think 2020 will still be remembered, among other things, as when video conferencing entered a new era. Think of the societal benefits – and not just keeping people safe and healthy rather than meeting in person during the current pandemic. Fewer vehicles on the road means less traffic, less air pollution and climate change, and fewer accidents.

In my daily professional life, I’m using video conferencing to teach my adult education students and coach clients, meet with prospective clients, and attend board and committee meetings for the non-profit organizations I work with pro bono. And it saves a lot of time as well – an hour meeting only takes an hour, as opposed to an hour and a half or two hours or more when travel was necessary.

Hopefully you’ve realized some benefits in your professional life from video conferencing as well. Here’s a good article if you want some tips on optimizing your video conference experience.

https://www.howtogeek.com/663874/12-tips-for-video-conferencing-while-you-work-from-home/

You can hire Brett for his writing services through deb@perugi.com or go to his website at peruzzicommunications.com.

TEXT
You may already have text from a previous website that you want to update or you may have none at all. Brochures, reports and other publications may offer you a good start. The designer or content developer will take this to edit into something usable for the new website, keeping in mind what key words need to be added for search engine optimization. This is a start and you will have to involved in the editing to make it work for you.

GRAPHICS AND PHOTOGRAPHY
If you have a logo, that is a good place to start for color exploration. Not having a good logo may provide an opportunity to include that design in your agreement. Photographs you may already have should enhance your color palette and brand. If you do have good photography, the designer will suggest or select the ones that will be placed on the home page. Another option is to purchase high quality photographs from a stock agency. Designers will look for photographs with the right colors and style for your site.

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
Mapping out the layout is key to good user experience. Your visitors will need a clear understanding of what you do and how you will help them. Your designer will create a design that provides a satisfying pathway for a visitor who follows through with a call of email to find out more.

SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH
When all the functionality is set and the layout is finished, your designer will launch the site and make sure everything is working correctly. Flow, typos, links and software kinks need to be worked out. Your site should have a security certificate and your new site should be added to search engines and social networks. Incoming marketing efforts can begin to provide traffic to your site which can then be tracked.

Your involvement as website owner is necessary to achieve good results from your website from the very beginning to the end!

1. GET FOUND

Publishing a website is not a “magic bullet.” New customers don’t find us simply because we have a domain name. We want more business. But many website owners are frustrated because they have a website that is not generating new work. Keep in mind that thousands of new websites come online every day; right now, there are over one billion active websites in the world. Whether you are competing in a national or international market, that’s quite a lot of competition.

If someone already knows your name and is aware of your services, they should be able to find you with a Google search. But what if they are looking to hire for the first time? They want to find the best business or person for their needs. If you aren’t sending out leads, you are out of luck.

WordPress is Blogging

You have the power to improve your odds, because you chose WordPress for your website content management system. You can take advantage of its most valuable feature — blogging and easily publish a weekly blog post just writing about WHAT YOU KNOW! Educate your readers on a relevant topic, or bring an industry update to your readers’ attention. After solving a particular website problem that I think would be interesting to others, I write a blog post. Each one of those posts goes out on the internet with a direct link back to me.

Here’s an example: I wrote about malware, because once I clicked on a link that got me into trouble. Months later, I got a call from a local business person who found my post by searching the web and it linked to my website. He called me because he wanted to find out more about what I knew on the subject. I automatically became his local expert on malware! And he said he was sorry he hadn’t found me earlier, having  hired someone else to develop his website.

Blogging directly impacts your success

A client recently told me her company was not bringing in leads. It’s a well-designed site with lots of content so I suspected she was not using the full marketing capability of WordPress. I asked if she was blogging and she said she wasn’t. Another client also said she wasn’t blogging because she could not think of what to write about. Since her company has a weekly meeting, I suggested she ask for topics to write about. Someone may come up with just the right story or idea.

It’s very important to write on a regular basis. There are many posting features, such as scheduling your blog posts to run on a calendar. Write several posts for later and they will publish at just the right day and time. Consistent blogging has a compounding effect so that posts which are many months old can bring in the most traffic. Search for anything on the internet and you will find articles still hanging around that are two or three years old!

What to write about

Here are more ideas for what you can write about in your blog. Don’t forget to set up categories and tags and use them to create an index of your topics. Try to come up with a consistent voice and write about what you know. Remember, you are the expert!

1. News and events: Is your company hosting an event or attending one? Did you just hire a new employee or did someone in your company receive recognition for a job well done?
2. Client Education: Your customers are looking for advice and guidance. If they purchased your product, perhaps there is more information you can give them about it.
   c. Case Studies: Write about a product or business success story. Start with an issue or problem the client brought to you and how you resolved it. There are potential customers looking at your site who may relate. It also establishes trust in your company.
3. Invite guest writers: A great way to attract readers is by inviting someone who already has a following to write a guest post… especially if their service is complementary to yours. You’d be surprised how many people will accept your invitation. It’s a win-win for both parties.

Check out this CoSchedule.com article that outlines how to write successful blog posts. It covers the gamut from writing good headlines to building content that drives traffic.

9 Types Of Blog Posts That Are Proven To Boost Traffic

2. EXPAND YOUR AUDIENCE

You are writing about what you know… but how can you get that out to as many people as possible? Social media is one great way to expand your audience. Most themes have a place for adding your social media links and you can upload a share plug-in (which invites readers of your blog to share on their socials, such as Facebook, Linked In and Twitter.) Two that I have used are AddtoAny and MashShare.

Another nifty tool that can save you time is a Cross Posting Plug-in such as WordPress to Buffer and CoSchedule. Write your post and within an hour it publishes on your social networks, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. It’s an efficient way to get a lot of mileage with one post. Some writers recommend tailoring the article for different social networks and audiences, known as “Cross Promoting”.

3. CONVERT YOUR VISITORS TO CUSTOMERS

Once you begin to blog, you are only half the way there. Now you have to interest your visitors long enough to make them stay more than eight seconds, the average length of a visit. But how do you achieve this? It’s all about the content and where you place it.

My aha! moment came with an article I read about Purposeful User Flow. It is a content layout system that instructs and informs your potential customers about how you help them, and leads them to a page that describes your services. By adding sections of case studies and testimonials to the mix you can convince them to get in touch. It is also makes for great UX – User experience — because you are giving the reader what he or she needs to know to make an informed decision and takes them on a path that makes sense.

With this structure in place, you can create marketing campaigns that link to Landing Pages within your site. The visitor will inevitably go to your home page, where the User Flow starts the flow of information they are seeking. At the bottom of every page add a Call to Action. The Call to Action is a usually a row with headline text and a button link, making it easier for the reader to get in touch with you. What makes Purposeful User Flow so appealing is it is used by large agencies as well. I love to tell the story that my husband came home one day from working as an editor of publications at a large research hospital. He attended a meeting about their new, very large website. The agency’s representative talked about Purposeful User Flow. For me, that sealed the deal. It is an industry-wide standard.

4. RETAIN CUSTOMERS

Keeping in touch can be difficult in this fast-paced world. If the posts aren’t getting much of a reaction, use these additional methods of getting a response.

For instance, you can add a newsletter service to your WordPress website. Some are free and can be written right in the WordPress dashboard, such as MailPoet. I like to combine several of my blog posts and send them out in one newsletter. My clients are more likely read them and I feel confident that I am keeping them informed. Email opt-ins can be easily set up using JetPack on a web page as a pop-up or embedded in the footer or side bar. With it, you can start collecting new subscribers for your publications.

Another way to add value to your WordPress website is to set up surveys from forms to find out how you are doing. This will give you valuable information to improve your methods as well as collect testimonials. There are many ways to get a response with a form: How about special offers or coupons for filling out the form? Don’t forget you can also collect information on your Facebook page.

5. KEEP YOUR TOOLS SHARP

WordPress makes it easy to update your site to ensure security and better functionality. The good folks at Automattic work hard to improve the components of the software and respond to any bugs or potential threats to the community. All you have to do is review the dashboard after you log in to write your new post and see what needs to be done. You will also update any plugins and your theme if needed. If you manage more than one website check out ManageWP. With ManageWP you can update all the software at the same time. Updating is super important because if you are using your website as your main marketing tool, as you should be, you’ll want it to keep up with the ever-changing and wonderful internet.

Susan was introduced to me by Nancy Wolff Leary, of Online Amplify. Nancy provides marketing solutions to companies that help them grow through an improved online presence. Nancy and I worked together to provide Susan with a head start on her new company website Fundraising Focus. Nancy is an expert on content writing and she asked me to provide the design piece of the puzzle.

Nancy wanted to have a design in place before providing web copy, which is something I did not anticipate. My usual strategy starts by meeting and discussing objectives with the client, looking over text (either a previous website or brochure) and building a wire frame (or layout sketch) from that. But I had a solution. I would find a Child Theme site layout with dummy copy that was approved by Susan and myself for Nancy to view. Susan and I easily agreed on one. I made suggestions on where headlines and links should go based on what I knew Susan needed. And Nancy would have enough sections to consider.

But this solution was not without its challenges. Three women who each have their own ideas about website development made for some interesting discussions. I think we can agree the site is the better for it. It incorporates Susan’s precise objectives, Nancy’s lively and thorough text and my sense of appropriate color, layout and photography. Go see for yourself and if you know an organization that could use fundraising help, go here! To ask me about this project, contact me.