Hitting the right tone with the right language

My clients love to work with me (and some hate me for the same reason) because as a content writer I put your customers’ and clients’ need before your preferences. By the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what sort of language you have used and what sort of impression you have made, what matters is how much business your website generated for you. And this can only be achieved by talking to your customers and clients exactly in the language they use and understand.

I write in a very conversational style because I believe when people are reading your content they shouldn’t have to use their mind. I don’t mean we should dumb down the writing or talk to our customers and clients condescendingly; when they are on your website trying to do business with you, they don’t want to come across difficult words and jargon and end up distracted. They’re looking for information they can quickly use and then make a decision.

Again, your business doesn’t need a content writer who has to prove a point, it needs someone who can strum the right chords and who can relate to the problems and concerns of your customers and clients.

Does your business need an expert content writer?

It depends. I’m not an expert in any field per se, but yes, I have extensively written for IT industry and web design companies. Consequently I write better for these industries. I also write self-help and life improvement articles quite well so some clients prefer to work with me if they have that sort of work. Although I’m not an expert in real estate since I have worked with multiple clients selling and promoting real estate, now this is also one of my comfy areas. Talking of comfort, I have also written for multiple detective agencies and surveillance professionals so…you get the point.

Basically, I’m in good writer, an experienced writer and if I need to prepare content on a totally alien topic, as long as it is not complete out and out rocket science, I can do a fair job by doing reading and researching. Give me data and I can create a story out of it. Give me a vocabulary and I can easily incorporate it into your copy.

So if your business really needs a content writer who can deliver, do contact me, I’m sure we will be working together on more than one assignment.

I advise them not to do that. All the articles that I write for you – whether you want to publish them on your website or your blog – are optimized for multiple search engines, and this is why:

• I always create a compelling headline for your articles and blog posts using the central point of your message. This on its own takes care of your most important keywords and key phrases (that is why, I never try to cover more than one primary keyword per page/blog post).
• I use one topic and then concentrate on that. For instance, on this page I’m talking about my “SEO Article Writing Services” so why would I talk about all the other content writing services that I provide through my website. One page – one topic: this is the best way of creating SEO content for your website. When you focus on the central topic you use all the primary and secondary keywords naturally without having to manipulate your text.
• I keep the language as free-flowing as possible. This way there is no ambiguity in terms of what words are appearing within your article.
• I write for your human visitors, not for search engines. Search engines these days try to interpret your articles just the way your human readers do. This is because eventually all the content is created for the benefit of your readers and search engineers at Google and various other contemporary search engines understand this perfectly.
• I make it easy to read your articles with the help of headings, subheadings and bulleted points. This way your readers can quickly skim through your article. These are the main points of your article and since they are your main points, in most of the cases they carry your primary and secondary keywords. This is the reason the search engine crawlers try to look for relevant keywords within these sections first of all.

Can my SEO article writing services improve your search engine rankings?

I don’t know, actually. Your search engine rankings don’t just depend on your content. While ranking your website and various URLs the search engine algorithms take many factors into consideration such as:

• The age of your domain
• The number of quality websites and blogs linking back to your website
• The interlinking structure within your own website
• The optimization of your images
• The frequency with which you update content on your website
• The quality of content on your website
• The way content is organized within your webpage or blog post

The last two points are within my control — I can create content that is devoid of ambiguity so there is a clear-cut message what your content represents and I also organize your content in such a manner that it is extremely easy for search engine algorithms to make out what is the central message of your content/article and what are the most relevant keywords that can be associated with it.

I provide content to improve your business. I can help you convey your message in as clear a language as possible. In order to make your content compelling as well as effective you have to relate to the pain points of your prospective customers and clients. What exactly they are looking for and how you can provide it.

There is a reason why people come to your website. If they are just stumbling upon your link, then it doesn’t really solve any purpose. There has to be a clear-cut reason and that reason is defined by your content. Your content should immediately make it clear why people are there on your website and what they are going to get.

Sounds simple? Well, if it were that simple every online business would be a money-making machine. Writing content is one of the most cryptic forms of communication. It’s not about just writing, it’s about saying the right thing precisely at the right time and at the right location on your website.

But you may not just use my content writing services for your business website. I also provide content for a plethora of other channels such as:

• Blogs
• Newsletters and e-mail marketing campaigns
• Product profiles and descriptions
• Promotional articles
• Press releases
• Social media marketing campaigns
• basically in whichever form you need content

Why partner with me for your content writing needs?

Most of my clients, since they hail from English-speaking regions, are comfortable writing because they are native English speakers. Nonetheless, when it comes to professional writing it is a totally different ball game and they understand that. That’s why they approach me.

I have a no-nonsense approach when it comes to delivering professional content. When I write for you I am not trying to prove what a great writer I am (well, you already know that, that’s why you’re working with me) – my sole purpose is to improve your conversion rate. I do that by identifying your audience, by understanding what moves them and what puts them off and then addressing their most overwhelming concerns as early as possible.

Within a couple of seconds your customers and clients should be able to understand what you are offering. In as simple words as possible, but without dumbing down your business image.

When people come to your website and read about your value proposition they shouldn’t have to use their mind. The reading must be totally fluent in order to make the right impact. Even if you insist that I should inculcate your industry jargon into your copy I will do it in such a manner that it does not obstruct the primary flow of your content. Remember that the moment they need to figure out what you’re trying to say, they begin to get distracted and this can totally destroy your funnel.

So get in touch with me in case you’re looking for high-performance content for your website or blog. In the meantime you can also subscribe to my Content Gyan updates.

While all this is happening, somehow you have to grab the attention of the reader and convey your message in such a manner that she performs the desired action such as purchasing a product, buying a service or simply subscribing to your e-mail updates.

Through my online copywriting services I can help you achieve exactly that. I do that by

• Carefully understanding exactly what your customers and clients are looking for
• Making a list of the biggest advantages and strengths your product or service carries
• Highlighting the most compelling reasons to buy your product or purchase your service with a gripping headline
• Conveying your message in a fluent and easy-going language
• Writing with a persona your customers and clients can easily relate to
• Writing with conviction and a sense of sincerity

I normally stay away from jargons unless they are extremely necessary. I totally understand that a copywriting message needs to move really fast because there is very little time to make someone do something. Just a mouse click there goes your business to another website – I seriously understand that.

Why hire me for your online and web copywriting job?

I have the experience and I know the language. I’m not just a writer or a copywriter, I have lots of experience in Internet marketing, SEO and social media. I don’t need much direction. When you work with me all you have to tell me is what you want to sell, why you want to sell it, who is your target audience and why should your target audience choose you over your competitors. In 80% of the cases I can come up with the rest of the matter. But it doesn’t mean I don’t seek timely assistance from you even when I need it. I keep the channels of communication open all the time.

Need to make up your mind? In the meantime you can subscribe to my weekly updates not just to keep in touch but to also receive lots of useful information on online and web copywriting that you yourself can implement on your website.

I have been providing web design and content writing services since 2002, and it is for the first time that I have regularly started providing my services on an hourly basis, rather than the type of service I’m providing.

Previously, for instance when I was writing content for my clients, I would charge different rates for the homepage, the primary business pages, the secondary business pages, blog posts and articles, and product descriptions.

The primary question my clients would ask was, “What is a difference between the homepage and other primary business pages?”.

It was a valid question, but it was difficult to explain to them why it takes more effort (no matter how many words the homepage has) to create content for the homepage compared to the other pages. Similarly, I was charging different rates for press releases and landing pages.

All these different rates, understandably, caused lots of confusion, and worse, doubt.

Besides, for a long time, I have wanted to offer my services as a value that only I can deliver, rather than some off-the-shelf service that can be procured from any service provider. Hence, the hourly rate.

An hourly rate means you are paying for my time, no matter what I’m doing. Whatever I do, I bring you lots of experience and knowledge that I have gained over all these years. Whether I’m creating content, providing consulting or designing a website (I don’t openly offer web design services on my website, just when clients ask for it).

Since I have decided to deliver value rather than merely a service, I feel more driven to deliver quality content rather than simply doing a patch up job (consciously or unconsciously). It also means I will not be outsourcing my work and consequently, improving the overall quality of the content I deliver to my clients.

It also helps me take my time seriously – after all I’m being paid for that time. Previously, whether I spent one hour, two hours or three hours on a document, I was going to get a fixed payment. Now I know that if I have committed three hours to a client, I bloody well finish the job in those three hours. It was quite difficult to keep track of my performance.

Have my services become more expensive due to my hourly rate?

My clients are actually paying less now that I’m charging an hourly rate. Previously I was charging a fixed rate. So if I had quoted $ 45 for a document, I would charge $ 45 whether I spent one hour working on the document or 25 minutes (yes, it happens). Now when I’m charging on an hourly basis, my clients have to pay for just those 25 minutes.

What has been the reaction from my new as well as existing clients?

In Western countries, charging an hourly rate is the norm rather than an exception. In fact my conversion rate has considerably increased after the switch, especially from the USA and Europe. This is because there is no ambiguity. Once I have assured quality, all they are bothered about is how much time I’m going to take and then prepare their budget accordingly.

In India, since culturally we don’t value time much, my clients here are not very much comfortable with paying an hourly rate. This also stems from the fact that we don’t trust people to stick to the actual time. Whatever is the reason, this mentality needs to be changed and therefore, even from my Indian clients, I’m charging an hourly rate (which is normally greeted by a confused silence). Surprisingly, the response has been “encouraging”. I have got two projects from India ever since the switch (about two weeks ago) and they have had no problem paying for the time.

How do I track my time?

Currently I’m using Freshbooks.com to track time, log it and eventually generate invoices, and so far it has worked great. Most of my clients are familiar with Freshbooks and trust its system.

Content writing requirements can be of different types. Why categorize? It’s because in most of the cases I don’t charge an hourly rate. People who charge by the hour offer a fixed rate (even I would prefer that) whether they are writing blog posts, business content or anything else. They charge for their time and not for the type of content they are writing.

My market, as of now is more inclined towards paying for the type of content rather than a fixed hourly rate, and I’m okay with that. It works well for my clients and eventually that’s what matters. It gives them the flexibility without making content writing a drudgery for me. Anyway, without beating around the bush, I provide content writing services for the following types of content:

• Primary content: This includes content for your main pages – home page, about us, services/products, company profile, FAQs, and all the links that appear in your primary navigation. Press releases and brochure content also come under this category.
• Secondary content: This content includes all the information pages on your website that are necessary but they don’t directly do business for you. These are your articles, case studies and multiple products and services descriptions. It also includes blogs and newsletter content.
• SEO content: This content is generated primarily to increase your search engine rankings. Although your primary and secondary content can help you too but whenever quantity matters over quality, this is the type of content you are looking for. For every individual keyword you have multiple articles and blog posts published under your website.
• Smaller product and service descriptions: Sometimes you require just 50-100-word descriptions of multiple products.

So these are the primary categories/types under which I provide content and I charge different rates accordingly.

The hotel industry is indirectly related to the infrastructure development of a region as it caters to a considerable section of the public. It is also a subset of the vast arena of hospitality management that is gaining prominence with each passing day.

The content writing services need to be optimally efficient in order to coherently highlight the exclusive features of the hotel industry and the scope of its further growth. Depending upon whether the hotel website caters to national or international patrons the language needs to be formed accordingly.

The main objectives of the content writing services vis-a-vis the hotel industry should be -

• Pin-point the main features of the hotel industry in general and the specific hotel in particular
• Specifically mention the names of the premiere hotels and resorts in this regards
• Distinctly talk about the services and seasonal offers, if any
• Apart from the primary products, the content writing services should also take into account the miscellaneous services the hotel offers

In order to make the description of the hotel industry more qualitatively strong, it is important for the content writing services to mention the locales and the regions where the industry has its foothold. It is also crucial to describe in short the scenic beauty of the locales and the available amenities so that the potential customers become interested in the sector.

The hotel industry is a huge platform for the content writing services to take into account. Besides the normal features such as food and beverages, room services, and discounts on special occasions, the content about the hotels must also consider about the aspects of booking in advance and available choices for the rooms.

If the customers are not clear, even after going through the website of a particular hotel or through one of its brochures, about the quality and gamut of services that they can expect, then it obvious that they will not choose the hotel for holidaying or official purposes.

It is needless to say that the content writing services for the hotel industry should be search engine optimized (SEO) so that it’s easier to find the website for specific search terms. Search engine optimization also helps you spread your content via social media and social networking websites. The printed content should also be scripted in a tidy format to impress the customers without much of a hassle.

The signature style of the indoors is one of the most important elements to impress the visitors and/or the official guests. Whether office precincts or a drawing room, flawless interior design never fails to get hold of the glimpse of the onlooker.

For the concerned company to progress in the field of interior design business, it is essential to build a proper website and publish relevant brochures with an objective to attract customers. In this regards, a impeccable content writing service is one of the most crucial matters to be noted that must consist of the following features –

• Well-knit application of the SEO conventions to make the content writing services more web-friendly.
• A succinct explanation of the interior design business of the particular company.
• Mentioning of the illustrious services that the company can offer.

From a general perspective, there are some marked segments of the interior design business, such as furniture designing, flooring, wall-painting and so on. The concerned company must take into account that the content writing services that market its products must separately describe the features of its various segments.

The reliability of any business depends on the quality of follow-up it does with its customers after a specific service has been provided. The same is true for the interior design business. Therefore, it is necessary for the content writing services to clearly highlight this aspect.

There should also be enough space pertinently indicated by the optimized content on the company’s website to address the queries and the complaints of the customers. By resorting to such a strategy, the goodwill of the company is bound to rise.

Similar to the online content based platforms like the official website, the printed formats of the details of the interior design business of the company is of huge concern. Not every customer will visit the website to know about the company. It is logistically more viable to provide these customers a printed brochure or at minimum, a leaflet of the company with relevant details about the products and the services.

A properly tailored strategy in regards to content writing services would definitely act as a thrust for the interior design business to achieve a broader scope.

• The trait of your web content, whether you are running an accounting business or another business, depends on its usefulness and relevance.
• Start with the customer – find out what they want and give it to them.

This is the bottom line for every online marketing business!

Why content writing services are important for an accounting business website?

• Content is King (no matter how cliched it sounds) and it’s KEY to conversions. While this may seem very basic concept, in my professional career as a freelance content writer, I have seen how the advertisers of accounting business have underestimated the power of relevant, high-quality, and rich content. I am pretty surprised by the behavior of 2-3 of my clients who were “casual” in their approach to content writing services (which Google considers very crucial aspect of ranking), and were looking around for Google rankings in a short span of time, which is statically impossible without good content.
• Content is a fundamental marketing tool for your accounting business. Quality and keyword-rich content is the best foundation for high-search rankings. “Keyword-rich” by the way doesn’t mean that you need less sleep stuff keywords into your text, you must always use your keywords and key phrases contextually, wherever needed.
• Content can ensure service benefits for your accounting firm! For instance – you provide accounting services in New Delhi and you are very good at it. So with effective content optimization and search rankings, you can reach other cities, too, to provide accounting services for your firm!
• Unique content writing services help improve the Pay-per-click quality score. If you’re using PPC with Google AdWords, then you must match the content via effective landing pages with the keywords you are targeting. This helps in cost benefit to justify your greater investment in content you are optimizing for your accounting business.
• Locally-based links to help your geo-targeting – Content writing services also help in geo-targeting! By creating content, text links, and landing pages with local language, you have a better chance of getting targeted traffic to your accounting business website.
• Effective content writing services help you create unique service pages for your accounting business. For example, your accounting firm provides “bookkeeping services”, “audit”, “Creating Final Account”, etc.; So what you can do is, you can create a separate page for each service you provide and optimize the content. In this way, with SEO optimized content pages, you can rank your pages for greater visibility and traffic that will help you get more leads and improve your ROI.

As you read through my post, you will find what I’m sharing here isn’t new information. My purpose is to remind you the importance of effective content writing services for your business. Quality and keyword-rich content is INDESPENSABLE for your accounting business or any other business you have. Web site content writing is basic marketing tool with which you can be most effective when using it in conjunction with advertising efforts, particularly with online advertising.

So make content creation for your accounting business- “A priority”!

The very fact that you are contemplating different options implies that you need content and you know what role it can play in your overall business growth. The only pressing question is, what sort of person you should hire in order to meet the requirement. The sort of content writer you will eventually hire depends on your business, your preference and your content requirement. In this article, since I’m talking about a time that is right for hiring a freelance writer I’m going to consider factors that can help you decide when to hire one. The following are the reasons people and businesses opt for a freelance content writer instead of a full-time one.

You don’t want to spend lots of money

Hiring full-time staff always means higher expenses. You don’t just pay salary, you also allocate office space, and also provide resources in order to enable that person to deliver his or her services. For instance, when someone visits your office every day to prepare your content he or she is not going to bring along his or her laptop or computer. You will have to arrange these yourself. Add to that electricity, Internet, telecommunications, stationery, furniture, and so on. Of course, there are other monetary benefits that you have to provide to your staff. There are many legal obligations that you have to follow that entail further expenses.

On the other hand, when you hire a freelance content writer all you pay for is the content that you get. There are no peripheral and secondary expenses. You don’t pay for infrastructure and paraphernalia and you don’t need to allocate extra resources to that person. You don’t have to pay health benefits, and you don’t have to pay compensation or risk litigation in case you suddenly have to fire your employee. There is no expense involved in hiring other than scouring through the Internet in order to find the right talent for your business.

You want to access a wider talent pool

Since there is no intricate procedure involved in hiring a freelancer you can pick and choose according to your preference. Just as you have found writer A you can also easily find writer B. Living in an English-speaking region of the world doesn’t mean that you’re going to get a capable content writer for your business. Of course native speakers have an edge over those who use English as a second language (just an assumption, you can very well hire freelance content writers from neighboring areas) but when it comes to writing down ideas and communicating your business message, it is a totally different ball game. Not everybody can do that. It doesn’t just require good writing skills, it also requires communication skills, creativity, lots of experience and a flair for using imagination. So it isn’t always possible that you are going to find the right content writer in your area itself.

Hiring a freelance content writer, especially via the Internet, widens your reach. Sitting in Australia you can easily work with a freelance content writer in, let us say USA, Britain, the Philippines or India; all you need is that the person should be able to deliver what you want.

You don’t want to stifle your work environment in a 9-5 job profile

When you work with a freelance content writer, again, especially via the Internet, you don’t have to constrain yourself within the 9-5 hours convention. He or she is not going to enter your office at 9 AM and then leave it at 5 PM whether your work is done or not. Once he or she has promised that you will have your document with you within the next 24 hours, you will get it. There are no limited working hours when you partner with a freelance content writer. If he or she has committed to deliver your document at 2 PM next day, your work is not going to be delayed simply because your content writer “went home”.

You want a professional content writer who immediately understands you need

A professional content writer knows a lot more than your average content writer that you hire simply because a professional/freelance content writer needs to work for numerous clients in a single month. He or she is not merely handling a single topic/subject. He or she has to wear different hats to create different categories of content for different clients. You may have some concerns regarding expertise and vertical knowledge, but with little input from you even that gap can be bridged.

Aside from writing content, a freelance content writer managing his or her own business also has to take care of many more aspects so he or she will be in a better position to empathize with you, that you can never expect from an employee.

There can be countless more reasons why you should hire a freelance content writer but right now I’m just going to list the ones mentioned above.