Category Archives: Business Development

How to maintain a content writing schedule

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Once you have decided that publishing content on your blog or website is critical to the success of your business you need to maintain a well-defined content writing and publishing schedule. But why do you need a content writing schedule?

I wouldn’t exactly call it a problem but the problem with content writing to promote your business is that it doesn’t show results immediately. When you keep publishing content you begin to feel an effect after a couple of months and it can be very difficult to continuously do something when you know that you are not going to benefit from it in the near future. This becomes more difficult if you need to take out time or budget at the expense of another business activity that can manifest an earlier result. I totally understand the compulsion of putting content writing and publishing on the back burner in order to take care of the imminent necessities.

Even if you outsource your content writing requirement you may need to spend at least some time figuring out exactly what you want. Additionally you will have to pay the person who is writing content for you and you might think why spend money on this activity?

Nonetheless, you neglect content publishing at the cost of your business because if your competitors are doing this they are definitely at an advantage and you must already be lagging behind if they have been publishing regular content for a while now.

It is not necessary to run a tight schedule when it comes to writing content and getting it published under your website or blog. The crucial point here is setting a rhythm. Cannot publish everyday? No problem, publish every alternative day. Cannot achieve even that? Fine, publish something once in a week. Some sort of weekly content is better than having no content at all. You need targeted content to improve your search engine rankings, increase direct traffic from social media and other websites, and above all, improve your conversion rate. You don’t need to rush. Focus on the most important first. What are the topics that can make a quick impact on your bottom line? Make a list of keywords and search terms you would like to get more traffic for and start generating content around them. If you’re working with the content writer you can discuss with him or her what content you immediately require, and then accordingly you can draw up your content writing schedule.

As mentioned above, start with the most important and try not to miss the scheduled postings. Avoid being ambitious in the beginning if you know you’re not going into content writing and content publishing in a big way. Gradually, as you observe your business growing you can increase the intensity and frequency of your content publishing strategy.

Why you should outsource your content writing services needs

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Because I provide content writing services? Although this is a perfectly valid reason I am sure you’re going to look upon it with a tinge of cynicism and I can perfectly understand. It has to be some other, solid reason, the reason that affects you directly, or in the long run.

OK, let’s talk about this from your angle: why should you outsource your content writing services needs? You don’t write content as a profession, right? I mean, you might be providing IT services, real estate consulting services, dentistry, or selling a wide array of products and services, but you’re not offering content writing services (if you are, it would seem a bit awkward if I advised you to outsource your content writing and content marketing needs). Even if you can write quite well there is a big difference between “able to write well” and actually coming up with professionally written content that can fetch you business or increase your search engine rankings. This is more so difficult if you require repetitive content: you can either focus on your business or work on creating newer, fresh content for your website or blog.

Of course you can hire an in-house content writer and there is no problem in that. It’s just that, hiring an employee can increase your operational costs and it might be a bit difficult and sensitive to replace him or her in case he or she does not deliver. You might end up spending money on hiring the content writer, arranging space for him or her, availing resources like computer and software and furniture and then chucking him or her out and hiring another one in case things don’t work out.

Outsourcing your writing and content marketing job to an independent content writer (yours truly, for instance) is comparatively much cheaper and less risky, contrary to popular perception. You pay for only what you get. If you just need, say, 20 web pages written, there is no use hiring an in-house content writer or a copywriter. Even if you need regular content think how much you can save by not hiring an in-house content writer. You don’t need to pay the agency that sends the content writer to you. You don’t need to arrange separate computer and software. You are not using your office space or space at your home. You don’t need extra furniture to accommodate a new employee. You don’t need to worry about payroll and taxes. And you can easily replace your content writer in case you’re not happy with the content writer to whom you are currently outsourcing your content writing needs.

Above all, if you’re slightly careful about selecting your content writer you suddenly come across an experienced person who must have written for hundreds of clients prior to writing for you. Let us cut to the chase and talk about my content writing services. I have been providing professional content and copywriting services since 2003. You can easily imagine for how many clients I must have worked and on how many topics I must have written or worked with my writers. You cannot get this range of experience and exposure from a person whom you hire exclusively for yourself. I have been doing business on the Internet since early 2002 (I was providing web design and development services) so when you work with me you don’t just get writing services you also get the benefit of my experience and knowledge that I have gained throughout these years.

And I’m not saying that only I have this kind of advantage. There are many independent content writers earning a very decent living on the Internet through their websites, and in fact, many are quite good at attracting tons of traffic to their websites through their content.

So do outsource your content writing and content marketing needs whenever they arise because it makes business sense. But spend some time trying to find a good content writing service because otherwise — as it can happen with any other service — you may end up having a bad experience and this will leave a lasting negative experience upon your psyche and you will discourage others too from outsourcing services. I have seen this happening.

Communicating convincingly by writing a case study

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I was just reading this informative blog post on the topic of how to develop a case study and realized I haven’t written on the subject on my blog. A case study is a great way of communicating to your clients and customers the exact value of the service that you provide. In the case study you have a live example of what needed to be done, how you did it, and what effect it had. This reminds me, I must put some of my own case studies (I have some with me but first will need to contact those clients for more information) on my website.

Wondering what is a case study? A few days ago I wrote a blog post on how you should tell a story through your content writing because stories are always so engaging. The same is applied to a case study. There is a conflict, there is a process and finally there is a resolution. Whenever you take up a new project you are basically trying to solve a problem. Your client comes to you because he or she needs to address a problem and you have the necessary means to solve that problem. A case study goes through the entire sequence of events like a story.

A case study, certainly is not written to satisfy your literary urges; it is written for your customers and clients so that they can understand the value of a product or a service you offer in real time. You can create a case study in the form of written text, a video or a flash or PowerPoint presentation. Just make sure there is the beginning that immediately grabs the attention of your customer or client and once he or she has gone through it he or she must feel that yes, there was a problem and then that problem was solved and everybody lived happily ever after (or at least for the next few months).

Since Conversation Agent has already written about how to create an effective (please visit the link mentioned above to read that) case study I will write my version in a later blog post.

Hiring a website content writing service

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Hiring a website content writing service is one of the most critical decisions you ever make for your online business. It’s basically your content that gets — whether through search engines, directly, or through social media and networking websites — traffic to your website, and it’s your content that converts your visitors into paying customers and clients.

Rather than hiring full-time in-house content writers, most small and medium businesses prefer to hire a website content writing service because (read why you should outsource to a content writing service), aside from saving on time and effort, they can also avail world-class writers from across the globe without going through the pain of finding them, and then training them.

The Internet is a great tool, a gargantuan advantage. Just log on and you can find writing talent from every possible nook and corner of the world. This is also a disadvantage. Unlike in the brick-and-mortar business it takes less effort to get onto the Internet and start a business. No, I’m not saying it’s easier to do business on the Internet, just easier to start a business. Nonetheless, there are many businesses that somehow manage to get the initial push and somehow you happen to stumble upon them and end up doing business with them. But do they deliver? Only time, and their performance, can tell. The thing is, they might just be testing the waters, or playing around with a new “work from home” idea just in case it works, but you are into serious business. You have invested your sweat, money and talent into your business and a lot is at stake. You are not playing around with some idea or “this Internet thing”. You want real results.

That’s why it’s very important to hire your website content writing service with great care. But if you have never worked before with this service, how can you decide, how do you know doing business with this company can be a safe bet?

What to look for before hiring a content writing service

  • For how long has your content writing service been in the business: You can easily find the age of the domain. Check out their blog archives (they have a blog, right?). Go through their online portfolio. If possible, check out their client websites and see how old the content over there is.
  • How does the website look: Most of the established content writing services have well-designed websites. By well-designed I don’t mean they should have won awards for best layout and design, you can just feel it. If they take their business seriously, they should also take their website seriously, because they are supposed to be getting good business from the website.
  • Does your website content writing service have a social media presence: This is not necessary but a service that’s active on the social media has a reputation to maintain. It takes lots of effort to build a brand on social media and networking websites. If they take their social media seriously, there is a great chance that they take their business seriously too.
  • Do they have a blog: Now this is a must for a content writing service. Just imagine a service that offers blog content to you and does not publish a good-quality blog. A blog is not just a great communication and SEO tool it also manifests an open, progressive mentality. It shows you put in effort to regularly talk to your visitors and share with them your thoughts.
  • What’s their quality of writing: This should logically be the first thing to consider.
  • How many websites link back to your content writing service: Back links are not only good for SEO, they are also an indication of good quality. If their website enjoys lots of back links from other websites and blogs it means people like what they have on their website and also what they have been doing.
  • What sort of testimonials do they have: Remember that many websites have testimonials that don’t seem real so you need to take testimonials with a pinch of salt, but reputed testimonials do matter. Be wary of testimonials not accompanies by website links. If they display big brand names and they themselves are not a very well-known name feel free to ask for direct links where their content can be seen.

Do you have your own consideration for hiring a competent content writing service? If yes, please share it in the comment section.