Blowing my own horn? It may seem like that but this is more of an active thinking and constantly keeping in mind what works when it comes to delivering services your customers and clients really appreciate, and not just appreciate, but also profit from them.

Professional content writing is not just writing; you’re helping a person do business. You’re helping the person make a living by making an impact. And you cannot make an impact out of thin air. You really need to know people you are addressing via your content. In order to write convincingly, primarily I try to gather the following bits of information:

• What exactly is the product or service my client intends to promote
• What are the benefits delivered by that product or service
• Why his or her customers or clients should choose that service or product rather than something from his or her competitors
• Who is the target audience – its educational and professional background, money spending abilities and age group
• What are the catch words or phrases the client thinks his target customers and clients respond to
• A targeted list of keywords, if possible, and if needed
• What should be the style – formal, informal, hard sell or suggestive

This list can be as comprehensive as you want but more information may overwhelm your client and also distract you. Detailed content writing work such as case studies and white papers requires more in-depth knowledge of the demography of the market as well as why the product or service exists, but for normal business pages, this information is sufficient.

Once I have gathered all the information I start writing for my client as if I’m writing for my own business. If I’m writing for my own business, my primary concern would be to write in such a manner that more and more business comes to me. Not just traffic, but real business. Higher search engine rankings can definitely be a plus, but it is of no value if that traffic doesn’t convert. So conversion first, and then search engine friendly content.

So when I understand the needs of my clients and also the nuances and dynamics of their target customers and clients, and then write content for them as if I am writing it for my own business, I am able to deliver what the clients want.