As businesses, whether we sell globally or stay local, if we have a website, then the 
world can see it. If you want to be a successful business, then you’ll want to be found online and as much as a brilliantly designed site will wow people once they get there, you want to make sure that first, they actually turn up. And when they do, then you’ve got to give them something worth staying for besides a nice-looking website.
This is where professional copywriting comes in.
A skilled copywriter, as opposed to the admin guy down the hall that you asked to ‘write a quick spiel for the site’, will create optimised written content (SEO) that will help you show up on search engines. They’ll do it naturally, working in key words throughout the text, and will write tailor-made content that’s suited to your audience.
It’s always interesting, and somewhat baffling, to me that companies have no issue in ploughing a couple of thousand pounds into a basic website design, but then fail to invest in their written content. Your site might look fantastic; it may be stuffed full of fancy menus and moving images – flaunt bright colours and a classy design – but if your content is poorly written, vague and hasn’t been updated in a while, then don’t expect the phone to be ringing off the hook.
Last week, I spoke briefly to Wayne Denner – an expert speaker in online reputation who now also produces a regular business and careers podcast, Zero Lives Left, for which he interviews business people about what they do and why.
As I said to Wayne, and as one of his previous guests also said – your website is your shop window, and it’s global. If you want it to work for you, to promote your brand and to engage customers and indeed, help them to find you, then you need good, no – great – written content. A successful website is part design, part content. The thing to remember is not to do it by halves…
Listen to my podcast on copywriting here.