Part of the problem with online client/writer relationships is that it is hard to get a feel for the writer’s abilities. And yet experienced content writers may know a great deal about search engine optimization (SEO), social media, and building your brand through content. It may never occur to some clients to ask writers how they would approach a topic or situation. But, when you trust your writer, you just might get true innovation and sparkling brilliance as a result.
SEO/Keyword Building
Keywords are the bane of web writers’ existence. Anyone with a hint of experience in writing for SEO knows that keywords or keyphrases make the difference between Google’s page one and page six. But sometimes clients pick what they think is a good keyphrase without considering how those words will play out in the content. No one buying jewelry in Dallas wants to visit a blog for a shop selling housewares San Francisco. What an unattractive mess! The writer has more experience making keyphrases fit smoothly into a blog post or web page, so that your customers actually want to stay once they arrive. Why not ask them to propose keywords for the topic in the first place?
Writing Style
There is a good reason you hire web writers to build your content and it is not just to give you some spare time. A good writer can turn your Under Armour pit stains into a cute new sweater. Based on your target demographic, a writer has a fairly good idea of how to write in a way that will most appeal to people in a specific stage of life. In the world of online content, what you write is the way you dress. If you tell your writers you want to exhibit a casual atmosphere attractive to teenagers and young adults, they will know to dress down your content. If your clients expect suits and ties, the writer can set the gauge to “business formal.”
Social Media
Think of content marketing as a donut-shaped loaf of bread. While bakers cut one slice to serve, they eat another. Web writers are web consumers, often at the same time that they create content for use by businesses. This places writers in the ideal position to understand how best to use social media to reach out to customers. Since writers usually like to hang out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and others in their off-hours, they can tell you what fosters a sense of camaraderie among your target demographic, They can also identify what stinks like a dead pigeon in the attic.
When you want excellent writing to boost sales and visibility of your business, you need to hire an expert writer to create that content. But you must remember to take advantage of all your writer’s unique skills. By trusting your writer to help you identify the best ways to fortify your online presence, you relieve yourself of the hassle. And you get a happier writer too.
Between writing jobs, Holly S will be eating all of the pumpkin this fall. All of it.
