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why blogging is important for business

7 Reasons Why Blogging Is Important For Business

Content Marketing / By / March 13, 2023

Are you a business owner with a blog you haven’t updated in a while? 

Perhaps you’ve thought about launching a blog but aren’t completely sure why blogging is important for businesses.

As copywriters, one of the questions we receive most often includes whether businesses really need a blog or not. But, it’s a loaded question with a (somewhat) complicated answer.

You should first know that about 77% of people read blogs online regularly. That alone might not be enough to convince you to get going on your blogging journey, but you should also know that 61% of online users make a purchase after reading a blog. 

See? You have much more of an influence than you might think.

Try to think of your business’s blog this way…

You don’t need to have an extra voice within your industry to be seen, heard, and understood. But wouldn’t it help if you did?

Interested in starting a blog for your business? Let’s talk about how a blog can help your profitability, brand awareness, and so much more.

1. Build Brand Awareness

Building brand awareness through your business’s blog makes customer interactions feel more like a friendly conversation instead of an outright sales pitch. If used the right way, your blog can be seen as a tool for your audience.  

In fact, more than 40,000 Google searches occur every single second. Of these searches, many people turn directly to How To, DIY, and other blogs that teach them how to do something. 

Whether it’s exactly what they were looking for or not, they increase engagement and web traffic for that business with every click. It’s like being able to walk down the street and pop into stores they’re interested in without feeling the immense pressure to purchase something.

If your audience likes what they see, they’re more likely to share it with friends, family, co-workers, and beyond. The more your message is spread, the more opportunities you have to make an impact with your business at the forefront.

2. Include Long-Tail Search Keywords

Long-tail keywords are essential for blog writing. This is because when most people perform an internet search for something, they usually type in a thought, phrase, or string of keywords that will give them the results they need.

For example, let’s say you’re a local bakery looking to drum up more business. Your audience could just search “sugar cookie” and end up with a few million results. But they’re much more likely to find exactly what they’re looking for by typing in more specific, long-tail keywords like “best classic sugar cookie recipe with butter” or something similar.

As your bakery’s blog creator, using the entire long-tail keyword within your heading, subheadings, and overall unique content pushes your blog to the top of a user’s search results. This means you’re more likely to be seen by your target audience. 

Meanwhile, your target audience is more likely to click on your blog to find what they need and potentially explore other offerings like your products and services. They might even feel inclined to sign up for something – which leads us right into our next big benefit.

3. Construct A Larger Following

Use your blogs to attach powerful call-to-actions (CTAs) like:

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Follow us on social media
  • Join our course
  • Download your free guide

And these are just to name a few!

Your CTA options are unlimited and serve as a great way to keep your audience engaged with your brand long after they’ve hit the little x button. Use your blog and a solid CTA to gain more followers interested in your brand.

4. Increase Crosslinking Opportunities

One of the best ways to create an authentic experience through your blogs is by crosslinking within them. Crosslinks in blogging are one of the best SEO tools you can use to improve your online presence. It boosts your SEO and gives you a chance to optimize the use of your owned domains to the best of your ability.

What Is Crosslinking?

Adding crosslinks to your blogs allows you to guide readers to other pages on your website that you want them to see. They also provide an opportunity to attach shared categories or tags to them. This way, you continue showing up higher in search results.

Crosslinking allows businesses like yours to increase exposure with minimal effort. So, even if you’re a marketing business discussing blogging for businesses, you can also pique the interest of your readers who might simultaneously be searching for copywriting for businesses (see what we did there?).  

5. Widen Content Splintering Opportunities

Alright – you have long-tail search keywords to help you with blog topics, a few ideas for CTAs, and an understanding of how crosslinking can help.

It sounds exhausting! But you don’t need to create everything only to use it once. 

Take the information you’ve given in your blog and splinter it into other marketing avenues for your business. Doing so means that you can avoid: 

  • Retyping your thoughts
  • Spending more time on content creation
  • Skipping out on posting to your socials

Break everything down section by section, point by point, or however else you see fit.

Want to create a wealth of content starting with a blog for your business? Let’s get going!

6. Become An Authority Leader With Each Topic

This is a good one.

Blogging establishes your voice within your industry and community. By offering valuable information that readers can truly rely on, you become much more trustworthy and memorable moving forward.

And you know what we love to say about people who do business with others? 

People do business with businesses they know and trust.

Offering your voice as an authority leader within your industry allows current and potential customers to feel as though they know you, can trust you, and can look to you for future insight – which brings us to our final reason for having a blog for your business.

7. Offer Valuable Answers & Advice

You are able to offer answers to many frequently asked questions that your customers continuously have. Answering them in a blog (or several blogs) gives your audience direct access to you and your expertise without wasting time on the phone or in your inbox going back and forth about the answer.

The truth is that there are certain things you know about your business that others might not know. This makes blogging about it the perfect way to bust any popular myths while providing tangible solutions through your products or services.

We Know Why Blogging Is Important For Businesses Of All Types

Our team knows how important it is for businesses to have a blog. We also know that entrepreneurs are usually strapped for time with no idea where to start (it’s part of our why).

FocusCopy is here to help.Need help launching your business’s blog? Chat with us to get started.

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words
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5 Benefits Of Content Writing For SEO

5 Benefits Of Content Writing For SEO

Content Marketing / By / February 20, 2023

In marketing, the term SEO gets thrown around A LOT. But hearing it coming from so many different directions doesn’t necessarily define its importance or why it should matter to you. 

Have no fear, FocusCopy is here to explain the benefits of content writing for SEO!

For starters, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In more basic terms, it’s the strategic process of getting your web pages to rank higher in Google’s search results. 

Are you wondering why Google is the SEO ledger board when other search engines are at play? According to Statista, companies that rank on Google are more likely to get the most business than those who rank on Yahoo or Bing.

When you search a topic in Google, do you sift through the results and choose to read an obscure article on the 8th page? 

Okay, so maybe you do. 

But the majority of audiences click on links closer to the top of the first page. It’s easier and safer to assume those results will be most in line with what you’re searching. 

How Content Writing For SEO Helps Your Business

Wondering if keeping SEO a goal in your content writing is worth it? Here are 5 reasons content writing for SEO helps businesses succeed.

FocusCopy can help your business create the right kind of buzz with successful content marketing strategies. Schedule a time to chat here.

1. Increases Your Google Ranking

Where your business ranks on Google can seriously affect your business. After all, you want your ideal audience to be able to find you, right?

If you’re not ranking high enough in search engine results, then you are severely limiting your brand’s reach. Content writing for SEO can help you seriously increase your rank and visibility to a larger audience.

However, it’s important to remember that content writing for SEO is a science. Successful content writers utilize specific elements to write quality content that positively impacts SEO.

Google’s algorithm uses over 200 factors to rank web pages. However, these factors also tend to change. This means copywriters, content writers, and other marketing professionals are responsible for always keeping up with the latest trends and changes.

To save you hours of valuable time, here are a few things to keep in mind for your content writing:

  • Strategic keyword placement
  • Formatting should include elements like H2 and H3 headings
  • Thoughtful use of the meta description and title tag 
  • Backlinks to your website and other credible sources
  • Legal use of personal or public images

However, the real science lies in utilizing these SEO boosting tools while keeping emotion-provoking content as the central element. More simply, don’t forget there are people on the other side of the screen craving a human connection.

2. Builds Your Brand Awareness & Authority

You believe in your business. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have started it in the first place. Give other people a chance to believe in and support your business, too. 

But to do this, you need to let them know it exists.

Content writing for SEO is a great tool for building your brand awareness. Even better, content writing for SEO can also elevate your brand as an industry leader. With more visibility and higher authority, your audience has more confidence in your business. Otherwise, you risk being just another business in a long line of results.

FocusCopy leverages your brand messaging and credibility to write content that helps your business reach and engage with a larger audience.

3. Keeps Your Audience Engaged

Capturing the attention of your target audience is one thing. But keeping that audience engaged requires an entirely different strategy.

If you consistently publish meaningful content that answers your readers’ questions, they are more likely to return to your website. And after finding value in your website, the likelihood of them converting into paying customers also increases. 

However, too many dead ends after clicking on your links will have your audience saying, “Thank you, next.” 

Don’t let your message fall flat. Instead, learn how content writing for SEO can have your audience giddy to see your latest newsletter, read your latest blog, and more.

Celebrate each stage of engagement as it is a stepping stone in your customer journey. Furthermore, nurture each engaging audience member because you would never want to alienate what could be your biggest lead yet!

Need help strategizing how to engage your audience and boost SEO? Connect with me here and let’s start planning!

4. Boosts Your Business’s Conversion Rates

Different from copywriting, the goal of content writing is to engage your audience with information or entertainment. But it’s important to realize that content writing is an effective tool you can use alongside copywriting. 

For context, the goal of copywriting is to persuade readers to take action. Think of content writing as copywriting’s sneaky sister.

Thoughtful content writing keeps your audience engaged. Meanwhile, the goal of both content and copywriting is to market your business’s offerings. 

All this to say, quality content helps increase your business’s conversion rates. This means you can effectively utilize your content to make more sales and grow your business. 

5. Helps Your Ideal Customers Find You

Word-of-mouth marketing can work in certain situations. But the problem is that it severely limits your brand’s reach. 

For your business to be successful, you need to get out of your social circle. Help all of your ideal customers find you by boosting your web presence. Opening up your brand awareness to a larger audience means higher conversions, sales, and, ultimately, revenue.

As marketing professionals, we’ve seen too many small businesses get caught up in the whirlwind of friend and family support. Some small businesses have even made the choice to scale based on their successful first quarter. But the problem is that you can’t count on your friends and family to be your main source of income. 

Instead, you should hold back on scaling until your business is successful among a broader customer base. 

Build Your Brand’s Credibility With Professional SEO Copywriting Services

FocusCopy is the non-agency copywriting firm that specializes in only writing copy. While marketing firms and agencies stack their plates with a plethora of services, I realized that writing is consistently the most grueling task that knocks other projects off balance and behind schedule.

By offering copywriting services, agencies, firms, small businesses, and entrepreneurs can outsource their writing needs. And this means they can focus on their most important tasks.

Whether you need an SEO-boosting blog, an engaging newsletter, converting website, or anything else copy related – the FocusCopy team is here to help. Schedule some time to learn how FocusCopy can help you meet your marketing goals today.

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words
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is blogging once a month enough

Is Blogging Once A Month Enough?

Content Marketing / By / February 20, 2023

Businesses of all sizes and marketers want to know how many blogs are enough blogs?

But, the better question is… What can you consistently do? 

Sure, you can say that blogging three times a week is ideal for your small business. 

But can you actually uphold that type of schedule (and not burnout)?

Unfortunately, there is no right answer, and it truly depends on your goals. You also need to have a few things available to you to keep up with a consistent blogging schedule that will produce relevant content for your business.

Looking for a hot cup of blogging content? Contact FocusCopy today.

How To Determine The Number Of Blogs You Should Publish Per Week

You know those days when you wake up with a laundry list of items on your to-do list, and you feel like crushing it? Maybe you grab your favorite cup of coffee, snack on some strawberries, and feel completely ready to tackle the day. But then you go into a last-minute meeting, add a few more items on your list, and address a few concerns. Before you know it, it’s 4pm, and your list is still looking a bit… heavy. 

It’s okay and it happens to all of us! 

But having an inconsistent schedule can greatly impact your blogging experience if you have unrealistic expectations. Because, unlike other tasks, blogging truly takes time for you to brainstorm, write, and review before hitting the publish button.

So, take a look at the following and create a reasonable blogging schedule that will actually work for you.

Identify Your Goals

What’s the timeline you’re looking to accomplish your traffic generation or blogging strategy? 

If you’re looking to scale and see meaningful results in 6 months, consider publishing more blogs on a monthly basis. But if you want to scale your business sustainably, then find a cadence that works for you. 

Identify each of your content goals – including your target audience, the purpose of your blog, and what action you want your readers to take. Know exactly who you’re speaking to, and write in a way that will resonate with them. For example, if you work in a niche field where most people understand industry terms and famous sayings or phrases, it’s okay to use them. But if you’re speaking to an audience who may not be as familiar with the subject matter, make it simple.

If your idea is to be educational, stick to that and don’t complicate your message. Maybe you want to tell a story. Keep it concise, clear, and to the point. Too much back and forth or personal references may confuse your audience.

Always have a call to action (CTA). Whether you want your readers to call you directly, fill out a form, or look at something else, sprinkle CTAs throughout your blog.

Unfamiliar with blogging or how to get started? Unload your writing duties to the team at FocusCopy.

Delegate The Writing Task

No one knows your business better than you do. But if you don’t have the time, hate writing, or are hyper-focused on perfection, then delegate blogging to someone else. And don’t just choose anyone on your team – even if you feel like they have the time. Choose someone who knows:

  • You and your business
  • How to write with your voice
  • How to maintain their time

Hit all of these marks, and you’ll be able to delegate your blogging to someone who knows how to write in your voice and who you can trust to get the job done on time.

Additionally, no one likes to be micromanaged for responsibilities they are more than capable of doing. You might want to review their work for a few weeks before publishing, which is perfectly fine. You want to ensure they’re hitting the right message, speaking in your voice, and so on. But it’s important to give constructive feedback for a short time and then allow them to take the reins moving forward. And instead of checking in daily or every other day, check back monthly to be certain that your blogging is where you like it.

Schedule The Tasks

In a meeting, it’s one thing to mention that you would like to see actions taken right away. But if you and your team are busy, those items tend to get pushed off more than others when not assigned. Clarify your intentions by assigning blogging tasks, and ask your team to make it part of their regularly scheduled assignments. In fact, a great way to think about blogging for your company is to think of yourself as your own client!

Another important aspect of DIY blogging is allowing yourself or your writer enough buffer time towards the end of each month. Blogging is usually the first to be pushed back in the event of an emergency. The expectation is that you still need those blogs done, but there is some wiggle room in case other items take precedence.

We’ve found that the best way to assign these tasks is by following the order of:

  1. Outline topic and key elements
  2. Write the blog
  3. Edit with the business owner, co-worker, or peer
  4. Revise edits
  5. Perform a (search engine optimization) SEO check
  6. Hand over for a final review
  7. Publish and share the blog post

Have questions about SEO and blogging? Check out our blog How Does Professional Copywriting Help Your Business Grow?

Hold Yourself Accountable

Suppose you have room to write blogs yourself. Schedule that time in your calendar and make it non-negotiable. Mute online notifications, send calls to voicemail, and treat this time as though you’re in a meeting with a client – but the client is YOU!

Don’t stress over looking at a blank page. Your first step is outlining your blog, remember? So think about what you want to say and dump all of it on a notes page. Then organize your thoughts so they flow and make sense. Plug in those three CTAs, and you’re all set! 

Holding yourself accountable also means being real with yourself. If you find that you cannot be consistent with three blogs per week, try one blog per week. Once you build that habit, test yourself and try over time to increase your blog posts per week.  

Our Answer: Publish 2 Blogs Per Month

If you are just starting out or want a good starting point for consistent blogging, start at two blogs per month. This is an easy metric to move up or down. Block out the time for those two blogs and get them done!

Outsource Your Blogs

If you’ve already tried blogging or know you don’t have time for two blogs a month, we can help. We’ve worked with over 80 different companies on their blogging goals by producing high-converting copy to help scale their businesses. Our process is worthy of a chef’s kiss for copy, and we couldn’t be more excited to get started on blogging for your business.

Have questions? Talk to FocusCopy to get started on blogging to grow your business.

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words
Schedule Discovery Call
create backlinks

How To Create Backlinks & Drive Valuable Traffic to Your Landing Page

Marketing / By / July 22, 2022

As you’ve transitioned your storefront and services online, you can’t help but wonder how people are going to find your website. You know that almost 88% of people in America shop online, but how will your business reach them? 

But on top of building or updating your website, you’re figuring out shipping logistics. You’re creating social media pages and finding quality IT support, (not to mention balancing your personal life obligations). Learning how to bring people in online is a problem to solve later. 

However, you understand that the more customers you have visiting your website, the more likely it is that you close sales.

And of course, you’d be right! 

Then, after all the hustle and bustle of getting your website live is over and things have calmed down for just a second, you keep seeing the term SEO pop up when you’re googling strategies for online marketing. But it might as well be gibberish – search engine optimization? What even is that? 

As it turns out, the way to generate more web traffic has a lot to do with SEO – especially a little term called backlinks. 

What Are Backlinks? 

Backlinks play a huge role in your SEO ranking on search engines – especially Google. 

Basically, backlinks are links within a piece of content that sends a reader to another website when they click on written text. 

For example, if you were writing a blog article about “How to Make Cold Brew Coffee”, you might want to talk about the best brand of coffee for the brew. Including a link to the coffee vendor’s website is an effective way to provide your readers with even more information or resources. 

After you hit publish and the blog post is live, the business you linked has now earned a backlink from you. This makes search engines give their website a vote of confidence – so to speak. 

When this happens, Google begins to recognize the linked website or article as providing valuable information. Backlinks are like your digital reputation or credibility in the eyes of Google. So when more websites link to your own, search engines see that you’re providing value to users online, and thus, raises your ranking in its index.  

Which, in turn, leads to more organic traffic! 

Simple enough, right? Well, “how do you actually create backlinks?” you might ask. 

1. Create Exemplary Content 

Quality content is first and foremost the secret ingredient to successful SEO marketing. 

The returns from high-quality written content for your SEO game are two-fold. First, well-researched, properly formatted, and grammatically sound content written by professionals will signal to Google that you produce quality information on your industry. Copywriters and content marketers know how to not only capture your brand’s voice and speak in the direction of your audience, but they know how to incorporate keywords into their work. That means when someone searches Google with certain words or asks a question, your website will come up – ready to solve their problem or steer them in the right direction. 

All of this already gives you a massive boost to your SEO standing. 

But as an added bonus, the better your content is, the more likely it is that other websites in your industry will link back to your articles. So you’ll earn Google’s stamp of approval for producing good content and when others in your industry recognize your thoughtful work. 

Need a team of master writers to support you in all your SEO endeavors? Our copywriters are on standby. Sign up for a discovery call with us today! 

Skyscraper Content (Or How To Rise Above The Rest)

Skyscraper content is a type of content that rises above every other existing piece of content on the same subject. While challenging and time-consuming, (skyscraper articles should be 1,500+ words, ideally, even more!) investing your energy into creating long-form skyscraper content could give you an edge. 

Similar to pillar content, you can use skyscraper content as an opportunity to create in-depth educational guides and online courses. Or you can focus on a single question being asked by your audience and answer it extensively. 

If creating a skyscraper piece sounds a bit intimidating, you can always create a smaller version first. Then over time, add more to the piece. Plus, constantly refreshing your content can also improve SEO. 

Guest Blogs: Share Your Perspective & Insight! 

Another way content creation can create backlinks is through guest blogging. Reach out to other professionals or publications that are in your industry, and ask to write a blog for them in exchange for a backlink to your website. Doing this may even expand your network and make you new connections. 

However, you’ll want to be sure your values align with the publication’s, and that you have some work to show as a reference.  

Find Broken & Old Links, Then Pitch Your Content As Replacement!

Once you have quality content in your arsenal, try digging around online for a while, reading various articles about your industry. Sometimes, older backlinks can take readers to a website that was taken down after the article was originally published. That means the backlink is basically broken and isn’t providing value to the reader or the website that’s hosting it. 

When this happens, reach out directly to the website owner and pitch your content as a replacement backlink. Finding broken links might take a while, but you might be surprised at how many you discover. And, reading those articles provides an opportunity to learn more about your industry.

Either way, finding broken backlinks is a surprisingly effective way to build up your backlink portfolio. 

2. Collaborate & Connect With Your Industry and Network

Another way to build up backlinks besides just creating content is by connecting with others in your industry and network. What’s more, this gives you an opportunity to dive deeper into your industry and audience (and even create professional connections). 

Get Listed On A Resources Page

One of the simpler ways of building up your backlinks is by having your content featured on a resources page. While exploring websites in your industry, look to see if they have a “master list” of website links to other domains. 

Many websites put together a page for their readers where they can learn more about a specific topic. For example, food blogs may have links to websites with more recipes. So send a message to the admin with a link to your content! 

Hop-On A Podcast 

Found a podcast in your industry that you love? Reach out to the host and see if you can join them for an episode.

Joining a podcast allows you to dive right into the heart of the conversations taking place in your industry. You’ll hear perspectives from other professionals, engage directly with your audience, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with the community. 

Not only is this great publicity for both you and the podcast, but you’ll also have the chance to earn a quality backlink on their website as well. 

Help Out A Journalist

Sometimes, journalists need to speak with experts in certain fields to interview credible sources. You can volunteer your time to answer questions about your industry to help a journalist complete their story. Just ask them to link to your website in the finished article! 

This strategy can set you apart from competitors because a journalist has chosen you to act as a thought leader. When someone who has limited or no knowledge of your industry reads the journalist’s story, they’ll be sent right to your website. 

Ask For Testimonials 

After you’ve been working with a client for a while, ask them if they would like to exchange testimonials about each other’s services. For example, in exchange for your testimonial, you’ll display their testimonial on your website, and then backlink to them. Not only will this generate more backlinks, but it may also bring in more clients since you’re actively promoting each other’s work. 

3. Be Wary Of Quality Backlinks vs Toxic Backlinks

While you might think more backlinks are better, the SEO benefits from backlinks come from the quality of backlinks, not the quantity. 

Originally, Google’s algorithm looked at the number of backlinks more than the actual quality of the link. Naturally, buying and selling links was common practice to quickly accumulate links and rise to the top of Google. 

Now, Google considers backlinks generated in this way as “toxic”, and they harm your SEO ranking instead of bolstering it. 

But, this is just one example of a toxic backlink. Additionally, if websites with similar pages all link to your website with the same hyperlink or anchor text, search engines may register you as trying to build links quickly and maliciously like the tactic above. 

Either way, when you have a toxic backlink, Google’s algorithm will automatically penalize your website. That harms your ranking on the index. 

Want to guarantee that all your backlinks are high-quality? First, you’ll need content written by the expert writers at FocusCopy! Contact us to learn more about how we can help your business grow. 

How To Remove Toxic Backlinks 

Before you work to remove any potentially toxic links, you’ll have to identify which links could be causing you trouble. 

The Backlink Analytics tool from Semrush generates data about your backlink portfolio and can identify which links might be harmful. And thankfully, there are some ways in which you can remove a toxic backlink from your website. 

For starters, you can reach out to the website’s host and ask them to remove the link to your content. If the link is actually coming from a quality domain but Google incorrectly categorized it, you can ask for a manual review of the link from Google themselves. 

You can also use Google’s “Disavow” tool from their search console to remove toxic backlinks. WARNING: You’ll want to read up on how to properly use the tool to ensure you don’t harm your website’s search performance. 

Partner With The Content Experts & Create Backlinks

Content really is king when it comes to SEO. But when you’re juggling business obligations and your personal life, there’s simply not enough time to create content yourself. 

To grow your business, you need a team of copywriters who can support your content creation, make your brands stand out from the crowd, and help you bring in more leads. So, reach out to us at FocusCopy! We’d love to talk about your goals and how we can help you achieve them. Schedule a discovery call today.

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words
Schedule Discovery Call
improve your website copy

5 Signs You Need To Improve Your Website Copy

Copywriting / By / September 7, 2021

How do you know for sure when it’s time to rework and improve your website copy?

There are a few tell-tale signs, but the biggest indicator is that your business is slowing down. You may feel overwhelmed and unsure of what to do. But there’s no need to panic because you can help yourself by making changes to your website right away.

Maybe you’ve reached a lull in your day-to-day. You may find yourself spending less time speaking to customers and making sales. Or you could be having an entirely different problem altogether. Perhaps you are talking to people, but they’re the wrong crowd. This may leave you asking yourself, “Where are these people finding me?”

You’re not alone. It happens to businesses everywhere. But what most companies don’t know is that it could be their website. And since 88% of users won’t revisit a site once they’ve had a bad experience, altering your copy for the better is something to consider. If your website isn’t self-explanatory, concise, or geared towards the right audience, it may be time to improve your website copy.

Need new website copy on a timeline that works for you? Reach out about our web writing services.

When To Improve Your Website Copy

If you’re running into these problems, it’s time to reevaluate what your website is truly telling people.

1. You Keep Answering The Same Questions In All Your Calls

Picture this… You pick up the phone or respond to an email, and you end up answering all of the same questions all day long. What gives!?

If you know for a fact that people are visiting your website but continue to call anyway, they may not be getting the correct information they need upfront. This can be frustrating for several reasons. It’s a waste of time repeating yourself and is disheartening for both you and your customer. Wouldn’t it be better if everything they needed was right there online? Chances are, you’re paying for your website anyway. So, you might as well get the most out of your money and make it go further with fresh copy.

Update your website copy and make sure to include the following:

  • Who you are
  • What your business does
  • How your business helps customers
  • Easy-to-find FAQ answers
  • Contact information throughout the website
  • Pricing upfront (you can always give a starting point)

Have each one of these elements ready to go on your website, and you should be golden.

2. The Leads You’re Getting Aren’t The Ones You’re After

There’s nothing more disappointing than talking to someone who you realize doesn’t need your services at all. It can be even more confusing if they end up asking for a business or service similar but not the same as yours. So, where do you go from here? Take a look at your website’s copy and then have others outside your organization give their honest feedback. Find out what it’s saying to them and where there’s a disconnect. Then, when you see where your website is having trouble, approach the following areas with rewritten copy:

SEO

Target the right keywords. You can also pinpoint keywords you audience is searching for when looking for your business. For example, some SEO tools may tell you to rank for “health coach” but you know your audience would search for “functional medicine”. SEO tools are simply that… Tools! Use your brain to steer your keyword research.

Homepage Copy 

Be direct and let customers know what you offer and how you can help. Don’t forget a call-to-action button. Nearly 70% of small businesses end up leaving one out! If you don’t want people calling you, don’t list a phone number. BUT if you want people to schedule a discovery call instead, link your calendar to the primary button.

Branding 

If you need to make adjustments in your branding of any kind, ensure that’s reflected in your website copy as well.

3. It’s Time To Improve Your Website Copy Because The Line Is Dead

Here’s the worst-case scenario… You’re not getting any leads at all! Again, this is disappointing but shouldn’t hinder your efforts to make a change. 

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to figure out where you should start:

  • Is my website easy to navigate? Are there any broken links?
  • Am I working on my SEO?
  • Are there any significant errors in my website’s writing?
  • Is my contact information all there?

If anything seems to be completely off, now is the time to act and change it. Once you’ve answered these questions, you can even make a checklist of what you need to do before you get started.

4. Business Has Changed Due To The Pandemic Or For Other Reasons

The pandemic has taken a significant toll on businesses worldwide. Many companies scrambled to make drastic changes to their business models. However, while doing so, you may have missed updating your entire company website. That’s okay because you can do it now.

Go page by page and read through your business’s website copy. Find out where you need to make changes or updates and write them down on a to-do list. Consider improving your website copy for the following COVID-related reasons:

  • You’ve made alterations to safety protocols
  • Shipping and delivery has changed
  • You have team members listed who no longer work there
  • Appointments or scheduling is different

In addition to changes prompted by the pandemic, you might have changed your branding and need your website copy to match it. It’s essential to keep your website copy up-to-date, primarily if it affects your customers.

5. Your Website Has A High Bounce Rate

For starters, your bounce rate is the number of times someone views your website and ends up leaving quickly. This type of behavior typically tells us that your website isn’t what they’re looking for or the information on it is insufficient enough for them to take action.

There are a few tools you can use to check your website’s bounce rate, including:

  • Google Analytics (free)
  • Statcounter
  • Parse.ly

What Is A Good Or Bad Bounce Rate?

You’ll want to aim for a bounce rate between 26 to 40 percent. An average bounce rate is between 41 to 55 percent. A bounce rate between 56 to 70 may mean you want to make improvements to your website copy. If you see a bounce rate of over 70 percent, it’s time for a facelift for your website.

When Your Website Isn’t Speaking The Right Language For Your Industry…

There’s FocusCopy. We’re a team of writers who connect with you to understand what you do and who you are. We dive deep into your business goals and what you’d like to accomplish. Then, we take on the task of writing for your business with your target clientele in mind. Download our free guide to start updating your home page with ease.

When Was The Last Time You Updated Your Home Page?

Answer these 6 questions and spruce up your home page in 15 minutes (or less).

Start Updating Home Page
Benefits for Writing Business Blog Posts

5 Benefits for Writing Business Blog Posts (And How To Start Publishing)

Content Marketing / By / June 1, 2021

Blogging is certainly not dead – especially when it comes to B2B blogging. Some 700 million blog posts are published each month on WordPress alone. 

Today’s web users can hop online and find a blog on pretty much any topic you can imagine. 

Searching for a step-by-step guide on how to perform an oil change? There’s a blog for that. 

What about finding the perfect chocolate cake recipe? Yep, there’s a blog for that, too. 

More often than not, the blogs with sufficient information may eventually lead you to an expert within the field of what you’re searching for. 

This is excellent news for businesses – boasting numerous benefits for writing business blog posts.

5 Benefits for Writing Business Blog Posts

We could go on for hours listing the benefits for writing business blog posts, but we picked these 5 benefits because they directly impact your bottom line. At FocusCopy, we would never recommend anything that doesn’t produce sales or makes your company more efficient (and thereby more profitable).

1. Blog Posts Provide Social Media and Email Content

You want to keep your audience engaged, right? If you’re like us, you’ve been subject to opening a marketing email only to hit close as soon as you scan it (even if you get that far). One way to positively use the blogs you’ve written is to include them in your marketing emails paired with a catchy headline or phrase to draw your audience in. By doing so, you keep readers engaged with relevant content to your business, boost your click rate, and improve website traffic…. Ultimately generating more qualified leads for your business (paired with a few other things).

Plus, with so many tools available like MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, and so on, you can use these platforms to help monitor your email marketing performance, making it easy to see which emails featuring your blogs tend to outshine one another. You can then plan and strategize additional content to work better for you and your business in the future.

In line with sharing blogs to your email efforts, you can pad your social media calendar with shareable posts featuring your blog. All it takes is a simple graphic, engaging copy, and a link to your blog to quickly get better engagement on your social media platforms. With almost half of the world’s population using social media, you really can’t go wrong by creating some buzz around your blog posts using Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other social-sharing software.

2. Blog Posts Boost Search Engine Optimization

According to OptinMonster, “Companies who blog get 97% more links to their websites.” That statistic alone should be convincing enough to start blogging. 

The bottom line is that more traffic to your website means more potential sales. Writing a blog and sharing its content any way you can help build the number of visitors who end up on your site. As you consistently continue producing relevant content written with SEO in mind, you’ll see your SEO performance build and improve over time.

Chances are, someone who conducts a search on Google looking for a how-to on best business practices during COVID will likely run into a few high-ranking blogs covering this topic. As a result, the business blogs that appear on the first or second page are likely to see improved engagement and viewers on their website.

As long as you have an individual or team member regularly creating, publishing content, and monitoring your results, there is no reason your SEO and, in turn, your business shouldn’t see some improved engagement.

Case Study: Publish Consistently Now

As a new business, we consistently published weekly blogs from August 2019 to April 2020. This was a critical step to start building the SEO snowball. 

Then between April 2020 and September 2020, our blogging became a little more inconsistent because… Well, we were too busy writing for our clients. Yet, our traffic was still growing. 

In October 2020, our blogging became non-existent through the remainder of 2020. We were simply too busy to even schedule posts on social media! All our focus was on our client’s copy and their marketing. 

Yet, our traffic grew and grew. This is the power of publishing business blog posts. This is what we refer to as the SEO snowball effect.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Chinese Proverb
Benefits for Writing Business Blog Posts

3. Blog Posts Educate Your Target Audience

There is a ton of information out there online. But you’re the one who knows your business best, so who better to talk about it than yourself? People want to know accurate and readable information that will help them. Don’t be afraid to give your blogs everything you’ve got and go into as much detail as you can in an organized format that flows with ease.

A simple benefit you can add to your blogs includes graphics, videos, and photography to help users visualize the discussion topic. It’s not entirely necessary, but for businesses who offer intricate services or products, these elements can break down some more technical content in a digestible way.  

(P.S. We’re experts in capturing your brand voice, learning your story, and communicating it with SEO and your target audience in mind. Want to learn how we make your blog production easier? Schedule a call with co-founder Lauren Jefferson today.) 

4. Blogs Posts Position You As a Brand Authority

As the expert, you want to let others know that they can turn to you for the information they need now or might need in the future. With each blog post, you build brand authority for yourself and become a reliable resource for your audience to turn to.

One way of serving as a brand authority lies in sharing information backed by reliable resources, data, or reports. You can also rely on the professionals around you to get the latest industry updates and material to improve your content. Finally, you can answer some FAQs in depth through blogs that are both requested and informative. Each of these factors sets the tone for your blog and provides a safe space for others to turn to when they need trustworthy information.

5. Blog Posts Create More Opportunities to Sell

If you have your sales process down, blog writing may be the solution you need to pour more leads into your funnel. You see, the more content you produce backed by appropriate facts and figures, the more people will be geared towards your website and brand. As users get to know your brand better and become more familiar with who you are, the more likely they are to use your product or service.  

According to Hubspot, “Marketers who prioritized blogging received 13X more ROI than companies that did not in 2019.” Hubspot’s findings make blogging one of the most useful marketing tools out there on top of creating other inviting digital content. 

How to Start Writing Blog Posts for Business

If you’re tired of being left behind in a digital world, get started today on setting up a blog for your business with just a few quick steps.

Figure Out What You’re Going To Write About

Where do you start? Understandably, you may have a lot to say but don’t know where to begin. Whether you use your smartphone, laptop, or pen and paper, you should kick off your blogging venture by jotting down your best blog ideas. Some components to think about include:

  • Timeliness. Is what you want to write about pertinent to right now?
  • Substance. Is there enough to talk about when discussing a specific topic?
  • Benefits. Will your blog be able to highlight something that your business has to offer to help its readers?
  • Content. Is the content being discussed relevant to your business?

If you’ve answered “No,” to any of these questions, it may be time to discuss more openly with your team about what would work when it comes to blogging for your business.

(Need help thinking of potential topics? FocusCopy is here to help! Contact us today to learn how we make this process easier for you.)

Decide How Frequently You’re Going to Write Blog Posts

Some websites will tell you you should blog twice a week, once a week, or once a month. Depending on your business, you may want to post more or less. If you don’t have the bandwidth to start posting numerous times a day, work on getting your posts written and provide yourself with a bank of blogs you can rely on when you’re ready to start publishing.

“Blogging frequency has a direct and significant impact on lead generation.”

SEO.co

We take a little different approach when it comes to choosing frequency. At FocusCopy, we want to see consistency in your marketing. If that’s every week, go for it! But if you can only manage one blog a month, that’s great. Start building that rhythm so you can produce more content down the line. 

Determine Who Is Writing Your Blog Posts

I you are considering starting a blog, think no more. Get your blog up and running with a content writer who knows the ins and outs of blogging, wordplay, and adapting to your company’s work model, style, voice, tone, and attitude.

We get it! You may not have the time for blogging. Lucky for you, we’re the experts you need in that department. FocusCopy offers content writing for your business – bringing your brand to center stage for the audience you crave.

Benefits for Writing Business Blog Posts
SEO Copywriting Tips

12 SEO Copywriting Tips You Can Implement Without An SEO Specialist

Copywriting / By / July 22, 2022

Right now, your company needs to invest in SEO – especially if you’re struggling.

SEO stands for search engine optimization. And SEO is what improves your ability to grow your traffic organically (free traffic). After you have your traffic on your website, then it’s only a matter of converting that traffic into customers. 

You don’t need to be an expert to start making improvements! In this blog, I’ll go over 12 tips for great SEO copywriting that you can implement without an SEO specialist.

What is SEO Copywriting?

SEO copywriting is a style of writing that prioritizes humans, while still keeping SEO in mind. It seeks to achieve the perfect balance between writing for visibility and writing to create genuine engagement with your audience.

SEO Copywriting vs. SEO

Why does SEO Copywriting beat out SEO when it comes to writing strategically online? 

When writing purely for SEO, you will sound mechanical. It sends a message that you’re writing for an algorithm that places your copy higher in the search list rather than engaging with and selling to your audience. 

Remember, Google doesn’t pay you – humans do!

Why SEO Copywriting Needs to be a Bigger Priority

So, if humans are the priority, why do we need SEO at all? 

The truth is, well written content still needs to be found by search engines. And in order for that to happen, SEO should still be kept in mind while writing. Striking a balance through SEO copywriting will ensure that your content is valuable for your audience and easy to find. 

Before we get into tips for SEO copywriting, let’s go over a few SEO strategies to keep in mind.

Types of SEO Strategies

SEO copywriting usually refers to on-page SEO; however, it would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the different types of SEO strategies that companies need to pay attention to.

On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO refers to the things that you include on a web page to drive organic traffic and increase visibility. This helps your audience find you more quickly through a Google search.

Strategic on-page SEO can help your web page rank high on a search engine results page (SERP). And there are two philosophies for getting there:

  • Black hat – stuffing keywords in a nonsensical way into your content just to rank. Avoid this like the plague. 
  • White hat – including a typical amount of keywords into your content, but not overdoing it.

As the names suggest, white hat is the ethical approach to on-page SEO. Black hat methods might help your page get a higher SERP ranking, but your audience won’t stay on your page long if your content is nonsensical keyword soup.  

On-page SEO requires extra copy development time to achieve and maintain consistency. If you’re starting from scratch, expect 3-6 month time lag before you see results. The best way to get started is to write content – like blogs – on a regular schedule (weekly or bimonthly). 

Technical SEO

Technical SEO refers to your website’s backend settings that make it function optimally for the user. This ties into the overall experience that your audience has when interacting with your content. You are trying to make it easy for your audience to navigate your website. 

If you ever clicked on a link because the headline seemed spot-on for what you were searching for, but then the website…

  • Took forever to load
  • Wasn’t optimized for mobile viewing
  • Was difficult to navigate
  • Seemed like spam because of the URL

… You probably left within seconds. The average user’s attention span is under 5 seconds per click (unless they find what they are looking for).

Even if the headline of a web page is a perfect match for your search, you’ll only stay if the website looks safe, easy, and organized.

Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO refers to the things you do outside of your website to draw attention to it. It helps your audience decide if they can trust your website and determine if it is an authority among its competitors.

Think about how you approach hiring talent for your company. Many people might apply for the position with the skills you’re looking for. But an applicant with several beaming references and a successful work history will stand out the most, and you’d be more likely to trust them than Joe Schmoe. 

Similarly, off-page SEO is like having “references” for your company’s website that helps build trust online.

12 Tips for Great SEO Copywriting That You Can Implement Without An SEO Specialist

Now that you have several SEO strategies you can implement without an SEO specialist, let’s talk about how to combine them with copywriting for an optimized SEO copywriting approach.

1. Genuinely Communicate With Your Audience

Prioritize a strong connection with your audience by writing genuinely – not robotic. Not only will authentic communication provide better value for them, but it can be beneficial for your company’s SERP ranking too…  

“When you’re writing for humans, search rankings will rise because bounce rates will be lower and time-on-site will be higher. It’s all about the user experience.”

Dan Moyle, Impulse Creative

It’s a win-win. Search engines use metrics like bounce rate and the time spent on a given page in their algorithm to rank your website. 

2. Don’t Be Spammy

If it sounds like spam, it probably is. Avoid writing content that looks like spam. If your content looks like spam, people will be less likely to stay on your site. Avoid using…

  • Black hat SEO approaches. Don’t stuff your content with keywords. Your audience can spot unethical approaches from a mile away (even if they don’t know what they are looking at), and this will reflect negatively on your brand.
  • Stock images in your blog posts. Instead, opt for images that are uniquely yours (e.g. photos of yourself, your products, or services). You can even include your own screenshots for how-to’s. Schedule a brand photoshoot to create your own photos.

Above all, if the copy sounds or looks spammy, change it.

3. Use Practical URLs

Another way to avoid having your content mistaken for spam is to use practical URLs. Best search results have URLs between 50-60 characters long and a top-level domain (TLD) of ‘.com’. Bypass gibberish symbols and letters; they can imply there is something shady or you are trying to hide something. 

Instead, include logical, intuitive URLs that are associated with the content of your webpage. Not only will this help your website look more legitimate, but it will also portray your company as being logical and organized.

For example, the slug – the phrase that follows the domain in the URL – for this page is https://focuscopy.com/seo-copywriting-tips. You can expect to learn SEO copywriting tips in this blog. But if the slug was https://focuscopy.com/6&sct12, you would have no clue what to expect. It may be exactly the same as the first page, but it may also be a scam – you can’t tell.

4. Have an SSL Certificate

While we’re on the topic of URLs, another great SEO copywriting tip is to have an SSL certificate. 

Users will see “https://” in the URL, which lets them know your website is safe with:

  • Secured user data
  • Ownership verification
  • Website authenticity

Plus, it might hurt your SERP ranking if you don’t have an SSL certificate. Google is about to stop ranking non-SSL sites and may flag them as “Not Secure”.

5. Cover Topics Comprehensively

Another way to practice effective SEO copywriting is by covering topics comprehensively. It increases the quality value that your audience receives from your content, helping you stand out among the competition.

Try using content splintering to be more comprehensive in your writing. When you’re more comprehensive about a specific subset of a topic, you will be more targeted and have more opportunities to crosslink to other blogs or pages. 

Don’t worry – you won’t have to post everything back-to-back. In WordPress, use categories and tags to cross-link related content. This will logically organize your content together, even if they aren’t published one after another. 

6. Use Keywords that Resonate With Your Audience

Ideally, you should use keywords that are broad enough to reach your target audience and specific enough to stand out from the crowd. Above all, make sure your keywords resonate with your audience.

For example, suppose you’re a CPA based in Boise, Idaho who wants to start marketing your services as tax season rolls around. Here are two keyword approaches you could take:

  • SEO: “tax CPA boise idaho”
  • SEO Copywriting:  “tax and accounting help in boise”  

SEO alone includes long-tail keywords with the goal of ranking top of an SERP.

On the other hand, the SEO copywriting approach includes keywords that your target audience would actually use in a search. You’ll maximize visibility while centering your audience.

7. Incorporate Relevant Headers

Relevant headers are a staple of SEO copywriting. They make your page easier for your audience to read and enable search engines to readily parse (understand) what your page is about. Make sure your headers are relevant by…

  • Incorporating keywords or keyword synonyms
  • Including calls to action
  • Making them readable 

8. Optimize Your Website for Mobile Viewing

Today, many people access web content through their smartphones. Ensure their mobile experience is as effortless as possible by making your site mobile friendly. You don’t want your audience to lose patience trying to find what they need. 

Optimize your website for mobile viewing by… 

  • Resizing text and images
  • Restructuring page formats
  • Creating an easy-to-use navigation bar

9. Make Your Content Easy to Share

Make your content easily shareable to social media platforms with a customized preview image, SEO title, slug, and meta description. This is what it looks like when you use the Yoast SEO plugin. 

For example, here’s what it looks like when someone shares a FocusCopy blog on their Facebook page.

10. Establish Backlink Equity 

Backlink equity is an SEO Copywriting approach that leverages off-page SEO. It helps your site establish trust and authority online. Build a variety of backlinks. Examples of potential backlink opportunities include:

  • Articles on Medium
  • Interviews on Voyage or a local news channel
  • Publications on reputable .gov, .edu, or .org website 
  • Press releases

11. Build a Backlink Network 

Don’t stress out if you can’t get published on a large, reputable site. Try creating partnerships with other companies and build pages or posts to refer traffic to them. It’s all about building a backlink network.

Since COVID-19 has been difficult for many of our friends and clients, we wrote several blog posts to create backlinks to their websites. Check those posts out here:

12. Cross Link Your Posts or Pages

Linking isn’t just an off-page SEO strategy. It’s also fantastic for on-page SEO copywriting too. Here’s how cross-linking works…

Imagine you have a huge mansion with many bedrooms, ballrooms, and more. But you walk in and realize there are no doors. You can’t explore the other rooms. So you turn around and walk right out – there is nowhere for you to go! The mansion is useless.

But you’re a smart person and put doors between each room. So your guests can come into your fancy mansion, go from one from one room to another, and get lost in the beauty and splendor of your palace. 

The same is true of your website. Google and your audience needs to be captivated and get lost in the different sections of your site. Cross link your pages or posts so they can move around and even go back to places they’ve already been.

So there you have it – 12 great tips for SEO copywriting that you can implement without an SEO specialist. However, we understand that writing isn’t for everyone. If you’d rather hire an expert to do your content writing for you, reach out to our FocusCopy team. 

8 Major Oversights Content Writers Should Avoid When Blogging

Copywriting / By / July 22, 2022

Blogging isn’t just for beauty influencers and foodies. It’s 2020, and the most competitive companies in all industries have blogs associated with their businesses. 

Never considered blogging before? Well, you might be missing out on some major growth opportunities! 

If you feel behind in the blogging scene, don’t worry. I’ll go over the 8 major oversights content writers should avoid when blogging, so you can start blogging like a pro. 

PLUS right now is an optimal time to invest in a blog for your business.

Why now?

Because many of us are at home, tuned into our preferred devices. Your audience is at attention. Strategically, if you’re looking for growth in the next 6 months, you need to start working now by investing in and increasing your organic traffic. 

What is Blogging?

Before we get into the 8 major oversights content writers should avoid when blogging, let’s break down what blogging entails. 

A blog is a collection of content available on a website or social media profile (like LinkedIn). It’s a log of a company’s insights, knowledge, experience, and tips for readers. 

Blogging as a practice: 

  • Helps your customers find you more quickly and easily on the Internet – Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Encourages your customers to realize that you have something valuable to offer – Value-Added Information
  • Drives new customers to your company without paid advertising – Organic Traffic

Why is Blogging Important for Your Overall Marketing Strategy?

Whether it’s a written, video, or visual log, a blog is important for your overall marketing strategy. At its core, marketing is a way to warm up your prospects in order to convert them into sales. In the digital world, marketing is also what  converts leads into customers. 

A strong marketing strategy cultivates a relationship between your customers and your company. And this is essentially what blogs are built to do! They create trust and familiarity through consistent and valuable communication. 

And it’s not just a one-way street. Blogging doesn’t just create an opportunity for your company to share insights and stories with prospects; it also allows your customers to share their stories and experiences too – through comments. In other words, you have the ability to advertise and conduct market research, all in one place. 

8 Major Oversights Content Writers Should Avoid When Blogging

Now that you understand the value blogging will have for your business, let’s talk about how you can approach it like a professional. Here are 8 major oversights content writers should avoid when blogging.

1. Not Breaking Through Your Writer’s Block

Most clients come to us for 1 of 2 reasons:

  1. They hate writing. Writing well can take time, and not everyone has the patience for it.  
  2. They take forever to write. Some people get stuck staring at a blank page or writing and rewriting things to no end.

To start a blog, you’ll have to write regularly. Many content writers don’t expect to run into writer’s block. If and when it hits, they’re stuck! Don’t give up. Breaking through writer’s block is a key skill for successful content writing.

Need some tips on overcoming your writer’s block? Click here to read our blog about it.

2. Not Editing And Proofreading Work

Although it might seem obvious to some, many content writers take editing and proofreading their work for granted. This is a major oversight that can reflect negatively on your brand.

Having content that is free of grammatical and spelling errors helps show that you care behind your content and ensures you’re communicating effectively.

Check out our blog post filled with proofreading tips, so you can edit your work like a professional copywriter. 

3. Not Outlining BEFORE You Start Writing

Some writers just write in a flow. That’s alright, but if you want to write strategically, always start with an outline. 

Creating an outline before you start writing will help you…

  • Write faster. Once the structure of your blog is there, it’s easier to fill in the blanks.
  • Organize your thoughts. You’ll avoid veering off course from your intended topic and ensure you’re not covering too much in one post.
  • Increase your SEO. When you have structured headings and subheadings for your blog posts that use similar keywords or SEO synonyms, it’s easier for search engines to detect the topic of your blog and direct people to it based on their search. 

Here’s an example of what an organized outline can do for your final product.

The outline:

Major Oversights Content Writers Should Avoid When Blogging

The final product:

Major Oversights Content Writers Should Avoid When Blogging

4. Not Showing Some Personality

A blog post isn’t a formal document. People don’t want to read something dry– even if the topic is “boring”. They want to read something entertaining! 

In the past, I’ve written blogs for CFOs about financial forecasting using an example of Hooters girls. Show some personality in your writing. It breaks the ice. 

5. Not Narrowing Down Your Focus

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Likewise, a single blog post cannot be all-encompassing. Don’t try to solve every problem or address every topic in your individual blog posts. Pick one small topic and cover it extremely well. This will have more value for your audience and encourage them to come back and read more…

If you envision your company’s blog covering several topics, you can create a tagging system. This lets you cover a range of topics across several blog posts in an organized way.

First, identify one major-topic. Narrow down that topic even more. Then get even more specific. You cannot provide real value on a given major-topic with just one blog – there’s simply too much information for a reader to digest at once; therefore, you need to get specific. Remember, blogs are not novels or dissertations, they are intended to be relatively small, quick to read, and easily absorbed by their audience.

 Here are a couple of topic progressions to get you started. 

Overarching TopicKey Areas in Major TopicSub-Topic of Key AreaSpecific Detail Related to Sub-Topic
CoffeeWays to make delicious coffeeFrench PressFrench Press Best Practices
Content MarketingBloggingLaunching a BlogOversights Content Writers Make When Blogging

6. Not Using Research To Defend Your Claims

An entertaining blog on its own might give your company some visibility. But when it comes to converting to sales, you’ll want to leverage some research in your writing. 

As the saying goes, people tend to buy on emotion and justify the buy with logic. Compelling evidence to support your claims will underscore both the emotional and logical aspects of your pitch.

These can include…

  • Published studies
  • Striking statistics
  • Case studies
  • Testimonials
  • Easy-to-read charts and graphs

7. Flat Out Plagiarizing

This goes without saying – don’t plagiarize. Cite all quotes and sources. No one wants to come off as unoriginal or deceiving. Your company will lower its credibility when your plagiarism is discovered (and it will be!).

Giving others credit where credit is due is the right thing to do and can be really helpful for your SEO! Include outbound links to sources in your blog posts. 

8. Perfecting It So Much It Never Gets Published

A “perfect” blog post is never published because it’s never done. At some point, you just need to press “publish”. If you ever want to change anything, all you have to do is edit that content and update it. 

Put yourself out there and see how your audience responds. Remember, your audience is looking for consistent and regular communication. Don’t trade perfectionism for building a relationship with your customers. They’ll be happier to hear from you regularly. If you don’t include something in your current blog, you can always write about it in the next blog. Just keep the content and communications flowing to your followers and customers.

Looking for help launching your blog or increasing your number of subscribers? FocusCopy can do your content writing for you and even craft newsletters that go directly to your customer’s inbox.

Updating Your Website Copy to Increase Conversion

Updating Your Website Copy to Increase Conversion & Engagement (Even When Your Business Has Been Put on Hold) in 7 Simple Steps

Copywriting / By / June 1, 2021

It’s no secret that COVID-19 has impacted businesses all over the world. I talk to at least 5 business owners a day that have either had to put their business on hold, are overwhelmed with growth, or are somewhere in between. If you’re one of the companies in limbo, this blog is for YOU. Downtime can be discouraging. But, it’s so important to stay positive and keep the ball rolling! One way to do just that is by investing in your marketing. That’s why we put together this guide on updating your website copy to increase conversion and engagement (even when your business has been put on hold). 

What’s Website Copy? 

So, what’s website copy? Website copy is all the words on your site. But more than that, it’s what communicates to your audience what their need or problem is (if they didn’t know already), your solution, and why you’re the right decision for them. What does your customer need to hear to make a buying decision?

Now more than ever, a majority of the interactions clients have with your business will be through your website. Well-written website copy ensures your site is helpful for existing clients and makes a great first impression with new ones.

Why Update Your Website Copy?

A website should be 100% organic – that means it should change, evolve, and be updated as time goes on. A hard-coded website or one that is difficult to change in a moment’s notice is going to lock you into something that’s not working for you. 

So why update your website copy? 

We see lots of companies who put up a website home page and then never invest in their marketing again. After 10 years, it’s still the same home page. Their business has changed over that decade, but their website copy doesn’t reflect the changes. 

It’s stagnant. 

Keeping your website organic will encourage your clients to engage with your business more, and help convert those engagements into successful transactions.

How Website Copy Impacts Engagement & Conversion

How can updating your website copy impact engagement and conversion? Here are a couple of examples…

It Conveys Reliability

Suppose you used to offer a service that you no longer do. You’ll want to reflect those changes on your website. If clients who visit your site discover the information isn’t up-to-date, they’ll get the impression that your company is unreliable and engage with it less in the future. To encourage engagement, offer updated website copy.

It Makes It Easy For Clients To Find What The Need

Has your business started to offer new products or services since your last website update? As the saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind”. Your clients can’t buy your new services or products if they don’t know you’re offering them! Conversion rates will grow if you make it as easy as possible for your audience to find what they’re looking for and convince them your solution is the best.

If your business has had to slow down in the past month, take advantage of the downtime to rebuild engagement and increase conversion by updating your website copy. 

Determine If You’re Doing Minor Changes or A Massive Overhaul

Updating your website copy doesn’t have to be an intimidating process. You can make minor changes or get creative with a massive overhaul. 

Minor Changes

Even minor changes to your website copy can go a long way! 

Refine Your Headline Keywords

Are the keywords on your website specific enough to help your clients find what they need? Something as simple as re-phrasing your headlines to target your audience can help increase traffic – and eventually engagement and conversion rates.  

Make Small, Regular Updates

Are you keeping your clients in the loop about how current events impact their access to your business (especially in the midst of COVID-19)? Adding regular updates to your site will keep clients informed about how to continue to use your services or buy your products – in times of a pandemic or otherwise!

Massive Overhaul

When business is busy, marketing often slips by the wayside. If you haven’t had the chance to update your website copy, it’s not too late to get started on a massive overhaul! 

Does your website reflect your company’s values and brand? Does the copy highlight your current products and services? Can clients request them online? Is your website optimized for mobile viewing with easy-to-use navigation?

These are all places to look for opportunities to improve engagement and conversion. 

Updating Your Website Copy to Increase Conversion & Engagement in 6 Simple Steps

Whether you’re gearing up for major or minor updates to your website copy, it’s important to keep in mind both what to improve and how to improve it. Here are 6 simples steps to start updating your website copy to increase conversion and engagement.

1. Build a Brand Voice Guide 

Updating your website copy doesn’t have to be time-consuming and you don’t have to be a gifted writer either! When you build a Brand Voice Guide, you’ll be able to let someone else do the heavy lifting for you. In your Brand Voice Guide, you’ll outline which emotions and tones writers should use to update and edit your website copy. That way, you can rest assured that everything on your website is aligned with your company’s brand. 

Creating a Brand Voice Guide streamlines the copywriting process and fosters familiarity with your brand to improve conversion and engagement. You’ll get more growth with less effort. Check out our blog for more on why having a brand voice is critical to business growth. 

2. Record Your Baseline Metrics

After building a brand voice guide to expedite the copywriting process, where do you start making improvements to your existing copy? You can evaluate where changes should be made by taking down your metrics. 

Are You Reaching Your Audience?

Your engagement metrics tell you how good your website is at reaching your audience. This includes how many visitors your website typically gets per month, how many of these are new visitors, and how long each visitor spends on each page. 

Do you have many visitors to your homepage but not nearly as many for your services page? This doesn’t necessarily mean that visitors don’t want to engage with your services – they might just have a hard time finding them! 

Take note of which pages of your website have low engagement metrics so you can create a strategy to improve them. 

How Often Are People Taking Action (Buying, Subscribing, or Enrolling)?

Your conversion metrics tell you how often a client takes an action that you recommend to them. How often are clients buying your products or services, scheduling a consultation, or signing up for your newsletter? You’ll know that your copy needs improvement if your website has a lot of visitors, but few are following through with these actions. 

Don’t worry – low conversion metrics don’t necessarily mean clients aren’t interested in what you’re offering. A lot of the time, it simply means you need to update your copy to better communicate to clients how they’ll benefit from your offers.

3. Save Existing Copy Into A Blank Document

Storage is cheap, but your time isn’t! Before you dive into making any changes to your website, be sure to save the existing copy into a blank document. While some of your content might be new, a lot of it can be updated from what was already there before. It’ll also show you where you’ve been and where you don’t want to go again.

4. Write Emotionally With Benefits Taking The Lead

Your company offers valuable services and goods. But how can you express this value to your clients? Keep your audience at the forefront by writing emotionally with benefits to your client taking the lead. 

If you ask Harvard Business Review, people find the most value in products and services that serve their functional and emotional needs. Companies that address these in their writing have greater customer loyalty and growth. 

What does your client need practically and emotionally when they seek out your business? Address these needs, and offer a solution in your copy.

5. Review It Thoroughly

Next, you need to review the copy thoroughly for grammar, syntax, flow, and clarity. At FocusCopy, we always have at least 2 sets of eyes on each piece of copy we send out. Usually, we have 3 sets of eyes – 2 sets that haven’t worked on the development side. 

Check out our proofreading tips that we use to review every single piece of copy.

6. Update the Live Page

Before you update the live page with your newly written and thoroughly reviewed copy, take a before photo. You can add extensions to your browser that take a full screen capture – taking a photo of the entire page without you having to merge multiple screenshots of it.

Once you have the before photo, reveal your fresh look to the world. If your remodeling included major changes, send out an email to existing customers to highlight what your exciting new site features make easier for them! 

7. Test & Continue to Refine Copy

Remember, great website copy is truly organic. Continue to take down your metrics, compare them with old metrics, and refine your copy accordingly. You can also take advantage of split testing of headlines or landing pages to see which keywords and images resonate the most with your audience. 

Your company may be experiencing downtime, but there’s always a place to move forward and grow with your online marketing.

Looking for some help getting started? We write copy that communicates how you (the company) transforms your customer’s lives. When a customer feels heard, they are much more likely to engage with your brand and ultimately convert. Learn more about FocusCopy’s copywriting services here.

Copywriting vs SEO Writing

Copywriting vs SEO Writing: What’s the Difference?

Copywriting, Marketing / By / June 1, 2021

It’s no secret that copywriting and SEO writing is becoming increasingly critical to marketing strategies. The digital landscape is cluttered with both valuable content and junk. A keyword a year ago might have had a few million results but now has hundreds of millions of results. That makes life as a digital marketer and entrepreneur both terrifying and exhilarating. So let’s take a look at which you should invest in: copywriting vs SEO writing.

What’s the Difference Between Copywriting vs SEO Writing?

First, let’s analyze the difference between copywriting vs SEO writing. Although they are both technically writing and can be intertwined, they serve two different purposes. 

What is Copywriting?

Copywriting is the act of writing text to persuade the reader to take a requested action – usually found in advertising and promotions. The product sold by copywriters is called copy. It’s only purpose is to convert the reader to opt-in, buy, or schedule a call. 

What is SEO Writing?

In comparison,  SEO writing is the act of writing content that ranks well on search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo, Bing). The content is usually informative and/or expressive, rather than persuasive. SEO writing contains keywords that ranks the page on search engines. SEO writing can be in the form of web pages or blogs. 

Good SEO writing should be fluid, easy to read without noticing the interspersing of keywords. Remember, people do business with people, NOT keywords or robotic sounding content. It’s better to write like a human than to meet all SEO requirements. 

When Copywriting & SEO Writing Fuse Together

One thing I – among many other copywriters – love is when you can fuse copywriting and SEO writing together. What do I mean by this? 

Good content is searchable, easy-to-read, and informative in some capacity. More than that, good content will include persuasive call to actions to some next step in the customer journey. For example, a blog post can offer a lead magnet or a trial offer to a premium offer.

Here are some examples of how you can infuse copywriting into your search optimized piece of content.

DigitalMarketer is really good at this… They break up their blogs with timely call to actions about free lead magnets, such as their 15-Point Landing Page Audit. In addition to the written copy with a hyperlink to a landing page, they also include an image with copy embedded. 

Copywriting vs SEO Writing

This next example is from GoLive. One thing that I really appreciate about their blog is the subtle call the action. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you may even miss it… And that’s a good thing for content marketing and SEO writing! If your content is always sell, sell, sell, you are not adding value to your customer before they give you their credit card. It’s important to offer value up-front.

 Notice when you click on the “Squarespace Website Template” link, it sends you straight to their shop. 

Copywriting vs SEO Writing

Moz is great at producing blogs about SEO; however, they do not actively present their product until the very end after the conclusion and after popular posts. This is another way to fuse SEO writing and copywriting together.

Copywriting vs SEO Writing

Reasons to Invest in Both

To create a sound digital marketing strategy, you need both copywriting and SEO writing. Here are some reasons why you need to invest in both.

Your Prospects Need To Find You

You could have the greatest product, innovative technology, or coaching program that changes lives… BUT if your prospect cannot find you, you will unfortunately never make it. While there are many ways to reach your customers, every decision maker in a company has a smartphone, a tablet, and/or a computer in their hand. As a business owner, if I need to know something and I can’t think of a person to call to answer my question… COMMAND+T. I’m googling it. 

(You’re welcome for my favorite Apple keyboard shortcut!)

That’s why SEO copywriting should be a critical part of your marketing strategy.

Creating a sound SEO writing and content marketing strategy doesn’t always come easy. It can be time-consuming and draining as you learn the nuances. That’s where we come in! Contact us today to explore what opportunities are in your business.

Your Prospects Need To Feel Confident In Buying From You

Another reason to invest in your copywriting and SEO writing strategy is to make your prospects feel confident in their buying decision. 

SEO writing makes you an authority; it helps you gain respect because you have displayed that you know what you’re talking about. 

But copywriting takes you to a deeper level with your prospect with emotional persuasion. Once the prospect believes that they buying decision is logical and truly believes that they need that product or service to solve x, y, and z, then they are highly likely to buy. In addition, copy that creates an emotional connection creates loyal followers, lifers, repeat customers.

Again, there are thousands of options customers may pick from other than your company! We think you’re still special though. 

So how are you going to set yourself apart from the competition and make your prospect feel confident in choosing you?

Your Prospects Want a Company They Can Trust and Believe In

Where do you buy groceries – HEB or Kroger? Which social media platform do you like better – Instagram or Snapchat? Do you buy directly from a company’s site or go straight to Amazon? Ultimately, every person has their preferences. Because there are so many options to choose from, your prospects subconsciously want to buy from a company they can trust to do the job right, delivering above and beyond AND believe in because they just get you. 

For example, we at FocusCopy have made it our mission to be our client’s strategic partner in all their business communications. We truly believe that. We cheer on our clients and celebrate their victories, even if it had nothing to do with us! Additionally, we connect them with resources and potential customers. Being a strategic partner goes beyond just copywriting services. At the end of the day, we believe in our clients. It’s our hope that our prospective clients see our internal guiding beliefs in everything we write… And ultimately trust and believe in us.

Let’s take another angle! Think about romantic relationships. When a couple first meets, what do they look at? Their eyes and maybe lips (while they’re talking). Attraction. Then they listen to what they have to say, leaning in a little more to make that first impression judgement. Are they intelligent, genuine, and kind? Or Are they clueless, rude, and lack depth? Because who doesn’t like a good story, let’s say this couple makes the first judgement – we’re good to go! They then start to build an emotional connection with that other person as time goes on. Eventually, a meet-cute turns into a date, which becomes a relationship and then engagement, and finally marriage. 

The same is true of B2B copywriting. People form connections with people. So a business must understand and communicate like humans. This is why influencers on social media have become so big. People feel a connection with the person behind the screen because those influencers have opened their lives up to them.

The Final Decision: Copywriting vs SEO Writing

If you have a limited budget and had to make a decision on what to invest in first, we always suggest doing what will make money first… In that case, it’s always copywriting. You can drive more traffic all day. BUT if your copy does not convert, then that traffic is going to go elsewhere to find what they are looking for. 

Good SEO simply makes it easier to find your great copy, and hopefully convince them to buy from you.

In conclusion, it’s more important than ever before to evaluate your website’s SEO and copywriting. The competitive landscape is ever changing as algorithms change, prospects demand more free content, and the cost to acquire a customer is increasing. Contact us to explore how FocusCopy can build a competitive content and copywriting strategy and ultimately reduce the cost of customer acquisition.

FocusCopy® caffeinates your brand messaging so it energizes your target audience to take action. 

(281) 916-4949 | info@FocusCopy.com

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