If your business relies on its online reputation, you know how important credibility is to your success. Hiring a professional writer is a great way to maximize your company’s online branding potential.
Unfortunately, not every small business has the funds available to hire a full-time writer. However, if you do have the financial flexibility to do so, here are seven reasons why you should invest in a full-time writer.
- Your website represents your entire company. If your site features poorly written content, you promote a lazy, unprofessional brand or service. If your site features well-written, engaging content, you promote a high-quality enterprise. You’d think this would be more intuitive, but I’m sure you’ve come across just as many poorly written websites as I have.
- Connect to your clients more effectively. Professional writers know how to write for different audiences. You don’t market to college students in the same way you’d market to their parents, and the same goes for content development. Trained writers know how to analyze audiences and then target them with various writing strategies.
- Google values fresh content. If you don’t have a full-time writer on staff, chances are your Web site content rewrites and blog posts are afterthoughts. To maximize your SEO potential, you need to frequently update your Web site and blog with quality information.
- Concise social media content reaches more people. People are far more likely to share information via social media when it’s engaging. Professional writers have been trained to write effective headlines and titles, which is an important skill for managing any company’s social media accounts.
- Become an industry authority. People take well-written content far more seriously than poorly written content. If you’re claiming to be an expert on social media — or whatever product/service your company sells — you darn well better be able to write about it effectively.
- Your employees will write better. If you communicate with clients via e-mail, you know how important effective communication is. Once or twice a month, have your staff writer conduct meetings or work sessions that review basic — but important — grammar rules.
- Complete projects more efficiently. With a professional writer on hand, you can plan and implement group projects much more quickly. Communication is key when developing long-term plans, and your writer can help you develop tangible goals that everybody understands.
Your writer’s individual skills will vary depending on his or her education and previous writing experience. For example, a writer who has experience as a journalist will bring different skills to the table than a writer who has worked as an ad copy writer. When interviewing candidates, just be sure the writer you choose has skills that will fulfill your company’s needs.
Danielle Rodabaugh is the chief editor and marketing supervisor at SuretyBonds.com, an online insurance agency that works with new business owners across the nation. You can keep up with Danielle on Google+.
