Developing Content with Clients

Probably one of the most important factors of your website is your content. If you had a shop on the High Street, your window displays would show people what you sell and get them in through door to view and hopefully buy your products. Your content is your virtual ‘shopfront’ to the world. Most of our clients are too busy running their own business to sit down and spend time writing copy, so we try and take as much of that hassle away from you as possible.

You need a good ‘headline’ to grab attention, a ‘story’, which is the details of what you offer, and a ‘hook’, that persuades them to choose you over the competition.

I have in the past heard of businesses that have let the dread of content creation to stop a business from even having a website.

Starting from a blank page can be a daunting task, especially when you are busy running your business. Here we explain our approach to developing content with clients and how we can help take the pain out of this process for our clients.

Research

To write effective copy for our clients, we need to learn how you currently sell your service or products, what do you say to customers, what language do you use and what usually clinches the deal with customers.

When we ask any client to ‘sell themselves’, their usual reaction is ‘erm, I’m not sure’. So we ask our clients to think back to when they spoke to a lead that became a new customer, what did they say to swing the deal?

They were probably engaging, polite, and honest and gave actual facts about their products or services, e.g.

‘We can print and deliver 1000 leaflets to your deadline at the price quoted’, rather than, ‘Our printing service is fast and good value’. The first statement tells the client exactly what they are getting at what cost.

To drive out this detail from our clients, we may spend time at your business premises to see you in action with customers. Once we have this level of knowledge of your business and how you operate, we can begin writing copy for you.

Refine

Once the first draft is written, we will discuss with the customer to ensure the language we have used is consistent with that of the business and that all facts are accurate and make any refinements needed.

We will then develop an attention-grabbing headline. This is the first and sometimes only text a customer will read so it has to grab the attention, make it clear what you offer, and encourage customers to read on. The body of the text should tell the story about what you can provide and why they should choose you.

Lastly, the text has to be easy to read with short punchy paragraphs and subheadings to break up subject matters. Colours can also make a difference, using dark text out of a light background is much easier to read than light text on a dark background.

Tracking

Once your site has been live for a few weeks, we can track (using Google Analytics) how many readers are visiting your pages and how long they stay on each page. For any pages that readers are leaving quickly, we will need to assess why the copy isn’t working and make any changes necessary.

On-Going Reviews

Copywritten on day one of a new site may not be applicable in 6 months’ time, your copy needs to constantly reflect your offering and be kept up to date to ensure your customers are not misled or disappointed.

Chatsworth Web Solutions, can provide as much or as little support you need going forward with your website content. We can set up monthly or quarterly reviews or you can have a more informal arrangement where you give us a call if you need our help.

Last Word

Many years ago when I worked for a corporate, we were sent on a business communications course. The one thing I took away from that day that has always stayed with me is the quote,

“Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.”

A total belt and braces job, set expectations, tell them your story then remind them of the highlights. I have since learned that this didn’t come from our tutor on the day but Aristotle himself.

On that note, we told you at the start of this article that we were going to explain how we can help make copywriting a pain-free process for our clients, explained how we do this and why copy is so important, and to finish, we remind you that we can provide as much help as you need with all aspects of copywriting.