Category: marketing

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How you can create the right branding for your business

Guest blog on branding - Julie Grant Photography

When I started my business in 2015 I thought all I needed was a logo and some business cards and my branding would be sorted. I had a huge list of “To Dos” and branding was something that I could put a big tick next to.

I was good at this business lark!

Then, when I started to read more about marketing the words Ideal Client kept coming up…

Who is your ideal client? Which product would your ideal client choose? Where can you find your ideal client?

The answers were easy. Everybody was my ideal client, so they’d like all of the products and they were everywhere. Move on.

But it continued to come up time and time again so I decided to do some research into this whole branding thing.

Turns out, a business is way more successful when they have a clear message and how do they create a clear message? Through having an ideal client and a strong brand. Not only are businesses more successful, decision-making becomes much easier too.

So when we use the term branding what are we talking about exactly? We are talking about the overall message that a business conveys. Some key elements (but not all) are the logo, the colours used, the fonts, the language and importantly; the imagery.

I will touch on each area below:-

Message

Who do you want to attract? Who is going to buy your product or service? A 20 year old man is likely to be attracted to a very different brand to a 75 year old woman.

Logo

Should it be clean and simple? Bold and colourful? Monochrome? Do you include a motif? Any words? Do you have more than 1 logo?

Colours

Did you know that colours carry very strong messages with them? Red can suggest passion, excitement and importance, whereas Green can signify new beginnings, growth and nature. A couple of well-known brands that use colour well are Virgin and BP. For me, the red of Virgin says adventure, fun and excitement, whereas the green in BP says light, nature and energy. Both very different messages, but equally powerful for the companies concerned.

Fonts

When you start to search for fonts you will find that there is a choice of hundreds! From gothic to script to comic sans and everything in between. What message does your choice of font say about your brand? Is it sophisticated and high quality? or do you want to be seen as fun, high energy and lively? It really can make a huge difference to what people will expect from your company.

Language

The language that you use is extremely important. Spelling mistakes and poor grammar may go unnoticed by many, but to some it will indicate poor attention to detail and could even be a deal breaker. Some people prefer you to get to the point by being bold and direct, whilst others will enjoy more elaborate language, overflowing with metaphors and similes. There is a well-known company in the beauty industry that always addresses it’s clients as Darling. I can’t stand it!! I don’t know why, but it makes my skin crawl… The company in question has a huge following so this approach clearly works for them. I guess I’m just not their ideal client, and that’s absolutely fine.

Imagery

Which is, of course, the most important part (don’t worry all you graphic designers, I’m only joking, it’s all important! but great photographs are high up the priorities). The photography that you use is an essential part of your company’s message. Make it too generic and people will just scroll past. Incorporate all of the above elements and your ideal clients will instinctively know your style and you will have their attention. Add to this the notion that a picture can say a thousand words and suddenly you have the ability to deliver a very clear message. Many companies use lifestyle images to suggest that the purchase of their product or service will improve your life – and it works exceptionally well! Who doesn’t want to have more money? do lots of fun stuff? or spend more time with their family?

People buy from people that they know, like and trust. By getting your branding right (I have lots of tools and resources to help with this) you will be able to become more visible, save yourself hours of time and attract your dream clients.

Please contact me for a free consultation.

Julie is a specialist Personal Brand Photographer, who helps local businesses to become more visible, stand out from their competitors and to attract more of their dream clients by providing them with a bank of beautiful on-brand images.

“I didn’t realise how much my business needed this! Since having my photographs taken professionally, I feel so much more confident posting to social media and I am now attracting more new clients than ever. Thank you” Emily.

Julie Grant - personal brand photographer creating beautiful branding images.
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5 quick ways you can create marketing content

Woman at desk writing marketing content.
Photo by Judit Peter from Pexels

Creating new and engaging marketing content for your business can feel a bit like living on a hamster wheel. You might be dizzy but you can’t seem to stop moving. I’m not going to pretend that creating marketing content doesn’t take time. It does. What I will tell you is that it doesn’t need to take you as long as it is right now. Here are a few of the ways that I save myself time when I’m planning my own marketing content so you can swipe them for yourself.

Reuse your blog

I see lots of business owners who think that every post needs to be unique. They spend hours planning and coming up with ideas before creating brand new copy and images for every single bit. The truth is that your audience won’t see everything you post. Sharing the same message more than once keeps your marketing consistent and means that it’s more likely to sink in. If you’ve spent time crafting a good blog post, (or if I’ve written one for you) recycle it as much as you can – there’s more on how to do that here.

Choose a theme

When it comes to marketing, consistency is key. You might offer a lot of different products or services but if your marketing flits between all of them your audience will just get confused and back away. Choosing a theme for each month makes planning easier as your posts can talk about different aspects of the same thing. Your theme might be seasonal, for example winter sun holidays or summer skincare. If your business is in health or wellbeing you could focus on a particular problem. You could simply focus on a service that you want to promote.

Create a content calendar

I have a monthly content calendar that sets out the type of post I’m going to create. It includes things like videos, blogs and posts on different platforms. I share my blog at the same time each week and have regular monthly posts on things like business buzzwords or good copy that I’ve spotted online. It acts as a template, which means that I don’t have to spend loads of time pondering what to share, but I can still change things if I need to.

Don’t reinvent the wheel

You don’t have to create absolutely everything from scratch. I have lots of resources that other people have created and which I use in my own marketing. If you’ve got something similar, share it. Your audience will remember that you were the person who gave them that useful thing so they trust you more. Sharing popular social media posts also helps you to increase your reach. Just make sure that it’s relevant to your audience and that you credit the person who created the original.

Use a scheduler

Scheduling tools are a massive time saver because it means that you don’t have to find time to post every day. You can just block out content creation time and create everything in one go. Put it in your scheduler and you don’t have to think about it until next time. You could break your time down into planning, writing and image creation (or even smaller blocks than that). Doing it this way means that you don’t have a last-minute panic where you end up posting something random because it’s better than nothing.

If you really want to speed up your content creation, I can do it for you! Book your no-obligation discovery call here or sign up to my mailing list for hints and tips straight to your inbox.

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How you can add value to your customers with a blog

Add value with your blog
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Firstly, forgive me. I know that you’ve probably had people telling you to ‘add value’ left, right and sideways. If you’ve escaped this so far, well done. Over on my social media pages I highlight a business buzzword every month. I ask people whether they love or hate it or whether it’s just overused. This nearly made it onto the list so I’m a bit surprised to be talking about ways to add value here.

The truth is, I couldn’t think of a better phrase to sum it up. Adding value isn’t just a buzzword. It’s incredibly important, not just in attracting new customers but in looking after the ones you have. Writing a blog can be the perfect way to add value. Here’s why I love it and how you can do it for yourself.

Enrich the experience for existing customers

We put loads of effort into attracting new followers, but your existing customers have already been won over. Putting some time and thought into looking after them will encourage them to come back. One way to do this is by writing a blog that helps them to enjoy the thing they already bought. For example, if they’ve booked a holiday with you, share the top 5 must see sights wherever they’re going. It shows you care about them having a good time, not just about the cash.

Solve a problem

I’ve seen plenty of advice saying that you shouldn’t share too much of the ‘how’ in your content. After all, why should someone become a customer if they can do it themselves? I take the view that if you can help someone to solve a problem quickly they’re more likely to trust you. Help your audience with an easy way to solve a problem. Then when they have less time or need better results, they’ll remember that you gave them a quick win when they needed it.

Provide a reference guide

You don’t have to offer a quick win to add value. You could provide a longer, step by step guide to something more complex. You’ve probably seen the type of thing I mean. A guide to creating your first website or 50 ways to come up with new content ideas. Your customers could read it all at once, but they’re more likely to return to it when they need something new. It means you’re helpful long term and they’ll remember your name every time they refer back.

Talk about something current

Most of the suggestions I’ve made so far are evergreen content. It’s information that will stay broadly the same for years on end and that you’ll only have to tweak to reflect small changes. Sometimes you can add value by responding to something current and time sensitive. At the moment that could be 5 things to help stressed parents and children cope with home school. You might be sharing techniques that will support people’s mental health at other times. By offering help in a crisis you’ll build trust.

Add value by being a signpost

Adding value often means giving your audience something useful without any expectation of reward. They could take your solution and use it without you even knowing. If you’ve ever written a blog with questions to ask a professional they’re thinking of hiring, you may have helped them to choose someone else. A great way of acting as a signpost is by sharing your favourite third party resources. It sounds counterintuitive but by sharing the things you value, you’re helping your audience to get great results themselves.

Do you need to create a blog that adds value? Book your no obligation discovery call to find out how I can help you or sign up for monthly hints and tips straight to your inbox using the form below.

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What can creating a blog do for your business?

The benefits of writing a business blog

When it comes to business marketing there’s always a lot of chat about blogging. Some people will tell you that writing a blog is pointless because no-one reads them anymore and others will tell you it’s essential. It won’t surprise you to hear that I recommend blogging to most people. (There are a few exceptions.) Writing a blog is only pointless if the customers you’re trying to talk to won’t read one. I’d be hard pushed to find an audience that would never read a blog. But when you’re a busy business owner who’s short on time, there might be better methods depending on who you’re trying to reach. There are lots of reasons why blogging is an effective marketing tool. Here are just a few of them.

It can bring you more website traffic

You might do most of your marketing on social media, but ultimately you want to attract people to your website. A link to your blog post is a great way to do that, mostly because it’s offering useful information and not just trying to sell something. When visitors arrive on your website you can engage their attention with more information about the ways you can help them. Social media is full of posts from their friends and other businesses which will all make them wander off and get distracted. That won’t happen on your website.

It helps you turn traffic into leads

Building a following can be incredibly difficult. Social media algorithms make it easy for your posts to disappear from followers’ newsfeeds if they don’t engage frequently. When you write a blog you can use it to encourage readers to stay in touch with you. That could be by including something as simple as a sign up form for your mailing list so you can email them. I know you still run the risk of vanishing into an overstuffed inbox but it’s still an improvement. If you talk about specific products or services you can also direct visitors to your shop or a contact form if they’re ready to talk.

Your blog can be evergreen

Unless you have followers who are in the habit of scrolling through all of your page content, social media posts have a fairly short shelf life. Of course, the advantage of this is that you can reuse old posts as long as they’re still relevant. The downside is that those posts aren’t going to show up when someone asks Google a question. With good SEO a blog on a topic that’s relevant to your audience could still be found in a search years from now. If there are key questions that your audience always ask, write a blog and it could keep bringing you a new audience in the future.

You can recycle your blog

I’ve talked about reusing your blog before but you can go beyond recycling it for social media. You can use it as a lead magnet (also known as a freebie) to encourage people to sign up for your mailing list. That could be a tips post that helps them achieve something, or even a list of your favourite resources. If you’ve got a series of posts that you can put together to make something more substantial, you could even turn it into a paid product. When you’ve put time and effort into creating a blog it’s worth considering what else you could use it for.

If you’re ready to start a business blog but would rather hand it over, I’m here to help. Click here to find out more about my blogging packages. If you’d rather just have a chat, you can book your no obligation discovery call here. Or, you could just sign up for writing and marketing tips straight to your inbox every month, using the form below.

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How you can use your blog to create more content

Create new content from your blog
Photo by Dominika Roseclay from Pexels

Creating a blog can feel like a lot of hard work, especially if you spend hours on it and end up with something that feels a bit underwhelming. Paying someone else to do it for you can also seem like a lot of money for one piece of content a month. The good news is that your blog can go a lot further than that. Get into recycling and your blog could help you create a whole load of new marketing posts. Here’s how to get started.

Break it down

A good blog should have a few subheadings so you don’t end up with a chunk of text that your audience will struggle to read. Each subheading, or even each paragraph, could be a social media post on its’ own. You can post a section with an image or create a graphic with text on it. The copy might need editing a bit but it’s quicker than creating something from scratch. You can also add a link to your blog so more people find it.

This works really well if your blog is a series of tips (like this one). Write a blog with five tips and you’ve got five separate posts.

Create video content

I know that the idea of doing video causes a lot of you to have a wobble, but it doesn’t have to. There are ways to use video that don’t involve you being on screen. If you’ve already created images for individual paragraphs you can use them in a video. Just add some text if the image doesn’t already have it. I do this using Canva.com or try Ripl.com if you prefer a paid version.

If you’re up for doing a live or video with you in it, you can give a quick summary of your topic and send viewers to a link in the comments if they’d like to read more.

Use the theme as inspiration

Coming up with new things to say on social media can take up a ridiculous amount of time. Reusing your existing content will help, but you can also cut down on the thinking time by talking about your theme in different ways. You can share a motivational meme that’s relevant to your audience or choose a quote that gives a different perspective on the topic. Asking questions can be a great way to find out what your audience think, or what they struggle with. It can get people talking and give you insights that could help you to develop new products and services in the future.

Reuse your blog in your emails

You might think that your email subscribers will follow you on social media so will have seen all of your stuff already. Not necessarily. Nobody will see everything you post. Your subscribers have signed up because they’re interested in what you have to say so there’s nothing wrong with sending them something you think they’ll find useful. Just make sure you write something that’s just for them too. It’s also worth remembering that subscribers are more likely to buy from you than anyone else. Showing them content that shows them why a particular product or service is helpful means they’re more likely to become a customer.

Do you need help creating your blog or coming up with ways to reuse it to create more content? Book your discovery call now and we can have a chat. Alternatively, sign up to my email list for blogging and marketing tips straight to your inbox every month.

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How to create your New Year marketing plan

Blank page to create a New Year marketing plan
Photo by Tatiana Syrikova via Pexels

If you’re starting the year with a marketing plan in place and content ready to go, hurrah! This blog will help you with new ideas if you need them. It’ll also act as a handy checklist if things aren’t working as you’d like them to. If, on the other hand, you decided to think about your New Year marketing plan once you actually got to the New Year and are now panicking because you have New Year brain fog, you can stop. Here are my essential steps towards creating a plan that works.

Know your customer

You’re probably sick of hearing me talk about this but it bears repeating. Even though anyone could buy from you, there are some people who are more likely to. If you talk to them in your marketing you’ll build trust and grow your audience. Think about who your ideal customers are, what’s important to them and where you’ll find them. That way you can create marketing that makes people say ‘yes! This person understands me and I need what they’re offering.’

If you’d like more on that, read this.

Check what worked before

Knowing your numbers is just as important as understanding your customer. You’re a small business owner which means you haven’t got time to waste on marketing that doesn’t work. Check your analytics and see which blogs got visitors and which didn’t. Find out what social media posts got likes and comments and what got tumbleweed.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule. Some posts will get noticed but won’t get any feedback. All the same, knowing your numbers is always a useful place to start.

Choose your platforms

Choosing the right platform takes in knowing your audience, your numbers and working out what works best for your business. When you’ve got beautiful product photos, Instagram is probably a no brainer. If you want to work with business clients head to LinkedIn. Think about what works for you and where your customers are going to spend time. Pretty much everyone is on Facebook and you can share different types of content.

If you’re creating a New Year marketing plan it could be time to take a fresh approach.

Think about benefits

I know that you love your products and services and want to tell everyone how great they are. That’s wonderful. Trouble is, your customers don’t care. They only want to know what’s in it for them. In practice, that means that whenever you talk about your products and services you need to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Does it save them time, help them solve a problem or make gift buying easy?

Take the things that are wonderful about your services and show your customers how it benefits them.

Write a blog

You knew this was coming, didn’t you? When you’re creating a New Year marketing plan, think about including a blog. It’s a great way to talk to your customers and offer them something useful. You can share your expertise and build trust with your audience. But you know all this. What you might not know is that you can reuse it in all sorts of different ways. Writing one blog (or getting someone to write it for you) can save you time because you can recycle it. More on that next week…

If this has left you feeling that you need some help, book your free discovery call now and let’s have a chat. Alternatively, sign up to my mailing list for blogging and marketing tips straight to your inbox every month.

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Do you share your values in your marketing?

Woman smiling at phone. Sharing values in marketing.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Marketing (and especially the selling part of marketing) can make a lot of us feel deeply icky. We know we need to sell stuff to make a living but the idea of giving anyone the hard sell just feels wrong. There are lots of solutions to this. One is acknowledging that you’re offering your customers something they want or need and you aren’t forcing them to buy anything. Good marketing is persuasive, not forceful. You show your customers how you can help them in a way that makes it easy for them to say yes. The thing is, a lot of the time they aren’t just saying yes to your product or service. They’re saying it to you. When you share your values in your marketing you help them to make a decision. Here’s how it works.

Why you need to share your values in your marketing

Every successful business shares its values in its marketing somewhere. Even Amazon. They could be about pricing, service or product quality. It all means that when you buy from them you know what you’re getting.

The same applies to small businesses, but there’s a bit more to it. A huge corporation needs overarching brand values because of the number of people involved. When the business is just you it can be more about your personal values. Sharing those means that your customers can recognise you as one of their people. It just makes you more relatable.

What are your values?

What do you stand for? You might think that most of us have the same values – truth, justice… wait, that’s Superman. The values that matter to your customers might be closely aligned with your personal views. Maybe you set up your business to create cruelty free cosmetics or environmentally friendly products. Share what sets you apart.

Sometimes values are intangible. Perhaps the things you stand for are more about how you treat people. Maybe you’re great at going above and beyond in your customer service or at keeping in touch with your customers. It can be more difficult to share that in your marketing but it’s worth doing.

Sharing your values regularly helps you build trust

This is related to the idea that sharing your values makes you relatable. That could prompt you to say ‘right, I’m going to go and write a mission statement on my website and a blog about my values.’ That’s fine, but it isn’t the whole picture.

Giving your customers a regular reminder that you stand for the things you say you do them to believe it. Testimonials are perfect for showing future customers that your promises are backed up by other happy clients and you don’t have to write them yourself.

It doesn’t have to be a mission statement

A mission statement can work brilliantly if it’s something your customers will like. It sets out your values clearly and it can be a great thing to look at if you’re wondering why you started this business in the first place. I’d recommend putting it on your about page so people learn about you and what you stand for at the same time. If you do go for it, remember that you still need to talk about your values in other places too.

Of course, you don’t have to write a mission statement if you don’t want to. If you think they’re pretentious your customers will too.

Need a website that shows customers what you stand for? Or a regular blog where you can share your values? Get in touch or sign up to my mailing list for hints and tips straight to your inbox every month.

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Is it ever OK to use jargon in your marketing?

Frustrated by too much jargon.
Photo by Yan from Pexels

When it comes to marketing, I’m a big fan of keeping things simple. Let people know that you understand the problem they’re experiencing and show them how you can help. Of course, there are loads of different ways to do that. That doesn’t just apply to the hundreds of platforms you could choose to share your message. It also applies to the language you use. Every business has its own jargon, no matter what industry you’re in. The real question is, how much of that jargon should you share with your customers? When you use insider language you run the risk of driving potential buyers away, simply because they don’t understand what you’re on about. Here are just a few things to think about when it comes to using jargon in your marketing.

Is it really jargon?

Firstly, let me be clear about what I mean by jargon. For me, it can be two different things. Firstly, there are technical terms that a specialist in your field would use. It could refer to a stitch you use when you’re creating something out of fabric or a silversmithing tool that’s designed to complete a gorgeous piece of jewellery. It could also be shorthand for a legal or accounting rule.

The second kind of jargon is the type that we all hear more often. They’re the kind of buzzwords that we feel we should probably understand but don’t. We might have a vague idea but not a detailed one. Some people love them, others find them annoying. If you follow me on social media, I share one of these every month to see what people think of it – I’d love you to join in if you’d like to.

Who are your audience?

There is one kind of audience where using jargon is not only fine but downright useful. That’s when the people you’re talking to are in exactly the same business as you. This can also extend to well-informed amateurs too, particularly if you’re talking about cake making or selling craft supplies. When I was a lawyer, having a shared language meant that you could get straight to the issues in a case because you both understood the rules. I didn’t fully appreciate how useful this was until I encountered lay people who were representing themselves. Everything took three times longer.

If that doesn’t apply, consider whether your audience will understand the terms you’re using. Get too technical and they may feel you’re blinding them with science. That only serves to make you less relatable. Use too many irritating buzzwords and they might feel you’re downright untrustworthy.

We’ve all had enough of buzzwords

Buzzword bingo can be an entertaining way to get through a dull meeting, but I generally feel as if we’ve all had a bellyful of them this year. There seems to be a new one every week. I shared my least favourite Coronavirus buzzword a while back (unprecedented, in case you’re interested) and asked people to share theirs. There were loads and every share made me groan. There weren’t just buzzwords but whole phrases that would once have seemed caring but now just make people want to vomit.

It’s made me question every single ‘I hope you’re well’ and come up with new alternatives to ‘in these strange times’. If I’m honest, I haven’t found one I’m completely happy with. It’s become even more important to use straightforward language that helps us to be understood.

If you need no-nonsense marketing copy that speaks your customers’ language, get in touch! Or sign up to my mailing list for handy hints and tips straight to your inbox every month.

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Are you speaking your customers’ language?

Speaking your customers' language helps you have really interesting conversations.
Photo by Anastasiya Gepp from Pexels

Have you ever read something that was so far above your head it might as well have been an aeroplane? Did you look at the opening sentences and realise that it meant absolutely nothing to you? Believe it or not, this can be a good thing. I know a lot of small business owners get worried about using language that will exclude potential customers. The truth is, if you’re specific about who is most likely to buy you can talk to them in a way that will resonate. They’ll read your stuff and think ‘this person really understands me’. That’s when they become a customer. If you read something that really isn’t for you, you can move on. Hopefully that’s what it was designed to do. But if you’re not speaking your customers’ language it means you’re not reaching them in your marketing. Here’s how to put that right.

Is your customers’ language formal or informal?

The first thing to work out is how you want to talk to your audience. Your brand identity will be a big part of this. Do you need to be taken seriously or can you have a bit of a laugh? Of course, there are no absolutes. Even professionals like accountants or lawyers are allowed a sense of humour. You might be an expert who’s trusted because you use straightforward language and don’t try to bamboozle clients with loads of jargon.

Think about how you’d talk to a customer if you met them face to face and take it from there.

Are your customers experts?

I ask this because speaking your customers’ language means meeting them where they are. If you’re a physiotherapist writing something for other medical professionals you can assume they’ve got a fair bit of pre-existing knowledge. A beginner’s guide to human anatomy would just come off as condescending. If, on the other hand, you’re talking to people who don’t know anything about what you do, using industry jargon will just lose them.

It’s all about finding the right level for the audience you want to attract.

Which platform are you using?

The language you use should stay consistent across all of your platforms – up to a point. If the way you come across on your website is totally different from how you are on social media or in person, you’re only going to create a massive disconnect. Doing that means that your customers don’t know which version of you to expect. You end up losing the trust you’ve taken time building.

However, there are different ways to express your personality. Your website should be professional but you can still show the same sense of humour that you have on social media. It’s just more relaxed on social.

What are you trying to achieve?

This is the really important bit. When you talk to your audience, what are you trying to achieve? How do you want them to see you? Professional but approachable, friendly, fun, trustworthy? Do you want them to respect your expertise but still feel they can talk to you as a friend? I suppose the real key is to think about what your audience needs from you. What do they need to know about you to take the step from social media follower to customer?

When you learn to speak your customers’ language that’s really what you’re doing.

Do you need help speaking your customers’ language? Whether you’re looking for sparkling web copy, product descriptions and blogs to promote your business this Christmas, or new marketing for the New Year, I’m here to help. Book your discovery call to find out how refreshing your copy can help you communicate with your audience. Or just sign up using the form below to receive copywriting tips and advice straight to your inbox every month.

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Why your website copy matters

Getting started writing website copy.
Image by Bongkarn Thanyakij via Pexels

Creating a website for your small business can be pretty daunting. If you’re doing it yourself you need to decide which platform to use and how to make it all look great. If you’re not, there are loads of different professionals out there who will build it for you, but which do you choose? Even businesses who employ web designers to create their site for them often decide to write the website copy themselves. After all, how hard can it be? Or how important is it really? Here’s why your website copy matters and why you need to get it right.

You need to talk to your ideal customers

When a new visitor lands on your site you have less than 15 seconds to show them they’re in the right place because you have what they need. That means it isn’t about you. It also means that you need to use language and images that speak directly to the kind of customer you can help. I know that small business owners are sometimes reluctant to do this. They worry that they’re excluding people. The truth is, if your website tries to talk to everyone you don’t hit the mark with anyone. When you’re specific about who your products and services are for you’ll get customers who love what you do and that you’ll enjoy working with.

You need to sound like you

Your website copy will work better if it’s in your voice. OK, maybe a polished version of your voice. Your personality might be the difference between a website visitor choosing you or someone else. The way you do this in practice depends on how you work. You might want to sound professional and approachable, completely down to earth or a total eccentric. It all depends on your brand and how you want to come across. It’s especially important if your service means they’ll deal with you one to one. If there’s a massive disconnect between how you come across on your website and the way you are in person you can lose the trust you’ve spent time building.

Using keywords well

I know we’ve all heard about SEO and the importance of targeting the right keywords so you get found in searches. The thing is, the way you use keywords in your writing is really important. There’s no point using all the right keywords to bring people to your website if the site itself is unreadable twaddle. There used to be a school of thought that website traffic was the only important thing. It resulted in lots of blog posts and website pages that made no sense. Thankfully, times have changed and Google now prioritises content that’s actually useful. Your website copy should include keywords but the most important thing is that it’s easy to read and helpful.

Focus on what’s important

As I said before, your website isn’t about you. It’s really about your customers. You might be incredibly excited about the new product or service you’ve created and want to tell everyone. That’s great, but you need to pause. Ask yourself what your customer will get out of this. What are the benefits? How will it help them go from having a problem to an easy life? Your copy needs to show them that. It needs to take their aspirations, values and beliefs about themselves and wrap it all up in one clear message. When you can do that, you show them that you understand them on a personal level. That’s what turns them into customers.

Does that sound complicated? If you need some help, get in touch. I can help you edit what you already have or write your website copy for you. Alternatively, sign up to my mailing list for handy hints and tips straight to your inbox every month.