Writing Onsite Content with Branding in Mind

By Steve Lazuka

Writing effective content for a business website can make all the difference between a vibrant, successful site and one that languishes unread and at worst, may even damage your business’s reputation.

But, perhaps you are happy with your website’s content. If this is the case, it is still worth taking a step back and looking at your site with fresh eyes. Perhaps it’s time for a change, or perhaps it’s time to move things up another gear.

While effective content is central to a website, the ability to use it to further your own brand is where an online site can really come in to its own. There are a number of ways of doing this:

SEO Content

Maximizing the use of search engine optimization can really make a site, but even more significantly, it can help enhance your brand so that customers identify easier with what you have to offer. Think about your brand and the words that best describe your product or service. Perhaps you have a brand tag line. If so, make sure you incorporate it into the site so search engines can easily locate it when anyone uses it as search criteria.

Emotional Buy-In

A brand is a great way of getting customers to “buy-in” to what you offer. A website can really come into its own here as you can (and should) tailor its content to enhance the brand. So if you were in the business of selling organic, locally sourced food, it would make sense to extend this brand.

You could have a section of the site with links to farmers’ markets or recipes for healthy meals. You could write articles yourself, or even better, use a business blog writing service to create content that compliments your brand. This helps create a self-contained “world,” which should encourage customers to explore what you have to offer.

Inspire Loyalty

Always working with your branding in mind is a great way to increase customer loyalty. Filling your site with articles, blogs and links that help reinforce the message of your brand will create a sense of belonging for your customers.

Remember that many successful sites aren’t just online stores, but foster a sense of community by discussing ideas, issues and news relating to your product. If you sell CDs, then why not include reviews so customers think of your site not just as a place to spend money, but a resource from which they can learn.

Call to Action

Don’t forget the call to action. What do you want the reader to do after they read what you have to say? Do you want them to fill out a form, call you, request more information? Be sure you use proper calls to action that can help your bottom line, while also considering all the other factors we discussed.

Writing onsite content with branding in mind will help create an overall sense of identity and a place where customers will be happy to return time and time again.

About the Author

Steve Lazuka is owner and operator of Interact Media, a website content company based in Ohio that services social media, content development, a business blog writing service and more. He’s also an avid tweeter (@SteveLazuka), and a guest blogs regularly.

Client Versus Personal Work: Which Do You Prefer?

I stopped over at Sphinn this morning and noticed that Kevin Gibbons of SEOptimise Ltd. of Oxford, UK had bookmarked an article from SEORoundtable titled, “Are The Best SEOs Not Taking on Client Work?“  That article was developed as a response to a thread the author read on a popular webmaster forum where the writer pondered the reasoning behind why an SEO expert would take on client work instead of building up their own ideas.

Though I don’t call myself an SEO expert — I’ll leave the bragging to those who have built up a name for themselves over the years — I’ve had to ask myself the same question several times since I launched my freelance writing site, The Article Writer, in May 2005: would I do better building up my personal network of sites or should I take on client work?

Well, that answer would be “all of the above” as I like to balance the work that I do for my clients with the small network of sites I own and manage.  Definitely, I like receiving money from a client for work done, but I also like to monetize my sites and use them as one way to showcase my talents.  My thinking in this area is probably best described along these lines:

Build, Monetize, and Sell — Over the past three years I’ve built up more than a dozen sites from the ground up, monetized almost every single one of them, and later sold off ten forums, blogs, and websites during that period. There is a certain thrill that I get when I build a site from scratch, attract a following, make some money off of it and, when tired of it, am able to sell it for a profit.

Fix, Improve, and Move On — When working for a client, I almost always am brought on to help improve an existing site. I’ve gotten away from building sites from nothing as the time involved in this work is intensive. Besides, I haven’t kept up with my web design skills other than being able to build a decent WordPress blog with the assorted tools I like to use. What’s fun about this option is that I can measure a job’s progress and show the client where improvements have been made. In most cases they quickly see it for themselves which makes my job a snap.

Mixing Things Up — I promised myself when I became self-employed in 2002 that I wouldn’t grow stagnant in my work. My last full time paid position hindered my growth, something that I will not allow to happen again. I do have a long term strategy in place, but I also make adjustments along the way. I find that making careful changes helps me to work better, a benefit for my clients as well as for my sites.

How about you? What is your business strategy? Do you like to work for clients exclusively? For yourself? Or do you balance the two? Inquiring minds want to know, so please hit the comment button and share what’s on your mind.