Tell me, how many times has the following happened to you?
After you realize your blog or website needs a refresh, you’re excited to get started. But then you sit down in front of your computer, ready for the creative juices to flow.
Except they don’t.
Instead, you start to feel overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated…eventually leading you to give up. An up-to-date blog or website isn’t that important, you tell yourself.
Except it is.
To see results, a lot of strategizing needs to go into each piece of content that you publish. What topic should you write about? What needs to be done to keep your readers engaged until the end of the article? How should search engine optimization (SEO) be completed for optimal results?
Just like you, we sometimes face roadblocks when writing fresh content, too. The good news for us is that we also know the best way to overcome them! Here are some of the biggest challenges you may face while completing copywriting – as well as our suggested solutions.
Lack of Fresh Content
To keep both visitors and search engine web crawlers coming back to your website, you need to be publishing new content regularly. To plan strategic blog and website copy, find out what’s currently being searched on search engines. Otherwise, your content’s not going to rank well (or at all) and your copywriting efforts go to waste.
But knowing what to write about can be tricky! First, you need to have a complete understanding of your brand: What is it that you offer? Why is it important? Who does it appeal to? Spend some time researching your competitors, too – how are they targeting the same audience as you?
Showcase how your product or service can help your target market. Research your customer persona to understand their needs and wants so that you can address them throughout your writing.
Next, decide on your brand’s voice – what writing tone do you want to use throughout your content? First-person or third-person point of view? Choosing the best one depends on your industry and your target audience.
Then, complete keyword research. Find out what questions and queries are being searched by your target market and brainstorm engaging topics around key terms. In short, solve your target audience’s problems by creating relevant, timely content that answers their questions.
The Solution
Even though you may feel like you’ve run out of new ideas, always ensure that your copywriting never includes plagiarized content. Outsource your copywriting if you’re having difficulty brainstorming fresh topics.
Lack of SEO
You’ve been investing money, time, and energy into your company’s website for a certain reason. More than likely, your goal is to gain better visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs), drive more traffic to your site, and get that traffic to take some form of action. SEO techniques help make that happen.
There are two types of SEO – on-page and off-page. On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing web page content to gain traffic from search engines. Everything from page load speed and proper headline formatting to URL structure and internal linking should be used effectively to increase your site’s on-page SEO.
The act of overusing keywords in content writing (otherwise known as keyword stuffing) was once a successful on-page SEO technique. Now, it can actually produce negative results for a website. Instead, Google favours high-quality, useful content that provides an audience with the answers they’re looking for. Although keywords should still be included, they need to be intertwined naturally throughout your copy.
Off-page SEO refers to the work that’s done off your website to improve its ranking with search engines. Link building is one of the biggest examples of off-page SEO. Other examples include strategic guest blogging, social media marketing, and influencer marketing.
The Solution
The world of SEO changes regularly, so you need to remain up-to-date on best practices. When it comes to writing your website’s content, place importance on creating a great user experience rather than using black hat tactics such as keyword stuffing.
Lack of Proofreading
No matter how well you write, there is always a need for proofreading. First impressions are important and website content that has spelling, grammar, and syntax errors quickly makes a poor one. Plus, these types of errors can make you appear lazy or uncaring about your website’s appearance – when you’re anything but.
Poorly written content can quickly confuse your audience, distracting them from the meaning of your message. Using the wrong word or incorrect punctuation can create misinformation, too, which can lead to missed business opportunities.
Mistakes in your writing are not only unprofessional, but they can make your copy appear as being untrustworthy. And since building brand authority is one of the biggest reasons for blog writing, why would you skip this important step?
The Solution
Although it’s tempting (especially if you’re in a rush to get a piece published), never proofread your copy the same day you create it. Reviewing your writing with fresh eyes can detect more mistakes compared to editing it right after its creation. Even better, have a trusted employee, friend, or family member take a look at it, too. It’s sometimes surprising what your own eyes can miss!
There are many different spell check and grammar programs available (some even free) which are a great place to start when editing your work. But don’t rely on these programs completely for your editing. Although some of the software is quite good, no computer program is perfect. If spelling, grammar and/or punctuation aren’t your strengths, consider hiring a professional copywriter to ensure you only ever publish error-free, quality work.
The Bottom Line
Writing effective content that resonates with your audience and ranks well on SERPs takes a lot of time, skill, and commitment. However, it’s worth the hard work! When done well, copywriting can produce some pretty amazing benefits for your business.
Having difficulty overcoming some of the copywriting challenges discussed in this article? Hire a freelance Toronto copywriter to take care of this important task for you.
