Category: Copywriting

When done right, copywriting has the potential to take your business to a whole new level. Stellar copy helps you build your brand image and differentiate yourself from your competitors. Search engine optimization (SEO) rankings can improve, leading to more clicks on Google. You can also use it to create customer loyalty and a reputation as an industry expert.

And for those business owners wondering how copywriting can affect their bottom lines? The results can be monumental! Great copy can persuade readers to take action, generate more leads, and increase sales.

To achieve any of these outcomes, you first need to have a solid understanding of what copywriting’s all about. In this guide, we’ll start with reviewing the basics – a copywriting definition, copywriting job description, and copywriting skills, before delving into what copywriting in marketing can do for your business. Let’s get started!

How often do you post to social media? Write new blog articles? Create fresh content for your email distribution list?

If you’re like many other small business owners, content marketing is something that’s squeezed into your day – often at the last minute (or sometimes not at all). And it’s no surprise why. Continuously coming up with suitable content to publish and distribute takes time and energy, neither in abundance as a small business owner.

But what if there was a way to write, design, and make great content for your target audience that will generate results – and is doable, no matter how busy you are?

Enter: a content marketing strategy.

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 copywriting issue! Here are some of the biggest challenges you may face while completing copywriting – as well as our suggested solutions.

The Most Popular Copywriting Challenges

COPYWRITING CHALLENGE #1: A 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. Consider what is currently being searched on search engines and plan strategic blog and website copy using that information. 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 be used 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.

COPYWRITING CHALLENGE #2: A 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.

COPYWRITING CHALLENGE #3: A 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.

targeting copywriting issues

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 our freelance Toronto copywriters to take care of this important task for you.

When you hear the words keyword research, backlinking opportunities, meta descriptions and URL structures, do they sound like a foreign language?

As complicated as it may seem, search engine optimization (SEO) is what helps your blog receive the web traffic it deserves. Use our following SEO tips for writing a great blog post!

When you first start your company’s blog, you’re excited! It’s easy to come up with a topic to write about and finding an appropriate image to match the post isn’t a problem.

However, in only a matter of months– or maybe even weeks – you start to realize that blog writing is more difficult than you initially thought. Your well of topics has started to dry up and writing an article is taking you much longer than anticipated.

Sometimes, when the article finally gets completed, you aren’t even sure that anyone else will read it. Even so, you decide to publish it since you don’t want to start over.

Before you give up entirely on your blog writing endeavour, why not hit the refresh button? Use the following time management strategies when writing your company’s blog.

Housework, exercise and meal prep: For many people, starting is often the most challenging part. Once the procrastination is over, the task typically becomes easier to accomplish.

The same goes for blog writing for your business. In the beginning, it may seem like a daunting mission. But once you make the effort to begin, blog writing isn’t all that bad.

Wondering how to start a blog for your business in the first place? The tips below can help!