Web Developers: Write the Content for Clients

If you own or work for an internet agency — such as a web development firm, an SEO marketing concern, a branding or design company or in-house marketing department — you provide services to your clients to:

• Develop an online presence or storefront
• Get them noticed online
• Generate traffic to their website
• Attract the “right” audience, those who already may be looking for their products or services
• Help them convert those visitors into paying customers
• In general, help them succeed

How well you succeed is measured by your clients’ return on investment and increase in brand awareness. In other words, the better your clients do, the better you look. If you want referrals, that gold mine of qualified leads, then you must deliver satisfaction.

Why Content Matters

You know the answer to this already. But remember that content can include words, pictures and videos. Content is anything visitors can consume — anything that answers their questions or engages their minds … or their funny bones. Content can take many forms; it depends on its purpose and its intended audience.

Online content for clients — whether for their website, blog or social media — must fulfill its purpose:

• Attract those people or businesses who may be interested in your clients’ products or services
• Answer their questions about your clients’ business or industry
• Generate trust in your clients’ business
• Persuade visitors or readers to contact your clients

Why Your Clients Shouldn’t Write Their Own Content

Obviously, creating videos, photos and graphics takes specific skills — skills your clients may not possess. But anyone with a computer can write. Your clients may insist on creating their own written content. Here’s why you should stop them and deliver content for clients as part of your services:

1. Content delay. The number one reason to avoid letting your clients write their own content is that they may never actually do it. They may have good intentions. They may think your deadline is far enough out to make the project feasible, but crises are a part of business, and website content often gets pushed down to the bottom of the priority list. When the deadline comes and goes, it becomes content delay, and suddenly, it’s your problem.
    
2. It’s marketing. Unless your clients have a full marketing department, they may assign the task of writing the content to the wrong person. A website, blog or social media isn’t necessarily a platform for advertising or customer service. Sure, those things matter, but not as much as marketing: building their brand awareness, nurturing their potential customers and generating an online presence that can stand out. Online content has to connect with its intended audience.
    
3. Quality suffers. Your clients may know their business inside and out. They may know their customers top to bottom. But they may not know how to approach online content writing. When you produce the content for clients, you provide what they need, instead of what they want. You know what it takes for your clients to succeed in the online environment. And if you don’t, you know you can find a third-party subcontractor like Ray Access who does understand the online world and can deliver content for clients of every industry.
    
4. Differences abound. Your clients understand the difference between video and photos, but they may not understand the difference between website content and blog posts. These two platforms serve different functions. If your clients write blog posts as web pages or web pages for blog posts, they won’t succeed. You need to step in to create the kind of content for clients that works for its intended purpose.

To truly stand out, your clients need good, effective content. If you can deliver that for them, your firm can also rise above the crowd in a competitive market. You can only do that by taking charge of the project. Don’t let your clients write their own content.

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.