by Elle Ray | Jul 11, 2016 | Content Marketing
Only Hire Content Writers Who Deliver Quality
Content for the sake of content is no longer enough. Ad blocking on desktop computers, laptops and mobile devices is rising every year like a great solid state cement wall around the cloud that is the Internet. According to Priori Data and Pagefair, an analytics company, more than 419 million people block ads on their smartphones now. And that’s up about 90 percent for the period between January 2015 and January 2016.
All that blocking software is posing a really serious threat when you’re talking about one-fifth of the world’s 1.9 billion smartphone users. In 2016, about a quarter of laptop and desktop users employ ad blockers in the U.S., totaling about 70 million people. And that’s going up too. Content strictly for marketing purposes is now hollow and transparent, and people aren’t buying it any longer. They are, however, buying the ad blockers to keep obvious ads off their screens.
Enter Quality
For website and blog writers, SEO consultants, web designers and marketing pros, that’s a huge challenge. Found a keyword you really love that puts you high up on a Google search? Your customers have an app to block that. Pushing your weekly blogs through social channels? They’ve got their choice of content blockers for that. Think you hire content writers to sway the masses with quick wit and common words that trump the day? Yep, your target audience has got big bad comb-over blocking apps for that.
And don’t forget: all the while the Internet is being flooded with new ad-blocking apps for every possible device, search engines continue to mature and become more discerning. It’s a double-whammy. So what can you do? Actually, there’s only one way around it and that’s through it.
Search Engines Demands Quality
You’ve got to hire content writers who can overcome these growing Internet user habits by creating something we in the content creation biz call: “interest” or “buzz.” Let’s face it, you just can’t get around good content creation that draws you in with its sly character assassinations and good, old-fashioned stories. Stories work in marketing because people like stories.
Good content creation requires imagination, creativity, a nose for the news and a pulse that resonates with readers. When you hire content writers today, you’ve got to love their words, fall for their phrases and relish each and every syllable as if it were a life force. Stories live. Stories breathe life into stale marketing campaigns.
Internet surfers aren’t going to hold still for writing that doesn’t inspire flat-out love and infatuation. Content that tries to pull readers in with keywords that have no relevance will fail. Poor writing that’s hardly decipherable will fall flat.
Hire Content Writers Who Deliver Quality
If your content isn’t good enough to pass the search engine filters and can’t quite get around the ad blockers, it’s definitely not good enough for the masses. If it’s not effective content, it’s not worth anyone’s time.
Break it all down to plain English, which is another enviable virtue that you get when you hire content writers who prize quality. For your customers to spend any time with your content, it must be:
- Unique
- Excellent
- Interesting
- Free of errors
- Valuable — maybe the most important quality
Writing to Connect
Write to your readers like they’re real people. Because they are. Tell your content writers to stop writing to some sentient algorithm. Stop trying so darn hard to write content that ranks. Just give the people what they want — entertainment, information and quality writing they aren’t embarrassed to share or let anyone know they’re reading.
It’s time to push unique content creation to the next level. If you stick with the tricks your SEO guy tries to sell you, you can bet your marketing team a week’s salary that there’s gonna be an app to block it — sooner rather than later. Instead, embrace the evolving techniques and industry-standard practices that are leaning heavily toward customer engagement. In other words: interest them, and they’ll take an interest in you.
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.
by Elle Ray | Jun 20, 2016 | Writing
Hire a Writer Who’ll Write in Clear Language
Ever come upon websites that are difficult to read? It’s frustrating. Even though they seem to match your search terms exactly — whether it’s “how to write with authority,” “how to hire a writer for website content” or something else — you can’t find the answers you need. Either the copy is too dense and hard to scan or the relevant information isn’t easy to pick out.
So, if you’re like us, you’ll click “Back” rather than trying to muddle through a website page that requires work to find anything. Colorful graphics are nice and sliding photos engage your attention for a minute, but after that, it’s information you’re after, not entertainment. Again, if you’re like us, you’re busy; you want answers and you want them now.
Website Mistakes to Avoid
Bad writing and bad formatting often go hand-in-hand. Sometimes, websites lean more in one direction than the other, but either problem by itself is enough to obfuscate the information visitors are seeking. Some of the worst offenses that are emphatically not user-friendly include:
- Large blocks of text with little or no white space — give readers some room to breathe
- Four- or five-syllable words that you have to look up — as Steven Krug wrote: “Don’t make me think!”
- Misspellings or gobbledygook that doesn’t make sense — they undermine readers’ trust
- Incorrect word usage — it’s frustrating if the meaning isn’t clear
- Keywords that do not relate to the topic — don’t waste readers’ time
- Links that don’t work (especially “Read More…”) — double-check all links before you publish
- Long sentences — people read differently online; make it easy for them
- Taking too long to get to the point — unless your website is a magazine, write to inform
It’s this last annoyance that drives us to get right to the point in this blog post. Because we respect our readers and we want to deliver value in our blog.
How to Write for People
Too many times, clients hire a writer to create “marketing-speak” that pays little respect to readers. When you hire a writer at Ray Access, we insist on writing for people — your audience and your customers — not search engines or ad agencies. We’ve dedicated our blog to advise those of you who can’t or don’t yet want to hire a writer right now. Maybe you’ll hire us later, when you get so busy that you can’t find the time.
To that end, listed below are several writing tips you’ll find useful when you’re struggling with writing your website content. This is “good as gold” advice:
- Picture your ideal client as you write
- Imagine she’s standing right in front of you
- Write like you talk
- Leave out, or fully explain, industry lingo that your ideal client wouldn’t understand
- Write in short sentences — one thought for each sentence
- Keep paragraphs short, no longer then three or four sentences each
- Break up the text with subheadings, making your content easier to scan
- Make your margins wide; reading across large screens is hard on the eyes and neck
- Spellcheck, spellcheck, spellcheck
- Get another pair of eyes on your writing before you publish it
- Re-read your work at least once before sending it to an editor (like Ray Access)
You Can’t Be Too Simple
You won’t insult your readers if you make your copy clear, simple, concise and to-the-point. It’s not about dumbing down your copy; it’s about clearing up your message. Unless you’re publishing a white paper for an institutional trade organization or academia, give your readers a break.
You prove nothing when you learn how to write with big words and long sentences. You prove nothing when you try to sound intelligent — except that you aren’t. Don’t hire a writer who is condescending and doesn’t listen to you. If he tells you he can write it better than you can say it, run. You know your business, and you know what you want to tell your prospective customers about your business.
Now you know better how to write website content. But you can always contact Ray Access to hire professional writers and editors.
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.
by Elle Ray | Jun 7, 2016 | Content Marketing
Choosing the Best Keywords for Your Website
So you have someone doing SEO (or search engine optimization) for your website. He gives you a long list of the best keywords that were trending the day that he checked. Good. He scans your website pages to make sure each one is rich with appropriate keyword saturation. Check. And he gets a few links for you on other websites. Check and mate. Except…
The first problem is, like anything to do with SEO, the process takes time. Even the best keywords aren’t the end-all, be-all of SEO. The second problem, in direct proportion to problem #1, is that during the time it takes for you to rank well, the Google algorithms indubitably change.
Why SEO Matters
The reason you do SEO is to ensure that you get on the first page (or least on the second page) on a Google search using the best keywords. You’re trying to reach consumers who may not know about you yet. They’re searching for you based on your product or service or location, not your name. Experts have coined this an “organic search.”
If someone puts your company name in a Google search box, you ought to get top billing in the results. You have a big problem if you don’t. For example, we once had a client who got the content for his entire website from Wikipedia. He copy-and-pasted articles directly. As a result, you couldn’t find his site through Google with a guide dog. The company was penalized for plagiarism by search engine algorithms.
Algorithms are written by people who like to think they’re smarter than the average geek trying to beat the system. And they often are. Google algorithms play such a huge role in determining whether your future clients can find you that they almost hold your fortunes in their hands. And the best keywords in the land won’t help you if you break too many ethical rules of Internet conduct. The client in the example above now ranks high on the first page because we’ve delivered fresh, unique content.
What’s a Writer to Do?
Ultimately, the algorithm writers at Google are in the business of servicing their own clients. Their aim is to give people a positive experience. When a person types in “best burger in town,” they don’t want to see links to a site selling new cars that call themselves “best burger cars in town.” That doesn’t even make sense. But, if “best burger” is the number one trending keyword, an unscrupulous SEO expert may try to slip it in to beat the system.
The best approach, therefore, is to think like Google. Your customers are their customers. Treat them as such. On your website, give people the answers they’re seeking. They’re looking for you, so make it easy from them to find you.
You could keep an SEO guy on staff or on permanent retainer so he can continually keep up with trends and algorithm changes. Or you could address your potential clients on your website with unique, valuable content. As long as you’re giving people (and the search engines) good reasons to check out your website, you’ll get decent rankings eventually.
Just Follow Basic Rules for the Best Keywords
The best keywords are those that help your potential customers find you. If you truly are a burger shop, then imagine hungry tourists and locals salivating over the best burger in your town. Use “the best burger in town” as your primary keyword phrase, follow a few key rules and you’re good; you’re using common sense.
- Never publish content copied from anywhere else
- Publish new content often (weekly if possible)
- Use the keyword phrase in its original intended entirety
- Sprinkle the content with one percent saturation (5 times in a 500-word webpage, for example)
- Place the best keywords you develop in the title or subtitle
- Put the keyword in at least one subhead
- Make sure the keyword’s in the last paragraph, too
- Put the keyword in the URL whenever possible
- Place the keyword in the meta-description, the bit of text that shows up in a search results page
Be nice to people who are looking for your product or service, and they’ll reward you with their business. SEO is not some technical behemoth that you can’t penetrate unless you know a secret handshake and the absolute best keywords. It’s just people trying to help people navigate a huge, huge mega-marketplace. When all else fails, revert to the golden rule and “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
And if you need help with new, unique content that won’t insult your customers, contact Ray Access. We’ll take your best keywords and seamlessly insert them appropriately throughout your website pages.
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.
by Elle Ray | May 22, 2016 | Content Provider
“Shadow Writers” Explain What They Do
Recently, we attended a networking function where we found ourselves talking with a small group about our business, Ray Access. It happens. We mentioned that we don’t request or require a byline on anything we write for our clients. That’s not why we write. Both Mark and Linda have had their fair share of public acclaim; they don’t need attributions any longer.
In fact, we refer to our role as “ghostwriters,” since we feel it’s an accurate description of what we do. When we write, we stay in the background and remain anonymous. Whatever we compose — whether it’s website content, a blog post or a press release — our clients always get the credit for it. Always.
More Than Ghostwriters
Since the group seemed interested in how we managed to ghostwrite for other businesses, we explained that we write in our clients’ voices as much as possible. Sometimes, that means writing without contractions or using the first person or adding a touch of humor. With all our clients, we strive to strike a note that sounds like something they would actually say.
Then someone familiar with our work chimed in: “I think you’re more like a shadow than a ghost,” she said. “A shadow is faceless, but it’s still a part of you. A ghost may be faceless, but it isn’t real.”
Resonating Loudly
Writing for businesses is an art that takes practice and refinement to hit its mark. When you use the written word as a marketing tool, you need that copy to sing. Your company website needs to touch visitors with your own voice, reflecting your company’s distinctive perspective. Your words need to clearly establish your unique value position and represent you clearly.
Too often, writers tend to create copy that seems to say everything, but never in a way that connects with your audience. And since your website is often the very first contact potential customers have with you, it’s critical that your writing clearly capture your mission and your ideas. It has to resonate with your visitors. It has to read as if you were talking personally to each and every person who reads it.
The Ghost vs. The Shadow
Some say the ghost is the fearful one — it’s an unknown phenomenon, an other-worldly spirit. It can only be malevolent. To others, the shadow evokes more terror. It’s a dark, scary figure from the deepest recesses of your imagination, lurking just beyond the edge of sight. If you find yourself in an old house or a cemetery at night, both can be terrifying.
On the other hand, there’s Casper the Friendly Ghost. A ghost may be nothing more than a trick of the light, an electrical discharge. Who can say? Shadows also may be nothing to fear. Some people love to dance and twirl through the sunshine with their shadows following close behind. You can be lost without a shadow. Just ask Peter Pan.
We Choose the Shadow
The real-world difference between the two is more concrete than either a ghost or a shadow is on its own. When it comes to describing Ray Access, “ghostwriters” is the more common phrase. It has come to mean “writing anonymously for someone else.” But “shadow writers” is the term that better reflects the essence of what we do for our clients. Shadow writers combine the best aspects of “job shadowing” with the elemental basics of “ghostwriting.”
So until another, more striking comparison reveals itself to us, we at Ray Access choose to be called “shadow writers.” In the corporate world, we’ll still answer if someone is seeking ghostwriters, but now you know that we plan to straddle the line between stalker and friend. When we write for you, we become your shadow, acting as if we are an extension of your consciousness — your very voice, if you will.
We’ll ask how professional or how casual you want to come across. We’ll learn about your company, your vision and your mission. We’ll listen for your voice. We’ll research all about your customers: what they like, what they want, and what they value. We’ll copy your vernacular and your attitude toward your business. We hope to be so much like you that your readers cannot tell the difference between you and your shadow writers.
The brighter the light you shine on your story, the longer your shadow plays to its intended audience. To learn more about how Ray Access accomplishes its shadow writing, and how your company can benefit from it, contact us.
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.
by Elle Ray | May 8, 2016 | Content Marketing
Don’t Scare Visitors in Your Online Marketing
Most business people know the difference between advertising and marketing. Advertising is a direct pitch to sell your goods or services, while marketing covers the entire process of connecting with your present and future clientele. Advertising is just one component of your marketing efforts.
As a rule, marketing tends to carry more ethical components, giving customers room to make decisions without the pressure of a “buy now” promotion. And while “buy now” calls to action are part and parcel of your overall marketing scheme, good online marketing doesn’t pressure customers; instead, it attracts them with a wink and a nod, a compliment and respectful banter.
Online Marketing Works
Marketing works because it empowers your customers to take more control of their buying decisions based on common sense, education and bonding. Customers end up liking your advertising because you’ve taken the time to consider their needs and build relationships — even if those relationships are simply virtual.
You can and should use your website, blogs, social media and email to attract customers to your business. Once they realize how much they like you, your products and services sell themselves. Online marketing works today and will continue to grow as the most popular medium for building your business.
Tips to Attract Buyers
Marketing isn’t deceitful or cunning at all. In fact, honesty is the best policy when it comes to online marketing efforts. Some of the most productive, least threatening and cheapest ways to use this powerful medium include:
- Make it easy for visitors to navigate through your website. Place social media buttons clearly, put your phone number, address and email on every page. Clearly mark each link so that your guests feel welcomed and appreciated.
- Create good content. Respect your visitors’ time. Let them know right at the top of your web page who you are and what you do. Invite them in with easy-to-read content that includes well-crafted website copy, relatable graphics and entertaining and informative videos.
- Give people what they need. Online guests don’t always know the right questions to ask. Adding an informative, thoughtful FAQ page can help. Make sure that your contact forms work and that you answer questions in a timely manner. Responsiveness builds trust, and trust leads to easy buying decisions.
- Inform the media of important changes, highlights and hallmarks to your business through press releases. Loyal customers appreciate knowing that you are transparent and want everyone to have a chance to get to know you.
- Rely on SEO, which includes keywords and market targeting, sparingly. Excessive SEO efforts turn off tech-savvy buyers who have seen enough of the tricks now to tell when their searches are being compromised.
Keep up to date with regular blog posts and emails to show your customers that you don’t take them for granted and continue to provide value. Build stronger relationships with continued communication through your blog.
- Add value to your relationships with exceptional email newsletters that create a buzz, give your clients a one-up on those who don’t subscribe, and save them money, time and resources.
- Use informational graphics to attract attention. Infographics are one of the leading attractors of successful websites. They are exponentially more productive than cartoons or stock pictures. Infographics also give you authority, something that you can’t buy with ads.
Now What Do You Do with Them?
Once you’ve built a customer base that is working (i.e., generating reliable income), you can use those same marketing techniques to give your customers reasons to stick with your company, even as competitors pound their doors for attention. You respected their time and attracted them to you, now:
- Review your website and blogs regularly to catch errors that may have made it past the editing team.
- Include in-depth, long-form content to your site that goes beyond the sound bites.
- Respect their ideas and ask for tips on how to make your service or product even better.
- Reward longevity with discounts, deals and insider info.
- Expose your customers to the real influencers in your industry by curating expert guest blog posts.
- Rely on your relationship and ask for referrals.
- Hire an editing team if you don’t have one.
The Best Course
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” is a universal mantra that covers every kind of ethical argument in any religious denomination. It’s also a good business practice, especially in your online marketing efforts. Think about your experience as you visit other websites. What do you like to see while searching, shopping or researching.
Give your visitors the same kind of content and ease of use that you appreciate. They’ll thank you with continued loyalty. That’s a win for your online marketing.
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.
by Elle Ray | Apr 22, 2016 | Website Content
Making Converts out of Your Website Guests
You wouldn’t use a Sunday evening dinner party as a platform for converting liberal-minded guests into hard-core gun-rights advocates. Your motive would be not only inappropriate (unless they knew what to expect before they arrived), but also unrealistic and probably unsuccessful. Making converts out of unwitting guests before you’ve set the groundwork for your pitch, while not totally impossible, is an uphill struggle.
Converting visitors into true believers is never an easy task. Conversion does not exist in a vacuum. To be successful, you need to have:
- A compelling story
- Hard, believable statistics
- Trustworthy testimonials
- Applicable features and benefits
What’s In It For Me?
Successful, consistent conversion requires proof that the unconverted will be better off in the long run if they adopt your way of thinking. And they must be in a receptive mood. Whether you are making converts for your political candidate, church or business, the basic rules of meeting human needs remain in play — and always trump the pitch.
To that end, you must find out what makes people tick. What your audience really wants needs to be front-of-mind before you begin making converts out of your visitors. Building a message, service, product or cause that’s designed specifically to meet those human needs while fulfilling other pressing desires leads you to successful conversions. Build it and they will come.
Web Conversions
Sometimes, the analytics of SEO (search engine optimization) can become mind-numbing for luddites and non-techies. In web analytic parlance, conversion simply means turning visitors to your website into paying customers. Conversion is the goal, the reason your website exists. Conversion is how you stay in business, grow your company and sustain your existence.
The rest of your SEO — keywords; fresh, unique copy; links and backlinks; long-form original articles and more — drive visitors to your website. You may be doing a bang-up job of getting them there, but now you have to concentrate your efforts on not just keeping them there, but making converts out of them.
Conversion Theory
So here are seven basic steps you can take, without a whole lot of energy or resources, for making converts out of your visitors to grow your business:
- Spell it out. Don’t leave it to your visitors’ imaginations to figure out what you do, who you are, and how to make a purchase. Nice flowery, ambiguous copy may please your English teacher or your poetry club, but clear, straightforward language results in higher conversions.
- Use calls to action. Leave no room for questions when making converts. “Buy now,” “Click here for more information,” “Call us today,” “Choose the best option for you” and/or “Hire Us” — all are calls to action that are at the core of conversion marketing.
- Make it easy to convert visitors into customers. Provide online payment plans that are open to everyone. Whenever possible, avoid sign-ups and extra demands of customers before they are allowed to buy (unless you want to remain exclusive — then by all means create hoops).
- Provide answers that are relevant to your customers without making them ask. Let them know how long delivery will take, for example, or when they can expect a returned call. Provide easy access to contact numbers and contact forms and then follow-up on those contacts.
- Make your offers clear and easy to use. Keep options limited to two (three at the most) to prevent analysis paralysis. It’s usually best to display prices to individual consumers, but if you’re a B2B site that caters to small and medium-sized clients, provide a few special offers just to let visitors know that you’re competitive.
- Display testimonials throughout your website. And yes, even on the front page. Testimonials help making converts out of visitors by reassuring them they are in good company. Drop names. Just like in job interviews, conversion tactics leave no room for humility.
- Have your website assessed for ease of use. One of the services Ray Access offers is a web assessment. While you may have a new website that you can easily follow, you need to know how well the average Joe and Jane (or Mark and Linda) can navigate your site.
Still not convinced? Contact us today for more information. The longer your website isn’t making converts from your visitors, the more money you’re losing.
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.
by Elle Ray | Apr 10, 2016 | Writing
Sports Medicine Heals Ballplayers and Writers
What do writing and baseball have in common? For one thing, they are two of Mark’s favorite things in the world. For another, they can both lead to devastating hand injuries. And finally, both writers and baseball players can find relief through the burgeoning field of sports medicine.
You read that right: sports medicine specialists don’t treat just athletes. The team doctor for the Detroit Tigers treats the front office manager with the same therapeutic techniques typically reserved for sports medicine. The more you do any one kind of activity, the more likely you are to incur an injury that’s best treated by a professional who sees those kinds of repetitive motion problems on a daily basis in the sports medicine field.
The Sport of Writing
As you sit in front of your computer screen, writing your latest blog, creating your daily social media post or composing an important press release or industry piece, you may begin to feel a cramp in your hand. Your wrist may feel tight and you suddenly realize that it’s painful to straighten your fingers.
You may remember hearing on the news that morning that your favorite baseball player will have to sit out the first week of spring training because he’s having difficulty straightening his fingers. He’s been sidelined at baseball camp because of the cramping he’s experiencing from gripping the ball or bat too tight for too many practice hours. Could your malady and his be related?
Curse of the Metatarsal
Pain and cramping in your hands is a common work-related injury that sports medicine professionals see on a regular basis. Some of the symptoms sports medicine specialists find are shared by both desk jockeys and sports athletes, including:
- General feeling of weariness and weakness
- Knuckle pain and swelling
- Tingling sensations or pins and needles
- Slight numbness
- Stiffness in fingers and wrist
- Sharp or dull ache
- Pain in the joints or muscles
- Cramping
Symptoms usually occur from repetitive motions involving your hands. It’s those fine motor skills — such as playing a musical instrument, keyboarding, holding a pen or throwing a baseball for hours — that can lead to the painful hand symptoms. And while you may never run the bases or even venture to a ball field except to sit in the stands, you can find relief at the same sports medicine clinic as the players.
Common Sports Medicine Treatments
You receive the same kind of treatment as your favorite ballplayer, such as:
- Physical therapy
- TENS
- R.I.C.E. (rest, ice, compression, elevation)
- Immobilization
- Anti-inflammatory medications
- Splints
Writers’ cramp and injuries incurred at baseball camp usually don’t require surgical intervention, but you can’t rule it out completely, especially if the repetitive use has resulted in a torn ligament or fracture. The best advice at this point is to do everything you can to prevent writers’ cramp. You’ll feel so much better writing about the opening season game in your next blog if you practice a little foresight and:
- Invest in ergonomic desk equipment
- Take regular breaks, like 15 minutes every hour
- Relax when you’re typing
- Hold a pen lightly when you’re handwriting or taking notes
- Maintain proper posture when writing
- Remember your posture even when you’re on a mobile device
- Visit a sports medicine specialist at the first signs of strain
- Reduce stress by meditating, giving yourself sufficient time to meet deadlines or calling on experts (like Ray Access) to do your writing for you
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.
by Elle Ray | Mar 24, 2016 | Small Business Advice
Why Outsourcing May Be the Right Decision
Amid all the clamor about buying American and keeping jobs in-house, the word “outsourcing” sometimes gets a bad rap. Outsourcing’s reputation stems from a company’s decision to cut good people purely for financial reasons. Employees lose their steady jobs through no fault of their own, and the local economic growth becomes stagnant.
But let’s face it, sometimes you might be better off as a business owner letting go of dead weight that costs you not only a weekly salary, but also healthcare benefits, unemployment taxes and retirement matches. If you’re worried that certain workers are telling jokes at the water cooler or sending messages through their social media accounts, on your computer systems no less, then outsourcing starts to look attractive.
But Really…
Playing devil’s advocate feels a bit like kicking a dog when its leg is bruised already, but the truth is that some workers don’t care much about a business in which they have very little invested. You may get an honest day’s work from your team only when you show them that you appreciate them and reward them sufficiently for their loyalty.
Getting rid of slackers doesn’t mean that you’re un-American or anti-family. It just makes good business sense. So this article concerns the dead weight, not the perfectly good employees, even if you can duplicate their efforts for cents on the dollar in a third-world sweatshop. (That path is un-American and anti-family.)
Improving Quality
Without surrendering any quality — in fact, gaining a higher standard of work — you can outsource some of your internal operations. You can save money and headaches while actually making the environment more enjoyable for your remaining workers. A few departments that are the ripest for pruning include:
- Marketing
- Payroll
- Accounting
- Human Resources
- Tech Support
- Special Projects
Too often, companies rely on current staff to conquer tasks that are way beyond their capabilities. This leads to frustration, inferior work products and eventually lost revenue. So whether you’re in growth mode, struggling to get the work completed, or you’re having trouble with a one-time project, consider outsourcing to capable, experienced and local outsourcing firms and consultants.
The Benefits of Outsourcing
While consultants and outsourcing firms may come with higher price tags than you’re accustomed to paying your in-house staff, remember that these workers don’t use company resources or require health care. They’ll meet your deadlines and give you high-quality work. Their motivation include your repeat business and your referrals to other businesses.
Outsourcing is most practical when:
- You’ve got a deadline to meet. Putting off deadlines because your staff can’t keep up is a dangerous precedent to set. Let’s say your web team is ready to go live with your new site, just in time to launch your latest service or product. But the copy is sloppy and it’s like pulling teeth to get content from your department managers. Call in professional writers and editors like Ray Access to ensure you meet those deadlines with spot-on, perfect content to really make your new site sing.
- You need to increase productivity. Sure, your staff may be great at multitasking, but every time they have to switch from one task to another, they lose time and momentum. For example, if your outside sales force is suddenly tasked with making appointments that your new website’s been generating, you may be slowing down their efforts to close new clients. Instead, consider using a call center to handle your incoming calls and set up the appointments.
- You want to save money. When outsourcing results in inferior service or quality, you aren’t saving money. But when you can get quality that’s as good or better from an outside firm, think twice before running a want ad for new employees. Software and application creation is one area, for example, that may get you more bang for your every buck with an experienced consulting firm than trying to hire new software designers or relying on your current staff to perform beyond their abilities.
Outsourcing isn’t a dirty word when you’re considerate of your current staff, treat them fairly and communicate your intentions. Contractors and outsourcing firms work much better when your team is happy to have the outside help and when they know their jobs aren’t in jeopardy. Everyone can win — and you can win even bigger accolades with your staff and community when those consultants are local. Outsource to America — and everybody wins.
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.
by Elle Ray | Mar 11, 2016 | Small Business Advice
Design and Build Your Own Site for Best Results
If you’re an industry leader, you realize that you must have a better website than your competition and a frequently updated blog to reach your existing and potential customers. So you make a few inquiries, and the next thing you know, you’re bombarded with offers to maintain, update or reinvent your site. Not long ago, your options for website builders in your area or do-it-yourself drag-and-drop programs were slim.
As with all things on the Internet, however, the times they are a-changing. And if you don’t keep up, you’ll be left for dead.
These days, the digital landscape is so full of website developers, blog creators, SEO analysts and social media consultants that it’s difficult to know where to turn or whom to trust. There just isn’t time to vet all the offers, try all the options and decide who’ll use your hard-earned profits wisely to build you a better website.
Researching Better Website Tools
At Ray Access, we don’t begin a new writing project without thorough research. It’s one of the ways we stand out from the off-the-cuff, opinionated bloggers out there. To that end, we’d like to give a shout-out this week to Reviews.com, a website that has taken research to a whole new level — with in-depth data retrieval, pertinent surveys and factual, scientific analyses.
For example, they recently did research for all you do-it-yourself website developers out there and put it all together in a blog post titled The Best Website Builder. They scoured the Internet and tested the better website-building tools to come up with a few recommendations, such as:
To reach their conclusions, they studied 41 different website-building sites and actually used the tools to create an online business. They watched tons of tutorials and read a slew of relevant reviews. They talked to website designers, content creators and full-service marketing agencies. They did the work so you don’t have to.
More Than a Best-of List
For each of the three recommended website-building sites, the researchers at Reviews.com provided the pros and cons, info about payment options and remarks about specific issues they ran into while using the programs. The blog post they crafted from their research isn’t just another “Best of” or “Top 10” list available elsewhere. They substantiated their claims with value statements and real-life scenarios to help small business owners, entrepreneurs and larger companies that don’t want to outsource their website development.
The writers and editors at Ray Access specialize in the content we put on your website pages, not in the design or development. We’re decidedly not in the business of creating better websites or mobile apps. So we’re a natural choice to fill out your website once you’ve selected a platform. We believe that when you stick to what you do best, you can be the best at what you do.
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.
