Part 1: When to Write Your Own Content
And When to Hire a Professional Agency for It
Let’s face it, large companies have their own in-house writing teams, most likely as part of their marketing departments. So these corporate businesses almost always create their own content in-house. That leaves:
- Small businesses (including start-ups and solopreneurs) and
- Mid-sized businesses who may or may not have a writer on staff
So the decision to hire a professional agency often comes down to need and timing. But there’s more to writing online content than that. The goal of this article is to educate business owners on the demands of online content — what that content has to do — so you can better determine when you can write it yourself or whether you need to call in a pro.
Writing Blog Posts for Your Business
Why do businesses blog? No matter what your business, potential customers are going to have questions about it. Blogs work over time to build brand awareness, educate your customers and drive traffic to your website. The most successful business blogs are published consistently — week after week, every other week or at the very least once a month. The best blog posts are engaging, informative and entertaining.
If you have writers in-house who can deliver consistently good quality blog posts, then use those writers and give them free rein to experiment with topics and keywords. If you don’t have a writer you can trust (or any writers), that’s the time to hire a professional agency. Creating blog posts, which are usually 500–1,000 words in length, takes talent, but these writing projects don’t cost that much. So, as soon as you can comfortably afford even $150 a month (for biweekly posts), hire a professional agency like Ray Access.
Writing Business Website Content
Now that every business (and nearly every individual!) has a website, yours has to find a way to stand out. Unless you have absolutely no competition — for example, you’re the only plumber in town or you’ve invented the best mousetrap — you need exceptional content on your website. Unlike a blog, your website has to:
- Connect with your target audience
- Identify who your target audience is
- Generate trust in your business
- Establish your authority in your field
- Convert visitors into customers
This is a tall order for any writer. You can write your website content yourself or hand the task to an in-house writer whose background is English papers, technical documents or marketing fluff, but the results may not accomplish the bullet points above. And accomplishing all five is what you need. Anything less means lost revenue.
Hire a Professional Agency
Website content is arguably the most important piece of your website. It drives home your message. It explains your business. It sells your products or services. Unless you’re a bare-bones start-up, budget for website content like you budget for website development. If you spend $5000 for a website, do not think that $500 worth of content will make your website an effective lead generation tool.
Ray Access has expert writers and editors who can deliver website content that produces leads and converts visitors. Ray Access has many success stories from customers. In fact, one of our clients recently wrote: “Every time I get a call from a client who says, ‘I found you on the Web,’ I like you guys more and more.” That’s the reason you should hire a professional agency to write your website 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.