When you’re a small business owner, and especially in the early days, you wear many hats. You’re kind of a one-man show, handling this and that and everything, really. But be honest with yourself – you may know your business, but are you an expert at expressing your knowledge in a way that maximizes your business image and online branding potential?

Probably not.

And your best salesman may have a silver tongue and know the industry inside and out, but does that really matter for your potential customers and clients?

Probably not.

So instead of shouldering the burden yourself, or passing it off to your staff, here are six reasons you should hire a writer for your small business’ website content.

1. your website represents your business

A website, like it or not, is a digital representation of your business. Badly-written content is saying something about your company – and you may not like what it’s saying. Now consider the flip side, and what you’re saying with content that’s engaging, motivating and free of careless errors.

People value well-written content, and you can position yourself quite effectively as an industry expert when you share useful, relevant and clean content.

2. a writer will write to your audience

Understanding your industry is important, but even more important is understanding your audience. A writer can tick both boxes by collaborating with you for the expertise and packaging it in a way that resonates with your target market. Remember, the typical client or customer wants to know what you can do for them, and not necessarily how you do it.

blogging-success-jessica-timmons-writing-editing3. a writer will maintain or develop your brand voice

There’s a trick to effective content writing and blogging, and a lot of it has to do with the right voice. No one wants to read dissertations disguised as blog posts. Content is king, and the way we express that content is just as important. Whether it’s website copy, downloadable content, a blog post or a social media status update, there should be a strategy involved that’s keeping those words on brand.

4. a writer knows the tricks of magnetic content

Sure, you know that keywords are important, and a catchy headline matters. But are you clear on the ideal blog post length, how to break up text appropriately with subheads, when to use bullet points, and how to develop content that has visitors coming back for more? What about the kind of images and updates that encourage likes and shares?

5. You’ll save money and get projects handled more efficiently

One of the benefits of hiring a freelancer in any industry is the money you save in comparison to an employee. With a freelance writer, for example, you’re paying for specific projects, which also means those projects are more likely to be completed efficiently.

6. You’ll increase your website visibility

Unless you have someone on staff churning out fresh content for your website, you aren’t maximizing your SEO. Search engines value new content, and the more useful content you add to your site, the bigger your site becomes and the more authority it develops with search engines. That’s what we want, because ultimately, our goal is to appear in front of the end user.

Hiring a content writer on a project-by-project basis or for an open-ended term may sound unnecessary, but the right writer will add long-term, measurable value. Want to learn more? I’m happy to help.