When I first wrote this article we were in the grip of covid. Life was weird then. I spent most of my time drinking pints of gin and crying in the toilet. Anyway, back to winning at business content writing…
Before you go to town on your business content, know this: anyone can learn to write content. It’s not brain surgery which, reassuringly, means you’re not going to kill a customer if you fuck it up. You don’t have to be a professional writer or marketing genius to communicate your message well.
So without further blatherings, here are my 6 easy principles for cracking business content writing:
1. Don’t be intimidated.
…Be intimidating. Mawahahahaha! Ok, I’m not suggesting you threaten to break legs if prospects don’t convert. But confidence can be intimidating. Interestingly, people are attracted to confident individuals and a little scared by them——that’s not your problem, btw, you are fully entitled to express self-assurance when it comes to your expertise. As such, you should not allow yourself to be influenced by the negative outpourings of non-entities who have no desire to hire you.
Everyone has an opinion. And for reasons beyond my comprehension, folks like to liberally share them. It’s impossible to avoid such behaviour, especially online. Strangers will openly dismiss you and try to make you believe you’re a bit shit. Thankfully these depressing creatures are in the minority but more importantly, their opinions don’t pay your bills. Instead, imagine them in damp basements, wearing grubby underpants with only the dim light of their computer screens for company. There, that’s better.
2. Understand who’s reading.
I write for freelancers and SMEs looking to sort out their website content. My perfect client will not only share the same business ethos but also have similar personality traits. So with those things in mind, I write accordingly.
Think about your ideal client like I do Josh Brolin…
Ask yourself, what is Josh Brolin (your client) interested in? Are you his sort? Can you meet him where he hangs out? Your content needs to be all about Josh Brolin (your client). They will engage with your business content writing when they feel you’re talking ONLY to them.
Learn how to write engaging content.
3. Create purposeful content.
Just like you, each piece of business content writing needs a reason to live. A landing page lives to convert the visitor. Blog pages live (generally speaking) to inform. Everything that exists on your website should be lovingly crafted. When you understand the purpose, you’re halfway there to cultivating web content that ticks all the boxes.
Content writing: the ONLY reason to get hot for it.
4. Be your brilliant business self.
We play different people in life. Come-to-bed you isn’t business you (it might be if you’re a gigolo). And bezzie mates you probably won’t be how you address clients. I mean, it can be but what I’m trying to say is you define what professional looks and sounds like.
Rip up the rules of business content and unmask your personality.
5. Be consistent.
You need to commit to regular business content writing. Create a content calendar if it helps. And if you can’t commit to that, hire a professional to do it.
But remember this: quality trumps quantity. If you only write when you have a mind to do it, and that article is superbly executed, fine, do that. Obsessing about the number of articles over the quality of the content is doing content strategy wrong.
Should content writers launch a Luddite rebellion against ChatGPT?
6. Know when to hire a proofreader.
All my client work is picked apart by a proofreader and editor. If you’re the author of your business content writing, at the very least get your webcopy reviewed by a professional. A badly written homepage harms your credibility. Words should be your priority because they trigger decisions so don’t let them be an afterthought.
Yeah, paying a proofreader to check social media posts is hardly living in the moment (and it will get pretty expensive). But there are tools to help. My STUNNING proofreader (Lorraine ‘Lozza’ Williams) sells proofreading guides for when you don’t have the cash or the time to hire someone. I also like the ‘read aloud’ feature on desktops/phones. It’s great for picking up rogue words or words you missed. And if you’re really desperate, there’s the disappointingly pedestrian Grammarly (guaranteed to rid your content of any creativity. That’s AI for you. Ooh, meow!).
This all reminds me of a story…
This tale is about psycho typo guy. There once was a passive-aggressive douche who took umbrage at a misspelling on a LinkedIn post. For clarity, I have no issue with being DM’d about a word blunder because it saves my blushes.
However, his message soon turned into a lecture. It wasn’t enough to point out my mistake, he had to go on and on (and on and on) and explain that as the typo was within a post about business content writing services, he could never “bring himself” to hire me as his content writer. Furthermore, he was concerned others wouldn’t hire me either. You see, he was doing me a favour.
Please indulge me, for one moment and imagine being the sort of twat to discount someone’s entire ability to do a job based on a single typo——an autocorrect error, might I add, in a social media post. Madness isn’t it? If psycho typo guy believes decent writing is about the rules of writing, it’s unlikely he’d recognise good content if it were etched onto his corneas——only confirming that he would be the LAST person I’d choose to work with.
Humans make mistakes. We’re really bad at spotting our spelling boo-boos. Yes, even writers——hell, even proofreaders! Get comfortable making mistakes because you’re going to make plenty of them in your business content writing.
In summary…
Not being a professional writer or struggling with grammar doesn’t mean you’re not good at connecting with your audience. Dyslexic folks are some of the most creative and intelligent individuals on the planet. Many are excellent storytellers. In contrast, language nerds do not necessarily make good writers. And in fact, they often produce the most snooze-worthy garbage.
So head up and tits out and get busy writing for your business.
Article updated, 24th June 2024.
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