Being a freelance writer is like giving yourself English homework every day for the rest of your life.
–Troy Lambert, Unbound Media
English class was kind of like math class. Some people loved it and couldn’t wait, to others the art of language was a mystery, writing itself was a drudgery, and completing essays and reports a real chore. The thought of writing a novel or having to write every single day seems like a nightmare.
Then those same students grew up, started or joined a business, and discovered that one thing they needed to be able to do was to write. When it comes to blogging, developing a website, internet marketing, and link building, quality writing is essential. Most people not only don’t like to write, as a result, they can’t write all that well. It is a specialized skill.
Fortunately, there are a group of people who love to write about a variety of topics and who won’t hesitate to sit all day in front of a computer and plagiarize the alphabet. These individuals not only like to tell their own stories, but many of them are happy to help you tell yours as well.
Your business needs these professional writers. Many of them work on a contract basis as freelancers, so you don’t even have to hire them full time. The difference between the content they create and the things you try to produce is huge and can make the difference between the success and failure of your website or your marketing or link building campaign.
Here are five reasons your business needs a professional writer.
Your Message Needs Clarity
Your business has a service or product to offer, but the reason people will use that service or buy your product has little to do with price or even the product you actually produce. Why are millions of Apple users still fans of the company’s products even when they complain about the keyboards and battery issues and products cost more?
The reason is simple. They are brand loyal because of Apple’s commitment to security, their simplistic functionality, and their commitment to meeting customer needs and wants they didn’t even know they had. Why the company does what it does, the way they put the customer first is more important than the actual products they produce.
Your message, your why needs this kind of clarity to build brand loyalty. If your message is muddled or your website is filled with grammatical errors, unnecessary words, and unedited text, your customers and prospects will perceive that as a reflection of your commitment to quality. The way your message is written and presented is just as important as the message itself. You need clear, concise language created by a professional.
You Need Another Voice
If yours is the only voice on your website, you need another voice or even set of voices to balance it out. Otherwise, your site becomes rather narcissistic and self-promoting. Your readers can tell when everything is in one tone and from a single point of view.
Another voice, another tone, is essential. This also prevents boredom on the part of your reader. You probably repeat themes and words without realizing it. Often businesses run out of ideas to write about on their blogs or even in link building campaigns. One of the jobs of a professional writer is to come up with more creative ideas, making your content stand out.
The thing you don’t want for your website is for it to be dull. Hiring a professional writer will add another voice that validates and hones your message.
You Aren’t That Good at It
You might be good at emails and writing the reports you need to every day, but when it comes to web content and blog posts, you probably aren’t that good at it. The reason? Writing is a developed skill. There is talent involved, but there are also formulas for good web writing and blog posts. The more practice you get the better.
A professional writer does this kind of thing for a living, just like you practice your profession. You wouldn’t hire someone to do your job who had little or no experience or who had an entirely different area of expertise. They might be able to perform some of the functions of your job, but probably would not be that great at it.
The same is true of writing. Hiring someone who is less than a professional to do it or trying to do it yourself is like diagnosing and treating your own medical condition using the internet. You might be right, but you might not, and if you’re wrong the consequences can be costly.
The Time Factor
How much time do you have to dedicate to writing web content a week? A month? If the answer is only a few hours or less, you need a professional. Often the issue is that you need to get your mind in the right place and be without distraction to write effectively. The thing is you don’t always have that chance, and it is easy to look at that writing as a low priority task and skip it if something else comes up.
The truth is that creating content is a vital part of your marketing strategy, and if you don’t have time to do it or simply put it off, eventually you will lose search engine rankings and organic web traffic, things that can drastically harm your bottom line.
A professional writer has the time and resources to create content for you and paying them for their time is much less expensive than using your own time and possibly wasting more of it than you anticipated.
Leave it to the Pros
You would not have a bad experience with a doctor and go start your own medical practice thinking you could do better. No, you would search for and find a more professional physician you could trust. You would not hire a cashier to be your accountant or a beginning guitar student to play music at your event.
In the same way, you shouldn’t hire an amateur to write your web content or blog. Nor should you try to do it yourself because your competition’s blog looks horrible and you feel like you could do better.
Your business needs a professional writer. Need help with your blog or link building content and efforts? Get more information here or send me an email at [email protected].
Troy is a Freelance writer, editor, and author who lives, works, and plays in Boise, Idaho where he hikes, cycles, skis, and basically enjoys the outdoor lifestyle of the Northwest. Troy writes about business, sports, GIS, Education, and more. He is most passionate about writing suspense thrillers, and his work can be found at https://www.amazon.com/Troy-Lambert/e/B005LL1QEC/