Writing Content

It is no surprise that I don't like writing content.

Next to cold calling, writing is one of my most dreaded things.

This reaction is due to a lifetime dedicated to communicating "visually."

I would rather illustrate the cover of a book than to actually read the book. (Of course you can't illustrate the book without reading it.)

But like cold calling, copy writing is a necessary business evil.

If I plan to succeed with my "professional graphic design studio"

I must advertise it and promote my business any way I can.

In the last few months, I have seen how effective blogging and press release writing has dramatically increased traffic to my site, resulting in leads that turn into customers.

So I see that writing content for these mediums is a must. And, I am determined to get over the hump and be able to write quality content that helps folks become aware of my design studio.

I came across an article today that has inspired me on the subject of content writing.

Its notes how "Screenwriters" go about writing a screen play. The author of the article points out the similarities of the screenwriting process to the goals of effective marketing campaigns for businesses.

I have to say I am inspired by the topics and will put into play some of the ideas.

Check out the article here and let me know your thoughts on the topic...

http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Dr%20Mark-Yates-6101/film-writing-70229.php

SEO Write Content and forget about it

One of the biggest challenges a client faces when building a website is content.

We usually get the entire site designed programmed and ready to launch before the content is fully developed. I have realized this dilemma first hand, and I agree that creating content is like pulling teeth. But the problem is, that once we "clients/and myself" finally get the content together we add it to the site launch it and forget about it. Whew I am glad that's over, now where are my customers, and or why can't I show up on the first page of my key search terms?

There are two issues with this;

1) Google loves fresh content, content content content.

The more google crawls your site and sees that content is constantly being updated it will rank you higher. But as soon as you stop adding this content you will begin to fall.

I personally have an issue with this, because I am a graphic designer who doesn't want a tremendous amount of content on my website cluttering up my clean design. In addition to the look and feel of a lot of content I am a designer not a writer. I have plenty of opinions and plenty of things to say about topics, but usually don't know how to craft the sentences the way I'd like. But I can't let that stop me from adding new content.

My solution has been maintaining this blog. By having this blog I can add as much content as possible, and although this is not my corporate site, it's not hard to find my corporate site if you're in the market for professional graphic design services. This way I can have the best of both worlds a ton of content while my corp site is clean with a minimalist design.

I have seen this theory work, I am beginning to show up on some great key phrases that I would never have dreamed of.

2) the desired key phrase is an issue.

I would love to show up on the first page in position one for the single key phrase "design" but that is probably never going to happen. But I am beginning to show up for "professional graphic design studio" "professional graphic designer" and "professional graphic design"

Which is really cool for me, and although I don't have the phone ringing off the hook, I am getting traffic from this key phrase.

The greatest tool to help determine what phrases are working is through google's, webmaster tools, it shows your most prominent hey-phrases associated with your content, and the position reports are pretty close.

In addition I love google analytics and goingup.com,

I have actually developed a google doc that has a unique set of parameters and tools I use to track data that is important for my website. I would love to share this document with anyone who is interested just ask.

So the take away to this post, is write content and don't stop, don't let your fear of bad grammar stop you, and if it competes too much with the look and feel of your site create a blog, and instead of checking your desired key-phrase see which phrases are showing up.

As a follow up to this discussion please read this press release from dzine.

They point out that while sprinkling your content with keywords can help with your search engine ranking it could back fire from your actual visitors.

http://www.pr-inside.com/good-content-is-key-to-a-r1478218.htm

Content is King

I can't believe I haven't started a post on copywriting.

It's one of the biggest struggles I face as a designer.

I can make anything look good, I believe "anything."

But design can't stand alone, it needs content that helps motivate or inspire the reader, and is the backbone to the "there there."

Good design can stop someone in their tracks saying "Hey check me out!"

But if I stop and check out your stuff and you don't repay me by giving me some relevant copy that I will find useful, you'll lose me as quickly as your got me.

Hence my desire and focus on how to write better copy and content, which for a designer that uses a completely different element of his brain, this quest is one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced.

Here's an article that goes into great detail as to why content is king as much now as it ever was.

http://www.blogtrepreneur.com/2009/09/11/why-content-is-king-is-even-truer-today/