What Your Writer Does to Give You Great Content

Writer at work

The Writing Process Behind Your Content

When your business asks for web content from a writer, that writer goes through a process to deliver content that delivers your brand, speaks to your target audience, and leads the reader to see your business as a way to fill a current need.

Once you and your writer discuss your content need, a good writer will dig deeper. If this is your first time working together the writer will want to know about your business, your brand, your ideal customer, why people buy from you and more. In other words, the writer wants to know as much as possible about your business in order to tailor unique content that speaks to potential customers. 

Your writer knows that not everyone is your customer. He or she wants to create content that targets your potential customer’s pain point and demonstrates how your business is the solution.

The Writer’s Process Revealed

Once you give your information and guidelines to your writer - a web page about us, a blog post about a product, or a series of articles - they don’t sit down for an hour and pound out something on the keyboard.

Good writers use a process of brainstorming, gathering ideas, research that includes competitors to see what they are doing or not doing, composing an outline, writing the sections, editing, checking for flow and one final read-through before they deliver the content.

Abhijeet Kumar, who calls himself The Lazy Writer, designed a flowchart of his process for delivering the first draft. 

And, that’s what someone who calls himself lazy does. Most writers use a similar process to create your content.

Consult with the Client

When you work with a new writer don’t be shy or withhold information about your business. Give your writer your website URL address, share any brochures, webinar links, or videos. Doing this gives your writer a feel for your brand message, your products or service, and the tone and language you use to communicate. 

Research

Even after you give your client your business information, the writer will do more research about your industry and your product or service. And they will look at your competitors to see what they do well and where the writing they do can create content your competitor may have overlooked. 

At this point, your writer may come back to you with specific questions. After research, they may want your guidance on what to emphasize on a web page or specifics about how your product or service is unique. Or, they may want a specific quote from you about the topic. Or, the specific call to action you want at the end of the article. 

Your writer will research and create a list of key phrases and related phrases to use, gather appropriate images, assemble quotes, find links on your website to include with appropriate anchor text,   

Outline

With the information at hand, then the writer creates an outline of what to cover in the article or web page with points to lead a reader toward taking action by leading them toward your business as the logical solution.

Andy Crestodina, of Orbit Media Studios, uses a written template for every article.  

THE ARTICLE

Headline <h1> (Apply these headline best practices)It’s long (10+ words), includes the target keyphrase and indicates the benefit of specifically

Formatting short paragraphs, headers, subheads, bullets and bolding

Image at every scroll depth if possible. Charts, diagrams and faces are ideal

Keyphrase usage four to six times in the body of the article

Related phrases use these throughout the article

Length 1500+ words for search optimized posts

Contributor quotes from relevant experts that add insights and have a good social following

Link from the post to a web page and to another article

Call to action for comments, to follow or subscribe

Writing Tips:  (great web copy isn’t written, it’s assembled!)

Write the “takeaway,” a single sentence summary

Write the outline, the headers

Fill in the blanks, but keep paragraphs short

Make it scannable with formatting (numbered lists, bullets, bold, internal linking ,etc.)

Keep it real. Use your own voice, avoid jargon, have fun!

Writing

Now your writer can start writing, keeping in mind the language suited to your customer. 

Using the outline, your writer will use formatting to help your reader skim through while at the same time organizing content for search engines to understand. 

When the article is finished, there’s still another step before you receive the first draft.

Editing

While writing can happen in a creative flow state, editing puts the final polish on the language. Aside from any inadvertent spelling or grammar errors, editing also reviews word usage, length of sentences, readability level, overused/repeated words, tone, and other elements to give you copy that flows and makes sense to your customers. 

If your industry is jargon-heavy, your writer will make sure to define any terms and spell out any abbreviations the first time.

Off to You 

Your writer then sends the first draft off to you for suggested edits or approval. Most writers include at least one revision in their fee. 

For longer pieces like ebooks or whitepapers, you and your writer may have a video chat with screen sharing to work on details. 

One Last Edit 

Your writer makes your suggested revisions then goes through the editing process one more time to check language, spelling, punctuation, and the like.

Finished Content

When you receive your finished content ready to publish on the web, your writer has worked through a process. From understanding your business and your customers to gathering information, focusing on key phrases, and outlining the entire message your writer works diligently before they write to your specifications. 

Hiring an experienced writer can help your business. They will do the background work that ends up speaking to your customers and demonstrating why they need you. 

If your business is ready for new content, get in touch today. Contact me. We’ll start the process for your great content.