In today’s world, an online presence is essential for growing a business of any kind whether it be for a restaurant, clothing boutique, or personal brand. 

According to statistics, 81% of customers conduct research online before making a purchase. That means when people are looking for new shoes or a place to grab lunch, they’re going online to compare their options. 

Your customers are looking for you online, and hiring a copywriter will help them find you. 

But what does a copywriter do and how can they help you grow your small business?

What Does a Copywriter Do?

A copywriter is a professional writer that produces written content for online blogs, articles, email newsletters, web page copy, and more. A good copywriter will create content that not only informs your readers but entices them to come back for more. 

Essentially, copywriting is getting people to act, whether that be by making a purchase, subscribing to your email newsletter, or following you on social media. Good copy is intended to drive customer engagement, therefore driving sales and conversion rates. 

How Can a Copywriter Help Grow Your Small Business?

You’re a small business owner and you’ve taken the first step to growing your business online; you’ve made a website. Congratulations!

As of 2020, more than one-third of American small businesses didn’t have a website.That puts you ahead of the game and the competition. 

Now that you’ve got your website up and running, your customers can find you online, see what you have to offer and make a purchase. At least, you hope so. 

It takes more than simply designing a nice-looking website to grow an online presence and make more sales. Growing your online presence takes work, a lot of which a good copywriter will do for you.

Below are 6 ways a copywriter can help establish your online presence and grow your small business.

1. Copywriters Create Quality Content

When customers are searching for, say, a local technician to do repair work on their air-conditioning unit, they’re going to search online for the best technician near them. Most likely, there will be several search results that offer the same services. 

Let’s say they click on the first search result. They’re reading the website’s content searching for more info and notice a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes. Not only that, but the information isn’t structured properly making it difficult to understand. 

Why is this a turn-off to a potential customer?

Well, quite plainly, poor written content looks dumb and unprofessional. If a customer is willing to pay you a lot of money for a product or service, they want to be able to trust you. Why should they trust the professionalism of a company that can’t be bothered to spell-check or form cohesive sentences?

A professional copywriter tasked with content writing for a website will ensure error-proof copy that makes you and your company look more professional. 

Nowadays, your website is your first impression to potential customers. You know what they say about first impressions? You only get one.

That’s right. A wonky sentence or confusing description is enough to make a customer leave your website and never come back. Ensuring your web copy is polished and professional is vital to making a good first impression on your customers. 

2. Copywriting Improves Ranking in Search Engines

Okay, now you have a website with a beautiful, professional landing page, but you still haven’t seen any increases in sales. When you take a look at your website analytics, you see that traffic to your site is, well, not what you’d hoped for. 

You know the odds of you making more sales are much greater with more traffic to your website. The question is, how do you increase traffic to your website?

There are millions of websites and businesses online selling exactly what you’re selling. The most successful appear in the top search results when you Google keywords related to your product or business. 

Statistics show that most people don’t click on links beyond the first five links that show up in search results.  If you want to increase traffic to your website, and improve your chances of getting noticed, you need to optimize your website for search engines (SEO). 

As a writer for website content, a good copywriter will have extensive knowledge of SEO and optimize their content to help you rank higher in search results. Two ways a copywriter can help you do this is by optimizing your web pages and creating regular content for your business through a blog. 

Producing content writing for a website increases your presence online and improves your chances of getting seen by potential customers. The better your SEO is, the more traffic you’ll get to your website and the higher you’ll move up in search results. 

3. Copywriters Build Authority for Your Business

When customers are researching a service or product, they want to know as much as possible about what they’re going to spend money on. 

For example, if someone is researching gluten-free cookie brands, a list of ingredients is important information they’ll likely want to know. A gluten-free cookie company should include that information on their website along with other information a buyer may be interested in, such as their baking practices. 

A buyer with a severe allergy to gluten may want to be reassured that cookies they buy have not in any way been cross contaminated with gluten. A web page or blog post describing the cookie company’s careful baking methods would provide this information and likely encourage the customer to place an order. 

Hiring a copywriter for website content helps establish authority for your brand or business. A good copywriter will generate useful content your target audience is looking for when considering your product or service. 

The more useful content your website provides, the more you appear as an authority in your field. The more authoritative your business or brand’s presence is online, the more likely a customer will choose to purchase from you. 

Think about it. Which cookie brand are you more likely to purchase from online? The one that provides info on their ingredients, baking methods, and nutrition content, or the one with little more than an image of a cookie box and a “buy now” button? 

 4. Copywriters Establish a Voice for Your Brand

Something marketers have understood for a long time is that people buy based on emotion. In fact, 95% of purchases are due to a customer feeling an emotional attachment to a product or brand. 

People like to know the who, what, and why before they make a purchase. Not only do people want to know what they are spending their money on, they want to know why they are spending it and who it’s going to. 

Today, there are endless options available to us online. The way you stand out from the sea of millions of similar businesses and brands competing for the same customers is by forming an emotional attachment with them. 

How do you do that? By establishing your voice and telling your own unique story. 

For example, if you are a small family shoe business started by your immigrant grandparents, that’s your unique story. Sharing your story may attract customers who share a similar story or feel empathetic to yours. 

Now, instead of purchasing the same pair of shoes from a larger shoe retailer, they have decided to give their money to a business they connect with. They feel better about their purchase knowing their money is going to someone they know, or feel as if they know. 

Let’s say you are a makeup brand that uses only natural, non-toxic ingredients that haven’t been tested on animals. Your brand was founded on the principle that makeup should be safe and cruelty free.

You want your customers to know this because there are many people who share these same values. Hiring a writer for website content that clearly explains your values and why you do what you do helps shoppers in their purchase decision making. 

Copywriters can help you articulate your story and give your brand a voice that resonates with customers, which makes them more willing to buy from you over your competitors. 

5. Copywriters Offer an Outside Perspective

Your business is your baby and to you, it’s perfect. You see the value in what you offer, which makes you think other people will too. Sometimes you’re right but sometimes, you’re wrong. 

Just because you see value in what you have to offer, doesn’t necessarily mean others will.  A copywriter looks at your product or service from an outside perspective. They see your product or service differently than you, which means they can offer valuable insight. 

Their job is to sell your product or service. A good copywriter will identify the attributes or details of your business they think are most sales worthy. What they find sales worthy about your business may be different than what you think is sales worthy. 

For example, let’s say you sell women’s sandals made from 100% recycled material. You might think that you’re biggest selling point is that your product is sustainable. So, far you’ve only been gearing your marketing efforts toward customers interested in sustainability. 

While this is an obvious and relevant target market to advertise to, you could be missing out on a broader audience. A copywriter may come in and discover that not only are your sandals eco-friendly, but they are also waterproof and slip resistant. 

Now, you have a new marketing angle that sets you apart from other eco-friendly shoe brands. Had you not hired a copywriter, you may have not ever considered advertising your sandal’s non-slip and waterproof qualities. 

Having a second set of eyes that is emotionally detached from your business can help you determine both the pitfalls in your business model as well as the positives that you may have missed. 

A good copywriter will work with you to determine your business’s biggest selling points and where you may or may not fall short in your business model. 

6. Copywriters Allow You More Time To Focus on Your Business

Building a business and running that business day-to-day is hard work and time consuming. Managing a website, social media account, and writing promotional content for your business is necessary but can be a full-time job. 

Even if you are a great writer and could write your own blog posts or social media content, do you have the time to? As a business owner, there are many other aspects of your business that need your attention. 

Professional copywriters do the grunt work for you so that you can focus on what you love, building your business. 

Need a Copywriter for Your Small Business?

Copywriting is an invaluable tool for small businesses. It can help you capture the attention of new customers, build credibility and trust with your existing ones, and ultimately increase your revenues.

A professional copywriter is a great asset to have when it comes to developing content that resonates with your target audience. By hiring one, you can increase visibility and engagement with your brand by creating compelling content that stands out from the competition.

Not only that, but they can also help you save time so you can focus on other aspects of your business. Looking for a professional copywriter for your small business? 

Contact me today to find out how I can help you grow your business, one blogpost at a time.