You’ve been working hard to build your company image online and in local print publications.
You’ve established a website. You’ve worked hard to create a social media presence. You may even have a blog.
Maybe you’ve paid to have a special logo designed for your business or to have a custom website created.
Yet, something is wrong. You’re not getting the business that you should be getting from your marketing efforts. You know that customers are visiting your website, but they never seem to follow through and place an order.
Success seems to be just out of your reach . . .
Of course, there are a variety of things that could be wrong with your marketing effort.
One common problem that many companies overlook is the quality of the writing on their website and the quality of writing in their printed materials.
In the minds of many customers, sloppy writing equals sloppy work or sloppy products. They are hesitant to buy from a company whose website or printed marketing materials are not well-written.
Take a good hard look at your marketing materials and website.
- Are there some typos?
- Are there misspelled words?
- Are there sentences that could be worded more clearly?
If you found problems, fortunately there’s an easy fix — hire a professional writer to review your marketing materials before you publish them. He or she can find and correct errors as well as suggest more effective ways to communicate with your potential clients.
Are you still not convinced? Read Ten Reasons Why You Should Hire a Professional Writer to learn more about what a professional writer can do for your business.
For information about hiring WritingThoughts for your writing project, click here.
(Disclosure: I am a professional freelance writer and I do receive compensation for the writing projects that I do.)
20 responses so far ↓
1 Write Well on Your Business Blog or Web Site // Sep 20, 2009 at
[…] her blog post, Professional Writing – A Key Component to a Professional Image, gives valid suggestions on how to keep your customers/clients from thinking you do sloppy work […]
2 References for Business Success // Sep 20, 2009 at
[…] Professional Writing – A Key Component to a Professional Image […]
3 Keith Johnson // Sep 22, 2009 at
Thanks for this nice post, Laura. I agree with you that whatever one writes needs to be very well-written and without small grammatical or punctuation errors. Indeed, quality writing is an indicator as to the quality of service one will render as a writer or consultant, etc.
4 Laura Spencer // Sep 22, 2009 at
Thanks Keith!
Unfortunately, the Internet makes it too easy for mistake-ridden posts and poorly written articles to be published.
5 Jeanne Dininni // Sep 23, 2009 at
Laura,
One thing I’ve found particularly frustrating has been watching a client make clumsy changes to a well-written, professional quality piece before posting it to his/her website and thereby making it sound highly unprofessional. I’ve never understood how clients — who realized, at least initially, that they didn’t have the skills to create their website content themselves but needed to hire a professional writer — would then go ahead and take on the role of professional content editor (for which they are no better suited) and extensively (and awkwardly) revise that professionally written content!
It really does little to enhance their websites, as you’ve said, and provides a very poor impression of their businesses. Such clients would do far better to concentrate on their businesses and leave the writing — and revising — to the pros!
Thanks for listening to my rant! 😉
Jeanne
6 Laura Spencer // Sep 24, 2009 at
Thanks for stopping by Jeanne!
You do make a point. I always assumed it was because the website owner felt that they had to put something of themself in the article, but I really don’t know.
It is frustrating – especially if your name is on the piece.
7 Jeanne Dininni // Sep 25, 2009 at
Whatever it is that they’re trying to do, they should resist the urge! 🙂
Generally, the web copy I mentioned hasn’t contained my byline — thankfully! However, one website did embarrass me somewhat by awkwardly changing an article title — using very poor English — on a piece that did contain my byline, and one online and one print editor embarrassed me by destroying my carefully crafted leads on the two bylined pieces they’d published. The online editor eventually corrected the problem, but the print venue was a book, so once it had been published, it was already too late.
8 Laura Spencer // Sep 26, 2009 at
Hi Jeanne,
Yeah, I can be sensitive too when something contains my byline and is changed for the worse. I think that it eventually happens to all writers, though. Editors are human too . . .
9 Organize & Write Well // Sep 27, 2009 at
[…] her blog post, Professional Writing – A Key Component to a Professional Image, gives valid suggestions on how to keep your customers/clients from thinking you do sloppy work […]
10 Robin Hale // Oct 5, 2009 at
I use Demand Studios as a filler in between private client projects, so it can be a way to keep myself busy in the ‘in between times.’ An article for DS can easily be written in less than an hour…so if I really wanted to I could submit up to 6 per day pretty easily. $90 per day is about what a substitute teacher makes and I don’t have to deal with any stress. I like the freedom of freelancing, and although I charge my private clients more, I will say that Demand Studios doesn’t ask a person to move mountains with their content. They really like concise, to the point, relevant content which is not overly interesting, witty or challenging to write. Because of this, it’s kind of a no-brainer for me to write for them in my down time. Thanks for an excellent review of their site.
11 Matt Keegan // Oct 5, 2009 at
Jeanne makes a good point. You’ve completed your best work, forwarded to the client who makes changes on their end without running it past you.
Of course, if they are professional editors I’m okay with that. Most aren’t and many can do significant damage by making even small changes.
Worse, is when you’re name is on the byline and you “say” something contrary to what you believe or think!
12 Laura Spencer // Oct 6, 2009 at
Hi Matt!
I think your last point is the most worrisome. Especially if you’ve sold the copy to a site and have no way of correcting or changing it back. That’s definitely the down side of bylines.
Depending on what sort of agreement you have with your client they can do many things with your copy – including remove it entirely when you were trying to use it for your portfolio.
13 Words on a page » Blog Archive » A few links for the end of the week - A blog about writing, in its various forms // Dec 4, 2009 at
[…] Professional writing is a key component of a professional image […]
14 Mark // Jan 20, 2010 at
Hey, that’s some pretty good advice!
I was wondering if you’d like to provide some input for our site: http://www.careeradviceonline.co.uk/
If you would be willing to give a short description of what it is like to be in a writing career then we will consider including it on our ‘Job Profiles’ section with a link to this blog.
Many thanks.
15 JudyAnn Lorenz // Jan 20, 2010 at
These points about WRITING right to get writing jobs remind me of a blog post at The Writing Coach Blog (http://www.writingcoach.com/blog) a few days ago. Maya Smart has a great list of way to NOT get freelance writing work. Her post came from her own experience with people who were applying to work with her.
16 Laura Spencer // Jan 21, 2010 at
Thanks Mark!
Drop an email and let me know what you would like. 🙂
17 Should You Write Your Own Copy? : WritingThoughts // Apr 6, 2010 at
[…] your copy is professionally written, then your prospective clients will have a positive image of your business. However, if that copy is full of mistakes or looks sloppy, then that your prospects are left with […]
18 John Carlton // Oct 13, 2010 at
Good in establishing this post!
More and more idea that i get with this post. Professionalism will be the important right now as good image to the people as well as to the society. I agreed that the Quality is what company finding for
🙂
19 Laura Spencer // Oct 15, 2010 at
Thanks John!
Professionalism is very important and often your website’s copy is the first thing a client sees.
20 Claire // Feb 14, 2011 at
Great article, as a recruiter I see bad writing all the time that just portrays lack of professionalism. I’m then expected to decide if I want to hire that person.