Do you have a website? Or, at least, social media accounts promoting your business? Then it’s a pretty good bet you have words on all those mediums talking about the products you sell or the services you provide, right? I could end this blog post right there, with a point well made but then that kind of goes against my own advice about copywriting so I guess I better keep talking! So here are three reasons why copywriting is important for your business.
Copywriting says what your images can’t
You’ve probably heard of that saying: ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ and, in many cases, that can be very true. As a photographer, I definitely agree with that sentiment. That being said, images can’t convey every piece of information you want to impart to your website visitors.
If you’re selling a product, you’ll want potential customers to know important information about it – perhaps what it is, what it does, what it’s made from and how much it is. If you’re selling a service, again you’ll want to convey details of what those services are. But there’s more too – as a small business owner, the chances are you have your own very special niche. Relaying that information and sharing who you are is just as important as what you’re selling.
Your writing style, or ‘voice’, has as much to say as your images
Small businesses are all about personality. Your business is not a faceless corporation run by a board of nameless suits. Your business is you. Your choice of words, your tone and, ultimately, your copy, all go a long way to showing this personality to your clients – past, present and future. By sharing your personality with your viewers, you do this awesome thing of speaking directly to your ideal clients. And just like meeting someone who ‘gets you’ in real life, they will keep coming back, again and again, to work with you.
Blog posts keep your content fresh
Once all your words on your regular website pages are finalised and typed out, the chances are you’ll leave them just as they are for the foreseeable future. Well, that’s obviously great, but one of the things search engines love is fresh content.
The only way to achieve that on a regular basis is with a blog and regular blog posts. I’ll talk more about blogging in another post but if you don’t have a blog now, seriously consider putting one in place. It’s a great way to write about new techniques, share news about your business and write advice posts that will draw readers (and potential new clients!) in.
Obviously, as a photographer and a copywriter, I’m an advocate for both forms of content on your website and I do offer small business branding shoots which you can find out about here. But words hold great sway – they can be persuasive and compelling, they can be informative, fun and full of personality so don’t be afraid of getting words onto your website. And if you find you really don’t know what to say, come and talk to me and let’s get those words working for you!