3 Mistakes that Plague Coaches / Content Writers and How to Avoid Them
Original content is the lifeblood of the internet. It’s what makes the search engine bots happy, it’s what gives you good search engine rankings, and ultimately it’s what brings potential new clients to your door.
No doubt about it…creating lots of content is hard work and it’s a continual process. There are lots of right and wrong ways to create content – too many to list – but here are the three biggest downfalls to anyone who writes their own website content.
Not Writing Often Enough
Have you had this experience: You discover a new-to-you blog that looks interesting but the owner hasn’t published anything new in two years. This situation is a tad more forgivable if it’s a mom blog or something that was started as a hobby but if you discover a business blog that’s outdated, that hurts the owner’s credibility and makes the reader wonder if this person is still in business. Or how about being on an email list where the list owner disappeared for months or years and then tries to start up by emailing again, like nothing happened?
Solution: Create a writing schedule or outsource the writing tasks so you can avoid both of these scenarios. Life events can certainly affect how frequently someone communicates with their audience but if you’re in business to make a profit, you need a content writing plan.
Always Sounding Like a Sales Letter
In general, all your content should provide value to your readers and while there’s certainly a time and a place to use sales pages, not every blog post, email, or video should be a hard sell to your coaching programs or signature product.
Solution: Answer your readers’ questions. Address their fears. Discuss changes in your industry and how it may affect them. Talk about how much fun you had on your weekend retreat that you hosted with select clients. Give them a behind-the-scenes look at your office or how you record videos. Show them photos of your team members who keep the gears of your business running. These are all topics people can relate to and they will feel like you’re speaking directly to them, wanting to help them, instead of just wanting their money.
Not Editing or Proofreading Before Publishing
The world of internet writing is definitely more casual than the writing we learned back in elementary school. However, business people still need to be professional and sending emails, contracts, or publishing blog posts that sound like a 5thgrader wrote them or that have typos won’t garner you new business.
How do you feel when you see typos in your local newspaper or some other authoritative resource? Don’t you wonder why they don’t have a proofreader on the payroll? Does it make them look sloppy or less professional? Do you want that image for yourself?
Solution: Let your content sit for a few days before you go back to edit it. When you look at your content too long, your brain becomes blind to glaring mistakes and if you hit the publish button, your audience may think you look sloppy, too. Also, look into hiring a Virtual Assistant or proofreader on a monthly basis who can review all your communications so you don’t get bogged down with the task.
