What is content writing?

Content writing is very similar to copy-writing, but is generally used to describe the practice of creating unique text to be used on websites for the purpose of gaining larger numbers of traffic and/or boosting advertising profits. It is a growth industry, as many internet-based entrepreneurs and website owners are beginning to realise that search engines (and website visitors) favour unique and well researched content. For a more in depth explanation of the internet content writing industry, please have a read of one of my blog posts, ‘The Life of an Internet Content Writer‘.

What can content writing do for me?

If you’re the owner of a domain name or portfolio of names, chances are you are familiar with Google and other search engines and the way they send people to your site(s). Generally speaking, a search engine user will type in a key word or sentence - let’s use the example ’solar panels’ - and the search engine will generate a list of sites in response which it has calculated to fit best with the search term. Many search engines keep huge swathes of data listing related key words and subjects, so that typing in ’solar panels’ may also return results about ’solar energy’, ’solar hot water’, and ‘photovoltaic cells’. The sites that have the best combination of the main search term and the related key words are more likely to end up near the top of the search results list.

If you are a new business or have decided to take the plunge and create a website about your business, you will of course want to have your site come up as close to the top of the search results as possible within your area. A solar panel manufacturer would obviously prefer to have as many visitors to their site as possible in order to generate orders and profit. If you are a internet-based entrepreneur with a large portfolio of domain names, on the other hand, you will probably be relying on visitor numbers to your sites to generate advertisement revenue and to increase the overall worth of the domain for later resale.

Either way, your site (or sites) should have well written and completely unique content. The content should contain general key words as well as the more specialized ‘long-tail’ terms. In our example of ’solar panels’, it would be ideal to have a number of basic terms such as ‘renewable energy’, ‘cheap electricity’, ‘hot water heating’, and ‘energy from the sun’ intermingled with the more complex terms like ‘photovoltaic’, ‘crystalline silicon’ and ‘concentration photovoltaics’. General keywords are great at getting visitors who type in searches such as our example of ’solar panels’, whilst the more specialized keywords capture visitors looking for particular products or information. By casting a broad and well-designed umbrella, you catch the maximum number of visitors possible.

So why can’t you just write a string of keywords and terms and stick them at the bottom of your page? Or copy and paste text from other websites? This did happen in the past, but the search engines have wised up and made their spidering (website cataloguing) processes more extensive. Nowadays, sites with duplicate content (text that has been copy-and-pasted from elsewhere) or with strings of keywords will be relegated to the bottom of the search results lists or banned completely. The only solution is to have well-researched, well-written and completely unique content created specifically for your website.

My qualifications and background

- Bachelor of Arts (History, Media Studies) Honours - First Class
I have a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Media Studies (Audiences & Advertising) and History (British). I have just completed an Honours year for my BA which involved writing a 20,000 word thesis (’What did the Tudors mean to the Victorians? Creating an Historical Past in the Nineteenth Century’) and which saw me ranked second overall in my year.

- Ongoing studies in Architectural History
I have been accepted to study an MA Architectural History at the Bartlett School of the Built Environment at the University College of London, as well as an MSC Architecture at Edinburgh University, starting September 2008. Both are ranked within the top five schools for architecture within the UK and UCL itself is one of the top three universities within the UK in general.

- A background in sales, customer service and human resources
I worked for eight years in sales and customer service for several highly regarded retail brands before taking up a job with the Queensland State Government in the area of human resources. These jobs have taught me how to handle people and how to anticipate their needs and wants.

- A large portfolio of clients
I currently have a number of on-going clients (mostly internet-based entrepreneurs or holders of domain portfolios) with whom I enjoy friendly and successful business relationships. Over the last few months alone I have completed several hundred articles for these clients, ranging from topics on the environment, tourism, sports, food, health, finance, and business to product-based articles and complete re-writes of already completed websites.

My services

No two projects are the same, so it is difficult for me to list set services and prices. I encourage you to get in contact with me so that we can discuss the finer details of your project or proposal, which in turn will allow me to give you a quote and description of the services I am able to provide. Please note that the brief guide below is intended only as an example, and that the services I offer (and their related costs) may differ.

- Generation of content based on topic supplied by client or the name of a website.
I am able to write content from scratch (including the background research of keywords) providing I am supplied with a clear topic - like the ’solar panels’ example above - or a domain name (such as http://www.solarpanels1234.co.uk). If the topic is highly technical or the client requests a large word limit my research costs increase - this is because I need to spend more time finding and organizing facts and keywords prior to actually writing the content.

- Re-writes of already generated website content.
I am able to rewrite or update content that has already been generated for a website. The need for rewrites arises when a website is translated from another language into English (and the grammar and vocabulary need correcting) or when a topic needs modernizing or refreshing with new information.

- Rates: as a general guide I work to the rate of £15 (GBP) per 500 words of unique content written. This of course depends on the topic and the size of the job at hand. For on-going clients or large jobs I am happy to offer a discount, negotiable with the client once the finer details of the project have been discussed.

Interested? Want to know more? Contact me.