A DIY Guide on writing for your business with Heather McGarrigle
On the 3rd of April, we had the pleasure of having our fifth Womenfolk event ‘A DIY guide on writing for your business’ facilitated by Heather McGarrigle
In this workshop, Heather covered:
How to incorporate content creation and publishing into your working life by creating a content plan and calendar, batching content, and scheduling content
How to decide what social media platforms to use for your creative business
How to structure and write content for your website
How to pick topics/decide what to write about for blogs, newsletters and social content - how to look at your business as a journalist to 'find the stories'; but also how to look at your business like a marketer and create content for every aspect of the customer journey.
Finding your voice - creating content that sounds like you while maintaining the quality of content: the balance between authenticity
Making your content go the extra mile - basically tips and good practice on how to repurpose content that you create
This project is kindly funded by Ulster Bank.
This project is brought to you by Blick Shared Studios & Creating A Space.
Video 1 - Business background of Heather McGarrigle
In this video, Heather walks us through her business journey on how she built her business and the different routes she has taken to get where she is now.
Video 2 - Website Content: Homepage
In this video, Heather talks about how to create content for your website. When creating a website, it’s important to have the following pages.
Homepage
About ( About me/us)
Services / Products / What you offer
Contact page
Heather goes into more detail on what you should cover in your Homepage. She talks about treating your website like a shop, and how you would want to interact with your customers.
Summarize what you do/offer/sell
Sell it - it’s your USP ( unique selling point)
Call to action - where next?
Video 3 - Keyword Research
In this video, Heather talks about the importance of keyword research. It is a great tool to use to help you write your content, but also how to draw customers to your website.
Some things to think about
What are your customers googling?
Your social or advertising CTA (call to action)
Referrals, reviews, backlinks - what made them click on your website?
Video 4 - What defines your voice?
In this video, Heather talks about how there are different ways to write. She emphasises that writing as you speak is quite effective, as it can reflect your brand identity and expressing who you are as a brand.
Video 5 - Website Content: About Page
In this video, Heather talks about what to include on your ‘about’ page on your website.
About Page
The story of your business
Meet the person/people behind the business ( tell one big story or separate)
The reader is interested - these pages can be lengthy which is good for SEO
Remember the call to action - encourage people to go somewhere else on your website
Video 6 - Website Content: Services
In this video, Heather covers what is important to include on your services page.
FAB Content: Benefits, Advantages & features - you are focusing on the problem that you are solving for your customers or providing something that they need.
Outline your process - what can your customer expect from you, what is the exact process on how you will be handling their order with you?
Options for showing pricing/fees - Signature service ( define an example you can do, as an example package, giving the customer an idea of what they may or may not need), Describe affordability ( is it affordable for start-ups with small budgets? describe who it would work for), Define your variables ( explain how you have reached your pricing).
Testimonials & Case Studies - telling the story of a successful customer journey ( you could break it into three sections. The problem the customer had, the solution you offered them and the results of how they were better off.)
Portfolio/examples of work - links to work on customer websites
Call to action - send them to the contact page
Video 7 - Website Content: Products
In this video, Heather talks about what content to include on your ‘products’ page on your website.
Clear categories and descriptions - all variations including colour and size
How to commission - assume nothing, spell it out and make it easy for customers to do this
Reviews, testimonials and customer stories
Call To Action
Video 8 - Website Content: Contact Page
In this video, Heather shares the important content to put on your ‘contact page’.
Different reasons for wanting contact - booking a call / making an order, requesting more information, query or question, complaint or praise
Contact forms - name, email and message box
FAQs (frequently asked questions) can be content ideas
Video 9 - Core Content Method
In this video, Heather talks about a method she has created for creating content for your business.
One ‘chunky’ piece of content - blog, videos, live stream, podcast
Repurposed into multiple pieces of microcontent - promo posts for core content, quotes, infographics, short from videos eg. reels, stories, TikTok
Adding to Newsletter and send to the mailing list
Video 10 - Blogging
In this video, Heather is talking about the importance of blogging for your business.
Key Content Pillars
Educate, Inform, Entertain, Inspire & Affect (emotion)
Topic Ideas:
Behind the scenes, / show your process / meet the team
Industry News
Customer FAQs
Jargon explainer or common misconceptions
Checklists or ‘Top 10’
Myth-busting
Seasonal eg. Christmas gift guide, summer holiday activities
Video 11 - Social Media Platforms
In this video, Heather talks about choosing the right platform to post your content on.
Research - content - platform
Video 12 - Plan, Batch, Schedule
In this video, Heather talks about how to create content in advance and how to fit it into your busy schedule.
Plan
2-4 Weeks in advance
Start with core content - how many per month ( 1 is a good start), topics, when to publish
Repeat for ‘Satiltate content’ - smaller pieces of content for social media
Put publish dates on to a calendar
Put deadlines for your checklist items on the calendar
Batch
Designate content creation days and put them on the calendar
Batch similar tasks together eg. research, photography, phone calls
Schedule
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Thank you for watching this online workshop, we hope you were able to get the value of it and feel confident in creating content for your creative business.