Those Who Can’t — Hire: When You Need Copy and Are Out of Ideas

I don’t want to be a writer.

For starters, Norman Mailer’s right. Writers sit in little rooms and write — they don’t have lifestyles. Unless you have Henry Miller’s or Ernest Hemingway’s balls, you’re bound to interact more with your computer or typewriter (if you’re “vintage” that way) than with people and lead an exciting life.

On the upside, there will be plenty of booze.

Still, I’d rather leave it up to those who actually love to do it and have the capacity for it, than attempt to do it myself. Because when you run your own business, you need every aspect of it presented in a way that appeals to your market.

Professionals Know Better

Sure. I can write the occasional blog post, the keyword here being “occasional.” The way Web users consume content these days, “occasional” doesn’t actually cut it anymore. If your blogs, social media pages, and websites are not as updated as your competitors’ are, you are likely to lose some traffic.

And one lost traffic could lead to more, and each one can only mean a lost opportunity.

But it isn’t just the frequency of posting or publishing content, whether it’s about your products or services. It’s also about the quality of your content, which has the tendency to take a dive when you’re busy trying to run your company. When you’re an entrepreneur, and just starting out, you don’t have the resources and the time to come up with engaging and interesting topics, let alone a full-blown article.

All the How-to’s and Top 10’s in the World

You will run out of things to say. When you do, you may resort to the old standby’s, like a how-to of whatever or a top 10 of something. Sure. They’re pretty useful enough for encouraging traffic to your sites, but they do get stale. And stale content just doesn’t inspire any kind of action from your visitors.

Spectacular content, on the other hand, one that’s unique and entertaining as well as informative, can maintain user attention long enough for them to do whatever it is you want them to do: subscribe, buy, inquire, and share.

Clear, succinct, and compelling content can help brands communicate effectively.

Invest in Quality

Admitting you’re not able to come up with “clear, succinct, and compelling content” is not a weakness. In fact, it’s recognizing weakness that makes you a strong business owner. When you already know that you can’t do one thing, then you can decide to hire people who can do “that thing” and do a bang up job.

So when you need words — and words fail you — hire a Web writer.