003 How to Build a Website, Part 3 – Website Content Is King

Getting Your Website Content Together for Launch; Website Content
Growth Welcome back everybody to episode 003, which is part two of
a five-part series on building a website for your small business,
kicking off Web and BeyondCast. I'm Ray Sidney-Smith and if you
haven’t yet listened to episode 002, which is part one in this
series, with Ryan Cleland of W Street Design, I highly recommend
that you hop back an episode and check it out. I’m pleased to bring
the voices and intellect of this expert panel of content writing
specialists on the show today, to discuss getting your website
content together for launch and planning your website’s content
growth. (If you’re reading this in a podcast directory/app, please
visit http://webandbeyondcast.com/003 for clickable links and the
full show notes and transcript of this cast.) On this episode, we
discussed and answered the following questions: When approaching a
new website, what are some good suggestions for getting organized
to write your website content? What other collateral needs to be
written alongside the website content? What should you plan for
when it comes to your website growing? Blog? Resources? Podcast?
Etc.? What are the pitfalls you see website publishers make when
launching a small business website? And what solutions can you
suggest? What are the most common errors you see people make before
and just after their website launches? Should you write your
website content yourself? Should you hire a writer? If you hire a
writer or an agency to produce the website content, what
information should you be prepared to provide to them? What do
writers need to know to create your web copy? If you'd like to
discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down
below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post). If you have a
question about today's episode, please contact us here! In this
Cast Ray Sidney-Smith, Host Beth Lawton, Canoe Media Services Beth
Lawton is a recovering digital journalist who has worked in the
Midwest, Caribbean and the Washington, DC area, where she now
resides. She is now founder and owner of Canoe Media Services, a
content marketing firm that focuses on helping small and growing
businesses become better known, more liked and more trusted by
their current and potential customers. Her team handles social
media, blogging, email marketing and website redevelopment for
businesses in the DC area and beyond. She graduated from Washington
University in St. Louis and Northwestern University. Stacey Morris,
Focus Copywriter Stacey Morris , of Focus Copywriter, has been
in sales and marketing since she was 16 years old, when she started
traveling around the country demonstrating kitchen gadgets at state
fairs. She’s settled down since then, preferring to write copy and
content from a comfortable office. But a few of lessons stuck from
those years: It doesn't start with what you sell - it starts with
you. You've got about 7 seconds to get someone's attention before
they disappear...forever. And educating your prospect is about the
best investment you can make in building your base. That's where
content marketing comes in. But, she hasn’t fully left behind her
roots in direct sales. She still travel to a few fairs, coaching
salespeople and marketing new products. So she really means it when
she says helping small businesses grow has been a lifelong passion
for her. Tara M. Clapper, Express Writers Tara M. Clapper, Content
Development Specialist, Express Writers Tara is a prolific content
creator and an accomplished editor, having written and edited
thousands of blog posts, small business websites, and other inbound
marketing content. Tara enjoys blogging about quality copywriting,
content management, corporate culture, personal branding, and
networking. She runs an online community about women in geek
culture and keeps her storytelling skills sharp through LARP (live
action r...