Website 101: 5 Ways a Writing Agency Can Help Your Website Overhaul

WEBSITE 101: 5 WAYS A WRITING AGENCY CAN HELP YOUR WEBSITE OVERHAUL

“Your website is the window of your business. Keep it fresh, keep it exciting.”— Jay Conrad Levinson

In today’s business world, a company’s website is its calling card. A great website helps your business put its best foot forward. In contrast, a poor website creates a bad first impression.

There is no question that spending time and effort building a great website is worth it for your company’s reputation.

However, with time, websites can become outdated. Some websites may also need revamping to keep up with competitors. Keeping your website fresh is a fantastic way of giving customers a new perspective on your company’s classic value proposition.

Overhauling a website, however, is no easy task. In addition to the coding and web development involved, content is an important part of a website revamp.

In this article, we will discuss five ways a writing agency can help with a website overhaul and become a trusted partner for any company following a website revamp.

Why should a company overhaul its website?

Your company’s website is part of its overall brand image. As such, your website needs periodic updates and retooling.

Please note there is a difference between updating or retooling a website and a complete overhaul.

So, the question begs, why should your company overhaul its website?

There are three key reasons for a website overhaul:

1. The company has undergone a rebranding. On average, most businesses rebrand once every 7-10 years. Rebranding generally entails changing color schemes, updating logos, revamping slogans and mottos, or entering new markets. As a result, the company’s website has become obsolete. This situation requires an entire website overhaul. Content must reflect company changes along with visuals (layout, fonts, color schemes, images). This content includes company information, about us, product information, or branding features.
2. The company has undergone restructuring. Companies may undergo restructuring due to a merger, acquisition, or takeover. Their names, organizational structure, and overall image may change in such situations. Therefore, a website overhaul would be necessary to reflect these changes. In addition to image, content is a key element, especially if the company wants to turn over a new page with its customers.
3. The company has added new product lines or has entered new markets. When companies add new brands and product lines or enter new markets, they may find their current website is no longer relevant. Thus, a website overhaul would be necessary to reflect changes in the company’s products or markets. Companies must ensure their websites reflect the information customers need to know in order to purchase the company’s products and services.

On the whole, a website overhaul is advisable to keep a company’s image fresh. Keeping things fresh is particularly crucial when trying to keep up with competitors’ marketing campaigns.

What does a website overhaul involve?

There are four main aspects you must consider for a website overhaul:

1. Layout. Perhaps the most obvious sign of a website overhaul is its layout. The layout includes images, color schemes, and other visual aspects. A website must match a company’s branding. Therefore, everything needs to sync with the company’s changing image and philosophy.
2. Product listings or information. An e-commerce site would need to ensure its product listings incorporate changes in the brand’s overall image. A corporate site must ensure it contains appropriate product information, including links to sites where customers can purchase them.
3. Company information or history. A website overhaul is a great opportunity to update company information and history, including achievements, recognition, and awards. Therefore, the company must ensure to highlight this information without overly plugging it.
4. Content and materials. Like company history, a website’s materials and content must get a fresh coat of paint during an overhaul. Overhauling materials and content may include updating or starting a company blog, and adding product information, product materials or guides, e-books, whitepapers, press releases, or general company news. Consequently, content may entail producing brand-new content or updating existing content. Either way, it is worth noting that a website overhaul does not stop with building a new visual image. A good website overhaul must also include updating materials to reflect the company’s new direction.

Please bear in mind that web developers are not the only ones who intervene in a website overhaul.

Content creators also play a pivotal role in ensuring a successful website overhaul. After all, a great-looking site will not meet your expectations if it has little content, or its content does not match your company’s spirit and vision.

Five Ways a Writing Agency Can Help with a Website Overhaul

We can safely assume that web developers and programmers are the backbones of any successful website overhaul.

But what about content creators?

During a website overhaul, your retooled site requires visual images such as photographs and video.

Additionally, a revamped website requires written material.

You can tap your incumbent staff to produce the written materials needed to update your website. However, this approach may prove quite burdensome for your staff.

Also, you might feel that your website does not need brand-new material. Nevertheless, you may believe that existing material requires a revision.

The question is, who will undertake the revision process? Will it be company staff? Will the company hire an external consultant? Will your company assemble an in-house writing team?

All of these alternatives may seem plausible on the surface, but they come with their share of drawbacks.

The simplest way your company can overhaul its website content is by hiring a writing agency. A writing agency is a trusted business partner that ensures your content is as perfect as it can be.

Here are five ways in which a writing agency can help with your website overhaul:

1. Brand-new Marketing Content

When your company’s website needs a facelift, it may need new content to match the changes you’ve implemented throughout the site. For instance, a website revamp may include adding new products and services to the company catalog.

As such, your website will require additional content such as product descriptions, marketing copy, product listings, features, specifications, product manuals, guides, handbooks, and ads.

All of these materials can become quite time-consuming to produce, particularly if you choose to tap your current staff for the task.

Hiring a writing agency can easily alleviate the pressure on incumbent staff to produce new content. Moreover, a professional writing agency can produce high-quality content within a tight turnaround.

It ultimately makes sense to go with a professional writing agency that has a team of experienced writers. This team can turn out as much content as needed while respecting deadlines.

2. Workflow Management

A website overhaul generally entails a significant number of tasks. Therefore, workflow management is critical in ensuring that your website’s revamp does not encounter needless delays.

A common cause for delay stems from content production falling behind.

Web developers can put together a great-looking site on schedule.

However, the overall project may fall behind schedule if your site’s content is not ready simultaneously.

Delays generally occur when the company asks current staff members to produce content.

Moreover, an in-house writing team may lack specific skills and knowledge in certain areas.

Please remember that research and writing are often time-consuming tasks. When you ask full-time staff members to do this, you may encounter further delays in content delivery.

Hiring a writing agency greatly eases this situation. A writing agency can help companies’ workflow management because it is a team of writers working to ensure the tasks get done effectively.

Also, a writing agency works with the company’s subject matter experts to produce content according to the company’s directions and specifications.

Ultimately, a writing agency must get the job done more easily than a team of in-house writers or external consultants.

3. Originality and Creativity

We can easily overlook the importance of originality and creativity. Originality is a crucial element in ensuring your brand puts its best foot forward. Fresh and innovative material is key for you to stand out amid the sea of competitors.

Creativity is a vital aspect of successful marketing materials. Customers want edgy materials that resonate with their core values and perceptions. Therefore, a website overhaul must ensure that new and updated materials reflect the needs and wants of the company’s target customers.

That task may be tough for an in-house writing team to approach effectively.

Consequently, a writing agency can enlist its multi-faceted team to produce whatever content type the brand needs to reach its target audience.

4. Accuracy

Accuracy is an essential element in creating and updating your website’s content. In particular, fact-checking and researching information are crucial tasks. After all, non-factual or inaccurate information may cause irreparable damage to your brand’s reputation.

In some instances, painstaking research may be necessary to ensure your website’s content is fully accurate.

A professional writing agency enlists the services of professional writers. Professional writers must have solid research skills to produce accurate content.

Also, professional writing agencies have expert editors that can follow up to ensure all content contains vetted information.

These tasks may be too much for an in-house writing team to handle. A trusted writing agency can, therefore, pitch in to ensure the entire content verification process goes smoothly.

5. Updating, Editing, and Revising Existing Content

When your company already has a catalog of content, this content may require a thorough review, edit, and update to reflect your company’s new website.

Tapping in-house staff for these tasks may burden their busy schedules unnecessarily. Also, in-house writing teams may lack the experience needed to edit and update your existing content adequately.

Enter a professional writing agency.

A writing agency can tackle revisions and edits, especially when in-house teams have trouble coping with workloads.

Furthermore, a writing agency can put their research and writing skills to improving existing content. The outcome is fresh content based on current materials.

What materials can a writing agency produce?

Perhaps the right question should be: What materials can’t a writing agency produce?

The truth is that a professional writing agency can be quite capable of producing any content type. Here is a look at the content types a trusted writing agency can produce:

1. Marketing copy. Marketing copy is essential during a website to revamp. Moving forward, marketing copy is essential for regular ads, social media posts, and future website updates. Particularly, writing agencies specialized in marketing can vastly reduce the time needed to produce great marketing materials.
2. Technical documentation. Technical documentation such as manuals, handbooks, product guides, and user information may all require a revamp along with the site. As a result, a writing agency can work with subject matter experts to ensure the materials contain accurate information. The biggest advantage of hiring a writing agency lies in translating technical information into terms a general audience can easily understand. This task may prove challenging for experts.
3. Blogs. Most companies employ a company blog to share relevant information with their customers. However, a website overhaul may imply the need for a blog overhaul. A writing agency can easily tackle the tasks that come with starting a new blog, reviewing current materials, and adding new materials to an existing blog. A trusted writing agency can slash the time needed to produce and update content.
4. Whitepapers. A website overhaul is a great opportunity to publish new whitepapers or review existing ones. Whitepapers are extensive research documents that require considerable time and attention. As a result, a writing agency is an ideal choice to tackle a complex project like a whitepaper.
5. Video content. Video content is often the first to receive updates and revisions during a website overhaul. Also, companies may choose to produce brand-new video materials to reflect website and corporate changes. Nevertheless, someone has to produce scripts, dialogs, or information. Thus, a professional writing agency can work in tandem with video producers to get the materials out in time. By working as a team, the overall workflow management improves significantly.
6. E-books. A common marketing strategy is producing e-books. E-books offer customers and followers practical information they can use regarding the company’s products and services. However, someone must write or update the material. A professional writing agency can tackle everything from start to finish. Hiring a writing agency can easily reduce the time and effort needed to produce high-quality e-books.
7. FAQ. A FAQ page is one of the most effective marketing tools your website can possess. So, it must reflect your brand’s spirit while providing accurate information. A trusted writing agency can help organize information so that relevant and meaningful FAQ help your customers easily find the information they need about your products and services.

Overall, a writing agency can produce virtually anything your new website might need.

It pays to take the time to find the writing agency that best fits your needs and expectations. Please take the time to interview prospective agencies.

You will find that working with a professional writing agency is one of the best business decisions you will ever make.

A Final Reflection

Please bear in mind that some writing agencies specialize in specific topics. So, it pays to get in touch with such writing agencies, especially if your website requires highly detailed information.

Also, please ensure your prospective writing agency has writers with the background your company needs. Backgrounds may include employment experience, degrees, or research expertise.

Taking the time to vet your chosen writing agency thoroughly will help your content creation projects progress without a hitch!