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nt Marketing & SEO for the St. Louis, MO Area
Have you Google’d any of these terms recently? If you have, then you know that page one is full of spammy national companies trying to create a market in almost every major city, St. Louis being one of them. So, what do you do if you’re trying to find a local company to help you with marketing or branding?
Well, you could hire me. I partner closely with a local graphic and web design agency to help my clients develop only the best brand to suit their unique needs, both with a written message and with a visual message.
So, whether you need a website writer, a content marketer, a copywriter, or the works, my team and I can help can meet your needs. As a website services agency owner, I understand the struggle of online marketing. It’s hard to keep up with the trends and find time run your business (not to mention see your family, eat, sleep, enjoy life).
At Sincerely Me, keeping up with trends in SEO content writing is my business. Keeping up with the latest information that ensures I’m using the most effective, most relevant approaches for my clients is what I do.
The Local STL Market
A great way to find a stellar SEO content marketer or copywriter is to ask other businesses for recommendations. Ask other businesses (ones who have a great website or brochures or whatever you’re looking for in particular) who they hired and most of the time I’m sure they’ll have a local contact for you. Call your area Chamber of Commerce or shoot them an email. Even if they don’t have such a person as a member, I’ll bet they have some contacts for you.
Before you get too deep in your search, make sure you know who you’re looking to hire. What’s that mean? It means know whether you need a content marketer, a copywriter, someone who does both, or something else entirely.
For example, I am a SEO content marketer, a marketing strategist, a copywriter, and a branding specialist. I have a wide range of experience and skills, but many individuals and small businesses have a very specific niche and offer only a few services.
So, how do you figure out what you need? Talk to a few agencies and freelancers in the industry. Ask them about their approach and recommendations after you’ve explained what you’d like to accomplish. See what they say and then decide.
Also, here’s a little bit about the difference between a copywriter and SEO content marketer …
The Difference Between Content Marketing & Copywriting
In my mind, I started off as a content writer. Why? Because I didn’t know much about being a copywriter and always stayed away from the term because I didn’t understand the differences between content marketing and copywriting. As I continued to learn and expand my knowledge base, I quickly figured out that I was both a content marketer and a copywriter.
What is a copywriter?
A copywriter is someone who writes copy. What’s that mean? Copy is words written to compel people to take action. It’s designed to draw people in. When I write content of any kind, I’m writing in the same way as a copywriter: I write to draw people in and entice potential customers to take action. I am a writer who guides people to connect with businesses.
Copywriting Benefits
If you’re trying to figure out if you should hire a SEO content writer or a copywriter, start at the beginning. What do you need to accomplish? Are you trying to secure the #1 spot on a Google search results page? Are you trying to influence people to buy? Or are you like most business owners who need a little of both?
I create content strategies that is focused on the best of both SEO content marketing and copywriting. How do I do that?
Let’s say the content strategy is for your business. What happens first is that we’ll talk about your target market. We’ll figure out where to find potential clients and how they will find you. Then we’ll make sure that we write copy that is appealing to your target market. We’ll also figure out how important ranking is to your business, and implement SEO to meet your goals.
If getting that top ranking spot is extremely important for your business, then I might recommend a website overhaul to best serve your SEO goals. Why? Because SEO is a top-to-bottom, back-to-front kind of thing: The backside of your website has to be in good shape, too, to achieve the best ranking organically.
What I make my top priority, though, is creating content that helps you connect with potential customers. So, not only do you make a sale, but you also secure a long-term customer (for more on how an emotional connection impacts your customer’s buying potential, take a look at this article from Harvard Business Review).
Website Content
As a copywriter and SEO content writer, I can help you build a site that will truly be an online home for your business. Not only will it tell your brand story, but it will also show potential customers why you do what you do the way you do it (I like to call this your approach and your USP—unique selling point).
Writing content that has a clear call to action is important. But, before we ask them to act, we’ll share some value. We’ll explain the features of your products or services and outline the benefits clearly, so they have no doubt what they’ll get out of the deal.
More Than a Copywriter
Wouldn’t it be great if building a website was a lot like that Field of Dreams movie? You know, if you build it, they will come. Unfortunately, it’s not.
Clicking publish on your website isn’t the last step in a successful marketing campaign: It’s merely one of the first steps. Next, you need to drive traffic to your site and secure some credible back-links. More traffic and back-links to your site means better page rank. How do you drive traffic and secure back-links? Through great content in the form of articles and posts (some of it is about connections to bloggers and other industry professionals, too, but you have to have a great article or post to offer up). I can help you find other websites who are in need of guest-posters who are also in a relevant industry, and then write a great post for you to go on that platform.
I can also help you secure some media attention. As a copywriter, I have extensive experience in writing and distributing press releases (as in every press release I’ve written for the St. Louis market in the last year has resulted in a TV appearance, a news article, or a radio interview for my clients).