Writing about your services
I know that writing about your services and what you offer can sometimes be as difficult as writing about yourself. You know your skills inside and out. You know how you work and what you have to share…but when it comes to explaining it online, it just doesn’t seem quite so easy.
To help you clearly explain all that you have to offer, I have come up with five top tips.
Take a read and let me know what you think!
1) Explain exactly what you do
It is one of those things again where you really have to go back to basics. You might know who is visiting your website and what background they have. You will probably have an ideal client and a target audience in mind, but you still need to make sure that you are clearly stating exactly what you do and what your services entail.
Think carefully about how you are going to display this information too and the headings you can offer to make sure it is easy to understand.
I know that a lot of people find it difficult to narrow down their services to a specific list. Taking myself as an example…it is true that I will consider pretty much any copywriting, editing or content strategy project, however saying just that isn’t always overly helpful (for search engine optimisation reasons, if nothing else). Equally, I also can’t list every single type of copy or content that I am happy to work on, without the list becoming ridiculously long. Therefore, you need to find that magic happy medium. You need to list the services which you are most expertin, that are profitable and that you enjoy doing…and focus on these.
However, this does not mean that you can’t state something like, ‘If you have specific requirements not listed here, please get in touch’ or along those lines.
Importantly, highlight your unique selling points…what will make your service stand out from others’ who are similar to yours.
2) Using keywords
My golden rule is to always put well-written content ahead of search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques, but they do go hand in hand if you are writing well and concentrating on the role of your website and how people will find it.
As we all know, most websites are found via a search engine, so when writing up your services think about the words people would type into the ‘search box’, which may lead to your services appearing in the results. It is great to have fancy or unique names for your services, whether it is support, programmes, training or courses, but you need to make sure you are including those all important ‘plain English’ words and strings that people search with.
Using myself as an example – I do offer copywriting services…but a little research reveals that ‘writing content’, ‘creating content’ and even ‘writing for business’ are more common searches. Furthermore, ‘content’, ‘text’ and ‘words’ are a lot more common than ‘copy’, so I have to be aware of this when I am explaining my services.
3) Consider categories
If you run a service-based business, then you are likely to offer a number of services or packages. Perhaps not as many as a product-based business, but in a similar way to how a product-based business may have lots of categories and ways to group the products together (such as ‘ladies, men, children’ or ‘Halloween, Christmas, Easter’), you have to consider if your website visitor would expect to find certain services grouped together.
Equally, think about how you can ‘up sell’ which means informing clients of further services when perhaps they are only interested in one, or at least, focussed on one service. It is really important to offer links within your website to your different Services and their pages (if you have more than one) and to explain how different services or packages can complement each other.
4) Deciding on actions
As with most of your content on your website, you need to decide what exactly you want your website visitors to do. If you have a product then you are likely to want them to purchase it! It seems obvious to have a ‘Buy now’ or ‘Add to cart’ type button. However, with so many service websites I see people actually forget to tell their visitors what to do next. Decide on the goal and communicate it. It might be just to get potential clients to get in touch. It might be that you actually want them to book an appointment with you. Whatever it is, make it clear, obvious and easy to do!
Importantly, make sure your contact details are really easy to locate and advertised across your site.
5) State your prices
I know this will be a controversial one…and I know a lot of people really worry about publishing their prices, especially as the cost of services can really vary depending of many variables, including the wants, needs and requirements of a company, as well as their size.
However, I also think you need to offer some guidance. Give a ‘from £XXX’ price, if necessary, but certainly be clear on price if you have specific packages or course.
A lot of decisions are based around price. Most people already have a budget in mind when choosing a service. If you make people have to contact you to find out, then that is giving them an extra step to go through when deciding whether to use you or not. If they click back and pick the next search result and your competitor offers a price then they will make a decision much easier and more quickly.
I believe it also helps you to prevent time wasters. If you are clear about what you offer and for what price, then those who get in touch and actually make the initial enquiry are probably pretty committed to using your services, because they know exactly what they are getting and the likely cost.
Check your Services page today
So, is your Services page the best it can be? Does it truly explain what you do and in a clear way? Is it up-to-date and accurate? If not, go and edit it now…you just don’t know how many potential clients you may have already lost!
Do get in touch if you want me to give you some feedback – I am very happy to take a look.