Frequently Asked Questions

Web Content & Web Writing FAQs

Here’s a detailed writing services FAQs about my work and how I can super-charge your website content.

Web Writing Tip: Many colleges and universities offer web writing classes. Check with your local community college first to get the best tuition rates.

Why should I hire a professional writer for my website?

There are several reasons to hire a professional writer with web content credentials to work on your website.

We bring a true love of the written word and care about what we produce.
We understand that writing for the web requires certain skills like SEO. It is not the same as writing a report, script, or book.
We always look for ways that maximize the impact of the content we produce for our clients.
We understand legal restrictions regarding copyrights, disclaimers, and privacy – and when we need to consult experts.

Hiring a professional writer for your website is a legitimate investment in your business and a recognized expense that can be offset when you file your taxes. TimeStorm Communications is an LLC established under the rules of the State of Arizona and has a separate tax ID for this purpose. This ID is on every invoice we send.

What is writing for the web?

Writing for the web is a skill and is different from writing an essay or article. Website content is often skimmed, so it’s important to know how to attract readers’ attention. Writers who specialize in the web use eye-catching hooks like headers, subheaders, and callouts with keywords that get a reader’s attention.

There is so much content out on the web that search engines need clues to tell them what will answer a search query. Again, this is where someone skilled in providing web content stands out. A well-crafted web page can answer more specific queries typed into a search engine. Search engines also look for signs of authority, which include proper grammar, punctuation, and good content organization

What constitutes high-quality website content?

High-quality content is above all else, useful and accurate content. It should be up-to-date, even if it’s evergreen – (content that’s not likely to go out of date and have a long shelf life.

Content should also be user-friendly, free of jargon and slang. If they must be used for effect or to demonstrate authority, it’s essential to define them for audiences who might not have a highly technical background. The same goes for acronyms. In my own family, an alma mater is ASU, or Appalachian State University. Another graduated from Arizona State University.

How do you organize website content?

I organize top-down, starting with homepage content that tells a visitor what the site is about and what’s inside.

The web forces writers to be more precise and economical with words. Here’s how I organize web content:

I write in short, three- to four-sentence paragraphs with plenty of space in between them
I emphasize main concepts in page titles, H1/H2 headers, and callouts
I use bullet points

Types of Writing Services FAQs

Writing Services Tip: Blogs are the quickest way to add fresh, relevant content to a website.

Why are blogs important?

Blogs are the most common way to add fresh new content to a website. Search engines often give more attention and higher SERP placement to websites with new content added on a more or less regular schedule.

More importantly, blogs offer a good reason for visitors to return to your website over and over again. Because they’re less formal and can be a bit more freewheeling than formal articles, white papers, and even the rest of a website, they’re often the most memorable part of a website for most visitors. People can sign up to be notified when a new blog is posted.

Some readers can get so engaged with certain blogs that they’ll comment on them and start conversations with the writer and with each other. Those blogs often get shared through social media, where more people may become interested in joining the conversation. Search engines notice when blogs get this kind of traction. Read more about my blogging services.

How can newsletters help me grow my business?

Newsletters are official communications actively sent to customers and are excellent reminders that the company or individual behind them remains active and ready to serve patients or clients. They are sent only to readers who have given permission to be emailed, either because they have emailed in the past or signed up through the website.

Many email services, including the one I use (ConstantContact) have built-in tools that let users schedule when emails go out, as well as craft and schedule links about the newsletter on social media sites. In addition, subscribers can share your newsletters with others – another great way to grow the reader list.

How do whitepapers create prospects?

White papers are documents that demonstrate the author’s expertise in a specific area. They typically delve into a specific problem and analyze ways to address it. They can take a technical, how-to approach, or a more persuasive one to spread an idea.

White papers often go into a lot of detail and can be quite lengthy depending on the topic. If they are well-received in the appropriate industry, they can help the author establish credibility and authority. They provide a lot of information that can be repurposed into other formats for presentations, journal articles, and even blogs dedicated to the subject.

Today, most white papers are electronic documents that can be complementary downloads or sold for their technical expertise.

What is a case study?

A case study is an extensive review of a specific project. Companies use them as marketing tools to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach used.

In the government and academic world, case studies are more often used to identify what worked, or didn’t work, and why.

Search Engine Optimization FAQs

SEO Tip: a website map is very helpful to people navigating large sites and are crawled by search engine bots.

What is SEO, and how do you work it into content?

SEO (search engine optimization) is a technique that helps your content get discovered and ranked by search engines like Google. Good SEO practices help your site appear as high as possible in search engine results pages (SERPs), so people can find you when they’re looking for businesses like yours. Otherwise, even the best content can get lost in the shuffle.

Why is it important to focus on optimizing a website for search engines?

Optimizing a website makes it easier for search engines to discover a website and evaluate how useful it is for a particular search query.

Proper use of SEO, keywords, and metadata, plus well-written and well-organized content combine to attract attention from bots that crawl the internet for information. These bots look for clues to help them evaluate sources they identify and whether they pass muster to place in a SERP.

What impact does SEO have on website traffic?

The more SEO techniques used, the more traffic a website or blog can attract – when it’s part of an overall effort to create well-written content.

Consistency is also important. When more pages on a site are optimized, the site is likely to attract more traffic as well as longer visits. This lowers a search engine value called bounce rate, which measures single-page visits versus multi-page visits. A major goal for websites is to lower its bounce rate and keep it low.

For those who like math, the bounce rate calculation X/Y is where X = the number of single-age visits and Y= total number of site visits.

What are keywords?

Keywords are essential words and phrases identified by specialists that search engines typically look for when they are answering a query. They are used in written content and in metadata.

I place keywords or close synonyms into page titles and headers, and sprinkle them throughout the content. I also use them in metadata. I use tools like Yoast that make sure I’m not keyword stuffing and that I’m following best practices for placement.

What is metadata?

Metadata is data about data! It’s used on websites to speak directly to search engines about data it can’t see, such as images, and provides descriptions search engines can use. Here are a few examples of where metadata can strengthen SEO:

Alt content, also called alt text, describes images to search engines. Without it, they only see code. Alt content should include keywords to further boost SEO. Alt content can also be read out loud on screen readers used by people with low vision. This also tells search engines that you have taken steps to make your website more accessible and delivers another SEO boost for your website.
Snippets are descriptions of web pages displayed on search engine result pages (SERPS) after a search has been completed. Most search engines default to using the first couple of sentences or a certain number of characters. Writing your own snippets ensures that SERPs display what you want them to, and in full sentences.

How can you ensure that a website is seen as a valuable resource by potential patients or clients?

It’s important to keep a target audience in mind for each webpage or blog post and to incorporate their language, so to speak, into the content. A good example is thinking about how people might search for your products or services. What words would they type or speak into a search engine?

If you’ve ever advertised with some success, look at the words that were used and who responded to your ads. Also look at emails you receive; have the senders reached the right place, or did they misunderstand what you do? Look at the words used by those who became patients or clients, or at least showed interest in what you do.

If you serve different types of clients or patients, create content specific to each one. Add links to your content to guide site visitors around your website.

Working With TimeStorm Communications

Content Tip: Webpages should include at least 300 words. Blogs should be a minimum of 500 words. But some blogs need more content or they risk being considered too thin to be useful.

Who does TimeStorm Communications work with?

TimeStorm Communications specializes in web-based writing services for healthcare and technical organizations. This includes:

Healthcare Professionals and Consultants
Medical Equipment Companies
Pharmaceuticals
Website and e-Commerce Technologies

Why work with Ruth Ann?

As an individual, Ruth Ann is a skilled writer and researcher with skills to maximize the impact of website content. She is also a highly conscientious individual and will always be honest with you. Here are a few samples of what Ruth Ann’s clients and co-workers say about her:

“Ruth Ann reliably delivers high-quality web copy. She works so well with my clients! I heartily recommend her to anyone looking to improve the content on their website.”

“Ruth Ann’s expertise, work ethic and drive for perfection were second to none. Her understanding of electronic communication enables her to write copy that takes into account new technologies. “

“After our first chat, I used some of her free advice to make some changes to my website and a few days later I had some new clients give me a call.”

“Ruth Ann wrote several extensive and substantive blog posts for me that received more than 100,000 unique views each.”

What is your process?

I strongly recommend starting with a one-hour audit of website content to review language and SEO practices and offer tips to strengthen them. The content audit includes a list of observations and recommendations. I will need access to website software (reader access is fine) to view metadata and see what plugins or tools have been installed.

If you find the audit is helpful, I can offer a proposal or estimate to put these recommendations in place.

Once you have solid website content in place, we can talk about repurposing it in other formats such as presentations and expanding some ideas into blogs or topical newsletters. I also offer blogging and newsletter services in addition to, or independent of website content services.

What outcomes can I expect if I hire Ruth Ann?

Ruth Ann’s job is to make the content on your website a better marketing tool for your business. This means providing well-crafted, organized, SEO-optimized, and grammatically correct content to a specific client base. The results will bring:

More visits from search engines and other places where you showcase content
Longer visits to more pages
Repeated site visits
Responses to your calls to action (CTAs)

Analytical tools like Google Analytics (which is free) lets you track these metrics so you can see the results for yourself.

What is your remittance policy?

I require payment at least 48 hours prior to a content audit meeting. I will send an invoice after a meeting is scheduled.

For content-related services, there is a 50% deposit before the project begins, with the rest paid at its conclusion. I can work out monthly fees for blogging services based on the length and research requirements for each post.

What is your cancellation policy?

I rely on keeping to a reasonable schedule to work with full attention and efficiency. I do a lot of prep work for scheduled meetings like content audits. Cancellations are a fact of life; however some are more disruptive than others.

I do not charge if a scheduled audit meeting is canceled 48 hours ahead or more. There is a 50% charge for meetings canceled 24 hours ahead. Meetings canceled within 24 hours still require full payment.

Of course, life isn’t always predictable and there are exceptions when extreme circumstances should be considered. Hurricanes change course, babies arrive sooner than expected – these are such circumstances.

Why don’t you state all your content service costs upfront?

Different websites have different content needs. For that reason, I spend some time browsing websites to determine how much time I need to work on the content to make the site more responsive and competitive.

Some have very little content, which requires additional time to gather information about the business. This can include interviewing the business owner, selected employees, and customers and reviewing existing marketing materials.

Other websites may just need fresh or refined content services. These websites do not require as much upfront prep time.

I have set fees for blog and newsletter writing.

Web Content & Web Writing FAQs

Types of Writing Services FAQs

Search Engine Optimization FAQs

Working With TimeStorm Communications

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