Improve your writing – and SEO – and usability – and design
Most content audits and reviews focus on improving a site’s writing or design. Or its search engine optimisation (SEO). Or usability. My approach is different: I look at everything.
The reason is you can’t separate good content from SEO or usability – they’re all connected.
That’s why some people go to SEO agencies only to find that while their site might rank higher as a result, their conversions and sales drop because their website has become harder to use. Or they’ll make their site look better, but their search traffic falls.
To improve your site so people can find it – and then find what they need once they’re on it – and have a great experience while doing so – you need to take a holistic approach.
I’ll review your website and explain, in plain English, how you can make it work better for you and your users.
I can also show how to improve your website’s accessibility.
A website content review tailored for you
Everyone’s situation is different – and so the way I work will vary depending on what you need.
Some people simply want a chat in order to get a second opinion, whereas others want detailed information on how they can improve their site (and may even want an SEO or content audit).
I’ll take the time to understand your situation and what you’re trying to achieve before providing practical suggestions that I’ll talk you through.
Most suggestions will be quick and easy to implement – and I try to show people how they can improve their site in a way that will help them immediately. Sometimes I’ll even make the changes myself. Other suggestions might be harder to put into place (for example, if they require your web developer to make a change to your site’s design or code), in which case I’ll talk you through the options so you know where you stand and what to do next.
My clients range from large organisations to small businesses – and from those who are tech savvy but need a specialist to those who need someone to explain in plain English what needs to be done and how to achieve it.
Regardless of your situation, I’ll show you how to make your website achieve your business goals.
Ask for more information
So how can your website or landing page be improved?
You might still be wondering how, exactly, I can help. Depending on your situation and what you need, I can:
Fine-tune your SEO
Improving SEO is easier than most people realise. You don’t need to pay an agency a quarterly fee to regularly do it for you. Instead, I can optimise your site so it just works.
It’s tempting to outsource your SEO content marketing to someone else, but this isn’t recommended (which is why some investors won’t even touch firms that do this). SEO is such a key part of your business that, at the very least, you need to understand how it works yourself. I can teach you the basics so you can easily and quickly optimise any future content you’ll add later – whether they’re new pages, articles, blog posts, case studies, profiles or videos.
Make your site easier to use
It’s easy to judge a site based on how it looks – but what’s more important is how easy to use it is. Usability (often referred to as UX) is all about understanding your users and how they use your site. A lot of common website trends (including pop ups and long scrolling sites) cause more harm than good. I can identify key problems and show you how to fix them.
Improve your writing
Make your writing clear, persuasive and more likely to convert visitors into customers. Depending on your situation, I can either write it myself, edit and fix your existing copy, or give you the confidence and skills to do it yourself (I’ve been teaching people how to improve their writing for almost two decades).
Improve your information architecture
Most people agonise over what should go into their navigation menus, and how their website should be organised – and that’s fair enough. The way your website is structured is crucial. I can help you sort out what would work best for your users.
Explain how to improve your design
The way your site looks will form people’s first impression of what you do. I’ll explain what does and doesn’t work, from what kind of images to use to what layouts work best.
Plan your marketing and content strategy
I can help you create a content marketing plan – from what kind of content you need and what the right mix is, right through to how to schedule it and make it work across your website, email campaigns and social media platforms.
When do you need a website review?
The short and shameless answer is right now. Most website reviews look at how to improve existing sites. However, it can save you time and money to know what you need before you build a site – and if you have just built one, then the sooner you optimise it and sort out potential issues, the better off you’ll be.
Content governance for large organisations (and anyone with multiple content contributors)
If you’re going through a web transformation project, revamping your brand, or are simply trying to manage an ever-growing number of content contributors then I can also help you with content governance and management.
Content governance involves making sure everyone in your organisation is on board – and that the content creation is in line with your strategy. The larger your organisation, the harder governance becomes.
Content management is about the nuts and bolts of creating, editing, publishing and maintaining content.
My services range from simply meeting up and having a chat right through to running sessions with your content or management team. I can also provide:
- content toolkits and templates
- tone of voice (TOV) guides
- content governance and management guidelines
- advising on content calendars
- responsible SEO advice
- usability, accessibility and information architecture recommendations.
A website and landing page consultant who’s different from the rest
I am not your usual consultant.
For starters, I spent over a decade at The Sydney Morning Herald as an editor and journalist (and worked on magazines for five years before that). However, I never studied journalism – instead, I have a bachelor’s degree in information science, which first introduced me to the notion of usability.
When I left journalism I then built and launched my own website, Bar Zine, while teaching writing for the web workshops and online journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney and the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism.
After that I moved into digital marketing and communications, where I worked with UX, IT and marketing teams to help them improve their websites’ design, usability, SEO and writing. This involved creating detailed site-wide content audits, helping with migrations, analysing what was going wrong with their existing content and then helping them find a way to make their content sing.
I’ve worked with a wide range of clients – from banks and universities to government departments – on projects that range from website transformation projects right through to advising on how to improve specific pages or campaigns. As my grey hair attests, I am not a kid – I have over 25 years of experience in improving content, and over a decade of experience in improving websites.
I don’t take a cookie cutter approach. I will learn about your business – and your objectives – and your users – and rather than just handing in a report at the end, which is what a lot of consultants do, I will explain and guide you through the process of improving your website.
Want to find out more?
Tell me what you need and I’ll let you know how I can help