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How to Avoid Problems Hiring a B2B Website Copywriter

How to Avoid Problems Hiring a B2B Website Copywriter

Your B2B website needs a copywriter.

But how do you avoid problems hiring one? After all, your website is critical to your business. So you need to get it right.

In this post, I talk through questions you may have about hiring a B2B website copywriter. And what you can do to avoid hitting problems.

1) Where Do You Find a B2B Website Copywriter?

The best way to avoid problems is to work with a great copywriter.

Copywriters with excellent writing and communication skills, who can hit deadlines and meet a copywriting brief are ideal.

But if you don’t know a great copywriter, how do you find one?

Here are a few ways to look for a B2B copywriter to write your website copy.

I’ve written the list in order with the most helpful methods first. Because the further down the list you go the wider your search becomes. And that means more work and research to check if the copywriter is right for your website project:

Recommendations

Talk to your contacts and colleagues to find out if they’ve worked with a B2B copywriter.

If you get a recommendation from someone you trust that’s the best place to start. You can find out what the copywriter’s like to work with and look at examples of what they’ve written.

And this makes it easier to find a copywriter who specialises in your industry or has enough experience to write for your type of business.

ProCopywriters

ProCopywriters Directory

ProCopywriters is the UK’s largest membership group for commercial writers.

Many B2B website copywriters from the UK are members of ProCopywriters and are listed in their directory.

You can search for copywriters by skills, specialism and location. Not every copywriter is part of ProCopywriters, but members often have more in-depth skills and experience.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a powerful search engine for B2B copywriters.

To find copywriters you could work with try searching for “b2b website copywriter” or “b2b copywriter”

LinkedIn search result

On a copywriter’s profile, you’ll see their experience along with which contacts you have in common. You can also check the recommendations they’ve received from previous customers.

LinkedIn recommendation example

Read their posts and visit their portfolio to get a flavour of their writing style.

The other way to use LinkedIn is to share a post asking for recommendations for B2B website copywriters. But you’re likely to get lots of responses directly from copywriters without them being recommended by others.

Google

From a Google search of “b2b website copywriter”, you’ll get a long list of copywriters to sift through.

You can narrow your search to the same country as your business, for example in the UK.

Google search result b2b website copywriter uk

Visit the copywriters’ websites and read reviews from their customers to see if they could be a good fit to write your website copy.

Freelancer Websites

The final place to try is freelancer websites like Upwork, People-per-Hour and Fiverr.

The reason I’ve put these websites last is that only some copywriters sell their services through these websites. More experienced copywriters do not list their services on these websites.

Also with these websites, you’re unable to see what experience a copywriter has outside of those platforms.

And whilst the costs charged on these sites can be lower than if you work with a copywriter directly this doesn’t mean you’ll get better value for money.

2) How Much Will Your B2B Website Copywriting Cost?

Once you’ve found a copywriter you’ll want to know how much it’s going to cost you.

But many B2B copywriters don’t show prices on their website.

Why?

Because they charge different amounts for each website copywriting project. So they prefer to only give out individual quotes.

But other B2B copywriters, including myself, show prices for example projects or a range of prices on their website.

You’ll still have to get an individual quote but it gives you a rough idea about what you may have to pay for your website copywriting project.

Different factors that impact how much a project will cost include:

  • The size of the website with the number of pages
  • How much research is necessary
  • When you need your website copy
  • How complex your business is

A related problem is if your website copywriter says they charge by the hour or the word. Because you won’t know exactly how much your website copy is going to cost you until the end of your project.

Instead, you have to rely on the copywriter’s estimate of how long it will take them (with a per hour cost). Or be stuck with a set amount of words regardless of the quality (with a per words cost).

To avoid these problems I only charge fixed prices for B2B website copywriting projects. Customers know at the start of the project how much it’s going to cost them. And they avoid uncertainty over their budget.

3) How Do You Choose a B2B Website Copywriter Who Knows SEO?

Your website designer should take care of the technical SEO for your website.

But content is equally important for SEO.

That’s because Google uses a myriad of ways to decide which websites to show in search results. Without taking SEO into account with your website copy, your website can suffer in the search results.

So when you invest in a website copywriter you need one who understands how search engines work and can write copy that includes SEO.

How?

Ask your copywriter how they approach SEO in their website copywriting. Look for website copywriters who:

  • Carry out keyword research on the relevant topics for your business
  • Write original copy that’s engaging for people to read
  • Structure each page of website copy with headlines, sub-headings and body text
  • Use your keywords and related phrases naturally throughout the copy
  • Include links between pages on your website
  • Write URL slugs, page titles and meta descriptions (the text for your website in search results) with your keywords

4) What Comes First – Website Copywriting or Website Design?

knitted chickens and eggs - website copywriting or design

Unlike the chicken and the egg, there is a clear answer.

For B2B websites, copywriting should come first.

Why?

Because the purpose of your website is to attract, engage and convert visitors. And that starts with ideas for the marketing messages that will appeal to your ideal customers.

Your website copywriter comes up with the ideas, as well as the words, for the content and structure of your pages. The website design then supports and complements the copy.

So when you hire a B2B website copywriter, they should lead with the ideas. If the copywriter wants the designer to lead on this you’re likely to hit problems about who does what on your website project.

Start with the sitemap for your website. This defines which pages your website has and what each page covers. From this, you can agree on the website copy you need writing by your copywriter.

Once you’re happy with the copy your copywriter has written your website designer can create the design for your site around this.

5) How Will Your Copywriter Write Your Website Copy?

You don’t have to learn copywriting. But you should find out how your copywriter will write your website copy.

Because to write great website copy a B2B website copywriter should structure your project with different stages, of which writing is one of the last.

If you work with a copywriter who dives straight into writing your website copy on day one you’re likely to hit a number of problems. These could include:

  • The website copy doesn’t engage or persuade your customers
  • Key information about your products or services is missing
  • The tone of voice is not right for your business
  • You’re unsure what to expect and when on your project
  • It’s unclear when your website copy will be finished

Whilst each copywriter is different, they should follow certain steps to make sure you receive compelling copy for your website.

To avoid problems, look for a website copywriter who:

  • Gives you information at every step of the project about what to expect
  • Tells you what you need to do and when
  • Asks you many questions about your business, customers and products or services
  • Creates a brief or outline using your answers
  • Carries out research about your business, customers and SEO
  • Gives you drafts of the copy to review
  • Explains why they’ve written the copy in the way they have
  • Listens to your feedback and makes changes to the copy

Get Results with a Professional B2B Website Copywriter

Working with a B2B website copywriter will make a major difference to the results you get from your website.

You’ll have to do your research to find a copywriter who can work well with your business and help you avoid problems.

But the time you invest upfront will reap the rewards for your business.

Photos by Wokandapix from Pixabay and Sven Brandsma on Unsplash

Rob Beadle

About the Author

Rob Beadle is a B2B tech copywriter and content marketer. He creates case studies for growing businesses worldwide, including tech companies, software firms and IT providers. Learn how to get your customers to agree to case studies with Rob’s free guide.

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