There is an old adage; ‘jack of all trades and master of none’ that explains the need for specialization and the downside of generalization.  Investment advisors are a case in point; they know tax strategies, estate planning and investment management, but may not know web design. Their clients pay for specialized advice and don’t expect their advisors to be a jack of all trades.

This last point explains why investment advisors should leave web content, marketing collateral and other forms of copywriting and content development to a specialist. They may have the ability to write accurately, observing good grammar and sentence structure, but the goals of effective writing are best left to a professional.

Writing has to achieve a number of goals, among them entertainment, information, disclosure, education and persuasion.  All of these goals can be achieved through carefully crafted writing. All of these goals are also important elements of an advisor’s website, marketing collateral, client communications, engagement standards and newsletters.  Some creativity even helps craft engaging bios.

The Great Writer can help advisors develop an image and a message that is effective and engaging.  We can also help devise a strategy for utilizing social media, blogs and viral marketing as an extension of the advisors’ current written documentation.

As the chief copy and content writer for The Great Writer, K Richard Douglas offers special insights for advisors that most writers would be hard-pressed to match. With twenty-six years in the financial services business, Richard held several Principals registrations as well as other designations.  He has expertise in the areas of defined contribution plans, annuities, mutual funds, TSA’s, insurance, brokerage ops and asset allocation.

Advisors can outsource their writing tasks to a real specialist. There is no need to be a jack of all trades when your written materials and web content may be compromised in the process. Let us know how we can help.  Contact us today.

Are you completely satisfied with your company’s domain name?  Does it perfectly reflect the image of your company that the public should have? Will consumers recognize your domain name when they see it and will it make sense to those seeing it for the first time?  Does it speak to who you are and what your company does?

A great domain name serves many purposes. It is very important for successful SEO.  It can bring instant recognitian to your on-line presence. It can be easy to remember and serve to enhance your public image.

And what of a bad domain name? It can waste your time, energy and digital funding by taking your company nowhere on the Internet.

The Great Writer and Solution Content offer a domain name consultation service that can enhance your company’s on-line presence, increase your SEO success and further develop your brand and image.  We can provide you with great content, that can achieve many of these goals, but your domain name is the ultimate tool for success.

Our domain consultation service looks at your company, your mission statement, your goals, your market and your competitors.  We then determine several potential domain names that best express your company, its products or services and the image you would prefer to project.  We do extensive research to find the perfect domain name and check on its availability.  We also make sure that it is unique and does not duplicate what your competitors are using.

We have performed this service for companies for a fee close to $5,000.  We are reducing this service, for the month of July, to only $500.  Your only additional expense is the minimal cost of the new domain name.  This provides an enormous opportunity to advance your company’s on-line image and your SEO success.

The Great Writer will either replace an existing domain or help your company with its introduction to cyberspace.  Our research will find the perfect domain name for your company. It can mean all the difference in your company’s digital success.  Contact us today.

For the full-time commercial copywriters who read this site, I am presenting a prime example of why the lower end of our profession is about to slip off into darkness and forever be lost.

It is an illustration of just how dismal the market is for lower-cost writers and the buyers who are guiding soon-to-fail businesses.  For those of us who work to turn small businesses into big businesses, it is disheartening to know that so many short-sighted business owners are driving their businesses into the ground.  Copy and content writers, who provide services to this market are generally new to the market or hanging a shingle out with a sign that reads ‘copywriter’ without any formal knowledge.

I spend about 5% of my time looking at projects posted in the service marketplaces.  There was a time when good projects could be found there.  Today, the rates paid by buyers are 80% lower than a year ago and the need for quality writing is nowhere to be found.  If you need proof of this, take a look at this project cancellation notice from one service marketplace website. (they must have thought that my bid was stratospheric…it would have been a fun subject, so I placed a bid)

The buyer should learn to spell ‘professional,’ but I doubt that he knows the word.  The project required an amount of writing that would cost $400 on the low end of the commercial copywriter fee scale. Most of the writers bidding on the project bid $50 in open bidding.  These are not full-time commercial copywriters as a rule, but 50 bucks for the amount of writing required was a cheap rate for even mediocre writing.

Note that the buyer cancelled the project and complained that $50 was too high considering that he can get the work done for $20.  Will this buyers’ business be around a year from now? Very likely NOT.

Business owners very rightly focus on ROI.  They have to get the most bang for their buck.  They have to balance this concern though with the need to build a solid image and brand.  One of the worst mistakes they can make is to compromise on the quality of their content and copywriting. If their target market is made up of reasonably bright people, the prospective clients and customers will remain just that; prospective.

On this site, I have talked about the downside of hiring a $60 writer, but just imagine the $20 writer.  It’s a good thing that the buyer does not expect ‘professional’ quality writing. Unless their target market is made up largely of illiterate buyers, then they are shooting themselves in the proverbial foot.

The disturbing fact is that the service marketplaces no longer offer professional working writers with a venue for connecting with serious buyers.  They have become a repository for low-quality writing and soon-to-vanish companies. I can’t speak to the state of graphic arts, web design and programming, but as for writing, the writing is on the wall.

The lesson to be learned here for buyers of copy and content is that they may have to seek good writing elsewhere.  The other reminder is that scrimping on quality will result in steadily decreasing sales. Worse yet, for small businesses, it can mean no increases in struggling sales.

The lesson for writers is this; don’t waste too much of your time in service marketplaces. You will be reduced to the lowest common denominator.  It’s like a brilliant person marrying an imbecile; the imbecile doesn’t become brilliant in the process.  The brilliant person, on the other hand……….

If you need quality writing and expect to have a successful company or continue a record of success, then by all means, contact us.