A DIY Guide on writing for your business with Heather McGarrigle

On the 3rd of April, we had the pleasure of having our fifth Womenfolk event ‘A DIY guide on writing for your business’ facilitated by Heather McGarrigle

In this workshop, Heather covered:

  • How to incorporate content creation and publishing into your working life by creating a content plan and calendar, batching content, and scheduling content 

  • How to decide what social media platforms to use for your creative business

  • How to structure and write content for your website

  • How to pick topics/decide what to write about for blogs, newsletters and social content - how to look at your business as a journalist to 'find the stories'; but also how to look at your business like a marketer and create content for every aspect of the customer journey. 

  • Finding your voice - creating content that sounds like you while maintaining the quality of content: the balance between authenticity 

  • Making your content go the extra mile - basically tips and good practice on how to repurpose content that you create

This project is kindly funded by Ulster Bank.

This project is brought to you by Blick Shared Studios & Creating A Space.


Video 1 - Business background of Heather McGarrigle

In this video, Heather walks us through her business journey on how she built her business and the different routes she has taken to get where she is now.


Video 2 - Website Content: Homepage

In this video, Heather talks about how to create content for your website. When creating a website, it’s important to have the following pages.

  • Homepage

  • About ( About me/us)

  • Services / Products / What you offer

  • Contact page

Heather goes into more detail on what you should cover in your Homepage. She talks about treating your website like a shop, and how you would want to interact with your customers.

  • Summarize what you do/offer/sell

  • Sell it - it’s your USP ( unique selling point)

  • Call to action - where next?


Video 3 - Keyword Research

In this video, Heather talks about the importance of keyword research. It is a great tool to use to help you write your content, but also how to draw customers to your website.

Some things to think about

  • What are your customers googling?

  • Your social or advertising CTA (call to action)

  • Referrals, reviews, backlinks - what made them click on your website?


Video 4 - What defines your voice?

In this video, Heather talks about how there are different ways to write. She emphasises that writing as you speak is quite effective, as it can reflect your brand identity and expressing who you are as a brand.


Video 5 - Website Content: About Page

In this video, Heather talks about what to include on your ‘about’ page on your website.

About Page

  • The story of your business

  • Meet the person/people behind the business ( tell one big story or separate)

  • The reader is interested - these pages can be lengthy which is good for SEO

  • Remember the call to action - encourage people to go somewhere else on your website


Video 6 - Website Content: Services

In this video, Heather covers what is important to include on your services page.

  • FAB Content: Benefits, Advantages & features - you are focusing on the problem that you are solving for your customers or providing something that they need.

  • Outline your process - what can your customer expect from you, what is the exact process on how you will be handling their order with you?

  • Options for showing pricing/fees - Signature service ( define an example you can do, as an example package, giving the customer an idea of what they may or may not need), Describe affordability ( is it affordable for start-ups with small budgets? describe who it would work for), Define your variables ( explain how you have reached your pricing).

  • Testimonials & Case Studies - telling the story of a successful customer journey ( you could break it into three sections. The problem the customer had, the solution you offered them and the results of how they were better off.)

  • Portfolio/examples of work - links to work on customer websites

  • Call to action - send them to the contact page


Video 7 - Website Content: Products

In this video, Heather talks about what content to include on your ‘products’ page on your website.

  • Clear categories and descriptions - all variations including colour and size

  • How to commission - assume nothing, spell it out and make it easy for customers to do this

  • Reviews, testimonials and customer stories

  • Call To Action


Video 8 - Website Content: Contact Page

In this video, Heather shares the important content to put on your ‘contact page’.

  • Different reasons for wanting contact - booking a call / making an order, requesting more information, query or question, complaint or praise

  • Contact forms - name, email and message box

  • FAQs (frequently asked questions) can be content ideas


Video 9 - Core Content Method

In this video, Heather talks about a method she has created for creating content for your business.

  • One ‘chunky’ piece of content - blog, videos, live stream, podcast

  • Repurposed into multiple pieces of microcontent - promo posts for core content, quotes, infographics, short from videos eg. reels, stories, TikTok

  • Adding to Newsletter and send to the mailing list


Video 10 - Blogging

In this video, Heather is talking about the importance of blogging for your business.

Key Content Pillars

  • Educate, Inform, Entertain, Inspire & Affect (emotion)

Topic Ideas:

  • Behind the scenes, / show your process / meet the team

  • Industry News

  • Customer FAQs

  • Jargon explainer or common misconceptions

  • Checklists or ‘Top 10’

  • Myth-busting

  • Seasonal eg. Christmas gift guide, summer holiday activities


Video 11 - Social Media Platforms

In this video, Heather talks about choosing the right platform to post your content on.

Research - content - platform


Video 12 - Plan, Batch, Schedule

In this video, Heather talks about how to create content in advance and how to fit it into your busy schedule.

Plan

  • 2-4 Weeks in advance

  • Start with core content - how many per month ( 1 is a good start), topics, when to publish

  • Repeat for ‘Satiltate content’ - smaller pieces of content for social media

  • Put publish dates on to a calendar

  • Put deadlines for your checklist items on the calendar

Batch

  • Designate content creation days and put them on the calendar

  • Batch similar tasks together eg. research, photography, phone calls

Schedule


We would appreciate it if you could fill in a short feedback form that will take less than a few minutes. It is for us, and our funders so that we can put more events like this on. Thank you in advance.


Thank you for watching this online workshop, we hope you were able to get the value of it and feel confident in creating content for your creative business.