When starting up a new enterprise there are so many things to organise that when it comes to content, many people don’t think past the need to establish a website. Often, even the fact that the new website will need written content doesn’t make it onto the radar until the website designer asks for the content – which sometimes doesn’t happen until the design phase is finished. As a content writing service, we’re frequently asked to prepare content about a week before a new business website is due for launch. Often, little or no thought has been given to blog or social media content at that stage.

Marketing should be an integral component in the new business plan – and the online presence of a business can be central to its success. Having the content marketing and some of the copy required planned in advance can help a business get off to a flying start.

6 content related things to do before you open the doors for business:

1. Arrange for the website content to be prepared well in advance of the site launch date so the designer has your finalised content to upload when he or she has finished designing the site.
2. If you’re having a blog on the site, give some thought to how you’ll use the blog and create a plan for the blog content. Ideally, have a few posts prepared in advance so you can upload them in the first few weeks.
3. Decide which social media channels are right for your business and arrange the setup.
4. Plan how you will use the social media pages – how often you’ll post initially, and the type of posts. This can tie in with the content plan for your blog.
5. Are there any publications (online or in print) that you can contribute articles to in order to gain business exposure? Don’t dismiss this idea if your writing skills aren’t the best – you can hire a writing service to prepare articles for you. They are generally engaged as ‘ghost writers’ – so that you can claim credit for writing the article.
6. Will you need images? If you need images of your team members, products, or shots of your premises, these too should be arranged well in advance. A good commercial photographer may not be available on short notice.

Hiring a copywriting service to prepare content

It’s highly likely that you’ll want to engage a copywriting service to assist you, at least with the initial preparation of website content. But you’ll still need to give them instructions on what you’d like done, along with information about your business that a writer can use to create the content.  Book your job in two to three weeks before you need the content. You may need more than one draft before the content is finalised – you’ll need time to rev the content drafts and you’ll be quite busy during the pre-launch phase of your business. Good copywriters also tend to have a queue of jobs, so an urgent one or two day turnaround is likely to be out of the question.

If you plan efficiently, you should be ready to launch your website by the date you’ve chosen for opening your business, and be in a position to immediately begin introducing yourself and your new business to the world via your blog and social media channels.