Website Writing
Since many restaurants, small event venues, and independent hotels don't have in-house marketing teams, the owner or general manager often has to do the writing. And yes, there are absolutely some restaurant owners and GM's who are fantastic writers. But more often they have great ideas and aren't quite the most adept at putting them on paper. So I've written these blog posts to help you to clean up your writing and home in on what you want to say. From grammar tips to tricks of the trade, I'll help you to figure out the best way to get your message across, so you can get more butts in seats and cash in your coffers.
Contact Form vs. Email Address: Which One Is Better for Your Contact Page?
The contact page is one of the most important—and most overlooked—pages on your business website. It’s the place where site visitors make the final decision to either abandon your site (the easy choice) or reach out to you (the harder choice). So this page should be all about helping the prospect overcome inertia and take the next step. Does that mean making a phone call? Sending an email? Filling out a contact form? Obviously, this will vary based on your business. For a restaurant or hotel, a phone number is a must since you will have to answer time-sensitive questions about same-day reservations. But for many of the other businesses…
What’s the Best Length for a Business Website?
Planning a website from scratch is a bit like building a house. Where do you begin? How many rooms should you have? Is it possible for a kitchen to be too big? A website can be designed in an infinite number of ways, with an infinite amount of content. If you start without a plan, you’re basically building a house with no blueprint. And that’s not a house I’d like to live in. Your website content can be broken down into two primary categories—the number of pages on your site, and the amount of content on each page. Here’s how to get started. How Many Pages Should My Website Have? If only…
8 Common Copywriting Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
If I stepped into my kitchen right now and tried to whip up a Beef Wellington, it would not go well. Could I make something halfway edible? Maaaaybe. But I’m not a trained chef. Nor an amateur chef, to be honest. My husband is the cook in this family. I just eat gratefully and do the dishes. If you’re a small business owner or marketer, you’ve probably had to step into the role of a copywriter. But crafting effective copy is a skill that requires training and practice, just like running a successful hotel, event venue, restaurant, or making Beef Wellington. And if you’re not a copywriter by trade, you…
How to Write Your Restaurant’s “About Us” Page
Staring at a blank page with the cursor blinking at you can be intimidating. I understand. I write for a living. And for some reason, it gets even harder when you try to write about yourself. That’s probably why there are so many bad About Us pages out there. They’re soulless and don’t say much. If you were to swap out the name of the company, they could easily apply to just about any business. Why write something if you don’t want to say anything? A prospective customer only clicks on your About page because they want to learn more about the company or the founders. So let’s give the people…
Get Inspired: Hospitality Copywriting Examples to Feed Your Muse
Good copy does a lot of things. It establishes a brand voice. It connects with the brand’s ideal customer. It clearly explains the product, service, or offer to that customer. And it does all that in a way that makes the prospect want to buy it. One of the best ways to get a feel for good copy is to immerse yourself in it! So I’ve chosen a few examples of hotel, event venue, and restaurant copywriting to serve as inspiration. Each of these independent companies is based in the Austin area, since that’s where I live. My guess is that one may have an internal marketing team that wrote…
Small Copy, Big Impact: Writing Your Call to Action
Ever go to a big event, like a music festival or a food fair? You wait in line and present your tickets, and then…you freeze. Faced with multiple stages, stalls, or activities, you’re unsure where to start. In this scenario, you’ve already paid your admission fee, so this temporary glacial moment is no big deal. But when it happens to people who visit your website—who haven’t decided whether to spend their money with you—this indecision can spell the end of the sale. Even if your business doesn’t technically operate online, chances are you have an online presence. Restaurants take online orders, hotels have web-based reservation software, wedding venues schedule site…
What Is Voice of Customer Data and How Can It Improve Your Copy?
Anything with the word “data” in it sounds intimidating if you’re not a spreadsheet junkie, but it’s not that scary! In fact, we could remove the word “data” entirely from the term, and it would still mean the same basic thing. The voice of the customer (VOC) is basically how a customer would describe you, your products, and services. But it’s their voice, right? So instead of you and your marketing team sussing out what you think customers think, using VOC channels lets them tell you. Directly. In their own words. Why is that valuable in copy? Copywriting is how you convince a potential customer that your service or offering either solves their problem…
Restaurant WordPress Plugins Made Simple
When I started my company website about two years ago, my only significant website experience was with Squarespace. So when I tried to dive into WordPress, there was quite the learning curve. I spent a ton of time scouring the internet, trying to figure out how to make my site behave. I’m still not a site building expert by any stretch. But I have picked up some knowledge over the past couple years from running my own WordPress site and blog. Since most restaurant and venue operators are also not site development experts, I’m sharing what I’ve learned about restaurant plugins and how you can use them to add extra functions to your…
Is a Button Bonanza Sabotaging Your Website?
Very recently, one of my lovely blogging and email marketing clients asked me to do an audit of the copy on her business homepage and product page. I was happy to help, so I hopped over to her website to see what I could see. As the page loaded, the clickable elements began to appear…and appear…and appear. This website, while very attractive, had no less than six clickable elements “above the fold” — aka before you start scrolling down the page. And that’s not even counting the navigation menu. Holy overwhelm, I thought. I know this brand. I know their product. And even I didn’t know where to look. There…
5 Reasons Copywriting is the Special Sauce You Need
Listen, I understand that it seems a little self-serving for a copywriter to explain why copywriting is so important. That would be like a turkey explaining why ham is a superior Thanksgiving protein. But the value of copywriting is an established fact, just like ham’s dominance over turkey. Since there is often some confusion about what exactly this type of writing entails, I thought I’d share an overview of copywriting — what it is, and why it’s important for businesses of all sizes. What is copywriting? The simplest definition? Copywriting is the words on the page (aka the “copy”) that get the audience to take an action. This includes the…
