GEEK QUEEN
10 Tips For Writing A Service Description
Jenny Marsden • Nov 26, 2019
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How to write a description for your services
It is a very competitive world out there and despite the level of very hard work you put into your business, sales aren't an automatic outcome.
Let me share a process to help you stand out from the competition and write descriptions for your services that encourage your visitors to purchase.
Know who you are selling to
With the search engines having such a prominent place in how you develop any of your website content, it is easy to forget that it's people who purchase. While they may find your business because you have managed to get some kind of SEO driven traffic to your website, if you don't address them as real live people, that traffic is wasted.
1. Create your ideal customer as a physical entity.
You can drill this down to be very exacting, however try to be reasonably specific, while maintaining a slightly broad over view. IE if you sell feminine styled Instagram templates, your product is for a reasonably specific market. You probably don't need to incorporate an age range into who your idea client is, however if you are selling insurance to over 50's, yes that age will definitely be a factor. So, jot down features your ideal customer would have as a list to start. These can be physical (age, sex etc), location based or even feature based (a specific injury or health challenge for example).
2. Write out a statement of who your client is and why they would use your services.
Now you have that list, use the features you've listed and write out who your ideal customer might be.
IE: My perfect customer is a small business, club or non-profit who wants affordable website services. They want someone who they don't feel overwhelmed to talk to, who can cut through the "drama" of the techy stuff and who can offer them a website they can edit themselves if need be or who can help them with regular updates if they would like to pay for that additional service.
3. Work out what problem you can solve for them.
This might be more than one but regardless you need to explain how you can solve that problem without actually saying "I can solve...". When your prospective client lands on your website, the first thing they need to read is what you can do for them. If this is how you can solve a problem they have - perfect!
4. Offer details of your solution.
Let the client know exactly what is available and don't be scared to link to extra services you might offer. Internal linking is important for SEO however don't forget to use meaningful link text. IE: You might find our "7 day Instagram Scheduling Service" is something that could help, linking the "7 day Instagram Scheduling Service" text to your alternative service.
5. Keep it easy to read
Use bullet points to show what's included and excluded (don't be scared to show what's excluded) and make sure your paragraphs are not too long winded. Keep it informative and to the point.
6. Don't get hung up on keywords
While yes you do need to use your keywords and phrases, you are telling your client what you have to offer, why they should purchase it and why you are better than the competition. Don't waste that chance by focusing on your keywords at the expense of the content.
7. Display your prices
OMG - I don't know how many clients still try to subscribe to the school of selling to the client upon contact. That flat out doesn't work if your service is $3000 and they thought it would be $300. Be sure to add in a line about "customised" services if you have a different budget (don't say lower - different is good) but don't make it too much of a priority. If you feature that text right next to the price, people will of course try to get a discount. Showing prices also enforces to clients that you aren't making up a price based on how much you think you can get out of them. It's the same price for everyone and you are confident in your pricing levels.
8. Let them know what commitment they must make
I'm not talking financial here, I'm talking about telling clients what they will have to provide you and when. I have so many websites stall at content because despite me telling people over and over what they need to supply, they never realise how much work it is supplying all the text and images for their website. Now I've added an extra product which is "content creation" that they can purchase to have me do it, or they can stick with doing it themselves. It doubles up as an extra service I can link to in my website development page as well.
9. Display your terms of service
While this does seem a little out of the box, it is always reassuring to clients to see that you are a professional business and have (and will enforce) terms of service. I never think it's strange if I see that on a product or service website page. I like that I can read the fine print if I choose to and that it's available to me right off the bat.
10. Give them a way to immediately get in touch
Let them contact you directly from that page. You might have a form in your footer, a clickable link, a phone number or a social media option. You need to allow them to be able to contact you in one step.
Bonus:
Follow up after you've talked to them. If you speak to them and you are too expensive or they never called you back, wait an appropriate amount of time and follow them up. Ask them for feedback as to why they didn't move forward, however frame it that they are helping you, don't put them on the spot. I've done 5 follow up calls in the last 3 or 4 months and gotten 2 full websites from simply following up. People are busy, they forget, they feel embarrased that they didn't move forward or a plethora of reasons why you never heard from them again. By calling and touching base, you might be letting them off the hook and allowing them to now proceed easily and simply.
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About Jenny
I started my IT career in Database Administration and .Net coding. While I LOVED that work, I realised very quickly that I also wanted a life. To be a top end coder or DB Admin, you have to comit your downtime to constantly learning and evolving and while that is also something I love, I wanted it to be my work and not my life. So I morphed my love of design with my knowledge of all things SEO and moved into building small business websites.
Why small business websites? I'm a small business myself and I know how hard it can be so I wanted to give my clients a great service, with an approachable point of contact where no question was a "stupid question".
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