HOW TO DESIGN A WEBSITE FOR FREELANCE EDITORS, PROOFREADERS AND TRANSLATORS
By Daniel Heuman
You don't have to spend a lot of money to build a great website. However, you do have to think
about your website visitors. Who is using your website? Why? And what's the best way to turn those
visitors into clients?
This article answers that in three sections:
- Understanding your visitors
- Common web design mistakes
- Bringing in more visitors
Understanding Your Visitors
Potential customers want to know two things:
- Can you handle my project?
- If so, what will you charge?
The best way to answer those questions is through great design. You can explain more with your
navigation, headings and images than you can with text.
“We don't read pages. We scan them.”
— Steve Krug
The objective isn't to win design awards. For example, the website of
Proofed Beyond Doubt is very
straightforward – it isn't trying to be fancy or sophisticated. But it is carefully laid out to
answer the questions that are in the minds of users. The eye is quickly drawn to:
- The Society for Editors and Proofreaders logo
- A bulleted list of capabilities
- A navigation item called 'Fees'
I'll talk about some tips for search engines later. But at the end of the day, not everyone
can be ranked top on Google. Does that matter? Not at all. You don't need a search engine when
a friend or customer recommends you. But a potential customer will look for you on the internet
and check your website. They're looking to see whether your capabilities and prices are right
for them, so make the answer to those questions clear. There's no need to publish your actual
rates, but you do need to explain how visitors can get a price.
Common Web Design Mistakes
I don't like to dwell on the negatives, but a few things need to be said:
Not creating a website: This is possibly the most common (and definitely
the most grievous) of all errors. It's 2011. Websites don't cost much and they help give
potential clients the reassurance that they're looking for.
Not updating your website: Your website is a listing, so there's no need to
update it often. But if you haven't done it since 2002, it probably looks out of date. It's time
to take a fresh look and make sure you project the image that you want.
Too much text on your homepage: How many words do you have on your homepage?
Is it under 100? Under 200? Have you gone over that? If so, ask yourself why. The fewer words
you have, the more likely visitors are to explore the rest of your site. For example, instead of
putting a life history on the homepage, put it in a page called 'About'. Look how in just 50
words Monique Choy's Nettle Soup
draws visitors to the words 'copywriting', 'editing' and 'proofreading' and they'll naturally
follow to 'services', 'clients', 'samples' and 'contact'.
Not including a client list: Nothing says more about your capabilities than
a list of your past clients. Make sure you get permission first and then put the list somewhere
obvious.
Member of a professional society? Say so prominently. Why join, stick to the
code of practice and then not display the logo?
Bringing in More Visitors
Not everyone can come out on top in a Google search for proofreaders, editors or translators. But
you can easily improve your rank in the results by listing your business on websites.
Intelligent Editing offers a
free listing
and lots of other sites do too.
Even if you can't come out on top of a Google search for 'translator', 'proofreader' or 'editor',
think about the other searches that customers might try:
Geographic searches: Potential customers might use Google to find someone
local. For example, they might search for 'proofreader in London'. Make sure your city, region,
postcode and country are all mentioned on your site.
Service-based searches: Do you specialize in a particular type of editing?
If so, make it clear. A potential customer may look for 'medical editor' instead of just 'editor',
so make sure that your services are listed to include that.
Searches by style guide: If you use certain style guides particularly often,
say so. If a customer searches for 'proofreader AP Style' it won't help if your website just says
that you can work with all style guides.
Finally, try to be innovative. Editors specializing in business documents in Australia take
advantage of their location by offering 'overnight editing' to clients in Europe. With
Skype-In
you can offer a local phone number to clients in any country. Think about what other steps you
can take to attract new customers. Because once someone finds a great proofreader, editor or
translator, they'll stick with you.
Daniel Heuman is the founder of Intelligent Editing. He has visited hundreds
of proofreading, editing and translating websites as part of the marketing of
PerfectIt.