Website content writing in Des Moines
Pages written against what is already ranking for the search you want, not against a word count. Researched first, so you can see the reasoning before we write.
Since 2011 · Researched before written · This site is the sample · Veteran-owned
Why most website content never earns anything back
Rarely because it is badly written. Usually because of what it was written about.
A page about a service, aimed at no particular search, answering no particular question. It reads perfectly well and has nothing to rank for, because nothing was ever chosen.
Buying words gets you words. The research that decides whether a page is worth writing at all takes time and produces no visible output, so it is the first thing dropped when the unit of sale is length.
A service page and three posts all aimed at the same search. They split whatever authority the site has between them, and the usual outcome is that none of them wins.
Passive, hedged, adjective-heavy, allergic to a number. Every business in the sector could publish it unchanged, which is the clearest sign it will not persuade anyone.
What we write: pages, service pages and posts
On-site writing. That is the whole scope, and it is deliberate.
- Service pages, one per thing you actually sell
- Location pages, where you genuinely serve the area and can say something specific about it
- Home and about pages — the two that most often say nothing
- Blog posts aimed at the questions customers ask before they buy
- Frequently asked questions, written to be answerable in a search result
- Titles and meta descriptions for every page, written rather than generated
- A content plan showing which page targets which search, so nothing competes with itself
- Rewrites of existing pages that are close but aimed at nothing
Written against what is actually ranking, not what sounds good
This is the part competitors sell by volume and nobody explains.
Before a page is written we look at the search it is meant to win and read what is already winning it. What format do those pages take — a guide, a list, a comparison, a service page? How long are they? Which subjects does every one of them cover? Which questions do they all answer? Which questions do none of them answer?
That last one is where the page gets its reason to exist. Copying the winners gets you a page as good as theirs, which is not good enough to displace them. The gap — the thing every ranking page leaves out — is the argument for publishing at all.
You see that research before we write, as a plan: which page targets which search, what each one has to cover, and what it will say that the current winners do not. If the honest answer for a topic is that everything useful has already been written and you would not add anything, we will say so rather than sell you the page.
What we do not do: media buying and ad accounts
Worth being blunt about, because “content marketing” is often sold as more than this.
We write on-site content. We do not buy media, run ad accounts, manage social channels, build email campaigns, or handle influencer or PR outreach. Those are real disciplines and they are not ours, and the version of this we refuse to do is take the budget and quietly subcontract it while holding your money in the middle.
What that means practically: if your problem is that nobody can find you when they search for what you sell, writing is likely to help and we can help. If your problem is that not enough people are looking in the first place, advertising might be the answer and you should hire someone who does it properly. We will tell you which one we think you have.
What content writing with us does not include
The list is the point. A short scope is easier to hold to.
- Paid advertising, ad accounts, media buying or budget management of any kind
- Social media management, posting or community management
- Email marketing campaigns, newsletters or automation sequences
- Press releases, PR outreach, influencer or link-building outreach
- Video production, podcasting or photography
- Print, brochure or advertising copy — this is on-site writing
- Publishing on a schedule for its own sake, which is how content budgets get wasted
Every site is built by Elisabeth Samuels and the Salterra team — a company building websites since 2011. Not a reseller, not an offshore queue. The same person who scopes your project writes the pages and hands over the logins.
Tell us what you sell and where. We will come back with the pages we think you are missing and what each one would be aimed at — before you commission anything.
What website content writing costs in Des Moines
Priced by the page, because the page is the unit that does the work.
Writing is included in every website we build — every page of your tier is written individually rather than templated, and that is part of the $499 starting figure rather than an upgrade on top of it.
Writing for a site we did not build is quoted per page after the plan, because until the research is done nobody knows how many pages you actually need — and the answer is regularly fewer than people expect. We do not price by the word. Paying by length rewards padding, and the research that decides whether a page is worth writing at all produces no words at all.
The plan itself starts with a free audit — we look at what you already have, what it is aimed at and where pages are competing with each other, and you get that in writing whether or not you commission any writing afterwards.
What moves the number
- How many pages the plan turns out to need — and the honest answer is often fewer than you were expecting
- How competitive the searches are — a specific service in a suburb takes less to win than a head term against national spenders
- How much you supply — real detail about how you work, what you charge and what goes wrong makes a page specific, and specific is what ranks
- Whether pages are new or rewrites — a page that is close but aimed at nothing is faster to fix than one written from nothing
Frequently asked questions about website content writing in Des Moines
What does website content writing cost in Des Moines?
On a site we build it is included — every page of your tier is written individually as part of the $499 starting figure, not charged on top. On a site we did not build it is quoted per page after the plan. We do not price by the word, because paying by length rewards padding.
How do you decide what to write about?
By reading what already ranks for the search you want. What format those pages take, how long they are, which subjects they all cover, and — the useful part — which questions none of them answer. That gap is the reason to publish. You see the plan before we write, and if the honest answer is that a topic is already covered and you would add nothing, we say so.
Do you run ads or manage ad budgets?
No. We write on-site content — no media buying, no ad accounts, no social management, no email campaigns. If your problem is that nobody finds you when they search, writing helps. If it is that not enough people are searching, that is advertising and you should hire someone who does it properly.
Do you write the pages, or just tell us what to write?
Either. Most clients want the pages written. Some want the plan and prefer to write it themselves, which is a legitimate choice — nobody knows the business better than you do, and a page written by the owner is often more specific than anything an outsider would produce. The plan is useful on its own.
Will the writing sound like us?
It should sound like your business rather than like an agency, which mostly means specifics instead of adjectives — real prices, real timescales, the actual thing that goes wrong. You read and approve everything before it is published, and the fastest way to make it sound right is to tell us the parts you would not normally put in writing.
Who owns the content?
You do, on the same terms as everything else. It is yours when it is published, it is yours if you leave, and you can take it, edit it or delete it without asking us.
Tell us what you sell. Get your number.
Send us what your business does and roughly how many pages you think you need. You will get the number and a timeline in writing.
Takes about a minute. No call, no obligation.
We reply to everything within one business day.