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Alicia Oakley

The Ultimate Guide to SEO Content Writing: How to Rank in Google

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SEO content is one of the most consistently effective ways to attract web traffic. In today’s increasingly competitive environment, however, writing SEO content that ranks in Google is hard to do. In fact, about 7.5 million new blogs are posted every single day, which means standing out from the crowd is harder than ever. How do you contend with extreme competition? It all comes down to your content. Good SEO content writing drives traffic, but it also takes work. In this blog, we’ll break down the top factors behind Google SERP and give you 7 simple steps to achieving your content dreams. Google’s Top Factors for Ranking Content Google’s search result algorithm is incredibly complex with hundreds upon hundreds of factors that distinguish good content from mediocre or subpar webpages. This complexity helps prevent exploitation—for instance, if SEO keyword density was the only factor, any blog could instantly rise to the number 1 listing by simply spamming the keyword more times than anybody else. The unfortunate side effect of this complexity is that it can be difficult to know what Google will choose to promote and why they choose to promote it. Since Google’s algorithm (and, just as importantly, its massive collection of data) is one of the world’s most valuable trade secrets, marketers don’t have direct access to how it works. However, the factors that Google seems to favor can be broken down into eight categories of factors. Here are some of the most important factors in 2024: High-Quality Content. Google wants you to continue using their search engine, especially as Microsoft makes a renewed push for their AI-enabled search engine, Bing. They want to deliver high-quality, human-written, informative content that answers their users’ questions. Since your audience also wants to read useful, helpful information, one of the simplest ways to drive SEO traffic to your website is simply to write useful, helpful content. Backlinks. Links to other websites gives your blog credibility—not just in the eyes of your readers, but in the eyes of the algorithm as well. SEO Keyword Usage. While keyword density isn’t the only factor that drives placement, SEO keyword usage is one of the primary ways Google looks for relationships between queries and results. Engagement. If audiences share your content on social media sites, engage in comment sections, and interact positively with your website, this can serve as a vote of confidence for the SERP algorithm. While this depends on audience action, it isn’t totally out of your hands, either—your SEO content can encourage engagement, thereby boosting your SERP. Other factors that aren’t related to the quality of your content itself, such as the technical performance of your website or your UX design, can also play into Google’s results placement algorithm. The 7-Step SEO Content Writing Checklist Armed with some knowledge of Google’s algorithm, here are some practical steps to writing good SEO content for your website: 1. Study Other SEO Content Examples One of the best and simplest ways to improve SERP is to simply do a Google search for the keywords you want to be ranked for and read the top results. See what other content does right, and incorporate those strategies into your own content. It’s important to understand, however, that this doesn’t mean simply copying their words. Derivative, repetitive content doesn’t perform well on Google, and outright plagiarism can be unethical and even illegal. However, studying the results can net you valuable insights. This deceptively simple process is one of the easiest ways to boost your SEO content’s performance. 2. Conduct Industry-Specific Keyword Research As you consider the type of audience you wish to attract, you should familiarize yourself with the language they use. What are the concerns of the industry you’re targeting? What types of questions are they hoping to answer? What industry-specific language do they use? If your SEO content uses the same language as your target audience, it’s more likely to return as a top result from their searches. 3. Analyze Your Competition Andy Warhol once said a version of the phrase, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” Before him, Pablo Picasso said the same thing. Before him, Oscar Wilde. While you should never steal another website’s words (not only because it’s unethical but also because it would rank poorly), you should steal inspiration. What do you like about your competitors’ websites? Do they incorporate humor in an engaging way? Do they provide targeted answers to their audience’s questions? What topics do they write about? By analyzing your competition, you can hone your own ideas of what type of SEO content you want to write. 4. Consider Outsourcing with SEO Content Writing Services If Google’s algorithm was simple, writing great SEO content would be simple too. In reality, writing high-quality, helpful, informative content takes time. Outsourcing your content to SEO content writing services like Express Writers can give you back time in the day while increasing your organic web traffic. We make dreams come to life by turning our clients’ visions into realities. Outsourcing your SEO content writing can save you time and money, increase your results placement, and—maybe most importantly—help you avoid the headache of writing and researching SEO blogs yourself. 5. Pay Attention to Formatting While Writing Formatting is important because it’s part of the way web crawlers parse information on the screen. That’s why SEO keyword placement (e.g. where keywords appear within your copy) is so important—keywords in titles and headings have greater weight for SERP than keywords in the body of your article. However, that’s not the only reason formatting should matter to you—formatting is also important for your audience. The average reader only spends 53 seconds on a website. That means you’re in a race against time to capture your audience’s attention and imagination. Good headings help to orient your audience and contextualize what they’re reading. 6. Take Time to Edit and Polish Your Work Before Publishing Part of quality writing means writing that’s free of grammatical and spelling errors. It’s … Read more

How to Write an SEO Blog Outline in 3 Easy Steps

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How to Write an SEO Blog Outline in 3 Easy Steps

So you’re writing a blog. Good writing starts with a good SEO blog outline, but in the age of search engine optimization, “good” can mean a lot of different things. Should your outline be optimized for top search engine results placement? For maximum reader engagement? For clarity and economy of language? In the attention ecosystem, a good SEO blog outline requires all of the above. Your outline should be tailored to the search terms you want to be ranked for, but it also has to support your specific goals and speak to your specific audience. All of this can feel like a juggling act, but don’t worry—in this guide, we make writing a high-performing SEO blog outline achievable in just 3 easy steps. Step 1: Select High-Quality Keywords Before you can start writing your perfect SEO blog outline, you have to first identify what you’re writing about. There are two kinds of keywords you should be aware of: focus keywords and secondary keywords. Focus Keywords Focus keywords are the primary words or phrases you target for search engine results placement (SERP). High-quality focus keywords should be specific enough to accurately describe your content, but broad enough that related web searches still return your page. For example, “SEO” is too broad to be a helpful focus keyword for this blog post. A web search for “SEO” will return too many results on too many overlapping topics. However, a keyword like “SEO blog outline” is more specific to the content of this blog—that means users who search for “SEO blog outline” are more likely to be looking for articles like this one. A best practice for focus keywords is to include them in the title and at least one major heading within your blog. Secondary Keywords As the name suggests, secondary keywords are less central to your SEO blog outline. They may describe the broad ideas and subjects of your blog or highlight niche topics within your content. While you don’t necessarily have to include secondary keywords in your blog outline itself, they should be present in the content of your blog. Secondary keywords don’t have to be as targeted as your focus keyword—think of them as additional context for your focus keywords. For example, “writing” is too broad for a focus keyword, but in tandem with the focus keyword “SEO blog outline,” “writing” can add additional context that improves SERP for your blog. Step 2: Know Yourself and Know Your Audience Think about the way teachers communicate with their students: it’s different from the way they communicate with parents, isn’t it? It’s likely that the way you communicate with loved ones is different than the way you communicate with colleagues or bosses. The way you might talk to a potential client is different from the way you might talk to a competitor. Communication is always in service of a goal—whether that be to order your morning coffee, run an efficient meeting, or convert a new lead.  When it comes to SEO blog writing, understanding your goal is pivotal. However, motivation isn’t the only component—you must also consider your audience. Just like you might adjust your communication style based on the situation, you might also adjust your style based on the person you’re talking to. Blogs are typically audience-oriented. Blogs change minds, break down barriers, and encourage change, but blog posts themselves are not just productive monologues, they’re a kind of secret dialogue between a writer and their audience. Knowing your own goals and identifying the audience you wish to speak to is the vital first step in writing an SEO blog outline. As easy as that is to say, “knowing” and “identifying” are ambiguous concepts in practice. Here’s what this looks like in action: Tone As you write the body of your blog, you’ll quickly realize that there are a thousand and one different creative decisions you can make. Should you take a conversational style? Should you incorporate jokes? What about emojis? It’s helpful to think about tone in several dimensions: Formal vs Conversational. Factors may include your target audience’s age and the context they’ll be reading your blog in. In a corporate finance blog, a formal tone could convey expertise and certainty. However, a blog geared towards personal finance for beginners might benefit from a more conversational tone that feels engaging and personable—even if the factual content of the blog is exactly the same.  Humorous vs Informational. Humorous writing is engaging and can be enjoyable for readers, but not every topic or audience lends itself to humor. In the wrong context, humor can make a writer appear unserious, especially if the joke obfuscates something more important in your writing. An informational approach can feel more “dry” to readers, which can work against you if you’re trying to create a memorable connection with a reader, but can be a benefit when your goal is purely to convey information.  Enthusiastic vs Factual. Finally, enthusiastic writing can increase the readers’ motivation to take action, while a more reserved presentation of facts has greater educational value. Enthusiasm is contagious and can inspire confidence in your readers, but it takes a balance between enthusiastic presentation and factual grounding to find the right tone for any blog. Authority As you think about your target audience, what level of experience do they have with the topic? Are you writing to seasoned experts who already understand the foundational concepts of your writing? Or are you writing to newcomers who need a thorough explanation of the background of your topic? In practice, the distinction is never that black and white—your audience will most likely be somewhere in between the two extremes. For this blog, for example, I’m assuming most readers are familiar with the concept of search engine optimization. Your target audience’s level of authority on the topic should guide the way you structure your article, what topics deserve their own headings, and which ones can safely rest on the cutting room floor. Motivation Finally, consider the action … Read more

What Does Done-for-You Content Marketing Mean Anyway?

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At Express Writers, you often hear us mention “done-for-you” content marketing in our blogs, and on our website, and we even boast about it in some social media posts.  But what does done-for-you content marketing entail?  For those who have wondered what DFY content is, how it works, and the benefits of seeking providers who can do it for you, look no further than this mini guide. Today, we will talk about done-for-you marketing and how you can get more out of your content while spending less time and money than you would going the traditional route (i.e., doing it yourself). Isn’t All Content Ordered Considered Done-for-You Content Marketing? Yes, and no. It depends on the service you are ordering and where you are ordering it. Some companies offer done-for-you content bundles, like Express Writers, while others offer DFY content, but it includes nothing more than writing content. It doesn’t necessarily include the expertise, research, and quality assurances you need to satisfy Google’s E-E-A-T and improve your website’s authority. Genuine DFY content is written by a subject matter expert in your niche – not a freelance writer who dabbles in that industry. Basically, your writer is a mirror of you – only they are saving you the time and effort of writing a blog yourself using the information you provide and leaning on their own experience and expertise in the niche to deliver top-notch content. Getting a content bundle is the best way to expand every penny spent on your content marketing and provide you with high-quality content that returns continuously year after year. What is a Done-for-You Content Bundle, and Why Should You Use Them? Yes, you could order a single blog written by a subject matter expert, but if you buy an entire bundle, you are unlocking even more benefits while saving time and money.  By bundles, we are talking about the blog, its meta, SEO research, images, and the expertise behind it.  A popular bundle option is our Authority Package service. Within the Authority Package, you receive: An In-Depth Content Strategy Designed around Your SPECIFIC Topic: A content strategist researches your desired topic and creates a click-worthy headline that touches high on the EMV scale. Then, they search for high-volume, low-competition keywords to sprinkle into your content so that you rank well in the SERPs. The strategist will look for strategic linking opportunities and even provide details for the writer to hit on to satisfy the topic with E-E-A-T in mind. A Subject Matter Expert Writing Your Content: Once you approve your content’s research phase, it heads over to an SME writer with genuine experience in your field (not only do they have 5+ years of experience writing in it, they have advanced degrees in that field as well). In-Depth Editing: To ensure everything is included and that you receive the highest quality writing possible, an editor reviews the content and fine-tunes it before delivery. Custom Designed Images: The Authority Package doesn’t use stock images. Instead, it includes custom images created in Adobe by an in-house designer. It includes a header image, inset, CTA image, two custom images or graphs, and four pull quotes to help specific text pop off the page. In 2022 alone, Express Writers provided authority packages for hundreds of clients saving thousands of hours of work.  Add social media posts and emails to go along with that package. You now have a blog with authority, an email newsletter to let readers know it is there and ready for consumption, and social media posts to sprinkle on your favorite platforms. What are the Benefits of Using DFY Content? Let’s break it down and look at the benefits you receive with  DFY content. You Get Three Professional Services in One Package Price Taking the Authority Package example, you have three core services in play. If you were to do these yourself, you would need to outsource to multiple freelancers for your SEO, writing, and professional design. In the package, you get all three professional services already vetted and ready to go from the same location. Saving you the hassle and time of searching for freelancers to fulfill these gaps yourself. You Unlock Access to a Team that is Up-to-Date on Google’s Wants and Needs Google does a lot of updates, and they all carry the same theme: authority and trust. Trust is not new to the marketing sector.  If you think about it, trust has been around since the dawn of content marketing. Sales pages, landing pages, Ebooks, emails…the goal has always been getting your reader to trust you.  So, what has changed? Google now wants to see that trust for itself.  When people do not trust your site, they will never purchase from you and will not return. You have that one shot at building trust, building up those relationships, and converting them.  Trust is a central component of Google’s latest guidelines with E-E-A-T. Trustworthiness doesn’t help your ranking directly, but according to Yoast, that “back” button when a client realizes they don’t trust you can. When you hire someone to do DFY content, they are more than aware of the latest algorithm changes and what Google demands in their latest E-E-A-T. EW writers are all trained on E-E-A-T and what it entails by offering an in-depth course within our university. So, when an SME writer tackles your content, they bring every aspect of E-E-A-T to the digital table: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. You Save a Significant Amount of Time Think about how much time you would invest if you did each component of DFY content bundles for yourself. First, you need to subscribe to tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush to start generating your reports and researching your topic. You would need to familiarize yourself with the EMV scoring system and how to improve your titles so they are click-worthy. You would need BuzzSumo to help you find what is trending in your industry so that you can play off both trending … Read more

25 Best Blogging Tools for 2023

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Maintaining a regular blog is a valuable marketing tool that can help businesses connect with their customers and grow their business. According to a study published by HubSpot, companies with blogs are more successful than those without. These companies receive, on average, 55% more visitors and get 97% more inbound links. With powerful statistics like these, it makes sense to make blogging a business priority in 2023. Whether you have been blogging for years or are just now considering adding a blog to your marketing plan, this list covers the best blogging tools to take you through 2023 and beyond. Blogging Tools for Topic Research Choosing the right topics can make the difference between a successful blog and one that gets little to no attention. These blogging tools can help guide your topic research. 1. BuzzSumo  BuzzSumo makes it easy to research relevant topics. On the homepage, you can enter either a keyword or domain name to generate content ideas. The results page shows you recent trending topics that include your keyword and how they performed on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Source: https://app.buzzsumo.com/content/web?q=content+marketing+budget In the example above, you can see the most popular content with the keywords “content marketing budget” has 181 total engagements. It also has an evergreen score of 2. This score is unique to BuzzSumo and represents how popular content is with audiences a month after its release. For the score, the higher the number, the better. In the Content Analyzer results, you can skim through a few of the most popular topics to see how they approached the topic. You can then customize your topic to fit your target audience and business niche. BuzzSumo is a free tool. However, it only gives you a limited number of free searches each month. For unlimited searches and more in-depth information, upgrade to a premium account. 2. AnswerThePublic  This unique website offers an innovative way to do topic research. Type your desired topic into the search field, and results are returned as an interactive wheel that shows questions people have asked related to your topic. Source: https://answerthepublic.com/reports/6de565a6-31bd-4d52-a619-5dc22e36868e When you point at each question, it changes color based on how frequently people have searched for that phrase. Beyond the visuals, the search results include alphabeticals, which show related searches that include each letter of the alphabet. Source: https://answerthepublic.com/reports/6de565a6-31bd-4d52-a619-5dc22e36868e 3. Quora Quora is a crowdsourced website that answers questions and shares commentary on popular topics. Here you can search for topics related to your industry and see what questions people are asking. If you have valuable insights to share that answer those questions, this could be a great idea for an in-depth blog. Source: https://www.quora.com/search?q=content%20marketing%20budget 4. Portent Title Maker In some ways, your blog title can be more important than the blog itself. The title is what attracts people to your blog and convinces them to start reading. Of course, you need quality content to back up your engaging title. Although it won’t matter how good the rest of your content is if your title doesn’t work. To help you create more creative titles or even give you inspiration for the rest of the blog, try using Portent Idea Generator. Enter your chosen topic into the search field, and it will generate titles for you. You can click “See Another Title” until you find something you love. You can also click on words and phrases within the title. The tool then offers a quick explanation of why it works in the title. Source: https://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker/?refreshed_idea=content+marketing+budget 5. Twitter Trending Topics There may be times when the latest news connects with your brand. Check the trending topics section on the Twitter homepage to see what people are talking about. This is a great way to try out newsjacking – tying your brand into the latest viral news story. Blogging Tools for Organization Once you have a list of great ideas, you should organize them into a workable content schedule. There are numerous tools available to help you do this. 6. Dropbox  There may be some blog topics that include files, like images, videos, or PDFs. Dropbox makes it easy to store these items and keep them together. 7. Google Calendar Google Calendar and other calendar tools can be easily transformed into an editorial calendar. For example, if you plan to publish one blog per day, you can record the daily topics as events and reorganize them, as needed. You can also schedule time for writing and any other content creation needs. 8. Evernote Evernote is a popular note-taking app that helps you organize projects, notes, and schedules. It has a robust tagging system to help you categorize your content in a variety of ways, whether by topic, planning stage, or anything else. Evernote also works with other apps like Google Calendar allowing you to track everything in one place. 9. Todoist Whether your content team is small or large, Todoist is versatile enough to work with any size team. It is one of the most popular organizational apps. You can be flexible enough to adjust your schedule to be as simple or as complex as you like by breaking down tasks into subtasks and moving tasks into projects. Blogging Tools for Optimization An optimized blog is one that fulfills the needs of the searcher. For example, if someone searches for “content marketing budget” and you have written a quality, optimized blog focused on that topic, it has a better chance of appearing near the top of the search results. These tools can help you create the best optimized blogs. 10. Yoast  Yoast is a plugin that works with WordPress. It can help you optimize your content for keywords, in addition to suggesting relevant internal links. It uses red, yellow, and green color codes to show you what you did well and where you need some more work. 11. Keyword Planner Keyword Planner is a free resource available as part of Google Ads. It can help you research keywords for your … Read more

Why Use Content Marketing to Build Brand Loyalty

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Many businesses are so focused on gaining new customers, that they sometimes forget about the ones they already have. Your loyal customer base is one of the most valuable resources you have. Show your customers you still appreciate them with valuable content. Content marketing for brand loyalty is a great way to invest in your customers. Research from the Harvard Business Review shows that a 5% increase in customer retention leads to a 25% to 95% increase in profits. With statistics like this, it just makes sense to use content marketing to build your brand loyalty. If you’re wondering how to use content to connect with your customers, we will show you how. In this guide, we will explore why content marketing is so important and offer 10 tips you can use to improve your content marketing strategy. What Is Content Marketing? Content marketing is marketing focused on creating and publishing valuable content (blogs, videos, social media posts, infographics, etc.) relevant to your brand and your customers’ experiences. This content is created for and targeted toward a specific audience with the goal of attracting new customers, retaining existing ones, and building brand recognition. One of the most important keys to a successful content marketing strategy is creating content that your target audience wants to read, watch, and share. Ideally, your content should add value to your products, entertain your audience, and keep your customers engaged with your brand. How Content Marketing Builds Brand Loyalty Your existing customers likely already enjoy using your products and services. Marketing statistics show that current customers are 50% more likely to try new products than new customers. With content marketing aimed at your current customers, you can introduce them to new products while getting a better return on your investment. Loyal customers want to read and watch the content you produce. These interactions create a strong bond between your business and your customer base. This, in turn, leads to a better bottom line. 10 Tips to Use Content Marketing for Brand Loyalty There are numerous ways you can communicate with your customers through content. These are 10 of our favorite tips to build brand loyalty. 1. Connect with Your Customers on Social Media According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans use one or more social media platforms to connect with the people and things they love, including businesses. Focus on a couple of the most popular social media platforms based on your customer demographics. For example, if most of your customers are young Millennials or Gen-Zers, you should probably open a Tik Tok account. Or, if your audience tends to be a bit older, you will likely find them on Facebook. Social media content should be eye-catching and engaging. Check out the latest trends to see if they will work for your brand image. Social media is also an excellent place to share your latest content from other platforms, like your blog or YouTube. You can break down long-form content into shorter, more digestible segments better suited for social media. 2. Create an Automated Customer Communication System Whether your customers are contacting you or you are reaching out to them, you should have regular communication. Use a customer management system (CMS) to keep track of your interactions. If too much time has passed after the last communication, program your system to automatically reach out to your customers with a pre-written email (this counts as content). It could say something like, “We miss you! Come check out our latest products with 10% off your purchase.” A message like this shows your customers you still care about them, and a discount may entice them to make a new purchase. 3. Produce Regular, High-Quality Content Producing as much content as possible is not the key to success. You need to focus on high-quality content, especially content that appears on your website and blog. Search engines like Google, along with your customers, can tell the difference between high-quality content and something that adds little to no value to your website. The more value you offer your customers, the more likely they are to come back for more. In addition, create content in a variety of formats: Blogs Product demos Videos Podcasts FAQs How-to guides Onboarding materials Infographics If this many formats feel overwhelming, keep in mind that you should repurpose your content. For example, if a blog includes numerous tips and statistics, this could be reworked as an infographic. Or, you can create a YouTube series where one of your product experts works through your FAQs in a visual format. Some customers will prefer learning through video instead of text. High-quality content also works best when you have a plan. Have regular brainstorming sessions with your marketing team to create a list of upcoming content ideas along with a content schedule. If your business struggles with creating the caliber of content you need, outsourcing your content is always a respectable choice. This gives you access to experienced, professional writers who understand SEO and other content marketing principles. 4. Look at the Customer Journey Ideally, you should have content that addresses every stage of the customer journey. The typical stages of the customer journey include: Awareness Consideration Purchase Service Loyalty Offering valuable content at each step reduces the effort your customers must put in to interact with you. When customers find it easy to do business with you, they are more likely to come back and spend more. 5. Show Customer Appreciation from the Beginning Earning a new customer is a critical stage in the buyer’s journey. Show your excitement and appreciation for them from the start with engaging onboarding materials. This should include a welcome email and some basic instructions on how to use the new products or services they just bought. You can also include links to how-to videos or introduction blogs. Keep these customers engaged with regular communication that gradually introduces them to new features and products. The onboarding process lays the foundation for … Read more

How Creating a Holiday Content Marketing Strategy Helps Your Business

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The holiday season is a special time of year. Many of us spend time with friends and family, give thanks for the things we have, and share gifts with our loved ones. But when you run a business, the holiday season is likely the busiest time of the year for you. Planning in advance and creating a holiday content marketing strategy can help take some of the stress out of the holiday season for your business. Quality holiday content marketing can help you connect with your audience, appeal to new customers, and increase your brand awareness. If you are unsure where to begin with your holiday content, this guide can help you get started. What Are the Benefits of Having a Holiday Content Marketing Strategy? If you’ve never put together a holiday content strategy or tracked the analytics of your holiday content, you might not realize that there are a number of benefits for your business. Here are a few: 1. Increases Demand for Your Products and Services Consumers spend more during the holiday season than any other time of year. This naturally leads to an increased demand for products and services. With consumers in an active buying stage, this is an ideal time to roll out time-sensitive offers. These deals also work well with Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions and give customers an increased sense of urgency or a fear of missing out (FOMO). With the right holiday content marketing strategy, you can showcase high-value products and cater to customers who are ready to buy or could be ready more quickly. 2. Improves Brand Awareness With clever, memorable content during the holidays, you can give your brand awareness a boost. By creating customer-focused, engaging content for each holiday between Halloween and New Year’s Day, you can find a new target audience and build your loyal following. 3. Unleashes Your Creativity Customers respond best to creative, relatable content. The holiday season is the perfect time of year to show off the more personable side of your business. This type of content presents the chance to add some fun to your brand image. While you might not use this relaxed type of content any other time of year, the holidays give you more freedom to try new strategies and new content types. The addition of personality may earn you new customers and brand fans. So, don’t be afraid to take some risks. With so much holiday content out there, you don’t want to get lost in uninspired content. 4. Grows Your Business With a creative holiday content marketing strategy, you can potentially attract and retain new customers. This makes the holiday season the ideal time for business growth. In addition, keep an eye on the performance of your content during the holiday season and then implement some of the strategies that perform well in other parts of the year. This will be especially important if you discover a new strategy for your content. 5. Offers Opportunities for New Product Launches The holiday season gives many businesses the unique opportunity to release new products and services. That’s why you’ll often see big tech innovations come out near the holidays. Plus, many consumers enjoy holiday-themed products. If this is something your business can offer, consider releasing some limited-time products. Promote these new products on social media and through your other holiday content. Customers who are drawn in by your fresh products might be enticed to stay and buy other non-holiday products. You’ll find this is true if the new product performs well for them. 12 Content Marketing Strategies to Try During the Holiday Season Since most folks celebrate something during the winter holiday season, not having a content strategy for the holidays really isn’t an option. Take advantage of the buzz and popularity with a few different strategies. Here are 12 specific actions you can take to improve your holiday-themed content. 1. Start Early You might still feel the lingering heat of the summer, even if the leaves have already started changing color. No matter what season it is, you can never start planning too early for your holiday content. Do some market research to see what people are interested in this year, check out your competition’s content, you can even start planting hints of your upcoming content months in advance. It’s important to carve out plenty of time to craft creative, engaging content that will help you stand out from your competition, especially if your sales pick up in Q4. 2. Capitalize on Black Friday and Cyber Monday Consumers and businesses have long been conditioned to expect great deals and compelling offers during the holiday season. If it’s difficult for you to give customers a significant discount, think of a way to add value to your products or services. For example, if you are a B2B business, you could offer a free consultation with the purchase of a corresponding service. Use the first tip and start teasing your Black Friday/Cyber Monday offers in advance through email marketing. This will build anticipation. Then make your deal even more enticing by offering it for a limited time. It’s a great idea to include a countdown timer on the offer page to increase the FOMO. You could even take the opposite route like outdoor brand REI did with its #OptOutside campaign. It closed all its stores on Black Friday and encouraged people to head outside. Even though it was a controversial choice, it got people talking about the brand and made them a little more human. 3. Be Inclusive While the holiday season is packed full of traditions, you should consider moving beyond the norm to be more inclusive with your content. Many customers will quickly turn away from a brand if they feel its messaging excludes certain groups. Target did a great job of creating inclusive content with its 2021 holiday ad. To be more inclusive with your holiday content, consider: Staying neutral: Instead of focusing on and naming specific holidays, focus your … Read more

How a Content-First Design Improves Your Website UX

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Copywriting strategy

88% of online shoppers reported that they wouldn’t return to a website if they previously had a bad user experience. Yet only 55% of companies currently conduct user experience testing on their sites. You may not realize it, but user experience could make or break your website. Meanwhile, many companies fail to see if their sites function properly and are easy to use. Without testing, your website could unintentionally be scaring away tons of potential customers. So, what’s the secret to creating a website that people want to visit and explore? You implement a content-first design that allows the high-quality content you create to be the focus. But wait! What exactly is a content-first design? And why is that so important to the overall experience your website offers to its users? That’s what we’re sharing in this post. What is a Content-First Design? A content-first design is one that prioritizes the content hosted on a website. Instead of designing and building a website and then filling it with content, you need to determine what kind of content the site will feature beforehand. Then, you shape the web design around that. This is beyond just thinking about a generic blog post. You’ll want to consider things like the photos on your site, whether or not you’ll use charts or tables, and even if you’ll embed videos. When designing your site, you’ll want to consider all of these types of content. Think about it like building a house. You aren’t going to start building the house without first knowing how many rooms it’ll contain and where each one will go. You’d map out the interior before you begin building. Think of your content as the interior and the beautiful web design as the exterior. When you focus on the content first, you ensure your message is effective and can stand on its own. The design is merely complementary. Whereas, if you opt to design your website before considering your content, you could wind up spending extra resources redesigning various web pages to work with your content. You may even find yourself making changes to your content to accommodate a design you already have. And, in doing so, you compromise the quality of your content. How a Content-First Design Improves Your Website UX Armed with a better understanding of content-first design, you may still be wondering how this is helpful. Well, there are a few reasons why prioritizing your content will improve the overall user experience a visitor has when exploring your site. Here are a few: 1. People Are Visiting Your Site for the Content Anyway The content you’ve created is why people are accessing your site in the first place. They clicked a link and opened your web page because of the promise of valuable content. They may have come across you via a Google search because you carefully used keywords in your blog post so you’d rank higher in an effort to attract readers. Or maybe they found you via social media and clicked a link to read your latest blog. However they found you, they went to your site to consume the content you worked hard to create. They aren’t there to admire your stunning site design. They’re on your site to be informed, learn, or maybe even for entertainment purposes. So, if a user is accessing your site specifically to enjoy your content, shouldn’t that be enough to make it your number one priority? When you direct your attention to the reason people visit your site, you can ensure the whole experience is enjoyable. Take a moment and pull up your own site to check out your latest piece of content. Is the experience a positive one? Or could improvements be made? If you can’t be impartial, ask someone to give you honest feedback so you can fix any issues you may have. 2. Your Website and Content Will Work Perfectly Together As mentioned above, you don’t want to design your website only to find out later that your content doesn’t fit. If this happens, you’ll wind up spending additional resources, like time and money, to redesign elements of your site. That’s simply not practical. Nor do you want your content to suffer because you had to make it work with an existing design that isn’t cutting it. Creating a powerful user experience with a content-first design means the elements should complement each other. Done right, your site will be a joy for visitors to explore. They’ll be able to easily navigate your site, effortlessly finding what they’re looking for. They’ll be able to read landing pages, fill out forms, and make purchases with zero hassle. 3. It’s a Reminder to Prioritize Accessibility When you focus on a content-first design, you’re reminded to make sure everything you publish is accessible to all visitors. Sometimes this gets overlooked because we forget that not everyone has the same abilities as we do. People who have vision or hearing impairments may visit your website and be unable to consume your content if you haven’t taken the proper steps to ensure accessibility. To do this, test if a screen reader can read your latest blog post aloud. Add transcripts for audio files and include captions on videos. Taking these extra steps goes a long way in showing your site visitors that you care. Plus, it gives them a reason to keep coming back in the future. 4. It’ll Help Your SEO in the Long Run Google doesn’t just consider your content when its algorithms decide where you’ll rank in the search results. Your web design is a factor, too. Having an SEO-friendly website is crucial because Google doesn’t want to send its searchers to poorly designed, difficult to navigate, or slow-to-load sites. And, don’t forget that it should be mobile-friendly too. A great web design built around your content will be beneficial in increasing organic traffic. Creating Your Content-First Design Now, the question is how do you create a content-first design? It might sound overwhelming at … Read more

Get to Know the Team Behind Express Writers

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About page copy

Did you know the Express Writers team is filled with carefully handpicked content creators? In addition to our behind-the-scenes team, our expert content writers are passionate about producing quality content. And we couldn’t be more grateful! With the help of our team, we have had the privilege to serve over 5,000 clients, ultimately completing more than 40,000 projects since the company was founded in 2011. We couldn’t have reached such great success without an incredible team on our side. But if you haven’t worked with us yet, you might be curious about those managing everything behind the scenes on the Express Writers team. For instance, who exactly is involved in the content creation process? And how can you learn more about the team you’re trusting to create your content? To help you get to know us, we’re sharing a little about the team members who are directly involved in fulfilling your content orders. Plus, we’re giving you details about the writers on our team and introducing you to the team members that keep things running smoothly here at Express Writers. Who is Involved in the Express Writers Process? Every order placed inside our Content Shop is handled with care. That’s why we have a human team handling every aspect of bringing your content to life. There’s no automated process assigning a project to whichever writer happens to be available. Instead, everything is carefully assigned thanks to some thoughtful planning by our Content Manager. Here’s a look at the Express Writers team members who are directly involved in creating your content: Content Manager: Once you place your order, our Content Manager reviews the details of your project based on the input form you’ve submitted. This information allows the Content Manager to assign your content to the writer who would be the ideal fit based on their areas of expertise, content writing level, and the format of the requested content. Doing this ensures our clients are always matched with the writer who will deliver the best results possible. Writer: After a project is assigned, it’s in the hands of one of our expert writers. Our writers are skilled and able to create content in a wide array of formats. We have writers trained to craft blog articles, social media posts, ebooks, press releases, and just about anything your brand could need to stand out online. That’s because we want to serve you in any way we can! Editor: When a draft of your content has been submitted, our editors take over. All of our editors go through extensive internal training under our leadership team so they can meet your brand guidelines every time. They fine-tune your content and correct any errors. Should significant changes need to be made, they’ll send it back to the writer to make final changes. Otherwise, our team will send it over for your approval. We take great pride in this process because we know it works. Not only does this ensure client satisfaction by pairing you with the best writer for the job, but it keeps our writers happy as well. After all, writers who are passionate about the content they’re creating craft the best articles. About the Writers on Our Team Let’s take a moment and talk about the writers on the Express Writers team. We want to ensure quality with every client project, so it’s important that we hire experienced and knowledgeable writers. That’s why we carefully review each application we receive and hire those we know will be an asset to our team. Our writers are based in the U.S. and are all native English speakers. They’re excellent with grammar and spelling, so you can rest easy knowing you won’t need to make any edits to the finished project you receive. They also understand SEO best practices to ensure your content is properly optimized. And they’re passionate about learning and evolving their skills. One of our focuses is hiring writers with niche and highly specialized backgrounds. These writers have years of on-the-job experience and advanced degrees in fields from legal and finance to marketing and real estate. Rest assured that your content is in good hands with these industry specialists. Not only that, but we also offer industry-leading training for our writers so they have the opportunity to strengthen their writing skills over time. By staying updated with industry best practices, our writers can produce captivating, high-quality content every single time. Get to Know the Express Writers Team The tricky thing about working with a remote team is that you don’t usually get the opportunity to meet them in person. We strive to put people first, so we want to put a face to the name of the folks you’ll work with. On our Who We Are page, you’ll see a sampling of some of the Express Writers team members, but here are a few that you definitely need to know: Adam Oakley, CEO Adam Oakley took over the role as Express Writers CEO in 2021 after our founder, Julia McCoy, stepped down to pursue other career opportunities. Adam brings more than 20 years of experience in various executive roles to the Express Writers team. He has previously worked in manufacturing, technology, and professional service businesses. Not only that, but he also has prior experience running the marketing department for a large manufacturing company. He’s even been part of the leadership team for a global technology provider, where he focused on business operations, scaling the worldwide group, and developing the client service model for a $30 million company. His leadership and management skills make him a natural CEO for Express Writers. Since taking over the role, he’s fully immersed himself in our company culture, taking the time to meet directly with various team members, establish a relationship with them, and ensure a smooth transition. It’s his mission to expand on EW’s success, helping us to make an even greater impact on the world of online content. Alicia Oakley, COO Alicia Oakley became our … Read more

5 Benefits of Custom Content for Business

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Authority Content

According to HubSpot’s State of Inbound report, 80% of marketers feel content creation is a top priority. We have to agree. To stand out online, the best way to do that is through your content. While many marketers recognize the importance of great content, not everyone is in the same boat. Sometimes it takes some extra convincing to get people on board with the investment, for instance, those higher-ups on your team. For those who understand the value of content, we know it’s worth the commitment to show up consistently with irresistible blogs and social media posts. However, if you’re someone who needs a little extra convincing, this post shares the benefits of content for business. This way, you’ll see the value in content planning and creation. 5 Benefits of Content for Business Here are five benefits you can expect for your business when you get serious about content creation: 1. By Optimizing Content, You’ll Become More Visible Online It’s not enough to publish content on your blog. You need to take extra steps to optimize your content so you stand a better chance at ranking high in search results. When you rank on the first page, for example, you’re going to see a significant boost in traffic. That extra traffic will generate more awareness for your brand, meaning more people will know who you are and what you do. As people begin to see you and your content everywhere, they’ll be more inclined to purchase your products or services over a competitor. 2. Great Content Gives Your Audience a Reason to Come Back A key element of success is getting people to return time and time again. You don’t want them to visit your website, then leave and never return. Once your target audience discovers you through an initial piece of great content, they’ll want to keep coming back for more. Provide value and address their pain points, and you’ll soon become their go-to resource. 3. It’ll Help You Build Trust and Authority Building the Know, Like, and Trust Factor (also known as the KLT Factor) is an essential element in your success when growing an online business. People do business with those they trust. However, you can’t build trust without first helping your audience to get to know you and start liking you. And the best way to do that is through the content you share. Focus on publishing quality content around the topics that interest people in your target audience. In time, they’ll begin to see you know what you’re talking about, positioning you as an authority in your field. Trust builds from there because they’ll start to realize they can always count on you for reliable, informative content. 4. Content Can Lead to More Sales One of the benefits of content for business is that it can increase sales and profits. For instance, a simple call to action at the end of a blog post can lead potential buyers to check out your products and services. It’s easy to implement, but it can spark massive change within your business when revenue skyrockets. We even have a great case study from one of our past clients, Marketing Labs UK. After partnering with Express Writers, they boosted an agency client’s revenue by a 77% increase year-over-year. And it all stemmed from our team writing new product descriptions! 5. It’s an Affordable Way to Market Your Business If content creation isn’t your strong suit, there’s no need to worry. Outsourcing the writing to a skilled team lets you focus on other important tasks within your business. When you work with Express Writers, you get access to our vetted team of writers while netting savings in HR costs and employing writers. You can also save on advertising costs because people can find your business from organic searches rather than PPC campaigns. These searches bring in traffic without you having to lift a finger, simply delegate to an expert in your industry and let the writing do the work. Let Us Create Content for Your Business Inside our Content Shop, you’ll find all our available services, including blog posts and social media content. Those two content formats are essential to standing out online and attracting the right people your way. Get in touch with any questions and learn how we help with your content needs. Then visit the Content Shop to see how our expert writers can serve you.

How to Build a Strong Digital Content Strategy in 2022 & Beyond

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How to Build a Strong Digital Content Strategy in 2019 & Beyond

Content alone will do nothing to improve your marketing results. (But you know that.) Pushing out content with no direction, no strategy, no purpose, no goals, and no targeted audience will just end up wasting time and money – even if your content is beyond incredible! So, that begs the question – What does your content need behind it to truly have an impact on your audience, bottom line, and web presence? What does your content need behind it to work well in a post-pandemic world? You guessed it: a digital content strategy. ? I repeat: To work, your content needs some kind of digital content strategy in place. Without that solid foundation, your blog posts, articles, ebooks, web pages, guest blogs, and more will go to waste. Yes, it’s a lot of extra effort. You’ll need to put in time and money to get a strategy crafted and set up. But… it’s worth it. Why? As you’ll soon see, the numbers don’t lie. A digital content strategy is essential to any content marketing endeavor. It’s what differentiates the successful from the unsuccessful. Plus, you can bet your bottom dollar your competitor has a strategy, especially that brand with the content you’re constantly jealous over. ? Now that you understand that a digital content strategy is 1000% necessary, let’s dig into a clear definition of what it entails. Then we’ll jump straight to a master plan for building your own profitable digital content strategy. Ready? The 6-Step Master Plan to Building a Profitable Digital Content Strategy 1. Understand the Key Fundamentals and Foundations of Digital Content Strategy Know Your Content Goals Know Your Content Differentiation Factor (CDF) Know Your Topic Area(s) 2. Understand Your Audience Do Audience Research Create Audience Personas for Your Content Strategy 3. Know How SEO Fits into a Digital Content Strategy Research Targeted Keywords Your Ideal Buyer Is Searching 4. Build and Solidify Your Online Authority on Your Website 5. Create Content the Right Way Optimize Your Content with Keywords Find a Workflow that Works Map Your Audience Persona to the Marketing Lifecycle Map Content Topics to Your Content Goals Guest Blog Strategically 6. Set Up Processes to Manage & Maintain Your Content Budget for Your Major Content Activities Promote Your Content Maintain Your Digital Content Strategy What Is a Digital Content Strategy? & What Is It Worth? The simplest way to think of a digital content strategy is to imagine it as the engine of a car. The car represents your content marketing. The engine that drives your content marketing is the digital content strategy. It moves your content marketing forward, pushing it in the right direction. It gives your content its power and impact. ? Last but certainly not least, the digital strategy gives your content a purpose – and gives YOU a way to reach ROI. Without a strategy, your content will remain stuck in the mud. And you’ll end up with a ton of unwanted facepalm moments. Source: GIPHY The digital content strategy is also a lot like a map. It tells you the direction to take your content to best appeal to your ideal audience, so you always know how to get to ROI. This includes: Where to publish content How often to publish Where to share/promote/distribute it The style/voice to use in your content The audience niche you’re writing to Your content budget Your topic areas and target keywords And more! Marketers who forge ahead without a strategy are literally traveling without a map. It’s no wonder they end up lost more often than not. This is what the numbers say about using a digital content strategy for your content marketing: Without a strategy, you’re paddling upstream. According to CMI’s 2021 B2B Content Marketing Report, 63% of marketers blamed “content creation challenges” for their organization’s lack of success in the past 12 months. (Conversely, with a strategy in place, you take the guesswork out of content creation.) Another 51% said they had general “strategy issues.” (Correctly done, a digital strategy should work seamlessly, on repeat.) 79% of content marketers have a digital content strategy in place, either documented or undocumented. 17% don’t have one, but plan to create one within the year. Only 4% have no strategy with zero plans to create one in the future. (That says a lot about the importance marketers place on strategy, even if their grasp on strategy is shaky.) Some of the benefits of a documented digital content strategy: It aligns your team around your mission/goals. It helps you figure out which types of content to develop. It keeps your team focused on priorities. It helps you allocate resources for better results. It clarifies your target audience(s). And of course… it helps you actually measure and see PROFITS and growth. Time and again, when marketers implement a strategy (or tweak the one they have for the better), their content improves. And, when their content improves, their marketing improves as a whole. ♥ Source: CMI The 6 Essential Steps to Build a Digital Content Strategy How do you build a digital content strategy that gets results? There are 6 steps to putting all the pieces of this framework in place. Let’s take a look at how it all comes together. 1. Understand the Key Fundamentals and Foundations of Digital Content Strategy You can’t build your digital content strategy without these key fundamentals. Start here and get these solid before you move forward. A. Know Your Content Goals What do you hope to gain from content marketing? These are your content goals, and they should drive your entire content strategy. Identify goals first before you do anything else. B. Know Your Content Differentiation Factor (CDF) Before you can assemble the other pieces of your strategy, you have to have one key fundamental in hand. I call this your Content Differentiation Factor, or CDF for short. This factor is what separates you or your client’s brand from the billions of others out there on the internet. It answers … Read more

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