Julia McCoy - Express Writers

Farewell but Not Goodbye: A Letter from Express Writers’ Founder

September 29, 2021 by Julia McCoy

It was a cold day in the middle of Pennsylvania winter, 2011. I was driving home to tell my parents I’d failed college… again. I was in tears the whole drive home. I was 19 years old, and I knew that I didn’t love the degree I was pursuing (R.N.). It wasn’t something I’d ever love or become great at. My parents were devastated at the news, just as I thought, and my father wouldn’t talk to me the rest of the month. It was heartbreaking to know that he lost all faith in me, and I spent the rest of the day in tears. But the next day, I got up early–at 4 a.m.–and applied myself with renewed zeal to the side hustle I’d started during my first semester of college. My side hustle was building, unbeknownst to me, a freelance writing career. At the time, I had absolutely no idea it would be a career. It was simply an avenue I believed I could be good at. Something I truly enjoyed. I wasn’t sure it would last a year. But there I was, getting up early, applying for writing jobs, writing every assignment myself to gain experience, and slowly but surely building a brand. My first brand idea was awful: Writer4U2Hire. I built a free website on Weebly and blogged regularly, and to my surprise, gained clients that directly inboxed me for work, then for repeat work, and then to ask if they could refer others to me. After that, I decided to get serious, and launched a real brand I could hang my hat on. I called it Express Writers. That was 2011. The next year, I left that toxic environment I grew up in, and it was the best thing I could have done for the health of not just myself, but my business’ future and longevity. When I had the freedom to pursue my dreams in a supportive environment (something easily taken for granted, if you’ve never experienced the opposite), things took off. Far beyond my dreams or aspirations. None of my business success has come easily, but we persevered, and we’re here. And I’m incredibly grateful. How It Started, and How It’s Going [bctt tweet=”After ten years of successful, slow and steady growth at Express Writers, CEO Julia McCoy is stepping down. Read her exit letter ✍️ ♥️ ” username=”ExpWriters”] By the fall of 2012, I was working twelve hours a day to build Express Writers. That same fall, I met and married my partner, Josh McCoy. Somehow, I convinced him to stop building his brand-new SEO business and come join me to build Express Writers. He bought in on my vision, and became our CTO. Thankfully, he brought the tech, systems, and website savviness I was missing. My approach to grow and build Express Writers was people-first, at all times. If I had happy clients, and the right writers, I somehow believed everything else would fall into place. This approach has truly been the catalyst to grow our business. At the beginning, hiring writers and my first staff members (editors) was a rude awakening, quickly, to what it was like to be an employer. Most of the newbies I hired didn’t show up, even after clear directives and deadlines were given. I lost paying clients quickly. Then, I learned to stop hiring the first person who showed up, and start handing out tests and interviews until we found the right person. I learned how to build a more qualified HR process, and how to set up orientation so that it was thorough and informative. Korilynn was one of my first full-time writers. A tried-and-tested freelancer, she could write 5,000 words a day, and I was shocked with how much work she took on and delivered while meeting all of our quality standards. Today, she’s our Content Manager, and we’ve never had a better one. Our clients and their projects are always near and dear to her heart. And our writers get matched to the right assignments with her at the helm. She’s tough, won’t sugarcoat anything, and works hard so our clients stay and projects move forward. I appreciate and respect her work ethic so much. We’ve had a slow-and-steady growth curve. Instead of the sudden UP arrow, which scares me because I believe it can have more negative reverberations and a tendency to go down just as quickly, our growth curve has looked like this: 2015 and 2016, the plateau in the middle of growth, held scary times. Thankfully, I walked out learning my business wasn’t broken. Express Writers could be massively successful. What was really going on: We learned in mid-2016 that we were victims of a scam run by our own team. I learned a tough lesson, but it gave me the strength I needed to build an infinitely better team. Our editorial and writing team is constantly growing, evolving and changing, and we’re implementing new processes this fall season to try to repair some new project delay issues we’ve run into. Express Writers, I’ve learned, is a living, breathing being, and it only thrives where there is growth and evolution. We’ve learned to quickly adapt, pivot, and change when things don’t work well, so projects don’t lag behind. Running an agency this big, selling a 100% human-led service, i.e. high-level content writing, isn’t for the faint of heart. Even our brand logo has been through many evolutions. The final design, a paper plane in flight, truly resembles us and has been iconic to me ever since we launched it. In October of 2020, one of our biggest visions finally came true with the launch of Express Writers 2.0, our internal workroom and external client Content Shop, an all-in-one system we built ourselves in WordPress. Fulfilling this was an immense struggle and hefty cost (over $200,000 in development, which we footed ourselves; we’ve never sought outside funding), and we see it as an ongoing project since we continue to … Read more

Why Our Specialist Writing Rates Went Up

August 23, 2021August 17, 2021 by Julia McCoy

In today’s competitive market, it takes a competitive, standout rate to attract and hire high-level specialist writers. As of the 2020s, we’re seeing an era like never before where our clients need the best content writer for their industry. Brands need to build trust through their published content. Brands need to give value through their published content. Brands also must retain traffic and gain sales through that content, or their content will fall flat and be considered a waste of ROI. Well, content must be incredible to do all of the above. Back in 2018, our highest-selling level of content was expert writing. A few years before that, it was general writers. Today, it’s specialty content, our most expensive writing level (legal, financial, technical, medical, and other top-tier specialty industries). This level is the most expensive for a reason. Not just any writer. Not just a good writer. And not just an expert writer… But a specialist who knows their industry, and will write and research great web content with care and skill. We’re announcing a (fairly small) specialist rate increase from 24c/word to 28c/word, a necessary change to hire and pay specialty writers more. This price update is live now. In today’s blog, we explain why. Why Specialist Writers Are in High Demand A talented specialist writer in your industry is similar to a Chupacabra… Or, it can feel like it, when you’re trying to attract and hire that type of writer. At Express Writers, we’ve done the work to attract and hire these types of writers. Here’s just one of our monthly bills from Indeed.com, a platform where we hire and interview writers on a regular weekly basis. These days can cost us anywhere from $1,000 – $2,500 a month to hire a handful of writers, depending on the level of writer we’re headhunting. Of course, the client doesn’t pay this. They simply pay our per-word fee. We also pay editors. And managers. But the client doesn’t pay that, either. They pay our per-word fee. The crux of our payment margins and payouts is always the writer. We know that without the writer, Express Writers is, well, writer-less and therefore powerless. [bctt tweet=”.@ExpWriters has raised specialist writer rates. Why? In today’s market, it takes a competitive, standout rate to attract and hire high-level specialist writers. ? These writers produce the kind of content our high-level brands want and need.” username=””] It takes great writers to produce the kind of content our high-level brands want and need. Not to mention (as we’ve talked about on the blog before), but Google’s own rules for quality now demand the same. Google doesn’t keep this a secret – they disclose exactly what they’re looking for in their SEO starter guide: And as we’ve reiterated before on the Write Blog, here’s one of the biggest giveaway statements from Google’s SEO starter guide on why good great content matters. Two driving forces behind what constitutes good SEO content can be traced back to these clear acronyms in Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines: E.A.T. (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): Three top factors Google uses to rate content quality. Y.M.Y.L. (Your Money or Your Life): Content that can potentially impact a reader’s financial, physical, and/or mental health and happiness in the medical, financial, legal, and technical industries. Our specialty writer rates are mapped specifically to Y.M.Y.L. guidelines, which are the highest level Google reviews. According to the guidelines, Google pays the most attention to these pages because they’re the ones that can most profoundly impact a person’s life. Especially in pandemic times, this matters more than ever. Source: Google’s Guidelines, section 2.3 Google says YMYL pages are the ones that can “impact the future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety of users.” These pages include: Shopping or financial transaction pages Medical information pages Legal information pages Financial information pages News articles and/or public/official pages important for informing citizens Any other topics that can deeply affect users’ lives, i.e. child adoption or car safety information Because of their importance, these pages have incredibly high page quality standards. ? They must be authoritative, factual, and written by experts. That’s where our specialty expert writing level comes into play. Our specialty experts are handpicked with an advanced degree, 5+ years in their field, a senior/leadership role (example, Lead Software Engineer), and, the skill of online writing under their belts as well. We’ve found these practitioners-turned-content-writers are in high demand. In fact, it’s truly hard to hire one who knows their industry, and can write. When we do find one, we have to act quickly and bring them in, mentor and train them, and prep them to take on client assignments. Did I mention Chupacabra yet? Still, we find and hire them. But today, we’ve learned we simply must raise the rates to pay these writer-extraordinaires more income. It’s more than worth it. Here’s the kind of resume/writer we’re now attracting at these higher pay rates. Example: Senior Technical Writer, Corey O., hired August 2021. Our Rates Are Live Our specialist rate increase from 24c/word to 28c/, a necessary change to hire and pay good writers more, is now live in the Content Shop. Go view pricing here. This applies to technical, medical, and other in-depth verticals. Trust Plays a Part – and Here’s How Your Content Writers Need to Actively Build That Trust Don’t forget. The epidemic of misinformation in 2020 took a toll on consumer trust when it comes to content in just about every form, from search engines as well as traditional, owned, and social media. People are wary these days. What does that mean for your brand content? In short, writers must take a few extra steps on every piece they write to make sure it’s kosher in the 2020s. Double check all facts. Be responsible for ensuring you’ve found and are verifying content the brand consumers can trust. Ditch the traditional sales pitch and write with a value focus. Customers aren’t buying into overpromises and flashy offers. Content marketing is outperforming cold calls and advertising techniques by prioritizing value first. Expert writers must … Read more

Content Marketing Outperforms Cold Calling and Other Dying Marketing Techniques: Here’s Why.

June 22, 2021 by Julia McCoy

Content marketing is leaving outdated marketing methods in the dust. Feeling doubtful? The $400 billion content marketing industry is on track to explode. Overall, content marketing will grow by $269.24 billion during 2019-2024. It’s not a new practice, but it is finally getting the recognition and respect it deserves because content marketing works. (Plain and simple.) For example… If you stopped cold calling right now, what would happen? You wouldn’t get new customers. But what would happen if you were to stop content marketing? You’d still be bringing in leads and traffic months, even years later. Content marketing also compounds over time, which means it’s a long-term investment that will continue working for you long after the content is published. And since 68% of all online experiences begin with a search engine, quality content that ranks on search pages is going to keep producing results and making your brand discoverable. ? What Exactly Is Content Marketing, and Why is It So Powerful? [bctt tweet=”Content marketing compounds over time. It’s a long-term investment that will continue working for you long after the content is published. ? ” username=””] Content marketing is a strategic approach that focuses on writing and publishing relevant content that will attract, educate, and engage a defined audience. Instead of reciting the typical sales pitch, content creators are helping consumers solve problems. That seems a little counterproductive for a marketing strategy, right? How can you increase your sales if you aren’t talking about how great your products and services are? The answer is simple: you’re building trust and authority. Instead of adopting the sleazy salesman role, which is an immediate turnoff for many consumers, you’re having a pleasant conversation with them and providing information they need. And that will likely inspire them to see what else you have to offer. Consider this: Google reports that SEO (search engine optimized) traffic is five times greater than PPC (pay per click) and ten times greater than social media. Speaking of Google, that’s where 92.96% of global traffic originates, so ranking on Google is an absolute must if you want to see success. During the pandemic, Google search traffic jumped from 3.6 billion searches per day to more than 6 billion per day. Simply paying for ads on Google isn’t going to cut it. On average, a person sees between 6,500 and 11,000 ads per day, not to mention 42.7% of worldwide internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 relying on ad-blocking tools at least once a month. With that constant advertising bombardment, it’s no wonder people have largely become “ad blind.” Using an SEO-first content marketing strategy isn’t interruptive like typical ads (and it won’t be flagged by ad blockers). It allows businesses to target new prospects at every stage of the purchase funnel. 6 Steps to Create Content That Generates Leads and Brings in Traffic Your brand’s content strategy framework is your golden formula for success. It goes much deeper than simply writing articles that target keywords. Whether you’re a content marketing beginner wondering how to get started or a veteran looking to polish your existing strategy for better success, you’re in the right place! Below is a step-by-step look at how a rock-solid content strategy foundation works. 1. Know Your Foundations: Niche, Expertise, and CDF When it comes to content creation and marketing, you need to be able to answer the following questions first: What is my niche (targeted industry)? Who is my audience? What are my qualifications/expertise? What are my business goals? What do I have to offer than nobody else does? The last question is your Content Differentiation Factor, or CDF. Basically, your CDF is what makes you unique among your competition. Before you can start defining your audience and writing content for them, you need to have a clear understanding of who you are and what you want to accomplish. Is your content marketing going to be used to find new leads? To educate people about solutions (and how your product or service can solve their problems)? To provide citable data and studies? To increase the organic web traffic on your site? To create brand awareness? Once you’ve answered these questions, you have the groundwork laid for your content marketing strategy. 2. Understand What Your Audience Wants and Needs Part of your Step 1 analysis should be figuring out your target audience. But knowing who your audience will be is very different from knowing how to convert them into customers. Some of the ways you can identify the needs of your audience can include: Reviewing online comments and conversations to identify consumer needs. Researching keywords that are relevant to your targeted niche. Studying your competition to see what they’re doing. Sending out customer surveys. Creating audience personas for your content strategy. All of this research should answer these two critical questions: “Who am I writing for?” and “What are they looking for?” 3. Target Keywords with SEO Best Practices Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is the practice of writing and formatting content in a way that ranks in search engines. When researching the best keywords to target, you should ideally look for low-competition, long-tail keywords that are three or more words in length. And, most importantly, these keywords should be highly relevant to your niche. When writing your content, avoid keyword-stuffing, which is the outdated practice of forcing a keyword into an article as many times as possible, even if that results in the article being difficult to read. Doing so will negatively impact your ranking. SEO rewards writing that flows naturally. For the best SEO results, you should also: Optimize for voice searches. 71% of consumers would rather search by voice than type their question, with a projected 122.7 million voice search users for this year. This means there is more value in optimizing your content for natural speech rather than keywords. For example, a voice search is going to prioritize pages that answer a question such as “Who was Steve … Read more

Why Businesses Are Set to Spend $600B on What’s Important: Content Marketing

August 26, 2022May 18, 2021 by Julia McCoy

Let me ask you: Who would you say is the current king of marketing? Maybe ads, commercials, even brand ambassadors? The answer is none of these. The true king of marketing is content — and quality content at that. The majority of businesses already understand this and are hopping on the content marketing train. 70+% of companies are now investing in content marketing (Hubspot). And 49% of B2C marketers say their organization outsources at least one content marketing activity. More likely to outsource are large companies. (2021 CMI Report) 75% of those outsourced content marketing activities go to content creation. ? However, to see results, we know we can’t just churn out any old subject matter and expect it to succeed anymore. Content these days needs to be good. What if you’re a small business just starting out? Do you still need to spend on content marking? Yes, you do, no matter your company’s size. Here’s why. You Need to Spend Money on Content Marketing: If You’re Not, You’re Missing Out We’ve known for a few years now that content marketing would be worth just over $400 billion in 2021. The revolution underway is not to be underestimated. But what’s truly nuts? Content marketing is going to grow another $269 billion or so by 2024, bringing the total industry worth and spend to over $600 billion in 2024. Content marketing is here to stay. Size, and even success, don’t matter. Whether your company is small or large, triumphant or struggling, you need to be putting a portion of your money towards content marketing. If you want to grow your business, which you should, you need to create unique content. [bctt tweet=”70% of companies invest in content marketing (@hubspot). 49% outsource at least one activity, and 75% of those activities go to content creation. ? Read more:” username=”ExpWriters”] You may think you can put only a small portion of your funds towards content especially when notoriously cheap content mills (still) exist. However, a cheap rate won’t cut it these days: not with the way Google’s search algorithm now works. Content marketing requires quality and quantity, and that costs — both time and money. If you think you should dedicate 10, or even 20% of your marketing budget to content, you’re wrong. The most prosperous businesses spend close to 40% of their marketing budget on content strategy. It’s worth it, though. Content marking still manages to cost 62% less than outbound marketing and generates almost three times as many leads. And web traffic is among the top two most frequent success metrics for content marketing strategies (Hubspot). Considering that ad ROI has spiked as low as .6x return (yes — that’s .6x), and studies have shown that the year-over-year increase in unique visitor count is 7.8x higher for content marketing leaders than for followers (19.7% vs. 2.5%)… Want traffic, leads, and sales? You’ll need to turn to content marketing. In sum, in business, if you put your money where your content marketing is: You’ll profit. 3 Benefits of Content Marketing You now know you need content marketing in your toolkit if you want your business to take off. The proof is in the numbers — a study found small businesses with blogs generated a 126% higher lead growth than those without. But how does that happen? Here are a few of the main benefits of good content marketing. We’ve also written before on the secrets to marketing planning. With well-thought-out contenting marketing strategies, you can: 1. Retain Your Audience If your content is forgettable, predictably, your audience is probably going to forget you. If they forget you entirely, how likely is it they’re going to return? Not a very high chance at all. If you produce high-quality content, however, consumers will consistently come back for more. The more a person comes back to your content, the more likely you are to make a sale. We care about content. Our team has completed 35,000+ projects and counting. 100 handpicked, trained creators on staff. Try us out today and start your order. 2. Build Real Audience Trust If someone trusts you, they’re more likely to buy from you. That’s always been true. However, these days, earning an honest image has become more difficult. The public today is distrustful. After having not-quite true “facts” and vague euphemisms shoved down their throats, they want more. Understandably, at that. If you want to make your audience trust you, be trustworthy. It’s as simple as that. Speaking plainly, honestly, and simply will build your brand as a dependable source. Content marketing is very good at building trust. In fact, it’s one main reason content marketers invest in it, per CMI benchmark’s recent study. The secret to trust-building? Content that provides value. The stats show that content marketers know this, too. 3. Generate More Leads It’s true: content is king. That doesn’t mean content for content’s sake is the end goal when for this kind of marketing. You’re not just there to entertain. You’re there to make a sale. And sales you will make. Simply by clicking on your content, the customer is taken to your website — your domain. They’ve already arrived on your turf. It’s time to make it count. If someone reads your content and loves it, they are much more likely to buy from you. People want to buy from companies they like. It also helps when you have a CTA (call to action) linking to your business at the end of your content. This drives views to the rest of your site, where readers can make a purchase. We are a case study of this. Not only does our site attract 100,000 visitors/month, but we’ve built up nearly that much in monthly revenue, too. Here’s a slide from my recent talk at FreelanceU’s Skills Summit that emphasizes the power of our website, built with a weekly blog for eight years (we’ve never taken a blogging vacation, and boy has it paid off!): How to Use Content Marketing to … Read more

The Cost of Bad Writing: Why Companies Spend $3B a Year on Writing Errors

August 26, 2022April 27, 2021 by Julia McCoy

Sure, good writing is essential for writers. What about everyone else? It can’t be that necessary, right? The answer is yes, it is. Writing, and writing well, is a critical skill for anyone — especially those in business. The true cost of bad writing is lost profit, pure and simple. Not only has poor writing already cost companies a devastating amount, at a rate of $400 billion per year, but it could also impact your business. At least, unless you get smart. To attack the problem, first you need to understand the underlying issue. What is “bad writing,” and how can it be digging so deep into business’ pockets? Let’s take a closer look. The Cost of Bad Writing: First, What Is Bad Writing? There’s more to writing than spelling and grammar. That’s only the first step. Making sure what you write is not only technically correct but readable can make or break you. A good writer needs to be: Grammatically correct Clear and concise Expressive and entertaining To the point Honest Attentive to detail As a business owner, you need to be picky about your writers. Not everyone has the necessary creativity and attention to detail. Sure, this means you’ll likely pay more upfront. The amount you save in the end, however, is well worth it. [bctt tweet=”Good writing is essential for writers. ✅ But what about everyone else? It can’t be that necessary, right? The answer is YES, it can. Bad writing costs businesses billions of dollars every year. ? More from @JuliaEMcCoy ✏” username=””] At Express Writers, we follow that rule. Did you know out of an average of 500 applicants a month, we only select five? That’s 1%. Phew. But, we do it because we need to. Our standards are hella high — we live or die by the quality of our writing. One bad writer, one botched job, and a $30K monthly account could walk out the door. We also do it because it’s not hard to run into bad writing — throw a stone, and you’ll hit it. Bad Writing (& the Costs Businesses Pay) Is Everywhere You’ve seen it, I’ve seen it, we’ve all seen it. Terrible writing runs rampant in the business world, from grammatical error-ridden emails to poorly worded announcements, to exhausting blog posts. Reading this type of writing doesn’t just make us tired. It also takes time to read bad writing. It eats up our hours on the clock and saps our energy for the rest of the workday. You know the saying — time equals money. It’s true that poor writing skills in the business world equate to a great deal of money flying out the window. Bad Writing Costs Businesses Billions Were you shocked by the above number? Yes, companies are losing billions per year. Up to millions per company has been lost, as well. All of it is due to bad writing. How could this happen? At first, 400 billion lost per year sounds unrealistic. However, when you look at the history, you’ll see how simple mistakes can have devastating results. Common Examples of Poor Writing and the Consequences It’s incredible how one seemingly minor error can cost a company a fortune. Here, I’ve compiled a list of three prevalent examples of bad business writing and its repercussions. 1. Understating Problems and Overusing Euphemisms A pitfall that many companies and politicians have run into is not being transparent. The refusal to admit not just the truth but the whole truth in an understandable way will always result in a downfall. Today’s audience is both discerning and able to check facts at their fingertips. It’s easy to find out what the truth is, and someone will eventually. So, don’t lie, and don’t understate the facts. General Motors General Motors ran into disaster when they downplayed malfunctioning vehicles. This was a mistake that not only lost over a billion dollars, but also put lives in danger. When the company had an issue with the Chevrolet Cobalt’s ignition switch in 2014, which caused the airbags to disable, General Motors wasn’t too concerned. At least, that’s what it sounded like. In internal communications, they called the malfunctioning vehicles a “customer convenience issue.” This understatement of the severity of the situation caused a delayed response — after all, they had other, more important things to do. Source: Vox In this case, bad wording cost General Motors over $1.7 billion in total as the company had to recall a total of 2.6 million cars. 2. Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation Errors While this is an example that seems obvious, this problem is more recurrent than you think. Attention to detail is critical, down to every last dotted “i” and crossed “t.” Quite literally, a single missing comma can create disaster. Oakhurst Dairy You may have thought the oxford comma was no longer important. Such a small detail, and a seemingly silly one at that — how could it make such a difference? Oakhurst Dairy found out the hard way. Source: WGME In 2017, the company had redefined its delivery driver overtime exemptions. The new rules stated a series of tasks were exempt from overtime, including “packing for shipping or distribution.” Oakhurst Dairy’s workers took them to court and focused on one tiny but essential detail: the oxford comma. The lack of the oxford comma, workers argued, made it seem like the two were one action (i.e., packing for the purpose of shipping or distribution) versus being separate exempt tasks. The court ruled in favor of the workers, and Oakhurst Dairy paid out $5 million in related overtime as a result. 3. Sloppy Editing and Inattention to Detail Another extremely common trouble in the writing world is careless editing. It isn’t just bad form. It’s a way to lose out on everything you’ve gained. NASA In 1999, the NASA Mars Orbiter disintegrated into the atmosphere after having missed its orbit window. Scientists at NASA were confused. How could their calculations have been so incorrect … Read more

When to Get a Writer for a Case Study: Everything You Need to Know

June 19, 2024April 20, 2021 by Julia McCoy

You’re an expert at what you do, and it shows every day in the form of happy clients. What better way to convince prospects that you can do the same for them than by illustrating all the ways you’ve helped your clients succeed? After all, nothing carries more weight with future clients than the success stories of the ones that came before. Enter case studies. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 82% of your competition are using them. Yet, they’re one of the trickiest types of content to master. Get it wrong, and they can backfire. Here’s exactly what a case study is, how it can help your business, and when you should consider hiring an expert case study writer to handle it for you. First Things First: What is a Case Study? A case study is a type of document originally found in human sciences that allows for an in-depth, multi-faceted exploration of a complex, real-life issue. It identifies: Your client and the challenge they faced before finding you The solution that your company chose to implement – and why you chose it What happened as a result of that solution (plus where the company is today) Along the way, it uses quantitative data like metrics, but case studies are meant to illuminate the qualitative data too – the stuff that’s harder to measure but no less real. [bctt tweet=”Case studies. ? 82% of your competition uses them (@CMIContent), but they’re one of the trickiest content types to master. Learn what a case study is, how it helps your business, and when to hire a case study writer via @JuliaEMcCoy ?.” username=”ExpWriters”] If you’ve spent any time researching ways to grow your brand’s authority with content, you’ve discovered that they’re simultaneously a powerful strategy to do so … and still a less common type of content than you might expect. Even in 2020, 13% of marketers consider them as a primary form of media in their content strategy. Case studies rank fifth behind video, blogs, infographics, and even eBooks. Yet, Gartner once found that they rank as the second most effective strategy for influencing buyers (after direct content). Competitive advantage much, yes? Case studies are hard to pull off correctly, and a good case study writer is even harder to find. A case study isn’t just the sum of its three basic parts (problem, solution, result). Likewise, a solid case study writer isn’t just going to hammer out a bunch of numbers and bland descriptions. Rather, they understand that… Case Studies Work Best When Data Alone Doesn’t Tell the Full Story At their core, case studies are how scientists sneak storytelling into their research. According to student researchers at the University of Nottingham: “The case study approach is particularly useful to employ when there is a need to obtain an in-depth appreciation of an issue, event or phenomenon of interest, in its natural real-life context.” In business, that issue, even, or phenomenon, is your product or service. Specifically, how your product or service positively impacted one of your clients. In story mode. [bctt tweet=”Case studies tell your prospects exactly how your product or service positively impacted one of your clients… In story mode. ? That’s why they’re so powerful. ? Learn the case for case studies on The Write Blog.” username=”ExpWriters”] Sure, you probably convey the effectiveness of your solutions with metrics and numbers alone. Metrics are measurable proof. But why would you settle for metrics alone when you could reel in your potential customers with a good story about how and why your services work … then let them imagine themselves with those very solutions and results? How a Good Case Study Helps Your Business A solid library of case studies is your secret weapon for convincing potential customers to do business with you. They’ll allow you to: Showcase your professional expertise with real-life examples. People make all sorts of crazy claims about the effectiveness of their product or service. A case study provides proof to support those claims … the type that can be verified. Help build customer trust early in the sales cycle. Some 82% of your customers will read your reviews before doing business with you. Give them a case study or three to consider in the process. Leverage peer influence. A good case study writer will ensure that it’s the customer’s story brought to the forefront. That gives you the ability to use the customer’s own words to create a powerful driver for conversion. Provide a primary source for your content team. Speaking of quotes, case studies will yield lots of them. Use them in your other content to strengthen it. Use storytelling to promote your brand. While each individual case study may focus on a different client, you can also use them on yourself. Consider these examples, which tell the stories of companies and their quests in community engagement, getting laws changed, or creating ethical supply chains. Case studies are popular but far from overdone. That’s great news for brands looking to demonstrate their expertise in their field! Source: HubSpot When to Hire a Professional Case Study Writer Nail your case studies and you have a powerful new weapon in your sales and marketing arsenals. But you have to nail them. ?? That’s easier said than done … and also where a professional case study writer comes in handy. Here are three signs you should consider hiring an expert case study writer to create case studies that drive your brand’s growth. 1. You’re Not Sure What Goes into Writing a Solid Case Study (and You Can’t Afford to Mess Up!) Case studies work well in two part of your brand’s sales funnel: at the top, where they can inspire more interest in clients looking for the answers you provide, and at the decision-making stage. In both places, they can prove instrumental in getting that lead to reach out. That means they’re also not a great idea to DIY if you’ve never written … Read more

What is Pillar Content? How to Write Pillar Pages That Resonate with Readers and Earn Higher SERPs

August 26, 2022April 13, 2021 by Julia McCoy

By now, you probably know that content is the foundation of a successful SEO strategy. The problem with content is when companies put too much emphasis on the number of blog posts, rather than the value of the information inside. Assaulting your readers with a barrage of meaningless posts each day won’t drive more traffic to your site. When people search the internet, they aren’t really looking for products or services. They’re looking for solutions to their problems. Long-form content that provides answers will be more useful, which resonates with customers and earns you higher search engine rankings for increased visibility. More than 70% of marketers claim content is very or extremely important to their marketing strategy. However, only 27% rate their efforts as very or extremely successful. Why is that? The answer is simple: Crafting quality content is harder than it seems. Any business can crank out a host of mediocre, uninspired blog posts. But quality content doesn’t just fall off a conveyor belt in an assembly line. One way you can develop content that engages readers and serves as an invaluable resource is by creating pillar content. Exactly what is pillar content? Pillar content is content that establishes your reputation as an authority in your industry, builds trust among your audience, and generates sales for optimal business success. Let’s learn how. What is Pillar Content? Pillar content is significantly informative content that provides invaluable knowledge about a particular subject. It can be separated into sub-topics that continue to provide readers with additional information. [bctt tweet=”Any business can crank out a host of mediocre, uninspired blog posts. But quality content doesn’t just fall off a conveyor belt in an assembly line. ? Learn more about pillar blog posts #contentmarketing ?” username=””] According to Rand Fishkin, all content should be 10x content (as in, it’s ten times better than the average blog post). But pillar content must be substantial enough to build your brand on. Think of pillar content as a broad subject, like digital marketing. Beneath that subject exists a bunch of laser-focused sub-categories, like SEO, social media, and paid advertising. This is known as cluster content. Pillar content delivers thorough answers to the questions online searchers ask about that main subject. Then, it links to that cluster content for more focused information. Let’s look at a real-world example. I recently wrote an insightful piece about Google’s search quality evaluator guidelines. Not only does this article outline and explain the key points of the guidelines. It also teaches people WHY they need content, a critical factor in the buying decisions surrounding content. This pillar piece brings value to readers through its main subject (Google’s guidelines) as well as the cluster content (why content is necessary), all while earning high search listing placement. That’s the sole purpose of pillar content. Pillar content stands out from similar content and is engaging, reliable, or helpful to your readers. It allows you to: Eliminate Redundancy: Comprehensive content prevents repetition of material throughout your site. Plan Future Content: Pillar content can lead to sub-topics within that category. Connect the Dots: Link within your own content to provide helpful resources to your audience. Since pillar content provides a well-researched, authoritative piece that links to offshoot sub-pages, it’s extremely effective for SEO. It not only provides tons of content to align with keyword searches and relevancy. It also links to other expert sources and expands reach exponentially. All of this positions your brand as an authority on a specific topic, building trust and loyalty among your audience and leading to a higher conversion rate. Because it’s so in-depth, pillar content tends to be among your site’s best material. You know that old adage, “Put your best foot forward”? That’s what pillar content does. For that reason, it’s typically where you’ll direct new visitors. But pillar content is evergreen, so it also has a long shelf life. It’s authoritative information about a topic that will continually gain interest. Visitors will check it out (and other sites may link to it) long after it’s been posted. With continual updates, edits, and maintenance, it will always be meaningful and relevant. Pillar content can consist of anything from infographics and videos to blog posts and articles. It’s simply a way to support foundational content for a specific niche. When executed well, it can be timeless, continually useful for readers, and eternally gain you higher search engine rankings. Why Should You Use Pillar Pages? There are two main reasons pillar pages should be part of your marketing strategy. First, they help you organize your content so readers can find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. Let’s face it. People love convenience, and there’s very little that’s more convenient than pillar pages. They provide a one-stop shop for all of the important information users are looking for online. It’s like digging for treasure and finding a gold mine. ⛏ But businesses also have a lot to gain from pillar content, and that brings us to the second reason you should use pillar content. From a marketing perspective, pillar content is also a gold mine, but for SEO. Pillar pages help your SEO efforts in several ways. 1. Cut Through the Clutter To provide the most consistent, relevant, and useful results to its users, Google likes to know exactly what’s happening with your website’s content. When Google sees your articles link back to pillar content that all relates to the same subject, it’s clear what that subject is and Google understands how to rank your pages. Not only does this help clarify your website’s relevance for Google’s search engine guidelines. But the more your website mentions a certain subject, the better you’ll rank for that subject in particular. Organization isn’t just beneficial for Google. It also helps readers navigate your site and effectively consume all of your content, providing a better user experience. This, incidentally, also helps boost your search engine rankings. Pillar content helps you cut through the clutter of … Read more

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