Julia McCoy - Express Writers

Introducing G.R.O.W. with Julia: The Live Mentorship Community for Content Marketers & Entrepreneurs

January 2, 2021November 24, 2020 by Julia McCoy

Feeling lost in your content marketing journey? Maybe you’ve already built a brand, but you’re simply breaking even each month and you’re not sure what step to take next. Or maybe you’re working at an agency, dreaming of being the marketer your boss calls indispensable. But you’re going around in circles, highly skillful but needing a sounding board to take you to the next level of success. If this is you, I understand. You already have the skills. You have the experience. You have the drive and passion. But you feel lonely. You’re not sure why your efforts aren’t bringing in the success you dream of. You long for someone to point you in the right direction. To give you that gentle push down the road that leads to change. Or maybe you need real friends who share your struggles. People who are in the same place you are. The good news is, I have all these packaged for you in G.R.O.W. with Julia, my new growth-focused community for entrepreneurs and marketers. Want to check it out? It’s now officially open until Cyber Monday, November 30 at 11pm CST. Go here if you have that feeling in your gut it’s for you. ? The Story Behind G.R.O.W. with Julia Five years ago, I was just like you. I’d picked up content marketing skills through four years as an entrepreneur. I was running my content agency, Express Writers, and we were getting 500 visitors a day and turning up roughly $29k a month. But it was a lonely road ahead. We kept hitting a glass ceiling, unable to scale and grow. I had no one to ask what I was doing wrong, what I had to change, what next step I had to take. And yes, this story does have a happy ending. Fast forward to today, Express Writers is thriving. We’ve hit seven figures, and we grow 20-50% every year. That said, the road wasn’t easy. And it’s not going to be easy for you. That’s why I came up with the concept of G.R.O.W. one unearthly hour as I was trying to sleep (everything they’ve said about The Muse not running around at 3 a.m. is a lie ?). What I thought to myself is this. “Instead of offering my community another savings code for Black Friday, why not give them something new? Something I needed and longed for with all my heart back when I was a struggling marketer and entrepreneur?” This is the concept behind G.R.O.W. [bctt tweet=”.@JuliaEMcCoy’s new mentorship and training community is here! ? G.R.O.W. means Gather Round Our Why. It’s based on 2 pillars: ☝The frameworks she used to skyrocket @ExpWriters ✌The community she needed then but didn’t have.” username=””] It means Gather Round Our Why, and it rests on two strong pillars. Pillar #1: The frameworks I used to get out of the rut and skyrocket my content agency from a tiny $75 startup into a thriving seven-figure brand. Pillar #2: The community I needed back then but didn’t have. This includes a coach and mentor, strategists and professionals to answer every growth-related question, and a group of friends and fellow content marketers and entrepreneurs who share your dreams and struggles. G.R.O.W. is packed with the templates, guides, frameworks, and strategies you need to snag those quick wins. It’s a helping hand when you’re down. The friends you need on your lonely content marketing journey. A LIVE coach to unravel those tough questions you deal with on the day-to-day. It sounds complex, but it’s not. Actually, it’s simple. G.R.O.W.’s #1 goal is to help you grow online through content. And my promise to you is that with hard work and passion, you will grow. We’ll grow together. The Six Advanced Frameworks I Teach in G.R.O.W. I talk about my six frameworks for growth in my book, Practical Content Strategy and Marketing, and video course The Content Strategy & Marketing Course. When you join G.R.O.W., I’ll give you LIVE advanced training on how to apply these frameworks to your own marketing. (Plus, you can send me your questions and I’ll answer them in our LIVE monthly group coaching calls.) Here’s a quick rundown of my six frameworks for growth. G.R.O.W. Framework 1: Know Your Brand Content Differentiation Factor The first step towards growth isn’t building your audience…it’s knowing what sets your brand apart in a sea of online content. My goal is to help you set your content differentiation factor so you can build a following of loyal fans, even in a world where five million blogs are published every single day. G.R.O.W. Framework 2: Get to Know Your Audience As the saying goes, “It’s not about tricking people into buying. Your money isn’t worth anything to me if my product isn’t worth anything to you.” In this stage, I’ll help you in your journey towards getting to know the people who need you to change their lives. G.R.O.W. Framework 3: Earn Traffic & Prospects This is where everything comes together. Your amazing brand with its unique content differentiation factor, and your adoring audience whose lives you’ll change in amazing ways. G.R.O.W. Framework 4: Build a Content House The truth is, you won’t grow by scattering all your good content pieces anywhere they’ll land online. You need a solid content house. That’s your website, which you build and polish with awesome content. The stronger your content house, the more visitors, leads, and buyers you’ll get. G.R.O.W. Framework 5: Consistency, Quality, & Time Building your brand through online content is not a get rich quick scheme. If you think that’s it, stop right now. Because in order to grow the healthy way, you need to produce consistent quality over time. But don’t worry. Start today, and your G.R.O.W. community will be there for you during the hard times. G.R.O.W. Framework 6: Creating a Brand Ecosystem Solo wins won’t do it. You need to create and build a living, breathing ecosystem for long-term success. In … Read more

Winning Online, Consistently: Your 6-Point Brand Ecosystem for Today & Tomorrow

June 18, 2024November 23, 2020 by Julia McCoy

Your brand is a beanstalk. ? If you want it to reach the clouds, you must prepare your garden wisely. There’s a lot of chatter out there in marketing when it comes to branding. It seems that branding is essential in business. Without it, you have no hope of standing out. Good branding is a key to success, but “build your brand” is bad advice. Why? Take a moment to make a list of what it takes to “build a brand.” If you’re like most people, you’ll probably include things like: Tagline and logo Colors Content topic clusters Your USP Maybe even market positioning Figure all that out and you’ve got a brand, which equals success. Right? Wrong. Brands fail all the time – even good ones. Hammering out the details of your brand is only one part of the equation, but it’s one that entrepreneurs often focus on at the expense of the other part. What is that part? The brand ecosystem. It’s comprised of everything your brand needs to grow once you’ve nailed down exactly what your brand is. It looks like this: Let’s explore exactly what it all means. The 6 Key Ingredients Every Brand Ecosystem Needs If your brand is a flower, then the ecosystem is the flower bed. You must take care of that, too, if you want your brand to grow. Here are six things I’ve identified that all successful brands must have in their brand ecosystem. With them, you’ll have a beautiful flower that brightens the days of many. ? 1. Relentless Quality & Authentic Value There’s a reason Google’s evaluator guidelines spend 175 pages discussing what quality and value mean when it comes to content. It’s because quality and value should be the first thing that all content producers strive to deliver – and content is how you build your brand. Consumers overwhelmingly want high-quality, authentic, valuable content that enriches their lives. If you’re not delivering this, they’ll go elsewhere to get it and your brand will wither into obscurity. 2. Solid Maintenance Habits Imagine wearing the same wardrobe for a decade. After a while, you’d start to look a little dated, right? Content is the same way. It’ll start to look a little stale – and Google will notice. To keep your brand fresh, you need to keep your content fresh. That means revisiting and updating it periodically to replace those statistics that are a few years old or those facts that used to be true. I do it every few months with my brands, but once a year is a happy medium that will keep your customers and Google happy. 3. A Commitment Consistency According to HubSpot, content creators that publish 16 or more times each month see their traffic tripled. Consistently creating and publishing content is the key to growing a strong, sturdy trunk. Producing content three times in one week and not again for a month doesn’t cut it. At best, it reflects a lack of commitment. At worst, it damages the trust your readers have in you because they know they can’t rely on you to keep delivering. Don’t be afraid to outsource to expert writers who know their way around a Word doc. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 80 percent of B2C brands do. At this frequency, it’s almost like you’re running a business. Hmmm… Source: HubSpot 4. Rooted Reach If you nail the top three, the next three will flow easily. It happens over time as your vine grows. But your plant must remain rooted in order to thrive. Otherwise, one strong gust of wind could blow it over. Then, you’re starting over from scratch. How do we measure reach? Beyond customers and sales, you’ll know you’ve got the brand ecosystem down when: You’re finding more and better products or services to offer your customers New markets are becoming visible that you’d never considered People are actively seeking out your advice or thought leadership You’ve become more engaged with your community or industry than ever before 5. Decisive Scaling Freelancers wear hard work like a badge of honor, and many of us will take that attitude into business. It’s a good attitude to have, but it’s even better to know when to bring others on board to help you continue to grow. There are a few ways you can do this. Sometimes, handing off parts of a project to a third party is better than trying to DIY something in which you’re not an expert. Bringing on employees can lighten your workload and keep the business running. Contracting and subcontracting. Keeping freelancers in your back pocket is a good way to ensure that you have the firepower and expertise to take on large projects at a moment’s notice. 6. Established Authority Once you’re known in your sphere – via brand reach and content quality – you’ll develop authority. That means people will listen to you when you speak up, you’ll have a better chance to nab the top spots in the SERPs, and you’ll inspire stronger loyalty from your customers. Authority is the foundation of your success, as it’s what will help you sustain your success over time. It’s also what you develop only after you’ve built the other five elements of your brand ecosystem. G.R.O.W. Your Brand Ecosystem with Us! Building a brand? You need a solid brand ecosystem. I’ve shared the six things that every successful brand has in common. But while you’re creating your brand ecosystem, don’t neglect your own. Surround yourself with motivated, likeminded entrepreneurs to share encouragement and real-life experience that works.

From Blah to Blog: 10 Tips for Hiring the Best Education Blog Writers

January 1, 2021November 17, 2020 by Julia McCoy

Hey, business owners in the educational business space – tired of publishing blah posts that you wish were blog posts? This one’s for you. Believe it or not, but writing an education blog doesn’t have to be boring. Yet, mention that you maintain a blog about education, and you might see some eyes glaze over. That’s because learning has a bad rap. In fact, if you pull up the word associations of the verb “to learn” the top three results are: memorize, teach, horrify. That’s the exact opposite of the goal of a blog: to delight, entertain, and educate. Here’s how you do it … starting with ten tips from our very own education blog writers on how to level up the quality of your blog. (We’ve ghostwritten hundreds of web pages and blogs—one of our educational business clients is McKissock Learning.) Let’s go! ??‍? [bctt tweet=”Believe it or not – writing an education blog doesn’t have to be boring. ? Learn to delight, entertain, AND educate your readers with 10 tips for hiring the best education blog writers ?‍?” username=””] 10 Tips to Level Up The Quality of Your Educational Blog Starting an education blog can be a great way to further your career as an educator – an increasing number of professionals are doing it (Edublogs boasts 4.3 million blogs alone). However, if you’re new to the world of blogging, you might not know where to start. That’s okay! Here are ten tips from our own expert educational blog writers to help you get the most out of your blog. 1. Niche Down and Specialize Education is a broad, broad topic. That means simply starting an educational blog isn’t going to cut it. On Edublogs alone, there are blogs by… School libraries Universities Teachers Homeschoolers EdTech professionals Educational philosophers So, what are you? That’s going to have a big influence on what sort of content you craft. However, niching down and specializing also helps you stand out. (Niche content is totally in and will stay in for a long time.) Consider it. There might be 4.3 million educational blogs out there, but how many of them are run by middle school science teachers who focus on collecting unusual experiments and labs to conduct in class? Specialization is your biggest advantage. Afraid of running out of ideas? Topic clusters can help you get more content out there. Source: HubSpot 2. Look for Writers With Mad Research Skills If you browse through lists of topic educational bloggers online, you might notice something: they all seem super well-informed. Why? They load up their blog posts with links to research and relevant statistics. That’s because one of the easiest ways to develop your own authority is to recognize the authority of others. That means citing them and dropping references to numbers where possible. Authoritative content is something that both Google and your readers want to see, so give it to them! The best education writers: Back up claims with relevant scientific research ? Provide links to original sources of statistics wherever possible ? Use Alexa to identify high-quality sites (the lower the rank, the higher the quality) ? [bctt tweet=”The best education blog writers: 1️⃣ Back up claims with relevant scientific research 2️⃣ Provide links to original sources 3️⃣ Use @alexainternet to identify high-quality sites to link to ?” username=””] 3. Reach Out to Your Community Unless your educational blog content focuses on things like EdTech or the government’s education policies at a very high level, much of your content will likely be influenced by your local community. That’s a huge advantage because your own community is a goldmine of content that can help you grow your readership and your thought leadership. Don’t be afraid to reach out. Your community can be a rich source of: Guest bloggers Blogging topics Helpful resources Tips and tricks Stories Newsworthy current events Readers 4. Collect Helpful Resources For many sites, a blog is an additional feature that serves to deliver value and help a company grow its brand. As an educational blog writer, you probably won’t be selling anything (although you might). Your blog is all you have, and that might not be enough for some readers. Collecting and distributing helpful resources related to your topic can help with that. For example, the middle school science teacher above might have a section of downloadable files for other science teachers to use. Likewise, you might consider reading lists or links to online groups that your readers might be interested in joining. The more pages you have on your site, the more opportunities your writers will have for internal linking. Doing this will not only help keep visitors on your site longer (which signals quality to Google), but also help build your authority as someone who’s in tune with your niche. Need more guidance on building out your content library (and your content strategy) for your business? Check out my Content Strategy & Marketing Course. 5. Monetize With Care Tips on how to monetize your blog abound and many of them work quite well. In fact, most articles that are tips to monetize an educational blog will include affiliate marketing on that list. However, affiliate marketing is easy to get wrong. Don’t be tempted to fall into the trap of spamming up your page with Google Ads, or linking to affiliate products at every single chance you get. [bctt tweet=”Blog monetization tip ☝: Affiliate marketing is easy to get wrong. Don’t fall into the trap of spamming up your page with Google Ads, or linking to affiliate products every single chance you get. ?” username=””] Instead, choose products that: You’ve used and stand behind Are immediately relevant to your readership Have good reviews Don’t require additional subscriptions or involve other strings 6. Give Writers as Much Information on Your Readers as Possible Demographic information is gold for writers, and it’s part of why we ask so many questions when we onboard your project. Of course, that … Read more

The Best Kept Secrets Ecommerce Blog Writers Use to Craft Content That SELLS

January 1, 2021November 10, 2020 by Julia McCoy

The Best Kept Secrets That Ecommerce Blog Writers Use to Craft Content that SELLS

So, you want to start an ecommerce blog? Nice. Everyone’s doing it, to a point where good ecommerce blog writers are in demand. Maybe it’s because 61 percent of people are more likely to buy from a brand that produces unique content. Or perhaps it’s the fact that 34 percent of buyers will make an unplanned purchase after being convinced by a piece of content. ? A blog means more traffic, more eyeballs, and more opportunities to sell a product or many – if you nail it. Always easier said than done … right? Nailing ecommerce blog content can seem mystifying … and finding an ecommerce blog writer worth their salt can seem even more difficult. If only there were a set of skills that ALL good ecommerce blog writers had in common… You’re in luck! Here are five of the best-kept secrets that our specialty blog writers use to craft content for the likes of Shopify, BigCommerce, and many other SaaS brands. [bctt tweet=”61% of people are more likely to buy from a brand producing unique content (@smallbizgenius). A blog means more traffic ?, more eyeballs ?, and more chances to sell your product(s) ?. Learn how to craft ecommerce content via @juliaemccoy” username=””] Let’s go! Here’s Why Your Ecommerce Store Needs Blog Posts, Too It’s a lot of work to set up an ecommerce site. I know, because here at Express Writers, we’ve done it. Our ecommerce platform is literally how we sell our content services to our clients. However, an ecommerce site isn’t just a website full of product pages. Unless you’ve got a killer marketing strategy, you’ll find that simply building a site isn’t enough anymore. That’s where having a blog comes into play. A blog earns: More indexed pages on Google. Some 434 percent more, in fact, than your competitors without one. The opportunity to better connect with readers. Product descriptions aren’t the time or place to connect with your readers and grow a community. That’s what a blog is for. A way to grow your brand authority on your turf. You might have a strong social media presence, but what are you going to do if Facebook or Twitter suddenly shuts down your account? If it’s on your website, you control it. Those reasons might seem simple, but don’t underestimate them. Blogging has been shown to increase site traffic by up to 300 percent. Your blog may be one of the first points of contact that future customers have with you brand. That’s why it’s important to make a good first impression. Source: HubSpot 5 Secrets Ecommerce Blog Writers Know to Make Your Store Stand Out By now, you know an ecommerce blog is a powerful step to growing your brand. Now, you need to nail the execution. Here are five secrets crowdsourced from our own expert ecommerce blog writers to help you deliver delightful, engaging, conversion-oriented content. Without further ado, good ecommerce blog writers… 1. Emphasize Storytelling Think telling stories is just for creative writers? Consider these two examples where you’re trying to sell a pair of sneakers: Blog Post A. The Windy Sneaker is a lightweight, comfortable shoe designed for performance athletes. With a contour perfectly designed for your foot, you’ll barely feel it’s there while you seize that gold medal at your next marathon. Buy now! Blog Post B. Winning a marathon seemed like a pipe dream for Jane. At 38 and struggling with chronic foot pain, she had tried dozens of specialty shoes only to get the same results each time. A friend told her about the Windy Sneaker. She was skeptical, but within moments of lacing them up, her foot pain vanished. Read about the shoe that helped Jane win a marathon. If you picked Blog Post B, you’d be right. Even research proves it. ? Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal for growing a brand. People don’t always react well to being told outright to buy something, which is exactly the end goal for ecommerce blog writers. In contrast, storytelling helps your readers connect with your brand on an emotional level while sidestepping the bad vibes associated with a lot of sales tactics. Make sure your writer is up to speed on this and knows how to tell stories. The first “blogs” were full of stories. Source: Wrong Hands 2. Pay Attention to E-A-T and YMYL SEO, PPC, CTR, EAT, YMYL … Google likes its acronyms. But what do those all even mean??? I’ve covered EAT and YMYL before, so here’s a quick rundown of what those two mean: Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Those are Google’s watchwords when determining the quality of your content (and thus your rank in the SERPs – another acronym. Hah!) You need to nail all three to rank well. Your Money or Your Life. A special set of quality standards for pages with content that could potentially impact a person’s health, finances, or future happiness. Good ecommerce blog writers are aware of YMYL in the event that they’re writing a blog for a company that sells products which may fall into one of those categories. All sites should pay attention to EAT, but not all sites need to remain mindful of YMYL. For example, a fashion ecommerce site probably won’t impact the health, finances, or future happiness of users … a site selling herbal supplements, however, might. If you do fall into the YMYL category, make sure you’re: Linking only to super reputable sources Gathering high-quality backlinks (disavow poor quality backlinks) Providing the identity and credentials of the content creator Using the appropriate keywords, and using them correctly Hiring specialist writers with demonstrated experience in your topics 3. Make Blog Posts Actionable Everyone knows that it’s best practice to include CTAs in blogs. According to Marketing Sherpa, 90 percent of the people who click on your headline will also click through your CTA. It’s almost a no-brainer to include one … but that shouldn’t be the only actionable … Read more

5 Content Marketing Trends That Will Hold Firm in 2021

September 5, 2022October 27, 2020 by Julia McCoy

Question. ❓ How is your business traffic growth and revenue doing amidst the pandemic? Are you staying ahead of the curve and seeing the same (or even better) results in your content marketing since the onset of the coronavirus? Or are you struggling because you lost a ton of loyal followers when the world suddenly and inevitably changed? And if you’re seeing success, will it last? What are the content marketing trends for 2021 you need to keep in mind as the year turns? All these are great questions, and I’ll answer them in this blog. I’ll show you: 5 content marketing trends for 2021 to keep you ahead of the curve The #1 trend you need to focus on if you want to stay afloat, no matter how times change Great examples of brands who made it (and excelled) despite the pandemic (and what you need to do to be like them) Let’s dive in! 5 Content Marketing Trends for 2021 Trend #1: Amazing, Value-Focused Brand Content Will Always Win the Day Trend #2: Meeting YMYL Standards in Tough Industries Will Be a Must for SEO Content Marketing Success Trend #3: Video Content Will Bring More Trust than Ever Trend #4: Voice-Search Savvy Content Marketing Will Rule the Roost Trend #5: Be Ready to Pivot Your Value-Base and Topics [bctt tweet=”Top content trends ? for 2020, via @JuliaEMcCoy’s Write Blog: ❶ Amazing content will win the day, ❷ Meeting #Google YMYL standards will be a must, ❸ Video content ? will bring more trust. Read all ❺: ” username=””] Content Marketing Trends for 2021: Examining CMI’s Interesting Benchmark Study CMI’s 2021 B2B Content Marketing: What Now? [New Research] is full of powerful insights. The part I enjoyed most was where they talked about what brands did with their content marketing during the pandemic. Here’s the thing: most of them had to pivot and alter their content marketing strategy to keep up with the times. The data shows that 80-90% of content marketers made changes to their strategy, found those changes effective, and expected those changes to stay in effect in the foreseeable future. Source: contentmarketinginstitute.com I totally agree with them, because we did the same at Express Writers. We did our best to stay current and avoid getting swept away and forgotten amidst the panic COVID-19 caused. For example, I found out that the term “work from home” skyrocketed from 300,000 searches per month to a whopping 1.8 million searches per month. To respond to it, pull in a ton of new readers, and help people who were scrambling to supplement or replace their income, I crafted a piece for the Write Blog with the keyword “work from home.” Source: expresswriters.com The result? The post shot up to become one of our top five most shared blogs of all time! Source: app.buzzsumo.com The bottom line? You can’t close your eyes, continue with your outdated content marketing strategy, and pray things will go back to “normal.” It’s time to open your eyes, make the needed pivot with your content marketing strategy, and learn about the top content marketing trends for 2021. Content Marketing Trends for 2021: The Top 5 You Absolutely Shouldn’t Miss Three of these trends are older trends that are exploding in size. Two are absolutely new. Check them out. Content Marketing Trend for 2021 #1: Amazing, Value-Focused Brand Content Will Always Win the Day In other words, amazing content that meets or exceeds Google’s E-A-T standards. No matter how the world changes, stellar content will never go out of style. Check these stats out: Over 90% of global search traffic now comes from Google. And you CANNOT rank on Google without stellar content. Publishing quality, strategic content generates 67% more leads than not publishing any content. 71% of B2B buyers read blogs to assist them in selecting the right brand to do business with. You simply can’t succeed in content marketing without amazing content. [bctt tweet=”You simply can’t succeed in content marketing without amazing content. @JuliaEMcCoy ” username=””] In fact, 83% of B2B marketers attribute their content marketing success to valuable content. Source: contentmarketinginstitute.com On the other hand, 63% of B2B marketers say the biggest reason for their lack of content marketing success is due to content marketing challenges. Source: contentmarketinginstitute.com The bottom line? With great content, you’ll have met the #1 challenge for content marketing in 2021! The problem is, creating this kind of content is hard. You need to keep up with Google’s E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness) standards, beat your competition, and deliver real value to your reader. If you’re having trouble, we’re here to help. At Express Writers, we don’t scramble for our content hats at the last minute. Content is what we’re about. (We’ve grown from a $75 startup to a seven-figure business serving over 5,000 clients, without paying for a single ad!) If you need content that surpasses Google’s E-A-T, has your readers craving for more, and ensures success for your content marketing in 2021, we’re here for you. [bctt tweet=”If you need content that surpasses Google’s E-A-T, has your readers craving for more, and ensures content success in 2021, consider @ExpWriters. ⭐️ ” username=””] Content Marketing Trend for 2021 #2: Meeting YMYL Standards in Tough Industries Will Be a Must for SEO Content Marketing Success When COVID-19 first hit China last December, what keyword did you hurriedly type into Google? If you’re like me, it was “COVID-19 news.” As the virus spread and took over the world, you probably typed in things like, “COVID-19 prevention,” “How to keep healthy during COVID-19,” and “COVID-19 facts.” And along with the quality content you found, there was a ton of misinformation and fake news, making you scared, doubtful, and confused. The result? Google started working extra hard to rate health information found on its SERPs. Fact-checkers were also hard at work, with fact-checking rising 900% higher than usual. What this means for you is if you’re in the health industry, you need to take … Read more

If You’ve Got It, Haunt It: 13 Spooky Ideas for Your Halloween Marketing Campaigns & Content

January 1, 2021October 27, 2020 by Julia McCoy

Halloween is here! ? ? ? If you’re anything like me, you’ve been running around the house putting pumpkins everywhere, baking fall treats with allll the pumpkin spice flavors, and delighting your kiddo with a few extra-spooky house décor pieces. I hope you also spookified your brand! Halloween is a major holiday in the U.S. – even with all the crazy events of this year, American shoppers will still drop a whopping $8 billion in Halloween shopping. Around 53 percent will still decorate their homes. Dressing up your brand for Halloween isn’t just fun, it’s smart business! Here are 13 creative content ideas for Halloween marketing this year. From blog posts to social media and even a few extra treats, there’s something for everyone. Let’s get haunting! ? [bctt tweet=”Dressing up your brand for Halloween isn’t just fun, it’s smart business! ?‍♀️ Here are 13 creative content ideas for your Halloween marketing this year via @JuliaEMcCoy ??” username=””] 13 of the Best Halloween Marketing & Content Ideas to Try This Year Coming up with Halloween marketing and content ideas is a lot like coming up with a costume. People tend to either throw one together last minute or spend months meticulously planning and assembling it. But when it comes to content, you don’t really want to do either. Halloween is one of our most beloved holidays, and a great opportunity to grow your brand with some creative content marketing. Here are 13 of my best ideas to pumpkin spice things up this season. 1. Creepy Craft Campaigns According to Gallup, customers who are fully engaged with a brand are 23 percent more profitable than those who aren’t. So, give your audience something to do – literally. With everyone stuck at home this year and Halloween cancelled in many places, things like clever crafts can inspire festivity and customer engagement. Have your readers tag you on social media to create a gallery of user-generated spookiness. Target created this Instagram to share instructions for a craft project. Users then made it and tagged @Target. Source: Target 2. A ____’s Guide to Halloween Are you in a profession not commonly associated with Halloween festivities? It’s time to get a guide written on it. Leverage your content differentiation factor and give your readers insights into what unique things you might do for Halloween. Consider including: Spooky uses for your products Unusual recipes Traditions or practices that you might have A DIY costume for your mascot (Flo, anyone?) Tips on surviving a zombie apocalypse from the perspective of your profession 3. Halloweenify Your Products There are plenty of Halloween products floating around every year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t put your own spin on it. You don’t even have to go all out with redesigned product packaging – a little bit of clever copy will go a long way. Consider getting some expert product descriptions written that play into the holiday. Or, add a splash of scary into your next email campaign to summon the Halloween spirit. It’s not just fun to “Halloweenify” your products – it’s also smart. Americans spend about $8 billion alone on Halloween every year. Source: Statista 4. Spooky Scavenger Hunt This works best if you’ve got a large site chock full of resources that you want readers to find. Hide Halloween themed images in your pages, then create a list of hints for your users and encourage them to poke through your content. You can even gamify it with a giveaway or other freebies for those who finish the hunt. Pro tip: Pair this with a lowkey product or resource launch and delight your fan base when they stumble on it. Psssst… ? If you sign up for my Content Strategy & Marketing Course, you’ll learn all about creating seasonal content to grow brand awareness. Enroll right here. 5. Fan Base Costume Contest Office costume contests have long been a thing, but in the era of social media, so are customer costume contests. Much like the craft campaign above, encourage you readers to share pictures of their best costumes then tag you via social media or post it to a Facebook page. Then, encourage people to “vote” on the best costume – the top three with the most likes can win a prize. Kia did an IG Pet Costume Contest one year, which can be an adorable alternative. Source: Kia 6. Share Spooky Local History Does your brand operate in an area that’s known for hauntings – or a place with a lesser-known but equally eerie past? Get some content created around it! An expert writer who knows how to really dig deep into a topic to find the most interesting facts can create thoughtful, interesting articles that attract eyeballs (and hopefully no ghosts). Also, content like this can serve as valuable real estate for local SEO. (Do this for every major holiday all year round and you’ll rank at the top for local SEO keywords in no time.) 7. Give Your Readers a Behind-the-Scenes Look Does your company do anything special for Halloween around the office? Do you have any festivities going on, or are you making any special holiday products? Share a behind-the-scenes look! Readers love behind-the-scenes content because of the sense of exclusivity and emotional closeness that it creates. Your readers are curious about you and they want to see the people behind the brands. With Halloween being widely celebrated and a favorite, it’s a great time to connect with your readers on a topic they already love. Dunkin Donuts won the internet with this behind-the-scenes look. Source: Dunkin Donuts 8. Spooky Listicles Listicles are one of the most popular forms of content out there – according to SEMrush, they get about twice as many shares as other blog articles. Take advantage of this by creating some Halloween-themed listicles within your specific industry. For example: 5 Haunting Blouses From Our Fall Collection Health & Wellness: 9 Types of Halloween Candy That Are Totally Paleo 10 … Read more

Content Is Key: Why Businesses Should Buy Blog Content to Boost Marketing Strategy

January 1, 2021October 20, 2020 by Julia McCoy

So, you want to drive traffic to your business website, generate new leads, and build solid relationships with prospects. Great! Have you tried writing a blog or two? According to the 2020 CMI benchmark findings, 89% of B2B marketers use blog posts in their marketing strategy. But what if you’re not a solid writer? Or you’re not an expert on the topic at hand? What if you simply don’t have time to focus your efforts on writing fresh content? How can you be expected to create current blog posts while maintaining a position of authority and overseeing all the other responsibilities for your business? ? Simple. Invest in and buy blog content. Purchasing content is a great way to keep your website fresh and current while providing meaningful information to your readers. As someone who has written several books, created more than 1,000 blogs, and has pioneered a writing agency in the completion of 30,000 projects in under a decade, I know all about the game of investing in consistent blog content for success. Not all content is created equal, so it’s good to know when and how to buy blog content for your business. Let’s dive in. [bctt tweet=”Purchasing content is a great way to keep your website fresh and current ? while providing meaningful information to your readers. ? Learn when and how to buy blog content for your biz from @JuliaEMcCoy, a veteran expert.” username=””] Why is Blog Content Even Necessary? This year, more than 6 billion daily searches have taken place on Google, with 1.74 billion global websites vying for prospects’ attention. To bring your business to the top of search results, you should optimize your website with information that meets their needs and alleviates their pain points. The best way to do this is through content. And the most effective content is blog posts. ✏ Search engine optimization is extremely important to your marketing success. It’s all about realizing what people are searching for online. By understanding the keywords they’re using to find that information, you can develop content for your website that search engines will recognize. Relevant, meaningful information attracts people who are interested in your offerings. This drives traffic and increases ROI. Blog posts are a great way to generate leads and drive sales for the following reasons: Allow you to target specific keywords: You can develop content based on topics your company specifically wants to address. Or you can research trending phrases. Either way, you’re able to customize your content to meet the particular needs of your audience. Keep your website active: Fresh content lets people know your business is current. This helps build trust and confidence among your prospects. Provide more valuable material: Search engines have more information to analyze when ranking search results. The more content you provide, the more keywords you can use, and the more useful your site can be. This leads to higher rankings. Enable you to link to other pages: By sharing information with other valuable resources, you expand reach, solidify your credibility, and secure a higher position in search results. Blogging is obviously an important aspect of content marketing. It needs to be done well, and it needs to be done right. Which is why you should consider outsourcing this valuable piece of your marketing strategy. Need more guidance on profitable content marketing practices? Check out The Profitable Content Marketer Skills Cheat Sheet to learn 11 skills and 30+ tools every successful marketer should know. 5 Benefits of Buying Blog Content Content is key to the success of your marketing plan. Unfortunately, it takes time and resources to create high quality articles that benefit your SEO. When you buy blog content from a reputable service, you’re sure to amplify your efforts. Here are five reasons you should buy blog content for your website. 1. Saves Time We can all agree that blog content must consist of quality articles. However, it takes time to write content that will generate leads and drive sales. Source The average blog article takes about three hours to complete. Articles involve research, identifying keywords, and following SEO best practices. Then, once they’re written, their impact should be tracked and analyzed. If you’re not able to commit that kind of time to a quality piece, you may wind up with sloppy articles. Poorly written blog posts can actually do more harm than good. Information that offers no value can result in disgruntled readers. This can yield negative results, like blocked emails or poor reviews. To ensure success, buy blog content and leave the writing to the professionals. 2. Saves Money Not only does it take a lot of time to create a blog article. The time it takes for topic research, keyword research, strategizing, analysis, and writing all equates to cost. Someone has to get paid for all that work! ? The average salary for an in-house content writer is nearly $82,000. This doesn’t include taxes, equipment, software, or office space. Source By outsourcing content writing, companies can save significant money. Additionally, when you buy blog content, you’re less likely to need edits or rewrites, which also saves you time and money. Plus, you ensure you’re getting quality articles written by SEO experts who will create effective content that yields results. 3. Increases Productivity There’s only so much a person can do in a day. As we’ve noted, a single blog article takes time. You’ll only be able to produce as much content as your schedule allows. To create the amount of content that would be optimal for marketing success, as they said in Jaws: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” ? When you buy blog content, you’re accessing a large team of writers who can all be working simultaneously to bring you quality blog articles. As a result, you’ll receive more articles more quickly, allowing you to generate leads and satisfy your readers more efficiently and effectively. 4. Improves Online Authority Maybe you’re not the best writer. Perhaps your expertise … Read more

Introducing Express Writers 2.0: A Story of Hard Work, Passion, and Perseverance Despite the Odds

January 1, 2021October 13, 2020 by Julia McCoy

I can’t believe we’re here, announcing our new ecommerce platform launch! Specifically, our 3-in-1 launch just happened: a brand new, faster website with new design and UX implemented; a new ecommerce order platform that we’ve built; and finally, a new internal project management teamroom system for our writers and team. Everything you see has been built by our company — led by Josh, our CTO, and his team of developers. We had some consulting help in design along the way, and a great developer. The migration began on Saturday (10/9) and as of today, Express Writers is officially on our new site, a new ecommerce shop, and a new internal writers’ teamroom. ? We began this journey of investing massively into developing a new system more than three years ago. Over time, one of the biggest and only complaints we have had through time is the lackluster UX in our client account area. However, in my entrepreneurial journey I’ve learned the hard way that people come before platforms — and that’s why we focused first on building a team of the right people. We know there are some hiccups right now… and don’t worry, our development team led by Josh, our CTO, is hard at work on all of them. We’re confident we’ll have the kinks figured out by end of week. (Input forms was one hiccup that didn’t work correctly on launch, and as of this morning, they do! ? ) You could say we truly started on the trajectory nine years ago, when we began from scratch. Read a summary of what’s new, and the short story of arriving at today’s launchpad below. Our Brand-New Site, System and Content Shop at Express Writers We’re so proud to announce the launch of our new site, system, and ecommerce Content Shop! It’s taken years — almost a full decade to build this system. This is our #1 goal with this launch: Finally having an all-in-one system that talks to each side: the client side, the management side, and the team side. This has been a dream of YEARS! We’re also in a place where our clients have a better dashboard, with more accessible communication and project status updates. (After launch hiccups are smoothed out.) Important: We plan to continue to develop the client account area, and teamroom, based on feedback we receive over the course of the next month or two. Today’s version is called “MVP,” which you know if you’re in development at all. MVP: “a minimum viable product is a version of a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future product development.” We had to strip away other features to focus on building the systems, inner workings, code, and functionality of the core features we launched with today. In the new Content Shop, it’s much easier for you as a client user to: Configure, see, and add the service you need to cart & checkout from the new ecommerce Content Shop. Our “industry services” are gone–you now simply choose the format or service, and then tell us your industry in the input form! ? This removes about 15 “products” and an entire category from our Shop, making it simpler to choose and buy. This doesn’t mean our industry expert writers are gone; on the contrary, we’ve hired more this month! It means you simply tell us after you choose the format first (blog, web page, etc.) what your industry is. Know and see more detailed statuses about your project. (Assigned vs. Working, etc.) Respond to and communicate back with us in easier ways in your dashboard. Manage input forms easier. Watch our client walkthrough video for our new system below: FAQs for the New System I don’t see my old orders. Where do I go?! This is by far the biggest question. To access your orders from Friday, October 9th and backwards, from shop.expresswriters.com, go to Legacy Account Access in the menu. You can also save this link directly: http://legacy.expresswriters.com/ You’ll need to go there to access old orders from Friday, October 9th and going backwards. We weren’t able to import 20,000 projects into the new system — it simply wasn’t feasible. However, after the bumps in the road are over, we promise the new system will be much better. (It should take hours of error-prone manual work out of our workflow.) Our Team is a Story of Hard Work, Passion, and Perseverance Despite the Odds Many of you already know the story, so, I’ll keep today’s campfire tale short. ⛺️ In 2011, Express Writers was born. In 2012, my partner Josh joined my team, and the tech enhancements began. He asked why I was still sending PayPal invoices, and shortly after we began to build our own client platform. The first version of our ecommerce Content Shop launched in 2014, built from scratch in WordPress for a little less than $12k. Unfortunately, we had to have separate systems; the one we built in WordPress was for our clients, and for our team, we settled on a modified version of a CMS called Active Collab. These two systems didn’t speak to each other, but we had to figure out something to get off of email and miscellaneous invoicing — so we did. Today, our new system is quite the massive endeavor. It’s taken over three years, and truth be told, more than $200k to develop. All of which came directly from our business revenue — we’ve never taken a penny in outside funding. It’s been my scrappy little team, all along. We’ve built everything. After testing out 50+ CMS systems, and realizing none of them would ever fit the content creation pathway we’ve built internally nor would it ever seamlessly talk to the teamroom and management side unless it was all one, we decided to build our own all-in-one writer teamroom. And, of course, that meant building a brand new and improved Content Shop platform, too. Which naturally led to “hey, let’s build a new site … Read more