You’ve waited a few days, and you finally received your copy.
You’re excited to get moving on with your project, open up the document, and realize that the tone is not correct, the keyword wasn’t used as you wanted it to, or the direction of the blog itself didn’t go the way you had hoped. You filled out the input form, so you know you had requested specifics for this piece, but you don’t feel the writer nailed it.
Now, you have to send it back for a revision.
You can feel a sense of annoyance creeping up as you click “Request Revision.” While you might think revisions are terrible, you are missing out on seeing the incredible value of requesting a revision.
Clicking that button has just improved your investment in your content.
How so?
Four Benefits of Requesting a Revision from Your Content Writer
Revisions are a good thing.
Let me say that one more time…revisions are a good thing.
It does delay your project another day or so, but you are investing in your writer, brand, and project by requesting a revision.
Let me show you how that is…
You are Not Revising It Yourself – Saving you the Time and Hassle
Yes, you could save a few days by revising it yourself.
But how much time did you save, really?
You outsourced your content for a reason – because you didn’t have the time to write it yourself. So, why are you revising it yourself?
Instead, you need to let the writer that crafted your content do the heavy lifting – that is why they offer revisions.
Take advantage of those free revisions and send your piece back. While you wait you can get started on ordering your social media posts and your email copy for the blog post you are waiting to launch, while our team fine-tunes things for you.
No matter what, you have saved yourself time. You are not spending 30 minutes, an hour, or maybe a few hours reworking your content. Instead, you have that done for you free of charge as part of your initial order fee.
You are Working with Your Writer to Get that Tone/Style/Niche Perfect – Which Pays for Itself in the Long Run
At Express Writers, we aim to have you work with the same writer, not just for this project but for all projects for that specific brand.
Every time writers work with you, they learn more about your preferences, nuances, preferential stylistic needs, etc. These are things embroidered in your mind, but your writer needs to learn them to continue using them in future content. If you don’t request a revision, how will your writer know what you prefer them to do on the next order?
What comes easy to us only sometimes translates well on paper. When you fill out an input form, what you see as a “casual” content tone might not be what a writer views as casual. When there is room for interpretation, there is room for something to be “off” slightly.
That is why there are revisions – so you can help the writer better understand what you meant in your input form.
You are Finetuning Your Wants and Needs (Some You May Not Have Realized You Had in the First Place)
When you complete an input form, you convey what you want right down to the preferred style/tone, but as we said before, what you may think is “casual” is not how the writer interprets it. Or, you might request that a blog be written more academically, only to realize that doesn’t jive with your tastes.
Revisions help you finetune what you actually want in your content because sometimes it takes seeing content that needs to be corrected to realize what you need to get it there and find what your style is.
Sometimes you think your style is more “encyclopedic,” only to realize it is not after you see what that type of content is. We don’t want you stuck with a piece of content that doesn’t suit your style, so we offer the opportunity to revise and refine.
You are Ensuring that the Final Product is Right – and Future Orders Will be Right from the Get-Go
When you have a project that was a home run, you can request that same writer on future projects. If you work alongside that writer via revisions to fine-tune your content, future orders will go much smoother. The writer might hit it out of the park the first go around on assignment #2 – even if the first assignment required a few rounds of revisions before it was right.
That is why we aim to have the same writer work on your same brand or projects – so that everything they’ve learned about your brand from those revisions is applied to future content.
Not only will the writer be more on point, but you will notice that turnaround times decrease. Your writer no longer needs as much time to create your content because once they see the title, topic, and keywords, they know what you intended for them to create, and they don’t have to spend as much time researching background information to create it.
You benefit from having an in-house writer without the hassle of managing them.
You’re working alongside them to fine-tune your content today so future orders are much easier and more efficient tomorrow.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Revisions
Simply requesting a revision is not enough. You want to ensure that when a project goes back, it returns to you right.
When you request a revision, here are a few tips for getting the most out of it:
Be Specific About What’s Right and What’s Wrong: Saying “it is wrong” doesn’t point the writer in the right direction. So, be specific here. Let them know what was right and what parts specifically were wrong so they know a) what parts you do like to incorporate similar style into future pieces, and b) how to revise them and what to avoid in the future.
Be Positive and Helpful: Positivity can go a long way. You are working with this writer side-by-side to create your expertly crafted content. So, keep the feedback positive. You can always give constructive feedback, but as long as you keep it positive, it helps foster a strong relationship with your writer.
Record a Loom: Video revision requests are fantastic! Not only does it add a tone to the feedback, but you can go over the video, share your screen and the document and talk about what you need to be corrected. Not only does it help put it into perspective for the writer, but saves you the hassle of writing out the revision request. A 1-minute video could save you 30 minutes writing it all out.
Leave Feedback in the Doc: If video recording isn’t your style, consider opening the doc and leaving comments inside instead. You can comment on specific sections of the document you want to be changed so the writer can revise based directly on that rather than a large revision note where they have to find the sections in the document you may be referring to.
Some Tips for Avoiding Unnecessary Revisions
Sometimes, revisions aren’t necessary, but there is a communication breakdown between what is in the input form and what the writer creates. These can be avoided, in 90% of their cases, by implementing these tips:
Fill Out the Input Form Entirely: Input forms might seem tedious, but each question is there to pull as much information out of you as possible so that our writer has everything they need to get it right the first time. So, do your best to complete each field. If you are unsure, you can always leave a note you are unsure about and let the writer decide. The more specific you are with your preferences, tone, style, and the do’s and don’ts for your content, the easier it is for the writer to write to your expectations.
Know Your Topic (or Get a Professional to Help Define it): If you aren’t sure what topic or keywords to use, we highly recommend using our content strategy service. Our writers are not strategists, so they cannot research keywords or create topics on the fly. Instead, we leave that to our in-house strategists trained to find high-volume, low-competition keywords, then create click-worthy headlines that hit high on the AMV scale.
Read Your Topic Research before Approving: If you order topic research, there will be a lot of information in the spreadsheet when it comes your way. Make sure to review it carefully. You’re not just approving a topic and keyword – an explanation section goes over everything included in your blog post or web page. Make sure all the details there align with what you want in your content and your brand’s style. We often get revisions because the information was added that shouldn’t be, but it was in an approved content strategy – so the writer was just following what they were told. It is always best to review it thoroughly and ensure every component is correct before approval. If it’s not? Just ask for a revision from the strategist so that it doesn’t go to the writer with information you don’t want included.
Don’t Forget Examples: In our input forms, we ask for examples of content you love. Why? Because nothing helps a writer nail a preferred style or tone more than a physical example to review.
Request an Outline First: If you need clarification on the direction you want for your blog, ask the writer to submit an outline before the actual content. The writer will draft the title, subheaders, and some information they plan to include, then you can see if the blog is following your desired style and the information you wanted to see included. This also saves you from having an entire piece rewritten – and the writer from having to scrap something at 2,000 words versus a few lines for an outline.
Have We Removed the Stigma of Revisions Yet?
Revisions somewhere along the road in content land got a bad rap, and we don’t know why.
To us, revisions are great! They are an opportunity to get your content right and mean that you are training your writer to work on your content in the future without any hiccups.
We all have an idea of the perfect piece of content in our head, but no one else knows what that is – revisions help us bring that vision to life with the help of a writer so that you get the content you had intended to receive the day you placed your order.
At Express Writers, all of our content orders include two free rounds of revisions up to 14 days past delivery. Don’t be afraid to click that button and request a revision. Instead, embrace it and think of the time, money, and hassle you just saved yourself – and the long-term investment you just made in a team of writers that will continue to provide you with great content.
Order your next piece of content with Express Writers and see for yourself the power of revisions and providing your writer with feedback. Not only does it help you get the content you want, but it also helps you ensure you’ll get that content again the next time you order with us!
A craveable, delicious, delightful blog post isn’t much different from a pastry.
As long as you follow the recipe, steps included, you will create a post your readers are hungry to devour – and might even return for more.
The good news is you won’t make a special trip to the grocery store to get started on the perfect blog post. Everything you need is in your virtual pantry – you just didn’t realize it.
Writing a blog post, especially in today’s competitive market, is intimidating. Once you break it down and understand the ingredients, however, you can whip up these readable bits on the fly and stay up with the trends for the future of blogging in 2023.
So, What Do You Need to Craft the Perfect Blog Post in 2023?
The future of blogging has certainly changed. What worked last year doesn’t necessarily apply today. Therefore, staying up on the latest blogging and SEO trends is essential so that you know what Google expects – and, more importantly, what today’s reader wants.
The Perfect Blog Recipe
Before you start to type, you want to make sure you have the following essentials ready to add to the mixing bowl:
1 click-worthy title
1 attention-keeping introduction
A pinch of creativity
A few cups of informative, scannable subheaders
A splash of succinct body copy
A handful of authoritative research and your expertise
1 part formatting
1 delectable conclusion
A dusting of enthusiasm for the topic
A garnish of passion for your niche
Putting it Altogether – How the Future of Blogging will Change How You Use These Ingredients
As you can see, the ingredients haven’t changed, but how and when you use them has.
We will break down each portion of this recipe so that you know how to mix it all in and get your readers to come back for more.
Creating Your Title
By far one of the most essential ingredients!
Your title sets the stage for what the reader can expect, even determining if they ever get past the SERPs to read your blog.
Spend time on this stage of your recipe. In fact, whatever you title it as your “working” title, be prepared to come back and rework it until it is just right later.
Don’t hastily toss forth the first title you have in mind. Instead, let it sit and rest, and the flavors meld together. Think of title creation as a slow, steady simmer rather than a rapid boil.
A good title mixes intrigue and information and is not too long.
Yes, Google says there is no limit, and the length of your title will not influence your search engine results. Instead, it affects whether or not someone will click on it. The first 60 characters matter the most – so make those count even if you have a 100-character title.
Whatever you do, don’t over-sprinkle in the keywords for your title – not only will it kill your readability factor and turn off any enthusiastic taster, but it will turn away Google too.
Roll Out Your Introduction
Your introduction supports your title. So perhaps you may not create it until you have solidified your intro – and that’s okay.
An introduction requires time and patience. While you will mix up something short, sweet, and enticing, you will also want it to rest a few hours before you revisit and rework it again. While adding a keyword to the introduction is essential, ensure it is not the highlighting flavor.
An introduction gives readers just a taste of what else is to come, but the full flavor doesn’t explode until the end. Of course, if your introduction isn’t tasty enough to keep reading, the end doesn’t matter much.
So, take your time, rework it after the entire blog is done, and ask yourself, would I eat this up?
Never Forget the Power of Creativity
Too many recipes lack creativity.
Think of those five-star restaurants – are they working with “vanilla” recipes used over and over again?
Of course not.
They are hashing out something unique that stays with their branding but still tantalizes the tastebuds.
Never leave out a pinch of creativity in your content – all of your content. Creativity should be tossed in from the start; if you can’t taste it, add more.
Start Rolling Out Subheaders
Subheaders help your reader scan and understand what they are about to digest. They should go in an even flow, make sense, and inform.
Ideally, subheaders are introduced every 300-500 words max (there’s nothing wrong with adding them in fewer words as long as the words in between pack a powerful punch). Subheaders are a great place for optimizing with secondary keywords but don’t overdo it.
Time to Mix in Your Body’s Copy
You have a working title, and you’ve rolled out the subheaders. Now comes the time to mix together your blog’s body.
But before you add anything, do your research. You may be an expert in your niche, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need resources to back up what you say. Today, using authoritative, high-quality links is still a must-have for any recipe. Search Engine Journal states that every site needs credible, authoritative, and trustworthy content – and a reader can’t take you at your word without some citations.
As you mix up that copy, make sure to spice it up enthusiastically. Nothing turns a reader away more than negativity. So, likewise, be as passionate about your niche as you want your reader to be as you create your blog – if you are not excited about it, why should they be?
A few other things to keep in mind while you mix up your body’s copy:
Optimize Gently. Optimizing your content is like working gluten. Too much, and it’s gotten too chewy, stiff, and undesirable. Yes, keywords matter in 2023, but how and where you use them has changed.
Focus on Your Brand’s Authority. What Google praises more than keywords are brand authority and trustworthiness. Ever heard of E-E-A-T? Nowhere in that acronym is keywords. What is, however, is expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness.
Be Unique. Today, readers are overwhelmed with choices. You won’t stand out in the crowd if you are the garden variety. Personalization is important.
Focus on the Reader and Not on Google. Yes, Google matters, but the person you are talking to in your blog post is not a search engine but a reader. Center your content’s quality, information, and focus around the reader; you’ll win them every time. Focus on keywords and search engines, and your recipe falls flat each time.
Arrange Your Formatting
No matter where the future of blogging goes, one thing is sure: the wall of text is never coming back.
Today’s reader doesn’t have the patience. Today’s reader prefers the amuse-bouche rather than traditional hors d’oeuvres. They want all of the flavors in a quick little nibble rather than having to enjoy it in a few more bites.
UX planet estimates that readers only take in about 20-28% of the body.
To increase the amount read, make it pretty – after all, we all eat with our eyes and not our stomachs.
Ensure you have an excellent mixture of:
H1, H2s, and H3s to break up the chunks of the body
Sprinkle in bulleted or numbered lists to get to the point
Add images to keep the reader’s attention on the page
Top it Off with a Conclusion
Your conclusion is where you drive action. The reader has stuck with you until the end, so this is an essential piece of content to deliver. Just as with your introduction, keep the conclusion short and sweet. Nothing over-the-top, nothing out of character. Just end the blog on a tasty note with a solid CTA that tells your reader where to go for their next meal.
Let it Rest before You Do the Rest
If you are self-editing your blog posts, you’ve mixed, mashed, sprinkled and dashed, but now it is time to let it rest. A good four to six hours is all your blog post needs before it is picked up again.
Come back refreshed and ready to cut out the fluff, trim the fat, remove unnecessary ingredients in your copy, and add a few more splashes of your brand’s unique voice where it seems suitable.
You’ve Followed the Recipe – Now What?
You’ve followed the recipe, but it is not quite time to plate it.
Before you plate your dish and send it out, you want to make sure you have social media posts and your email newsletter ready to fire off the second your blog goes public. Share across your favorite social media platforms with the same enthusiasm as you did in your piece!
Crafting great content is a lot like creating a great recipe. Not all of us are natural-born chefs, but we don’t have to be. While the future of blogging continually changes, one thing that will never change is the power of hiring talented people to craft your delicious content.
While AI can share the workspace with a traditional writer and editor for content marketing, there is one thing it cannot do – SME content creation.
The only genuine SME (subject matter expert) out there in your niche is, well, you – and the talented freelance writers out there that know your field just as well as you.
More importantly, Google knows it and expects to see that in your content.
What is AI Content Generation?
It seems like almost daily another AI content generation tool is launching.
Some are free, others are paid, but are any of these tools able to truly replace a genuine expert? TechTarget lists 36 AI generation tools in their 2023 guide, and while there are loads of tools to choose from, they are all based on the GPT-3 model.
AI content generation is content that is created by a platform utilizing the GPT-3 model. The content is generated and while marketed to be “new,” it really is not. Think about how AI generators work.
Generative AI tools take keywords, themes, and even voice/tone preferences, and it works to generate a blog, web page, or even a social media post, but it is not creating them out of thin air or using any expertise in the field to offer unique opinions and insights.
Instead, AI generates your content by pulling information from the internet. It searches and scours the thousands of web pages and blogs already out there to piece together information and generate copy.
But, AI Doesn’t Understand What it is Creating….
While it is fascinating to watch AI work, AI has no clue what it is writing. It is solely based on an algorithm pulling data based on your input.
Only a Genuine Industry Expert Knows the Content for their Industry
AI is incredibly fast and can write a blog post quicker than any writer, but because of its limitations in terms of understanding and having any expertise in the niche, it is not a specialist.
Here is where you may hit a speed bump or two, if you are using AI generation for your content marketing:
Let’s Talk about E-E-A-T and How AI Falls Short for Industry Professionals Seeking SME Content Creation
In Google’s February release, they mention guidelines for using AI generation in your content, and make it clear that they reward high quality regardless of how it is produced (whether human-made or AI-generated).
Many took that as a green light to go ahead with AI, but that is not what Google conveyed.
Let’s go back to the double update released in December 2022 when the extra “E” was added to the E-A-T standard, making it now E-E-A-T.
Image Source: Google Update, December 2022, Page 26
What was that extra “E” for?
Experience…
Trust is crucial with Google. Some websites may fall short of the bar, no matter how experienced, professional, or even authoritative they are if they don’t have the reader’s trust, and one example given from Google within their update reveals the most consequential sentence that websites need to pay attention to:
“…the content creator lacks adequate experience” means they will have a low E-E-A-T score.
For example, if the content creator reviews a restaurant, but never ate at the restaurant, they are not experienced or trustworthy, which means they have a low E-E-A-T to Google.
Let’s break it down further by looking at each component of E-E-A-T.
Experience
Experience, in Google’s eyes, offers another level of dimension they can use when evaluating content. Content must demonstrate it was assembled with a degree of experience – after all, a reader will value a person’s content more if they have life experiences on the topic and they are not basing it exclusively on research.
AI has no experience with your topic. Let’s take a look at divorce law, for example.
You want to write a blog for your law firm on the latest guideline changes for calculating child support, but you will find a few speed bumps along the way using AI to do so:
AI typically doesn’t access the latest data – so it may not even know or find the latest guidelines for calculating child support. Worse, it could create a blog on outdated guidelines that it notes as “updated.”
AI has no actual understanding of handling child support cases. AI hasn’t had to calculate what a child support payment would be based on your state, the local laws, or the parent’s income. It has definitely never filled out the child support worksheets – but you have.
If you go off the premise of why “experience” was added by Google, you can see why AI might not meet the mark. AI is not an attorney or a financial expert, and therefore, there is no SME content creation happening when you use AI to draft your blogs.
Expertise
SME content creation comes down to one important factor: credibility. A person without qualifications should not be writing a topic out of their realm of expertise. Period.
Why?
Google is unlikely to rank a website with content not written by a credible source over a website they know has content written by a believable source.
In areas where a subject matter expert is required, such as healthcare, Google has a higher level of scrutiny than things based more on personal opinion and less on facts.
Authoritativeness
Authority means you have proven you belong in the niche your website represents.
Sure, backlinks to relevant and authoritative sources will help build that authority, but only so far. If you only have quality backlinks, but don’t meet the other areas of E-E-A-T – well, you don’t have much to go on.
There’s not much more to say there. Authority is a building block, and it requires more than one block to finish your foundation.
Trustworthiness
Now, we’ve already covered where AI falls short for SME content creation, but the biggest area you are going to see harmed by the use of AI is “trust.”
Readers need to trust the content they read, and the website publishing that content, and Google has made it clear what they expect.
In fact, Google has made it evident that a website should have a clear owner, and that owner is responsible for that site.
When you are in industries that require an expert, such as legal, finance, technology, etc., the reader needs to know that a genuine SME is writing that content – not AI.
In Google’s policies update (modified March 14, 2023), they made this clearer.
In Section 2, Google notes that content distributed online cannot misrepresent the provenance of where it was developed. Meaning, if your content is AI generated, but you claim it was written by an SME, you’ve violated that AI use policy.
Likewise, impersonating an individual that is respected in the industry can be equally detrimental to your rankings. Such as using AI to create fake author bylines or even entire author profiles.
One area to pay particular attention to is Section 2c, which states that any misleading claims of “expertise” in sensitive areas, such as finance, legal, healthcare, etc., is a direct violation of of the AI use policy.
No one is going to trust content that is not written by a genuine expert in these delicate fields. While it is tempting to skirt that and just create an expert to back up AI-generated content, Google has made it abundantly clear it will not be tolerated.
Bottom Line: Flaunt Your Expertise with Genuine SME Content Creation
If you don’t have the knack for the written (typed?) word, that’s okay.
Just don’t turn to AI to create it for you.
Instead, seek out content agencies that hire genuine subject matter experts in those unique industries so that you are receiving content from a person that knows what they are talking about. They have degrees, work experience, and years of expertise writing in those niches.
While AI is permitted, Google has made it abundantly clear that they expect E-E-A-T to rule over it all, and that means if even one component of it is missing, you are risking your website’s rankings.
Let’s face it – after all of this time, we all know how hard it is to bounce back once Google has lost interest in your website. So, it is best to avoid ever reaching that point.
The team at Express Writers understands the importance of genuine SME content. We have a team of subject matter experts ranging from medical to healthcare to finance to legal and more. When you have a distinct niche, you need a team of writers that can provide your website with high-quality content and meet the demands of Google. Reach out to our team today and check out our SME content creation options, or visit the shop and order your first piece of SME content.
Infographics are an incredibly popular online resource. According to HubSpot, they are the fourth most popular type of content used by marketers.
The popularity of infographics comes from several factors:
They’re visual and textual, making them a powerful vehicle for education.
They’re easy to share and simple to skim, so they’re perfect for our instant-gratification digital world.
If you haven’t used an infographic in your marketing before, now is the perfect time to get started.
Today, we’re breaking down how to write great content for your infographics, so you can start developing custom visuals your readers will love to share.
What Is an Infographic?
Infographics are a visually appealing way to share interesting information. While their use has grown exponentially in recent years, it might surprise you to learn that infographics have been in use for hundreds of years. One of the earliest infographics appeared in 1626 and illustrated the movement of the sun.
Today, infographics are used as a marketing resource to generate leads and build site credibility with backlinks.
Consider this example below from a recent email we sent about Express Writers University
While it might seem like an infographic is just an alternative way to deliver information, imagine how this information would look if it were simple text. It would be dense and wordy, and people might skip reading it. The addition of images makes the information much more effective and accessible.
Researchers have found that about 65% of the population are visual learners. Beyond that, content with visuals is 40 times more likely to be shared than content without images.
With these statistics, it just makes sense to add infographics as a resource in your content marketing strategy.
Types of Infographics
As infographics have increased in popularity, so has their versatility. With a graphic layout, there are near-infinite ways to present your information.
Here are some of the most popular types of infographics:
Timeline: A timeline infographic shares key moments from your subject in chronological order.
List: This infographic shares important points about your topic. You should include some context to tie each point together.
Flowchart: In a flowchart infographic, each point leads directly to the next. These charts often use arrows or other types of images to show the flow of information.
Mixed Chart: A mixed chart infographic includes multiple types of charts like pie charts, bar graphs, and density maps. Your copy should concisely describe the data for each chart.
How-To: This type of infographic explains a process in detail with as few words as possible.
Hierarchical: A hierarchical infographic stacks information into defined categories. The information is commonly presented in a pyramid shape. If you use this type of infographic, make sure you organize your information correctly. 10 Steps to Writing Winning Content for Your InfographicsEven if you’re not a visual design expert, you can still write attention-grabbing text for your infographics. Here’s how:
Strike a Balance Between Text and Visuals
There are two parts to an infographic – data (information) and design (graphics). Both are important, so striking a balance between the two is imperative. If you have excellent text and boring design, or vice versa, your infographic won’t work.
Creating a cohesive experience gives your infographic the chance to perform as well as possible, so make sure your visuals and text work together.
Keep It Concise
While infographics can be long, the independent elements within them don’t offer a lot of room for text. As such, you need to be careful with your choice of language. Writing copy for Infographics is a great way to learn to say complicated things in simple terms. Aim for small sections of copy that are no more than 100 words. Anything longer and your readers might lose interest.
Be sure all the language you choose supports your main points and helps readers understand the “meat” of your infographic.
Improving your concision is easier said than done. Here are two ways you can try eliminating unnecessary words:
Rewrite your copy: Doing your work twice might seem unappealing but working through it again can offer impressive results. Once you finish your initial copy, walk away and come back later. Wait at least two hours or even overnight to give yourself a fresh perspective. You will likely notice small errors and make improvements in the clarity.
Check each sentence individually: Every sentence in an infographic carries a lot of weight. Read each sentence separately and look for any words you can eliminate without affecting the meaning. These will be fluff words, like ‘really,’ ‘in order to,’ ‘very,’ and ‘that.’
Create a Narrative Arc
Although an infographic might just look like random bits of information stuck together in a graphic, it’s anything but. In fact, all the best infographics have a narrative arc that helps the reader make their way through the information. This narrative arc may rely on sections, a series of chronological events, or a storyline. As you write, keep this narrative arc in mind.
Start with the Data
When creating an infographic, don’t overwhelm yourself with design and text at the same time. Instead, start by gathering data. Look for high-quality, reputable sources, and compile a high-quality list of statistics, attention-grabbing facts, and pointers.
Again, you don’t have much room for text, so be sure each piece of information you include is impactful and meaningful. Remember: your data is the foundation of your infographic. Build this strong foundation and your readers will love it. If it’s shaky and weak, the infographic won’t get the attention you wanted.
Look at Examples
If you’re new to infographics, it will help to look at examples of great content to get an idea of what you should be doing. For the best results, look at infographics from both your industry and outside of it. The more examples you gather, the better your understanding will be of what it takes to create a share-worthy infographic.
Keep It Relevant
Whatever topic you choose for your infographic, make sure it is relevant to your business and your customers.
If you continually produce infographics that are timely, informative, and relevant to your clients, they’ll start to regard you as an expert resource. They’ll also begin passing your valuable content along to others. This is one of the biggest benefits of infographics – they encourage sharing and lead to more traffic to your site.
Once you know what kind of content you want to put out there, it’s time to search for ideas. This research stage can be a significant portion of the infographic creation process. However, you cannot skip it if you want your infographic to be successful.
Searching for trending industry topics can be a great place to start. What are your customers and prospects currently talking about or interested in? What issues are likely to become popular soon?
Here are a few ways you can find this information:
Use tools like BuzzSumo and KWFinder to find trending keywords and topics
Do a Google search to look for keywords based on your topic
Look through the Design Portfolio on Visual.ly to view existing infographics in your area of interest
Use Quora, Digg, or Reddit to discover the most popular topics and stories that are being shared online
Keep It Cohesive
The best infographics look and feel consistent. While the look will depend largely on your designer, the feel comes down to the tone of the copy. Keep the language cohesive and predictable, rather than changing it from section to section.
If you start with a humorous tone, continue that tone throughout. This will help your readers understand what’s next and learn to recognize your infographics across the web.
Use Emotion
Great content must also be compelling and trigger viewers’ emotions. Choose a data set for your infographic that will create an emotional connection with your audience. This will help readers relate to your content.
You can also add sentiment with stronger words. Try replacing weak verbs with stronger verbs in addition to removing adverbs (words that end with ‘ly’). For example, instead of “grow rapidly,” replace it with “proliferate.” Not only does it use fewer words, but it conveys how rapidly something can expand.
Adding emotive words gives your readers something to be curious about and sparks conversation. This is what leads to content sharing, linking, and brand awareness.
Use Power Words
Infographics and headlines have a lot in common. Both headlines and infographics are short, impactful, and attention-grabbing. Optimizing both accordingly can make a significant difference. One of the best ways to improve your infographic copy is to use power words throughout.
Power words, which are short, punchy, and impactful, will help readers connect with your infographics. They’ll also make your infographics easier for people to share and interact with.
Remember: while some words sell, others make people feel bored and uninspired. Make sure your words fall in the first category.
Here is a quick list of some impactful power words:
Mistake
Trap
Audacious
Marvelous
Thrive
Unforgettable
Captivating
Shameless
Useless
Worst
Proven
Massive
Effective
Format the Infographic Clearly
The format can play a considerable role in the success of your infographic. Poorly formatted information will quickly confuse and lose your readers. The better formatted your infographic copy, the easier it will be for your designer to create an eye-catching image that follows the narrative arc you created.
Consider this basic format when creating your first infographic:
Infographic header
Introductory copy
Subheading
Fact 1
Fact 2
Fact 3
Subheading
Fact 1
Fact 2
Fact 3
[Repeat subheadings and bulleted facts as often as needed to flesh out your infographic.]
[H4] Sources
Including a list of sources for the information you share in your infographic is essential. Since you can’t incorporate live links in a graphic image, we recommend using a bit.ly link so your readers can easily type in the source URL.
Additional Infographic Tips
Those ten tips can help you build a strong foundation for a great infographic. Here are a few additional tips to take your infographic to the next level:
Consider Outsourcing Content
Infographics are brief and to the point, so you’d think they’d be a breeze to write. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
Infographics take time and effort to develop and create. If you’ve discovered this yourself and struggle to produce an infographic, consider outsourcing to an expert copywriter who can devote the necessary time to research and produce your content.
Give the copywriter your topic selection and a basic outline or project brief to let them know your expectations.
Use a Knockout Headline and Subheadings
Headlines should be short, direct, and filled with keywords. More importantly, they should grab your readers’ attention immediately. Good headlines always have at least one strong word that adds an emotional hook. The goal is to create compelling headlines that pose intriguing questions or promise to share useful information.
Addressing the viewer directly in your headline through the use of the second person and numbers are other ways to draw attention. In addition to your main headline, use subheadings to highlight the sections of your infographic. Include relevant keywords and power words throughout your subheadings for greater impact.
Your headline offers a glimpse of what your infographic has to offer and why someone should read it. For example, if your infographic is about how to improve conversion rates on a website, your headline could be, “10 Ways You Can Increase Conversions with Paid Search.”
Branding is important when creating an infographic, but too much will kill it. Of course, you want to brand your infographic to let viewers know your company created it, but doing it subtly is best. Remember: an infographic isn’t explicitly promotional material.
Don’t be tempted to stuff your content with mentions of your brand name or product/service names. If you do, you’ll come off as “sales,” which is a big turnoff for viewers. If you have engaging, exciting content, people will be interested in learning more, so you don’t have to sell yourself constantly.
Avoid Repetition
With an emphasis on conciseness and clarity, you want to remove repetition in your infographic copy. Spotting repeated words may be easy for you, but you may not recognize redundancy when the words aren’t exactly the same. Use grammar-checking tools like Grammarly to filter out repetition.
Consider Negative Space
While this is more of a design element, be aware while writing the copy. Every infographic should have some negative space. This is the empty space around the words and other visual elements.
As you write each section, try imagining where the blank spaces will be. Consider where you should put line breaks and what font size would work well to leave the appropriate amount of space.
Use Accurate Information
Most of the value of an infographic is the information it contains. In fact, this is an infographic’s purpose. You want to develop content that people can use, so it must be accurate. Whether you’re supplying the data or gathering facts from another source, you need to do some serious fact-checking.
Check your data and check it again. Use only trustworthy sources and cross-reference them to verify facts. Including incorrect facts and statistics in your infographic makes your brand seem lazy and negates all the work you put in.
Don’t forget to include a list of sources at the bottom of the infographic to establish credibility. Additionally, going back to periodically update your existing infographics will ensure any statistics you included are still relevant and correct.
In addition to your data, you want grammatically correct sentences. With such a small amount of copy, any errors are loud and obvious. Proofread your copy multiple times, then check it again after it has been transformed into the visual infographic. There may be times when the designer accidentally added a mistake.
End With a Bang
Wrap up your infographic the same way you started it – with impact! Whether it’s a question or statement, end with something thought-provoking and exciting to the reader.
Bottom Line: More Compelling Infographics Start Here
A great infographic can substantially boost your traffic and organic web search rankings. For your infographic to succeed, you’ll need to choose an idea that matters to your audience – then make sure the actual content is informative, compelling, and concise. Follow this with a unique design and distribution strategy, and you’ll have a winner on your hands.
If the creation of content to match your infographic seems like more than your company can handle, Express Writers can help.
Ready to earn the recognition your brand needs with professional & customized content to match your infographic? Contact Express Writers today.
Being a successful copywriter requires a specific set of skills. Understanding those copywriting skills is important when you’re a business trying to hire a writer. Your goal should be finding a copywriter that can go beyond the basics of strong writing, creativity, and excellent English language skills.
The Express Writers team knows what it takes to be a successful copywriter because we work with them every day. That’s why we’re sharing 12 crucial copywriting skills you should look for when hiring your next copywriter.
With these 12 abilities, a copywriter can deliver creative, high-performing writing that can improve your conversion rates and keep your customers coming back for more.
12 Copywriting Skills Businesses Need When Hiring Writers
The best copywriters work hard to turn their raw talent into incredible writing, earning money for every word they produce. A copywriter with these 12 skills will deliver the superior writing that your business needs.
1. Stellar Research Skills
Most copywriters are writing experts first and may have one or two other areas of expertise. However, with stellar research skills, a copywriter can quickly learn the information they need to knowledgeably write about a variety of subjects as they navigate between clients and industries.
To establish your business as an expert in your industry, you need a writer that knows how to find credible, reliable resources. Good copywriters can tell the difference between a high-quality, authoritative resource and an unreliable one. Plus, they know how to cite trustworthy studies and statistics to back up their claims.
So look for copywriters that know where they need to look to find the right information, whether online resources or somewhere else. If you regularly interview subject matter experts, you’ll also want dedicated copywriters willing to interview them to improve their content.
2. A Good Understanding of the Target Audience
Knowing the intended audience for a piece of writing can have a major impact on how it is written. For example, an article written for experts in your field will look very different than one written for beginners.
When choosing your copywriter, make sure they know who your intended audience is. A good copywriter should have no problems adjusting the tone and language of their writing to fit your industry and audience.
Consider the words of renowned copywriter David Ogilvy: “If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think.”
3. Adaptable Writing Skills
Frequently, a copywriter has clients from multiple industries with vastly different content requirements. Being able to quickly adapt their writing style and voice for different clients and audiences is a crucial skill for any successful copywriter.
Writers who lack this skill will find themselves frustrated with continually changing demands and strategies. The best writers can quickly pivot to new requests without breaking a sweat.
4. Knows When to Stop
When a copywriter is unfamiliar with a topic, they can use their expert research skills to learn more. However, some writers may inadvertently research too much. They get caught up in learning every detail instead of focusing on what they need to know now.
The best copywriters understand their limits and know when they have gleaned enough information to effectively write about your products for your audience. If you have tight turnaround times for your copy, you need a writer who knows when they’ve done enough.
Knowing when to stop also applies to perfectionists. If a copywriter is solely focused on creating perfectly finished copy before submitting it to a client, they risk missing deadlines and losing a lot of sleep. You want a writer who takes pride in their work but doesn’t get lost in the minutia of creating industry-focused content.
While most professional copywriters seek to create a career-defining, perfect piece, the best copywriters understand that the pursuit of perfection is fruitless.
5. Knowledge of Modern Marketing Principles
Copywriting, unlike creative writing, is solely meant for selling or promoting something else. Some copywriters, especially when they are first starting out, may make the mistake of trying to add their own personality and unique style to their copywriting. They may try to add extravagant language or unnecessary creativity to their copy to make it seem more literary. This kind of writing distracts from the purpose of copywriting.
On the other hand, copywriters have a firm grasp of modern content marketing best practices. They understand the short attention spans of readers, have a handle on SEO concepts, and realize their writing targets specific audiences who need a product. This allows them to save their creative efforts for projects outside of work.
6. Can Take Criticism Well
To write is to create. When the times come to edit your creation, many writers struggle with the idea of “killing your darlings.” Doing this eliminates potentially self-serving language with the goal of improving the overall message.
In the copywriting field, copywriters need thick skin to accept feedback from editors and clients. If a writer continually rejects criticism, their productivity will likely suffer and they won’t get repeat clients.
The best copywriters understand that everyone thinks about ideas differently and know it’s important to work with your client to create a piece that matches their vision. Plus, keeping an open mind means leaving space to improve your own writing. Sometimes critiques can sting, but it’s part of being a successful team player and brand copywriter.
Express Writers, for example, believes that feedback from our clients is the only way to improve and align writing style and brand vision. We don’t think it’s a negative and train our writers to be open when someone else has a different idea.
7. Is Confident but Not Driven by Ego
While copywriters should be open to accepting criticism, you want them to know when their ideas are worth sticking up for. There are times when your writer will have a different way of thinking than you do, and it might end up better for your marketing content.
Of course, you want them to take their time and have the ability to clearly and calmly explain why a specific word choice or change in direction or tone is important. But if you do that, you could find yourself agreeing with their direction.
If you hire a knowledgeable copywriter, be sure you take the time to listen to their ideas as they may have some inspiration that will change your vision but help your content be even stronger.
8. Find Ways to Improve
Copywriting can be a lonely profession. While you can collaborate on ideas and work with others to edit and improve the copy, the actual writing can only be done by one person. This can cause some copywriters to become stagnant.
Instead, excellent copywriters are always on the lookout for ways to improve their writing skills. They may seek mentors, editors, former professors, or colleagues to help guide them throughout their careers.
Copywriters can also look for classes, workshops, and seminars that offer more hands-on skill-building.
Another educational option is reading. While reading anything can help someone maintain or improve their mastery of the English language, the best copywriters want to stay on top of any industry changes.
They may enjoy reading popular marketing blogs to catch up on the latest marketing trends. There are also numerous highly-rated books written by writing and marketing experts that include some time-tested strategies.
If you are interested in hiring a copywriter, you can ask them how they improve their skills and stay on top of the latest marketing best practices.
9. Self-Motivated
Many copywriters are freelancers or work remotely through agencies. With this mostly solitary work environment, copywriters should be self-motivated to succeed. They likely don’t have a supervisor or other coworkers encouraging them to keep working.
Good copywriters have the willpower to keep writing even when distractions pop up. The best copywriters have likely also figured out what they need to keep themselves motivated and on-task.
Without this self-sustaining motivation, a copywriter may find themselves falling behind, missing deadlines, and feeling overwhelmed.
When interviewing potential copywriters, ask them what they do to keep themselves motivated.
10. The Ability to Create Something New
While the rules of content marketing change regularly, one thing that will never change is needing your copywriter to create new content.
One of the biggest challenges writers have today is coming up with these new ideas. Take almost any idea, and it has most likely been done and rehashed 500 times already. Trying to break out and do something unexpected can create serious writer’s block.
However, successful copywriters understand conquering unfamiliar topics and know how to create something unique from pre-existing ideas. They can take your requests, add a big dose of research, and create something fresh and exciting.
If they do get stuck, they know what to do to get unstuck, like interviewing a subject matter expert in your industry or exploring trending topics that pair well with your chosen topic.
11. Puts the Needs of the Reader First
When a copywriter writes a piece, they shouldn’t be writing it to make themselves, or even you, happy. The end goal of any copywriting should be to please your target audience and meet their needs.
You will likely find some copywriters so thoroughly entrenched in the SEO principles they first learned that they practically forget that a person exists on the other end of the internet. When this happens, the writing comes out optimized for a search engine instead of a real person.
The most effective copywriters are up to date on the continual evolution of SEO, which means prioritizing the needs and intent of your readers and customers. These copywriters know how to naturally use keywords while delivering a user-friendly piece of copy that is exactly what your customers need to answer their questions.
12. Writes with Empathy
To write something that sells, you need to touch a reader on an emotional level. You explore their feelings of happiness, sadness, and failure. Sometimes, you’re even touching on their beliefs.
Excellent copywriters use the power of empathy to prime the reader for the sales pitch without being pushy. This increases the likelihood that they will follow through with the call to action at the end.
According to Peter Noel Murry, Ph.D. at Psychology Today, empathy can enhance the effectiveness of copy threefold.
To add empathy to their writing, copywriters must view their writing from the reader’s perspective. They could consider:
Any objections the reader might raise
An important motivation for the reader
The benefits a product has for the reader
How the competition has lost the trust of their customers
Explore new approaches to the content (storytelling vs. salesy language)
When looking for a copywriter for your business, you can ask them how they would write about a topic they don’t necessarily agree with.
Being able to predict how readers will respond to the copy is a crucial skill for any copywriter to have. It requires them to separate themselves from their own thoughts, desires, and preconceptions and focus solely on the needs of the reader, even if they don’t agree with them.
Centering your readers and customers this way prioritizes their needs over simply making a sale. By humanizing your content this way, a trained copywriter establishes you as a solution to a pain point, not just a product you sell.
Choose the Expertise of Express Writers for your Copywriting Needs
At Express Writers, we fully vet our writers before hiring them, so you don’t have to. We ensure they have these crucial skills to give our clients the best possible content.
By choosing Express Writers, you don’t have to worry about the quality of writing you’ll get because we manage it internally. We constantly motivate our writers to be their best with ongoing skill-building training and resources.
Our copywriters have the essential skills and personal talents to create the high-performing content you need. We work hard to match each client’s content needs with the skills and expertise of our writers.
Ready to see your results firsthand? Explore our Content Shop to get started.
