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Top 10 Fundamental Strengths Every Great Blogger Should Have

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10 Fundamental Strengths Every Good Blogger Should Have

Out of more than 1.8 billion websites, there are over 500 million blogs. Every day, more than 2 million new blog posts are published. However, quality is more important than quantity. How many of those blogs do you think are good blogs, ones that people enjoy reading? Now that you mention it, how do you define a “good” blog? 🧐 Most people can generally agree that a good blog is one that provides regular, relevant content. It can be informative, newsworthy, and/or entertaining, as long as it somehow enriches readers’ lives. Facts are cited and linked back to credible sources, content is unique, and the writer’s perspective is knowledgeable and authoritative. Great blogs inspire conversations. People love sharing content, and when they read a blog that really connects with them, they’re happy to tell their friends and share the content on social media. Good blogs don’t go unnoticed. In fact, they’re often shared among other bloggers in the form of citations and backlinks. But, behind every good blog is an equally good — or great — blogger. Need some help with your blog? Our specialty content service partners you with an expert writer to create in-depth authority content, starting at $140/500w. Understanding Bloggers: The Real, Regular People Behind the Blogs Who is responsible for creating these posts on the worldwide web? Believe it or not, bloggers are regular people, just like you and me. Sure, some of them may be successful CEOs and serial entrepreneurs, but there are equally skilled bloggers who are stay-at-home dads, mommy bloggers, taxi drivers, late-night bartenders, etc. You don’t have to be rich and famous to be a great blogger. What you do need, though, is a particular skill set, work ethic, and unique insights into a topic or industry. The best bloggers have a talent for turning the mundane into the extraordinary through the magic of words. But blogging has evolved into something much more complex than the online diary entries you used to see in the early days. Business blogging has proven to be a lucrative form of content marketing that earns high engagement and conversions while costing 62% less than traditional forms of marketing and generating 3x as many leads. In fact, companies with an active blog have 434% more indexed pages and 97% more inbound links on average. However, the same best practices and rules apply. Being a business owner doesn’t automatically guarantee you can produce good content or mean your blog is any better than the hobbyist posting in his or her spare time. If you want to have a good blog, you need to be engaging your readers in the right way. If you’re struggling with your content strategy, we can help! [bctt tweet=”You don’t have to be rich and famous to be a great blogger. 🤩 What you do need, though, is a particular skill set, work ethic, and unique insights into a topic or industry. Learn the 10 top strengths every blogger needs:” username=”ExpWriters”] What’s a Good Blog? The 10 Most Important Strengths of the Best Bloggers No matter who you are, no matter what you blog about, you should strive for these 10 fundamental strengths that the best bloggers share. 1. Consistency The most popular blogs on the internet maintain their position by posting regularly. What does this mean in terms of a personality trait for the blogger? Although you might assume that a blogger doesn’t have to worry about deadlines, the fact of the matter is every single day is a blogger’s deadline. Bloggers need to be self-motivated to get things done. A consistent blogger is one that draws the admiration of his or her followers. An inconsistent blogger frustrates readers, and failing to update content often is an invitation for your audience to leave. 2. Uniqueness Serial entrepreneur, web designer, and podcast co-host Matt Wolfe said, “There’s a lot of information out there for free, so you’ve got to figure out what makes your information different.” True uniqueness isn’t something you can simulate or copy. It’s something that resides in all of us and just needs the right opportunity to come out. Ask yourself, “Why should people read my blog? What can I offer my readers that my competitors can’t?” This is known as your content differentiation factor (CDF). The best bloggers are those who tap into their innate uniqueness and carry it over to their blog. People love a spectacle, and if you provide one to them, they’re happy to keep coming back for more. 3. Eloquence Sadly, the art of eloquence seems to be lost on many modern bloggers. The successful ones are the light that shines out of the fog. They illuminate how important it is to present your ideas clearly. As writers, our very art – the thing we live for – boils down to how well we represent ideas through our medium of words, how well we connect with strangers, and how we share our insights and imaginations. As a blogger, this is a rare and important trait to have. Those who communicate well reap the spoils. 4. Niche-Based Mindset Niche bloggers develop content within a community that’s based around common interests. Bloggers who tackle the pertinent issues and topics within their niche are usually respected by their peers for what they do. Finding a niche gives you fuel to drive your blog because, in any niche, there are hundreds of thousands of possible topics. The great bloggers know how to use this to their advantage. For example, our blog (the one you’re reading right now), is clear about its specific niche. We are your authority source for practical content marketing advice, and we’re not shy about stating that: (See? It’s right there under the page title.) We know who our readers are. We know what we do best. And we know what kind of niche our expertise thrives in. You should, too. 5. Passion “You should do what you love for a living.” This advice is the … Read more

How to Create Long-Form Blogs That Your Readers (and Google) Will Love

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how to create long-form blogs

Blogging. What comes to mind when you read that word? Maybe it’s chillaxing on the beach with a laptop and a martini while typing up your latest adventure? Yeah, that stereotype is about as old and tired as the content best practices from the last decade. (Not to mention unrealistic. Also, don’t take your laptop to the beach.) Maybe it’s the endless to-do list-slash-content calendar that’s one more dismal thing you have to do to make your business run – and what’s it even do, again? Oof. Hand me that martini. Here’s a bit of news: if your ideas about blogging fall into either camp, you’re doing it wrong. Here’s what blogging looks like in the 2020s, plus how to create long-form blogs that work FOR you (rather than being WORK for you). [bctt tweet=”What does #blogging look like in 2021? ? How do you create long-form blogs that work FOR you (rather than being WORK for you)? @JuliaEMcCoy has the answers on the Write Blog ?” username=””] What IS Long-Form Content? Like a lot of things in the content world, the idea of long-form comes from journalism. There, it referred to a story that ran over the typical length – about 500 words (or about 14-16 inches depending on the paper’s formatting). In content writing, long-form similarly refers to content that is longer than your typical content. It’s hard to pin an exact number on that average because it changes. In particular, it’s growing. Let’s paint a picture. The phrase long-form content has floated around on the internet for a long time – the first mentions start around 1998. This was the early days of Google before we’d really figured out the true magnitude of the search engine’s power. In those days, long-form content referred to anything over 300 words. That’s about the length of this section. However, by 2018, the average had crept up to 1,100 words. Blog posts that went over that frequently ranked higher, got more engagement, and enjoyed more widespread sharing on social media. And guess what? Marketers noticed. By 2020, HubSpot found that the average blog post was 2,164 words – almost double what it’d been two years earlier. Blog posts have been trending longer for some time. Blog post length is creeping up over 2,000 words. Source: Orbit Media. So, what is long-form content in 2021? According to BuzzSumo, long-form content is anything over 2,000 words. According to HubSpot, it’s anything between 1,000 and 7,500 words – buuut you want to hit 2,500 words minimum to get the most shares and backlinks. However, according to Core DNA, your content doesn’t get to wear the badge of long-form until it’s a whopping 4,000 words (about 2.5 times the length of this article). This brings us to another point… When to Use Long-Form Content If longer articles catch more eyeballs, win more clicks, and result in more shares, then longer is always better. Right? Wrong. Like everything, long-form content is a tool with some very good applications. Use it when: You’re building pillar content. One meaty, well-researched article full of links to articles that deep-dive into subtopics can transform your content. Long-form content is excellent here. You’re trying to outrank competitors with long-form content. If your competition is routinely posting 2,000-word articles, your little 1,100-word work of art won’t cut it. In these cases, long-form content combined with the skyscraper technique can work wonders. The topic needs it. What’s worse than bad content? Content that fails to fully address the topic. If the topic needs 2,000 words, don’t try to squeeze it into an 800-word blog article simply because you have to publish four articles per month. You’re better off having your writer do one 2,000-word article that really delves into the topic than four 800-word posts that scratch the surface. The content will land in front of the reader in the deeper stages of the buyer’s journey. A 35-minute read might be intimidating to a casual browser or someone with a short attention span. Target serious seekers with your long-form content. You’re building authority or thought leadership. Long-form content helps improve a site’s Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness – or EAT, one of Google’s quality guidelines. [bctt tweet=”If longer articles catch more eyeballs, win more clicks, and result in more shares, then longer is always better. Right? ? …Wrong. Long-form content is a tool with some very good applications. Learn WHEN to use it here ?” username=””] How to Create Long-Form Blogs That Everyone Will Love So, you’ve got pillar content planned that will position you as an authority in your industry. Great! Here are four tips to follow when creating long-form blogs that will impress both your readers and the search engines. 1. Break Out the Statistics! Did you know that blogs are considered the fifth-most trustworthy source of information? And having statistics in your blogs is one of the easiest ways to boost that trustworthiness rating. Statistics have a lot of benefits, especially when they’re unique to your business. They give your readers some brain candy, and they prove to Google that you’re an expert in your industry. Therefore, DO: Compile unique statistics to give to your writers whenever possible. Emphasize fresh statistics (within two or three years, depending on your industry). 2. Diver Deeper into Topics Are there 26 blog posts already on the topic you want to write about? Think about another way to attack the topic. Differentiating yourself in the search engine does more than just give your readers something fresh. It also sets you apart from the competition by showing original thought leadership – you aren’t just rehashing what someone else has already said. DO: Find angles and leverage your content differentiation factor. Look for studies or research that hasn’t been used by others. Do your own case studies and incorporate them into pillar content. Want to learn the ins and outs of creating not just long-form blogs, but long-form blogs that create ROI? Check out The Expert … Read more

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

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

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

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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

Medical Blog Writers: How to Produce Concise, Credible Content That Grows a Practice

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Medical Blog Writers: How to Produce Concise, Credible Content That Grows a Practice

Doctor by day … blogger by night? You bet it’s a thing. In 2020, 90 percent of businesses out there are blogging because it’s the single biggest thing you can do to improve your visibility in the search engine. In fact, if you don’t have a blog on your site, you’re all but invisible online. However, as a medical professional, you can’t just fill your blog with all manner of random pieces of content and expect to win at content marketing. You need medical blog content from an expert medical writer who actually knows what they’re talking about. Finding good medical blog writers can be tricky, so here are a few insights on what goes into writing medical blogs and what are the best practices around writing a medical blog. By the time you’re through, you’ll know exactly what to do – and what skills to look for in a candidate when you go to hire a writer. Let’s go! [bctt tweet=”Doctor by day… blogger by night? ‍⚕️ You bet. Learn what goes into writing medical blogs, best practices, and how to find good medical blog writers via @juliaemccoy” username=”ExpWriters”] Why Medical Professionals Need to Blog If you’ve started a medical practice, a blog probably isn’t at the top of your list. Yet, it’s a powerful tool to grow your practice and reputation. Starting a medical blog helps you: Increase visibility. According to SEO Tribunal, companies and brands with a blog generate 97 percent more traffic than those without one. More eyeballs mean more potential patients. Answer common questions. Are there questions your patients seem to consistently ask? Save everyone’s time by crafting thoughtful content that answers these questions. Connect with your current (and potential) patients. Blogs offer one more way for you to connect with your community. Whether you’re discussing relevant events or talking about health issues that impact your patient base, your readers can connect with you by interacting with your blog. Become a reputable source of credible information. Way back in 2013, Pew Research found that some 77 percent of people started their search for health information online. That’s still true today, as the rush to correct pandemic misinformation in 2020 has shown. Writing a medical blog allows you to meet patients where they are – online and looking for information you can provide. Clear, Concise, Credible: The Medical Blog Writer’s Eternal Struggle Medical blog writing is a skill in its own right. Unlike other industries, you aren’t simply writing to entertain. People turn to medical blogs for information that will have a direct impact on their lives. That raises the bar quite a bit regarding the quality of what you publish. No matter what your specialty, medical blog content must be: 1. Clear: Because There’s Enough Confusion Out There Do you know what sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia is? (Try saying that five times fast, heh.) It’s characterized by the acute onset of cephalgia resulting from referred pain when the trigeminal nerve is triggered. Ouch! I’ll bet you a whole penny you’ve never heard of that condition … and another penny that you’ve experienced it. It’s called brain freeze. But that wasn’t clear at all, was it? With medical blog writing, it’s super easy to get carried away with technical jargon or complex explanations, especially when you’re a professional who already knows what these words mean. However, doing this reduces the clarity of your writing. That’s a problem because unclear content: Inspires panic. Which sounds more frightening: sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia or brain freeze? May prevent or delay someone from seeking medical attention. Good medical blog writers know when to make it clear that readers should seek prompt medical attention. Undermines your professional authority. Through your blog, you’ll demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about – so make sure you’re clear! Bad advice abounds. Medical blog writers must be a light in the dark. Source: XKCD [bctt tweet=”Medical blog writers need to take care ❤: Unclear content or technical jargon can 1️⃣ Inspire panic 2️⃣ May prevent or delay someone from seeking medical attention 3️⃣ Undermine your professional authority. Learn more:” username=”ExpWriters”] 2. Concise: Because People Want Answers, Not Science Lectures How many times have you gone searching for answers, only to spend several minutes scrolling three-quarters of the way down a page for a simple answer to a question that you still couldn’t find because it was buried in a wall of text? (If you’ve done that more than once or twice, you’re a rarity. Most people spend 15 seconds or less on a page before they bounce.) Think about how much more annoying that is when you’re looking for answers to a potentially serious medical problem. Be concise. Answer the question upfront, then go into detail further down the page. 3. Credible: Because It’s Your Money or Your Life 2020 superbly illustrated the prevalence of confusing and inaccurate information. From misinformation about how to wear masks to reports of deaths from people following bad advice, unclear or confusing advice isn’t just unhelpful … it’s dangerous. That’s why credibility matters, and why Google has special quality requirements for medical blogs, legal advice, financial articles, and similar topics that may impact a person’s health, happiness, or financial stability. In Google’s Guidelines, Section 2.3 talks about “Your Money or Your Life Pages” and the very high quality score they must achieve to rank well in the search engine. In Section 3, you can read about exactly the metrics Google’s evaluators use to rank the quality of sites. They are: High E-A-T. E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness. Those are three major metrics that Google uses to determine the overall quality of a site. Positive site reputation. Evaluators are trained to look through your – or your practice’s – reputation online. They’ll use things like Yelp reviews, industry news, and more. The amount of “MC.” MC stands for main content, and they expect it to be satisfying to the reader – I.E., comprehensive enough that questions and curiosity are answered. An … Read more

A Case Study in Blogging: 21,600 Keyword Rankings in Google and 90,000 Visitors Per Month

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This May, we’re celebrating our 8th full year of business at Express Writers. Looking back, it doesn’t even feel like eight years. More like a century. (Just kidding!) Seriously, though, I’m thankful that we’re here this May. Eight years is nothing to sneeze at. Just look at these statistics from Motley Fool: 80% of new businesses survive past their first year of operation. 50% of businesses make it to five years. And only 33% of businesses make it to ten years. Considering that I started this entire operation back in 2011 with an investment of the crumbs left in my broke-college-student savings account, $75, I’m thrilled that we’ve made it this far. With a 100% chance of failure, I rolled up my sleeves and put in many 60 and even 90-hour work weeks in the beginning. We kept chugging along, growing at incredible speeds every year.  As I was digging into ideas to write a blog to celebrate our eighth year here on the Write Blog, it hit me that we didn’t have any fresh case studies on our blogging traffic and analytics, which have recently been the highest they’ve ever been. It also came to my mind the current state of affairs: how many content marketers and blog publishers are still struggling to even see success from their online efforts. So, this case study is needed. If you read one blog from me this year, make it this one. A Case Study in Blogging: 21,600 Keyword Rankings in Google and 90,000 Visitors Per Month Let’s dive into my blogging case study! First, let’s talk about the beginning (strategy), and the end (results). The Power of, and Strategy Involved In, Brand Blogging that Works Fun fact: Blogging used to be just for the people that “journaled their thoughts” on the web. The idea of blogging online itself originated in 1994, when a college student named Justin Hall began a stint of “personal blogging” that lasted eleven years. He was enrolled at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Originally, the words “escribitionists” and “weblog” were used to describe what is now known as “blog.” Thank goodness that word evolved! Blogging is now far more than just an online diary. It’s a huge opportunity for businesses, brands and marketers to express themselves to their audience, grow and build a real community, and share the authentic real “human side” behind the brand. Blogging is a #1 method for marketers and brands to add consistent new site traffic that may eventually convert and become a buyer. At Express Writers, I’ve managed to write and publish over 1,100 blogs on our site over the past eight years, with the help of my team. The amount of content we publish on our blog, the consistency of it, and the quality and relevancy of our blog posts are the biggest factors behind what is now 90,000+ visitors/month coming to our site: We have 1,188 blogs published to date since 2012, the year I began consistently blogging. That’s an average of 169 blogs published per year. Our traffic went up steadily over the years, increasing when we put an emphasis on quality over quantity of content in late 2016 and ramped up in 2017. Our quality > quantity emphasis that began in 2016 focused on a few things: implementing a real content strategy for the first time and going from publishing four blogs/week to 1-2 high-quality blogs/week. Here’s a timeline tracking our biggest historic growth points, pulled from this blog I wrote on content strategy and my masterclass on how to build a strong content strategy. Right around the time we focused on a content strategy and quality over quantity, our results started to shoot through the roof. The data speaks. Check out how our SEO tracking in SEMrush reflects a spike in growth right around the time we built a content strategy and emphasized quality over quantity: Last week, when I was giving a talk on content creation right here in Austin, Texas, I shared these two slides that sums up our content success story well. The Google Analytics screenshot below was from March of this year, and this April, we had our first 90,000 traffic/month. Smart marketers shouldn’t be too excited by these numbers until they see the conversion rate and the sales. (Mr. Wonderful on Shark Tank, anyone? “Talk numbers!”) On average, we are achieving the benchmark conversion statistic for organic search traffic. 14-16% of our leads are converting. As Mr. Wonderful would say, “To cash flow!” Now, here’s what our traffic numbers look like as of writing this blog over late April 2019. Our Google Analytics: On the right, in the blue box, you can see how 10 out of these 14 visitors are on a blog post the moment this screenshot was taken. This is very common for our traffic. Now, check out our SEO ranking statistics in SEMrush again. We’re at 21,600 keyword rankings in Google. I have the graph set to “all-time”, so this is going back to May 2013, when I first started a SEMrush tracking project for our site. I’m in love with the traffic growth shown in this graph that spiked beginning in 2017, which is the year we got strategic. Learn more about how getting strategic paid off for us, here. Because of the content geeks we are and how consistent our content is, Google loves our site. Plus, everything we do is always organic, audience-first, and ethical. I never pay a dime in PPC ads, and we don’t allow advertisers to ever have access to our site or blog (even though I’m pitched at least once per day). You can see proof of our Domain Authority with expresswriters.com in Alexa, Amazon’s pioneer in the world of analytical website insight. Alexa clocks us at being the 97,000th-most popular website in the world, which is pretty crazy given there are over 1.6 billion websites in the world (InternetLiveStats). As for our content creation itself: everything — everything — we publish and create on our site is focused around several key things: Offering real value, factual and statistical (real) insights, truly useful … Read more

How to Promote a New Blog Post: 15+ Trusty Techniques to Try

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How to Promote a New Blog Post: 15+ Trusty Techniques to Try

You put lots of hard work into creating that new blog post. It cost you real money, time, and effort. ⏳ Now, how can you get serious return out of your content?  Promote it. Without a boost from a few smart, strategic promotion strategies, that blog won’t get traction beyond bare-bones SEO and organic shares. (Which could be significant by itself, but why settle?) If you feel comfortable letting your blog hang out on the internet without any help, be prepared for a surge of activity followed by a quick decline. Your blog will limp along for a while until it’s forgotten entirely. If, on the other hand, you want to give all your new blogs a fighting chance at getting read by a wider audience – not to mention a longer lifespan online – promotion is essential! So, how to promote a new blog post in ways that actually get it noticed? Follow along as we share our best tips and techniques. How to Promote a New Blog Post: Your Comprehensive Guide to Boosting Traffic and Engagement 1. Do These 5 Tactics BEFORE You Promote a New Blog Post Make Your Blog the Best Version of Itself Build Your Email List Using Lead Magnets Optimize Your Blog Posts for Search Promote a New Blog Post Internally Build Relationships with Peers, Fans, Followers, and Customers 2. Promote a New Blog Post Using Email Segment Your Email List and Target by Interests Did You Mention a Specific Brand/Influencer in a Post? Email Them Write Your Emails the Right Way 3. Promote a New Blog Post on Social Media Use Instagram Stories Cross-Post to Each Platform You’re On Plug Your New Blog on Relevant Twitter Chats Add the Link to Your New Blog on Your Profiles Share Your New Blog Multiple Times on Fast-Moving Feeds Use Those #Hashtags and DO @ People Share Your New Blog to Your Social Media Groups and Communities 4. Promote a New Blog Post with Smart Tools Use Quuu Promote or Zest Curate Your Blog Posts in a Content Hub Add Social Sharing Buttons to Your Posts Do These 5 Tactics BEFORE You Promote a New Blog Post So, you’re all ready to start learning how to promote a new blog post. Hold on one second. There are a few foundations we need to cover first. Don’t skip these steps – they’ll help make blog promotion much, much easier. 1. Make Your Blog the Best Version of Itself Content promotion will mean absolutely nothing if all you do is lead visitors to a subpar blog. All the promotional tactics in the world can’t save mediocre content. Why? Quite simply, people don’t want to read, share, or engage with content that’s “eh.” They may be lured to a blog that sucks because they won’t know it sucks until they land there. Once they find out, they’ll bounce away from the crappy blog as fast as they can. You’ll be no better off than you were before. That’s why you MUST commit to creating the best blog this side of the internet. An amazing blog makes people want to stay, read, engage, and share. Plus: Amazing content promotes itself! A case study from Ahrefs nicely demonstrates this point. They regularly receive organic promotion from outside sources without any effort, like this Reddit post: As they explain in the post, Ahrefs did absolutely nothing marketing-wise to get this kind of great P.R. – their readers love their content, and that love makes them WANT to share Ahref posts. Simple logic, but something that a lot of people forget about when considering how to promote a new blog post. Make sure your blog is amazing at the start, and organic promotion will follow. 2. Build Your Email List Using Lead Magnets I can’t emphasize the importance of this next point enough: Build your email list to create a built-in audience for your blog promotion. According to the latest report from The Radicati Group, today there are over 3.9 billion people using email worldwide. That’s over half the population of the entire globe. Not only is email widely used – it generates the most ROI per dollar spent out of any other marketing activity. (A Litmus study estimated that email is worth an average of $38 for every $1 spent.) Your list, when you build it, is worth a TON. It’s a direct link to people who are interested in you/your brand, and thus the perfect channel for blog post promotion. Next question: How do you build your email list? Create lead magnets. Lead magnets are golden nuggets of content that are high-value. You offer these as exclusive downloads for your audience in exchange for their name and email address. A truly high-quality lead magnet is well-written and packs in tons of helpful/valuable information. Create lead magnets offering high-value information, then offer them to readers in exchange for their email address. Once you get their email – boom! – your list building has begun. Once you have an email list, send out messages to it with links to your new blog posts. Done and done. 3. Optimize Your Blog Posts for Search Besides blog promotion, don’t forget about SEO. It’s a major way to scoop up organic traffic to your blog posts from search engines like Google. That said, a LOT more goes into proper SEO besides just inserting keywords in the right places. You need to think about factors like: Content quality Whether your content fulfills user search intent for your focus keyword Whether your blog showcases relevant expertise for the topics you’re covering Your site design and page-load speed Your use of links and sources in your blog And more It’s important to get your SEO down before you think about how to promote a new blog post with other tactics. That’s because SEO is a passive way to draw more traffic and leads to your blog. Cover this base, draw in readers organically, and then hustle for more … Read more

How to Expertly Partner with a Blog Ghost Writer for Content Domination

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How to Expertly Partner with a Blog Ghost Writer for Content Domination

The benefits of blogging for business are BIG. (Say that 5x fast.) When you blog, you will: Attract organic traffic to your website Help search engines index your pages for relevant industry keywords Build up trust with visitors, turning them into readers, then customers Educate visitors about your industry/business/products/services And more Need content creation support? We can help! Click to see our prices, or register as a client here. According to a well-known HubSpot study, businesses who blog generate more indexed pages in Google than those who don’t blog. Plus, those extra indexed pages literally lead to more leads. Blogging is a big deal. It can quickly lead to more exposure online to the exact right people (read: future customers). The only issues that could possibly get in your way? Lack of time Lack of writing skills Lack of SEO blogging knowledge No biggie. The solution is obvious: You need a blog ghost writer. This is a writer who can seamlessly step into your brand’s voice and style, write blogs that appeal to your target audience, and position you as an authority with high-quality, optimized, amazing written content. Sounds great, right? Not So Fast: There’s a Common Problem Inherent in Working with Blog Ghost Writers If you get that outsourcing your blog writing is going to help you or your clients gain more traffic/leads/conversions/sales, that’s great. However, there’s another problem that may pop up: How do you work with a ghostwriter (or a team of ghostwriters) so you get to the scenario we described above? More often than not, marketing agencies and small businesses turn to ghostwriters hoping to achieve that amazing ROI, but what they get is significantly less than they expected, like: Poor writing or obvious clues a non-native English speaker wrote the piece Bland, general blogs that don’t show off any industry expertise Writing riddled with silly errors and inconsistencies Writing that doesn’t match up with the desired brand style/tone An example of bad content. Did a human even write this? For a few of these examples, the problem is obviously with the quality of writer you’re hiring. (Cheap writer = cheap content. See above.) As for the rest, what if I told you the problem might not be with the writer’s skill set? What if the problem (ghostwritten content that doesn’t live up to expectations) stems from the way you’re working with your ghost writer? It’s possible. That’s because there is a right way to communicate and work with your writer so you get the best outcome possible: Amazing content that brings in ROI, so you more than recoup what you originally invested in its creation. That’s what we’re discussing today: How to work with your blog ghost writer to get the best results possible. Results like: Content that hits the bullseye for your brand voice Writing that draws in the right readers Optimization that ensures search engines love your blogs High-quality content that converts Ready to get into it? Working with Blog Ghostwriters: 6 Keys to Remember to Get the Best Content Possible 1. Be Willing to Collaborate Let’s get something straight. In your industry, business, or profession, you’re the expert – not the writer. Don’t get me wrong. Ghostwriters are exceptionally good at research, and they excel at taking on the tone and voice you want. Many also have years of experience behind them, including a background in your industry. Despite all this, the writer still can’t ghostwrite for you without any guidance. You can’t just hand them the wheel with no direction and expect magnificence. You must – I repeat, must – be willing to collaborate with your ghostwriting partner. You are the one with ideas, knowledge, and experience to gift to the wider world. Ghostwriters are just the vehicle, there to help you clearly communicate all of that in ways that are readable and interesting. So, to start off, come to your ghost writers with ideas, direction, and purpose for what you want them to produce. Talk with them, collaborate, be willing to answer questions and provide guidance. The end result will be a much better product, and will lead to higher ROI. 2. Respect the Writer’s Process… Although online writing has become more common as a profession, the job itself still doesn’t get much respect (unless you’re a Stephen King-type penning best-selling novels). Proof: The median pay for online writing, content writing, and ghostwriting is still absurdly low. Well-paying jobs are the exception, not the norm. According to data from PayScale, freelance writers earn an average of $24.70/hour. But that’s just an average calculated from the self-reported pay from about 400 writers across the country. A more accurate picture of an online writer’s pay looks like this: It varies. Widely. You’ve got your content factory workers, who make bottom-of-the-rung pay (literal pennies per word written). Then you have the other end of the spectrum: The highly-paid experts who can make upwards of $50/hour. In the middle are the majority. Perhaps this pay situation stems from the fact that writing looks deceptively unlike work. That’s a sad misconception, because, as any writer will tell you: Writing is hard. You probably have a good grasp on that fact – after all, you attempted to sit down and write your own blogs, but couldn’t figure out how to do it profitably. You need a ghostwriter for a reason, so respect their work, their process, and their time. You’ll end up with a loyal partner who will be glad to continue a long-term working relationship with you. 3. …But Don’t Give Your Ghost Writer Too Much Free Rein Give creative work like writing too much free time, and it will run amok. For most, open-ended assignments are a recipe for disaster. Writers can edit something forever and get stuck in a loop without clear deadlines. Via Inkygirl For instance, did you know the more familiar you are with a written work – like your own writing – the more likely you’ll miss obvious errors … Read more

5 Blogging Tips for Technical Writers to Help You Explain High-Tech Topics to Your Audience

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5 Blogging Tips for Technical Writers to Help You Explain High-Tech Topics to Your Audience

If you’re a technical writer engaging in content marketing, you may not be reaching all of your possible readers. Technical writers are great at writing for other tech experts, but what about the average person? The person with basic computing knowledge (they can navigate word processing software, cloud storage, and basic photo editing, and can set up online accounts) The person who is handy with their phone as long as they have the right app The person who is adept at social media Someone who can build a website as long as they go through a platform with a drag-and-drop editor These people have some basic tech knowledge. It doesn’t go very deep, though. They have never tinkered with HTML, XML, or CSS; they don’t understand how back-end development works, and they don’t have the technical vocabulary required to understand your more in-depth blog posts. So, why are they worth your attention? Sometimes, these people are the big decision-makers. They’re the bosses who have the final say on whether the tech expert you’re writing for can buy that new software. Or, they’re the higher-ups who have the last word on whether their company invests in your technology. Their tech knowledge may be basic, but their clout is BIG. So, if you’re only blogging and writing for other developers and tech-savvy experts like you, you may want to rethink that approach. By all means, continue writing in-depth articles and how-tos on nitty-gritty tech processes, workflows, and developments. If you’re in a tech industry, you also absolutely must consider writing for the tech layperson every once in a while to help them understand the value of certain technologies, including how they work. With that said, we’re sharing tips to help you come down to earth and write for people with average tech knowledge and know-how. [bctt tweet=”Are you writing tech content for your audience (tech layperson) or tech experts (people like you, and probably NOT your reader base)? Find out the difference in @JuliaEMcCoy’s guide.” username=”ExpWriters”] The Technical Writer’s Blog Guide to Writing for a General Audience: 5 Key Tips 1. Imagine Explaining Your Topic to a Person You Know It can be hard to sit down and write a blog post with a “general audience” in mind. It’s not specific enough to help guide your writing. Instead, when you sit down to write the post, focus on explaining the topic like you would to someone outside your field who has average tech knowledge – like a family member or a friend. How would you approach helping them understand the subject? For starters, you wouldn’t use a technical vocabulary. If you had to use technical terms at all, you would need to explain them first, and maybe put them into contexts your listener would understand. (See tips #2 and #3.) As you can see, thinking of a specific person can help direct your approach to explaining complex topics. It gives you a starting point because you’ll have a good idea of what that person knows and doesn’t know about your subject. Just remember to choose someone to write for who matches up with the base knowledge of the general audience you want to address. (Note: This is a good opportunity to develop a new audience persona for future use!) 2. Use Analogies, Comparisons, and Examples One of the best ways to introduce complex topics to a general audience is to relate them to concepts or ideas your readers already know intimately. One apt comparison or example can neatly illustrate a difficult point much more effectively than you’d think. For example (see what I’m doing, here?), look at this blog post from an IT services company. The post topic is the present-day use of the cloud. In this section, the writer explains how companies use cloud technology: The technical blog writer could have said “It seems every company out there has to have some product or service with ‘cloud’ attached to it” and left it at that. Or, they could have reeled off a list of companies with cloud technology and stopped there. That wouldn’t work, though, because that approach wouldn’t help the audience put the concept of cloud computing in context with their everyday lives. Instead, the writer uses multiple examples of how his readers might be using the cloud without even realizing it: The music they listen to, the fitness trackers they wear on their wrists, the pictures they share on social media, and even their fancy new refrigerator implement cloud technology in some shape or form. For many people, this is a huge key to unlocking comprehension of a concept. As soon as they can relate it to what they already know and understand, the lightbulb clicks on. As such, sprinkle plenty of real-world examples, analogies, and comparisons into your content to make complex ideas relatable and easier to understand. 3. Be Mindful of the Words You Use Take a look at this blog post about dynamic email templates from a software company: “Transactional templates”? “Deep object replacement”? “Dynamic templating languages”? The vocabulary used here is way over a general audience’s head, but that’s because the writer is talking to other developers. If you don’t have any of these terms in your word bank, this post isn’t for you. However, if you’re the one knee-deep in terms like these day-in and day out, it can become second-nature to include them in your speech. You may forget what a general audience knows and doesn’t know. To write for the masses, you don’t have to dumb yourself down; you just need to adjust your vocabulary. Avoid specialized terms and industry jargon. If you do use them, offer definitions and explanations. Try to find simpler terms that are easier to understand to replace specialized vocabulary. If you find you can’t explain a concept without using specialized terms, you may need to broaden your topic to explain it more generally. Look at how WebsiteSetup.org highlights specialized terms in the text and takes ample time to … Read more

Blogging ROI Case Study: How 18,000 Keywords In Google Bring Us Six-Figure Income Months

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“I’m ‘doing’ content, but it’s just not bringing me clients.” “I’m posting and creating regularly – in fact, consistency is my middle name – but I’m still a one-person show with little funding to achieve my next level.” Lately, I’ve heard this ALL too often – but the reality is, if you develop content strategically, you CAN achieve six-figure income months in your business. Since it’s been almost two years since I created a case study on my brand (specifically, how we are our own content guinea pig: we’re able to make monthly six-figure sales happen from clients that found our content online), I decided it was time for a new one. I started the research for this in February, and today – five months later! – the case study is all done and live, as of today. Our last case study focused on how we achieve rankings – “How We Outrank Every Competitor & Win Through Organic Content Without Spending a Penny on Ads (Express Writers’ Content Case Study),” and was from October 2016. Today’s case study focuses on how we actually earn real income (to the tune of six-figures per month) from the content and rankings we’ve achieved. 99.9% of our leads and business revenue comes through the content we produce. And the majority of that content? Well, it’s published on our blog. Next, we interviewed a client we work with from time to time: Magnificent Marketing, a full-service marketing agency. We’ll share how they’ve boosted their client traffic numbers and rankings with great content. If you read one blog of mine this quarter, read this one. Grab a cup of coffee or tea, and dig in! [bctt tweet=”99.9% of our leads and revenue comes through the content we produce. And the majority of that content? Well, it’s published on our blog. Learn how we do it in our case study on #blogging #SEO success  ” username=”ExpWriters”] Why & How SEO Blogging Equals ROI for Any Brand Blogging (a form of great content marketing) equals ROI, for any brand. In itself, blogging is a key online content format capable of building a brand, attracting your ideal clients to your website, and growing your entire business. Especially blogging written around viable SEO keywords you want to rank for. But here’s the caveat to that. That statement is only true if your blogging strategy includes consistency, relevancy and quality. [bctt tweet=”‘Blogging is a key online content format capable of building a brand… BUT… that statement is only true if your blogging strategy includes consistency, relevancy and quality.’ – @JuliaEMcCoy” on #bloggingROI username=”ExpWriters”] Businesses who create content strategically achieve ROI in the form of: Better, more qualified leads that convert at a higher rate than traffic from paid ads or paid search How many leads? Our content marketing ROI formula can help you estimate your average monthly leads/sales from content marketing Here’s the formula: Monthly Visitors x 16% Organic Traffic to Lead Conversion Rate = X Leads/Month) According to that formula, an average of 1,000 visitors/month can get you at least 160 high-quality leads/month from strategic blogging That’s not all, though. Blogging also brings in: Year-over-year site traffic growth that’s 8x higher than those at the back of the pack 6x the conversions of those who don’t publish content, according to a well-known study from Aberdeen and Kapost Incredibly convincing numbers, right? But, even better than stats, we have a prime, real-life example of what blogging ROI looks like. Ready? Let’s dig in and see exactly what the power of blogging–and great content–can do for a business. Express Writers’ Blogging ROI: $1,600 in Content = $66,700 Worth of Traffic & Organic Google Positions Here’s a real-life, extreme example of how great, consistent content creation can work incredibly well. Take a look at the current traction below for Express Writers. This is after six years of consistent content, with over 1,000 blogs published to-date on our site across those six consistent years. (Remember, steady content creation has a dominoes effect: It does better over time.) According to our data on SEMrush (pulled June 1, 2018), current paid search efforts to achieve our current month’s site traffic — 22,800 visitors — would cost $66,700. (This amount increases on a monthly basis for us. Lately, every month it’s been a 1-2k increase in traffic, with a fluctuating increase in rankings as well.) If we were to buy this much traffic through Google Adsense, that would be an average paid search cost of $2.92 per visitor. And, we haven’t even figured out how many of those are leads (buyers) yet. Expensive! $$$ How Much Content Do We Produce to Achieve Blogging ROI? + the Costs We publish, on average, one long-form, comprehensive piece of content weekly, and we update content on a monthly basis, too. Besides that, we publish monthly podcasts with show notes, and monthly #ContentWritingChat recaps. Here’s an example of one of our long-form blogs: And here’s an example of a #ContentWritingChat recap post: What does it cost to create this type of content regularly? Our costs run: Money: $400/month (this used to be $750, but we shaved off $300+ in costs by switching our Twitter chat to once/month instead of weekly) Time: 4-5 hours of my time/month in blogging prep, publishing, writing, outlining, optimizing, & 3-4 hours/month in email marketing If you qualify the hours I personally spend on our content into a “staff cost,” that alone could run $1,600+ per month. How Do the Costs Compare to Paid Methods? If paid search would cost $66,700 to achieve our current traffic in a month (22,800 visitors), and my cost of content marketing to achieve that traffic is $1,625, then paid search would be (at a minimum) 40x more expensive than my organic content marketing efforts. Or, put it another way – a solid, consistent content marketing strategy over time could be 40 times cheaper than a paid marketing strategy. For business owners and higher-ups who think exclusively in dollar signs, that’s … Read more

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