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Law Blog Writers: 6 Key Steps to Stop Writing Boring, Blah Posts

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Law Blog Writers: 6 Key Steps to Stop Writing Boring, Blah Posts

Blogging. Everybody’s doing it. It’s not a coincidence. Content marketing and blogging are successful, proven ways to earn leads, conversions, and increase sales and revenue. More and more marketers are focusing on blogging in particular as the keystone of their efforts. According to stats Impact shared, marketers consider blogs “critical” to success. It’s all because one of blogging’s main goals (and successes) is building the consumer’s trust. Once you build that trust, it’s much easier to get them on your side and turn them into customers. Take a look at these numbers from the same study: These are great stats in favor of content. People generally feel more comfortable learning about companies through informative articles. After they consume a brand’s content, they feel better about the brand. The problem? You can only enjoy the benefits of content marketing and blogging if the stuff you create is good. Unfortunately, for people in specialized industries who want to take advantage, that’s not exactly simple to do. If you’re a lawyer or law blog writer who creates content for a legal blog, it may be even harder. Why Is It So Hard to Write an Interesting Law Blog? Niche, high-level topics are not easy to write about for the everyman (or everywoman). Often, with the wrong approach, your content can be just as dry and boring as the contracts you draft or the briefs you compose. Look at this example of a contract between a company and an independent contractor: Nobody will touch writing like this with a 10-foot pole unless they have to. Unless the law requires it, it’s not happening. Quite frankly, writing like this looks scary and daunting to read. It may even fill your audience with anxiety. If you’re tapped into writing like this 24/7, we have a problem. The thing is, you already know law blogs are inherently boring, but you may not know how to write any other way. Years of law school probably drilled most of those down-to-earth writing skills right out of you. It’s time to re-learn some writing techniques to make your law blog intriguing and readable. It’s time to pick up some tips so you can craft a great, informative, personable blog alongside all that legal writing you do. Law blog writers, here are the keys to banishing boring, blah posts from your content roster forevermore. How to Be an Interesting Law Blog Writer Law is a notoriously hard topic to write about in a way that’s engaging for the average internet surfer. If you want to make non-law experts and potential clients interested in your blog, give these tips a whirl. 1. Research Post Topics That Fill a Knowledge Gap or Have Built-In Interest If you’re currently flooding the internet with posts that delve into nitty-gritty aspects of your law specialty, let me ask you one question: Why? If you’re trying to attract business with your blog, your audience isn’t law students. It’s not lower-level members of your team or fellow law professionals, either. Your audience is your clients and potential clients. These people don’t care about deep-dives into new legislation. They don’t understand legal jargon. However, to connect with them, you can’t write another post that other law blogs have already discussed hundreds of times. Instead: Look at your law specialty. Look at the services you offer. Simplify these topics and do basic searches to discover what’s already out there on the web about them, as well as what people want to know. Use keyword research tools like BuzzSumo or Google Keyword Planner to find out what interests people right now and what opportunities you might have to fill in knowledge gaps. For instance, a common legal topic the average Joe searches for online is “DUI law.” Plugging “DUI laws in California” into BuzzSumo shows what people are sharing. It also shows how some law blog writers are addressing narrower topics, like “Green DUI” and how to contest a DUI in court. Doing research like this shows you where the interest is hovering and empty spaces that you could fill with good content. Never neglect research when coming up with legal blog post topics. Neil Patel calls keyword research “the most important part of digital marketing” for a reason. It shows you how to reach the right people online with your content – the people who need it, and the people you have a better chance of turning into clients. 2. Cut Your Sentences in Half Wordy sentences have their place. You’ll find them in legal documents, in some forms of pretentious fiction, and in technical manuals. Where do they have no business showing up? In your blogs. Online writing is different from any other type because of how people read it. Think about it: They’re staring at screens of all sizes, scrolling, clicking, and browsing. It’s not like settling down with a book and giving it your full attention. It’s like sitting in a darkened room while hundreds of pieces of content fly past your face. Ads, blog posts, articles, images, social media posts, links, videos, and more. Which ones make you want to pause? According to Buffer, the internet is doused in trillions of ads per year and hundreds of billions of tweets a day. That’s not to mention the extra few billion Facebook posts created daily. Via Marketoonist The result is that most people get pretty schizophrenic when they’re online. They skip from content piece to content piece and post to post without drawing breath. They scroll through their feeds like speed demons. Hence: Online writing must cater to short attention spans. If your sentences mirror the ones in that contract you just drew up, stop. Think again. It’s time to ruthlessly edit yourself. Cut your sentences in half. Insert periods instead of commas. Trim out useless adjectives. Here’s a great example: Both of these sentences say the same thing. Sentence #1 is 16 words long. Sentence #2 is 8 words long. In half the time, you … Read more

How Do I Promote My Blog? The Essential Guide to Content Promotion

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How Do I Promote My Blog? The Essential Guide to Content Promotion

Recently, I shared one of my latest blog posts on LinkedIn and received this comment: “Love this article and longer, high quality content is definitely the way to go. I’d love to see a side bar or other complementary content about the best strategies for promoting content once it’s written.” This is a great topic suggestion — and one I definitely need to address. Why? Because the reality is writing great content alone won’t get you far. Composing a high-quality piece and hitting “publish” just isn’t enough. You have to help it along on its internet journey. Hold its hand for a little bit. You have to guide it into the limelight, or, in some cases, shove it out there. It’s the only way to ensure success – as opposed to publishing it on your site, crossing your fingers, and hoping against hope somebody will stumble across it and read it. With solid promotion, you can help your blog reach great heights. The only question left, of course, is this: “How do I promote my blog?” Well, friends, I’m here with tons of actionable tips to help you do just that. Settle in with your cozy beverage of choice. Ready? Let’s get knee-deep in great content promotion tactics. “How Do I Promote My Blog the Smart Way?” 15 Tactics, Tips, Tricks, and Strategies to Try There are tons of ways to promote your content. Not kidding. Tons. Because the amount of information is so broad, we’re going to break this down further into categories. Based on your resources, choose your weapon(s) wisely. The Lowdown: How to Create Great Email Marketing for Better Content Promotion You know the power of email marketing — or you should. It has a mind-exploding ROI of $44 for every $1 spent. Naturally, it can also do great things for promoting your content. Here are top tactics to try. [clickToTweet tweet=”Need some ideas for promoting your next blog post? @ExpWriters has some great tactics to try!” quote=”Need some ideas for promoting your next blog post? @ExpWriters has some great tactics to try!”] 1. Build Up Your Email List The number one thing you can do for content promotion is build up your email list. Once you have a direct line to a loyal, built-in audience, it becomes a platform for anything you publish. Your email list will not only click-through to read your blogs. They’ll also share them with their social networks, which dramatically increases your exposure. In fact, your list is 3.9x more likely to share your content than people who visit from other places (like search results). Email is widely used across demographics. According to Pew Research, 92% of adults online use it, and an average of at least 61% use it daily. The reach potential of email is really, really big. So, how do you grow your list so you can tap into that? We address this topic thoroughly in a previous post – it’s definitely recommended reading. Here are some key takeaways: Use compelling CTAs in your content that urge readers to subscribe. Create and offer free lead magnets (original guides, how-tos, videos, white papers, case studies, etc.). Collect visitor emails in exchange for your freebies. Create evergreen content that continues to provide useful information long past its publication date. Include powerful CTAs in each one that ask for subscriptions, or point visitors to your email-gathering lead magnet. There are also plenty of tools out there that can help you grow your list. Jeff Bullas and Kissmetrics offer great suggestions for tools to use, including both free and paid options. 2. Send Content to Your Email List at the Right Time After you’ve built an email list, you can send them an update about when you publish a new blog post. Jon Morrow of Smartblogger calls this combination of blogging + email “the ultimate publishing platform.” He also uses some other choice words: He’s totally right, of course. Here’s an example of an email I sent out to my list notifying them about a fresh blog: However, this strategy gets better if you send the email at the right time. There has been a standard stat floating around for a while about optimal send times – send in the morning, and send on Tuesday or Thursday. Those times were the right times up until recently. Now, the advent of mobile is shaking things up. More and more people are checking their phones for email versus sitting down at their computers. Vertical Response analyzed recent data and found that the ability to check email anytime, anywhere, has changed what your optimal email send time should be. Now, the ideal sweet spot is either morning or late evening on a weekday. Here’s an infographic that shows the send-time as compared to the transaction rate (email opens and clicks). In particular, late-night email readers show a lot of potential for engagement. Sending a short, sweet email to your list when you publish an awesome new blog = key. That goes double for sending that email at the right time. For you, that ideal time might look a little different from the average. Play around with when you send your blog update emails, and track what works. These two powerhouses combined could make all the difference. 3. Segment Your Email List There’s another way to truly super-power your content promotion with email: Send out blog updates to the exact people who’ll love reading about whatever topic you’ve covered. This means you need to segment your email list, according to a HubSpot infographic. Divide it up into categories based on information like your audience’s interests, where they opted-in for email in the first place, their purchase record, and more. These people may show more enthusiasm for certain posts than other list subscribers. Send targeted post updates and you’ll start encouraging loyal followers who are more likely to share your content. 4. Promote Your Blog in Your Email Newsletter CoSchedule has a great tip to boost your … Read more

How to Write to Be Read in Your Content Marketing Efforts

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How to Write to Be Read in Your Content Marketing Efforts

Writing isn’t easy. What’s harder? Writing content that gets read. Even if you produce a stellar piece of content in terms of quality, length, and depth, it will not get read if it’s not a good read. The most viral, shared, and successful content is addictively readable. It’s the type where you read half the piece without realizing it. It sucks you into its universe. It takes you somewhere. It sounds like this type of content is sprinkled with fairy dust or touched by a unicorn. It’s not. At its core, it’s just readable. There are other factors at play, but the foundation of the content rests on that one little thing. So, how do you make your content more readable? There are a few tricks you can use to infinitely improve your chances of getting read. First, you have to understand what we mean by “readable.” What Readable Content Looks Like Readable content is not just well-written and error-free. It has some other attributes baked right in, ones that help push the reader from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph. 1. It’s Well-Researched Readable content leaves the reader with zero doubts or questions. It answers all of them, and it provides the sources to back it all up. This content is readable precisely because you trust the writer leading you through it. All the way through the article, blog post, or what-have-you, that writer consistently reestablishes that trust with evidence of good research. Content that isn’t readable makes claims but doesn’t provide evidence. It doesn’t cite sources. It’s a mish-mash of hasty assumptions, stolen ideas, and personal opinions that teach absolutely no one anything. Which would you rather read? 2. It’s Not Stuffy Readable content is also written in plain language. Anybody can read it, learn from it, and enjoy it. That’s key – a big component that helps lots of content go viral. Stuffy content, meanwhile, reads like a college textbook. It’s dry and boring. There’s no life or personality behind the words. They convey meaning, but there’s nothing there to keep pulling you in. If you sound snobby, or like you’re trying to show off your extensive vocabulary, nobody will want to read your content. If you write like a robot, nobody will want to read your content. For these reasons, Convince and Convert recommends keeping your content empathetic. Empathize with your readers, get on their level, and relate to them. It’s only when you place yourself above them that the stuffiness creeps in. 3. It Has a Unique Angle The content flood is real. The internet is literally deluged with it – the good, the bad, and the laughable. It’s no wonder information fatigue is an actual condition people deal with. As such, readable content is content that stands out from the masses of crap out there. That’s because it takes a unique, interesting angle on a topic that’s sunburned from seeing so much daylight. Even if you’ve already read 50 articles about a topic, you’ll still want to take in a readable piece that explores it. Why? Because the angle is so interesting or novel. That’s the power of readability. 4. People Care About the Topic The most likely reason a certain topic has received attention from hundreds of other bloggers and writers? Because people care about it. After all, you can’t expect them to have any interest in a topic that doesn’t concern them. They won’t even be looking for it online. That’s another key to readable content – you have to write about what people are searching for. You have to write stuff that speaks to what’s on their minds: their problems, concerns, worries, and interests. Keyword research can help you discover topics like these, but remember: You still need to approach it from that interesting or unique angle to stand out. 5. Readable Content Has the Right Tone Content is readable when it hits a sweet spot regarding tone. Tone is your style of speech. For example, you might speak one way to your three-year-old niece, and another way to your boss. You employ different tones to customize your speech for your audience. In the same way, you need to hit the right tone for the audience you’re writing for. When you get it just right – when you’re addressing the vast majority of your readers – that content hits home. It’s not just readable; it’s compulsively readable. MailChimp has a great definition of their brand’s specific voice and tone in their Content Style Guide. It tells writers exactly how to address the brand’s main audience in their content: What’s notable here is that MailChimp tells their writers to consider the reader’s emotional state and adjust their tone to fit. Writing for a reader experiencing a certain emotion is a great way to make content readable. How to Make Your Content Addictively Readable Now that you know what readable content looks like, you can craft your own content in the same vein. If you want to make your content addictively readable, there are some extra tips that will help. 1. Don’t Use Passive Voice (Most of the Time) Passive voice can be a death knell for any writer who overuses it. Write your entire article this way, and it will sound dull and strange. Take this great example from Paper Rater for how passive voice can convolute a perfectly fine idea: There are, however, times when passive voice is perfectly warranted. For instance, you might want the focus of the sentence to be on the person or thing who received the action: “I was hurt.” – It doesn’t matter who hurt me; instead, I want to emphasize my pain. “The money was stolen.” – The money was important, not who stole it. “George was saved by a paramedic.” – We want to know if George is okay, so we put him first. The key is knowing when passive voice is okay and when it isn’t. To stay on the safe side, avoid … Read more

How to Write a High Converting, Appealing Pricing Page For Your Site

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How to Write a High Converting, Appealing Pricing Page For Your Site

Creating a transparent pricing page was one of the best moves we did at my agency. We are (still) one of the only writing agencies in the industry that transparently discloses our rates and full pricing on one page. No hidden fees along the way for extras (editing, timelines, etc.). What you see is what you get. But when you go to put your pricing page together, it can be ​tricky. ​ Imagine this… You’re creating your pricing page. You’ve got your price structure perfectly set up, and your page features tons of great information on why customers should jump on board. Finally, it’s time to go live and start converting some visitors! But then, crickets… Nobody’s converting. You’ve done everything the experts told you to do. You listed plenty of plan options. You highlighted your ‘most popular plan.’ You’ve got a FAQ section. You offered a free trial. Heck, you even put “money back guarantee” in big, bold letters at the top of the screen. So, what the heck is the problem? Why aren’t people converting?  Grab a latte, coffee, or a tea and join me in today’s blog – all about how to create your high-converting pricing page! Why Isn’t My Pricing Page Converting? In her article about pricing page best practices, conversion expert Talia Wolf gives the perfect reasons why it’s not converting. As she mentions, your pricing page isn’t converting: Because you’re focusing on your product or service and not the outcome and bottom line for the customer Because you’re giving too many warnings to customers before they’ve even chosen a plan (i.e. ‘no questions asked!’ – ‘money back guarantee!’ – ‘no obligation!’) You see, when it comes to conversions, it’s all about helping the customer understand the positive outcome that they’re going to receive from purchasing your product or service. Anything that doesn’t do that is a distraction. And those distractions are preventing conversions. Takeaway: If you want to create a high converting pricing page, focus on communicating the outcome the customer is receiving and not on the actual action of signing up. The Elements of a High Converting Pricing Page: 3 of the Biggest Success Factors According to copywriting legend Eugene Schwartz, customers are always in one of five stages of awareness. They include: Image Source Now, when someone makes their way to your pricing page, they’re almost always going to be in either the solution aware, product aware, or most aware stage. So they don’t need to hear loads of information about features, how cheap your services are, and everything else that distracts from the outcome they’re seeking. A large percentage of pricing page visitors have already or are close to making a decision. The job of your pricing page, then, is to get them to take action and finalize that decision. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. But how exactly do you do it? Well, including the following elements will certainly help. 1. Keep It Simple An uncluttered, simple design helps ensure that the focus remains on the customer and the outcome they will receive. Pricing pages with loads of copy, buttons, and colors do nothing but distract customers. Take a look at this example of an old pricing page from Dyn: There’s just far too much going on here. And any customer is going to have a tough time figuring out which plan, if any, they should be choosing. Thankfully, the good people at Dyn realized their mistake and fixed it. Here’s a look at the much simpler pricing page that they use today: While their copy could definitely be more customer outcome focused, this is MUCH better than their previous page. Takeaway: Simplicity wins when it comes to pricing pages. Don’t overwhelm visitors with choices and copy. Keep it simple and focused on the outcome for the customer. 2. Help Visitors Choose the Right Plan If you’re like most companies, your pricing page features at least three plans. And while that’s fine, far too many pricing pages struggle to help visitors actually choose the plan that is right for them. Since you’re trying to get visitors to convert right away, that’s a problem. Take a look at this example from eVoice: As you can see, the plans have no names and provide zero guidance as to which one I should choose if I’m just getting started with this service. And, if I’m a small business, I still have a ton of questions about each plan that need to be answered before I decide to move forward. That puts me in a position where I either have to research more about each plan, contact support, or simply move on to another company that provides the same service. Now, take a look at this example from Viddler: If I’m a small business owner, I immediately know that the Business plan is the best fit. And while I’ll probably do more research before making a final decision, I’m already aware that I don’t even need to worry about the Pro or Enterprise plans. Create Plans Based on Your Buyer Personas As Price Intelligently CEO Patrick Campbell tells us: “Whether you’re pricing something as simple as a pencil or as complicated as a cloud storage platform, all pricing roads begin with the almighty buyer persona.” The biggest problem with most pricing pages isn’t the page itself, but the plans that are featured on it. Most companies create plans based on what they think their customers want. Instead, your plans should be based on what you know your customers want, using your buyer personas as guidelines. Salesforce is a company that nails this concept: Take a look at the differences between each plan. They understand that different target customers need different benefits. And they make sure to cater the features of their plans to the needs of each buyer persona. In the end, they’re helping visitors choose the right plan for them. If you need some assistance with creating your buyer personas, this guide on How to Develop a Target Persona is a … Read more

How to Grow Your Email List By Tying These 9 Killer List-Building Tactics into Your Content Marketing

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How to Grow Your Email List By Tying These 9 Killer List-Building Tactics into Your Content Marketing

Email list-building is everything to your online business. Or, it should be. In fact, if you’re interested in conversions and business growth in general, the number one thing you should be wondering about right now is how to grow your email list. Why? Email is almost universally used. It’s more popular than social media for communication, and it gets far more conversions than any other platform. It’s a direct line to your audience that works. If these assertions surprise you, consider these stats: According to AdWeek, Twitter click-through rates (CTR) get drastically worse the more followers you have. As an example, they shared that Mashable, a big name company with millions of followers, gets a CTR of just 0.11% on its tweets. The CTR for Facebook ads isn’t much better, unless a figure like 0.07% looks promising to you. Email, on the other hand, is an ace in the deck. Comparatively, it wipes the floor with social media when it comes down to CTR, conversions, social reach, and ROI. How Email Pwns Social Media for Reach and Conversions Here’s how the floor-wiping shakes out (or, if you’re into internet slang, here’s how email pwns social media): 2.6 billion people worldwide use email, while only 1.7 billion use Facebook, the largest social network. Now, remember Facebook’s ad click-through rates (0.07%). Hold that tiny number in your mind, and get a load of this: Marketing email campaigns have a CTR of 3.3% and an open rate of about 20%. (Open rate = the likelihood the person will open the email in their personal inbox and peruse its contents.) That’s nearly 50x higher than Facebook’s average. And, of course, another biggie is that email is number one for conversions – it drives them more than any other social channel. Look at the difference in this table from an ExactTarget survey: It’s not rocket science. For reach and conversions, email > social media. Email marketing leads to a bigger, opted-in, targeted audience, which leads to more reach, which leads to more conversions. Or, to keep going with our math references, email list-building = more subscribers = a bigger targeted audience = even more reach = even more conversions. Smart Insights sums it up this way: The numbers speak for themselves. Email has power. To drive home the point, OptinMonster gives you a zoomed-out picture of how email stacks up against Facebook and Twitter for general use. These numbers are based on an analysis of comprehensive stats from 2016: Needless to say, you definitely should want a bigger list of email subscribers. So, how do you leverage your content marketing to gain more subscribers and increase your content’s ROI? Let’s explore how to grow your email list by tying in some content marketing tactics. That way, you can enjoy the potential email offers and make your content more valuable. How to Grow Your Email List: 9 Tactics to Try in Your Content Marketing Want to grow your email list? Of course you do. Draw on your content marketing to reel them in and build trust. Then, hit the ground running with some of these tactics. 1. Use Lead Magnets to Draw in Subscribers Digital Marketer defines a lead magnet as “an irresistible bribe offering a specific chunk of value to a prospect in exchange for their contact information.” That pretty much sums it up. A lead magnet is essentially a piece of content that you offer for free. The catch is the prospect has to give you their email address in order to get it/download it/access it/etc. That content piece could be anything. It might be a guide, an eBook, an email course, or a white paper. The point is, you’re offering value in exchange for value. Here are some top tips for making sure you’re offering lead magnets that people will want to hand over their details for. Tips for Creating Good Lead Magnets Be specific. Your lead magnet content needs to address a specific problem that a specific segment of your audience may have. Provide a solution. Your lead magnet needs to give a valuable solution to the problem. Forget length. Your lead magnet doesn’t have to be lengthy to be useful. In fact, Digital Marketer says longer-form content is often least likely to convert. Your eBook, for example, doesn’t have to be a novel – it can be 20 pages or less! The same goes for any other form of content. Think shorter. Provide quick benefits. Within minutes of opening up your lead magnet and digesting the content, your prospect should immediately benefit. This can mean increased knowledge or insights, or some other gain. It shouldn’t take months, or even weeks. At the very most, it should take days. Here’s a good lead magnet example (about lead magnets!) from OptinMonster. They chose to offer a cheat sheet: When you download it, you get a printable PDF checklist divided into categories: Insider “secrets” do really well, especially if you’re sharing them with an audience that is warm and with people that know, like, and trust you. This is a great example of providing “quick benefits.” What Types of Lead Magnets Should You Use? There is no single perfect lead magnet. The right type of content “bonus” you offer your readers depends on their preferences, your business, and other factors. That said, here are some solid ideas for starters. Cheat sheets – A cheat sheet gives your audience a list of steps to check off for a certain task. Whatever it is, they won’t have to remember the right steps in the right order. They can just look at your cheat sheet! Checklists – A checklist is similar to a cheat sheet, but it’s a simpler one that’s generally shorter. Instead of steps, you might list the tools or resources needed for a task. Comprehensive resource lists – Where do you get all the good stuff that helps you in your business on a daily basis? Think apps, websites, downloads, or lists where … Read more

How to Convince Your Clients to Buy Better Content

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How to Convince Your Clients to Buy Better Content

So, you’ve got clients. They’re buying content and are, at the very least, satisfied with your services. But there’s a problem. While you’re getting clients to purchase, the content they’re buying is always of the general variety. The type of stuff where the margins are low and the stress is high. You and your staff are constantly grinding out huge quantities of content. Your writers are getting burnt out, you’re getting burnt out, and you may even be wondering if all the stress is worth it. And while this is a scenario that plays out for agencies around the world, I want you to know that it’s possible to turn things around. It’s possible to go from an agency grinding out low margin content to one that consistently earns content orders with high margins and happy clients. How do I know it’s possible? Because it’s exactly what we’ve done at Express Writers. And I’m going to show you the strategies we used to do it. How to Sell Your Clients on Buying Better Content (Higher Level Experts, Higher Spend) 1. Provide Immediate Value One of the most difficult aspects of selling content to clients is the fact that, no matter how good your content is, a long term approach is necessary to maximize success. Unfortunately, not too many businesses have the patience to commit to a long term marketing strategy. Your clients want value in the short term AND long term. But how can you accomplish both? As HubSpot contributor Karla Cook points out about providing immediate value, “Nobody is going to invest additional resources in your agency until you’ve proven that you can deliver tangible results for their business. To set yourself up for a long and mutually beneficial relationship with a client, you should focus on providing quick wins as soon as possible.” But how exactly are you supposed to prove that you can deliver tangible results and quick wins if your clients are ordering general content? Well, at EW, we do it by offering free content strategy sessions. Anyone, from business owners and agencies to entrepreneurs and bloggers, have the opportunity to book a call with our Content Strategist.     Our Talk to Us Page When they do, clients receive: Advice on the direction their content strategy should take Assistance identifying realistic goals for their content Answers to their content related questions Guidance on what type of content will help them achieve their goals And not only does this session provide immediate value and a ‘quick win’ for the client, but it helps cultivate the trust necessary to develop a long term relationship. If you’d like some other ideas for providing immediate value to your clients, check out Tim Dearlove’s guide on How to Develop a Quick Win Approach for New Client Relationships. Takeaway: Provide your clients with ‘quick wins’ that will make them more apt to invest in better content. 2. Help Clients Accomplish Current Goals and Work to Build Bigger Goals When a potential client comes to you to buy content, they’re likely to be at one of the following stages: Beginner to Content Marketing. This client has recently become convinced that content marketing can yield real results for their business and are ready to give it a go. It’s likely, however, that they don’t really know how or where to get started. Semi-Experienced. This client has been blogging for a few months but is getting frustrated at a lack of results. They know content marketing can work, they just don’t know how to make it work. Experienced. This client has been participating in content marketing for over a year and knows exactly what they want. They’re looking to free up time in-house by outsourcing their content to capable writers. Knowing that these are the types of clients that you’re going to be dealing with, it’s important to know how to handle each situation for the benefit of both sides. Because, as we’ve already identified, nobody is going to invest additional resources unless you’ve already proven to them that you can deliver tangible results. But there’s also another element to this. As the authors of Marketing Metrics tell us, “The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%. The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%.” Image Source With this information, we can conclude that the best way to sell better content to clients is to first turn them into a customer and help them accomplish their initial goals. At EW, we do this by making sure that we understand their current goals and only offer content that helps them accomplish those goals. Let’s take a look at how we might do this when encountering a beginner to content marketing: 1. Set Them Up On a Call With Our Content Strategist. We’ll discuss their goals as it relates to content and provide suggestions for a strategy that can help them accomplish those goals. 2. Talk to Them About the Types of Content We Offer That Can Help. We’ll continue communicating with them after the call, via email or live chat, and identify the types of content we offer that can help. For example, if they’re looking to use content to build an email list, we might point them towards an ebook that can be used as a ‘freebie’ on opt-in forms. 3. Continue Offering Support as Needed. We’ll continue offering our support and suggesting content services that are relevant to their goals. As this relationship continues, and they begin to work their way towards their goals, they start to see us as a partner rather than a business that’s selling something to them. And, at this point, we’re now in prime position to help them identify bigger goals that allow them to further scale their business through content marketing (which therefore leads to us being able to offer better content to help them accomplish those new goals). While we may take a similar approach with semi-experienced and experienced clients, they’re … Read more

What Not to Do in Your Content Marketing: 4 Things that Turn Your Audience Off, Big-time

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What Not to Do in Your Content Marketing: 4 Things that Turn Your Audience Off, Big-time

As a good marketer, you know by now that not all content marketing tactics are effective. Take that a step further… Did you know that some very specific so-called content marketing techniques can flip the switch for your audience – turning them off instead of flipping them onto you and your brand? You could be driving away customers without knowing it. [insert audible groans for added effect] Things like content fatigue, selling too much, and focusing on you versus the buyer are all problems. The good news? If you’re guilty of these sins, you can nip them in the bud. And if you do that, you’ll see more interest in your content and fewer crickets chirping. That equals more ROI, which is always what we’re striving for at the end of the day. However, the problem with content marketing mistakes? They’re too easy to make. So, how do you avoid them? What should you do instead? Stick with me and I’ll share it all. What Not to Do In Your Content Marketing: Avoid These 4 Rookie Mistakes & Keep Your Audience Interested These mistakes are notorious for making readers’ eyes glaze over. They’ll not only get bored – they may even get irritated with you. If you want to engage your audience and make them trust you, do not, under any circumstances, commit these four errors. 1. Selling, Selling, Selling Of course you want to pad your bottom line. Your business is your living – if you’re not making money, you don’t have a business at all. The problems start popping up when you forget the main definition of content marketing. It’s customer-oriented, not sales-oriented. The reason content marketing works in the first place is that we focus on providing value to the audience. It means the content is natural and useful. The sales come as a result of the relationships you build and the authority you establish, not the other way around. If you try to sell first and foremost, your audience will see right through it. Nobody trusts a salesman, and trust is the number one thing you’re trying to build with content. Don’t be like this guy. Bottom line: If you focus on selling first, you’re not engaging in the prescribed, proven content marketing formula. As such, you won’t see the returns or stable, long-term success. 2. Being Self-Focused vs. Customer-Focused It’s great to hone your business goals and measure your success, but it’s not-so-great to foster the same self-interest in your content. Content that caters to your interests as a business owner will more than likely fail to hit the bullseye for your audience. Why? Think about it: Your audience has wants and needs that differ from yours. That’s why they’re your audience, not your competitors or peers. They’re in their own class. Treat them as such when you’re offering content. You need to write for them. Don’t do the opposite – don’t write what interests you and try to find an audience as an afterthought. Your customers need to be in your mind from the very beginning. Or, as Forbes puts it, “The right content for the wrong person might as well be the wrong content.” 3. Believing That More Is More Maybe you know how to write for your audience. Maybe you understand them to some degree. Despite this, you may be committing another content sin: Inundating your readers with content. This scenario usually looks the same. You think more content equals more exposure. You believe if you post tons of content, you’ll hook more people through the various lures you’re tossing into the Google waters. You think you’ll build your authority more quickly and attain your goals faster. No. Nope. Not a chance. OptinMonster says that a flood of content will work initially, but not over time. You’ll get some traffic, but only at first. When people read your mediocre posts and see that you have hordes of them, you just won’t resonate. They’ll leave your site, and they won’t return. Instead, it’s better to have regular, quality posts. Keep your blog updated, but don’t overdo it. A small, but steadily, growing cache of superb content is far better than an encyclopedia of average or below-average posts. Image via Scoop.it Plus, if you’re posting three or four times a day and bombarding people’s feeds, they’ll just get annoyed. Annoying people is the last thing you want to do. Period. 4. Going Overboard with SEO There’s something else that can annoy, frustrate, and turn off your readers. It’s bad SEO. What does bad SEO look like? You can spot it from a mile away. It reads terribly, like a machine wrote your post and not a human. It’s spammy and underhanded. You’re trying to get ahead the wrong way, and it’s obvious. The two main culprits here are keyword stuffing and link stuffing. Keyword stuffing happens when you jam in as many keywords as possible in your copy, thinking you’ll boost your ranking. Instead, you’re creating content that’s a headache to read and isn’t useful at all. Here’s an example of keyword stuffing using the term “dog food”: Always buy dog food made from high-quality ingredients. Dog food can be more expensive if you buy dog food that’s pricier, but your dog will be healthier with better dog food. Link stuffing is similarly spammy and unnatural-looking. This is where you link to as many different websites as possible to build your clout. The problem is, it’s transparent what you’re trying to do, and it looks strange. Example: Always buy dog food made from high-quality ingredients. Dog food can be more expensive if you buy dog food that’s pricier, but your dog will be healthier with better dog food. If you overdo SEO, you are being underhanded. You’re ignoring quality and readability in favor of getting more traffic. Or so you think. In reality, Google will dock you for excessive linking and keyword stuffing. That’s definitely an outcome you don’t want. Image via Content Marketing Institute Be … Read more

35 Popular Bloggers in Content Marketing You Should Be Following

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35 Popular Bloggers in Content Marketing You Should Be Following

Have you been looking for fresh voices to add to your feed? Or, maybe you need some industry practical advice from people who have been there, done that, in the wonderful world of online marketing? I’ve got just the list for you! From beginner-level advice to the most advanced industry tips and tricks, these bloggers run the gamut from copywriters to social media marketers to industry influencers. Each one of them will give your brain something to chew on no matter where you’re at, or what you do, in content marketing and social media. You’re going to want to follow them on Twitter and read their blogs, or listen to their podcasts. Let’s dive in! 35 Popular Bloggers in Content Marketing to Watch: Get Inspired By These Experts This list is is no particular order. 1. Steve Rayson & the BuzzSumo Team Here’s the thing: I’ve seen many bloggers grow stagnant through time, but that is not true of the BuzzSumo team. I have rarely found a more epic staff of bloggers than BuzzSumo. Steve Rayson, co-founder, “broke the interwebs” with this post: We Analyzed 100 Million Headlines. Here’s What We Learned (New Research). One thing that makes them stand out is the amount of data-based, statistical  research they do in the industry of content marketing. It helps all of us know what not to do – and what to do. BuzzSumo’s blog is a blog to watch, follow, absorb and read – weekly. 2. The Smart Blogger Team If you need blogging and writing advice, Smart Blogger should be your first stop. Founded by Jon Morrow and headed up by Glen Long, the Managing Editor, the blog features a rotation of authors and engaging topics. Here’s a sampling: “Writer’s Block: 27 Ways to Crush It Forever,” “20 Rules for Writing So Crystal Clear Even Your Dumbest Relative Will Understand,” and “How to Be Unforgettable.” 3. Seth Godin If you want a unique approach to marketing, turn to Seth Godin. One of the first bloggers that made it, and currently one of the most popular bloggers in the world, Seth is an industry thought leader, popular blogger, and best-selling author. He has an amazing record because of committing to one blog a day – some of them famously 1-2 sentences long. (His works include The Dip and All Marketers Are Liars.) Seth’s blog is a compendium of fresh, out-of-the-box thinking about problems in marketing. His words will get your gears turning and your mind humming. 4. Copyblogger Another authority on copywriting and content marketing is Copyblogger. Brian Clark, the founder, is a pioneer when it comes to blogging. The proof is in the pudding for these guys. They built their company from the ground-up using the techniques they teach. And, teach they do – they offer a free library of training material on top of fresh, informative blog posts. [bctt tweet=”Looking for great #ContentMarketing and #SocialMedia blogs to read? Check out this round-up!” username=”ExpWriters”] 5. Sujan Patel If you want to learn how to create effective, engaging content that works, Sujan Patel is your guy. He’s a top internet marketer, has founded multiple startups, and he blogs at major sites like Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc., and HubSpot. He co-founded Web Profits, a growth marketing agency, and speaks at hundreds of national and international marketing events. This guy is an expert with 13 years in the biz, and the mind of a hustler as well as content marketer. As a result, he’s one to listen to and learn from. 6. Mark Schaefer – {grow} blog Mark Schaefer’s {grow} blog is regularly cited as one of the top five business blogs worldwide. He’s a star of internet marketing, and has the chops to prove it. He’s also a speaker and educator who enlightens the world about social media marketing. Bonus: I had him on my podcast, and he’s also delightfully down-to-earth! He also wrote the foreword to my new book. 7. Convince and Convert by Jay Baer If you want to understand how to make the customer experience in content a stand-out, read the Convince and Convert blog. Led by Jess Ostroff and internet pioneer Jay Baer, C&C accurately refers to themselves as a group of expert “counselors” who can guide you to content greatness. Content Marketing Institute even crowned them the #1 content marketing blog. 8. Jeff Goins If you want to be a better writer in general, Jeff Goins is your guide. He provides insights and advice from the writing life, including how to balance writing as creative work and as a job. He should know – he’s the author of five books, some of them best-sellers, and has a lot of gold nuggets for better writing and better copy. 9. Joe Pulizzi & Content Marketing Institute Joe Pulizzi is a huge pioneer in this amazing industry. He founded Content Marketing Institute (which was acquired by UBM in 2016) in 2007, and more or less started the widespread use of the term “content marketing”.  You can read his column on CMI. The entire CMI team is awesome. They hold a Twitter chat, #CMWorld, at 11 AM CST on Tuesdays. A unique trademark they use is a widespread brand usage (down to the suits Joe wears on stage to speak) of the color orange. 10. Jeff Bullas Another big name in digital content marketing is Jeff Bullas – his success comes mostly because of how long-term and committed Jeff stayed at producing high-quality content. He started his site back in 2008 with a $10 investment, and today, he ranks as a top global influencer in the industry. His blog covers a whole spectrum of topics. Read about copywriting, business management, content marketing, social media marketing tips, and more. He’s a voice you should listen to – Forbes named him one of the “Top 20 Influencers of CMOs” in 2017. 11. CoSchedule Content marketing requires extensive planning, and nobody knows that better than CoSchedule. Their blog, along with their platform, focuses on this piece of the puzzle. It provides timely, useful … Read more

A Beginner’s Guide to the Content Marketing Industry: Where to Learn, What to Know

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A Beginner’s Guide to the Content Marketing Industry: Where to Learn, What to Know

Content marketing. Year after year, it continues to explode. From B2B to B2C, everyone is getting in on the action. In fact, according to the Content Marketing Institute, 89% of B2B marketers are either already using content marketing or plan to do so in 2017. The thing is, most of them have very little idea what they’re doing. And, because of this, they’re outsourcing a large portion of their content marketing efforts. So what does that mean for you? Well, it means there’s a whole lot of opportunity to grab a piece of the pie if you’re willing to get in the trenches and learn about the content marketing industry. And we’re going to help you do just that. Let’s get started. What Can Content Marketing Help You Accomplish? The beauty of content marketing lies in the fact that it can help marketers and organizations accomplish multiple business goals at once. As Content Marketing Institute contributor Andrea Fryrear puts it, “Content marketing is kind of like a Swiss Army knife; it can do almost anything if you set it up the right way.” Some of the main goals that it can help accomplish include: In order to accomplish these goals, however, you’ll need to develop a deeper understanding of the components that make up the content marketing industry. How to Learn About the Content Marketing Industry Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk currently heads three different companies in three completely different industries (SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity). But what in the world can Musk teach us about content marketing? It starts with his views on learning. In an AMA that Musk took part in on Reddit, he was asked a question about how he’s able to learn so much so fast. His response? The part we want to hone in on is his advice that, when attempting to learn something, you need to understand the fundamentals first before moving onto the leaves and details. There are so many different aspects of content marketing. If you try to learn the ins and outs of the industry without first understanding the fundamentals, you’ll get lost quickly. Fundamentals first. Details second. [clickToTweet tweet=”Check out the beginner’s guide to #ContentMarketing via @ExpWriters! It shares the six fundamentals you need to know!” quote=”Check out the beginner’s guide to #ContentMarketing via @ExpWriters! It shares the six fundamentals you need to know!”] The Fundamentals of Content Marketing Let’s take a look at the six main fundamentals of content marketing. They include: Creating an Audience Persona Understanding SEO & Identifying High-Value Keywords Determining Content Types Creating an Editorial Calendar Understanding Content Publishing & Promotion Content Maintenance & Tracking Results 1. What You Need to Know About Creating an Audience Persona The first rule of content marketing is simple; create audience-centric content. As Neil Patel says, one of the biggest mistakes that content creators make is that they create content that isn’t ideal for their audience: “When creating content with the ultimate goal of marketing a good or service, you have to know who your audience is. Understanding and targeting your audience is crucial to a successful content marketing campaign.” Instead of being audience-centric, where they identify their audience and produce content that’s useful and relevant to them, these marketers instead create content and then try to find an audience for it. This is a crushing mistake that will almost always lead to a failed content marketing strategy. For this reason, creating an audience persona should be the first step when developing your content marketing strategy. The personas you create serve as the catalyst for making sure that your content is relevant and useful to the audience you’re targeting. And, in the end, content marketing success comes down to creating an audience persona where you’re able to identify your target audience, research them thoroughly, and figure out what THEY want you to talk about. Where to Learn About Creating an Audience Persona While there are quite a few resources to help guide you on how to create an audience persona, the two that I’ve found to offer the most actionable information on the topic include: Buffer – The Complete, Actionable Guide to Marketing Persona Express Writers – Guide on How to Develop a Target Persona and Reach Your Audience 2. What You Need to Know About SEO The first thing you need to know is that SEO is actually all about content marketing, and vice versa. One of the biggest problems with the mindset of modern content marketers is that, as Copyblogger founder Brian Clark mentions, they have, “…a misguided impulse to put various tactics into separate boxes instead of seeing each as an aspect of one overarching strategic process.” Instead of thinking of SEO and content marketing as two totally different tactics, Clark advises that, “The smart way to practice effective online marketing is to treat social media and search engine results as aspects of a holistic strategy that centers around compelling content.” While there was certainly a time when marketers could generate positive organic search results by focusing solely on technical SEO – and not on creating great content – that time has long since passed. Today, SEO and content need to work together, along with social media, to form an online marketing combination capable of winning over customers that will stick around for the long term. What You Need to Know About Identifying High-Value Keywords The main thing you need to know about high-value keywords is that they have the power to transform your website, and business, when identified and used properly. Interestingly enough, identifying high-value keywords, and building great content around those keywords, has been the main strategy that has helped turn Express Writers into a multi-million dollar agency. In fact, using this strategy, we’ve gone from ranking for about 3,000 keywords back in November 2015 to ranking for over 11,000 as recently as June of 2017. Take a look at this graphic from our case study about how we gained over 300 keyword positions in one … Read more

How to Create & Easily Fit Surveys Into Your Content Marketing For Better, More People-Personalized Content

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How to Create & Easily Fit Surveys Into Your Content Marketing For Better, More People-Personalized Content

One of the best ways to figure out what your customers want is to ask them. Don’t get me wrong – looking at numbers and statistics gleaned from various sources is helpful. This includes comments on posts, Facebook likes, click-through rates, newsletter subscriptions, and more. But, you’ll never learn more than when you hear the truth straight from your audience. This “ask the audience” technique isn’t difficult to carry out, either. It doesn’t require going “door-to-door,” so to speak. You don’t have to approach individuals directly through email or chat and query them. Instead, get direct customer feedback the simple way – through surveys. Why Are Surveys Valuable for Content Marketing? Surveys give you the chance to collect data you may not be able to glean through any other method. Here are a few more reasons to invest time and resources into them (we’ll go into the “how” soon). 1. They Foster Conversation and Engagement These days, more than ever, content marketing is about engagement and community building. It’s about keeping up a dialogue with your audience. You do this in a few ways: You answer questions and offer information. You learn what their problems or pain points are, and then you see how you can solve them. Marketing is a continual conversation with your customers. However, you don’t want it to be one-sided. You can never assume how your audience will respond to your content, and you can’t assume what they want from you. You have to keep the dialogue open if you want to know. You have to ask! Surveys are one of the best ways to ask, hands-down. 2. Surveys Offer Valuable Insights Not only do surveys keep that all-important dialogue open — they give you an avenue for insights. According to Content Marketing Institute, asking your audience provides priceless data. This is information your carefully collected statistics can’t tell you. Yes, your stats give a picture of what your customers are doing. However, one factor it can’t address is why they’re doing what they’re doing. For instance, perhaps your stats tell you certain posts are more popular than others. Lumped together, these blogs don’t have much in common. Their popularity is confusing rather than enlightening. No matter how you look at the numbers, they’ll never give up the secret behind why some of your posts land and others fail. Surveys can. With this tool, you can acquire useful information such as: Impressions your brand has made, along with expectations and perceptions How your content may or may not affect a customer’s decision-making process Demographic information about your audience that may/may not affect purchasing decisions Real world example: when I personally asked my audience for feedback about Express Writers’ services, we learned: Pain points our products/services didn’t solve (but could, with a few tweaks!) Exactly how we could serve our customers better, straight from their mouths Pain points our customers experienced with our competitors (giving us the ability to know exactly how we were winning – which allowed us to use those direct points in home/sales page copy) We never would have garnered these vital bits of knowledge without utilizing a survey. It allowed us to change tactics, hone our strategy, and give our customers exactly what they want. How can you beat that? Now that you understand how integral a tool surveys can be, here are some easy ways to implement them. How to Create Effective Surveys An effective survey will depend on a variety of factors. You have to set a goal, choose the right tool, and ask the right questions. You also need to ask your questions at the right time. 1. Set a Specific Goal Ideally, your survey should set out to answer a broad question. This should have to do either with reach, reputation, or results. Who is your content attracting, and is it the audience you want? Is your content marketing representing your brand in the right way? Is your content influencing customer decision-making? 2. Choose a Tool The tool you use to carry out your surveys should be a platform that’s easy and suitable for your needs. Google Consumer Surveys or SurveyMonkey are good tools for in-depth questionnaires. They let you target an audience, ask away, and collect the results. Google’s tool is a bit more bare-bones. SurveyMonkey can be exhaustive if you’re willing to shell out the funds. An example of question formatting from SurveyMonkey. If you’re not quite ready to put together a formal survey, you’re not limited to traditional tools. You don’t have to carry out a survey in a standard way. For instance, you can directly ask your readers a question on social media in a forum-like strategy that opens up the discussion. Here are some basic ideas: Informally query your followers on Instagram Pose a question to your Facebook followers Throw out a question for a specific Facebook group, or create a Facebook poll Quickly ask your audience one multiple-choice question using a feature on Twitter called “Twitter Poll” Other options: You can go more informal and add a question to the end of a blog post, opening up the comments for discussion. While you’re at it, ask your email subscribers for their opinion on a matter, too. Whatever your style, or information you’re looking to glean, you can gather it with the right tools. 3. Keep It Short and Sweet When surveying your audience, you’re asking for their time as much as their input. Be respectful of that and keep your surveys short and sweet. Make questions easy to answer, and don’t overwhelm your readership with too many surveys in a short timespan. You’ll end up turning them off altogether instead of gaining useful feedback. 4. Ask Closed Questions To collect data you can quickly sort and measure, keep your questions closed versus open-ended. For example, instead of asking, “What do you think of our company?” – which could elicit any number of opinions – ask “Which answer is closest to your impression of … Read more

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