Copywriting – Page 9 – Express Writers

Why & How to Choose Your Best-Fit Expert Technical Copywriter

August 4, 2022January 31, 2016 by Adam Oakley

While more brands are wrapping their heads around the idea of outsourcing their content needs to professional writers, many have yet to understand the importance of hiring a technical copywriter. A technical copywriter who specializes in a specific industry can provide expert, well-written content that may be above the heads of standard copywriters. This, in turn, allows brands to access the quality, relevant content they need, while also ensuring that the information provided in a web page, blog post, or article is on-point, and informative enough to quell a reader’s needs. Read on to learn more about what a technical copywriter is, and why hiring one may be in your company’s best interests. What Does a Technical Copywriter do? A technical copywriter is virtually the same as a standard copywriter, except for the fact that he or she provides expert-level knowledge on a particular industry or topic. For example, a technical copywriter may work in the financial, legal, academic, medical, or script-writing fields. While many companies assume they don’t need professional knowledge in these areas, the importance of expert content is skyrocketing, and technical copywriters are currently in higher demand than they’ve ever been before. 10 Reasons to Hire a Technical Copywriter If you’ve ever considered hiring an expert industry technical copywriter, here are the ten top reasons to do so: 1. Expert industry copywriters have hands-on experience in your industry Even the best copywriter in the world will have a tough time getting to the heart of a complex topic if it’s something with which he or she has never had any experience. Because technical copywriters have often either worked or lived in a specific industry, they bring a depth of knowledge that’s difficult to find anywhere else. For example, a legal copywriter may be a retired attorney or paralegal, which means that the content he or she creates will be more relevant and more knowledgeable than someone who only knew about the industry from researching it. 2. Google wants expert content Last year, Google released its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. (We wrote about it at length here.) The Guidelines, which were designed to help the Google employees charged with ranking web pages determine what to look for in quality pages, specified the importance of expert-level content. E-A-T In section 3.1 of the Guidelines, Google says, “The amount of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) that a web page/website has is very important.” While the definition of “expert content” varies depending on the topic (humor vs. open-heart surgery) and distribution method (social media vs. scientific journals) of the content, it’s clear that the grandfather of all search engines now requires pages with a high rank to feature expert content. Luckily, one of the best ways to secure expert content is through the acquisition of a technical copywriter. 3. Technical copywriters are likely to work more efficiently While a standard copywriter may struggle to develop the level of understanding needed to craft a particular piece of content, a technical copywriter will have that base of knowledge from the get-go, which will allow them to craft quality content in less time and with less effort. In addition to saving you time, this will also save you energy, as a copywriter who is an expert in your industry will require less support and guidance than one who is not. 4. Hiring an expert copywriter can help you avoid Google penalties Depending on what industry you’re in, the pages you publish may be known as Y-M-Y-L pages. Y-M-Y-L, which is an acronym that was also discussed in Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, stands for “Your Money or Your Life” and refers to web pages that carry a high level of importance for readers. For example, a medical page that offers advice about what to do when you’ve just learned of a cancer diagnosis or a legal page that provides information on child custody agreement would both be considered Y-M-Y-L pages. Why? Because both contain critical information that, if riddled with inaccuracies, could have a dramatic adverse effect on the reader’s health, wealth, or happiness. Y-M-Y-L According to Google, Y-M-Y-L pages fall into the following categories: Financial transaction pages Pages with financial information Pages with medical information Pages with legal information Other (any page that contains valuable information that could have an adverse impact on readers if it is incorrect) If you work in an industry where you publish any of the following content on a regular basis, it’s critical to ensure that your content is always expert-level, and the most efficient way to do this is to hire a technical copywriter to help you. 5. An expert copywriter can help you mine new topics It’s tough to be the only one in charge of topic mining and creation. When you hire a technical copywriter, though, you can relax knowing that not all of this burden will land on your shoulders. A technical copywriter can help you develop new ideas for content and ensure that the content you are publishing is relevant, up-to-date, and directed efficiently at your target audience. This can help streamline your content creation process and ensure you’re getting the highest possible ROI from your content creation. 6. Technical copywriters can help produce the quality needed for high-profile content If you’re publishing anything in the way of campaign text, creative scripts, or marketing material, an expert copywriter can help you ensure that you get the quality you need from your content. While there are dozens of smart times to hire an expert copywriter, the decision is a critical one anytime you need high-profile content that will enjoy wide distribution. 7. Expert copywriters will optimize your content for SEO To help your content enjoy the widest possible reach, you’ll need to find a writer who also understands how to optimize it for SEO. This is a skill that technical copywriters have, and that, combined with an enhanced level of knowledge and understanding is a winning combination for your content. 8. Professional copywriting will help engage your readers If … Read more

Copywriting vs. Copyrighting (& 9 Other Times Copywriting Went Wrong)

February 3, 2024November 12, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Copywriting vs. copyright. Ah. Copywriting is that wonderful trade where everyone – especially the further you live from a tech minded city – thinks you’re someone who legally protects songs. (Aka, copyright-er.) It’s a common misconception, and one that the online copywriter has to bear often. But no, we can’t digitally protect the content of your newest album. We can write, though. I’ve written up a little rant on the subject below. Enjoy. As well as the following nine truly cringe-worthy copywriting fails. I’d love to hear what you’ve seen (or heard) in the comments below! 9 Killers of Copywriting: Copywriting vs. Copyright, The Anus Burger & More Feel free to cue up the Benny Hill theme music as you read about these ten major copywriting fails. 1. Copywriting vs. copyright, the confusion caused by people everywhere – STILL. As someone who’s been a professional copywriter for just over half a decade as of this exact date – and it does feel longer than that – one thing that irks me the most is when people say… Oh, you do copy righting? Can you protect my buddy’s song he just wrote for infringement? I was asked this by a cashier at a grocery store in Texas when I told him what I did. No, people. It’s writing. With a pen. I write copy. Letters. Words. Things on a page. Online. No, it’s not coding. More like blogging. Sigh… Can we stop the confusion already? 2. Lands’ End and the misplaced apostrophe catastrophe. At some point in time, you have probably seen a post or two about horrible tattoo mistakes. And as we all know, tattoos are permanent. Do you know what the marketing equivalent of a bad tattoo is? Lands’ End. Why is there an apostrophe at the end of lands instead of before the s? There have been a lot of speculation and wild theories, but Lands’ End set the record straight on their blog: it was a mistake. A typo popped up in their first printed piece, but they could not yet afford to reprint it and correct it. Therefore, it was immortalized in ink that they could never get rid of. Now, to be fully fair to Lands’ End, they owned up to their marketing ‘tattoo’ fail and learned to live with it – because they are all about selling to humans, and humans make mistakes. Which is great for them. But wouldn’t it have been better if they just put that apostrophe in the right place to begin with? 3. Miller Genuine Draft and the ABC’s of spelling. Spelling can be hard. Even when you there is a rule, like i before e, there is often also an exception, such as after c. However, that’s what spell check is for (though make sure you see number 4.) Always use it – even if you have only one or two words for your copy. Miller had an ad campaign that clearly did not get this message. That’s why we all know their Genuine Draft is a tasty contraditcion (as opposed to contradiction if you aren’t sure what I am pointing out here). Talk about a big mistake – all they did was invert two letters – not a big deal on its own – but then they blew up that spelling mistake and put it on a billboard for everybody to see. 4. A special note on homophones from a gas company. Homophones are words that sound alike but are pronounced differently. Think weight vs. wait, know vs. no, read vs. red, etc. Or, think duel vs. dual – the former is a fight between gentlemen usually began by slapping your opponent in the face with a white glove; the latter means two, double, etc. Yet, a gas company had a marquee that read ‘Treat Your Vehicle to Duel Exhaust.’ Either that was an error, or there was a really strange fight a brewing. This is especially a common problem when you think of their, they’re, and there or other very common homophones. So when you right make sure you do it write – except, to quote Willy Wonka, “Strike that. Reverse it.” – when you write make sure you do it right. See how easy it is to slip up, though? 5. McDonald’s, Hardees, you can’t rely on spellcheck. While it is smart to use spellcheck, relying on it too heavily can cause some very embarrassing mistakes. For example, the 15 best things about public schools are probably a completely different list of things than the 25 best things about pubic schools. However, spellcheck doesn’t always realize this. Both Hardees and McDonalds learned this lesson when they started offering the anus burger, which was not as popular as their Angus burger and for obvious reasons. Horror of horrors. Hello, welcome to McDonalds. Would you like our butt burger special? With extra anus sauce? As someone who actually used to work at McDonalds to make my income in nursing school, I can appreciate how that would go. 6. McDonalds Again? Marketing is all about the placement. Where you place your copy is often just as important as what you put on your copy. For example, you probably wouldn’t want to put your billboard for a daycare up in a senior community – most of the seniors living there probably don’t have children in the daycare age range, after all. Which is what makes this McDonalds billboard so bad – nobody wants to see that big burger displayed right next to the sign for urgent care. When we supersize it, we like to bury our head in the sand and pretend that we don’t realize the unhealthiness of our actions. 7. Macy’s, is that a fact? It better be if you put it in your copy. While if you put any type of mistaken information in your copy it could come back to haunt you, this is especially true if you mess up your own information. Take Macy’s, for example. In 2013, they sent out a … Read more

5 Situations That Prove It’s Time to Hire a Copywriting Professional

December 31, 2020September 4, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Copywriting is an important business and anyone who is even moderately familiar with marketing knows that content is an important vessel for advertising and promotion. Surprisingly, even though great writing is an integral part of any business model, many companies skimp on it, convincing themselves that cut-rate writers or unskilled staff members can create content that outshines the competition. But when it comes to the quality of real, high-level content, it’s time to hire a professional copywriter. Unfortunately, they’re wrong: and these five situations will prove it. 5 Major Reasons To Hire a Copywriting Professional In order to succeed, businesses need great content and certain situations require the skills of a professionally trained copywriter. In these scenarios, the expertise of a professional writer is invaluable and may well save your company time, money and headaches. 1) You Don’t Know the Subject Writing about something you’re unfamiliar with is a little bit like trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat. For example, if you’ve been a Shakespearian scholar all of your life, it’s going to be tough to sit down and write a well-researched, intelligent and elegant article on B2B business marketing, isn’t it? A skilled copywriter will be well-versed in marketing tactics and can help you with all of your company’s content creation needs, be they blog posts or technical white pages. Additionally, a good writer can ensure that your content caters to your company’s SEO needs and is formatted to help your pages rank well in search engine indexes, expand your brand and attract more customers. It’s possible to find copywriters that specialize in everything from medical to legal writing so you can rest assured that there is a writer out there to fulfill your content creation needs. 2) You Can’t be Objective It’s hard to be objective about something you feel passionately about. Unfortunately, objectivity is one of the many traits great content needs in order to be highly shareable and attention grabbing. Because they have been intimately involved in the development of the company, many company owners often have a difficult time objectively describing their company’s products, goods or services. Although it is completely understandable and valid to have a deep emotional investment in a company, it’s often difficult to create great content when you do. For this reason, it’s wise to hire a skilled writer to create your company’s content. Doing this ensures that you don’t inadvertently overlook important customer concerns or questions in the process of creating your marketing material. Customers want to know why your product is special, yes, but they also want evidence, studies, comparisons and objective evidence rather than subjective emotional reasoning. Although you may well be a skilled writer, a good copywriter has both the skills and the emotional distance needed to present your product, service or good in an attractive light while also remaining collected enough to empathize with the reader, answer his or her questions and present the product objectively. By paying attention to customer feedback, remaining objective and bringing a fresh perspective to your company’s content creation, a copywriter can serve the valuable purpose of helping you promote your company better. 3) You Hate Writing Some people do – and that’s okay. You don’t have to love writing and, if you hate it or simply aren’t any good at it, it’s probably best that you leave it to someone else. Content acts as the face of a company and if you’re slacking, creating sub-par content or confusing the difference between there, they’re and their, you run the risk of casting your company in a poor light, dissuading customers from working with you or evening getting your websites downrated in Google’s indexes. Instead of raking yourself over the coals doing something you hate, hire a copywriting professional and let them handle the content creation while you focus on things you enjoy. Doing this will save you time and energy while also helping your company excel and ensuring that every bit of the quality, skill and passion that makes your company what it is comes through in your content. 4) You Just Don’t Have the Time Great writing is a serious time investment and sometimes, you just don’t have that much time to spare. It can be challenging to run a company and handle all of the responsibilities therein while also trying to find time to create high-quality content that your readers will love. For this reason, it’s a great idea to hire a skilled copywriter to handle your content creation needs. When you have a million other responsibilities, it’s natural that content creation can begin to take a backseat. Unfortunately, those words need to get onto the page and the choice between whether or not you find a way to do that can ultimately define the success of failure of your company. When you equip your company so that it can create as much high-quality content as possible, you increase your ability to build connections with customers, strengthen your web presence and make more sales. 5) You’re Facing a Big Event If you’ve got a huge campaign or important product launch coming up, it’s important to ensure that your company is putting its best foot forward. Hiring a copywriting professional can help you do this. It’s likely that these big events mean your company will have more exposure than usual and having all those extra eyes turned toward sub-par content can certainly hurt your business. In order to prevent this, hire a skilled copywriter that can create direct, concise, well-structured, authoritative content that communicates directly to the customer and garners plenty of reader interaction. Remember – great writing can boost your business just as quickly as crappy writing can hurt it. Who Are You Going To Call? Copywriting Professionals! Great content is important and skimping on quality can hurt your business faster than you can blink an eye. Although many companies do plenty of their writing in-house, it’s wise to consider hiring a skilled copywriting professional … Read more

The Bizarre Real Origins of the Word OK

December 31, 2020August 10, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Did you know? There are more theories about where the word OK comes from than letters in the word itself. That constitutes a Star Trek Captain Jean-Luc Picard facepalm meme, don’t you think? For a simple, relatively well-used phrase, shockingly few people actually know where it comes from. The real origins of the word okay (O.K.) are little known. Okay, as defined by Oxford dictionary is, “a term used to express agreement or acceptance.” In its modern usage, okay is a word that is recognized around the world along with its even more widely recognized acronym “OK”. But where does it come from? What’s the etymology of a word like “okay”? Origins of the Word Okay: Initial Theories In order for etymologists to determine where any word comes from, they trace its usage down the line until it disappears, giving an estimated time frame for when it appeared and got adopted into common usage. “Okay” has some obscure roots, since most people believe one (or more) stories about where it comes from above all others (depending on which one they heard first). Some rumors put it as coming from another language. In fact the foreign language interpretations of the origin of “okay” span a handful of locales such as: – Haitian French, from the term “Aux Cayes” – Scottish, derived from “och aye” – Greek, derived from “olla kalla” – Louisiana French, derived from “au quai” – Chocktaw (American Indian) from “okeh” There’s a lot of other attributions to language but the evidence behind these claims don’t stick. At best, these are simply inventions by local folk in an effort to claim the right over one of the most used words in the English language. Professional Jargon? There have been instances when professional jargon passed into common usage via popular culture. One notable example is the term “mark twain”, a phrase used by Mississippi riverboat oarsmen to determine the maximum depth to which a river boat would sail without become grounded. Samuel L. Clemens adopted it as his nom-de-plume and now the term is a household name, albeit for something totally different. Some origins of the word okay beg to dig deeper. There have been claims that the term “OK” comes from a time when shipbuilders would mark particularly robust pieces of lumber for use in the outer keel of ships. These pieces were marked “OK” to delineate their use in the outer keel. Another popular tale is that of the damage report during the civil war. It was said that, in order to save time and avoid a useless headcount, regiments that had no deaths would hold up a sign with the letters “OK” on it, standing for “Zero Killed”. Sadly, as colorful as these stories are, they aren’t even close to the truth. So Where DOES “Okay” come from? After exploring the colorful past of the word “Okay”, the truth might seem a far cry from the glamorization that exist around the word itself. Let’s look at the real origins of the word okay (OK): According to Merriam Webster, back in 1839 it was en vogue to facetiously misspell words in order to come off as humorous. Think about it in today’s terms as acronyms such as “OMG”, “lol” and “tl;dr”. Enter the newspaper editor who thought that spelling the term ‘all correct’ would be a lot funnier if it was spelt “orl korrect”. The abbreviation of “OK” was born and from that comes our modern word. So there you have it. The stories surrounding the word “okay” are numerous and colorful, stretching out through the mists of time. The truth about the word isn’t nearly as entertaining, but just like some topics, the deeper you get into it, the less interesting it seems. Regardless of its origins, “okay” is a word that makes up a large portion of our daily word usage and its versatility is a testament to the evolution of the English language.

11 Ways to Define Today’s Modern Copywriter

December 31, 2020August 7, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Have you ever wondered what it means to be a real, modern copywriter? Those people are amazing these days (if I do say so myself). Have you seen some of the awesome, thorough copy on the web? What’s attracted you to shop online or offline lately? Think of all the creative ad copy you’ve read, loved and laughed at. That’s because of a talented modern copywriter! Now, how would you define one of those people? At a loss? We put together 11 out-of-the-box, fun ways to describe what a modern copywriter does and is. Enjoy! Defining a Modern Copywriter Let’s get started with a basic overview of what a copywriter is. It is, in its simplest terms, someone who writes copy. Now, let’s break it down a little bit more. Copy is any writing that is used solely for marketing or advertising purposes. This includes things like commercials, taglines, brochures, online ads, and more. For such a creative position, though, that definition is far from creative and probably does not do a good job of selling itself to potential copywriters. (Which is pretty ironic if you think about it.) I’m here to do better. 😉 Keep reading! 11 Ways To Define the Modern Copywriter (Creatively) Cop · y · writ · er (noun)* … 1. A marketing magician. A person so good at making a business’s marketing successful, it’s like they are performing magic. “Wow! That new girl has only been here a month, and she has already written ads that cut our cost of conversion rate in half. Is she a magician?” “No. She’s a copywriter.” “Same thing.” 2. A word wizard. An individual that crafts marketing text so perfectly, it seems like some kind of sorcery or word wizardry. “Wow! You put into words exactly what I wanted our customers to feel. You must be a copywriter!” 3. A business message whisperer. Someone who can control or tame a business’s message so that it can go out successfully among people. “For a while, your message was so wild, nobody knew what to think of it. But it’s a lot clearer and more defined now. What did you do? Get a business whisperer?” “Pretty much. I hired a copywriter.” 4. That person pulling a no name company out of obscurity. The reason some company you never heard of yesterday is all the rage today. “Wow! You blew up overnight. That’s some copywriter you’ve got there.” 5. An individual who can outsell the best salesperson without ever even talking to a customer. Someone whose writing stretches so far that they make sales without ever leaving the office – or perhaps even their bed. “My sales team is incredible. But the PPC ads my copywriters created sold products to people all over the world in half the time.” 6. Someone who is equally good with people and robots. An individual who knows how to get picked up by search engines as well as please people with their charming words. “I’ve got the best copywriter. The new ads he created are always at the top of Google searches, and when people find them, they buying what we’re selling.” 7. A person who can find you wherever you are. A person who crafts SEO-based ads so perfectly that they always find their target audience when they are searching online. Or a person who writes the commercial that comes on every time you turn on the TV. Or a person who travels with you on your road trip looking down on you from tall billboards. Or just basically a person who knows how to reach its target market anywhere, anyhow. “I think that company’s copywriter is stalking me. I saw their ad on TV. It was a suggested post on Facebook. And they just put up a billboard outside of my office. I’ll tell you what, though. I kind of want to go try them now.” 8. That voice stuck in your head. The person who created the jingle that you either love or hate but either way can’t get out of your head. “I’ve been singing the fast food jingle that copywriter wrote all day, and now all I can think about is getting one of their hamburgers.” 9. A person who should be ‘Employee of the Month’ every month. The person who builds up a business’s brand, makes them sales, wins them an advertising award, brings them into the homes of all of their target audience, and generally saves the day. “Susie just won Employee of the Month for the third month in a row.” “Wow! She must be a copywriter.” 10. The writer of all things (also marketing and advertising related). The person who writes commercials, ads, emails, brochures, sales pamphlets, jingles, taglines, landing pages, and more. “My copywriter creates radio spots on top of everything else he does. I’m adding multi-talented to my copywriter definition.” 11. Someone who deserves a raise for being all of the things listed above. OK, had to throw that one in there (insert evil laugh). A person who does everything listed on this list should be paid well accordingly, right, right? “Your copywriter is a magical wizard who whispered your name into the public’s ear and outsold all your salespeople by being good with people and Google, knowing how to find your target audience anywhere, and getting stuck in their head by being the writer of all marketing things written? Not only should he be Employee of the Month, he should get a raise as well.” 11 Fun Ways to Define A Modern Copywriter: We Hope You Enjoyed It! A copywriter can be a lot of different things, but what they are most of all is important. If you want your business to succeed, then you are going to need good marketing. A copywriter can do that for you. If your copywriter definition is, “a quality writer I can find online,” then check out our copywriting services.

10 Things To Learn From Genius Blogger Darren Rowse, CEO of ProBlogger

December 31, 2020July 27, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Have you ever dreamed of writing professionally? What about getting your existing blog off the ground or simply attracting more clients to your company through strategic and skillful product marketing? There’s a man who can help you with all of that, and his name is Darren Rowse. As CEO of the popular freelancing site ProBlogger, Darren Rowse helps people learn to create great content, but he also does much more than that. Rowse is an entrepreneur, quasi life coach and the hero of professional writers far and wide. Darren Rowse’s Story Currently located in Melbourne, Australia, Rowse is a family man who got into writing as a form of exercising his passion for building, enhancing and creating two things: community and communication. Rowse broke into the professional blogging scene after he starting blogging as a hobby. After some time in the field, he decided to see if he could make money writing and began to do some Internet research on the topic. As Rowse searched the web, however, he realized that there was a distinct lack of information about making a living blogging and he decided to fix the problem by starting his own web-based community. The subsequent site, ProBlogger, grew out of a need for great information, helpful resources and job listings for bloggers and freelancers across the web. Today, ProBlogger reigns as the top ranking authoritative site on the topic of blogging professionally and it would seem that we all have a thing or two to learn from Mr. Rowse. Ten Tactics You Can Learn from Darren Rowse Here are the top ten lessons Rowse has to offer from his career and personal experience: 1) If You Want To Get Anywhere, You Need To Write Daily As much as we might love to believe otherwise, there are no free lunches and it’s tough to have a career as a blogger if you’re not in the trenches writing on a daily basis. Rowse credits the success of ProBlogger to two things: the fact that he was one of the first voices talking about the topic and also that he sat in a chair and wrote every day for three and a half years. Dedication pays off and daily writing is one of the best ways to become a recognized voice in your field. 2) In Order To Succeed, You Have To Stick It Out Blogging can be a tough business and if you’re hoping to make a living doing it, you’ve got to develop a knack for sticking with it during the tough times. Unless you have a previously established platform, it is difficult to experience immediate success as a blogger. Stay at it, write great content and, eventually, people will notice. 3) Write What You Know Part of becoming a successful blogger is establishing authority and its hard to establish authority if you’re not writing what you know. ProBlogger, for example, boasts 4,000 niche-related blogs in its archive. Sharing your knowledge freely and learning the value of dominating a niche will go a long way toward creating success. 4) Don’t Sugarcoat It People are smart and they’ll know if you’re blowing smoke. If a subject you’re discussing is difficult to learn, don’t be afraid to say that. People will appreciate your honesty. 5) Make Your Content Actionable Readers appreciate tangible tips. If you’re writing about how to make money blogging, provide your readers with a ten-step list that includes do-able tips like “utilize affiliate programs.” Creating actionable content provides readers with tangible information that they can apply to their own lives which, in turn, helps make your writing credible and important. 6) Network, Network, Network Bloggers don’t exist on islands and, in order to achieve success, it is important to reach out to people in the community. Offer and invite guest posts, read related niche blogs, comment, interact, conduct giveaways and surveys. Rowse began ProBlogger as a platform for community interaction and its obvious that focusing on communication is one of the first steps towards building or refining a blogging or content career. 7) Don’t Quit Your Day Job It sounds like tough advice coming from someone like Darren Rowse, but it’s valuable. Blogging is a tough market and it’s important to take a long-term view of the career. Dedicate yourself to your writing but make sure you have realistic expectations in the meantime. 8) Be Yourself There is a massive amount of content on the web and, because of that, it is important to be unique. Stay true to your own interests but be sure to dedicate some time to identifying market gaps and thinking about how you might be able to fill them. As Rowse has proven during his career, the bloggers most likely to succeed are the ones who create unique content. 9) Experiment If you’re just beginning to blog for money, dedicate some time to experimenting with monetization techniques. Each blog works differently and what works for Darren Rowse might not work for you right now. Explore your options and don’t be afraid to experiment until you find something that fits. 10) Consider your Reader’s Needs Great content needs to be relatable. By taking the time to think about and then define the needs of your readers, you also set yourself up to meet the need and solve the problem. The most valuable content gives people a solution to an issue and encourages them to communicate more openly with your platform. Darren Rowse is more than just one of the best-known faces of the blogging community, he is a teacher and a resource for bloggers and content marketers far and wide and his career and personal experience offer a whole host of lessons to take advantage of. Although blogging can be a tough business, people like Rowse prove that, with some hard work, dedication to quality and preservation, anything is possible. Follow Darren Rowse on Twitter, or visit to his website Problogger. To learn more about professional blogging and access more helpful tips, stay subscribed … Read more

Are Your Headlines & Titles Driving Potential Customers Away?

June 19, 2024July 10, 2015 by Josh McCoy

You’ve spent days researching your next blog post. You’ve double-checked all facts, reworded each fragment very carefully and analyzed and improved your CTAs. At the end of this lengthy, time-consuming process, you’ve redirected your last drop of energy towards the headline. While trying to come up with the perfect title, you finally realize that creativity has flown out the window. Should you sacrifice a few more hours of sleep to draft several versions and pick the most suitable one, or should you just make a quality compromise and settle for a headline that doesn’t do your body copy any justice? Why Headlines Will Always Matter (A Great Deal) We can all agree that an informative, original, and creative headline marks the beginning of a fulfilling reading experience. What you may not know is that the quality of your headlines is influencing your conversion rates a great deal. New research conducted by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism introduces a set of interesting findings cited by Marketing Land. According to this source, 51% of the visitors who land on search sites looking for fresh news affirmed that an interesting, catchy headline represented the reason they chose to click on a certain story. The source of the information and the social signals linked to it seem to be less important. 37% of the respondents said they clicked on web content from a website that they knew and trusted while only 11% revealed that they clicked on a story recommended by a person in their social circle. These numbers are easy to interpret, and the lesson that you need to learn and apply is pretty straightforward: Do you want to rewrite your success story? Start by writing better headlines! What Should You Expect from a Good Headline? Aside from its originality and high dosage of creativity, what are the other key aspects that separate good headlines from terrible ones? According to a guide published by Columbia University, good titles must be correct (in implications and facts), should command attention, and lead to a deeper connection with the audience. They must also match or set the tone of the written material. While all the pieces of the puzzle are equally important, do keep in mind that you should never sacrifice accuracy on the altar of creativity. 5 Categories of Bad Headlines That You Should Avoid at All Costs Headlines with puzzling, unintended meanings are some of your most dreaded enemies, which could easily affect your reputation and credibility on any niche. If you’re striving to improve your headline writing skills, here are a few bad examples that you should analyze before putting pen to paper. 1. The Ridiculous, Illogical and Unintentionally Hilarious Headline In a recent post, Diply rounds up some of the most unbelievably ludicrous headlines that you might have read so far. As the result of illogical thinking or a failed attempt to explore the power of the dramatic, situational or verbal irony for emphasis, these headlines make us raise an eyebrow and ask ourselves: What were the authors thinking? One-of-a-kind pearls of wisdom such as “Mayor Parris to Homeless: Go Home”, “Threat Disrupts Plans to Meet about Threats”, “One-Armed Man Applauds the Kindness of Strangers” make us want to rethink our titles and question our logic over and over again to avoid such catastrophic public displays of ignorance and negligence. 2. The Dull Headline That Nobody Has Time For People have very little desire to invest their time, patience, and energy in reading activities that cannot be associated with groundbreaking revelations. They want to get the latest info on high-interest topics that could influence their quality of life (career opportunities, promotions and discounts, special events that they may be interested in and so on). At the same time, they ignore headlines covering mundane facts and have very little or no desire to read headlines that they’ve seen on dozens of other websites. A lack of originality expressed through the headline may be an accurate indicator of the body copy standards. As we have stated in a previous post, people usually judge a book by its cover, and won’t hesitate to evaluate your piece without actually reading it based on the attractiveness of its title. Dull headlines are your worst enemy, so take all the time you need to make your final version eye-pleasing, intelligible and as creative as possible. 3. The Mysteriously Incomplete Headline Let’s assume that you open the newspaper, or land on a website and stumble across the following headline: Board of Directors Meeting Takes Place. So what? Why is this event a matter of great importance? Does it lead to massive layoffs or a string of promotions? Why should we, the readers, care about it (and move on to the body copy)? You may be inclined to think that an aura of mystery expressed through your title may compel your readers to read, or at least scan your piece. Unfortunately, this is not how it works. You have to provide a minimal amount of information to arouse the curiosity of your audience. Highlight the reasons why they need to take a closer look at your article and deliver the promise of a captivating, useful reading experience. 4. The Headline with an Information Overdose Poles apart, headlines containing massive amounts of information are equally puzzling, annoying and ineffective. We can all name more than a few books with incredibly long, hard to grasp titles. The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade by Peter Weiss, and Don’t Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems by David Rakoff are only two of the most eloquent examples that come to mind. At a first glance, you will probably be asking yourself the following question: who would actually read these books? After all, if a writer … Read more

Copywriting For Businesses: Taking Inspiration from Goldilocks & The Three Bears

December 31, 2020July 8, 2015 by Adam Oakley

You all know the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, right? Well, I’m about to tell you a little bit of a different version, to help represent how to create copywriting for businesses in an understandable way. Copywriting for Businesses: The Start of the Story So, in our content fable, Goldilocks is the copywriter who wanted to write the perfect copy that was really going to sell her clients. But she didn’t know how to do it. So she looked at the options in front of her. There was a large company, a medium company, and a small company that wanted her to write for them. She knew what she had to do. Let’s look at her thought process and go through what type of copywriting best suits which company. Finding On That is Just Right Is The Heart of the Story When you are writing for people, you, just like Goldilocks, have to find the one that is just right. What do people want? Do they want edgy, bare bones, etc.? How long do they want it to be? No matter who you are writing for, you have to make it fit them. Think of it this way: when the fairy tale character Goldilocks sat in the papa’s chair and the mama’s chair, they were not just right for her. However, they were perfect for mama and papa bear. Similarly, specific types of writing, especially when copywriting for businesses, are not right for everyone. You have to find the one that fits – I suppose I could have gone with Cinderella here. This is especially true when you are writing for different size companies. Let’s look at the three major sizes: small, mid-size, and large, with details on how you can craft successful copywriting for businesses of all these sizes. 1. Copywriting For Small Businesses When you are writing for a small business, you can’t write the same way you would for a big company. They just haven’t developed that swagger quite yet. Nobody has heard of them yet, so you need to help them build their brand. The things you should focus on when writing for a small company are different than what you would write for more established brands: Help them create a voice. Help them build a reputation and brand recognition. Write about what makes them stand out from other companies. (Maybe you can play up the fact that they have the mom and pop feel. Or that they have great customer service because of a smaller client base.) You also might want to be a little more on the edge here if it is alright with the client. They need to stand out from the rest even more than other size companies. And while social media is important for everyone, it is especially important for the smaller business. This is one of the best ways to quickly get a name out there. Small businesses might mean the writer has more room to be creative. After all, they don’t necessarily know much about the content marketing game yet. They might rely more on services and people who know what they are doing. Another thing that small businesses need to know the importance of is the value of an email newsletter. This can be really helpful, and a lot of small businesses do not seem to realize it. Small businesses tend to have smaller budgets, so they need to be more careful about the types of content they use. They want to get the most bang for their buck. 2. Copywriting For Medium Businesses When you are writing for a medium-sized business you should incorporate various tactics from small and big companies. You should talk to the client and see what their goals and expectations are. Why are they hiring you? What do they want to accomplish with their content? When do you want to start seeing results? What kind of style should they be using? What kind of budget do they have? Which types of content do they want to use? While all clients should be consulted no matter the size, with other sizes, there are general things you should hope to accomplish. (For example getting the name out there for a smaller company.) Medium-sized companies can go either way as far as how much they are involved in the process. They might feel confident in where they are or they might want someone who can really revamp their content and give them more life. 3. Copywriting For Large Businesses Large, well-known businesses have a lot more options. They are already known, so they have a little bit more freedom to do what they want. What you should keep in mind when writing for a bigger company: They already have an established voice. So you need to make sure all of your writings for them match that tone, style, and voice. They have more of a reputation to sustain. Because of this, they might want you to be more constrained. They don’t need to grab people’s attention as much, but that does not mean they do not want to grab their attention at all. The benefit of working with a big company is that they likely have ideas of what they want in mind. They know the game, probably have some staff that is dedicated to content, and just want some outside help. The work might just be practically done already. And as Scott Martin points out in Crazy Egg, large companies often have millions of dollars to spend on their marketing, which means the options are almost endless. The Moral of the Story: Finding the Style That is Perfect For You When you are copywriting for businesses and companies of different sizes, you have to find the style that is just right. There are some personality issues at play here, of course. How soft do you like your cushions (or how controversial do you like your writing as the case may be), etc.? However, a … Read more

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