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Your Ultimate Guide on How to Write an Ultimate Guide (Infographic)

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Your Ultimate Guide on How to Write an Ultimate Guide (Infographic)

There is definitely some Matrix-like inception going on in today’s blog. We’ve created the Ultimate Guide on, well, how to write an Ultimate Guide. Here’s a fun fact: in this information age, it’s relatively easy to find guides on anything you want. The results are good, but then there comes a showstopper that immediately makes you pause in your random clicking and reading, and absorbs and holds all your attention. You’re actually learning something, and you don’t want to click away. This is the benefit of building an ultimate guide on the internet. We’ve all seen these pieces. They are referenced repeatedly, get tons with traffic, and see non-stop shares across social platforms. From how to groom your Labradoodle, to the entire guidelines for changing guitar strings, a mind-boggling Javascript tutorial, or the ultimate whammy guide on creating great social media posts. Psst…we can help you with that last one. The ultimate guide that truly adds value could be called the holy grail of content pieces. They’re some of the most comprehensive, authoritative, and popular pages you’ll find. If you’ve ever turned to cyberspace to learn something, chances are you’ve used one at some point. Today, I’m sharing tips on how to create an ultimate guide of your very own. This will cover it all. Starting with strategy and brainstorming all the way through revising and updating, this comprehensive guide will teach you everything you need to know to get started. 7 Steps on How to Write An Ultimate Guide 1.    Why You Should Create an Ultimate Guide (and What it Means) 2.    Topic Research: Study Your Topic, Audience, and Competitors 3.    When Writing, Start Off with a Format – or Better Yet, a Template 4.    Conduct Keyword Research AFTER Your Outline is Created 5.    Go Heavy on Examples, Images, and Statistics if Applicable 6.     Get a Designer Involved 7.    Do Ultimate Editing and Tracking for Your Ultimate Guide All of these are coming in our blog topic today, complete with a visual infographic on the topic. First, let’s share a story about why and how ultimate guides work so well. The Story of an Ultimate Guide That Helped Put a $7 Million Business Together We will start with strategy – but first a little preface on exactly why you should get excited about building your ultimate guide. Creating an ultimate guide means giving your readers a comprehensive content piece they can’t find anywhere else. There’s another advantage to that – you’re associating your name with that outstanding piece. Many readers will have already heard of Unbounce. While you may know them for their landing pages, popups, and sticky bars, you might have also seen the ultimate guide that skyrocketed their brand to success. The year was 2011. Oli Gardner created a free six-month guide to marketing for Moz. Between the great content and the massive infographic, it racked up views in no time. Below is the top part of the graphic – we won’t show the whole thing here, but recommend checking it out in its entirety. Nice, huh? The piece clearly told readers what they wanted to know. It took an already-talented brand and strapped a rocket to their back. The results? This guide was downloaded over 150,000 times and earned thousands of backlinks. Blogging was their survival, and epic content put them on the map, according to their lead Content Strategist Dan Levy. Just five years after the company’s founding, Unbounce went from nothing to over 9,800 paying customers and $7 million in annual revenue. How’s that for the “ultimate guide success story?” A good guide is as useful to you and your brand as it is to your readers. One look at that graphic shows the main reason why this guide was so successful. You can tell the people behind it knew their subject matter – they didn’t just know it, they lived it and breathed it. When you’re creating this type of piece, you need to be a knowledgeable, trustworthy authority on the topic. This takes years of work honing a craft, tons of practice, and hours upon hours of research. You’re doing this so your readers don’t have to – that’s why they’ll appreciate it and you. Your Ultimate Guide on How to Write An Ultimate Guide (The Infographic) Scroll below this guide for our more in-depth written guide on the topic. Beginning Stages: Research Your Topic (and Other Ultimate Guides) Content creators know all about preceding their creation process with strategy. If you’re looking to build a piece that’s more informative and in-depth, you should expect a research period of the same complexity. The amount of time you spend on a piece isn’t always proportional to its quality – but if you’re doing things the right way, it should be. This stat is just for blog posts, but if it works for those, you can imagine how much better it works for an ultimate guide. Image from Orbit Media The interesting observation is the lack of significant variation between the 1-6-hour mark. Yet, when you go beyond that, results tend to be much better. As for specific research strategies, a lot of your research will come from doing. Your ability to give someone a guide to something is related to your knowledge of it. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t search the web for additional insight. When you’re in the strategy phase, think about the following: How to Explain Things You Already Know: Don’t fall into the Dunning-Krueger Just because you are an expert on something, doesn’t mean everyone else is. In an ultimate guide, you want to explain everything. The fundamentals, the nuances, the maybe-you-should-know-this-too parts. The more comprehensive your resource is, the better. It should be a one-stop piece. How to Explain the Same Thing in Multiple Ways: Searching for insight about your chosen topic isn’t just so you can explain it. You need to explain it in multiple ways, if need be. If the same advice can be given from two different perspectives, make the effort … Read more

What Does a Copywriter Do? (Infographic)

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What Does a Copywriter Do? (Infographic)

Copywriting is a dynamic, valuable trade. Without copywriting, the web itself wouldn’t exist. Despite its importance, many people still don’t know what copywriting is or what a copywriter does on the daily, typing away behind their computer. ‍ The answer is a lot more complex, yet less confusing than you might think. So, what does a copywriter do, exactly? ✍ Follow along as we demystify this job description, infographic-style. Consider this a guide to copywriting for beginners. First Things, First: What IS Copywriting? (Hint: It’s NOT the same thing as “copyrighting.”) Somebody has to write all of those web pages, blogs, articles, social media posts, emails, and more into existence. The brunt of it falls to copywriters. However, modern copywriting is a far cry from the original ad copywriting of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Instead of ads, catchy jingles, and slogans, think blogs. Think helpful, educational, informational, or entertaining content. Instead of print ads or TV, think digital. Think the internet. [bctt tweet=” Copywriting: Instead of ads, catchy jingles, and slogans, think blogs. Think helpful, educational, informational, or entertaining content. Instead of print ads or TV, think digital. ‍ Think the internet.” username=”ExpWriters”] Every day: 70 million+ new blogs are published on WordPress 4.54 billion people go online 1.62 billion people use Facebook Every minute: 188,000,000 emails are sent 55,140 Instagram posts are uploaded 511,200 tweets are published Copywriters have a hand in all of it! Looking for a copywriter? Get awesome content for your brand and don’t worry about lifting a finger to hire a writer. See our rates and offerings in the Content Shop. Over 40,000 successfully completed projects to date.      Copywriting vs. Content Writing Copywriters create copy AND content for clients. Is there a difference? Yes. Copywriting is the art of writing copy. Copy refers to any piece of text written to move the reader to some sort of action. You’ll find copy on landing pages, sales pages, and product pages. You’ll also see it in use via calls-to-action – snippets of text calling the reader to act – which can show up in blogs and social media posts/ads. Content writing is the art of writing content. Content refers to any piece of text written to inform, educate, guide, or entertain the reader. Content usually is NOT sales-oriented. Instead, its purpose is to provide value to readers, which builds trust and loyalty over time. Who Needs a Copywriter? Businesses and organizations Entrepreneurs and personal brands Anyone who needs engaging, impactful, targeted, results-driven copy or content written for their online platform What Does a Copywriter Do? Copywriters aim to INFORM, ENGAGE, IMPACT, or PERSUADE target audiences with WRITTEN COPY and/or CONTENT. Writing to move people to step into a business’s marketing life cycle. Writing to position a business or organization as an authority in their field or industry, using that business’s voice and tone. Writing to cultivate loyalty and trust among targeted readers. The Copywriter Job Description What does a copywriter do? When it comes to content and copy, a little bit of everything: Content writing – Writing content that informs, educates, or inspires. Copywriting – Writing copy that moves the reader to action. Researching – Vetting topics, keywords, and sources to use in the content or copy. Learning and adopting the correct, client-approved tone and writing style. Editing & proofreading – Tweaking and refining grammar, style, and punctuation for readability, accuracy, and to match the brand voice. Managing content projects – Ideating content, pitching topics, writing, editing, revising, and working with other content creators (content strategists, editors, graphic designers, content managers, etc.) to get pieces publish-ready. [bctt tweet=”What does a copywriter do? When it comes to content and copy, a little of everything: Content writing, copywriting, researching, editing & proofreading, & managing content projects.” username=”ExpWriters”] The Copywriter: A Jack-of-All-Trades Most copywriters have the knowledge and expertise to write at least a handful of these types of copy and content: SEO blogs Professional articles Web pages and landing pages Ebooks Tweets Facebook and Instagram posts Native ads on social media Email marketing White papers Product descriptions Case studies and product reviews Press releases In-House or Freelance Copywriting? When a copywriter works in-house, they work for one specific company and create copy/content FOR that company. More often than not, they work in an office. A freelance copywriter works on their own steam or for an agency. They may serve many different clients across various industries. Most freelancers work remotely. The 7 Essential Skills Every Copywriter Needs Cultivate these skills and learn how to become a better copywriter. They’re the foundation of what every copywriter does. 1. Content Creation Fundamentals – Creating compulsively readable online content in various formats for multiple platforms, like blogs and social media 2. Writing Craft & Creativity – Changing up word choice, tone, and POV to engage different audiences 3. SEO – Optimizing copy and content to get indexed in search with SEO best-practices 4. Conversions – Understanding how certain words and phrases come together to create ultra-persuasive messages that inspire people to act 5. Communication – Knowing how to communicate ideas effectively – and understanding how to make complex topics easy to grasp 6. Online Research & Sourcing – Finding the best sources to use in a client’s content to support claims, including compelling stats and data, and knowing how to link and cite correctly 7. Editing & Proofreading – Cutting the fluff to get to the meat of the message, and knowing the correct style and grammar to use in every writing situation [bctt tweet=”7 skills every copywriter needs: 1️⃣ Content creation fundamentals 2️⃣ Writing craft & creativity 3️⃣ SEO 4️⃣ Conversions 5️⃣ Communication 6️⃣ Online research & sourcing 7️⃣ Editing & proofreading” username=”ExpWriters”] How to Break into Copywriting: 5 Tips to Nab Your First Gig or Client What can you do to break into copywriting? Buckle down and… 1. Practice, Practice, Practice Practice your writing craft. Read all you can, write whenever you can. 2. Prove Yourself Create a portfolio of writing … Read more

Infographic: The ROI of Content Marketing (In Numbers Everyone Understands and With a Case Study)

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Infographic: The ROI of Content Marketing (In Numbers Everyone Understands and With a Case Study)

Content marketing is effective – but I’d bet you certainly don’t need convincing. You already know how good it is: Content marketers get 6x more website conversions than non-adopters. Marketers who rate themselves as effective make sure at least 37% of their budgets go toward their content and content goals. The problem: How do you explain the ROI of content marketing in a way that’s immediately understandable to people who aren’t you? Important people like… Clients Executives Stakeholders Business partners Instead of putting these key players to sleep with a long list of incomprehensible stats, you need to be more persuasive. We put together a guide that might help you, with formulas based on real scenarios, and language that even the toughest boss will understand (ROI speaks for itself!). This piece was a collaborative team effort between myself, our lead Content Strategist JJ, our creative full-time writer, Alyssa, and our amazing designer. Please share if you enjoyed this infographic. Let’s spread the word about content marketing ROI! And, we’d love to hear in the comments what you think! The ROI of Content Marketing: In Numbers Everyone Understands and With a Case Study (Infographic) Download as a PDF. Explaining the ROI of Content Strategy Through Numbers Everyone Understands (Infographic) The way to make a client’s or high-level executive’s ears perk up when you talk about content marketing is not by showing them examples of others’ success. Instead: They want to know how this strategy will help THEM. They want to hear about the dollars, cents, and ROI THEY will get. How do you estimate what this will be? You need the Content Marketing Trifecta. The Content Marketing Trifecta: Earned Traffic = High Quality Leads = Sales A great content marketing benchmark to use for estimating dollar signs is conversions. At its most basic level, content marketing’s main goal is to drive targeted traffic to a website, where that traffic is converted into high quality leads. These leads are then converted to sales. Earned traffic, high quality leads & sales. This is a simplification, but that’s the goal. We need to translate conversions into dollar signs, A.K.A. speak the most simple yet persuasive language for key players to get on board. The Benchmark Numbers How do we compute the ROI associated with conversions from content marketing? We need some benchmark numbers. We need to know: The average rate at which targeted traffic coming into a website converts to high quality leads The average rate that those leads convert into sales 16% Traffic & Leads According to Marketing Sherpa, the average rate for converting traffic to leads across industries is 16%. 14% Leads & Sales SEO leads convert at a higher rate than outbound methods, like paid advertising. Studies have shown that leads generated from SEO have an average close rate of 14%, while outbound-generated leads have a close rate of 2%. The Content Marketing Trifecta Equation Using our benchmark numbers and monthly traffic numbers, we can plug them into an equation that will estimate how many leads and sales we can expect to see per month using content marketing. Monthly Visitors x 16% Organic Traffic to Lead Conversion Rate = X Leads/Month X Leads/Month x 14% Lead to Sale Conversion Rate = X Sales/Month Example Scenario If Business A gets 1,000 visitors to their website monthly: 1,000 Visitors x 16% = 160 Leads/Month 160 Leads x 14% = 22.4 Sales/Month According to average conversion rates, out of 1,000 visitors in website traffic per month, Business A could expect 160 leads and 22.4 sales per month if they use content marketing. Judging the Content Marketing Trifecta Equation Against Real Numbers: Case Study To show how well the equation holds up in real life, let’s compare actual results with what the equation predicts. The monthly traffic for Express Writers in January 2018 was about 15,470. 15,470 Monthly Visitors x 16% = 2,475 Leads 2,475 Leads x 14% = 346 Sales Do the numbers hold up? Expected: 346 orders Actual: 289 orders While we did come up 57 orders short of the expected total, this was a deliberate move for 2018 as we have shifted our focus to serving only clients who we believe are the right fit. Due to this shift in focus, our average order size for January 2018 was $416 (new record for us at EW). 3 Steps to Explain the ROI of Content Strategy to Clients and Superiors You’ve got some good numbers up your sleeve that are immediately understandable and persuasive for higher-ups and clients. This will help push them toward investing in content strategy. Now it’s time to pull it all together. 1. How Will Evergreen Content Make Their Garden Grow? Organic traffic from content marketing will help a business’ garden plot grow lush and thriving – think lots of green growing on that money tree. The evergreen effect makes it possible: According to a SEMrush traffic analysis, Express Writers earns 22.1k visitors in monthly organic traffic. Our evergreen content pieces do most of that legwork. If we didn’t have an evergreen content strategy in place, SEMrush estimates that we’d have to pay $45,400/month on Google AdWords (over $500,000/year!) to achieve the same results. 2. What Will They Need to Fertilize Their Content Soil for ROI? In content marketing, to get the green rolling in, it takes some investment up front. How do you fertilize the content soil to grow your business garden? What must be put into content marketing at the outset to see your efforts grow tall? Example: Estimate what you’re willing to invest. If you outsource to a copywriting agency like Express Writers, the cost would average about $375 for one authority content piece. If you commit to one piece per week, that’s an investment of about $19,500/year. How does this investment shake out? If we focus on low competition, high volume keywords, we could safely estimate ranking 3rd place in Google results within a year for 2/3 of those keywords (around 34 out of 52). Assuming … Read more

Express Writers January 2018 Report (Infographic): 1.8 Million Words Written, 3 Reasons We Hit Our Busiest Month, & Policy Reminder

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Express Writers Hit Busiest Month

When December of 2017 came to a close, I wrote my goals for the upcoming New Year down on my whiteboard. One in particular was a big, bold goal for Express Writers, which I’ve been running for six years now (seven if you count my first year as a freelancer). I’d never physically wrote this goal down before, although I’d been thinking of it for months. In my goal list, I wrote down “new system launch” first. That’s because I truly didn’t think our $100,000 month would come before our new build of Express Writers teamroom and ecommerce client system, which has been estimated to take 5-8 months as a custom development timeframe minimum, over 2018. We have a development team in place for this new build, and Josh our CTO (my husband) is leading the initiative. It’s costing a ton, but it’s necessary as a smoother machine to run our growing business. Well, in January of 2018, the little (big) goal I’d written down came true. To my shock, we surpassed $120,000. For the month, across all the content services we offer, our team wrote a collective estimated 1,851,200 words. In this report, first, we’ll go into a visual representation of what our January content accomplishment looks like: next, three core reasons from me on why we were able to successfully take this on, and stay light and agile: finally, we have a client reminder on our policy, turnaround and communication. Let’s jump in! The Data in Pictures: Express Writers vs. 1,851,200 Words (Infographic) In January of 2018, our content creation agency Express Writers had its busiest month ever! We had over 282 orders placed, and we served more than 50 clients, focusing on repeat clients (many of our repeat clients placed 32-40 orders throughout the month). We saw a 99% success rate on projects completed (we revise if our clients aren’t happy, and refund if the client is not a good fit). Overall, we completed: 625 blogs and articles 606 expert industry-specialized blogs and web pages 1069 product descriptions 7 press releases 7 social media packages Many of the blogs were long-form. If we average the word count at 800w to account for shorter items like social media copy, the total word count we wrote was 1,851,200 words. We even served customers in more than 10 countries! Why We Hit 1.8 Million Words in a Month: 3 Cores that Took Years of Hard Work, Trial and Error I know a lot of business gurus that say things like: “Write it down, and the universe will respond and make it true.” I’m going to get real for a second so I’m not misleading anyone. Listen in closely… Our major goal did not come true only because I wrote it down. In fact, the underlying structures, years of groundwork that we’d been refining for months, are really what made this goal come true. And everything just happened to fall into place finally in January, 2018. 1. We have the best staff I’ve ever hired finally in place, true role direction, and real capacity A new move that took a while to work out was expanding our Editor role into a Quality Assistant role, a staff role I brainstormed in August 2017 to replace our struggling, low-success Editor role. We monitored, trained, and added new QAs, eventually, this role grew to have 300% more stability and success than our Editorial role that I had for five years prior. Our expert writers, authority copywriters, content strategists, social media copywriters, continue to fall into place. Out of 200 interviewed writers in January, we added 15 new writers to our team. I live by the mantra “less is more” for our team, finding the right people and giving them full-time work is a winning formula. And the capacity we can take on with just one new writer is staggering: sometimes, 24,000 additional words/week. So, 15 new writers can mean that we can handle 360,000 additional words in a week, or 1.4 million words in a month. Because I remained focused on hiring this month (I interviewed daily), we didn’t even max out our writer team with the busy month we just had. Because of our role structure, I’m free to do what I do best: write thought leadership blogs, run a Facebook group that links to our Twitter chat, share Instagram stories, refresh and update all our marketing strategies, run my course and write my next books. 2. Our inbound content rankings and industry trust is through the roof, a combination of a 1,000-hour project and 6 years of work Industry positioning and organic inbound marketing takes time. This month, our organic rankings are coming in at 12,600 keywords. We recently crossed the 1,000-published blogs mark. That took 6 years of consistent, in and out, day after day, content creation. We outrank our competitors on Google by an average 4-6% visibility. These are big reasons companies choose us to write their online content. Next, my comprehensive course at www.contentstrategycourses.com and the accompanying book, Practical Content Strategy & Marketing, has been spreading like wildfire (89 copies of my book sold in the last few weeks with NO ads, and we’re nearing 40 students enrolled in the course). The course build took 1,000 hours of my time in 2017. Through guest speaking appearances, my Facebook group, Twitter chat and organic connections, I’ve been spreading the knowledge of the course I created. The only paid marketing is $5/day for Facebook ad retargeting (through an installed Facebook pixel). This ensures people who visit the course site once don’t forget about it. Since Facebook targets people who are in my group, they get a double-whammy reason to invest in my strategic training. The growth in trust has been confirmed every time I log onto social media. I received an Instagram story on my account at @fementrepreneur from a marketer who purchased my book, had his office read it, talked to JJ and bought $700 worth of content services within … Read more

A Handy Holiday Content Guide to 12+ Days of Festivities for Christmas Social Media Campaigns

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A Handy Holiday Content Guide to 12+ Days of Festivities for Christmas Social Media Campaigns

It’s that time of year once again… The festive lights go up, holiday music starts playing everywhere, and the Christmas spirit comes alive. It also means a giant wave of holiday campaigns arriving on our social media feeds. Every business has a holiday campaign, and it can feel hard to compete – especially if your time or budget is tight. The thing is, though, these holiday promotions are totally worth it. The Christmas season of cheer is a perfect time to engage your list of email subscribers, boost traffic, increase sales, and more. According to HubSpot, shoppers give back to retailers who help them get through the season of giving (think useful and timely content marketing). Plus, holidays are a huge time for sales. In 2015, 74% of retailers said at least 20% of their total sales for the year happened over the holidays. That’s nothing to wink at! To start our guide, we’re going to take note from some brands on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram doing it right. The one thing they all have in common? They set out to delight their audiences first, and boost their bottom lines second. [bctt tweet=”Brands with holiday campaigns should set out to delight their audiences first, and boost their bottom lines second. @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] For our creative Christmas infographic, we’ve pulled ideas and inspiration you can use to brighten up your own feeds and holiday campaigns, taking inspiration from the 12 days of Christmas lyrical piece. Enjoy. Let’s dive in! Add Holiday Spice to Your Christmas Social Media Campaigns with Our 12 Days of Christmas Campaign Ideas (Infographic) Just like the holiday tune “The 12 Days of Christmas,” we’ve got 12 festive ideas for your Christmas social media campaigns. Try one (or two, or three, or all 12!) to get your holidays rolling. Read below the infographic for more how-tos, example, and links straight to free tools you can use to craft holiday-focused content. Decorate Your Christmas Social Media Campaigns with 12 Days of Christmas Campaign Ideas 1. “Decorate” Your Social Profiles Take a page from Penguin Books and spruce up your social profiles with some festive graphics. Theme them around your brand’s purpose to make it even more impactful. Note that Penguin updated their header image with a festive photo that features some of their books. It looks like they’re about to get wrapped in pretty holiday paper and ribbon. Note that the images they post to their feed have a matching look, which helps tie it all together. Another good example is how Starbucks jazzed up their Twitter page with a photo of their new “coloring book” holiday cups: Some of the cups even look like a kid scribbled on them, which is endearing and sweet. That sets a perfect tone for a family-friendly holiday. Another perfect example: Ulta, a national beauty chain, gave their Twitter page a holiday twist with a bunch of women showing off festive holiday party looks: Follow suit with your social media accounts, but try to make the “décor” relevant to your brand. (Hint: Don’t just put up a random picture of Santa – tie it into what you sell or offer!) How to Use Canva to Easily (& for FREE) Add Some Festivities to Your Profile Images You can do this super easily. Canva, for instance, has customizable templates that are professional-looking and already perfectly-sized for your Facebook cover image or your Twitter header. To find festive templates, use the search bar to narrow down your options. Or, if you love to DIY, first check out these sizing guidelines for creating images for your social media profiles. 2. “Santa Hat” Your Profile Pictures A quick, fun way to inject some festive flair into your social media presence is to add a Santa hat to your profile pictures. Check out these leading brands who did it to great effect: If you go for the Santa Hat, just be sure it doesn’t look tacky (i.e. you don’t need anyone thinking your brand could only afford imagery thrown together with amateur Photoshop skills). All of the above logos use Santa hats that mesh well with their graphic style. To get the perfect Santa hat for your logo or branding, enlist the help of a graphic designer. (This could be a great project to hand to a graphic design student looking for some experience!) The best part about this tip: Once you update your profile picture(s), all of your posts automatically get a touch of holiday pizazz by association. Can you say “ho, ho, ho”? 3. Host a Holiday Giveaway There’s no better time to host a fun giveaway than the holidays. Everybody’s already getting into the gifting spirit – you should definitely join in and offer delightful prizes for your followers. Plus, giveaway posts are massive magnets for engagement (who doesn’t like free stuff?), which could help you widen your following and earn some leads. Luckily, a giveaway hosted on social media is much easier than it sounds. Your 7-Step Guide to a Great Holiday Giveaway Here’s a general, quick 7-step guide: Gather a few covetable prizes. They can be your products, something fun that’s related, or a prize pack with goodies from some other affiliates thrown in. Make sure you choose goodies people will actually want to win (preferably with some cash value). Create a post that explains your giveaway. Use an eye-catching image of the goods you’re giving away to help draw attention to it. Post your giveaway with the rules (for instance, ask that people follow you and like the post in order to enter the contest). Make sure you set an end date for accepting entries, and specify when winners will be announced. Pick your contest winner(s). To do it, use a free tool like The Good Luck Fairy to help you randomly choose them. This type of tool comes in handy if you have a huge list of entrants. Or, if you use social media management software, check to see if a social media contest feature is built-in. Announce the winner(s) in a new post. Tag the winners … Read more

How to Throw Down Your Best-Ever Content Marketing Spread: Thanksgiving Style (Infographic)

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How to Throw Down Your Best-Ever Content Marketing Spread: Thanksgiving Style (Infographic)

It’s Thanksgiving week, and content marketers around the U.S. are preparing for a delicious, tasty week of family, food and relaxation, and definitely no content marketing or strategy for at least a couple days. 😉 But in the days that lead up to T-Day, it’s wise to soak in all you can about creating your best content marketing strategy, so you return empowered and armed to take on your marketing for killer results. We’re here with a fun map for you, just in time for the holiday: How a perfect content marketing strategy is very much equal to the best Thanksgiving dinner you’ve ever partaken in. To serve it up, you need the right recipes for success, tried-and-true tools and techniques, and winning dishes created with flair. Here’s your ultimate guide, Thanksgiving-dinner style — baked and cooked up into a visually entertaining infographic by our team at Express Writers. Enjoy! Don’t forget to share if you found this useful. And…happy Thanksgiving!​ How to Throw Down Your Best-Ever Content Marketing Spread: Thanksgiving Style (Infographic) 5-Star Content Dinner Tools and Equipment For a five-star content “dinner,” you’ll need: Planning Creativity Research Strategy Good-ol’ elbow grease Don’t Forget: Just like any great feast, your content meal should move seamlessly from course to course. Your audience should tuck in with vigor and keep coming back to refill their plates. If you can make your audience feel warm, happy, and content, not to mention implicitly trust your cooking skills, you have succeeded. Needless to say, you can’t wing this kind of perfection, but we’re here to guide you through. Ready to learn how to create a legendary Thanksgiving content spread from start to finish? Put on your apron – let’s get cookin’. Create a table-like design for the below 9 Essential Steps and Recipes for a Fabulous Content Marketing Feast The time you spend carefully and lovingly preparing your content marketing feast will pay off tenfold. That dedication will carry through to your audience down to the very last bite-sized sentence. Here’s how to make your content dinner table legendary: Set the Table for Content Success Every great content marketing spread begins with a perfectly set table. Your place settings and decorations need to match up with what you know about your audience, your kitchen, and your food. This is how you create a foundation that sets off your whole spread. Keys for setting the table and planning your content feast: Who are the guests that could show up? What are your specialties? What kind of content will your guests prefer? What tools will you need to serve them the right way? (Are your kitchen and pantry properly equipped?) During the meal: When your guests are happily chowing down, check in with them from time to time and see how they like the spread. Continually go over your recipes and techniques. Measure, analyze, and update your methods for an even better dinner. Now that the table settings are planned, you can get busy in the kitchen! Whip Up an Audience-Pleasing Side – Mashed Potatoes or Dressing, Anyone? Every delicious Thanksgiving content dinner should start with a crowd-pleaser. To make it, you must know your audience and what they’ll love. To find out what will please your guests most, ask them! You can also imagine your ideal dinner guest to decide what to serve them. Think of them as a real person with distinct preferences. Once you figure out what your audience craves, you’ll whip up dishes so delicious, everybody will go back for seconds (and thirds). Tip: Give the people what they want. Serve content that performs like whipped mashed potatoes, sausage and apple dressing, or green bean casserole. These disappear like magic into hungry bellies. Prepare and Roast Your Content Creation Turkey The meat of a fantastic content marketing spread is your content creation turkey. It’s the star of the show and the vehicle that drives the whole meal. As such, invest in the most high-quality bird you can afford. The best content creation needs careful preparation, plus plenty of time in the oven. Give it an ample amount of both so the end result is incredibly juicy, succulent, and mouth-watering. If you rush it or season it wrong, it will come out dry and tough to swallow. Make enough content creation turkey to use the extra meat in guest blogs and other content types, and don’t forget the final spices: creativity, readability, and great writing. Tip: To put your content creation over the top, add a special spice that is unique to you as a cook. Your content turkey will be irresistible, even if your guests can’t put their finger on the secret ingredient. Simmer Perfect Keyword Gravy What’s a content marketing spread without keyword gravy? The right amount really makes your entire meal sing. This is the link juice that takes your content creation turkey to the next level and makes your meal more desirable. The scent alone should draw your guests to the table, and, depending on how well your keyword gravy flows, Google might add you to the top of their list of V.I.P. cooks. Tips: Be careful not to make too much or over-season it. You want just the right amount to drizzle and spoon over your content and tempt your guests. Dump too much keyword gravy on the spread, and your audience won’t be able to taste any other flavor. Google, especially, will give your meal the thumbs-down. Avoid a lumpy gravy by using only all-natural keywords. Serve Fresh Cranberry Content Sauce It’s time to finish off your content marketing main dishes. A sweet side of zingy, fresh cranberry content sauce is the perfect addition to a savory spread. Tip: Cook up the freshest content you can for the best taste – try using ripe cranberries and a hint of orange zest for originality. Canned, regurgitated content is no substitute for fresh. Your guests will surely turn up their noses at this inferior fare. Send Out RSVPs to Promote Your Thanksgiving Content Feast … Read more

General, Expert, Authority: What Differentiates the Content Levels at Express Writers? (Infographic)

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General, Expert, Authority: What Differentiates the Content Levels at Express Writers? (Infographic)

At Express Writers, we’re a tight-knit team of content creators that pride ourselves on serving our clients with the best copy on the web. Since I founded the company in 2011, we’ve served over 5,000 clients around the globe. Watch our video story. Part of our structure in customizing our content and matching up our writers to our clients for successful results, has been in serving our clients with three specific levels. Our three individual content levels are suited to every kind of budget, expertise level needed, and consistent brand positioning. To explain our levels better, we created a visual infographic to represent what each of these levels look like. Enjoy! And be sure to scroll down to the content below the infographic to see examples of each content type, written by our creators. [bctt tweet=”See the three content levels at @ExpWriters  #infographic” via=”no”] General, Expert, Authority: What Differentiates the Content Levels at Express Writers? (Infographic) Explaining the Three Content Levels at Express Writers General Copy: The Lowdown See an example of General Copy. Writer: Your writer passed our hiring tests. Only 2% of applicants do, so they’ve got writing chops. They’re not, however, an expert on the topic and will instead rely on their research and writing skills. Content Quality Specialist: Your editor follows our unique 5-point quality check to eliminate grammar and syntax errors while ensuring strong word flow and proper formatting.  Thorough Research: Includes statistics, quotes, and/or links that support your article topic. Benefits of General Copy SEO-Friendly: Formatted and written to be found by search engines. Created for Optimal Readability: Content is broken up with subheadings and short paragraphs to make it easy for readers to consume. Who General Content Is Perfect for: Small businesses focusing on local SEO Agencies reselling our content to small, local-focused businesses Businesses or bloggers in non-competitive niches that need content for their blog or social media pages Expert Copy: The Lowdown See an example of Expert Copy. Expert Writer: Your writer passed our tests AND has extensive experience writing about your topic. They also have a better understanding of your readers than a general writer would. And, they’re expert in the nuances of engaging writing. Many of these writers have taken advanced courses, live workshops, or coaching sessions on how to write for engagement and conversions. Content Quality Specialist: Your editor uses our 5-point quality check process AND checks for link quality and research accuracy. Extensive Research: Using their experience, your expert writer knows where to find the best resources (links, statistics, quotes, etc.) for researching your topic. Benefits of Expert Copy Made for Search Engines: Everything, from the quality of the content to the formatting and keywords used, is made for high ROI in the organic SEO rankings, targeted to the real human reader. Audience-Centric Content: Content is designed to connect and engage with your unique audience. Positions You as an Expert: After publishing several expert articles, you’ll be well-positioned to start generating organic traffic for the long term. Who Expert Content Is Perfect for Businesses or bloggers that want to begin establishing themselves as an expert in their industry Small or medium-sized businesses that want to start generating organic traffic Businesses in a niche with moderate competition that are trying to work towards becoming an authority Authority Content: The Lowdown See an example of Authority Content. This content level not only uses the highest level writer and editors in our team, but also has a specialized process, workflow and extra steps for SEO keyword discovery and special image creation. Content Strategist: Step 1 in the Authority Content workflow. Uses industry-leading tools to perform keyword research and determine which long-tail keywords your content should be built around. Authority Writer: Your writer, who is an expert on your topic, works with the content strategist to ensure content is written around long-tail keywords that have the best chance to help you rank quickly. This writer has been handpicked out of our best writers and mentored by our CEO. Content Quality Specialist: Uses the 5-point quality check process, checks for link quality and research accuracy, AND ensures your content passes the quality standards necessary to rank. Designer: Creates customized images, based on the writer and content strategist’s suggestions, to ensure the content is as engaging as possible. Benefits of Authority Content Designed to Be the Best: Everything, from the images and research to the link quality and formatting, is designed to position your content as the BEST available on your topic. Positions You as an Authority: With our incredibly high standards, the quality of this type of content helps position you as an authority within your niche. Customized, Engaging Images: Content with images produces 650% higher engagement rates. With the customized images our designer creates, that number could be even higher. First Page Focus: The goal of this content is to get you to the first page of search engines for the long-tail keyword/s that we’re targeting. Who Authority Content Is Perfect For Businesses that are looking for content that “wows” and engages their readers Businesses in competitive niches that want to get to the top of the search engines Businesses or bloggers looking to establish themselves as an authority in their industry Interested in Finding Your Content Level Match? Talk to Our Team! Content creation tops the list as the most effective tactic for SEO. (Marketing Sherpa) But if you’re not investing in excellent content for your site, and publishing it on a consistent schedule, the chances of SEO rankings, more inbound leads, and sales drop. Get off the ground and start flying by investing in custom content for you and your brand! Want to discover which of our content types is right for you? Talk to us today! We’d love to help support your content creation. Head on over the contact page and book a call with one of our Specialists, or go straight to the Content Shop and check out our three levels:  General Content Expert Copy  Authority Content

The Recipe for a Perfect Blog Post (Infographic)

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The Recipe for a Perfect Blog Post (Infographic)

If little boys are made of snakes, and snails, and puppy dog tails, and little girls are sugar and spice, and everything nice, what is the perfect blog post made of? Luckily, it’s a selection of ingredients you probably already have in your content “pantry.” While throwing together the perfect blog post can feel intimidating, it’s as simple as memorizing a straightforward ingredient list, assembling it all with love, and giving it the time, space, and attention it needs to develop into something extraordinary… Like a pastry chef creating a beautiful cake. Don’t forget to share if you enjoyed our infographic! Full transcript below. Feel free to share this infographic, credit to Express Writers: www.expresswriters.com/recipe-for-a-perfect-blog-post-infographic What Goes Into the Perfect Blog Post? Before you start assembling the perfect blog post, be sure you have the following ingredients on hand: 1 stellar title 5-10 sentences of compelling introduction 1 heaping spoonful creativity Several outstanding and informative subheaders 2 cups succinct body copy Four handfuls research Six parts formatting 1 part conclusion A sprinkling of enthusiasm Love (for garnish) Once you’ve gathered all your ingredients, follow these steps: Assemble the Title The title sets the stage for the rest of the blog post, so it’s important to get it right. If you don’t spend enough time on it, or if you throw it together hastily, the whole post will fall when you pull it out of the oven. With this in mind, be sure to mix the right amount of information, intrigue, and length into the title. Remember titles with numbers taste better to readers, so you may consider sprinkling some in. For best results, be sure to keep your title under 160 characters, so it doesn’t get cut off. Lay Out Your Introduction Next comes the introduction. Since the intro supports the title, you’ll need it to be nice and firm. Take your time laying it out and be sure to keep it short, sweet, and to-the-point. Don’t stretch it too thin. Otherwise, it won’t be able to support your nice, hefty title. You should also be careful not to make it too dense since this will drive your readers away. Once your introduction is the right consistency, let it rise for 4-6 hours before revisiting it again. Structure Your Subheaders Your subheaders are the pieces of your perfect blog post that help guide readers through, so you’ll want to ensure they’re well-spaced and informative. For best results, add a subheader every 300-350 words, so your content doesn’t get too dense. Be sure to use numbers throughout, and keep your subheaders impactful and informative, for best taste. Mix Together Body Copy For your body copy, you’ll need to assemble your creativity, research, and formatting in a large bowl and stir until well combined. If necessary, add more research to reach the right consistency. Citations are critical to great blog posts, so be liberal with yours. Be sure that the content on your site is fresh and high-quality since this will improve the taste of the entire blog post. Once you’ve secured your citations, turn your attention to the formatting. Half of the fun of creating a perfect blog post is making it look beautiful. With this in mind, use bolded subheaders, H1, H2, and H3 tags, bulleted and numbered lists, and plenty of images. The images are extra important since they make your blog post unique and unforgettable. Be sure to sprinkle them in to taste. Arrange Your Conclusion Your conclusion is the last part of your blog post, so you’ll want to pay particular attention to this. As you write your conclusion, be sure it sums up the main points of your blog post and gives your reader a tasty little morsel with which to end the post. Just like you did with your introduction and body copy, keep it short, succinct, and to-the-point. Any “fluff” should be cut out so as to preserve the taste and you should always use the most high-quality writing possible. Keep in mind that conclusions read better if they’re allowed to rest before publication, so you’d be smart to let yours sit for 4-6 hours before finishing. Finish the Post Once your post has cooled for 4-6 hours, run back through it one more time. Cut out any fluff that has risen to the top, tighten up language, remove unnecessary words, and re-shape the post into a narrative arc the reader would want to interact with. Edit 2-3 times before publication and consider asking someone else to read the post as well, for posterity’s sake. Once the post is finished, sprinkle it with your enthusiasm and love, for garnish, and publish across your blog channel and favorite social media platforms. Serve hot with a side of engagement and responsiveness to everyone who reaches out about the post. The Perfect Blog Post Made Simple Congratulations! You’ve just assembled your perfect blog post! That wasn’t as hard as you thought, was it? Keep in mind that blog posts are very flexible, so you can repeat this recipe, trying out various lengths, topics, methods, and writing styles. To keep your posts high-quality, be sure never to rush the recipe, and always allow time for them to rise and cool before you publish them. Also, don’t forget to decorate liberally with the love and enthusiasm, as this is what sets one blog post apart from another and puts the final beautiful touches on your blog “cake.” Happy writing, and enjoy that delicious content!

The Big 2017 Content Marketing Spend: Content Budgets by the Numbers, & How to Set Your CM Budget (Infographic)

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The Big 2017 Content Marketing Spend: Content Budgets by the Numbers, & How to Set Your CM Budget (Infographic)

Will content marketing be a hot form of marketing, more so than ever this year? The answer, in short, is YES! According to a hot 2016 BuzzSumo content piece, the future of content is more, not less. Platforms like The Washington Post publish thousands of posts each day, and Google increases its number of indexed pages by the millions each year. It’s clear that content is booming, and that it shows no signs of slowing down in 2017. If content is growing this fast, though, what will content marketing budgets look like–and how do you set yours? It’s a big point to discuss, and it’s one we’re going to dive into in today’s post. Infographic from our design team below – and beneath it are all the live links for the stats and data we pulled. Enjoy, and don’t forget to share and pass the love or leave us a comment if you found this useful! The Big 2017 Content Marketing Spend: Content Budgets by the Numbers, & How to Set Your CM Budget (Infographic) 10 Stats About the Inflating Nature of Content Budgets (by the Numbers) Here are a few stats to help you understand how (and why) content budgets are increasing this year. According to MarketingMag.com, content marketing will be a $300 billion industry by 2019 – this means it will more than double in under four years. Google’s number of indexed pages has grown from 1 trillion to more than 30 trillion in the last seven years alone! 2015 was the sixth consecutive year that the content marketing industry enjoyed double-digit growth. B2B content marketing accounts for 7% of the revenue in the content marketing industry. The US enjoyed $12.11 billion in content marketing revenue in 2014, which made it the world’s largest market for content. MarketingProfs reports that the most successful B2B marketers dedicate at least 39% of their marketing budgets to content. The average marketer spends 29% of their total marketing budget on content. 37% of marketers who aren’t successful with content marketing say it’s because they the content budget is too low. What’s more, 27% of marketers who have seen a decrease in the success of their content strategies say it’s because of inadequate budget or budget cuts. 70% of B2B marketers plan to create more content in 2017 than they did in 2016. 39% of marketers expect their organization’s budget for content marketing to increase in 2017. 5 Key Reasons for the Upward Trajectory of Content Marketing 2016 was a banner year for content, and 2017 shows no signs of being anything but a continuation of that trend. Here are a few of the top reasons this is true: 1. There’s not much to abate content growth Right now, it’s tough to even track the number of new blog posts and articles publishers put out every day. What we do know is that Google has seen a more than 29-trillion page increase in indexed content since 2008 and that WordPress alone is publishing nearly 2 million new posts every day. As it stands now, there’s virtually nothing to abate the rapid growth of content. Self-publishing is easier than it’s ever been before and about 40% of the world’s population has access to the web. As such, content continues to grow, virtually unfettered. 2. Content is the most functional modern form of advertising While outbound marketing has fallen out of vogue in recent years, content has risen to take its place. Less expensive yet more effective than traditional advertising, content serves the purpose of making an emotional connection with readers while also driving sales. When you think of it this way, it’s the perfect type of marketing! 3. Content automation is accessible and cheap Another factor contributing to the rapid growth of online content is content automation. Today, content automation has drastically lowered the cost of content production. It’s also made it easier to schedule and promote content without a massive hands-on effort. 4. Global literacy rates are increasing While a mere 12% of the global population could read and write back in 1820, all but 17% of the world’s population is literate today. Global literacy has exploded in the last twenty years, and the upward trend will only continue in the coming years. This increase in universal literacy creates more people to read, write, and interact with online content. 5. High-volume content strategies are driving massive success In addition to all the other factors driving the increase in digital content, it’s also worth noting that high-volume content strategies are incredibly lucrative. As such, they’re being adopted by publishers around the world. The Washington Post, for example, managed to grow its visitor rate by 28% between October and December 2015, all by creating more content. What Does this Growth Mean for the Future of Content Marketing Budgets? As content creation budgets uptick, content marketing budgets will, as well. As content forms ranging from search marketing and social media to display ads, and email marketing gain prominence in coming years, firms will increase their marketing budgets to match. According to a 2014 Forrester report, the firm will allocate 35% of their marketing budgets to content by 2019. This is as opposed to the 29% the average firm dedicates to content today. Budgeting for Content Marketing Will be Critical in 2017 According to a 2016 Curata post, marketers spend an average of 38% of their content budgets on curation and aggregation, 35$ on creation, and 29% on content workflow. Despite those large numbers, however, not all companies have defined content marketing budgets. In fact, only 64% of companies with a content strategy also have a content marketing budget. This can create significant challenges for companies. Because of these things, and the fact that the prevalence of content will explode in the coming year, and the years after this, it’s critical to develop a content marketing budget for 2017.  This is often easier said than done, though. Larger companies might have a tough time securing executive buy-in for a content marketing budget, while other businesses might mistakenly believe that content … Read more

10 New Year Blogging Centric Resolutions for the Content Marketer (Infographic)

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10 New Year Blogging Centric Resolutions for the Content Marketer (Infographic)

With blogging as a source of 97% more inbound website backlinks, 126% more business lead growth, and much more (stats below), it’s a major, major foundation of content marketing you don’t want to miss out on in 2017. To start January off with a bang, we decided to help share some inspiration for our fellow content marketers and create a list of 10 top resolutions to help you blog this year (better than you’ve ever blogged before)! Print the following infographic below out, and hang it up to inspire your blogging and content progress all year. 😉 Here’s the PDF version, resolutions only, to download. Enjoy – written and designed by our team at Express Writers! Why Make Blogging Resolutions for 2017? Here’s some (serious) inspiration. More than 200 million people (and a whopping 16% of the U.S. population) use ad blockers – so organic content (blogging is best!) is the only way to reach them. Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links. Small businesses that blog get 126% more lead growth than small businesses that do not blog. Companies that published 16+ blog posts per month got almost 5X more traffic than companies that published 0-4 monthly posts. Long-form blog posts earn 9x more leads than short-form posts. 70% of B2B marketers plan to create more content in 2017 than they did in 2016. The average length of top-ranking blogs is increasing – sitting at roughly 1,050 words in 2017. 49% of marketers are focusing on aligning their content with the buyer’s journey. Nearly 30% of the most successful marketers routinely repurpose their content. To join the club, though, you must have content to repurpose – and blogs are perfect for that! 45% of all marketers report that writing blogs is the single most important piece of their content strategy. 80% of decision makers would rather get information about a company through an article than they would through an advertisement. 10 Top Blogging Resolutions for the Content Marketer  To outperform last year’s results and make 2017 one to remember, stick to these ten resolutions: 1. I will get backup in my content creation this year No more stressing out about deadlines, topics, and writing it all. (Express Writers can help!) 2. I will be authoritative in every content piece I put out this year If it’s less than authority expert level in my niche, it might not be worth my time. 3. I will never put quantity over quality I should publish more blogs this year to increase my inbound leads, but if I’m rushing and the content is low quality, I shouldn’t publish. Quantity comes second to quality. 4. I will give my audience what they want I will be relevant, use tools like BuzzSumo to research and find out what my audience wants in topics. This will help me gain more loyal customers. 5. I will increase my rankings by finding and writing around long-tail keywords This is one of the top ways to gain blog spots in Google’s rankings. 6. I will promote and create Creating isn’t enough: I also need a promotion plan. I will have social media management and an active social account connected to my blog. 7. I will be creative with topics and approaches Content burn-out will only hurt me and my readers. This year, I’ll dig deeper to come up with more creative topics and new ways to approach topics and news. 8. I will take notes from my competitors I will monitor my competitors to learn things like which keywords they’re targeting, which social platforms they’re using (and how), and what I can do to enhance my content efforts accordingly. 9. I will try new content forms Interactive content, newsletters, infographics, and live-streaming can all boost my content strategy in 2017. I will expand into these new content forms to grow my business and expand my audience. 10. I will repurpose my content to get more traction Repurposed content can help my content strategy stretch further. I will find creative ways to repurpose and re-use content of all types. Ten 2017 Blogging Resolutions for the Content Marketer (Infographic) Sources: Content Marketing Institute: http://bit.ly/2dzquFa Orbit Media: http://bit.ly/2fhUWU4 PageFair: http://bit.ly/2iFYDrq Contently: http://bit.ly/2dohe5X Curata: http://bit.ly/2hVKOG3 Social Media Examiner: http://bit.ly/1eTVIyt SnapApp: http://bit.ly/2iMMBg8 HubSpot: http://bit.ly/2gkWhwG Think Creative: http://bit.ly/2iIUfFQ

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