Uncategorized

You’ve waited a few days, and you finally received your copy. You’re excited to get moving on with your project, open up the document, and realize that the tone is not correct, the keyword wasn’t used as you wanted it to, or the direction of the blog itself didn’t go the way you had hoped. You filled out the input form, so you know you had requested specifics for this piece, but you don’t feel the writer nailed it. Now, you have to send it back for a revision. You can feel a sense of annoyance creeping up as you click “Request Revision.” While you might think revisions are terrible, you are missing out on seeing the incredible value of requesting a revision.  Clicking that button has just improved your investment in your content. How so? Four Benefits of Requesting a Revision from Your Content Writer Revisions are a good thing. Let me say that one more time…revisions are a good thing. It does delay your project another day or so, but you are investing in your writer, brand, and project by requesting a revision. Let me show you how that is… You are Not Revising It Yourself – Saving you the Time and Hassle Yes, you could save a few days by revising it yourself. But how much time did you save, really?  You outsourced your content for a reason – because you didn’t have the time to write it yourself. So, why are you revising it yourself? Instead, you need to let the writer that crafted your content do the heavy lifting – that is why they offer revisions. Take advantage of those free revisions and send your piece back. While you wait you can get started on ordering your social media posts and your email copy for the blog post you are waiting to launch, while our team fine-tunes things for you.  No matter what, you have saved yourself time. You are not spending 30 minutes, an hour, or maybe a few hours reworking your content. Instead, you have that done for you free of charge as part of your initial order fee. You are Working with Your Writer to Get that Tone/Style/Niche Perfect – Which Pays for Itself in the Long Run At Express Writers, we aim to have you work with the same writer, not just for this project but for all projects for that specific brand. Every time writers work with you, they learn more about your preferences, nuances, preferential stylistic needs, etc. These are things embroidered in your mind, but your writer needs to learn them to continue using them in future content. If you don’t request a revision, how will your writer know what you prefer them to do on the next order? What comes easy to us only sometimes translates well on paper. When you fill out an input form, what you see as a “casual” content tone might not be what a writer views as casual. When there is room for interpretation, there is room for something to be “off” slightly.  That is why there are revisions – so you can help the writer better understand what you meant in your input form. You are Finetuning Your Wants and Needs (Some You May Not Have Realized You Had in the First Place) When you complete an input form, you convey what you want right down to the preferred style/tone, but as we said before, what you may think is “casual” is not how the writer interprets it. Or, you might request that a blog be written more academically, only to realize that doesn’t jive with your tastes. Revisions help you finetune what you actually want in your content because sometimes it takes seeing content that needs to be corrected to realize what you need to get it there and find what your style is. Sometimes you think your style is more “encyclopedic,” only to realize it is not after you see what that type of content is. We don’t want you stuck with a piece of content that doesn’t suit your style, so we offer the opportunity to revise and refine. You are Ensuring that the Final Product is Right – and Future Orders Will be Right from the Get-Go When you have a project that was a home run, you can request that same writer on future projects. If you work alongside that writer via revisions to fine-tune your content, future orders will go much smoother. The writer might hit it out of the park the first go around on assignment #2 – even if the first assignment required a few rounds of revisions before it was right. That is why we aim to have the same writer work on your same brand or projects – so that everything they’ve learned about your brand from those revisions is applied to future content.  Not only will the writer be more on point, but you will notice that turnaround times decrease. Your writer no longer needs as much time to create your content because once they see the title, topic, and keywords, they know what you intended for them to create, and they don’t have to spend as much time researching background information to create it. You benefit from having an in-house writer without the hassle of managing them.  You’re working alongside them to fine-tune your content today so future orders are much easier and more efficient tomorrow. How to Get the Most Out of Your Revisions Simply requesting a revision is not enough. You want to ensure that when a project goes back, it returns to you right. When you request a revision, here are a few tips for getting the most out of it: Be Specific About What’s Right and What’s Wrong: Saying “it is wrong” doesn’t point the writer in the right direction. So, be specific here. Let them know what was right and what parts specifically were wrong so they know a) what parts you do … Read more

Gaining exposure for your business can be a daunting task, even for the most seasoned marketers. Considering the rapid rate at which B2B marketing channels have grown for the last decade, this can seem especially difficult. New channels emerge constantly, and there will be even more in the years to come. As a result, many wonder how to keep up, knowing it’s impossible to be everywhere and do everything all at once. But how do you know which marketing channels to invest in? And which ones are worth exploring in 2022? That’s exactly what we’re covering in this article so you can get your brand noticed by the right audience. How to Choose the Right B2B Marketing Channels for Your Brand With such a variety of B2B marketing channels at our disposal, it can be challenging to determine where you should direct your time, focus, and money as a brand. You want to invest in the platforms that will pay off big-time in the long run. Luckily, there’s a simple way to help you choose. Here are a couple of tips for selecting the right B2B marketing channels: Play to Your Strengths: Whether you’re working solo, or you have a team at your side, consider your unique strengths. Armed with this knowledge, you can choose channels that help you stand out from the crowd effortlessly. Then you are better able to shine. Consider What Appeals to Your Target Audience: You always want to create content that will appeal to your target audience. Otherwise, they won’t take an interest in what you’re doing. Get to know your audience and determine which channels resonate with them the most, including the platforms where they are the most active. With this knowledge in mind, you’ll stand a better chance of choosing marketing channels that will have the biggest return on investment (ROI) for your brand. This way, you can ensure your hard work pays off by generating engagement, leads, and conversions. You should keep in mind that new channels gain popularity every year, garnering many people’s attention. By jumping on board with trends, you can test to see if they’d pay off for you. You never know what might be successful for your brand until you give it a shot. Just be sure the channels you choose meet the above criteria. 7 B2B Marketing Channels to Explore in 2022 To help you decide where to direct your attention, there are seven B2B marketing channels you should consider implementing (if you haven’t already) in 2022. Here are some ideas: 1. Email Marketing By now, your business should be on board with email marketing. If you’re late to the game, there’s no time like the present to start. By utilizing email, you avoid the ever-changing algorithms of various social media platforms. Instead, you focus on writing quality emails with captivating subject lines to get attention. When you send a weekly or monthly email newsletter, you can promote your latest content and other offerings. But best of all? You build trust and authority with your audience as you consistently send email over time. 2. Speaking Engagements at Industry Events If you’re brave enough to take the stage, speaking engagements can be one of the most worthwhile B2B marketing channels to pursue. By getting in front of a large audience, you showcase your expertise and position yourself as an influential leader within your industry. All you need to do is find speaking opportunities by researching industry conferences. Get to know these events and check out some of their past speakers, including the topics they covered. If you feel you have something to add to their next conference, don’t hesitate to reach out. Pitch yourself as a speaker, explain what you bring to the table, and why you’d be a great fit for their event. There are also virtual conferences that you can speak at, allowing you to make connections without ever leaving home. Sometimes, you won’t have to travel, which is perfect if you closely monitor budgets. 3. Webinars Another way to put your speaking skills to the test is through value-packed webinars. Not only are they a great way to reach your audience, but webinars also offer the opportunity to engage with these folks in real-time. Then you’re able to get feedback, answer questions, and have conversations. All the way, you’re able to provide value to your audience by covering topics that address their interests and pain points. Once the live webinar is over, it can still be offered as a resource for your audience. You can also turn it into an email opt-in, which people can access for free after subscribing to your list. Or, if it was originally hosted as a paid webinar, you can remain available for sale afterward to drive profits. If hosting webinars appeals to you, but you’re hesitant to show up on camera, you can choose to create a slideshow presentation that will be the focal point instead of your face. Perfect for the camera-shy! 4. Podcasts According to data, the number of monthly podcast listeners based in the U.S. will increase by 6.1% year-over-year, totaling 125 million. It’s safe to say that podcasting shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. But why are they so popular? The format is perfect for telling stories, sharing tips and tricks, and providing entertainment. And, listeners can tune in while they’re multitasking, which is perfect for those who are always busy. If you’re a dynamic speaker and your audience is into podcasts, this is one of the better B2B marketing channels to pursue. You can discuss industry trends, provide data and case studies, or teach people how to do something new. The ideas are endless, so it’s worth giving podcasting a go. 5. Social Media Marketing Of course, it’s not good to overlook the use of social media for B2B marketing. There are so many social media platforms these days, meaning there are tons of opportunities to get your business in front … Read more

It’s no secret that content marketing is a powerful, effective way to increase brand awareness and trust. And it’s also known that to produce those results, you need to be strategic about the content you’re sharing to ensure it attracts the right attention. But how do you know if your content is successful? Turn to your analytics for those answers. Although it may not sound like the most glamorous task, tracking key content engagement metrics will reveal tons of valuable information about the performance of your content once it’s out in the world. In this article, you’ll learn why these metrics are crucial to track and which ones you need to track at all times. This way, you’ll have a clear idea of what your audience (and Google) loves to see. Why You Should Track Content Engagement Metrics If you aren’t already taking the time to track specific content engagement metrics, you might be wondering if it’s that big of a deal. And we’re here to tell you that it is! Diving deeply into your analytics will provide tons of data about your content and engagement, shaping your strategy moving forward. Conducting an analysis will take some time, then you need to remember to keep up with regular check-ins. Here’s why it’s worth it to put in this extra effort: You’ll Learn What’s Performing Well: Your analytics will show you which pieces of content bring in traffic and engagement. You can even see if it leads to conversions. Knowing what resonates with your target audience gives you the chance to replicate these results through similar content. And You’ll Discover What Doesn’t Speak to Your Audience: On the flip side, you’ll quickly discover the content that isn’t driving the results you hoped for. It could be a lackluster topic, poor optimization, or content that isn’t as captivating as you thought it would be. With this knowledge in hand, you can identify any potential content issues so you can fix and prevent them in the future. You Can Adapt Your Strategy Accordingly: Once you’ve analyzed your content engagement metrics and learned what works and what doesn’t, you can use that information to tweak your content strategy. This way, you can create more content that produces a higher ROI. You might be wondering how often you should be tracking these metrics. It’s smart to review your analytics at the end of each month in case you want to make changes for the next month. However, you can always do a more in-depth content audit every quarter. 7 Content Engagement Metrics You Should be Monitoring at All Times If you’re new to the world of analytics, you might be wondering which content engagement metrics are most important to track. And even if you’ve been at it for a while, there may be something you overlook. To help you get a thorough analysis of your content, we’ve chosen a few of the most important engagement metrics to focus on: 1. Page Views Page views are wise to keep an eye on because it tells you how many times a page a visitor has viewed a page on your website. Whenever a page on your site is loaded, that’s considered one page view. If someone were to reload that same page, it counts as two page views. But what do you do with this information? Well, when a page receives many views, it’s a good indicator of its popularity. This means it’s worthwhile to not only keep this piece of content updated, but you may also want to create similar content around this topic since it attracts attention. 2. Average Time on Page It’s not enough to see that people are visiting a webpage. You also want to track the average time on page, which tells you how long a visitor spent on a specific page on your site. Ideally, you’d like to see people spending about three to five minutes on a page because this is a good sign they read your content. This is one of the most crucial content engagement metrics to track because if visitors spend a lot of time on a particular page, it’s a good sign they’ve found your content engaging. A lower average time on page could indicate less interest in the content, whether it’s because it wasn’t what they were looking for or because the copy didn’t hold their attention. Luckily, there are ways to improve the average time on page for your blog if you notice it’s an issue. 3. Bounce Rate You’ve probably heard content creators talking about how they want to reduce their bounce rate. And it’s for good reason. The bounce rate specifies the percentage of visitors who loaded a single website page and then left without interacting or visiting any other pages. Essentially, it means they’ve “bounced” off your website as they’ve moved on to other endeavors. Many take a high bounce rate to mean the content in question isn’t performing well. After all, don’t you want visitors to consume a piece of content and then be so intrigued they check out others? If you have a bounce rate in the 70s or above, you might want to act to lower that number by improving your content and encouraging people to stay on your site with more internal links or a call to action at the end of your blog post. 4. Traffic Sources Everyone loves to know where their traffic is coming from, which is why it’s one of the most popular content engagement metrics to track. Your analytics reveal how much traffic comes from organic search, email, social media, and referrals. Plus, you’ll discover how many people are accessing your site directly through a browser bookmark or by entering your URL into their browser. And, if you run ad campaigns or other marketing efforts that lead folks to your site, you’ll see how they got there and the other pages they visited. These numbers are useful because you can see … Read more

Email marketing is a fantastic method for attracting and retaining customers for the long haul. Through email, you can even build a loyal community and create a strong relationship with those in your target audience. It sounds like a dream, but it can feel a little intimidating. If you’re not familiar with email marketing, you might not know where to begin. Luckily, learning how to create an email newsletter is simple when you follow a few easy steps. Before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to sending incredible content to your subscribers. In this post, you’ll learn how to create an email newsletter in a few easy steps. We’ll also discuss additional email marketing tips that will be helpful on your journey to creating a healthy, engaged list. How to Create an Email Newsletter In the list below, you’ll find tips to help you get started on creating an email newsletter to be proud of. Ready to build your very own email newsletter? By implementing our tips from start to finish, you’ll be able to craft email content in the most effortless, stress-free way possible. 1. Determine the Goal of Your Email Marketing Efforts Before diving in, determine the purpose of email marketing as it fits into your overall content strategy. What are you hoping to achieve by starting a list, gaining subscribers, and sending out regular content? Are you simply wanting to generate website traffic? Do you want to have a list so you can promote your products and services? Are your goals multi-purpose? No matter what your goal is, it’s important to keep it in mind as you build your list. Knowing your goal will fuel your content and show you which KPIs (key performance indicators) you need to track to see if your efforts are successful. Then, you’ll know when to tweak your strategy. 2. Choose an Email Newsletter Tool Before you can put together your newsletter, determine the best email marketing tool for your business. There are tons of them available today, ensuring you’ll find one that suits your needs and your budget. To get started, you simply need to consider the features you want a tool to have before beginning your research. For instance, you want something that’s going to be user-friendly, so you don’t have to spend hours trying to figure everything out. A tool that has a drag-and-drop editor might be a must for you, especially if coding isn’t in your wheelhouse. You’ll also want to look for features like sending automated sequences, which would allow you to develop a welcome sequence for new subscribers. Some popular options are MailChimp, ConvertKit, Constant Contact, and Active Campaign. Many offer a free trial, so you can take advantage of that to give them a good test run. 3. Design a Functional Email Template Once you’ve chosen your favorite email newsletter tool, you might as well dive into creating a template. This template will be the design you use in many of your emails. It should be consistent and reflect your branding so it’s immediately identifiable as yours without someone even having to look at your name. You can use pre-made templates. These are perfect if you’re not a designer at heart. However, if you’re feeling crafty and confident, you can design something unique. Additionally, test your templates for desktop and mobile since people will be reading your emails on both. You don’t want the formatting to look fine on a computer but break on mobile or a link to be missing. One way to test your template is to create a test email and send it to yourself to ensure everything looks and functions as expected. That way, you can correct any problems before the email goes live. 4. Decide What Kind of Content You’ll Send and the Frequency of Emails Part of learning how to create an email newsletter is mapping out your content strategy. Ideally, this will relate to the goals you set earlier because you want your content to help you achieve those things. For example, if you want your newsletters to drive traffic to your blog, you’ll want to mention your latest posts and include links within the newsletter. Keep your emails from being only promotional by making it more enticing for people to join your list by promising exclusive, high-quality content they can’t get anywhere else. This might include sending tips and tricks you haven’t otherwise shared before. It all depends on what you feel called to write in your newsletter and what would appeal to your target audience. Next, it’s important to consider how often you’ll send emails so you can aim for consistency. Many marketers opt to send weekly newsletters, but you could also go for biweekly or monthly if you want to keep your content creation schedule light. Once you’ve chosen how often to send your email newsletter, make sure you select the date and time for your email. Keeping this consistent is great because your audience will know when to expect your email in their inbox. From there, consider the best time to send email newsletters to avoid getting buried in the Monday email crush or Friday’s brain turn-off. The most important thing? Whatever schedule you choose, stick to it. 5. Create a Free Offering to Attract Subscribers If you want to get people to join your email list, you need to offer something in exchange for their information. Simply telling people you have a list and asking them to join isn’t enough to convince them to hand over their names and email. They want to know what’s in it for them. To generate new subscribers, it helps to have an opt-in freebie that gets delivered to people upon joining your list. It’s a simple incentive, but it makes a huge difference when people see they’re getting something out of the deal. What you choose as your freebie will depend on your audience. You could offer some sort of PDF download, a … Read more

You’ve made it halfway through the year! But are you on track to hit your content marketing goals? That’s an important question to ask yourself at the mid-year point as you’re reviewing all your brand has accomplished so far. Why? Well, by conducting a content marketing audit, you’re able to see where you’ve been successful and where your efforts have fallen short. Then, you can make tweaks to your strategy, as needed, to ensure success in the second half of the year. However, if you’ve never conducted an audit of this sort before, you might be wondering how to get started. And luckily, that’s exactly what we talked about in this #ContentWritingChat! #ContentWritingChat Recap: Conducting a Mid-Year Content Marketing Audit Welcome to this month's #ContentWritingChat! 🥳 Today, we're hosting a community chat and discussing how to conduct a mid-year content marketing audit. — Express Writers | Your Content Writing Partner (@ExpWriters) July 5, 2022 For this month’s #ContentWritingChat, we hosted a community chat where our chat participants are the stars of the show. Each one offered great insights into conducting an audit, so let’s dive into their tips! Q1: What is a content marketing audit? A1: A content marketing audit is a way to take inventory of your existing content and the channels you're using. You can then evaluate performance based on your goals so you can see if you're on track or need to make improvements. #ContentWritingChat — Rachel | Mindset Coach + NLP Practitioner (@rachmoffett) July 5, 2022 An audit will require you to take inventory of your content on all the channels you’re actively using. This way, you can measure the performance of everything you’ve published and identify areas for improvement. A1. A #ContentMarketing Audit is a process in which you review the content that you’ve created and evaluate it in terms of its performance, identifying things that have and have not been effective. Note details like posting times/days, topics, images, length #contentwritingchat https://t.co/6WvcWwIxbG — Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) July 5, 2022 A1. (Continued) Also titles, formatting, time on page, social metrics, click though, etc. You can then use this information to compare it with the performance of your other content. #contentwritingchat — Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) July 5, 2022 As Andrew said, an audit is an opportunity to identify what has and hasn’t been effective within your content marketing strategy. He says to make note of things like posting days and times, popular topics, etc. You can also compare titles, time on page, and other details to previous content to see how it stacks up. Q2: Why is it important to conduct an audit of your content marketing strategy? A2. A content audit is just a good way to do a pulse-check on your content. How’s it performing so far? Are we even looking at the right KPI’s appropriate for the content types we’re producing? What’s working and what isn’t, what adjustments should we make? #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/2OLytwkCmV — Andrea TheoJohn (@AndreaTheoJohn) July 5, 2022 A content marketing audit is a great way to see how your content has been performing. Doing this allows you to see what adjustments should be made to your strategy moving forward. A2. Conducting a #contentmarketing audit is a great way to identify what has been effective or ineffective within your content. Finding what works will help you to focus your efforts further on what content is providing the most value to you and your audience. #contentwritingchat https://t.co/9Bz7XW2zxW — Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) July 5, 2022 When you know what’s been working and performing well for you, you can continue to focus your efforts there to ensure you’re providing value to your audience. Q3: Before diving in, you need a few tools to make the job easier. Which tools would you recommend for a content marketing audit? A3. A tracker (for metrics) that is either built in the interface being used for the website, Google Analytics, @Hootsuite for social metrics, a content planner and a spreadsheet that tracks each piece of content corresponding to KPI’s. #contentwritingchat https://t.co/2XS9imIGUx — Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) July 5, 2022 Google Analytics is great for tracking website data. If you use a scheduling tool for social media, such as Hootsuite, it’ll be smart to check their built-in analytics as well. Then, you can record data in a spreadsheet to easily review later. A3. You can use the tools already available to you via your social platforms, Google Analytics, your other website insights you’ve got access to, email. Also, here’s a cool list I just found of tools to try via @wordable_io – https://t.co/UTg5PDCcGX#contentwritingchat https://t.co/yBvMkG45Aw pic.twitter.com/cwIKpZeR1H — Andrea TheoJohn (@AndreaTheoJohn) July 5, 2022 Andrea shared a helpful list of tools that’s worth checking out if you need some ideas! Q4: Everything goes back to your goals. What kind of goals might someone set when it comes to their content marketing? A4: Consistency should be your first content writing goal.#ContentWritingChat https://t.co/AtUK7W8mQZ — Kathryn Lang – hopesmith and dream ignitor (@Kathrynclang) July 5, 2022 Consistency is always a great goal to pursue! A4. Common ones we see: draw new qualified leads, increase sales & brand awareness, establish you as a thought leader, grow your email list / social audiences, retain your current customer base & foster loyalty, build community to retarget to…#ContentWritingChat https://t.co/SvjmaDmzfK pic.twitter.com/Zrr2BUTUTi — Andrea TheoJohn (@AndreaTheoJohn) July 5, 2022 Everyone’s goals will vary, but some common ones include: attracting leads, boosting sales, and generating brand awareness. Q5: Part of conducting an audit requires you to take inventory of your content and analyze its performance. Which metrics should you be tracking during this stage? A5. Classic MBA answer: “it depends.” LOL. But some common metrics: traffic (of course), shares, engagement, open rates and CTRs on email and ads, time on page, views on videos, following / subscriber growth, lead magnet downloads…#contentwritingchat https://t.co/QBTjRtE8YV pic.twitter.com/FMjFSf1aC4 — Andrea TheoJohn (@AndreaTheoJohn) July 5, 2022 As part of your content marketing audit, you may want to track things like … Read more