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Express Writers Year in Review: 2022 Milestones & What to Expect in 2023

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In 2022, the Express Writers team got up close and personal with what it means to be agile and adaptable. For most of the year, leadership has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to create and implement processes that will allow us to serve clients and our team members better.  For the year ahead, we intend to keep clear and concise lines of communication open between our team and our clients. This will give us the space needed to strive toward excellence in every new product and project you see from us in 2023.  We thought it would be great to share some of the things we’ve been working on or found interesting during 2022. The Express Writers year in review will take you through some of our accomplishments and give you a clear picture of where we’re headed.  2022 Trends and Hot Topics Content marketing never slows down, and 2022 was no exception. From algorithm changes to centering your audience, here are some hard hitters from the last year.  AI in Content Marketing The conversation about using AI in marketing is not new. But this year, and into 2023, we’ve seen the conversation shift away from just having AI write content for you. One big advancement in recent years is AI’s ability to help you track what interests readers. That’s a big plus for marketers who use predictive analytics to generate content ideas. The reality is that using AI to improve your content marketing efforts can be a great tool to add to your belt.  Another recent leap is OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In November, it became a viral sensation and includes a huge back catalog of knowledge. Many praise the achievement, though there are still limits to the technology that make it clear that technology can’t reach the same spaces as humans. While these advancements are important to keep an eye on, Express Writers firmly believes that humans write the best content. We still vet and hire with a hands-on process that prioritizes expertise and experience in niche industries.  Google Helpful Content Update In August, Google rolled out a new update to their algorithm intended to categorize useful content that provides solutions for real people. Since then, the helpful content update has been fully rolled out and acts to suppress content that isn’t written with real people in mind. We think this is a step in the right direction for content that prioritizes authority and trustworthiness. If your business hasn’t fully implemented a process for creating helpful content, you’ll want to prioritize that heading into 2023.  In the meantime, there are a few things you can do to start strategically updating your content:  Seek out the content you’ve produced that doesn’t perform well and start updating it.  Check your competition and similar keywords to find what your content is missing or what pieces you haven’t written at all.  Do keyword research to find the best ways to optimize for SEO and pair that with human writers who have the industry experience your content needs. Use your knowledge of a subject to answer any questions your audience may have about your content to build trustworthiness. As long as you’re willing to make changes to create high-quality content, there’s no need to panic about these recent updates. Email Marketing in 2022 and Beyond One subject that interested us over the past year has been email marketing.  For 2022, 37% of businesses upped their email marketing budgets. We saw that in action as clients started ordering this service more regularly. From blog update emails to regular nurturing campaigns, we helped our clients with a variety of email-centered campaigns.  Additionally, we saw growth in email marketing as we switched how we send and automate emails. This included an increase in our open rates this year. The launch of our Write Wrap-Up newsletter and other updates in our email writing and sending process meant we were more adaptable with our email marketing. We’re excited about what that means for connecting with our audience over the next year.  We’ve seen that personalizing and segmenting emails is extremely important to engagement rates, so in 2023, we believe it will continue to be important to personalize your email sends.  To increase email personalization, you can:  Cater your messaging to specific segments of your audience. Show off your products and services based on your client’s industry and needs. Set up automated emails that send when a site user converts a specific way. Send personal follow-up messages to people who request information about your products. Based on recent behavior, we don’t see this trend stopping soon. So keep an eye out for even more email marketing trends to emerge over the coming year.  Writing & Order Statistics While the second half of the year faced some uncertainty, we have remained dedicated to our clients’ content. We wrote over 500,000 words in November alone!  Client Retention Milestones 2022 was a big year for us in client retention. We remain committed to your content, and that shows. We’re grateful that our clients trust us to create quality content without compromise. That’s why we find and vet writers who bring industry expertise to the table every day. None of what we do would be possible without the support of our rockstar clients, and we’re thrilled that you’re along for the ride as we grow together. How We Made Changes to Our Content Strategy This Year For most of 2022, we’ve been updating our methodology, branding info, and target audiences to reflect the business goals of Express Writers’ next era. We know that businesses need quality content and can’t always ideate and create content themselves. That’s why we’ll continue to provide end-to-end content creation services to brands looking for a long-term partnership. Updating Our Social Media Strategy One of our largest endeavors this year was creating a cohesive social media optimization strategy centered around educational content (and a few content marketing memes for good measure).  Our first target was growing our reach on LinkedIn, … Read more

Introducing Express Writers University: Understanding the Importance of Internal Training Content

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  Your team, no matter what they do for you, counts on your business for the training they need. Even the most educated and experienced workers need training, especially when processes change. Therefore, continually updating your internal training content is essential to creating a good employee environment. In fact, Henry Ford famously stated,” The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” This quote encapsulates the importance of training and why it is crucial for any business to be successful. No one wants to read about processes that are outdated or even obsolete. It wastes everyone’s time and is mostly useless for your workers. Read on as we explore strategies you can use to keep your internal training fresh and introduce you to Express Writers University. This is our new internal training site that we will use to make sure our writers always have the most up-to-date resources and skills. Why Is Internal Training Important? Whether you have two employees or two thousand, they need proper training to do their job effectively. Your business should have training available for roles from entry-level positions to high-level executives. Even having materials for those who train your employees is important. Developing effective training materials achieves several goals: Demonstrates and Defines Roles and Responsibilities While your new team members likely have a general idea of their responsibilities, you can’t ignore training them on in-house best practices. This training should clearly define your expectations for them and include real-world examples and demonstrations of their responsibilities. If they ever have any questions about their role and responsibilities, they should be able to refer to the training materials for clarification. You may need to consider updating your materials if you regularly hear from new hires that they can’t find the answers they need in your training guides. Establishes Best Practices  Even if employees have experience in your industry, your company likely has some unique processes they need to learn. Effective training content should exemplify the best practices for your business. When employees know your expectations and have the best methods to achieve the goals you set, they will catch on faster. Plus, you’ll avoid having to slow down your tasks and spend time teaching someone a new way to do things. Improves Employee Compliance If employees don’t get the proper training to understand your expectations, how can you expect them to comply with your procedures and rules? When your training content clearly defines your business rules and practices, your employee compliance should improve. It’s worth noting that the material should also outline any consequences if employees ignore the rules. You clearly establish boundaries and ensure they understand what could happen before they make a mistake. Enhances Employee Performance and Satisfaction  When your employees understand their roles and how to do their jobs, you should see a boost in employee performance. In turn, when employees feel confident and secure in their roles, which can improve employee satisfaction. If you create an environment that nurtures satisfied employees, you’re likely to notice lower turnover rates, less absenteeism, and more pride in the work they do. Provides Opportunities for Advancement  Training new employees is something all businesses do. But do you offer training opportunities for your veteran employees? Internal training is an excellent way to give your loyal employees the skills they need to advance within your company. This is often called upskilling and helps increase employee retention, prepare employees for promotions, build on their current skills, and keep your business up-to-date on the latest industry trends. Types of Training Content You can produce training content in a wide range of formats. Some of the most common types of training materials include: Videos: Videos are an excellent source of training, especially if you need to demonstrate a specific activity or process. Checklists: You can give new employees checklists during their training to ensure they accomplish all their onboarding tasks. Presentations: Slide presentations are a great way to cover general topics. Worksheets or evaluations: Worksheets help employees practice their new skills, and evaluations let them prove their competency. Activities: For many employees, there is no better way to learn how to do something than by doing it yourself. Make sure your trainers follow specific procedures for any active, hands-on training to create consistency for all new employees. How to Improve Your Internal Training Content Whether your training materials are outdated, incomplete, or not applicable to your business, you should reevaluate them to keep your training relevant and helpful. Try these 4 strategies to improve your internal training content. Reflect Your Business Practices While generic “off-the-shelf” training materials are available online, these may not be the best fit for your business. By creating your own custom training content, you can incorporate your unique business practices into your training. This enables you to include real-world examples and data that directly correlate to what employees can expect to happen. As your business practices evolve, you can update your training to include these changes. For example, if you replace one software solution with another, you should update your training to include the new program. There is no point in training someone on procedures you no longer use. Using custom, up-to-date training materials can make onboarding easier for new hires. They can see exactly how to do their daily tasks instead of having to figure it out on their own. Use Staff Feedback  An incredible resource for your training materials is your own staff. These are the people who use the training materials. If there is a major disconnect between the training procedures and the actual on-the-job experience, consider updating your training content. To prevent a disconnect from happening, you should regularly ask for feedback from your employees. Once they have completed their training and gotten experience in their new job, ask them if there was anything they were still unsure about or if anything was confusing or misleading. You should also ask for feedback … Read more

Get to Know the Team Behind Express Writers

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Did you know the Express Writers team is filled with carefully handpicked content creators? In addition to our behind-the-scenes team, our expert content writers are passionate about producing quality content. And we couldn’t be more grateful! With the help of our team, we have had the privilege to serve over 5,000 clients, ultimately completing more than 40,000 projects since the company was founded in 2011. We couldn’t have reached such great success without an incredible team on our side. But if you haven’t worked with us yet, you might be curious about those managing everything behind the scenes on the Express Writers team. For instance, who exactly is involved in the content creation process? And how can you learn more about the team you’re trusting to create your content? To help you get to know us, we’re sharing a little about the team members who are directly involved in fulfilling your content orders. Plus, we’re giving you details about the writers on our team and introducing you to the team members that keep things running smoothly here at Express Writers. Who is Involved in the Express Writers Process? Every order placed inside our Content Shop is handled with care. That’s why we have a human team handling every aspect of bringing your content to life. There’s no automated process assigning a project to whichever writer happens to be available. Instead, everything is carefully assigned thanks to some thoughtful planning by our Content Manager. Here’s a look at the Express Writers team members who are directly involved in creating your content: Content Manager: Once you place your order, our Content Manager reviews the details of your project based on the input form you’ve submitted. This information allows the Content Manager to assign your content to the writer who would be the ideal fit based on their areas of expertise, content writing level, and the format of the requested content. Doing this ensures our clients are always matched with the writer who will deliver the best results possible. Writer: After a project is assigned, it’s in the hands of one of our expert writers. Our writers are skilled and able to create content in a wide array of formats. We have writers trained to craft blog articles, social media posts, ebooks, press releases, and just about anything your brand could need to stand out online. That’s because we want to serve you in any way we can! Editor: When a draft of your content has been submitted, our editors take over. All of our editors go through extensive internal training under our leadership team so they can meet your brand guidelines every time. They fine-tune your content and correct any errors. Should significant changes need to be made, they’ll send it back to the writer to make final changes. Otherwise, our team will send it over for your approval. We take great pride in this process because we know it works. Not only does this ensure client satisfaction by pairing you with the best writer for the job, but it keeps our writers happy as well. After all, writers who are passionate about the content they’re creating craft the best articles. About the Writers on Our Team Let’s take a moment and talk about the writers on the Express Writers team. We want to ensure quality with every client project, so it’s important that we hire experienced and knowledgeable writers. That’s why we carefully review each application we receive and hire those we know will be an asset to our team. Our writers are based in the U.S. and are all native English speakers. They’re excellent with grammar and spelling, so you can rest easy knowing you won’t need to make any edits to the finished project you receive. They also understand SEO best practices to ensure your content is properly optimized. And they’re passionate about learning and evolving their skills. One of our focuses is hiring writers with niche and highly specialized backgrounds. These writers have years of on-the-job experience and advanced degrees in fields from legal and finance to marketing and real estate. Rest assured that your content is in good hands with these industry specialists. Not only that, but we also offer industry-leading training for our writers so they have the opportunity to strengthen their writing skills over time. By staying updated with industry best practices, our writers can produce captivating, high-quality content every single time. Get to Know the Express Writers Team The tricky thing about working with a remote team is that you don’t usually get the opportunity to meet them in person. We strive to put people first, so we want to put a face to the name of the folks you’ll work with. On our Who We Are page, you’ll see a sampling of some of the Express Writers team members, but here are a few that you definitely need to know: Adam Oakley, CEO Adam Oakley took over the role as Express Writers CEO in 2021 after our founder, Julia McCoy, stepped down to pursue other career opportunities. Adam brings more than 20 years of experience in various executive roles to the Express Writers team. He has previously worked in manufacturing, technology, and professional service businesses. Not only that, but he also has prior experience running the marketing department for a large manufacturing company. He’s even been part of the leadership team for a global technology provider, where he focused on business operations, scaling the worldwide group, and developing the client service model for a $30 million company. His leadership and management skills make him a natural CEO for Express Writers. Since taking over the role, he’s fully immersed himself in our company culture, taking the time to meet directly with various team members, establish a relationship with them, and ensure a smooth transition. It’s his mission to expand on EW’s success, helping us to make an even greater impact on the world of online content. Alicia Oakley, COO Alicia Oakley became our … Read more

How Does Express Writers Work? Here’s a Look at Our Process

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Copywriting specialist

Who knew that when Express Writers was founded back in 2011 that we’d one day become a team of over 90 people, serving more than 5,000 clients worldwide? But you might wonder how Express Writers works if you’re just getting to know us. Our passion for creating excellent content and commitment to quality every step of the way has largely contributed to our success. It’s why our clients turn to us for all of their content needs. And if you’ve been looking for an agency to outsource your content creation to, you can join our other loyal clients. But if you’ve never worked with a content agency before, you might be unsure what the experience is like. Is it the right fit for you? How does one get started with outsourcing to an agency? We want to eliminate any of the barriers between you and high-quality content from our team. So, how does Express Writers work? Let’s take a look at our process so you’ll know what to expect when placing your first order inside our Content Shop. This way, you can see how your order is handled from start to finish, ensuring quality service every step of the way. The Platform: Introducing Our Content Shop Before we start talking about how to place an order, we need to first introduce you to our Content Shop. This platform was painstakingly built to make it easier than ever for you to purchase content from our team. It lays out all of our available services so you can see the different types of content we can create for you, as well as our four content writing levels to choose from. Our General content level is great for basic blogs, while our Expert, Specialty, and Authority content levels can be used for blogging or web page content. However, our writers do more than that. They can also craft ebooks, email copy, product descriptions, social media posts, press releases, and more. Want to get started? Here’s what you need to do: Register for an Account: Before placing an order, you’ll need to register for an account. All content deliveries are made to your account. This is also an opportunity for us to learn more about you. You’ll answer questions about who you’re ordering content for (yourself, your clients, or both), the type of content you’re interested in, whether you want to order content yourself (self-service), or if you’d prefer to make a deposit and have Express Writers fully manage your content. Placing an Order: After you create your account, you’re free to browse the Content Shop and begin adding various types of content to your virtual shopping cart. Choose your preferred content type, word count (where applicable), as well as any other additional add-ons you require, such as meta description or SEO topic research. Once you’re all set, simply complete the checkout process. As mentioned above, you don’t need to choose the “self-service” option where you select and order content on your own. If you need a more hands-off solution, you can get in touch about our “Managed Service” option. It’s a great option for agencies and companies that need to scale up their content output. Our Process: Placing, Receiving, and Creating Orders Now, how does the Express Writers process work? We’ve broken this down into an easy-to-understand four-step process that outlines every stage. It begins by placing your order and ends with you receiving a high-quality piece of content. 1. Choose and Purchase Your Content You begin by browsing our Content Shop and purchasing the content that is best suited to your needs. From there, you’ll receive an input form, which you’ll need to complete before we can start writing. This form provides us with all the pertinent details regarding your order, including: Your project title Content format The brand the content is for and the website URL Your preferred writer industry Keywords to use An outline or any supporting documents, if applicable Things to mention and things to avoid Examples of content you love And the preferred voice and tone for your content This information allows our Content Manager to match the perfect writer to your order. Each of our writers has their own area of expertise which ensures you get someone who can confidently create the content you desire. Plus, a writer who enjoys the content they create is much happier with their job overall. 2. An Expert Writer Creates Your Content Next, we’ll move into the content creation process. One of our expert writers will bring your content to life, always matching your brief and implementing SEO best practices. Should the writer have any questions during this phase, one of our team members will contact you for more details. Be sure to keep an eye out and respond promptly so your deadlines can still be met. Once the writer completes the content, a draft is submitted for editorial review before you even see it. 3. An Editor Reviews the Content While our writers do a great job creating content for our clients, sometimes mistakes happen. That’s why we have editors (or Quality Assistants) who will review your content before it’s delivered. This gives them the chance to correct any typos or other errors. Plus, they will upload the content into Grammarly to check for problems and Copyscape to make sure the content is 100% original. If, for some reason, the content doesn’t meet expectations, we’ll send it back to the writer to make changes. But if an editor approves it, it’ll be delivered to you. 4. Your Content is Delivered Once delivered, the content will appear in your client portal. You then review the content to ensure it meets all of your expectations. If it does, then you’re good to approve the project and publish the content. If you’d like to make changes, you can send it back to our team for revisions with your feedback. This will help the writer to fine-tune the content according to your requests. … Read more

SEO Content Services: What We Do and Why We Do It

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SEO Content Writing

A crucial step to getting discovered online is taking the time to optimize your content for search engines like Google. If you choose not to factor SEO into your content, you’ll miss out on tons of search traffic. Instead of attracting people to your website, they’ll likely find the content they’re looking for from one of your competitors, causing you to miss out on engagement, sales, and more. Although we know SEO is important, it’s something that many content creators have struggled to master. Trying to understand the best practices and keep up with algorithm changes from Google can be tricky. Instead of handling everything yourself, why not find SEO content services from a reputable agency and outsource? That’s where Express Writers can help. To give you a better understanding of how our content agency works, let’s talk about what we do, how we do it, and why we’re so passionate about creating first-rate content. What We Do at Express Writers Since 2011, the team at Express Writers has been crafting high-quality content for clients from a variety of industries (marketing, finance, tech, legal, etc.). It’s our expertise and our dedication to the craft that has allowed us to serve over 5,000 clients, ultimately completing more than 40,000 projects. Plus, our wide range of services can match any of your custom content needs. After all, we understand the importance of quality content as part of your overall marketing strategy. The content you publish is typically the first impression people get of your brand. If they like what they read and see you as an expert in your field, they’re more likely to come back for more and potentially purchase your products and services in the future. Here at Express Writers, we have flexible options that meet the highest standards: ●      General, Expert, Specialist, and Authority Content: The four different levels of our SEO content services allow us to cater to budgetary needs and technical know-how. ●      Contract-Free Model: You don’t have to worry about being locked into any sort of contract when booking a project with Express Writers. ●      Managed Agency Service: We also provide content at scale for agencies looking for a team to handle all of their writing and editing needs. Our team also understands SEO, meaning they can craft expert web pages and other content formats that will rank high in search results. Just visit our Content Shop to check out all of our available services along with complete details and pricing. How We Do It Did you know that Express Writers hires writers based on their industry experience? The specialists on our team have years of on-the-job experience and advanced degrees, allowing them to create accurate, high-quality content to establish your brand as an authority in its field. The management team then matches you with the perfect writer for your project from our growing team of writers and staff, ensuring we deliver the best quality with our SEO content services. After completing the writing, your piece gets passed to our meticulous editors. They review the content to fine-tune the copy or catch any minor typos before we deliver it to you. This is just one way we’re committed to making sure the content you receive is done right the first time. Why We Do It Here at Express Writers, our team understands the power of great content. Through the content you publish, you’re able to attract people to your website, showcase your expertise and authority, and generate conversions. With our help, you can outsource the entire content creation process (everything from planning, to writing, and even finding stock photos) to our team, allowing you to scale your business more rapidly. Get Quality Content From Express Writers Whether you’re an agency, a marketer, or an entrepreneur, we offer top-notch SEO content services to help you get recognized online. Instead of stressing about SEO, let the experts take over and create content designed to boost your search engine rankings and build trust with your audience. Contact us today to learn more about how our team can meet your content needs.

Express Writers History: Where We Are Now and What’s Next

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copywriting services

Creating quality content for your website, social media, or other platforms is crucial if you want to stand out online these days. It’s your content that attracts people to your brand in the first place. And that very same content that will keep them coming back for more. Without it, you risk going unnoticed, missing out on potential opportunities for new connections and generating income. That’s why it’s so important to invest in writers who are experienced and highly skilled, allowing them to effortlessly create content that will position your brand as an authority in its field. But the question is, where do you find writers who genuinely know what they’re doing and have a passion for expertly crafting irresistible content? We know that it takes a lot of time to find, hire, and train writers – that’s where Express Writers fits in. Read on to dive into the history of Express Writers. We’ll cover how long we’ve been in business and how many orders we’ve completed successfully, as well as how we help businesses of all sizes. A Brief Express Writers History At Express Writers, our team is committed to providing our clients with only the best content. It’s been our primary mission since our founding in 2011. In that time, we’ve served over 5,000 clients and completed more than 40,000 projects. Our team is remotely located throughout the United States, and we’re always growing. That means we have all the necessary resources to tackle your projects and not only meet, but exceed, your needs for high-quality content. Plus, you can rest easy knowing that we hire writers based on their industry experience, allowing us to handpick the writer that’s best for your project. If you’d like to learn about a few of the core members making up our team (and put faces to their names), visit our About Us page to check out their bios. A Look at Our Best-Selling Services Now that you know a bit about our impressive Express Writers history, let’s talk about some of our top services. This will give you an idea of the services we offer and can help you see how our writers can transform your content. Four Content Levels, Based on Your Needs Brands are looking for different things when they come to the Express Writers team. That’s why we created a model for customizable content to match our clients’ unique needs with their exact vision. As a result, we created four content levels so there’s something for every budget. Here’s a quick overview of what Express Writers has to offer: General, Expert, Specialist, and Authority Content: These are our four different content levels. You can expect quality content at every level, but which you choose depends on your needs. For example, General Blogs do not receive editing, while higher levels do. And for technical industries, you’ll want to choose specialty content. Contract-Free Model: You’re never locked into any kind of contract when working with our team. That means you can order content whenever you need without being tied into a specific number of pieces. Managed Agency Service: We provide content at scale for agencies looking for a team to handle high-volume projects. You can be hands-off as our team tackles all the writing and editing. Our team expertly crafts blog posts, web pages, press releases, ebooks, and more. Just check out what one of our past clients had to say about working with us: “We use Express Writers as an agency for some of our client content projects, including emails, ebooks, white papers, and blog posts. They have it all. High quality, valuable prices, great service, and all the content offerings you could want in an agency!” For Quality Content, Trust Express Writers With over 11 years of solid experience, our team of writers knows how to help you best. We have expert writers with the knowledge and skills to develop content that will attract your target audience and keep them coming back for more. Instead of managing content creation by yourself, outsource it to our team for maximum ROI. Curious how we can help you? Contact us today to discuss your new project.  

Farewell but Not Goodbye: A Letter from Express Writers’ Founder

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express writers

It was a cold day in the middle of Pennsylvania winter, 2011. I was driving home to tell my parents I’d failed college… again. I was in tears the whole drive home. I was 19 years old, and I knew that I didn’t love the degree I was pursuing (R.N.). It wasn’t something I’d ever love or become great at. My parents were devastated at the news, just as I thought, and my father wouldn’t talk to me the rest of the month. It was heartbreaking to know that he lost all faith in me, and I spent the rest of the day in tears. But the next day, I got up early–at 4 a.m.–and applied myself with renewed zeal to the side hustle I’d started during my first semester of college. My side hustle was building, unbeknownst to me, a freelance writing career. At the time, I had absolutely no idea it would be a career. It was simply an avenue I believed I could be good at. Something I truly enjoyed. I wasn’t sure it would last a year. But there I was, getting up early, applying for writing jobs, writing every assignment myself to gain experience, and slowly but surely building a brand. My first brand idea was awful: Writer4U2Hire. I built a free website on Weebly and blogged regularly, and to my surprise, gained clients that directly inboxed me for work, then for repeat work, and then to ask if they could refer others to me. After that, I decided to get serious, and launched a real brand I could hang my hat on. I called it Express Writers. That was 2011. The next year, I left that toxic environment I grew up in, and it was the best thing I could have done for the health of not just myself, but my business’ future and longevity. When I had the freedom to pursue my dreams in a supportive environment (something easily taken for granted, if you’ve never experienced the opposite), things took off. Far beyond my dreams or aspirations. None of my business success has come easily, but we persevered, and we’re here. And I’m incredibly grateful. How It Started, and How It’s Going [bctt tweet=”After ten years of successful, slow and steady growth at Express Writers, CEO Julia McCoy is stepping down. Read her exit letter ✍️ ♥️ ” username=”ExpWriters”] By the fall of 2012, I was working twelve hours a day to build Express Writers. That same fall, I met and married my partner, Josh McCoy. Somehow, I convinced him to stop building his brand-new SEO business and come join me to build Express Writers. He bought in on my vision, and became our CTO. Thankfully, he brought the tech, systems, and website savviness I was missing. My approach to grow and build Express Writers was people-first, at all times. If I had happy clients, and the right writers, I somehow believed everything else would fall into place. This approach has truly been the catalyst to grow our business. At the beginning, hiring writers and my first staff members (editors) was a rude awakening, quickly, to what it was like to be an employer. Most of the newbies I hired didn’t show up, even after clear directives and deadlines were given. I lost paying clients quickly. Then, I learned to stop hiring the first person who showed up, and start handing out tests and interviews until we found the right person. I learned how to build a more qualified HR process, and how to set up orientation so that it was thorough and informative. Korilynn was one of my first full-time writers. A tried-and-tested freelancer, she could write 5,000 words a day, and I was shocked with how much work she took on and delivered while meeting all of our quality standards. Today, she’s our Content Manager, and we’ve never had a better one. Our clients and their projects are always near and dear to her heart. And our writers get matched to the right assignments with her at the helm. She’s tough, won’t sugarcoat anything, and works hard so our clients stay and projects move forward. I appreciate and respect her work ethic so much. We’ve had a slow-and-steady growth curve. Instead of the sudden UP arrow, which scares me because I believe it can have more negative reverberations and a tendency to go down just as quickly, our growth curve has looked like this: 2015 and 2016, the plateau in the middle of growth, held scary times. Thankfully, I walked out learning my business wasn’t broken. Express Writers could be massively successful. What was really going on: We learned in mid-2016 that we were victims of a scam run by our own team. I learned a tough lesson, but it gave me the strength I needed to build an infinitely better team. Our editorial and writing team is constantly growing, evolving and changing, and we’re implementing new processes this fall season to try to repair some new project delay issues we’ve run into. Express Writers, I’ve learned, is a living, breathing being, and it only thrives where there is growth and evolution. We’ve learned to quickly adapt, pivot, and change when things don’t work well, so projects don’t lag behind. Running an agency this big, selling a 100% human-led service, i.e. high-level content writing, isn’t for the faint of heart. Even our brand logo has been through many evolutions. The final design, a paper plane in flight, truly resembles us and has been iconic to me ever since we launched it. In October of 2020, one of our biggest visions finally came true with the launch of Express Writers 2.0, our internal workroom and external client Content Shop, an all-in-one system we built ourselves in WordPress. Fulfilling this was an immense struggle and hefty cost (over $200,000 in development, which we footed ourselves; we’ve never sought outside funding), and we see it as an ongoing project since we continue to … Read more

Why Our Specialist Writing Rates Went Up

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Why Our Specialist Writing Rates Went Up

In today’s competitive market, it takes a competitive, standout rate to attract and hire high-level specialist writers. As of the 2020s, we’re seeing an era like never before where our clients need the best content writer for their industry. Brands need to build trust through their published content. Brands need to give value through their published content. Brands also must retain traffic and gain sales through that content, or their content will fall flat and be considered a waste of ROI. Well, content must be incredible to do all of the above. Back in 2018, our highest-selling level of content was expert writing. A few years before that, it was general writers. Today, it’s specialty content, our most expensive writing level (legal, financial, technical, medical, and other top-tier specialty industries). This level is the most expensive for a reason. Not just any writer. Not just a good writer. And not just an expert writer… But a specialist who knows their industry, and will write and research great web content with care and skill. We’re announcing a (fairly small) specialist rate increase from 24c/word to 28c/word, a necessary change to hire and pay specialty writers more. This price update is live now. In today’s blog, we explain why. Why Specialist Writers Are in High Demand A talented specialist writer in your industry is similar to a Chupacabra… Or, it can feel like it, when you’re trying to attract and hire that type of writer. At Express Writers, we’ve done the work to attract and hire these types of writers. Here’s just one of our monthly bills from Indeed.com, a platform where we hire and interview writers on a regular weekly basis. These days can cost us anywhere from $1,000 – $2,500 a month to hire a handful of writers, depending on the level of writer we’re headhunting. Of course, the client doesn’t pay this. They simply pay our per-word fee. We also pay editors. And managers. But the client doesn’t pay that, either. They pay our per-word fee. The crux of our payment margins and payouts is always the writer. We know that without the writer, Express Writers is, well, writer-less and therefore powerless. [bctt tweet=”.@ExpWriters has raised specialist writer rates. Why? In today’s market, it takes a competitive, standout rate to attract and hire high-level specialist writers. ? These writers produce the kind of content our high-level brands want and need.” username=””] It takes great writers to produce the kind of content our high-level brands want and need. Not to mention (as we’ve talked about on the blog before), but Google’s own rules for quality now demand the same. Google doesn’t keep this a secret – they disclose exactly what they’re looking for in their SEO starter guide: And as we’ve reiterated before on the Write Blog, here’s one of the biggest giveaway statements from Google’s SEO starter guide on why good great content matters. Two driving forces behind what constitutes good SEO content can be traced back to these clear acronyms in Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines: E.A.T. (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): Three top factors Google uses to rate content quality. Y.M.Y.L. (Your Money or Your Life): Content that can potentially impact a reader’s financial, physical, and/or mental health and happiness in the medical, financial, legal, and technical industries. Our specialty writer rates are mapped specifically to Y.M.Y.L. guidelines, which are the highest level Google reviews. According to the guidelines, Google pays the most attention to these pages because they’re the ones that can most profoundly impact a person’s life. Especially in pandemic times, this matters more than ever. Source: Google’s Guidelines, section 2.3 Google says YMYL pages are the ones that can “impact the future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety of users.” These pages include: Shopping or financial transaction pages Medical information pages Legal information pages Financial information pages News articles and/or public/official pages important for informing citizens Any other topics that can deeply affect users’ lives, i.e. child adoption or car safety information Because of their importance, these pages have incredibly high page quality standards. ? They must be authoritative, factual, and written by experts. That’s where our specialty expert writing level comes into play. Our specialty experts are handpicked with an advanced degree, 5+ years in their field, a senior/leadership role (example, Lead Software Engineer), and, the skill of online writing under their belts as well. We’ve found these practitioners-turned-content-writers are in high demand. In fact, it’s truly hard to hire one who knows their industry, and can write. When we do find one, we have to act quickly and bring them in, mentor and train them, and prep them to take on client assignments. Did I mention Chupacabra yet? Still, we find and hire them. But today, we’ve learned we simply must raise the rates to pay these writer-extraordinaires more income. It’s more than worth it. Here’s the kind of resume/writer we’re now attracting at these higher pay rates. Example: Senior Technical Writer, Corey O., hired August 2021. Our Rates Are Live Our specialist rate increase from 24c/word to 28c/, a necessary change to hire and pay good writers more, is now live in the Content Shop. Go view pricing here. This applies to technical, medical, and other in-depth verticals. Trust Plays a Part – and Here’s How Your Content Writers Need to Actively Build That Trust Don’t forget. The epidemic of misinformation in 2020 took a toll on consumer trust when it comes to content in just about every form, from search engines as well as traditional, owned, and social media. People are wary these days. What does that mean for your brand content? In short, writers must take a few extra steps on every piece they write to make sure it’s kosher in the 2020s. Double check all facts. Be responsible for ensuring you’ve found and are verifying content the brand consumers can trust. Ditch the traditional sales pitch and write with a value focus. Customers aren’t buying into overpromises and flashy offers. Content marketing is outperforming cold calls and advertising techniques by prioritizing value first. Expert writers must … Read more

Content Shop Changes for February: Word Count Ranges Simplified, Meta Cost Lowered, Infographics Added, & More

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Content Shop Changes for February: Word Count Ranges Simplified, Meta Cost Lowered, Infographics Added, & More

How is your 2021 going? Over here in Texas, we just experienced a weather event affectionately nicknamed by locals the “Texas snow-pocalypse,” otherwise known as Winter Storm Uri. It shook up our state, and left millions without power. Thankfully, we all survived, and now we’re super grateful for the simple things, like a light switch that turns on the light. (First world gratitude!) And de-iced roads. And now that we’re post-event, we can laugh at memes that were all too real for Texans this February, like “What if 2020 is just a trailer of 2021?” Jokes aside, I’m constantly thankful we run a global, work-from-home team at Express Writers. Most of our talent is in the United States, but we believe talent doesn’t just reside here in the U.S. We believe it’s worldwide. And that’s why our team includes a European writer, and an African copy editor. (Both of whom are amazing at what they do.) When the power was out in Texas, our team around the world was still working, lights on. That’s a good thing, because we’re getting ready for 2021 to be an incredible year for our clientele — the top marketers and agencies we serve. Google searches surged to double over one month last year. From 3.6 billion searches per day, to more than 6.8 billion, a number which still holds strong today. Here’s a lowdown on what we’re up to this year, and how we plan to make this a great year for YOU, our client. What’s New at Express Writers — Tied Into Decade-Strong Values This May, we turn 10 years old. Our business was started way back in 2011, when I was a new content writer forging my path on the internet. I had a simple set of core values when I started Express Writers, which you can still read about on our core pages today: Hire passionate writers, and together, create the best content on the web. [bctt tweet=”2021 is going to be an incredible year for our clientele — the top marketers and agencies we serve. Read the lowdown on what we’re up to, including fresh updates to the Content Shop ?” username=””] Like a team of Avengers, but content writers that cared enough to create better content than the average crap posted by the majority of marketers back then on the web. This would be the skill I would sell our clients at Express Writers. Boy, little did I know just how badly marketers needed this skill set. We’ve done it, and we’re continuing to do it. I’m a big fan of Jim Collins (BHAG, Good to Great, Built to Last). What he documented and witnessed in top corporations that withstood the tests of time revolved around something quite simple. That simple thing was a core set of values that allowed the corporation to breathe, thrive, evolve, but never change on core beliefs. He said oftentimes those core values could be counted on one hand. That’s us. We have a set of values that hold strong and firm. From there, we pivot and build and launch new offerings, new solutions, hire new writers, on the regular. In fact, you could say something new happens at Express Writers every day, and you wouldn’t be wrong. For example, when a client in a specialized industry needs ad copy, and we don’t have the writer yet — we go and headhunt. Hire. Train. We actively pivot to solve content writing problems that our clients have. I lead that initiative, and we never stop — the Content Manager and I put our heads together on reviewing new samples from writers all the time. It takes time, energy, and effort, but it’s what we love doing. Content is our world. And that world is evolving, constantly. If we aren’t ready to meet that evolution, we’ll quickly fall by the wayside. (I firmly believe that.) Our entire set of services in the Content Shop was born from direct clientele needs. What our clients needed, we produced as a solution. I’ve built internal training for everything we offer, that equips the rare talented writer we do find and hire to learn how to write for all the formats we offer. (Today, at The Content Hacker™, I teach students and now take my training outside just our team. Because everyone in marketing should know how to do content well.) And offering all of this as a done-for-you service has worked extraordinarily well. Here are the four biggest updates for us so far in 2021. 1. New Industry-Specialized Writers Last month (January), we brought in fifteen new writers in these industries: Marketing (Digital/Social/Content) & Advertising Technical Health & Medicine/Medical Industries Law & Legal Finance This month, we brought in another fifteen in the same industries, to serve as additional writers due to the demand we’re experiencing. We’re also training several of these new hires how to be what we call “all-industry” writers, writers with the ability to deep research and write on industries that are still deep and complicated but not quite law, tech, or finance (which we’ve found requires specific industry experience). That’s a total of thirty new writers in less than two months! And don’t worry, our old writing team is here and staying strong. You can still request previous writers and receive them. In fact, many of them rely on your repeat client orders for consistent work and income. A big thank you to our repeat clients! ❤️ [bctt tweet=”Simplified word count ranges, lowered meta cost, infographics added, and more — Read about all the changes at @ExpWriters for 2021 to simplify ordering and make your experience great ?” username=””] 2. New & Updated Services: Meta Add-On Cost Lowered, Infographics Added  As of early February, our meta description and title writing cost has dropped to $10 instead of $20. The higher price didn’t make sense, if clients were able to order it as an add-on (we originally had it as $20 to protect our team from writing a $10 meta description as a one-off, standalone order — believe it or not, it … Read more

Skip the Degree, Save the Tuition. Build Your Dreams Instead! (My New Book Out Now)

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Skip the Degree, Save the Tuition. Build Your Dreams Instead! (My New Book Out Now)

If you’re like most people, you grew up with some specific ideas about how to be successful. Most of them revolved around school. ?? Get a degree, they said. You’ll be successful, they said. It’s the only way, they said. In the U.S. alone, two million recent college graduates enter the workforce every year, clutching their new and shiny diplomas. Yet, according to one study, only 13 percent of U.S. adults, 11 percent of C-level executives, and 6 percent of university trustees say college graduates have work-ready skills. That means most people are leaving college without the ability to earn a living from their degree. ? If only there were a way to invest in yourself, get the skills you need to follow your dreams, AND avoid that insane college debt… Turns out, there is. Dr. Ai Addyson-Zhang (#ClassroomWithoutWalls) and I wrote a book on it. In Skip the Degree, Save the Tuition (which is out today), we show you how to thrive as a confident, self-taught professional who makes money online with a valuable skillset. The Story Behind Skip the Degree, Save the Tuition (What Inspired My New Book) When I started writing this book… If I had set out to nail a “trend,” or just make money… I would have given up on the journey weeks in. Skip the Degree is a literal byproduct of both my co-author (Ai Addyson-Zhang) and myself setting out to TRANSFORM education. It is a heart mission for both of us. [bctt tweet=”In their new book, Skip the Degree, Save the Tuition, @JuliaEMcCoy and @aiaddysonzhang show you how to thrive as a confident, self-taught professional who makes money online with a valuable skill set. ? Learn more and get your copy ??” username=””] Dr. Ai has two degrees. Yet, she identifies as a “professor dropout.” Dr. Ai dropped out of a highly paid, well-respected position teaching college students PR and social media marketing. She resigned from her six-figure position when she saw firsthand in the classroom that her students weren’t going to graduate with real-life marketing skills. It was a wakeup call she couldn’t ignore. She took on educating herself first, becoming a practitioner, and today she’s teaching her students life-changing skills in entrepreneurship, dreaming big, and becoming digitally-savvy. I run a writing agency, Express Writers, that takes on 200-300 projects per month. We’ve been around for 10 years, mostly because we have high standards. Show up. Write well. Deliver on time. Consistently. No B.S. We have to hire, constantly. Those five traits are hard to find. What’s more, we often have to “unteach” college graduates their academic writing skills. And as of 2021, we’re still filtering through college grads, looking for immediate client-ready writing skills. Having to turn most of them away. Instead, it’s the self-started freelancer that followed a passion and taught themselves a skill that we’re able to hire. After nine years, and thousands of candidates we had to say ‘no’ to… COVID-19 hit last year. It created even more issues. The hiring dilemma became a problem I truly couldn’t ignore. Far more candidates flooded the online workplace, and our ability to hire went from 1% to .5%. Skip the Degree, Save the Tuition was a book I’d planned to research and write leisurely, to launch in 2022. It was the Holy Grail for this problem. It would teach everyone the pathway on how to uncover their passion and map a direct path to a digitally profitable skill set. When 2019 happened… I made it a goal to launch the book within a year. Well, we did it. We conducted 50+ interviews (but who’s counting), worked with countless people, and did immeasurable work to put forward the powerful information revealed in our book. And we did it all inside a year. Skip the Degree is our BIG, GROUND-FLOOR answer to today’s problem in education. Watch the full interview I recorded with my co-author, Dr. Ai Zhang, on YouTube: Get your copy now. How to Build a Non-Perishable Digital Skillset (in 4 Steps) What does it take to get ahead in today’s world? A lot. You’ll need grit ?, to break a sweat ?, and stay quick on your feet ?? while you adapt to the changing world. ? But most importantly, to succeed in today’s world, you need real, tangible skills that stay current no matter your industry. All the degrees can’t help you if you don’t have those. That’s why Dr. Ai and I wrote Skip the Degree, Save the Tuition. We put our heads together to combine her expertise in education with the knowledge that I’ve gained through a decade of becoming a self-made entrepreneur. We aren’t here to teach you perishable facts or static skills. Instead, we’ve built a pathway for you to develop your own skill set based on what we’ve done. The pathway to success is simple … but difficult. It goes like this: 1. LOVE What You Do. If you don’t absolutely LOVE what you do, you aren’t going to make it very far. You must not just love it, but breathe it, prepare to live it every second of the day – because as any successful entrepreneur will tell you, you WILL be for the first few years. ❤️ First, uncover your passion. Find your interests, your aptitudes, and what it is that fires you up. That requires self-reflection and self-awareness. Lots of tools exist to help you with this. From personality mapping to quizzes and more, we’ll show you how to deep dive into who you really are. 2. LEARN Everything You Can. Once you know what you LOVE doing, map your passions to a real skill set and start building that knowledge. ? In this step, forget college – the internet is your oyster. Anything you want to learn you can learn online. We’ll show you how to find resources that are worth your time, what to look for when you’re researching, and – most importantly – how to figure out … Read more

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