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A Guide: 37 Ways To Write Content That Converts

A Guide: 37 Ways To Write Content That Converts

by | Jun 4, 2015 | Content Marketing

Creating content that converts is something every single website and business owner wants. You want people to come to your site, read your content, and click links to buy services or products. However, you might find it difficult to create content that converts your visitors into leads. I want to share some excellent ways that you can ensure you get great content that will convert your readers into clients, as well as keeping them for the long-term. Let’s take a look at the various aspects of content and specific points within each that can help you craft expert content that helps to generate leads.

I. Blogging

Blogging is an important aspect of any online campaign because it can bring in visitors and convert them quickly. You need to make sure you add a blog to your website to help generate engagement with your client base, as well as creating something that directs people to the rest of your site. You can do a number of things with a blog, and I am going to look at some of the elements you need to consider when blogging.

1. Use WordPress Only for Blogging. WordPress is a great blogging tool that can help you get some powerful results. There are many reasons why I think this is the best to use for your blogging needs. Some of the reasons are that it is SEO friendly, you can have a great blog design, and WordPress has been around long enough to be a trusted blogging resource. I would suggest using WordPress only for your blogging purposes, but you can use it for your static website, as well. They have a great selection of SEO plugins that help you get the most out of your blog, and so much more. Take a look at their blog platform to see just how easy it is to use and which aspects will benefit your business’s site.

2. Optimize Every Single Post. When you use WordPress, make sure that you optimize every post. WordPress makes it easy for blogs to be optimized to their fullest potential, and you need to take advantage of that. In order to get great optimization, do keyword research and use your low competition keywords in your posts. Make sure you optimize any and every image you use and select a good link name to use for the blog. How can you optimize every single aspect of a blog post with WordPress? I am going to look at that in my next point.

3. Use SEO Plugins On WordPress. As I mentioned earlier, one of the best parts of WordPress is the ability to use SEO plugins to optimize your blog further. There are several great plugins out there, but you need to choose the ones that will benefit you the most. WP Beginner highlights some of the latest SEO plugins you can use such as WordPress SEO by Yoast, SEMRush, and Google Keyword Planner. Take a look at the others listed to find some that can help your blog! You can also choose other plugins that aren’t specifically for SEO; just choose wisely and only choose the ones that will help your site and blog.

4. Use Big, Awesome, Colorful Adjectives in Your Headers. Your headlines and headers are crucial to convincing people to click and read through your blogs. When you create headlines or headers, make sure that you use amazing adjectives that capture attention. As you can see, I used a few in this header, illustrating how powerful, excellent adjectives can make a header. If you are trying to come up with great headlines or headers, you can follow a few suggestions of some of the hottest headlines out there to get started.

5. Use Action Words in Your Headers. Action words in headers are just as important as colorful adjectives because they convince readers to do something as they read. You can use action words in all of your headers, or you can wait until you create your call to action. Whichever way you choose, just keep in mind that you need to convince people to do something more than just reading your post. You can also do a mix of action words in a few headers throughout your blog and at the end for your call to action, which can be quite powerful.

6. Do a Controversial Blog Every Now and Then. Get your readers to sign up for something or go to a page by sharing a similar hatred or anger for something. Humanity is interesting and weird, isn’t it? We tend to do more when we connect with something, and many times that can be something we all feel strongly about and stand against. For example, how many people were willing to do whatever it took to stop the process of major corporations being able to take over the Internet? Several people and it was something that made all Internet users quite angry. When something like Net Neutrality comes up, you can use that as a way to write a blog and get people to act, no matter what the item is. You can also utilize trends like #WheresNatasha or other trends that have people angry or upset about something.

7. Do an Occasional Blog that Revolves Around Humor. Along with focusing on a controversy, focusing on humor is another way to get people to open up their wallets and buy your product. People love to laugh, and if you can make them laugh they will be more willing to buy items or services from you. Always make sure you are following some basic guidelines for using humor in your blog to ensure you have an impactful piece. A few things to remember are to be respectful, know your audience, and stay true to your specific brand. Once you incorporate humor, you will start to see many of your visitors starting to turn into leads.

8. Write Fun, Exciting Blogs On Seasonal Topics. When you sit down to plan out your content strategy, make sure that you look at holidays, the seasons, and any other seasonal items. Why? Because seasonal content can provide you with great inspiration for more blog posts. You don’t just have to stick with writing the typical Christmas or Thanksgiving posts, but can write on something like seasonal fails (burnt food, terrible presents, and more) or family or friend memories. Try to write your seasonal content with a fun, fresh voice without coming across sales-like to make the posts even more powerful.

9. Post a Recap Blog from an Event (and Add Photos!). Did you just have a fun event for your business? Then post a recap blog and add photos! This gives a great “behind the scenes” look at your business while giving people something to connect with. Your clients are more likely to feel a relationship with you and your business if you include them in things like your events, even if it wasn’t for clients. Your blog provides you with the unique chance to do this, and you can even use it to promote future events for your clients.

10. Use Customer Questions for Blog Inspiration. If you are looking for great blog content that can help promote a relationship and convert visitors, then utilize customer questions for blog posts. This is a great way to answer common questions while maintaining and building relationships with your clients. You can even host a monthly event where people submit their questions and you answer a handful every week, providing people with the information they want to see.

11. Write News Pieces on Your Blog. A great way to create content that converts is to start writing news pieces along with your other content. This helps you craft timely pieces that focus on trends within your industry, and offers value to your readers. You can easily find news topics in your industry by finding and following industry leaders who will post about similar topics and ideas. Always make sure you do your research and give excellent citations when creating news pieces to help make it trustworthy and set you apart as an expert in your field.

12. Do Not Hesitate to Get a Copyeditor. Every writer, no matter how skilled, needs a copyeditor. Copyeditors can read over your written material to make sure there aren’t any grammatical or spelling errors, that your pieces flow well, and that they make sense. Chances are if you simply write a blog piece and post it without editing, you are posting something with errors. We all make errors when writing, and it is hard to spot every single one with your own eye. A copyeditor can spot that, and he or she will help make your blog or web content top quality. This will help make readers trust your business more, and it will definitely make Google happy.

 II. Social Media

The next aspect of content marketing is that of social media. It is just as important as your blog because it helps you connect individually with clients. It also opens up a new engagement method and gives you a great way to promote the blogs you’ve been writing. Let’s look at different aspects of social media that you should keep in mind when aiming to convert with your content.

13. Be on Facebook and Write For Facebook. Facebook is still a great social media channel to be part of, regardless of what you might be hearing. It can help convert many visitors into leads, and helps you stay in contact with your clients. With its constant evolving and improving, Facebook provides you with many great chances to reach out to your audience. Just how can you use Facebook for the best? There are many great tips out there and a few are:

  • Always share links on Facebook, especially if you are linking to your website or blog. Facebook’s design for links helps to showcase images, giving people visual content with a link to click on.
  • Create a post that is powerful in just a few characters. While you don’t have the limitation you do on Twitter, people have a higher likelihood of reading your Facebook post if it is short and to the point.
  • It’s good to post your Facebook content during non-peak times, giving your post a chance to be seen and not lost in a sea of other posts.
  • Have a consistent sharing strategy and plan for Facebook, and all of your social media channels.
  • Use hashtags on Facebook to reach more people. Many people don’t realize that Facebook hashtags do actually work, and hashtags are no longer just limited to Twitter.
  • When you create Facebook content, make sure you know your audience through research. Once you do, you can use Facebook’s targeting capabilities to select the various people who you want your ads and posts to reach. Vertical Response’s blog gives a great look at just how to do this to improve your Facebook posts.

14. Be on Twitter and Write for Twitter. Twitter is a great social channel and is one of the busiest channels right now. There are millions of people worldwide tweeting about their favorite shows, movies, and world events, and they could be your audience. You need to get on the social channel and begin writing and using Twitter to help leverage your business. If you want to see just how powerful Twitter has been and will be, take a look at Buffer’s excellent article.

One of the first things to realize is that Twitter focuses on what is known as micro-blogging, which means that their channel only allows for short tweets (140 characters maximum). Prepare to write content that is short and to the point. If you’re already doing this with Facebook, you shouldn’t have much trouble with Twitter. Forbes has a great list of other things to keep in mind when writing for Twitter such as:

  • Engage with your audience when they respond to your Twitter posts.
  • Keep your posts focused on one main goal.
  • Utilize humor and/or images in your Tweets.
  • Make sure that your profile is complete with profile image, bio, website link, and cover image.

15. Should You be on Instagram? Instagram is a great social channel, but it can be tricky to know if you should or shouldn’t be on it. There are a few things to consider such as whether or not you utilize visual marketing, if your clients are on the channel, or if your competitors are on it. Sit down to get familiar with Instagram and look to see if your business can benefit from it. You might be surprised just how much it might. If you get on the channel, make sure to use it to benefit your company by utilizing hashtags, knowing the age demographic you are trying to reach, and understanding how to use Instagram for Business.

16. What Other Social Media Channels Should You Use? Outside of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, there are several other excellent social media channels to use. You need to make sure it is something that your company can truly benefit from before getting on it, however. A few of the top channels are:

  • Google Plus. Google makes sure to make this a vital aspect if you want to rank on the SERP. It’s a given to get this for SEO purposes.
  • Pinterest. Do you do a lot of visual marketing? Do you share a lot of photos and DIY tips? Then this channel might just be what your company needs.
  • LinkedIn. This channel is great for business-to-business models as many professional utilize this channel. You most likely won’t be able to reach out to the general public here, but it can really help you network within your industry as well as help your B2B model.
  • YouTube. This is another great visual marketing social channel. If you make videos, then this is the place to share them!

17. No Matter the Channel, Always Engage With Clients. Social media requires that you be social, which means that if you aren’t engaging with your clients, it will fall flat. Sometimes it can be hard to get engagement, but once you get it you need to make sure you are engaging back. When someone re-tweets you, thank him or her. If someone comments on a post or responds to a tweet, respond back. This will help foster a relationship with your followers and clients, and make them more likely to continue engaging. When you engage, you are also boosting your chances of converting your followers into customers.

18. Change Up Your Blog Headlines When You Post to Social Media. Creating the perfect headline for your blog is important when you want to draw in readers. However, it is also important for you to change it up when you share on social media. You want to share your blog a few times throughout the month, which means that you shouldn’t be posting the exact same title. A great way to mix it up is to come up with a few different variations and use those all on social media. This can help bring in more readers, and catch the attention of different people.

19. Figure Out the Best Times to Post for Your Business. Learning when to post to social media for your business, and what to post when, can really help when it comes to converting and generating leads. There are many different studies out there, such as NewsCred’s, which talks about some of the best times to post your content. While this can be a helpful starting point, you need to make sure to try different times to see what works best for your business. Don’t hesitate to try out new things and new times to find the best choice for you.

III. Advertising

Advertising is still a major part of converting people into leads for your business. There are many newer methods of advertising such as social media, but the tried and true methods are just as handy. What are some of the different aspects of advertising that you should consider for your business? Read on further to see some answers that are sure to help you grow your business and create content that converts.

20. Should You Have Ads and Brochures in the Digital Age? Ads and brochures were something that many businesses utilized a few years ago to help promote their business or services. Many people wonder if they are still useful now in 2015; they can be excellent for your business still. In the digital age, you can now create brochures that are available online for your viewers to download and look at, and if you have a physical location, you can print out paper ones. However, if you don’t want to waste paper for a brochure at your physical shop, you could use QR codes and other digital methods to share brochures with people when they come in.

21. Should You Utilize Television Advertisements? It might seem like TV ads are a thing of the past when it comes to digital and Internet ads. However, it is still a great idea for many businesses. How so? Well, Google Fiber is slowly taking over America as a new form of cable TV, allowing faster access instead of using traditional cable or satellite. Google Fiber is starting to change the game when it comes to ads, by basing what viewers see on their TVs off of their viewing history, much like digital ads now. Consider getting an ad spot or two to benefit your company, especially in areas where Google Fiber is being used.

22. Create Downloadable Incentives. People love to get free things, which means offering your visitors downloadable incentives for signing up for emails or purchasing products is a great idea. Downloadable incentives can be things like free eBooks, Whitepapers, services, or whatever else you would like to give to clients. This can make them feel appreciated when they sign up for your email list or when they purchase something, giving them instant gratification.

23. Social Media Ads are Still Powerful Tools. Social media is a great place for advertising because it is, usually, free. Throughout the years, people have written about why you should focus on organic social media results, but the reality is that organic is falling away. Organic results are still very possible, so don’t worry about that, but in order to have more of an impact on social media, you need to utilize paid ads. This will help broaden your reach and can bring in new readers and customers quickly and easily.

24. Are Press Releases Still a Viable Option? While it might seem like press releases are a thing of the past, that isn’t the case just yet. They are still viable options when it comes to advertising. When you create a press release now, you always need to be sure that it is something that can, and will be, published as its own article. You will also want to make sure that you make the press release available for your Internet audience through a blog or a downloadable PDF, as this is where many people will see it.

25. Never Forget About the Power of Email Marketing. Like press releases, people often wonder if email marketing is still important to advertising. Email is still vital, and it is something you need to dedicate a decent portion of your advertising budget for. According to Forbes, when you dedicate some of your budget to email marketing, you will see an increase in lead generation, be able to connect email campaigns with your current content campaign, and measure results easily. Don’t neglect email when it comes to creating content that converts; this might just be the thing that generates more leads for your business.

 IV. Visual Content

In this section, I am going to look at visual content and how it can benefit your business. Many people don’t know if visual content is for their company, but it really can help convert visitors into leads quickly. It also makes things easier to share on social media and helps people who want to consume short content to do so.

26. Create Short, Succulent Content for Infographics. Infographics are excellent for visual content and can help your customers and readers consume more content quickly. They are also easily shared on social media. When you create an infographic, you should always make sure that the content is short and incredibly interesting to help drive engagement and shares. Many people who consume infographics as a form of content are looking for shorter, easier to read content.

This infographic from Quick Sprout is an excellent example of what an infographic should look like.

27. Create Videos or Podcasts from Your Content. Other great forms of visual content are videos and podcasts. These are great for people who are commuting on trains or when someone is taking a lunch break during the workday. In fact, depending on the individual’s job, a podcast might be something they listen to throughout their workday. Because of this, it is important to create videos and/or podcasts for your business. Any business can leverage a great campaign through these content mediums; just take a look at Accenture’s YouTube channel.

28. Utilize Images on Social Media and in Blogs. Visual content isn’t just for your blogs and website but is also an important aspect of social media. Images on social media will bring in more viewers as people connect better with images than with words. This is especially true now that our society is so visual. In addition to connecting better with images, people on social media are also more likely to share a post that utilizes images or video on the channel. I’m not referring to videos or images that are on your blog or site, but to images and video that you upload directly to Facebook, Twitter, and other social channels. Start using some visual content on social media to see just how many clicks and shares you get.

29. Create a Video Web Series for Your Content. As I mentioned, video content is great to help convert visitors into buyers, and a great idea is to create a web series based off of your content. You can tell stories or adapt your content into a series that people find enjoyable. A great example of a web series adapting content is the Lizzie Bennett Diaries, which is a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. While you might not be retelling a classic story, a web series that follows some sort of story with your content can help connect with your audience and build relationships with them.

30. Encourage User-Generated Visual Content. Another excellent way to get and use visual content is to utilize user-generated content. If you have products that are perfect for visual content, then you can encourage your clients to tweet and Instagram images of them with the product or of the product itself. You can create a contest to get the ball rolling on user-generated visual content, but people do still like sharing pictures of products they buy. Always be sure you like any photos that are tagged to your business to help promote engagement and encourage even more user-generated content.

V. Content Audits and Research

While content creation is a vital aspect when it comes to converting leads, you also need to make sure your existing content is hitting the target. SEO changes from month to month as we all know thanks to Google’s many changes. In addition, your keywords can change over time, and you might need to spruce up existing web content. The best way to do this is to utilize content audits and do keyword and content research.

31. Get an Audit of Your Content to Fix Any Problems. A content audit is a great idea when it comes to making sure your existing content is on point. It can help you find if any of your links are broken if your SEO is off from what is current, and which blogs need to have changes made.

A content audit can help you figure out just what needs to be changed, freshened up, and gives you great ideas on how to handle your upcoming content. It will make your strategy more effective and powerful, giving you the chance to convert more with your existing and upcoming content.

32. Do Keyword Research to Find the Best, Most Powerful Keywords. While they might not be as central to an SEO plan now, keywords are still important when it comes to ranking. However, many people don’t realize that your keywords can change over time, and if you don’t make necessary changes, they won’t help you create powerful content. A great thing to do is to do keyword research throughout the year to find the best keywords, keeping your content up-to-date. You can either do it yourself by following HubSpot’s helpful guide or hire SEO experts to do the research for you. Either way, you will be on the track to finding keywords for your content that will help generate leads.

33. Don’t Forget the Importance of Content Curation. Content curation can help you find excellent resources for your web content, as well as finding great things to share on social media. Customers love to see more than just links to your website, so sharing curated content helps to break that up and give them great resources. Content Marketing Institute gives a great guide on how to do content curation to find excellent sources for your business as well as for your customers.

VI. Web Pages

If you want to create content that converts, you will also need to make sure your web pages for products and services are top quality. When Google approaches your website to rank it on the SERP, it will approach the entirety of your website, not just your blogs. Let’s see just how you can approach your landing pages to make them powerful, helping your site rank, as well as creating content that converts.

34. Create Powerful Landing Pages. One of the first things you need to do when it comes to making your whole website effective is to create excellent landing pages. You can utilize web designers to help you create something that will not only look great but be easy to navigate for your customers. A landing page is an important aspect of every website because this is where people usually happen across your site. Sure, the “home” page is important, but not many people will go to your home page at first. They will find a landing page through your blogs and social media posts.

35. Have Pages for Individual Services or Products. A great way to utilize your landing pages is to have pages for individual services or products. This provides you with several landing pages that people can happen across on the SERP, through blogs and social media. This will help direct people to a particular product they are interested in so as to keep them from being overwhelmed with other products they don’t want. Express Writers utilizes landing pages for every single one of our services, which makes it so much easier for our clients to find the services they want and need. Try this out on your site to see just how much conversion you can get from multiple landing pages.

36. Each Page Needs Its Own Call to Action. When you create individual landing pages, make sure that each has its very own call to action. This will help encourage people who are reading the content to click on the links to look at or purchase content. You will find that call to actions on your pages are perfect when it comes to creating content that converts. Never ignore the call to action, no matter what.

37. Keep the Design Easy and Simple to Understand. Usability is something you want to keep in mind when creating your website and web content. It needs to be easy to understand and use, and if it isn’t, you could lose customers quickly. If you want content that converts, then you need to have a website that is easy to use and understand. You don’t want visitors to get frustrated with your website. Once you have an easy-to-use site, people are much more likely to stick around and buy your products or services.

Conversion is Absolutely Possible Through Content

Following the various tips in this blog, you can easily start creating content that helps convert. Every single idea can help bring in a new customer, as well as keeping your existing ones around. Long-term customers are yet another way to help convert visitors into leads. If you need an expert in any of the fields mentioned above, do not hesitate to contact Express Writers. We have an excellent team of writers, social media managers, and more who can help craft expert content that converts. Contact us, today!

7 Ways To Be A Successful Writer, No Matter How New You Are

7 Ways To Be A Successful Writer, No Matter How New You Are

by | May 27, 2015 | Copywriting

Call me biased, but writing is one of my favorite things. It doesn’t matter if I am writing up web copy, blogs, book reviews, or short fiction, writing is something I deeply enjoy and I am not alone. There are many people out there who love writing, but there are also many out there who want to get started to see just what it’s all about.

However, it can be tricky when you’re a new writer, and looking for advice is one of the first things you do – hence why you’re here, right?

If you’re new to writing, then this blog is perfect for you because I will be going over some great, first-time writer tips that can help you create excellent content, no matter what.

Many of these are things I’ve learned over time and want to share my little bits of wisdom with anyone making their way in the writing world.

7 Ways A New Writer Can Be Successful

There are many ways to be successful when it comes to writing, but there are a few that I think stand out from the rest. Let’s take a look at what you can do to have a successful writing career whether you are writing a book or focusing on blogging for your business.

  1. Write One Word, and Then Another and Another. This is incredibly common sense, but many new writers get so caught up trying to “be the best” in writing that they forget. When you are starting out as a writer and are looking for excellent tips, the best one to start with is simply to write. Write one word, then another and another until you have a sentence and so on. This is something award-winning author Neil Gaiman is known for saying, and it is incredibly helpful and true. When you focus too hard on getting the best short story, wanting the next Harry Potter franchise or having a stellar content campaign like Disney, you will get discouraged easily. However, if you just start to write and keep writing, you will find that you are able to come up with great content no matter what it is you are writing.
  1. Know Your Resources and Follow Them. Writers all need to have resources, no matter if they are writing fiction, non-fiction, or focusing on writing web copy. Resources help give direction for content and give great, useful information. If you don’t use resources, you can end up saying things that aren’t true or writing something incorrectly. For example, if you are writing a story based in the 1940s, you need to make sure you know the lingo they used. In addition, if you are writing web copy and want to rank with great SEO, you need to know what to do.Following SEO resources like Moz or Copyblogger can help provide you with the information you need. This will help keep you informed about SEO changes, as well as helping you create excellent content for your website or blog. No matter what you are writing, you will be able to find resources and you need to make sure you have access to them.
  1. Don’t Stress if Your Writing isn’t Top Quality Right Away. Writing is like playing an instrument or learning a new language, it takes time to master it. Even then, there will always be something new to learn, and you can’t expect to know it all. When you first start out writing, it isn’t going to be near as good as it could be simply because you are out of practice. Think of this; if you know a small amount of French but never practice it, you are going to have a hard time going around France, aren’t you? However, if you practice French, you will have an easier time traveling the country and understanding the people. The same can be said about writing. Keep practicing, and you will improve over time. When you first write and read your copy, don’t get discouraged if you feel it isn’t top quality or if someone gives you constructive criticism. Keep writing, and you’ll be epic in no time.
  1. Set Aside Time Each Day to Write. When I first started writing, I made sure that I set aside time each and every day to write. This is important because it helped with what I mention in point one – getting in the practice of writing and improving. Before I became a copywriter, I wrote short stories and little prose poems each day just to write, and that helped me work towards a goal of awesome writing. This helped immensely once I started in the content field, and since I was already in the practice of writing every day, there wasn’t much shifting to my writing schedule. Now, I write several thousand words a day, and it helps to grow my writing capabilities. Since you’re just now starting out, consider setting aside thirty minutes each day and bump it up to an hour or more as you get used to it. Work out that brain and your fingers, and you’ll be incredibly happy with the results.
  1. Stream of Consciousness Writing and Writing as You Speak Can Be Excellent. Stream of consciousness writing is a style of writing that is was popular amongst authors such as Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf. It is even still a major part of modern American literature and is something you can expect to read when buying books or even reading blogs. While you don’t always want to write in a stream of consciousness manner, this can help you create excellent written work that flows and sounds natural. Another way to achieve this is simply to write as you speak. Basically, doing these two types of writing will help you write content that is easy to read, flows well, and makes more sense to a casual reader. However, if you do end up going the stream of consciousness route, always make sure to proofread and have someone else look over it to make sure it makes sense.It is wise to know that stream of consciousness might not work as well for web content, as web content needs to have more structure to it. However, this can really help improve your writing if you follow point number four and write every day. Stream of consciousness makes that goal easier to achieve and helps you work on excellent ideas, as well helping you flesh out various points. You might even find you can create great blogs by writing in this format and then going back and making changes to help it be more structured.
  1. Avoid the Urge to Follow Popular Formulas. It can be easy to mimic popular, successful formulas when you start out writing. It seems like the way to go when you want to be successful, but that isn’t always the case. In fact, if you focus on following common formulas, you have a higher chance of learning bad habits, and you won’t improve. You can always gain inspiration from other writers, blogs, and websites, but you should always make sure you make it your own. This will help set you apart from others and make your writing something people prefer. You want to be known as someone who has new ideas, and can make readers think or give readers something to enjoy. You don’t want people to think you don’t have an original idea as that can lose readers quickly. Write original content consistently, and your writing success will take off incredibly.
  1. Don’t Hesitate to Take a Journalistic Approach to Writing. Approaching writing for your business’s blog can be daunting. However, a great way to start creating excellent content, even as a new writer, is to start writing with a journalistic approach. This can give you a great formula to start with, and help you craft excellent material that will get read by your clients, and might even get you noticed by industry leaders. This is even a great idea for up and coming authors, especially if you want to engage with your potential audience via blogs when promoting any of your work. A journalistic approach means that you write the pertinent information first, give more explanation about said information, and then give the general info towards the end. Use this when writing your blogs whether you are writing news content or just writing a plain, simple blog post for your followers or fans.

Write On!

Don’t fret about being a perfect writer just yet. Just focus on writing and having fun, and you will begin to see awesome results from readers. Once you start writing consistently, you will see improvement in your style, more clicks on blogs, and you might just even get published! Whatever your goal for writing is, these tips are sure to help you and give you the best chance possible.

If you are still unsure about writing, especially for your business’s blog, Express Writers can help. We have a great team of dedicated writers who have all experienced the awesomeness of the written word. We can provide you with excellent copy, no matter what it is you’re looking for. Take a look at our services to see just how our team can help you create excellent, written content.

Photo credit: VladimirFLoyd / iStock

Why Content Matters For Your Brand Presence on Social Media

Why Content Matters For Your Brand Presence on Social Media

by | May 19, 2015 | Social Media

Today, nearly every online marketer knows that content is king. Regardless of how pretty and well organized your website or blog is, none of it matters if you don’t have the content to back it up.

How does social media come into play with the need overall for content? Is content really that important in social media? Yes! The answer is yes, content is more important than ever on social media.

April was an absolute storm for updates and changes in the social media world and all of the new changes and rollouts are going to greatly impact who can see what and how content is viewed.

It is a dog-eat-dog world out in the social media world of content. Everyone can write and everyone can tell a story, the biggest thing you must ask yourself is if yours is better than everyone else’s—because that’s what it’s going to take to be heard, to be liked, to be followed. Couple the fact that everyone is clamoring to be heard with the new social media updates and you will see how it can be an uphill battle to get your voice out there.

The 3 Main Features of Facebook’s New Algorithm

What started as a fun place to stay up-to-date with your friends and like their cute baby’s pictures has turned into a mass media market and the perfect platform for promoting your business.

Unfortunately with changes last year to Facebook’s algorithm it hasn’t been as easy to get organic traffic to your brand’s Facebook page, but it is still possible to do. With the new algorithm update that rolled out on April 21, 2015, Facebook has taken it a step further, making it even harder to gain organic traffic and almost forcing brands to pay to promote their business. This new algorithm has some serious updates in store.

Facebook announced it is putting more emphasis on friends and like pages and less on brands. The new update includes the following features:

  1. The content you care about is right on top: Your close friends’ statuses, pictures and anything else you look at consistently is shown at the beginning of your timeline so that you don’t miss anything in the lives of the people you care about most. This goes for pages as well. Pages you consistently interact with will be shown at the top of your news feed.
  2. Less posts from those you don’t: For those without many interactions, friends or like pages, Facebook has relaxed the number of times you can see their posts. Therefore, you can now have back-to-back posts that were previously blocked from coming through on your news feed.
  3. Less non-relevant notifications: Lastly, those annoying likes and comments friends make on other’s pages and posts that you could personally care less about and usually from people you have no clue who they are, will be buried at the bottom of your news feed, or quite possibly not visible to you at all.

So why is content on Facebook more important now than ever before? Because by placing the emphasis on friends and shoving the brands to the back burner, you are going to need every fan you have to help push your content without having to pay for it. Every time your content is shared, all of their close friends will be notified and have the opportunity to read it. Without good content, you are pretty close to dead in the water – or at least looking at a much larger Facebook marketing budget.

What’s New? Hello, Discover from Snapchat

Snapchat has always been a really fun way to see pictures of your niece or nephew or your friend’s crazy weekend out. With the addition of Snapchat’s Discover, storytelling takes on a whole new role with this media platform.

By offering a place to tell stories, users can open up different editions to see what is out there. Popular brands such as ESPN, the Food Network and National Geographic have their own channels where you can watch video. Simply open the channel to view the snap. If you like what you see, you can swipe up and view the whole video, and otherwise you can swipe left to see more.

Because what’s hot today is old news tomorrow, these channels are updated every 24 hours to keep content fresh and exactly what you’re looking for.

In today’s instant gratification world, millennials don’t waste time looking at things that don’t intrigue them. Discover starts with 10 second clips, letting you quickly decide if it is worth your time to check out, therefore not wasting your time watching a whole video of something you really don’t care about.

While this is a really great update and feature it lacks in a major way that other social media platforms don’t have problems with – there is no engagement. While storytelling and content are so important, consumers want engagement from brands. Discover is simply an in-your-face marketing tool where there is no way to interact beyond watching the video.

7 Ways To Get the Best Content Out There & Be Social On Your Platforms

It’s no secret that with everyone and their mother sharing stories and content on social media, a lot gets overlooked or not viewed. So how do you combat that? How do you get your voice heard and noticed in an over-saturated market?

  1. Post pictures. In everything you do, post pictures. No, more than that, post intriguing pictures – pictures that make you want to open the story and read it because you just can’t imagine what that image has in store for you. On platforms like Twitter, that picture may be the only reason someone opens your story, since Twitter only gives you so many characters to explain what you are doing. Therefore, that picture has to speak 1000 words before your actual words are even read.
  2. Share your content everywhere. Put it on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Google Plus and Pinterest. The more places your content is shared the more likely that people are going to read it, love it and ultimately share it. Don’t be afraid to share it more than once either. The more times your content is shared the better chance you have that people will read it and then share it with their friends. Choose different times of the day and days of the week to get the most views out of your content.
  3. Write things that everyone can relate to, not only a small group of people. You don’t have to write about your product for every post, just make sure it is relevant to your product. For example if you are trying to promote new kitchen appliances, it is a good idea to post a few recipes. This way you can bring in people who aren’t looking for a new stove at the moment but just can’t pass up that delicious, home style chicken and dumplings recipe that looks like grandma handed it down through generations.
  4. Use a consistent voice across all social media platforms. Pretty much be the same person on Facebook as you are on Twitter. Your goal is to make everything as genuine and as personal as possible. Having one voice on Facebook and a totally different persona on Twitter will discredit you and ultimately hurt your readership.
  5. Engage your readers. It’s not enough just to have great content; you want your readers to interact. Use a conversational tone in your writing and ask questions that you truly want to be answered. When they are answered, respond! You don’t have to respond to every single person who answers if the responses are overwhelming, but at least respond to a few of them. Let them know there’s a person behind the computer that wants them to be a part of what you are doing.
  6. Stay on top of social media updates and know what you’re up against. Being ahead of the game has never been a bad thing and surely isn’t in the case of the social media content wars.
  7. Lastly, utilize the metrics available across all of the different social media platforms to find out what is working for you and what isn’t. This is a great time to look at posting times and days. A post may hit Facebook at 9 a.m. and perform at its best, but be a total flop on Twitter because most of your followers don’t check Twitter until lunchtime. You may need to schedule different posting times between the different platforms to get the absolute best outcomes.

More Than Anything – Interact & Be Social

Social media didn’t get its name from being a one-sided platform to share information. No, it is the ultimate in brand and consumer interaction and the easiest way to gain recognition is to be present and engaged in your social media postings.

Why is social media interaction so important? Simply put, because it puts a face and a voice to an otherwise unattainable brand. If someone were to leave a less than desirable comment about something you shared on Facebook, ask them why or take their constructive criticism and take the time to thank them for their input and look into it. Not only are you making it personal to that person, but it also shows the thousands of other people that you care about the content you are sharing, you are passionate about your product and you care what the people think about you.

There are thousands of people sharing recipes on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, what makes your stand out? What makes people want to keep checking your site versus others when they are looking for something new to make for their family? Yes, of course your recipes may be better and your writing style may draw a few people in, but engaging with your readers makes them think of you more as a friend and less as a business. Friends always go to friends first when they need advice, or in this case, dinner ideas. So naturally they are coming to your site first.

And then guess what they are going to do? Yep, they are going to share it with their friends and promote it that everyone needs to check you out because you are without a doubt the best choice out there. And you will ultimately gain more followers, likes and retweets all because you responded to a comment or a tweet. A simple thirty-second response can be king in growing your followers.

A Simple Tip: Offer a Lot of Quality Content

Someone who reads the content you share and likes it often wants more. You can never have too much content, but you can certainly have too little! So how often should you share on social media? Well, that depends on the social media platform you are sharing to.

You want to share much more to Pinterest and Twitter than you would to Facebook or Google Plus.

Along with how often you share, how much you write is a big factor as well. Smaller blog posts, while quick and easy to read, often result in a higher bounce rate because they do not engage the reader or keep them wanting more. Blog posts of at least 1000 words are more likely to keep the reader clicking through other posts on your page because they want to learn more and read more of what you have to offer. The more content you have to offer, the more likely a reader is to check back on your blog or website often to see what has been updated.

If you pair good writing and heavy content with these simple steps, your use of social media should be at its peak and you will inevitably gain readership.

Photo credit: DragonImages / iStock

7 Ways to Write Awe-Inspiring Copy for Yawn-Inspiring Niches

7 Ways to Write Awe-Inspiring Copy for Yawn-Inspiring Niches

by | Apr 10, 2015 | Copywriting

Let’s face it: not all brands that we hear about are as hip, recognizable, popular and well-established as Old Spice, Coca Cola or Red Bull. As a content creator, you may have to craft killer copy with a real substance for plumbing companies, accounting firms and businesses selling construction supplies. In all honesty, such players operating on yawn-inspiring niches are far from being glamorous, so how could you use your mind and your pen to make these industries shine on their own?

[Tweet “There are no boring subjects, only disinterested minds.”]

 

How Do You Actually Define and Represent a Yawn-Inspiring Product?

If you were to adapt G.K Chesterton’s statement to make it reflect the realities of the content marketing world, you would most likely reach the conclusion that there are no boring products; only boring content specialists who fail to capture and highlight the essence of the stuff that they have to market. Just think about it: no matter how generic, outdated or mundane it might be, any category of goods or services still manages to respond to the needs and demands of a narrow niche of potential buyers and yes, those people want to hear everything about them. How much do they cost? Are they really that good? How are they different from other available options and why should they actually buy them? These are only a few questions that a good copywriter should have in mind when it comes to promoting less trendy, innovative or interesting products in an effective manner.

7 Ways in Which You Can Resuscitate Your Copy for an Allegedly Boring Concept

So now that we can all agree on the fact that there is no such thing as a 100% boring product, let’s assume that you’re stuck with a run-of-the-mill line of goods whose looks, functionality and promised benefits do not actually stimulate your brain cells. Your inspiration is long gone and you can picture yourself losing sleep, chewing on your pencil, drinking way too much coffee, praying for creativity, crying and pushing the intimidating deadline over and over again. How can you avoid such a dramatic episode, give 110% at work and turn the copy for those unremarkable products into one of your most notable written works of art? Here are a few ways in which you could do those yawn-inspiring businesses justice.

  1. Your Product Evokes At Least One of Four Key Emotions: Prove It! Have you ever wondered what separates viral content from the one that sinks into oblivion soon after its production phase? According to recent research made public by the University of Pennsylvania, viral content owes its popularity to a mix of four key attributes: surprising, awe-inspiring, emotional and positive. No matter how dull your product may be, chances are that it can actually be associated with at least one of the four characteristics listed above. If you can’t find the link between your concept and these adjectives, create it yourself. Add a surprise element to your copy to accentuate the uniqueness of your product; create a stimulating story around the things that you’re struggling to market in order to craft emotion-rich copy that convinces, converts and sells better than anything else. The possibilities are endless; you just have to learn how to play with the right mix of emotions to get to your readers’ hearts.
  2. Think Outside the Box. The mere thought that you have to come up with an original idea and become the creator of something that has never been said or written before can be quite frightening. How can you overcome your anxiety and report amazing results during this challenge? According to a recent article published by Entrepreneur, ironically, thinking outside the box implies following certain rules and guidelines. Did you know that too much creative freedom can actually kill your concentration? Neither did we. Here are three strategies that you can apply to guide your brainstorming session in the right direction.
  • Set up Parameters for Your Brainstorming Process. Start by setting up a deadline for the overall process; this will keep you focused and organized. Next, strategize by putting pen to paper. Make lists. Enumerate the uses and benefits linked to your product. Circle the ones that could make your prospects’ hearts skip a beat and spend the rest of your time trying to figure out how you could emphasize them.
  • Search for Inspiration in the Most Random Places. This way, you will stimulate your brain to make new connections that it wouldn’t normally establish.
  • Put Quality over Quantity. You don’t need one hundred directions for your copy, so make sure you focus on one or two key aspects of your goods, rather than filling pages with unnecessary words that nobody has time or patience to listen to.
  1. Turn Features into Benefits. Here’s another shocking truth that you should be prepared to handle: prospects don’t really care about product features; they are all looking forward to hearing more about the benefits promised by the products that you’re representing. So instead of saying that a certain laptop has a rugged design, choose to highlight the fact that the gadget can withstand years on non-stop abuse. Disclose the fact that you can spill countless cups of water on it without suffering the consequences. You can drop it from a height exceeding 6 feet and expect to get it back in one piece. So basically, when you’re turning features into benefits you’re actually learning how to say the same thing in a different manner while getting the readers involved by stimulating their imagination.
  2. Find the Simplest Way to Electrify and Elevate the Ordinary Benefit. Let’s continue with the same exercise, shall we? You can say many things about a last-generation laptop. Its battery lasts for ages, its roughed design is pretty impressive, the laptop can withstand most stressors, yada yada yada, the price-quality relationship is also an advantage. By listing all these favorable things, you will most likely confuse or bore your readers and kill their focus. Instead of talking about all these benefits, accentuate the most important one and craft your copy around it.
  3. Create an Interesting Story around a Less Interesting Product Feature. According to Copyblogger, when it comes to marketing a product launched on a “boring” market, you can step up your game by tackling a less exciting feature and give it a different spin. According to Hubspot, this is the key to taking a brand or good from dull to exciting over the shortest period of time. The story behind that one feature is the element that can make or break your copy. Skilled content markets managed to breathe new life into a plain corrector fluid by creating and promoting a series of funny, surprising videos presenting encounters between a bear and a hunter. Through this simple strategy employed via YouTube, Tipp-Ex counted over 46 million views and witnessed sales increases of approximately 30%, among other notable benefits.If Tipp-Ex made corrector fluid become hip, then you can certainly put your mind at work to make anything else cooler than cool.
  1. Work Closely with the Client. Don’t be afraid to get the client involved in the creative process. In some cases, you can obtain the most satisfying food for thought from your customers. Meet them in person and expand on different topics. Not all of them have to be strictly related to the line of products or services that you’re striving to promote as efficiently as possible. For example, a real-life story explaining how the company was started and operated by three different generations is a gold mine that you can explore to reach your audience. At the end of the day, your prospects want to hear from brands with stories that they can relate to. Find out what makes a certain company unique in its yawn-inspiring industry and turn these attributes into the focal points of your narrative.
  2. Provoke Conversations to Come up with New Marketable Assets. Here’s an extra tip that you may want to consider: don’t avoid social interactions. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should start approaching strangers on a bus. Whenever you get the chance, talk to your friends, acquaintances and relatives about the project that they’re working on. Some of them may match the profile of the prospects that you’re trying to attract. Why would they buy a certain product? Why wouldn’t they? What kind of benefits do they expect to witness during or after the buying process? Even the least creative people can help you understand the way in which potential clients could interact with the new concept that you’re promoting, so make sure you include your copy inspiration and challenges in your list of amiable chit-chat topics.

Actually, Being Boring By Definition Is Not That Bad

Products launched on boring niches actually have an advantage: as soon as they benefit from above average copy, they can easily crush the competition in their sector. Buyers know that corrector fluid is useful, but nobody has ever thought that it can also be incredibly hip and desirable. No matter how mundane your product or service can be, remember that you could always count on a professional writer who could identify and underline the cool factor of your brand and goods, help you fuel your connection with your audience and make your competitors bite the dust.

Photo credit: Tomwang112  / iStock

9 Ways to Spring Clean Your Content, Starting Now

9 Ways to Spring Clean Your Content, Starting Now

by | Apr 7, 2015 | Copywriting

The birds are singing, the grass is getting greener, and all that snow is finally melting; that must mean spring is finally here! One of the things I love about spring is getting the chance to take stock of the things I have around my home and do some deep spring cleaning to clean out all the gloom from the winter. Spring-cleaning is not only perfect to do around the home, but it is also incredible for your web content. That’s right, you can spring clean your content to make it better and stronger than ever. I am going to take a look at this and give you some excellent tips to spring clean your content.

Why Should You Spring Clean Your Content?

Over the years, we’ve all created excellent content that met the current strategies and needs of the Internet-world. There have been plenty of Google updates, and many people have worked to make sure their content meets each algorithm for the best results. However, all of this content can become stale and start cluttering up your website. You should take the chance to re-organize your content and make sure everything is in tip-top shape for the rest of the year.

How Can You Do It?

“I don’t want to get rid of all of my web pages, though!” Don’t worry, you don’t have to get rid and donate your pages like you would your household items or clothing. But you can do some awesome things to make sure your content is new and looking better than ever. I am going to take a look at the top ways you can achieve this and make your content awesome for the rest of 2015.

 Spring Is Here: Our Guide to Spring-Cleaning Your Web Content

Here are the top ways you can spring clean your content, starting as soon as possible.

  1. Get a Content Audit to Refresh and Clean Your Existing Content. One of the best ways to start the spring clean is to get an awesome content audit. What does a content audit do for your site and how can it help you organize things? A content audit will check your URLs and page titles to make sure nothing is broken and to help you implement adequate keywords to help with ranks. It can also help you look at your product descriptions, blogs, and other forms of content to see if it matches up with the latest Google algorithms, as well as checking for grammar and spelling. In short, a content audit will take a look at your entire website and help you to start working on some excellent ways to fix your website and make it perfect.
  1. Take a Look at Keywords – Do New, Fresh Keyword Research. Even with the latest content updates to Google algorithms, keywords are still vital to websites and helping your rank. However, many people don’t realize that the keywords that worked two months ago might not work now. The best way to make sure your content is still leveraging the advantage you want is to do fresh keyword research and implement new keywords for your website. This can also help you research new keywords as you think of them, and implement new ones into your strategy. You can do keyword research on your own or find professionals who are trained in research to help you find the best ones for your site.
  1. Generate New Blog Topic Ideas for the Month. You can come up with blog topics for the whole year, but it is best to make sure those are all evergreen topics that will still be relevant in a few years. However, you should come up with new blog topics each month to help keep your content consistently fresh. This will help you write about great, trendy things going on in your industry as well as writing on news topics to give your clients and readers more, useful information.Coming up with blog topics can be difficult, but it is possible. HubSpot provides a blog topic generator that helps you come up with great headlines and can help you brainstorm new ideas. If you’re still having a hard time coming up with new topic ideas, you can follow some of the suggestions from Entrepreneur such as writing on the questions your clients ask or something you’d like to know more about yourself.
  1. Create a Content Editorial Calendar. In order to keep your content organized and looking amazing, you can also create a content editorial calendar for the year and current month. You don’t necessarily need anything fancy, you can use Google Calendar, but you can also create your own template. Either way you choose, it will help you organize your ideas. If you constantly review it and compare with analytics, it can also help you see which posts are currently working and if you need to tweak any of your future posts to match.
  1. Get Fresh Content Such as Product Descriptions and Web Pages. Sit back and take a second to think – how long have you had your current product descriptions and static content? Sure, you may have had regular blogs posted but have you thought about your other content? Having the same content for a long time can make your website look and feel stale. While new customers might not notice this, your existing clients will. A great way to spring clean your content is to get fresh content for your various landing pages and product descriptions. This will look great and, you can even share new information you may have about your product or service.
  1. Re-evaluate Your Social Media Strategy. Just like with fresh content on your website, you need to have fresh content for your social media pages. While you might be consistently publishing new content, you need to make sure the strategy is still working. Take the time to look at your strategy and see what is working and what isn’t to make any necessary changes. A great way to do this is to review your social media analytics. However, don’t make this a once a year thing, review your analytics every month or every other week. Just choose a time and schedule that works for you to help you see how well your social strategy is working and make any necessary changes.
  1. Hire Copyeditors to Look Over Your Work. If you notice that your content has several errors or know that you haven’t always bee a stronger writer, then a good idea is to have your content copyedited by a trained professional. Copyeditors can be the second pair of eyes that looks at content to ensure it is grammatically correct and that there aren’t any spelling errors. If they are trained in SEO, they can also check to ensure that you utilize your keywords to their full potential. Copyeditors can also look for other elements such as high-quality content and the research to back it up. This will help you make sure you have the best content, no matter what, helping your page rank higher on the SERP and gaining more clicks and eventually more revenue.
  1. Consider Hiring Industry Copywriters to Improve Your Reach. Along with a copyeditor, you can also hire industry copywriters to improve your content and reach. Copywriters are great because they understand the importance of high-quality work and have been trained in creating excellent content. While you may have plenty of experience in your industry, your writing may not be on par with what your site truly needs. In addition to a generic copywriter, an industry copywriter can implement the knowledge of your industry into your writing. There are several copywriters out there who can write excellent content for your specific industry making sure it is not only high quality but also knowledgeable to help set you apart from your competitors, and helping you rank.
  1. Review Your Strategies and Make Any and All Tweaks. The one thing with content, whether social content or on your website is that rules can and do, change. This means that you need to be in the know with the changes that are happening and start tweaking your content to meet them. Yes, this means you will need to be consistently learning new things, but this will help you leverage your content and get exactly what you need out of it. If you don’t learn the new tips and tricks, you could be stuck back in the Internet Stone Age, losing out on both new and existing customers.

Don’t Forget to Whistle While You Work

Spring cleaning can be a fun time to see what your content looks like and how you can improve every aspect of your business. If you are looking for content auditing services or for industry copywriters to help you spring clean your content, look no further. Express Writers has some of the most talented team members that will work to make sure your website, blog, and social channels have the best quality, helping you clean out the cobwebs and making excellent content. Don’t hesitate to contact us to see just how we can help you.

Photo credit: DanComaniciu / iStock