content writing - Express Writers

15 Ways to Keep Your Content Flow Organized

December 31, 2020February 16, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Do you have some awesome topic ideas and great content marketing planned out, but you accidentally forgot to write it down? Or, you might have hundreds of sticky notes around your office? 15 Tips for Staying Organized with Your Content Organization is key to having successful content because you are going to have a hard time remembering everything if it isn’t organized well. Just how do you get organized with your content ideas and flow? Let’s look at a few tips that will help. Use Programs Such as DropBox. If you are looking for a great way to keep things organized but want to be able to access it whether you are on your own computer or not, programs like DropBox are perfect. You can easily put your content folders into this cloud-based system, and be able to do your marketing from anywhere in the world. This is also great because, we all know computers like to be finicky, and might just crash one day. If that happens, all of your ideas are not only saved on your computer and an external hard drive, but also on DropBox. Utilizing List Apps and Programs. One of the best ways to stay organized, whether it is for personal life things or marketing, is to keep a list of everything you need. A big mistake many people make with lists, however, is having a master list for every single thing both business and personal, and all the little things in-between. By using list programs such as the Reminders app on iPhone and iMac, or Remember the Milk, can help you create multiple lists for multiple things. I love lists, because they help me get through my busy content days and helps me remember what I need from the store or other non-work life related things. Try some lists out today and watch that organization and flow improve! Planning Out Your Schedule for the Next Week or Two. Another thing that helps me immensely with getting organized is not just having a plan for the upcoming month (which I will talk about later) but is also scheduling out my week and two weeks. This helps because you don’t just have content marketing going on, you have other things pertaining to your business, and, again, personal life. When you sit down and plan everything out, you will be able to delegate time to different tasks and know when you should start and finish something. While this might not always go to plan, you will find that you will be more productive and get things finished on time. You will also notice things aren’t quite as stressful if you already have a plan in place! Using an Editorial Calendar to Keep Your Topics Organized for Months. When it comes to content, you need to make sure that you are not only prepared for the current month, but also for the next few months. A great way to do this is to sit down with your topics and campaign ideas and implement them into an editorial calendar. This will help keep your thoughts and topics organized, and you will be relatively stress-free for the next few months. Many places suggest having an editorial calendar set up for about six months or having one in place for the entire content year. Are you not sure how to create an editorial calendar? Don’t worry! Hubspot offers a great, free calendar! Create a Content Inventory. A content inventory helps you keep track of the content you’ve done, as well as what areas you haven’t covered. It can even show you areas you have covered some, but not enough. A content inventory is also a great way to keep track of every web page you have from your about section to a contact page or anything else you have or need. What you can do is open an excel sheet or a Google Doc and catalog each page you have by name, link, and a small sentence about why you need it. This can help you figure out new pages you need and how you can also organize your web page. It can also help you see if you might have a landing page or two that you don’t really need. However, it will take quite a bit of time to create a content inventory, so be sure you have enough time set aside to do this. Don’t Hesitate to Use Good Old Fashioned Paper and Pencil. Technology is great and can really help you get organized, but you shouldn’t ignore good, old-fashioned practices of staying organized. Consider getting a planner and writing down your content schedule or what you need to do in the future. Keep notes of your different topics or simply use pencil and paper to brainstorm. Many times, this can help people stay more organized than a calendar on a computer because writing it by hand can commit it to memory easier. I know that writing down things on paper is quite a big help for me and I find that I get a lot more done that way. Use a Sitemap to Keep Your Flow Organized. Sitemaps can be incredibly helpful when you are trying to stay organized. This can show you which pages are the most important and that you want more clicks to, but it can also show you which pages you need to change and improve to make them more impactful. It can be a simple thing to make either on your own or with a program. You will find that, when you have this written out in a diagram format, it will be easier to see what you need to do and make necessary changes. A sitemap will also show the relationships between pages. However, this can be difficult to decipher, which can make a sitemap a little harder. You should still give it a try and see how it benefits you! Use a Post Tracker to Help Stay Organized. A … Read more

Taking Content Ideas from an Award-Winning Movie, The King’s Speech

December 31, 2020June 2, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Image credit: Trinitynews.ie If you love award-winning historical movies that motivate you to pursue your most ambitious dreams, chances are that you have enjoyed (or will enjoy) The King’s Speech. This 2010 masterpiece directed by Tom Hooper won 4 Oscars in 2011 for Best Writing, Best Direction, Best Actor and Best Picture, outshining all its counterparts. Most people who watch this movie are inevitably moved by King George VI’s efforts to cope with his frustrating stammering. This speech disorder stands in the way of his success and forces him to get expert help to be able to make his first radio broadcast in 1939. Naturally, skilled content creators will read through the lines and realize that The King’s Speech is not all about the new King’s attempts to control his stuttering, eliminate his fear of public speaking and find his own voice. This heartwarming story also encompasses a plentitude of useful copywriting lessons that can help marketers and content creators improve their tactics and obtain better end results in the long run. Here’s what I’ve learned from the King’s Speech. 1) Originality Is Not a Capital Sin. To overcome his stuttering condition that is putting his position at great risk, George VI decides to see a specialist. This is how he meets Lionel Logue, a respectable and highly controversial Australian speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush. The problem is that Lionel Logue is far from being the submissive servant that a member of a royal family would normally expect to rely on. His methods are often unorthodox and innovative and he doesn’t seem willing to make any kind of compromises because he is fully aware of the fact that he provides top-notch, extremely effective services. Originality is not a crime; on the contrary, original content allows you to make a name for yourself, become a valuable source of inspiration for other players in your niche and stimulate the curiosity of your readers. You don’t have to adjust your methods or dilute the original quality of your content just to please the masses. If you do compromise, this will only make you lose repeat customers and put your reputation on the line. Once you’ve finally managed to come up with a good content strategy, personalize it according to your own needs, goals and expectations and stick to it. 2) Let Them Leave, But Keep the Door Open. We all know how frustrating it really is to invest time, money and energy in a successful content marketing campaign without actually managing to please your clients or collaborators. Some clients and prospects just don’t get your modus operandi. Some of them just need a little bit more time to get familiar with your unique approach, your marketing strategies or your writing style. This is perfectly understandable. This doesn’t mean that you have to cling to their feet and stop them from leaving. Keep Up the Good Work. If you’re good at what you do, keep your head high and your standards higher. They will eventually come back. The King’s Speech supports this idea. Shocked and intimidated by his therapist’s radical approach to addressing stammering, Bertie, the new king, decides to find another specialist who could stimulate his progress. After a short period of time, he realizes that the tough love method set in place by Logue was the only one that could actually favor noticeable improvements. Therefore, Bertie goes back to Logue’s office and continues his therapy sessions. Implement Your Own Selection Criteria When It Comes to Choosing Your Audience. In his instructional guide for business owners, entitled “Book Yourself Solid”, Michael Port talks about the so-called “red velvet rope policy,” and its impact on (content) creators. In short, the key to success is to filter your clientele and your business partners and eliminate nutcases who could make you feel insecure without a reason. To perform optimally, content creators and marketers should be surrounded by people who energize them, share their methods and creative vision and actually inspire them to come up with meaningful content pieces and distribution tactics that exceed every expectation. Developing a Negative Feedback Obsession Isn’t Healthy. According to Copyblogger, “dangerous” feedback from your readers can make you steer in the wrong direction. If you focus solely on complaints and any other kind of negative feedback provided by your crankiest readers, chances are that you’ll lose your voice and drown in a sea of uncertainties. You don’t have to divide your visitors into two categories: Brand Evangelists and the Devil. The main idea is that you should deliver great value to the targeted audience that represents a good fit for you and worry less about minorities. You can’t please everybody. 3) It Is Highly Recommended to Get Up Close and Personal with Your Clients. In orderto stimulate Bertie’s self-corrective abilities, Logue creates a powerful connection with his client. In a nurturing environment that supports the king’s progress, Logue tries to identify the factors that triggered his patient’s speech disorder in the first place. He makes Bertie relive the past and digs deep to tackle the real root of the problem. By understanding the unique impediments that stop Bertie from preparing and delivering a flawless speech, Logue manages to come up with the right solution to George VI’s pressing issue. The Definitive Guide to Copywriting by Neal Patel and Joseph Putnam reveals that the web content that you write shouldn’t be about yourself, your brand or your personal ambitions and business goals. It should be about your readers. This is precisely why great copy involves a deeper understanding of your audience. Just like the great David Ogilvy once said, “advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.” Therefore, you should realize who you’re writing for, how your readers think and what exactly they want from you. All in all, The King’s Speech provides a few useful valuable lessons enabling copywriters to enhance the quality of their work and build solider bridges between … Read more

6 Ideas For Keeping Up With Content Demands

January 1, 2021May 22, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Today, one of the biggest investments for your online marketing is content. Just how big? Check out this interesting formula on how to calculate how many “questions” you could possibly “answer” with content for your niche audience. Take the example of a typical business content marketing flow and need. Let’s say you sell dog food. Some possible content marketing for that simple, down-to-earth industry would include newsletters, blogs, print brochures for your local clientele, and possibly an infographic or two if you want to be trendy with your content. Now let’s take a look at the content need for just one of those avenues. Since blogging is one of the best ways to rank with Google (confirmed by SocialMediaExaminer experts) and long and frequent blogs are better, you’ll need at least 3 topic ideas per week. Getting those topics can be easy, if you know from which bucket to pull ideas. For example, what do your clients often ask you when they call in? If it focuses on grooming, come up with countless topics based on toenail grooming instructions, hair grooming, and then God only knows how many breeds you can come up with for different grooming instructions, from Pomeranians to Labradors. How to Keep Up With Your Content Demands Your content demands are going to be simple, but they sure can overwhelm you quickly. We are going to take some time to go through various ideas to keep up with the demands. 1. Make Your Content Available Everywhere. There is no greater letdown then trying to access the company’s website on your smartphone and realize it is only available in desktop mode. Another letdown is that a website may have a mobile platform but when you load it on your tablet, it is terrible. A great example of this is Instagram. You can only view the app on your tablet in mobile mode, but it is the size of a phone screen. If you resize it, everything is blurry and ugly looking. It makes using Instagram on a tablet difficult. It might be silly, but that frustration is real and it can make someone ignore your site. Make sure your site content is available in different formats from desktop mode to mobile to tablet. By doing this, you will limit the amount of complaints you get each month, lessening the overwhelming feeling that your content strategy is way too big to manage. 2. Have A Focused Campaign. If your campaign is all over the map, you will definitely feel overwhelmed with your content, B2BMarketingInsider.com writes. You’ll feel like it is impossible to keep up with and this can cause you to burn out and not reach a wide audience. Keeping with the dog food motif, make one campaign solely based on keeping your pet healthy with natural foods, run some blogs during that campaign that deal with why it is important to feed certain foods to certain dogs. You can even break it down into breed or age specificity. For the next campaign, talk about how food can help a dog’s coat and write a blog with various grooming tips. This helps you stay focused and sends a clear message to your customers. 3. Utilize Different Formats and Repurpose. You don’t have to keep using one format. More formats equal more viewers and will help generate more buzz for your product. We listed some of these great formats above such as blogging, infographics, newsletters, and brochures. We think you should give them a shot! Now, you are probably wondering if you need to craft all sorts of new content for these different formats, the good news is you don’t. You can repurpose the content you’ve already written and use it in multiple formats. Quicksprout offers a really handy guide to do just that and this will definitely ease your content demand woes. 4. Make Accessible Goals For Your Content. A major reason your content demands are becoming overwhelming is because you have set some unattainable goals. Sure, your goals might be what you want in the future but right now, you’re going to have to give yourself time. Start by making smaller, more accessible content goals and grow your goals along with your company and how much content your clients are expecting. The demands won’t be as overwhelming for you by starting out small and slowly growing. 5. Work With Everyone, No Matter His or Her Language. Are you getting comments in French, Spanish, or Russian? Well, those comments probably aren’t spam like many people think and thankfully most browsers (i.e. Google Chrome) offer the ability to translate on the spot. Utilize those available translations and see what people are writing. This could be a very good indication that your product is starting to go global. Now, don’t let this overwhelm you! There are many tools out there that can help and you can start working on a strategy for global content writing. First off, start by using a translating tool to respond. Always make sure the person knows you don’t know their language when using a translation program. This will help you engage with your customers, no matter what. Secondly, if you are getting more comments and views from overseas, start considering the steps to write for a global market. 6. Dedicate A Staff Member For Content Purposes. If content planning and strategy are becoming way too overwhelming for you to maintain, consider hiring someone solely for content. This can be either someone who is an outside source or someone who works within your company. You will still have a say in the matter, but let them do the ultimate crafting to keep the pressure off of you. This will be a great way to ensure you have quality content all the time. Stick To These and Everything Will Be Fine By following these 6 tips, you will find that you aren’t as overwhelmed with your content demand as when you started. These tips will help relieve a lot of unnecessary stress and will help keep your content … Read more

Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey: 4 Ways TV and Movies Can Inspire Content

January 1, 2021April 29, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Image credit: screendwellers.com Are you stuck in a content rut and just can’t get out? Do you like TV and movies? TV and films can be incredible for content inspiration and you may just find yourself able to come up with some great ideas by spending some quality time binge watching your favorite show or having a movie night. So get settled in with a bowl of popcorn and get ready to learn some neat tricks! Exterminate the Content Myths! First off, let’s discuss the myths of how detrimental Netflix can be to writers. You have no doubt seen articles that bash streaming services or movies as time wasters and that in order to be productive you have to avoid them at all costs. The reality is, a television show or a movie might just get you out of a content rut or may even give you a T.A.R.D.I.S full of ideas. Writer’s block happens to the best of us and we all need something that will break the horrible wall in our brains. Here are a few ways TV and film inspire and help your content: 1. Bow Ties and Fezzes … Are Cool. In the age of viral media, you want to be relevant and cool. Watching new television series or films will help keep you up-to-date with what is popular and trending. However, don’t limit yourself to what you think is popular because you may find that there are many older shows or films that are still quite trendy or are rising in popularity again. Take A Clockwork Orange for example – a lot of people in the 70s watched this Kubrick classic, but it became the film of the counterculture. Because of this, it eventually lost mainstream popularity, until now. Now Alex’s signature style and Nadast language is everywhere. People are constantly doing A Clockwork Orange mashups. It is trendy again, and this time it is not just for a small counterculture (though many still argue it is more of a counterculture film and book). The best way to know about classics becoming popular again is to watch Twitter and Facebook to keep up with all the current trends. You’ll be surprised just what all is popular. 2. What Would River Song Do? Do you remember those times in English class where you had to write character comparisons? Wasn’t that fun? When it comes time to write your content you should do just that, compare and contrast things in a way your favorite character would or write it from their point of view. It will provide some unique insight into your product and promote more involvement for yourself and your readers. You’ll find that you have a blast writing content in a different character’s voice; try it the next time you hit a rut. 3. Daleks Are Not Cool (To the Doctor, That Is). If you’re always rolling around with an egg beater for a gun and screaming “Exterminate” readers will leave you faster than the Doctor (9) running away from family dinners. TV and films show that being negative is a sure fire way to lose readers and customers. Sure, you may post a few “do this, not that” posts but try to keep them at least somewhat nice. We write some heavy hitting pieces, but we make sure to put humor throughout to lessen the blow and help make it memorable instead of making readers furious. Also, another uncool move is spoiling things for readers, whether it is your own content or the show you are using as inspiration. Spoilers are a big deal on the Internet right now, and while many have valid arguments on both sides, you don’t want to be responsible for saying who died on that really popular show. 4. Don’t Pull a Moffat. You want to pull on heartstrings occasionally, but it isn’t the best method to make every single piece of content something that will make your readers violent. Stephen Moffat is a prime example of this with both the Doctor Who series and Sherlock. The fandoms are ready to riot after any episode he films, which are usually season finales or other major episodes (Christmas specials and the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary). Readers will not appreciate it if you continually try to manipulate emotions via headlines or other content. In fact, people are slowly pulling away from Upworthy titles because they really don’t like feeling manipulated. Keep the emotional posts for occasional use only and you’ll find you have a perfect piece of content – just like Vincent and the Doctor (not directed by Moffat, but a great example of expertly using emotion). Inspiration Can Be Found Anywhere “But I am not much of a TV person. How else can I get inspired?” Well, you don’t need just to watch TV or films; you can gain inspiration through video games, reading, magazines, museums, and so many other things, Copyblogger writes. Use history as a framework for your next content piece or do a whole month based on dinosaurs. Anything can be used for inspiration; so don’t let the Daleks get you down. In The End, The Doctor Likes To Read and Learn The Doctor has had several adventures that have been pretty fun. Some of these adventures center around authors and, as we find out, the Doctor knows a lot about them. He has read and met Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and Agatha Christie. Sometimes, he just sits around the T.A.R.D.I.S reading about quantum mechanics. This Time Lord loves to learn and his adventures are made so much more interesting because of it. Take inspiration from the Doctor and read or listen to a wide selection of different authors and on several different subjects. The more you read, the more you learn. Always being willing to learn will help you as you try to write new and exciting content. Learn about science, the English language, history, geography and the world will open up to you. So … Read more

17 Ways to Get Creative and Not Spin Out Old Content

January 1, 2021March 20, 2014 by Adam Oakley

“I’m sick and tired of people saying that we put out 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we’ve put out 12 albums that sound exactly the same.” – Angus Young, AC/DC No one wants to listen to the same songs on repeat for years. Television shows that go into syndication eventually stop being shown entirely. Repeating content can be dangerous business. Some people make a career out of it but most of the time it simply doesn’t work out. And, really, if you’re churning out the same content day in and day out, you’ll get incredibly bored. It’s like repeating a word over and over again. Eventually it just becomes meaningless. And think of your audience. If you’re in the business of making guitars and you put some content on your website about how to play popular songs and every week you put up some variation of “Smoke on the Water” then your audience will quickly go somewhere else. The question becomes clear: how do you avoid putting out the same content? Funny you should ask. Actually, it’s not really that funny; it’s probably what you came here for. 17 – The Educational Series According to Copyblogger.com, the educational series is commonly thought of as how-to guides but it can be any number of things that teach the reader or viewer about an aspect of your company that they otherwise may not have known about. If you’re a clothing company then you might talk about the material that your clothes are made out of or how your company was founded. One of the best ways to get ideas for topics is to allow your customers to come up with them for you. Good creative ideas include Q&A videos that will allow you to have new content that actually addresses real questions and concerns your customers may have. After all, PlayStation did it and is your company bigger than PlayStation? 16 – Conversation There is no reason that you can’t have a down to earth conversation with your customers. The most common way that companies do this is by getting on social media and really getting an interaction going with their followers. Notice the words “conversation” and “interaction.” You don’t want to treat your social media presence as this huge, untouchable, unknowable thing. You’re not the monolith at the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Your company has a persona and a way that it interacts with the world, even before you get it on social media. After that, you should accentuate that personality. Make your company human by talking directly with customers via Twitter conversations or even Reddit AMAs. It will give you an idea of your market and give them an idea of who you are as a company and what you stand for. 15 – Relevance Look in the news. Take inspiration from current events. Every so often there is an outbreak of some kind of disease on certain types of foods. Salmonella is usually the disease in those cases. Regardless, if your company grows tomatoes and this is the year for a salmonella outbreak on batches of tomatoes then you can quickly talk about how to prevent the spread of disease on your food as well as the requisite “our product doesn’t have salmonella” post. Frankly, if that happened and a company didn’t have that post up then they would look mighty suspicious. 14 – Podcasts FDR began a weekly tradition during his presidency of addressing America every week on the radio. Your podcast can be kind of like that (if you want to think about it that way). Creating content through podcasting gives your company a sense of humanity that it may not otherwise have. As far as creating original content, having a few people banter about issues related to your product or industry may allow new topics to naturally come up that wouldn’t have been brought up otherwise. Quite a few podcasts and radio shows rely on just those types of organic topics (while obviously having an outline of other points if necessary). 13 – Old Content, New Sides Just because this article is about bringing out new content for your readers doesn’t mean that you can’t deliver old content with a new twist. Entertainment journalists do this all the time when they look back at past media with a new perspective or if they get new information on an old piece of work. There are endless stories about products and services if you look at it from the point of view of everyone involved. 12 – Before and Afters Before and afters aren’t just for weight loss products anymore. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling or doing, you can create content using before and after photos, videos, or stories. There are the obvious transformation stories: home damage repair, the aforementioned weight loss products, or exfoliating creams. But that’s just scratching the surface of documenting a transformation. It doesn’t just have to be your customers in the transformation. You can show your product in phases or even the company itself at pivotal points of its life cycle. Car and Driver has done product retrospectives for several different car manufacturers over the years. Why? Because their readers are fascinated by the inner-workings of vehicles and the way that they are improved upon over time. 11 – Presentations Surely someone at your company is a great writer and great presenter with amazing ideas that can be shared with the world. Maybe they’ve shared some of them with the company through a PowerPoint presentation. You might even be able to put that kind of presentation on video and broadcast it to your readers. Moz does this type of thing a lot with Whiteboard Fridays. We can’t definitively say that it stems from a presentation that someone gave to their peers, but it has that presentation feeling to it because of how it’s structured. 10 – Contests Providing content doesn’t necessarily mean providing pure information. … Read more

Content Generation: 10 Must-Read Tips for a Better Web

January 1, 2021January 17, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Anyone who has ever published a website is automatically familiar with the term “Content is King”. Lots of time, money, and effort goes into reaching top ranking on well known search engines such as Google, MSN, Bing and Yahoo!. But many of the people that invest in an attempt to get high page ranking on search engines give little thought to the chief elements needed in creating the foundation: content that is reader-friendly. New Year’s Mantra: Content Is for People, Not for Search Engines It is very important to understand that the content you write should be first and foremost for people, and not for search engines. Once readers value your blog or website content, they will definitely keep coming back for more and even share your content with others. If you follow the content generation tips below, you will not have a problem writing reader-friendly content. The cherry on the pie is when search engines begin to rank your website or blog high because your content is well-written and reader-friendly. If you invest the time to read a lot of articles on the internet about content creation, you will notice that it is nearly impossible to find an article that really hammers on the importance of writing for readers and not search engines. With the popularity of this trend, one will be compelled to ask “Are bloggers and web content writers totally ignoring readers and focusing all their attention on search engine spiders?” Hmm… it would be untrue to say that most bloggers and semi-professional website writers genuinely create content with the sole aim of educating their target readers. Most writers simply create content that will rank high in search engine results, period. Professional copywriters focus on 3 things before writing ridiculously effective content pieces. Professional writers have mastered the art of writing articles that will please both readers and search engine bots. Must-follow Tips for Better Webpages in 2014 1. Generate Content on What You Specialize In. There is no doubt that this is the most important thing for any writer to take into consideration. When you have in-depth knowledge on a subject, it provides you with the tools and inspiration to write compelling articles that will keep readers coming back to your web page for more. Specialization also gives you great confidence and helps you provide details about the topic you are covering. You are most likely to include facts and insights when writing a very familiar topic that may have not been covered by other writers who have written on the same subject. There is nothing more wonderful than seeing writers connect with your thoughts and nodding their head in agreement while reading what you have written. Have you ever read an article where you felt like the writer is actually in your home and understands what you are going through? Yes, that is the power of a compelling content – it connects with the reader. When you write on topics that you are most familiar with, it really sets you apart from the crowd. Visitors to your website will, in time, love your content and will definitely keep coming back for more. There is no Google algorithm change that will EVER affect this particular content generation tip – and you can take that to the bank! Search Engine Optimization Hint: Highly informative and well-detailed content are known to rank high on Google search results. 2. Group Major Parts of Content into Sub-headings. One of the content writing tactics to avoid includes using poor formatting. When you categorize your content into subheadings, this will help you structure your content better, and make it reader-friendly. People like to read articles that are structured and flow well. You should consider which headings need to be placed higher and which headings should follow. Even if an article is five thousand words long, if it is well structured, readers will keep reading from the top to the bottom. Search Engine Optimization Hint: When your article is well-structured, it will be a lot easier for you to create crisp, compelling title tags and headings for better SEO ranking. 3. Stay Focused on the Chosen Subject – Don’t Stray! There are times when you want to write about a subject matter, but you find yourself going on and on about another topic that is closely related to the main topic you are writing about. It is important to stay focused on the key topic of the article. You need to understand that the attention span of an average web user is short, and they do not have the time to waste on reading irrelevant content. Readers want to read well-written content on their enquiries. Concise and crisp articles are inviting to readers. Web pages and articles that lack focus seldom get repeat visitors and often NEVER get shared, tagged or pinned. Creating content that sticks to the subject matter is a great writing practice that every writer should stick to. Search Engine Optimization Hint: Having content that gets repeat visitors will help boost your search engine ranking with search engines, especially almighty Google. 4. Create Opinionated and Detailed Content. It is very easy to use your personal experience when you write on a subject matter that you specialize in. Providing your honest opinion wherever possible will come easily to you. People love to read an expert’s personal experiences and also want to know their honest opinions. Once they know that they can count on getting your personal contribution on the topic of their liking, there is a high possibility that they will bookmark your blog or website, share your content with others and keep coming back for more. Search Engine Optimization Hint: Having more visitors to your blog or website means having higher search engine ranking. 5. Include an Introductory and Conclusion Paragraph… Always. It is important that you follow a simple, yet important and expected writing style. Include an introductory and concluding paragraph wherever possible within your blog posts or … Read more

Investing In Your Writing: DIY Versus Content Writing Services

January 1, 2021November 6, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Today’s business world has changed. You don’t have to have an office or even a physical location. In most cases you can sign the necessary paperwork, obtain the right licenses and work from home. Because it’s so easy to start a business, a lot of people assume that they can handle very aspect of their company themselves from home. Content Writing: To Maximize Your Best Investment While there are plenty of things you can handle, content writing might not be one of them. With the Internet market booming, competition is fierce and search engines are tightening the ropes on what they’ll recommend and what they’ll ignore. It’s entirely up to you which path you choose — do-it-yourself content or hiring out — but before you make the decision, familiarize yourself with the process. Great Writers Equals Great Content If you need to boost your organic search engine results, you need excellent writing. The days of quickly throwing out a blog post or just slapping 300 words on a website aren’t going to work anymore. Your content writing must be informational, unique and without errors. Also, your writing needs to be compelling. People should want to continue reading and come back to read more. To do this, you need to step away from your personal attachment to your blog or website and assess your writing skills. Are you capable of writing error-proof, well-researched and engaging content? Does writing come naturally to you? If you struggle to write, it might be best to leave your content to content writing services. While you might have to pay a little extra, content writing services can write the content you need for your blog or website in less time, without errors and ultimately save you resources in the long run. Time is Money You already know how much you have on your plate. You’re running a business, perhaps a blog and you of course have a personal life too. There is a lot of day-to-day tasks you must complete to keep your operation in check and staying up-to-date on content requirements and producing fresh content on a regular basis might not be something you can squeeze in. Hiring someone for your content writing, including blogs, press releases, web content, etc. allows you to focus on your business while still getting quality content for your site. Research, Research, Research SEO and search engine algorithms are changing constantly. What works today doesn’t always work next year or even next week. Finding the right techniques for your content writing can be hit or miss, especially if you’re not up to date on the latest research. Not only does a content writing service provide you with keyword-rich content, but they know how to craft pieces that meet the expectations of search engines. It is their job to constantly research what search engine algorithms want and they have the time to stay up to date on the latest algorithm changes. While you can certainly do the research yourself, it is time consuming and might require you to spend more time researching for not only what to write about, but how to write it so you’re in the good graces of Google. You Get What You Pay For Sure, writing your own content or having a family member write the content saves you big. But, you get what you pay for. Will that content be able to sell your products? Will it be relatable to the people likely to visit your site? If you just need people to get directions to your store, then mediocre content writing is fine. But, if you need to sell, a professional content writing service might be the answer. Things to Consider When You Do Hire a Content Writing Service If you’ve decided DIY is not the way to go with your content strategy, the next step is hiring a content writing service. There are certainly plenty to choose from, but not all are created equally. Before you just hire anyone to represent your brand with words, look for providers who can: Offer a turnkey content strategy solution — from planning to scheduling and writing all of your content. Repurpose and reuse content. Offer you high-quality content from United States or English-speaking writers. Offer you talented writers that write engaging, memorable content for your site.

Freelance Writer: 4 Tips to Maintain Professionalism

January 1, 2021October 24, 2013 by Adam Oakley

You quit the 9-to-5 job and have gone out on a limb to create your own career from your home office as a Freelance Writer. Sure, that means the suit and tie and 7 a.m. alarm can be tossed out the window. It means you can sit at the computer with your Avengers coffee mug and your college t-shirt and lounge pants to start writing. However, there are certain things professional content writers understand they need to continue practicing in order to be respected. Most of these are true in any field. However, the world of the freelancer is a bit different, simply because of the way work is done and contacts are made. I’m a Freelance Writer, Now What? This particular blog will look at certain areas of freelancing that require care and professionalism in order to enhance your career. Those areas are social media, client interaction and combating stereotypes. Without some focus on professionalism in these areas, other efforts will be undervalued or completely ignored. Therefore, remember professionalism in the following ways, and have confidence that your career will move forward at the rate and in the manner you hope to achieve. Social Media Techniques as a Freelancer The first thing to remember is your profile picture on Facebook. If you are utilizing Facebook as one of your self-marketing tools, it is best to appear professional in that profile photo. While you may love to kick back at a party on the weekend and do a keg stand, or you are proud of the black eye and broken nose you received last time you engaged in a bar brawl, these moments are best kept away from your professional persona. Likewise, the status updates that chronicle those weekend free-for-alls or even your intense political views should be avoided, unless those aspects of your life contribute positively to your writing in some way. If you can’t refrain from those status updates, make sure your professional contacts are on one list and the friends you share those crazy moments with are the list you select to view that particular group of posts. One final aspect of your Facebook persona that you should keep in mind is the option to separate the personal page from the professional one. In this manner, the photos and status updates meant for college buddies or your weekend crew can be posted freely, while your clients are seeing the image you want to present to enhance your career. Facebook has made it simple to link a professional page to your personal one, so you can be an admin on the professional page and toggle between the two with a simple click or two. This provides the ease of access some feel would be lacking with separate professional and personal Facebook pages. Things to Remember When Interacting with Clients Interactions with clients, whether in the swank office of a Fortune 500 company or in your home office, should have some basic tenets that remain the same. For instance, do not have a television blaring or the radio overshadowing the client during a conference, even if that conference is taking place over Skype. As a mother, I recognize that noise levels are not completely controllable with children living out their lives in the living room nearby. However, having spent years in a newsroom at a small morning paper, sometimes it is easier to get the television turned down at home and the kids to take it down a notch than it was to have co-workers reined in on a particularly stressful or exciting news day. Also, for those video conferences, it is best to look semi-presentable. A three-piece suit is not in order, but combed hair and a work casual shirt would be a great way to let the client know you take their project – and them – seriously enough to prepare for those conferences instead of simply rolling out of bed and clicking the Skype button on the computer. Combating Stereotypes As a Professional Freelancer Being the creative element for a company where you may have no other contact can give them the entirely wrong impression. In general, freelancers are seen as unable to keep a “regular” schedule, unwilling to work full-time and even seen as filling time until they find a “real job.” This is the mindset that is held, rather than to see freelancers as an asset to be utilized when necessary that would otherwise be tied up at another company and out of the reach of that narrow-minded client. Since that client is still the one handing out the paychecks, it is best to combat stereotypes in a manner that does not result in a confrontation or battle. Instead of fighting over these concepts, show them your value in other ways. Be prompt or even early on a deadline, if that is feasible. Be available for communication throughout the project. Let them know you aren’t sleeping or aren’t out on field trips. Instead, you are working hard in your work area, regardless of where that might be. Be firm with your expectations and reasonable in what changes are allowed. As a freelance writer, you still have the right to put your foot down when things have been adjusted a few too many times and your time is being wasted. Finally, be prepared to turn down the clients that don’t see your value and continue to attempt to get quality work at subpar rates. You are making a living and are as professional as the client regardless of work space. If that can’t be understood and valued by one client, it will be by the next one. As professional content writers, sometimes we forget to present ourselves in the right light in a more public arena. If this area of your career is neglected, however, it can sorely affect the overall success. That isn’t to say you can never lounge in your pajamas at the computer, finishing up that project … Read more

Blog Content Writing Doesn’t Have to Reinvent the Wheel

January 5, 2021October 10, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Any blog content writing expert will tell you that sometimes, it can feel as though every piece that you write is your first. What’s most baffling about this is that any writer can experience this phenomenon, whether they’ve written the same type of content 10 or 1,000 times. And while we can’t explain why this happens, we can tell you that blog content writing doesn’t have to begin from that unknown place, or make you feel like an amateur. But simplifying this process may mean trying more than a few things before you find one that works for you. How to Simplify Your Content Writing Techniques 1. Calls to Action Aren’t Just for Sales Letters Believe it or not, that seemingly short and tiny blog post has more parts to it than you may think. In addition to the title, which it goes without saying, should do enough to inspire the reader to keep reading, a blog post also needs a call to action, which usually appears at the bottom of the post. What’s interesting about the call to action on a blog post is that you have far fewer chances to get the reader to perform the desired action than you would with the call to action in a sales letter. A long-form sales letter may have 5, 6, or even 7 calls to action, each more insistent in their urgency than the last. But with a blog post, you may only be able to reiterate a call to action twice. A common type of call to action used on blog posts is to ask a question that’s relevant to the content the blog post discusses. So for example, if your blog posts talks about the benefits of Internet access for businesses, you might end your blog post with something like: “How has internet access benefited your business? Are there any advantages you’d like to add besides the ones listed above? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please post your comment below!” Your call to action can also take a different form, such as with a banner or sidebar. 2. A Photo Speaks a Thousand Words If you want to make sure that as many people as possible not only see, but also read and retain your blog content, consider including an image in your post. Images can cause a number of things to occur in the mind of your reader. Not only can they help clarify the points you make in your post, but they are also a convenient way to visually sum up of the ‘mood’ of your post. 3. Headings Matter Just when you thought that headings were only for sales letters comes the news that they are just as important in your blog content writing. This is due to the fact that headings add to page structure, which is vital for successful search engine optimization. Headings serve to illustrate your content’s most important parts, as well as illustrating how one part connects to another. Not only that, but there are rules to follow as far as headings in blog posts go. First, there is only room for one H1 heading on any page. But which part of your post should contain this heading? The part that carries the most importance, say the experts. Second, any subheading should be an H2, a subheading under that an H3, and so forth. In addition to being the proper size and indicative of the importance of your content, headings should also include those keywords that you consider to be valuable. By not including keywords in your headings, you are wasting many SEO opportunities. Finally, keep in mind that headings also offer convenience to your readers, as they can use your headings to skim through your blog post to find the information they want. 4. Use More SEO As well as entering keywords into your headings, it’s important that search engine optimization tactics be incorporated into the your blog content writing. Google is the biggie here, and getting found by the heavy search engine hitter requires knowing a few things about how it works. Those who can be considered experts can score big with Google. Ensure you have at least a few guest post articles published so they can link your name with your post. Formatting is another thing that Google looks upon favorably — so headings and structure are king. And although a photo is a good thing, try not to overdo it with the images. The freshness of your content is also important, so keeping it as current and relevant as possible will only help you. Accessibility is another way to please Google. This means doing all the things that make your site understandable by those with seeing, hearing or developmental challenges. Telling Google where you are located is a great way to get noticed. Where possible, also include outbound hyperlinks, as well as links on your blog page to the other pages on your site. 5. Add Design Elements The beautiful blog is one with design that not only pleases the eye, but serves both the reader and the search engines. And there are certain design elements that will help your blog to realize success. Among them, buttons to allow reader to instantly share your posts on social media, the encouragement of comments on your posts and “flat site architecture.” The latter means to reduce the number of clicks it takes for readers to get to your blog content. Other elements that can greatly influence your blog’s page views, bounce rate and conversions include ensuring that the best content is located ‘above the fold’, or at a point on your page before the reader has to begin scrolling. 6. Get in the Zone Finally, it’s important that you are in the right mindset for blog post content writing. Whether inspiration hits you while you’re driving, walking or even sleeping, ensure that you have the tools you need to get your ideas down before you forget … Read more

Some Content Writing Tactics to Avoid

January 1, 2021October 7, 2013 by Adam Oakley

As with every job, career path or even calling, there are some things it is always better to avoid as content writers. As Google improves its search technology, there are many previous habits that are no longer going to be useful. 4 Content Writing Avoidable’s The Internet is a constantly adjusting entity. It is hard to choose a word to accurately describe the technology that continues to amaze generation after generation. The older generations, like the Baby Boomers, are still wrapping their minds around the instant access to so much information. The younger generations (is that you?) still find a moment when they stop and think, “Wow, I didn’t know I could do THAT.” We all have a lot to keep learning from the world around us. The Internet is now a huge part of that world. It continues to change and create new things for the next generations to learn. For now though, we’ll come back from the cosmos that is the potential of the Internet. We’ll focus on the changes in SEO writing now and the previous successful tactics that no one liked, but they knew were useful to make money. These can (thankfully) be left behind now. 1) Don’t Write Low Quality This is good news. Any low quality writing, low quality guest posting sites and article submissions of basically fluff pieces, won’t be of any use in the future. So the writing that is done for pennies won’t even be worth that anymore. Better quality writing for better quality sites will again be the order of the day, while cheap and useless will be relegated to the past. Writers take pride in their work, much like an architect or a NASA scientist after a successful shuttle launch. That pride has been taking a huge hit because people don’t understand the effort that goes into creating good quality writing. Writers have been on a level with fast food workers or under appreciated workers in foreign countries – particularly since those workers in other countries can work for less than writers in the U.S.A. and feel like they are making a remarkable wage. Now, English as a second language – writing is not going to cut it for high-ranking results from Google. It’s back to paying for quality to get what a business needs, so avoid doing low quality work and prepare to reap the benefits of your time well spent. 2) Avoid the Ones Building Reputation the Wrong Way Building links quickly to compete with long-standing brand names or companies with impressive histories will also be something you won’t see anymore. Those who are willing to take the time and build the right image through the right processes will see the success they aim for in business. As a writer, recognize that the shortcuts previously implemented won’t be making you the money anymore. Google techies are getting smarter. Their programming is written to make sure those shortcuts and poor quality efforts to draw in customers will disappear into the dregs of the search engine results, buried in thousands of pages of more attention-worthy content. Get yourself, as a writer, back onto those pages with your writing efforts. Links will need to viewed for the quality of information they provide. Your writing, with adequate research, will be the forefront of the success of new and improved link building. Sound good? It should sound fantastic. This is the way information in print was shared previously, with care and attention to veracity and use. 3) Avoid Fluff Writing I’ve been seeing this warning more and more from companies searching for a writer to blog for them or handle their outsourced projects. Previously, as long as the SEO keyword was repeated enough, the rest didn’t matter. Next, it looked like a well-put together piece, but actual research on the topic was a waste of time. Companies wanted to give the impression of effort without paying for actual quality. Now, the quality is once again the important aspect. According to a humorously titled piece, “Friends Don’t Let Friends Write SEO,” the truth comes out. Great writing is not about the words incorporated into the set-length piece. Instead, the important part is the ideas shared and retained after the piece has been read. The great writers know this. The benefit now is that others are once again recognizing that. So writing for the Internet can go back to the level of quality it should present. 4) Never, Ever Forget the Audience From this infographic for SEO writing tips for 2013, an important Don’t is gleaned. When you write to fit in a set number of keywords during a set number of words overall, you have forgotten the main point of any piece of writing. What does your audience care if you say the company name six times? The bots may care, but they AREN’T the ones you should be thinking of as you write each piece. Remember those classes? It doesn’t matter if they were in high school or college. Even in elementary school, your English teacher talked about the audience. Remember to answer the questions the audience might ask. Give detail and share new ideas it hasn’t already seen multiple times. Well, the repetition of that keyword is not meeting the goals the audience sets for you, the writer. Remember those goals instead. As a website content writer, you know the essentials to creating a memorable piece. The classic novels, all the way to a news article or a magazine piece that will be discussed and used in future classrooms, all meet the same expectations. They improve the reader in some way once that piece, novel or article has been read in full. So don’t let your writing be dragged to the lowest level with the least respect. Take heart in the knowledge that things are turning around again, and writers will be expected to write quality work once again. Now, the battle turns to … Read more