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25 Best Books To Help You Learn Copywriting

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25 Best Books To Help You Learn Copywriting

Mastering the art of copywriting can take years of experience. It’s important to enjoy writing, if you’re going to make this your trade. Copywriting can be an amazing career, especially today. In today’s digitally focused world of marketing, where great online content can generate serious income, top-notch writing skills are critical to attracting and converting customers. For those who need to polish and perfect their writing skills, we have a list of 25 best copywriting books and resources that will bring your writing abilities to current standards. Ready? Learn and get started with techniques taught by the greats right away, and watch your own copywriting skills come to life! Enhance Your Copywriting Skills With These 25 Awesome Books for Copywriters 1. The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells — By Robert W. Bly Robert Bly’s copywriting handbook helps you turn bland copy into persuasive and meaningful content. He also offers advice on web marketing, e-mail marketing, and multimedia presentations. The book includes 15 techniques to ensure that your e-mails are opened, and 11 ways to make your copy more readable. The Copywriter’s Handbook serves as a valuable book of reference for common copy writing needs. 2. Everybody Writes: The Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content — By Ann Handley The power of superior content writing is at the turn of every page in Ann Handley’s book. She offers practical advise for publishing content that makes an impact, along with the secrets behind content that helps bring businesses to authority status. For a copywriting guide that packs a punch, Everybody Writes just might be the right choice for you. 3. The Adweek Copywriting Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Advertising and Marketing Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters — By Joseph Sugarman Looking to learn how to motivate your buyers? The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joseph Sugarman is yet another solid reference source for writing top-notch copy. Joseph demonstrates how to write effective copy that sells product, but he doesn’t skimp on the creativity. This book is easy to follow and serves as the perfect guide for writing snappy and creative ad copy. 4. The Online Copywriter’s Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Write Electronic Copy That Sells — By Robert Bly Yet another hit by Robert Bly, The Online Copywriter’s Handbook is an all-in-one demonstration guide to writing copy that turns into conversions. Catering to multiple online media platforms, Robert focuses in on the best copywriting techniques for websites, landing pages, e-mail marketing, and more. Don’t miss out on this handbook if you are looking for an all-inclusive guide to online copywriting. 5. Creating Fat Content: Boost Website Traffic with Visitor-Grabbing, Google-Loving Web Content — By Dr. Andy Williams Dr. Williams’ book on web content emphasizes the power behind content that feeds the search engines. In order to get the most mileage out of your online copy writing, you should aim for a balance between pleasing both your audience and the search engines. He gives clear examples for content that converts and content that falls flat. Creating Fat Content explains exactly how to write great content all while boosting traffic. 6. Empower Your Writing: Skills for Today’s Content Creator — By Farnoosh Brock Content creators come in all forms these days. This author breaks down includes 22 errors to avoid when writing content, along with 9 tips for empowering your writing skills. The author takes this book a step further and includes 28 honest questions for discovering your own writing voice. As a content creator, you are the voice of your brand. This book will help you find that voice and empower your writing skills. 7. Kickass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps: Build The Buzz And Sell The Sizzle — By Susan Gunelius Everyone loves a step-by-step guide, especially when it comes to copywriting that will sell your products and services. This kickass copywriting book helps small business owners understand the methods behind powerful writing. Susan offers clear concept on how to effectively market small businesses with content, and she also uses real-world examples with emotional triggers. This book is a must-buy for small business owners who are new to content writing. 8. 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love — By Rachel Aaron Nearly everyone wants to write better, but what about writing faster? With content essentially flooding the market, serious writers need to keep pace with the endless stream of demand. 2k to 10k demonstrates exactly how writers can take their ho-hum daily word count to beyond what they have imagined capable. Rachel shows her readers how to double their word counts while still maintaining the quality of their writing. For busy bloggers to newbies, 2k to 10k can help you write better and faster. 9. Breakthrough Copywriting: How To Generate Quick Cash With The Written Word — By David Garfinkel Looking for a few inside secrets in the copywriting industry? Breakthrough Copywriting gives business owners the know-how to writing copy that generates a profit. The book outlines exactly how to craft world class copy that sells your products almost every time. Breakthrough Copywriting helps you zone into your target audience by establishing emotional connections and tap into their subconscious. 10. This Book Will Teach You How to Write Better — By Neville Medhora This book is short, sweet, and gives great guidance for helping yourself write stellar copy. At only 56 pages long, this book is highly reviewed for its conversational tone and straightforward approach to copywriting. This book emphasizes the importance of the human touch in copywriting, while steering readers away from writing like robots. It will help inspire new bloggers and startups while giving specific examples of quality content writing. 11. The Idea Writers: Copywriting in a New Media and Marketing Era — By Teressa Iezzi The Idea Writers offers copywriting tips from a unique angle. Teressa dives deep into the new rules of copywriting in the form of the … Read more

Copywrite vs. Copyright: What Copywriting Is (And Isn’t)

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As someone who likes to travel, I love to pick up fun tourist shirts and souvenirs. One especially humorous shirt said, “No, we don’t have kangaroos in Austria.” It’s funny how just a few letters can make a world of difference in meaning. The terms copywriting and copyrighting often receive the same mix-ups. Though, no one has made a shirt about it yet, at least that I have found. As a copyWRITING business, this copywrite vs. copyright mix-up is a little more personal, as we are not prepared to take on copyRIGHTING jobs. So we wanted to remove any confusion between the two. The Difference Between Copywrite vs. Copyright While they sound very similar, the two terms have entirely unrelated meanings. Let’s break those meanings down for you: Copywrite: Copywriting is creating marketing, advertising, and other business-related text. Copyright: Copyrighting is acquiring the legal rights to intellectual property. Here’s an easy way to differentiate copywriting vs. copyrighting. CopyWRITErs are people who WRITE content, usually for businesses. They are very knowledgeable about business, marketing, and the proper use of the Oxford comma. Meanwhile, a copyRIGHTer is a legal expert who helps people obtain the RIGHTS to their intellectual property. Even the term copy has different meanings. For copywriters, copy refers to materials or content that they write. However, copyrighters deal with people who want to duplicate another’s property, so copy in that sense refers to the legal right to duplication. Now that you know the basic difference between copywrite and a copyright, let’s go a little deeper into who a copywriter is and why they might just be the person you didn’t know you needed most. What Is Copywriting? Are you confused yet? Hopefully not, because we will break this down even further for you. Copywriting does not fit neatly into a box and often overlaps with its many content cousins. Here’s a look at some of the other terms you might have heard before: Copywriting: Writing with the intent to persuade, sell, or move the reader toward an action. Content writing: Writing with the intent to entertain and educate the reader. Technical writing: Writing industry-specific content that requires a knowledge on a deeper level than a Wikipedia article. Can a copywriter be a technical writer? Yes! Can a copywriter be a content writer? Yes! Can someone be all three? Absolutely! The name might change, but the person doesn’t have to. The category that content falls into depends on the content you are creating. For example, manuals and guides would fall into the technical writing category. However, you would hire a content writer if you wanted an eBook. Marketers want to work with copywriters because they are people who understand the subtle nuances of content marketing. Here’s another interesting fact: all copywriters are content writers, but not all content writers are copywriters. In other words, all copywriters should know how to entertain, engage, and educate the reader since those are pillars of content marketing. However, not all content writers understand how to transform educational content into content that converts. Psst, Express Writers are trained in ALL THREE: copywriting, content writing, and technical writing. What Types of Content Do Copywriters Create? Copywriters can create any type of persuasive content. If there are words, and those words have a persuasive goal, a copywriter most likely wrote them. An eBook on marketing? Yes. A blog post on exercising equipment? Yes. A billboard? Yes. The ingredients on your soup can? Probably not. However, a copywriter most likely helped create the label content so it’s appealing and marketable. Here are some of the most common projects our clients order: Blog posts Case studies Website pages Emails/Newsletters Social media posts eBooks Whitepapers While these are the projects we receive the most, we have also had fun creating slogans for clients, developing branding content, and even creating food label text. There really is no limit to what content you can have a copywriter help you create. What Is a Copywriter? What does a copywriter do? Based on the VERY brief definition we gave at the start, you might picture a copywriter as a keyboard warrior who likes writing up overly verbose emails or spending fifteen minutes throwing together a blog post. Let’s scrap that image and start fresh. While a copywriter’s primary function is writing copy, the job involves much more. A copywriter is also a: Researcher Data analyst Editor Avid coffee drinker While the last one is optional, it does help copywriters handle the sheer volume of work that comes with even a single blog post. A quality blog post is not simple at all. 2020, the average blog post took 3 hours and 55 minutes to create. What’s even more surprising is that the time it takes to craft a blog post has grown. But so has the writer’s job description.   Here is another way to think about it. If you live in a small town with only one restaurant, and that restaurant serves mediocre food, what’s the chance you’d still go there? Probably pretty high because if you need a meal and don’t have the food or energy to cook, that’s your only option. But what if a dozen other restaurants had much better quality food? You would probably go somewhere else. As the internet has grown, so has the digital content available. There are about 1.13 billion websites online. Creating mediocre content just won’t cut it. Not only is there more competition, but audience expectations are rising. People expect more personal experiences, niche content, and engaging interactions. Copywriters aren’t just putting words on paper. They’re helping businesses stand out from the crowd, building relationships through those words, and crafting experiences that will keep those readers engaged, ultimately converting them into customers. Here’s a breakdown of some of a copywriter’s specific tasks: Researcher Before a copywriter adds a single word to their document, they research. The purpose is to understand the business, audience, and content fully. They also want to understand the content’s … Read more

The Future of Blogging: Today’s Recipe for a Perfect Blog Post

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Header For Future Of Blogging

A craveable, delicious, delightful blog post isn’t much different from a pastry.  As long as you follow the recipe, steps included, you will create a post your readers are hungry to devour – and might even return for more. The good news is you won’t make a special trip to the grocery store to get started on the perfect blog post. Everything you need is in your virtual pantry – you just didn’t realize it.  Writing a blog post, especially in today’s competitive market, is intimidating. Once you break it down and understand the ingredients, however, you can whip up these readable bits on the fly and stay up with the trends for the future of blogging in 2023. So, What Do You Need to Craft the Perfect Blog Post in 2023? The future of blogging has certainly changed. What worked last year doesn’t necessarily apply today. Therefore, staying up on the latest blogging and SEO trends is essential so that you know what Google expects – and, more importantly, what today’s reader wants. The Perfect Blog Recipe Before you start to type, you want to make sure you have the following essentials ready to add to the mixing bowl: 1 click-worthy title 1 attention-keeping introduction A pinch of creativity A few cups of informative, scannable subheaders A splash of succinct body copy A handful of authoritative research and your expertise 1 part formatting 1 delectable conclusion A dusting of enthusiasm for the topic A garnish of passion for your niche Putting it Altogether – How the Future of Blogging will Change How You Use These Ingredients As you can see, the ingredients haven’t changed, but how and when you use them has.  We will break down each portion of this recipe so that you know how to mix it all in and get your readers to come back for more. Creating Your Title By far one of the most essential ingredients! Your title sets the stage for what the reader can expect, even determining if they ever get past the SERPs to read your blog. Spend time on this stage of your recipe. In fact, whatever you title it as your “working” title, be prepared to come back and rework it until it is just right later. Don’t hastily toss forth the first title you have in mind. Instead, let it sit and rest, and the flavors meld together. Think of title creation as a slow, steady simmer rather than a rapid boil.  A good title mixes intrigue and information and is not too long.  Yes, Google says there is no limit, and the length of your title will not influence your search engine results. Instead, it affects whether or not someone will click on it. The first 60 characters matter the most – so make those count even if you have a 100-character title. Whatever you do, don’t over-sprinkle in the keywords for your title – not only will it kill your readability factor and turn off any enthusiastic taster, but it will turn away Google too. Roll Out Your Introduction Your introduction supports your title. So perhaps you may not create it until you have solidified your intro – and that’s okay.  An introduction requires time and patience. While you will mix up something short, sweet, and enticing, you will also want it to rest a few hours before you revisit and rework it again. While adding a keyword to the introduction is essential, ensure it is not the highlighting flavor. An introduction gives readers just a taste of what else is to come, but the full flavor doesn’t explode until the end. Of course, if your introduction isn’t tasty enough to keep reading, the end doesn’t matter much.  So, take your time, rework it after the entire blog is done, and ask yourself, would I eat this up? Never Forget the Power of Creativity Too many recipes lack creativity. Think of those five-star restaurants – are they working with “vanilla” recipes used over and over again? Of course not. They are hashing out something unique that stays with their branding but still tantalizes the tastebuds.  Never leave out a pinch of creativity in your content – all of your content. Creativity should be tossed in from the start; if you can’t taste it, add more. Start Rolling Out Subheaders Subheaders help your reader scan and understand what they are about to digest. They should go in an even flow, make sense, and inform.  Ideally, subheaders are introduced every 300-500 words max (there’s nothing wrong with adding them in fewer words as long as the words in between pack a powerful punch). Subheaders are a great place for optimizing with secondary keywords but don’t overdo it. Time to Mix in Your Body’s Copy You have a working title, and you’ve rolled out the subheaders. Now comes the time to mix together your blog’s body.  But before you add anything, do your research. You may be an expert in your niche, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need resources to back up what you say. Today, using authoritative, high-quality links is still a must-have for any recipe. Search Engine Journal states that every site needs credible, authoritative, and trustworthy content – and a reader can’t take you at your word without some citations. As you mix up that copy, make sure to spice it up enthusiastically. Nothing turns a reader away more than negativity. So, likewise, be as passionate about your niche as you want your reader to be as you create your blog – if you are not excited about it, why should they be? A few other things to keep in mind while you mix up your body’s copy: Optimize Gently. Optimizing your content is like working gluten. Too much, and it’s gotten too chewy, stiff, and undesirable. Yes, keywords matter in 2023, but how and where you use them has changed.  Focus on Your Brand’s Authority. What Google praises more than keywords are brand … Read more

AI is Not the Tool for SME Content Creation – and Google Knows It

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AI is here, and there is no denying it. While AI can share the workspace with a traditional writer and editor for content marketing, there is one thing it cannot do – SME content creation. The only genuine SME (subject matter expert) out there in your niche is, well, you – and the talented freelance writers out there that know your field just as well as you. More importantly, Google knows it and expects to see that in your content. What is AI Content Generation? It seems like almost daily another AI content generation tool is launching.  Some are free, others are paid, but are any of these tools able to truly replace a genuine expert? TechTarget lists 36 AI generation tools in their 2023 guide, and while there are loads of tools to choose from, they are all based on the GPT-3 model.  AI content generation is content that is created by a platform utilizing the GPT-3 model. The content is generated and while marketed to be “new,” it really is not. Think about how AI generators work.  Generative AI tools take keywords, themes, and even voice/tone preferences, and it works to generate a blog, web page, or even a social media post, but it is not creating them out of thin air or using any expertise in the field to offer unique opinions and insights. Instead, AI generates your content by pulling information from the internet. It searches and scours the thousands of web pages and blogs already out there to piece together information and generate copy.  But, AI Doesn’t Understand What it is Creating…. While it is fascinating to watch AI work, AI has no clue what it is writing. It is solely based on an algorithm pulling data based on your input.  Only a Genuine Industry Expert Knows the Content for their Industry AI is incredibly fast and can write a blog post quicker than any writer, but because of its limitations in terms of understanding and having any expertise in the niche, it is not a specialist. Here is where you may hit a speed bump or two, if you are using AI generation for your content marketing: Let’s Talk about E-E-A-T and How AI Falls Short for Industry Professionals Seeking SME Content Creation In Google’s February release, they mention guidelines for using AI generation in your content, and make it clear that they reward high quality regardless of how it is produced (whether human-made or AI-generated).  Many took that as a green light to go ahead with AI, but that is not what Google conveyed.  Let’s go back to the double update released in December 2022 when the extra “E” was added to the E-A-T standard, making it now E-E-A-T. Image Source: Google Update, December 2022, Page 26 What was that extra “E” for?  Experience… Trust is crucial with Google. Some websites may fall short of the bar, no matter how experienced, professional, or even authoritative they are if they don’t have the reader’s trust, and one example given from Google within their update reveals the most consequential sentence that websites need to pay attention to: “…the content creator lacks adequate experience” means they will have a low E-E-A-T score.  For example, if the content creator reviews a restaurant, but never ate at the restaurant, they are not experienced or trustworthy, which means they have a low E-E-A-T to Google. Let’s break it down further by looking at each component of E-E-A-T. Experience Experience, in Google’s eyes, offers another level of dimension they can use when evaluating content. Content must demonstrate it was assembled with a degree of experience – after all, a reader will value a person’s content more if they have life experiences on the topic and they are not basing it exclusively on research. AI has no experience with your topic. Let’s take a look at divorce law, for example. You want to write a blog for your law firm on the latest guideline changes for calculating child support, but you will find a few speed bumps along the way using AI to do so: AI typically doesn’t access the latest data – so it may not even know or find the latest guidelines for calculating child support. Worse, it could create a blog on outdated guidelines that it notes as “updated.” AI has no actual understanding of handling child support cases. AI hasn’t had to calculate what a child support payment would be based on your state, the local laws, or the parent’s income. It has definitely never filled out the child support worksheets – but you have.  If you go off the premise of why “experience” was added by Google, you can see why AI might not meet the mark. AI is not an attorney or a financial expert, and therefore, there is no SME content creation happening when you use AI to draft your blogs.  Expertise SME content creation comes down to one important factor: credibility. A person without qualifications should not be writing a topic out of their realm of expertise. Period. Why? Google is unlikely to rank a website with content not written by a credible source over a website they know has content written by a believable source.  In areas where a subject matter expert is required, such as healthcare, Google has a higher level of scrutiny than things based more on personal opinion and less on facts. Authoritativeness Authority means you have proven you belong in the niche your website represents.  Sure, backlinks to relevant and authoritative sources will help build that authority, but only so far. If you only have quality backlinks, but don’t meet the other areas of E-E-A-T – well, you don’t have much to go on. There’s not much more to say there. Authority is a building block, and it requires more than one block to finish your foundation. Trustworthiness Now, we’ve already covered where AI falls short for SME content creation, but the biggest area you are going … Read more

12 Crucial Copywriting Skills Every Writer Needs to Succeed: Beyond the Basics

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6 Of The Best Copywriter Skills: Every Copywriter Needs To Possess These

Being a successful copywriter requires a specific set of skills. Understanding those copywriting skills is important when you’re a business trying to hire a writer. Your goal should be finding a copywriter that can go beyond the basics of strong writing, creativity, and excellent English language skills. The Express Writers team knows what it takes to be a successful copywriter because we work with them every day. That’s why we’re sharing 12 crucial copywriting skills you should look for when hiring your next copywriter. With these 12 abilities, a copywriter can deliver creative, high-performing writing that can improve your conversion rates and keep your customers coming back for more. 12 Copywriting Skills Businesses Need When Hiring Writers The best copywriters work hard to turn their raw talent into incredible writing, earning money for every word they produce. A copywriter with these 12 skills will deliver the superior writing that your business needs. 1. Stellar Research Skills Most copywriters are writing experts first and may have one or two other areas of expertise. However, with stellar research skills, a copywriter can quickly learn the information they need to knowledgeably write about a variety of subjects as they navigate between clients and industries. To establish your business as an expert in your industry, you need a writer that knows how to find credible, reliable resources. Good copywriters can tell the difference between a high-quality, authoritative resource and an unreliable one. Plus, they know how to cite trustworthy studies and statistics to back up their claims. So look for copywriters that know where they need to look to find the right information, whether online resources or somewhere else. If you regularly interview subject matter experts, you’ll also want dedicated copywriters willing to interview them to improve their content. 2. A Good Understanding of the Target Audience  Knowing the intended audience for a piece of writing can have a major impact on how it is written. For example, an article written for experts in your field will look very different than one written for beginners. When choosing your copywriter, make sure they know who your intended audience is. A good copywriter should have no problems adjusting the tone and language of their writing to fit your industry and audience. Consider the words of renowned copywriter David Ogilvy: “If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think.” 3. Adaptable Writing Skills  Frequently, a copywriter has clients from multiple industries with vastly different content requirements. Being able to quickly adapt their writing style and voice for different clients and audiences is a crucial skill for any successful copywriter. Writers who lack this skill will find themselves frustrated with continually changing demands and strategies. The best writers can quickly pivot to new requests without breaking a sweat. 4. Knows When to Stop When a copywriter is unfamiliar with a topic, they can use their expert research skills to learn more. However, some writers may inadvertently research too much. They get caught up in learning every detail instead of focusing on what they need to know now. The best copywriters understand their limits and know when they have gleaned enough information to effectively write about your products for your audience. If you have tight turnaround times for your copy, you need a writer who knows when they’ve done enough. Knowing when to stop also applies to perfectionists. If a copywriter is solely focused on creating perfectly finished copy before submitting it to a client, they risk missing deadlines and losing a lot of sleep. You want a writer who takes pride in their work but doesn’t get lost in the minutia of creating industry-focused content. While most professional copywriters seek to create a career-defining, perfect piece, the best copywriters understand that the pursuit of perfection is fruitless. 5. Knowledge of Modern Marketing Principles  Copywriting, unlike creative writing, is solely meant for selling or promoting something else. Some copywriters, especially when they are first starting out, may make the mistake of trying to add their own personality and unique style to their copywriting. They may try to add extravagant language or unnecessary creativity to their copy to make it seem more literary. This kind of writing distracts from the purpose of copywriting. On the other hand, copywriters have a firm grasp of modern content marketing best practices. They understand the short attention spans of readers, have a handle on SEO concepts, and realize their writing targets specific audiences who need a product. This allows them to save their creative efforts for projects outside of work. 6. Can Take Criticism Well To write is to create. When the times come to edit your creation, many writers struggle with the idea of “killing your darlings.” Doing this eliminates potentially self-serving language with the goal of improving the overall message. In the copywriting field, copywriters need thick skin to accept feedback from editors and clients. If a writer continually rejects criticism, their productivity will likely suffer and they won’t get repeat clients. The best copywriters understand that everyone thinks about ideas differently and know it’s important to work with your client to create a piece that matches their vision. Plus, keeping an open mind means leaving space to improve your own writing. Sometimes critiques can sting, but it’s part of being a successful team player and brand copywriter. Express Writers, for example, believes that feedback from our clients is the only way to improve and align writing style and brand vision. We don’t think it’s a negative and train our writers to be open when someone else has a different idea. 7. Is Confident but Not Driven by Ego While copywriters should be open to accepting criticism, you want them to know when their ideas are worth sticking up for. There are times when your writer will have a different way of thinking than you do, and … Read more

14 Reasons You Should Hire a Copywriter

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14 Reasons You Should Hire A Copywriter

Writing and publishing consistently great web copy is absolutely vital for your online presence. How much so? Conductor published the first known study where they looked at the impact of educational content on customers. Guess what they found? Study participants said they were 131% more likely to purchase from a brand, after reading content from that brand. 78% of respondents found a brand “helpful,” while 64% found the brand “trustworthy” after reading content from that brand. These numbers increased by 8-9% one week later! Those are powerful numbers. But, it can get overwhelming quickly if you don’t know how to do it, or where to start first in terms of hiring a copywriter or even trying to do it yourself. This means that sometimes your web copy can get pushed to the back of your pile of important business-related items. Yikes. What should you do if you can’t spend the time writing excellent web content to help set your site apart from competitors? Hire a copywriter, of course! Let’s take a look at just why you should hire a copywriter and how one can help you create the best web copy ever for your business. [bctt tweet=”Did you know? @Conductor found that 131% of people are more likely to purchase from a brand after reading content from that brand. This and 1️⃣4️⃣ more reasons to hire a #copywriter ✏” username=”ExpWriters”] 14 Reasons Hiring a Copywriter is Your Best Idea Yet Let’s take a look at 14 great reasons why you should hire a copywriter. Ready? 1. More Time for Your Morning Coffee (Or Anything Else You’d Rather Be Doing) One of the main reasons why you should consider hiring a copywriter for your content needs is simply because you will have more time. This means you can spend your time drinking your favorite cup of coffee or tea in the morning ☕, or spend more time on another aspect of your business. Creating consistent, engaging content can take up a significant amount of time, and copywriters are a great way to save that time. Expertly trained copywriters are able to write excellent copy quickly while still hitting the mark you want. 2. A Professional Copywriter Can Perfectly Capture Your Services When you hire a professional copywriter, you aren’t just getting someone who can write amazing pieces, you’re hiring someone who can capture your services. Copywriters are trained to learn as much as they can about various industries to make sure they write quality content. In addition, many industry-specific copywriters out there have special training, making them perfect to write for your niche audience. 3. Never Worry About High-Stakes Copy Again Sometimes, you need copy that does some seriously heavy lifting. Maybe you have a big product launch coming up, so you need tons of enticing, persuasive copy that encourages customers to buy. Maybe you’re publishing a mega blog guide that you poured a ton of resources into, and you need a headline that gets people to click and start reading. Or, maybe you invested in Facebook ads and you really need some great ad copy to make the investment pay off. Whatever your situation, sometimes you can’t mess around with amateur copy. In cases like these and many more, you need to hire a pro copywriter, one with experience and results behind them, to get the job done and churn out that ROI. 4. Grammar Issues, Begone Not everyone is skilled with grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and that is usually perfectly fine. However, when you’re writing web content, you want to make sure every aspect of your copy is perfect for the big Google machine, not to mention your reputation as a brand and/or a professional expert in your field. You know if you’re a strong writer or not, and it’s a good idea to make sure you hire a copywriter if you are not strong. Copywriters have various degrees in fields that require great grammar, which means they will be able to craft expert material for you, Google, and your readers. In addition, many copywriters also have copyeditors on speed-dial who can look through the content to catch any little mistakes that do make it through. Grammar is vital for great SEO, so make sure you always have excellent grammar simply by hiring a copywriter. 5. A Copywriter Knows How to Write Persuasive Content When writing for the web, persuasive copy is a must. However, not everyone has the talent to create persuasive content that helps pull customers through the sales funnel without coming across like a 1970s used car salesperson. Copywriters know the importance of creating persuasive content for their clients without focusing heavily on sales-speech, because we know this can easily turn your readers off. When you write your own content, it might come across as far too sales-y for your readers, simply because you don’t have the expertise to walk the fine line between being persuasive and sales-driven. Beat the doubt on whether or not your content is too persuasive (or not persuasive enough) by hiring a writer who can create expert copy that will turn readers into customers quickly and easily. 6. There IS Such a Thing as Being “Too Close” to a Topic You might think being very close to your industry is helpful when it comes time to create copy, but this can actually be detrimental. First of all, when you’re too close to your industry, you might not realize just how confusing your jargon is to newbies or those outside of it. Second of all, when you’re writing about your own business and services, you might find it hard to be objective enough. We all think we can be until it comes down to it, and then we begin questioning and doubting, which you don’t want reflected in your content. When you hire a copywriter, you’re able to have someone write about your services in a great light without focusing heavily on jargon, making your content easy to understand and enticing. 7. Copywriters … Read more

How to Grow Your Inbound Traffic by Writing Evergreen Blog Posts

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How to Grow Your Inbound Traffic by Writing Evergreen Blog Posts

This post was updated October 2019.  Picture this – summer is here, and your calendar is full of pool parties, barbecues, picnics, and whatnots. You’ve been waiting for this moment for what seems like ages. ☀ There’s only one small problem. You want to look great in your bikini, but it’s been cold out there for the past few months, so maybe you’ve stayed in and eaten one, two, or twenty more pizzas than you should’ve (no judgment, we’ve all been there!). At this point in the game, you don’t have a lot of options. You can go on an aggressive diet, use a body wrap or two, or skip a few meals. There are a lot of ways to get fast results, but the thing is, you shouldn’t be focusing on quick fixes. What you want is a sustainable approach that can get you the best results possible, and the same goes for blogging. For a long time, my approach to blogging was all about putting out as much content as possible. That’s not necessarily a bad idea since there’s a correlation between high publishing rates and increases in traffic. The problem is, quick-fire content isn’t a sustainable strategy, much like any diet that promises dramatic results in a matter of days. If you want to grow your traffic and maintain it, you need powerful, evergreen content that’s going to keep your website in the best shape of its life for years and years to come. 4 Types of Evergreen Blog Content 1. List-based articles 2. How-tos and tutorials 3. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) 4. History-based posts That’s a quick cheat sheet if you need help coming up with evergreen blog post ideas. If you stick to those types of content, you’re on the right path. However, you may need a little help coming up with ideas, so keep reading! [bctt tweet=”If you just fire out short trending posts that will be irrelevant tomorrow, you’ll have a hard time getting results. Better grow your traffic with evergreen blog posts. @JuliaEMcCoy shares what you should start posting now. ” username=”ExpWriters”] 2 Types of Blog Content: Evergreen Posts vs. Trending Topics We can break down most of the content you’ll run across in blogs into two categories: Posts that have to do with current trends Evergreen content Both types of blog posts have the potential to bring a lot of traffic to your website. However, content that focuses on trending topics has an expiration date. The best way to put that into perspective is to take a look at Google’s most popular searches for the past years. Here are some of the shiny things that caught our collective attention in 2017: Source: Google Now compare that to 2018 and you’ll see there’s little overlap: Source: Google The trends themselves change, but certain topics never go out of style. For example, those two breakdowns tell us that as a society, we care a little bit too much about sports and celebrities. Spotting those types of big-picture trends is important because it enables you to come up with blog post ideas that tap into more lasting concerns. I’m talking about the type of content that your readers care about now, and they’ll still care about in five years. Chances are if you’ve been blogging for a while, you’ve already written some evergreen posts without even noticing it. The best way to spot them is to take a look at your website’s analytics. Usually, there’s a spike of interest around new content. It brings in some traffic, and then that flow of traffic turns into a trickle. Evergreen blog posts, on the other hand, tend to bring in a steady amount of traffic over time. Source: Google Analytics Blogging about current trends may give you a great ROI in the short term. However, evergreen content is the equivalent of that healthy lifestyle that will see you get to the pool party with the same six-pack you’ve been sporting all year. Keep in mind, though – just because you follow a healthy diet, doesn’t mean there isn’t room for burgers and pizza somewhere in there and the same goes for blogging. It’s very difficult to build an entire blog around evergreen content only because it tends to require a ton of work. Ideally, you’ll have a healthy mix of blog posts that target current trends and evergreen articles. That way, you’ll maximize your traffic growth, and you’ll be able to maintain it ✔️ 4 Types of Content That Make for Great Evergreen Blog Posts As a rule of thumb, evergreen content is in-depth, and it has built-in longevity. Let’s break down the five types of blog content that fit those criteria. 1. List-Based Articles The web is obsessed with list-based articles. If you do a random Google search right now, I’m willing to bet that most of the articles that come up are based on lists. The logic here is simple. List-based articles enable you to judge an article’s worth at a glance. Know what’s better than learning 5 ways to tie your shoelaces? Learning a cool 15. Can’t argue with that logic. When it comes to evergreen content, you want lists that aren’t tied to specific products or events since those can change over time. Instead, go back to the basics and focus on everlasting advice. Articles like “6 Super Simple Tips for Writing Clear Sentences” will never go out of style. 2. How-Tos and Tutorials The internet is amazing for a lot of reasons. Not only is it the best source for cat-based humor, but you can find guides on how to do anything. Let’s say, for example, you want to learn how to change a tire. It doesn’t matter if no one ever taught you – you can look it up online, read a quick tutorial, and you’re in business. Notice how lists are also incredibly popular when it comes to tutorials. If you can find a topic that you can … Read more

Content Marketing Copywriting 101: The Essential Guide on Writing For Your Online Reader

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Content Marketing Copywriting 101: The Essential Guide on Writing For Your Online Reader

Two distinct strategies that many people confuse or mix up: Content marketing. Copywriting. They aren’t the same thing, although both intertwine with each other in benefits and results. Think of it like this: Content marketing gets your prospects invested in what you do. Copywriting makes them want to follow up on that investment with action. That, right there, is the key difference. And here’s the magic of both: When you mix the best of these two strategies together, awesome things start happening. Your content won’t just be educational and valuable for your readers – it will also make them want to take action. That action could boost your likes and shares, increase your social media following, grow your email list, AND best of all – lead to sales. It’s also why these two strategies are so perfect for each other. They make each other more powerful. The right content marketing meshed with stellar copywriting could give you success in the form of 4.5x the leads you had before. To that, add 3.5x more traffic if you create content consistently, according to HubSpot. Let’s go a little further, though. What are the nitty-gritty differences between content marketing and copywriting? How do you blend them together in a winning formula? Creating the copy can be the most challenging part of great content marketing. I totally get it. So, let’s talk about it. Grab a mug of your favorite hot drink (coffee, tea, etc.), and dive in with me. [bctt tweet=”Learn the differences between #copywriting and #contentmarketing and how both fit together to help you win online, in @JuliaEMcCoy’s guide” username=”ExpWriters”] Content Marketing and Copywriting: What the Heck Is the Difference? You can use them together, but they’re not the same thing. Here are the major differentiators between content marketing and copywriting. Content Marketing: Many Tactics, Various Ways to Succeed Content marketing is about creating content that nurtures your readers. The content you provide is served to prospects with the end goal of building trust and loyalty with them so they’ll turn into customers. Educate them concerning their pain points, and they’ll end up turning to you for more solutions. That’s content marketing at its core, and it can be done through a wide array of tactics – think blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, email campaigns, and more. It’s about creating content (which can mean writing, but also all kinds of other production methods) and distributing it so your prospects become customers and stay customers. Copywriting: Using Writing to Motivate the Desired Action Copywriting, on the other hand, is about using your writing to strategically spur the reader to do something. Good copywriting is not annoying. It sells whatever you want to sell without the reader realizing they’re buying in. Good copywriting is gently yet irresistibly persuasive. It helps move the prospect to sign up for your email list, click on your link or ad, follow you on social media, make a purchase, and more. As such, it’s used for stuff like landing pages, sales pages, ads, and direct mail campaigns. Great copy is essential to content marketing. [bctt tweet=”Great copy is essential to content marketing.” username=”JuliaEMcCoy”] Content marketing copywriting is cohesively intertwined. Think of it like this: What Happens When You Apply Great Copywriting in Content Marketing? What do better results look like with these two strategies? For one, engagement. Look at this blog example from Intrepid Travel, an adventure travel company based in Australia. The blog is called “The Top Destinations for Travel in April.” This could easily get very same-y and unoriginal, as there are scores of similar blogs out there. However, what keeps you on the page is the copywriting. [bctt tweet=”What keeps you on the page is the copywriting.” username=”JuliaEMcCoy”] Check out this intro: It invites you to stick around and keep reading without actually saying any such thing. It also promises what you’ll find in the series of guides: “Your easily digestible list of places to visit, things to experience, and amazing weather to chase around the world.” The blog copy also cleverly links to where you can book one of the company’s travel adventures: On the sales page for the “8-day Best of Jamaica” trip, more compelling copywriting entices you to imagine exploring this locale: “Experience the island in all its Caribbean colour, from Rastafari and reggae to the gorgeous unspoiled coast.” Finally, there’s a call-to-action at the end of the blog that urges you to check out the other guides in the series: The result? It’s not just informative, fun, interesting content – it’s content with a purpose. This content is working hard for this company. It’s providing value for their audience, but it’s also urging them to take multiple actions throughout the blog. This banks on the solidity of the writing and research. If these two things were sub-par, then you wouldn’t feel inclined to click on anything within this content piece. But, since both are on point, Intrepid Travel can use that built-in trust to get you interested in taking the desired actions. To put it simply, content marketing and copywriting are holding hands and skipping together into the sunset in this blog post. Now you may be wondering: How do I get these same results? How do you create awesome content marketing copy? Well, my friends, I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve that can help you get there. 6 Essentials to Nail in Your Content Marketing Copywriting (Or, How to Appeal to the Online Reader/Buyer) 1. Use the Flow, Luke If you want your online writing to be a little more engaging… If you want to draw in readers and make their eyes compulsively move down the page… Flow is crucial. Use the flow, you must. However… Writing with great flow on the internet is markedly different from writing with great flow elsewhere. Smart Blogger addresses this in one of their best posts ever. In this piece, they tell you exactly why your flow needs to work differently online. Basically, reading online involves a … Read more

9 Reasons Picking Up A Book And Reading It Today Will Help You Succeed As A Writer

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9 Reasons Picking Up A Book And Reading It Today Will Help You Succeed As A Writer

There is nothing new under the sun. And guess what, I am not the first person to have said that. In fact, it was written in Biblical times by King Solomon. So if nothing was new back then, imagine how much more true that is today? No matter what you write, you are not going to come up with something that has never been said before in some way—unless you are talking about exclusive news, are Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, or What will make your content great is the unique spin you put on that old concept. When you read, you experience all of the things you want to express. And once you have experienced them, you are much better equipped to share with others. 9 Quotes from Literary Geniuses that Tell You Why Reading Makes Your Writing Better Reading makes you a better writer whether you are writing a novel or copy for your latest product. However, do not just take my word for it. I am going to prove my point through copious references to the words that have inspired me all from the mouths of the greatest writers and thinkers. You won’t be able to argue with me, because you have to admit they know what they are talking about. Which means all my reading has already paid off in writing this post alone. “Genius is one percent inspiration … “ – Thomas Edison So what if the other 99% is perspiration. Even Edison recognizes that to really be a genius, you need a little bit of inspiration. That is the purpose of books: to inspire the reader. When it comes to writing, reading a book does not magically make you a wordsmith. It does not have any actual magical powers. Writing takes a lot of hard work. If you want to be a genius writer, you are going to need to put in that 99% of perspiration that Edison suggests. However, while you are putting in that hard work, do not forget that one percent. Read a book, and be inspired. That is part of the genius formula. “Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.” – William Faulkner George Deeb wrote an article for Forbes that says mentors are one of the most valuable resources you can get if you are an entrepreneur. Well, if writing is your enterprise, then you have access to some of the greatest mentors throughout time. Take advantage of this. Tap into the resources of the masters and learn from them. Within the pages of a book, you will find all of the secrets of writing success. What other profession allows you that type of opportunity? “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” – Oscar Wilde Believe it or not, your reading preferences reflect on who you are. What do you enjoy reading? Sci-fi, romance, mystery? There is no right or wrong answer here, but your reading choices do say something about you. They should also say something about what you write. When you write what you like to read, you know that you are pleasing somebody. And since one of the things reading does is show you that you are not alone in how you feel or act, you know that if you please one person, you are likely to please many. So read to determine who you are, then write for that person. You will find that many other people want to read the same things as you. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.” – G.R.R. Martin One of the best things about reading is that you get to have an adventurous life even between all of your real-life adventures. As a reader, you get to discover things that non-readers never get to. Great writers do not just tell you what they want to say, they show you what they want you to feel. They put you in the shoes of their characters so that you are the one fighting the white walkers or becoming the mother of dragons. How does this translate into great writing? You have to be able to take your readers on an adventure. Whether you are writing the great American novel or you are selling sneakers online, you have to convince the reader that they are part of your story and that they want to continue on with you. In order to get to a place where your writing transports your readers, you have to have been transported yourself. So reading allows you to travel to other places and have epic adventures, which will help you bring your readers along on all of the thrilling sagas you want write about. “The more that you read, the more you will know.” – Dr. Seuss Reading is educational. When you read, even a novel, you learn. What you learn depends on the book. Maybe you learned about some theorem in a physics book. Maybe you learned about the Civil War in a history book. And maybe you learned about the strength of emotions between the pages of a Romance. Knowledge is never a bad thing. In fact, it is almost always a good thing. So, educate yourself. You cannot teach others anything unless you first learn it yourself. “Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.” – John Locke If you really get into a book, you cannot help but start thinking. Great writing challenges your viewpoints and makes you question everything that you thought you knew. Once you learn to start thinking … Read more

Citations: What They Are, And Why You Should Be Using Them

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Citations: What They Are, And Why You Should Be Using Them

If you’ve been hanging around blogs over the last year or so, you’ll realize that citations are a big thing. Citation is a skill that bloggers need to learn in the twenty first century in order to see their pages rank well. Think of these like high quality backlinks that affect the overall rank of your blog and also create a pretty large impact on how your audience perceives your blog. What exactly is this citation thing anyway? What are Citations? Citations can simply be thought of as a means of presenting another website as a link within the body text of your own. The term stems from the academic field where extensive literature reviews usually result in citations that are lengthy and reference a large number of topics on the subject at hand. Similarly, citation in a blog or website references relevant topics so that readers who are interested in these topics can get further information if they so desire. Citations make up the major part of creating backlinks for your site in the modern era of search engine optimization. Why are Citations Important? Citations allow for the building of backlinks. The higher the quality of a backlink, the better your page ranks in search results and the more authoritative your own page is in comparison to others on the same topic. Citations are important for two major reasons. Firstly, they allow you to share contact with another, higher-impact blog. If enough traffic comes from your link to their site you may be able to form a suitable link sharing agreement, thereby increasing your traffic. Alternatively, and more importantly, a good backlink foundation allows your website or blog to rank well in relevant search results. The basis of your citations comes from proper use of something called the anchor tag. What is this “Anchor Tag”? Basically, it’s an HTML tag that replaces an actual HTML link with actual words. Thus instead of a URL, you can have a short description that, upon being clicked, sends the user to the URL hidden beneath it. Search engines utilize anchor texts to figure out the content of the site you’ve linked to. This means that proper use of anchor tags can affect both your linked-to sites and your own site. The use of the anchor tag represents a particular metric that search engines have taken to tracking termed link relevancy. Link relevancy is determined by what content is on the source page and what the anchor text attached to that source page represents. Link Relevancy Search engines cleverly utilize human beings penchant for linking relevant things to figure out exactly what the source page is relevant regarding search terms and keywords. Link relevancy indicators utilize this particular inclination along with complicated natural language processing in order to generate an idea of how relevant the link in question really is. Google’s Penguin update started being more specific in its determination of natural search terms and this allowed the algorithm to determine with a good degree of accuracy when it was dealing with non-organic links by determining if the same anchor text yielded the same link results each time. To this end, links should be made throughout the body of a page with as much variety as possible while still remaining relevant to the source page. How Does Anchor Text Affect SEO? As we said before, anchor text allows the building of links that raises the search rank of a page. After understanding search relevancy, we can now form a picture of what our anchor tags should contain to be proper examples of good SEO link building, from Backlinko. Remember that you’re trying to have different anchor texts that lead to your external page in order to create more organic content. To this end, what you should do is to brainstorm possible options that you may have for the creation of alternative anchor texts for your outbound links. It is important that you keep these thoughts in mind when developing your anchor tags: Do NOT create zero-anchor situations such as “Click Here…” Do NOT overuse anchor text. Overuse of anchor text makes a search engine look at your linking suspiciously and may actually hurt your search rank rather than helping it. 5 Types of Anchor Text Anchor text comes in many types and each type has their own particular use. The most common anchor types that you are likely to encounter during your time building SEO type links are: Zero Anchor Text: These are the text anchors that simply come with a “Click Here” appended to them via anchor tag. Not recommended at all. “Naked” URL’s: This also defeats the purpose of the anchor tag as some URL’s are usually made up of non-words and incomprehensible strings of letters. On the off-chance that the link is actually made up of good keywords (as is the case in many links from WordPress blogs), the link might end up helping itself out. Exact Match Anchor: One of the best anchor tags to use in a localized anchor tag strategy. These give a geographical area and a relevant keyword. In some SEO strategies, they allow for more localized searches which can lead to a much higher conversion rate. Partial Match Anchor: This depends upon the ability of a search engine indexing bot to determine the relevant location and other information from the surrounding words in order to rank the link. It has the benefit of allowing you to be freer with your anchor text and helps you create more natural outbound links. Highly recommended. Hybrid Anchor: These are a combination of links that associate different anchor tags with each other allowing for a more targeted strategy, while at the same time giving you the freedom to create links naturally. The links usually relate branded items with non-branded items and are also highly recommended. The flavor of anchor text that you use can make it more difficult for search engines to rank the link and therefore affect … Read more

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