When it comes to content creation, you have two options: do it yourself or outsource.
While it’s certainly admirable to create content entirely on your own, it’s not feasible for everyone. That’s why many companies opt to have a mix of in-house or freelance writers, or they choose to outsource the task entirely.
If you’ve been considering making the move to outsource content writing, you probably have a few questions you need answered. For instance, how do you know when it’s time to hire a writer? Will this investment really be worthwhile? How do you outsource anyway?
This article shares everything you need to know if you want to get started with outsourcing.
Knowing When it’s Time to Outsource
Now that you understand how to outsource content writing efficiently, you may be wondering – is it time to hire someone or can I continue to manage my content on my own?
This can be a difficult decision. Giving up control or seeking outside help isn’t always the easiest thing. However, sometimes it’s exactly what you need to propel your brand forward. Here are a couple of signs it’s time to outsource:
1. You’re Missing Publication Deadlines
If you want to be successful with your content creation, you should consistently publish new. Doing this allows you to stay top-of-mind with your target audience. Plus, it helps you generate more organic traffic and will help position you as a thought leader over time. To be consistent, it’s helpful to have a set posting schedule. For instance, you could aim to publish a new article weekly.
However, that’s often easier said than done. When building a business, there are typically tons of tasks on your plate. And sometimes, content creation takes a backseat to those other to-dos when you have limited time in your day to get things done.
If you find you’ve been neglecting your content schedule by missing publication deadlines, it’s time to consider outsourcing. This will ensure you get back on track and have new content going out regularly. Then, you won’t have to risk being forgotten by your readers.
2. Writing Isn’t Your Strong Suit
The truth is writing isn’t for everyone. Which is okay because you don’t need to be an expert writer or spend hours stressing about putting together a high-quality article. Instead of beating yourself up over it, call in the reinforcements.
When you outsource content writing, you get to remove this task from your to-do list and focus on the things you enjoy doing for your business. Additionally, hiring someone who truly loves to write ensures you’re putting out better content than ever.
3. You Don’t Know SEO
If you want to generate organic traffic, optimizing your content is a must. Search engines like Google are always evolving and updating their algorithms to better deliver users the content they’re searching for. And if you’re creating online content, you need to stay updated with these changes because they could impact the SEO strategies you’ve been implementing.
But what if you don’t know a thing about SEO? Or what if you’re struggling to stay updated with what’s going on with Google? You don’t need to be an optimization expert. However, this is another good sign you may want to outsource content writing. A skilled writer will know how to effectively optimize your content so you can rank higher on Google. That will bring in more traffic and could increase engagement and conversions.
4. You Have the Budget
Money is often one of the biggest roadblocks for businesses that want to outsource content. Sometimes they simply don’t have the extra funds to allocate to this. If you do, it might be time to move forward with outsourcing.
Investing in content can help you make more money. In 2019, a HubSpot study revealed blogging alone can net you 13 times more in positive return on investment (ROI). But on top of that, you free up time to tackle other projects to grow your brand, so the investment only grows.
The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Content Writing
Even if you know you should outsource, there’s a good chance you’re probably a little hesitant too. Finding the perfect writer can be stressful. Plus, you need to create a new budget for this added expense. You might feel like that isn’t worthwhile, but you just need to understand the great things that can come along when you outsource content writing.
Here are a few benefits that just might seal the deal for you:
It’ll Save You Time:Instead of pouring hours into content creation, you can have someone else completely take over this task. Then, it’ll free up time in your day to focus on other things to drive your business forward. For example, you’ll be able to put more effort into creating new products and services. And relying on a skilled writer will often take less time than if you were creating the content.
High-Quality, Optimized Content:An expert writer will deliver top-notch content carefully optimized so you can attract more organic traffic to your website. You’ll never have to question the quality of the content you receive, nor will you need to worry about staying updated with the latest SEO tactics. Your writer can handle that for you.
Improved Rankings in the SERPs:Since you’ll now be publishing optimized content on your blog, there’s a good chance your content may start climbing up the SERPs. Landing on the first page of Google is quite a feat, and it’s something a skilled writer can help you accomplish. Higher rankings generate more visibility and lead to a boost in traffic.
Increased Conversions and Engagement: A powerful article could be what leads someone to purchase with your business, especially if you include a well-written call to action at the end. You also may see engagement rates increase because of all this new content you’re publishing.
Of course, those are just a few of the benefits you can experience when you outsource. Beyond that, you can feel confident knowing you’ll receive 100% original content every time.
Sold on outsourcing and ready to dive in? Before you do, there are a few tips you need to know if you want this to be a successful partnership. Here’s some advice to keep in mind:
1. Set Your Budget
Great content doesn’t have to break the bank, but you need to know what you can afford to spend. After all, you don’t want to allocate more money to content creation than you have. However, you will need to pay your writers fairly if you expect to receive high-quality content in return. Take some time to review your current budget. How much money do you have left to spend on a writer? How much do you feel comfortable spending? These are essential questions when you begin searching for freelancers or agencies to work with.
2. Find Writers Who Are Skilled in Your Niche
Whether you’re hiring a freelancer or choosing to work with an agency, it’s smart to ensure the writer creating your content has some expertise in your field. This is especially important if you’re in a high-level niche such as the medical, financial, or technical worlds. Not only does this improve the overall quality of your content, but you’ll feel more confident in the outcome.
If you opt to work with an agency, you can ask them ahead of time if they have writers skilled in your niche. And you can request to work with that specific writer. At Express Writers, we vet and train writers with a variety of backgrounds, then match hand match writers to our clients in those industries. If a client finds someone whose work they love, they can request to keep working with that writer every time they order.
3. Clearly Communicate Your Needs
Whenever you’re working with someone else, clear communication is going to be essential. As you outsource content writing, it’s imperative that you’re up-front with the writer or agency about what you want. For instance, you’ll want to provide as much detail as necessary when you order your content. Include the topic you’d like them to write about, your focus keyword, any information you want included in the content piece, and details about who your target audience is.
If you want to take it a step further, you could also include an outline. It doesn’t have to be overly detailed, but it can break down all the different areas you’d like to ensure the content covers. Linking to a reference piece is great as well. Your writer can then better understand what you’re looking for from the content they’re creating for you. They’ll get a feel for the style of writing you like and the different points you want them to include.
Beyond that, providing more details is much more effective than saying, “Write a 1,000-word article on smart marketing tactics.” That’s rather vague and could lead your writer to take the article in the wrong direction than what you had intended.
4. Give the Writer Room for Creativity
It is possible to be too constricting when working with a writer. You want to give direction when it comes to tone, keywords, and your core message. However, you also want the writer to have room to be creative. A talented writer will know how to craft an amazing piece of content while adhering to your directions. So, offer guidance, but give them enough space to do what they do best without restricting their creativity.
5. Work With Your Writer Through the Editing Process
Once the writer has submitted a piece of content to you, remember that this is merely a draft. You don’t have to accept what they’ve created, especially if there are issues. If there are any changes needed, politely communicate that with your writer so they can make the appropriate edits.
You never want to quit on the first draft. Instead, work together and create a collaborative process. When you go back and forth to finalize the copy, it forges a stronger relationship between you and your writer. They will understand your likes and dislikes for any future content they create for you. Think of it as a learning opportunity. The better your writer gets to know what you’re looking for, the better job they’ll do next time.
6. Reward Your Writer for a Job Well Done
Those who work freelance sometimes see an assignment come in, complete the job, and never hear from that company again. This can be discouraging because it often leaves the writer wondering if something went wrong.
If you work with a freelancer, take the time to send your thanks after they complete an assignment. You can even call out a specific element you liked about the content. Not only is this encouraging, but it helps foster a trusting relationship for the future. This writer may even feel compelled to make your work a top priority moving forward since they’ll know just how much you appreciate all their hard work.
Outsource Content Writing to Our Expert Team
If you’re interested in outsourcing your content creation to a skilled and reputable agency, look no further. Founded in 2011, Express Writers has served over 5,000 clients with a team that has completed over 50,000 projects. You can trust that we have what it takes to create high-quality, valuable content your readers will love.
Head to our Content Shop to see what our writers can do for you.
How do you write content for email marketing campaigns that people will actually read?
This is majorly important. Maybe more than you’d think.
Why?
Email marketing can change the game for your business if you do it right.
Think invested and engaged subscribers. More conversions. More sales. More trust. It’s all possible with good email. (That explains why email earns a GIANT return on investment. For every $1 spent on email marketing, expect to earn about $55 back.)
Not to mention, it’s one of the most popular types of marketing out there. It’s not only effective — it’s also an easy, accessible, personal way to stay connected to your growing audience.
So, I’d say learning how to write content for email is really, really important, especially if you’re on a tight budget. Wouldn’t you?
Hence: this guide. Keep reading for 10 tips to improve your email content game.
Email Marketing by the Numbers
Email as a technology is nearly 60 years old (!), but it’s still most consumers’ favorite way to get information online:
The average open rate for emails across industries is 22.86%.
45% of email subscribers say they open emails based on who they’re from. 33% say they open emails based on the subject line.
The most popular email clients are Apple iPhone (with 34.2% of market share) followed by Gmail (30.7% market share).
During the 2020 pandemic, the most popular way to read email was on a computer.
Using call-to-action buttons in your emails versus just text links may increase click-throughs by as much as 28%.
How to Write Content for Email Marketing: 10 Timely Tips
Email marketing is different than social media. It’s more personal, more targeted, and, as a result, higher-stakes. With this in mind, consider these practical tips for how to write content for email marketing.
1. Write a Good Subject Line
The subject line is the gatekeeper in the world of email marketing. Write a good one and you’ll see a satisfying open rate. Write a poor one and you’ll suffer the sound of crickets in the background of your campaign.
While there are dozens of great ways to write a compelling subject line, the best ones all have a few things in common: They revolve around grabbing a reader’s interest and keeping it. With this in mind, follow all of the standard rules that come with writing any great email subject line: include action words; address the reader directly; make it unique, succinct, and short; and differentiate it from anything else they’ll see that day.
For an example of an email subject line done right, check out this example from Mark Manson:
2. Personalize Your Emails
Personalized email copy performs better than general email copy. With this in mind, input your customer’s name into your email subject lines and be sure to target the body of your email so that it speaks directly to your audience and nobody else’s.
While it can be easy to worry that your emails will be lost in the fray, the only way to ensure that they won’t be overlooked is to personalize them fully and differentiate them from anything else out there.
3. Make Your Emails Clear First, Catchy Second
Catchy emails are great, but only if they’re also clear enough to make your audience want to click on them. With this in mind, focus on making your emails clear and descriptive first, catchy second.
This ensure that your audience will understand the purpose of your emails, and that you won’t be going out of your way to develop email campaigns that don’t draw real results.
What’s more, emails that are clear boost your authority as a company, since they promise only what they can deliver, and help readers develop realistic their expectations.
4. Ensure Your Subject Line Relates to Your Copy
Even if your subject line is clear and catchy, it’s all for naught if it doesn’t also align with your body copy. Keep in mind that delivering what you promise is critical in the world of email, and only people who can truly do this succeed in the long run.
With this in mind, keep your subject text in-line with your body copy. In addition to providing better value for readers, this will also go a long way toward enhancing your reputation as a company and making sure that customers want to click your material in the days to come.
Need some inspiration for writing email subject lines? Check out our free resource: 20 Proven Email Subject Lines for Your Email Marketing.
5. Keep It Relevant
Relevance is critical for a good email, so be sure to tie the content of your email in with something that will ground it as relevant and in-demand. Current events work well, as does some personal detail about the audience. By showcasing your relevance, you stand a better chance of grabbing the reader’s attention and keeping it.
6. Write Emails in the Second Person
Second person is the best voice for email because it’s personal and unique. When you reach out and speak directly to your customers, it’s easier for them to relate to the voice and content of your email.
This, in turn, also makes it easier for them to connect with your emails and enhances the likelihood that they’ll open your emails in the future – which is a good thing for everyone involved.
7. Showcase Benefits Over Features
If you’re making an offer via email, be sure to showcase the benefits of said offer rather than the features. In addition to being more valuable for readers, this also helps present a realistic picture of your product, which goes a long way toward helping people understand what to expect from it.
While most people focus on the features in an attempt to sell a product, focusing on the benefits can go much further toward helping the reader understand what’s unique and special about the product.
8. Keep It Short but Sweet
Email marketing is not the place to get long-winded and verbose. Instead, keep your emails as short and to-the-point as possible. This enhances the likelihood that you’ll keep your audience’s interest and also serves to keep you on track and on topic throughout the duration of your email campaign.
9. Let Your Personality Shine Through
Your personality should show through in the emails you write, and it will benefit your company and your personal brand if you follow this tip. While you always want to be professional, allowing your personality to shine through your email copy is an effective way to differentiate yourself from the crowd.
10. Don’t Spam
Spamming your readers is the cardinal sin of email marketing. With this in mind, only send out posts when you have things to say, and don’t ever, ever send out an email just to send out an email. Customers are quick to unsubscribe, and you could be landing yourself in hot water as a result.
Email Marketing: The Connection Platform of the Future
If you’ve been looking for a way to connect on a detailed, personal level with your audience, email marketing may be it.
By learning how to write content for email marketing, you’re on your way to seriously improving your content campaigns and building brand engagement.
Here’s the scoop on guest blogging: Google doesn’t appreciate paid links or content published just so you can “win” a link. However, if your guest post is informative, genuine, and helpful, including a relevant link back to your website is a great way to improve your exposure and relevance.
Is guest blogging a worthy investment?
It no longer results in the skyrocketing SEO as it did before Google started evaluating placed links more thoroughly.
However, guest blogging still affords some pretty sweet rewards:
Exposure to the blog and brand’s audience (hopefully including promotion on their social media and email list).
Increased authority and reputation.
Opportunity to expand or blog just outside your niche.
Possibility of capturing secondary or tertiary audiences where they live.
10 Keys to Writing Great Guest Blogs
If you’ve determined the blog presents a good opportunity for you, it’s time to create your guest blog. Let’s cover the basics of how to get it done.
Guest Blog Writing Key #1: Read the Guidelines
Quite simply, your guest post has the best chance of being accepted if it conforms to all the guidelines set forth by the editor(s). Ideally, you should read the guidelines before you even pitch. Guidelines usually include rules about:
Images (including acceptable sources).
Author biography and headshot.
How many links you are permitted to include in the post.
The editor should also be able to provide you with stellar examples of content published on the blog.
Surprisingly, guidelines are often vague – even when editors are picky. In this case, don’t hesitate to ask questions.
Guest Blog Writing Key #2: Let Your Expertise Shine
Expertise isn’t just about what you know – it’s about what you do with it. Through successes (and failures) in webinar presentations, I’ve learned that audiences respond most sincerely to application and innovation. Anyone can look up how to do something, but knowing how to apply it to a particular problem is especially important. The best content connects the dots and enlightens processes for readers.
You don’t have to give away every detail behind your process or way of thinking, but provide a window into your world.
I speak often about merging the personal and professional brand – something you can do carefully and successfully if you decide it’s the right fit for your business and your life. When I decided to merge my personal and professional Twitter accounts in a “Twitter wedding,” I documented the process and received positive feedback about the transparency of the post.
Depending on your audience, you’ll need to display expertise through a combination of:
Story (how you did it).
Data (proof that you did it).
Example (the final product).
Each guest posting opportunity presents a challenge to find the right balance of story, data, and example, so make sure to communicate with your editor or point of contact to ensure clear expectations.
Guest Blog Writing Key #3: Let It Flow
When it comes to keeping the reader engaged, flow is what makes your post stick. Your entire post should read as though it was written by one person in one sitting (even if took you days to put it together). Each tip or idea should connect to the next, and if it’s a how-to post (like this one), the order of steps should make sense.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Learn the 10 key steps to writing an awesome guest blog post over on @ExpWriters!” quote=”Learn the 10 key steps to writing an awesome guest blog post over on @ExpWriters!”]
Guest Blog Writing Key #4: Apply Search Engine Friendly Structure
Google prefers a certain structure for blog posts. Best practices are as follows:
Do not use H1 header tags except for the post title – use H2, H3s, and so on to neatly organize your post.
Use short, clear paragraphs.
Bullet point for clarity when applicable.
Number your how-to instructions or recipe steps when appropriate.
This also saves your editor time. If they can copy and paste your formatting, it makes their job much easier.
Guest Blog Writing Key #5: Focus!
While many copywriters are accustomed to writing for “keyword density,” you’ll find a more natural inclusion of a desired keyword occurs if you strive to use a focus keyword. Use your focus keyword in your:
Post title.
First paragraph.
Body copy (a couple of times).
Meta description. (Note: As a guest blogger, you may not be required to submit a meta description, but it’s a kind gesture and only takes a few minutes.)
If you’re writing for a general keyword, consider using a more specific long-tail keyword as well. For example, this post focuses on “guest blogging” (a very general, high-competition keyword) and “how to write a guest blog” (a specific question or search phrase).
Guest Blog Writing Key #6: Add Appropriate Backlinks
While you want to put a link back to your own site in the piece, don’t forget to link to other authoritative sites, especially those with a high domain authority or Alexa ranking. Chances are you know some reliable resources on your choice topic, and including credited statistics and other citations with links back to those sites will help.
It’s also best practice (and kind) to include an internal link – that is, a link to another blog post or page on the website for which you’re creating the post.
Guest Blog Writing Key #7: Include Images
Editors are used to receiving walls of text. Even properly formatted copy can start to blur together when it’s the tenth piece an editor has seen in a day. When guest bloggers provide visuals, however, it helps their copy stand out and shows they put some extra time into the presentation.
Furthermore, it creates less work for the editor (as long as the images work in their approved format or layout, and come with all necessary permissions).
Ideally, you should have some sort of visual break every 300 words or less. That can mean a custom image, a stock photo, a click-to-tweet, or an embedded audio or video.
Julia employs clear headers, short paragraphs, and a bulleted list to clearly explain her point.
She also breaks up the text by placing facts in a storytelling image and including a “click to tweet,” which also encourages readers to share her advice.
Remember to only include images you have permission to use. Provide a permissions line, credit, and a link to the source if requested or required.
Guest Blog Writing Key #8: Proofread Your Work
Editors will look over your copy before it goes live, but you can prevent embarrassing mistakes and increase your chances of acceptance by proofreading your work or asking someone else to do it for you before you submit. Aside from checking for spelling and grammar, a good edit analyzes flow and also checks all the links.
If you’ve relied on other sources to create your piece, make sure you run it through Copyscape to ensure uniqueness. You don’t want to get rejected for plagiarism because you didn’t reword your cited sources enough.
Guest Blog Writing Key #9: Write with Authority
You are guest blogging on a topic because you’re the resident expert! Avoid phrases like “I think,” or anything that will make the reader doubt your expertise on a given topic. Note how I say in this piece what editors will and will not do – not what they may think about doing. Having been a website editor for so long, I have the authority to offer these tips in a decisive way.
Guest Blog Writing Key #10: Include a Call to Action (CTA)
At the end of your post, tell your reader what they should do. Are there more on-site resources for them? A place where they can learn more about your services?
Your CTA will largely depend upon the tone of the piece and the editorial guidelines. It’s always safe to ask your readers to comment with their thoughts (if the blog has a comment section), as that will drive engagement and please the editor. If you do this, make sure to follow up and respond to the comments on the blog.
We’ve all heard the saying: a picture is worth a thousand words.
But how does this impact blogging?
Today, it’s virtually impossible to create a great blog without also creating strong visual content. In other words, your words matter less when they stand on their own. Modern readers want to be engaged on all fronts, and they look to visual materials to facilitate this.
It’s proven: blogs with high-quality, original images rank better, get more attention, and earn more shares than those without. And with over 70 million blogs going out on WordPress each month, you can’t afford to stop and invest in real methods to stand out.
One great method to use to stand out in your blogging is to invest in custom, high-quality graphics created to match your brand and blog topic.
An eye-tracking statistic by Springer International Publishing has said that people following a set of directions (which is common to long-form blogs) respond 323% better with illustrations included along the way!
This leaves one big question, though…
How, exactly, do you go about creating “high-quality, shareable, original images?” What does that even mean?
Here’s your complete guide.
[bctt tweet=”Learn all about how to create themed, share-worthy, on-point blog images in our guide ?#blogging” username=”ExpWriters”]
The Ultimate Guide on How to Create Your Best Blog Images Ever: First, The Importance of Visuals in Your Blogs
37% of marketers report that visual marketing is the single most important form of content for their business, second only to blogging.
With this in mind, consider what happens when you combine the two!
Visuals have always been a critical form of marketing. In addition to the fact that people are more likely to remember what they see than they are what they read or hear, content with images has a long history of performing better in search results and with shares on social media platforms.
And, BuzzSumo once reported that blog posts with images every 75-100 words earned twice as many shareson social media as posts with few or no images!
Adding images to your blogs is more important today than ever before.
But, here’s where our guide comes in. It is not enough, folks, to simply slap a stock photo into your WordPress blog and call it a day. Stop right there. You’ve got to go the extra mile and create high-quality, custom images that provide relevance for your users, and context for your content. And if you use stock photos in the process, use them well.
That’s what we’re here to talk about.
How to Create Your Best Blog Images (7 Steps to Follow)
Learning how to create or delegate the creation of blog images that are highly effective is a process. We’ve got a few key tips to help you get off to a great start.
1. Focus on Themed Images
Here at Express Writers, we believe deeply in creating authentic, beautiful, and themed images for our blog. We invest hundreds of dollars monthly with an in-house designer that’s been on staff for years to create these custom graphic assets.
We create custom themed blog images in our posts on The Write Blog that follow this set of criteria:
We have 5 image assets created per blog: a feature header, an ‘inset’ that is easy to share on social media, a matching CTA that references our services, and then specific sized images for Pinterest and Instagram)
We follow three bucket areas of approved styles for our designer to create, and specify which one when sending her the request:
Custom designs are always preferred, like the one of the artist painting a photo on this blog you’re reading. Our designer hand-draws these and then creates them in Adobe Illustrator.
If a stock photo is used, it’s created with an ‘overlay’ of colors in our brand palette. See this blog for an example.
If we’re referencing events or talks that I gave, we provide images that our designer uses in blog headers. See this example. Here’s another one from CMWorld. I use my iPhone to take these photos.
Clear Express Writers’ palette colors (sometimes we go off-grid from the main colors, but it’s always complementary)
Check out some of our examples from the blog roll:
See how engaging this is, vs. a typical stock photo structure? We won’t name names, but this is from a leading content marketer’s blog.
Another good brand that follows a ‘themed’ blog image look has twelveskip.com. While most people imagine some hokey holiday thing when they think of “themed images,” the reality is much different.
Themed images are actually a series of images that fall into a specific design structure. Of course, this design structure varies from company to company, but it’s always predictable, reliable, and recognizable.
This serves a critical purpose. By making your blog content more recognizable to your consumers, themed images help promote brand recognition and develop a consistent branding presence.
If you’re going to create themed images, keep things like your company’s color scheme, typeface, and voice in mind as you work through the process.
2. Hire a Designer
While platforms like Canva have made it easy to create your own graphic content, it remains a difficult and time-consuming task for people who don’t do it frequently. If you, like so many marketers, have your hands full with other responsibilities, consider hiring a professional designer to create your images for you.
Not only will you get a large batch of high-quality images all at once, but you’ll save the time you would have otherwise spent struggling to create them. This time can then be applied to more productive business pursuits that help grow your company and your social presence.
Not sure where to find a designer? You can go through a content agency (Express Writers offers custom image design for social media and blogs!) or work on finding a freelancer on your own.
3. Develop a Format
Regardless of whether you choose to design the images on your own or hire a professional to do it for you, one big time-saving tip is to create a standard image format that you can work off of and customize down the road. Our agency calls this an “image set.” Put simply, it’s your best featured image size with minimal text, then a formula for an inset image that can be shared on Instagram or other social platforms like Pinterest.
While each of the images you create should be unique, saving these presets in your system will streamline the creation process and ensure you wind up with high-quality images every time. To give you a head start, here’s the best image sizes for all major social platforms, according to Louisem.com:
Instagram: Instagram posts look best when they’re 1080PX x 1080PX.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn images should be 1200 x 628PX.
Facebook: The ideal image size for Facebook is 170PX x 170PX, although experts recommend uploading images of at least twice that size to ensure quality.
Pinterest: Pinterest Pins should be about 736PX x 1104PX, while board covers are 736PX x 736PX.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Want to create blog images that stand out? @ExpWriters is sharing how to size and optimize every online image!” quote=”Want to create blog images that stand out? @ExpWriters is sharing how to size and optimize every online image!”]
4. Pay Attention to Alt Text
While frequently overlooked, alt text on featured images matters hugely to SEO. Alt text is the string of text input “behind” an image, which makes it readable for search engines and people with visual disabilities.
According to Yoast, they look like this:
But, you probably won’t have to deal with the “code” if you’re in WordPress.
Here’s what alt text looks like on the featured image upload section in your WordPress (arrow on the right):
If you have a target keyword for the blog post you’re writing, it should always be in your alt text.
This helps search engines make sense of your image and rank your content accordingly.
Unlike meta descriptions or tags, alt text doesn’t have a hard-and-fast maximum length. The better rule to consider is to always include your focus keyword here.It is important, however, that you add alt text to every image in your blog (especially the featured image) and that you’re including relevant information, like full product names and product IDs, as well as head or long-tail keywords.
So…
To end tip #4:
ALWAYS include your keyword in your ALT text on images uploaded to your blog.
This is extremely important to focus on in the Featured Image section, where Google usually indexes key images from to show with your blog in knowledge graph search results.
5. Upload the Right File Format
While most people don’t realize it, the type of files you upload for your images has an impact on their quality! While many people upload JPEGs to the web, there may be another option. First, here’s a quick breakdown of the three main file types for visual content, and their strong suits:
JPEG. JPEG files are common in photographs and images where places, things, and people are featured.
PNG. PNG files are the best for logos, text-heavy designs, and graphics. They’re also ideal for screenshots and images that have a transparent background, such as a logo designed for website use.
GIFs. GIFs are animated files and typically feature in memes.
When it comes to creating visuals for your blogs, you basically have to remember two rules: JPEGs for standard photos, and PNGs for any custom graphics you create.
In addition to the file format you choose, you’ll want to pay attention to your image dimensions, as well. Huge files take forever to download, and can affect the final quality of your image.
While many web publishing platforms (like WordPress) have functionalities built-in that automatically re-size images, it’s still wise to use an editor like Lightroom or Photoshop to resize your images (according to the above guidelines) before you upload them to the web.
6. Be Cautious With Stock Photos
Like we explained in #1, while stock photos can be a valuable tool in blog image creation, they’re best used carefully. Too many stock photos in your visual strategy will make your blog look, well, boring. While it’s best to use original photos whenever possible (take a look at how LMS platform Wisetail does this on their site), this isn’t an option for companies that don’t have the photography power or the personnel to do it.
In these cases, using stock photos is fine. If you’re going to use stock photos, just be sure to follow these tips:
Add a Branding Overlay Color or Use Part of the Photo. Don’t just slap in a stock photo. Get creative with it! There are many ways you can add or even remove elements of a stock photo and make it more fun and engaging.
Look For High-Quality Options. Stock photos come from professional platforms, yes, but that doesn’t always mean they’re nicely done. As you search for images to use in your visual strategy, look for ones that are clear, crisp, and on-brand. Make sure the people in the photo (if there are any) reflect your target audience and that the topic of the photo is relevant to your post.
Focus on White Space. For a stock photo to perform well in your visual strategy, it needs to have enough white or empty space to take to text. While you can enhance the visibility of text overlay with filters, layers, and font colors and sizes, it’s always difficult to get text to show up well on top of a complex and colorful stock image.
Understand Attribution. Most stock photos don’t require any attribution when you use them. The operative word there, though, is most. By understanding the topics of attribution and copyright, you can avoid legal issues arising from your stock photo use, and keep your blog images thoroughly between the lines.
7. Focus on 10x Content
While they’re intensely important, most people regard blog images as an afterthought in the larger scheme of their blogging strategy. Unfortunately, this is exactly the wrong approach. Instead, you need to apply the principals of 10x content to your blog images. Coined by Rand Fishkin at Moz, “10x content” refers to content that breaks the mold and does something truly astounding.
It’s essential for good blogs and social media posts, and no less important for blog images.
Instead of just scraping by with your blog images, you’ll want to invest the time and energy required to grow a true visual strategy, and to ensure that every image you publish is the best one yet. While it’s true that this takes extra effort, it’s well worth it.
Think of it this way: your blog image features right next to your headline when you post new content.
While the headline has long been considered one of the most essential pieces of any blog, it’s arguable now that the featured image is up there, too.
When your featured image is high-quality, unique, attractive, and interesting, it draws people in. When paired with a great headline and a strong hook and body content, it makes for irresistible written material that is far too powerful to underestimate.
With this in mind, never stop striving for better blog images. When your visuals move up the content quality scale, the rest of your material will, as well. For more research on this, learn about the Skyscraper Technique and figure out unique ways to apply it to your blog strategy.
For example, can you evaluate your old blog images and come up with ways to make them better? Maybe you can partner with other companies or professionals to create images that the web has never seen before!
How about a hand-drawn image to accompany a fun blog post? We did this for a typically “boring” SEO blog post on a numbered list of SEO tips, by adding “to rule your content castle” at the end of the topic, then giving the title to our creative designer! Here’s the result:
The possibilities are endless, and it’s up to you to get creative.
Learn How to Create Blog Images that Win & Become a Better Visual Blogger
Today, there’s no room on the web for low-quality content – not even in your visuals. Of all the digital resources your company has, your blog is one of the most essential.
After all, 70% of customers prefer to get to know a company through content rather than ads, and 61% of consumers make purchases based on information from blogs!
With this in mind, it’s clear that you can’t afford to overlook your blog, or the images that accompany your text.
By getting proactive about your image creation strategy and actively looking for ways to improve your visual content, it’s easy to develop a high-quality approach to images that will benefit your blog for years to come. Don’t waste any more time on sub-par blog images. Check out our custom image design services today!
You’ve listened to the data.
You’re consistently writing great long-form content that’s supposed to be generating plenty of shares and traffic for your blog.
But, for some reason, it’s not working.
Over and over again, you’re finding that a large majority of your content generates minimal levels of social engagement.
You’re not alone.
After taking a look at over 1 million blog posts, the team at OkDork found that 89% of posts have less than 100 social shares.
Yikes. (Remember the post I wrote a while back: social shares are not your best ROI tracker?)
But why is this? And what can you do to make sure that more than 1 out of 10 of your posts generate 100+ social shares?
It all starts with choosing the right blog topics.
Marketing expert Brandon Gaille created a useful infographic that outlines the hottest blog topics by popularity and revenue.
According to his research, the top 10 blog topics include:
As we move through this article, we’re going to use data and examples to show you which of the above topics can help you get the most shares and reads.
We’ll also take a look at some other topics that are proven to perform well.
Let’s get started.
The Hottest Blog Topics Today: 5 Topics That Attract Readers & Shares
1. Saving Time
People love to read and hear about what they can do to save time.
In fact, they love to hear about it so much that they’re willing to spend a whole lot of their time reading and sharing content on the topic.
Take a look at BuzzSumo statistics for these two productivity based posts:
While both articles are fairly basic, the headline promises to readers that they’ll be able to save “tons” or “loads” of time.
And, since they’re able to deliver on that promise, they both generated over 450k social shares.
Writer and speaker Laura Vanderkam leveraged the power of talking about time management in her TED talk, How to Gain Control of Your Free Time.
The talk has generated almost 4 million views to date and has proved vital in helping Vanderkam grow her personal brand.
People naturally want to be better at time management. If you’re able to find ways to help your audience become more productive, they’ll reward you with shares and reads.
2. Health & Fitness
Just like time management, health and fitness shines in topic popularity because it’s something that everyone wants to be better at.
When BuzzSumo created a list of the most viral content of 2016, three of the top 10 articles were in the health and fitness niche.
This article, about healthy and portable high-protein snacks, generated over 2 million social shares.
And this article, about the top 10 ab exercises, generated almost 2 million as well.
Now, depending on your audience, talking about health may seem like an odd thing to do.
For example, if you’re a financial consultant, writing about ab exercises isn’t going to yield the results that it will for a blog that already writes in that niche.
What you can do, however, is generate health topics that are relevant to your target audience and the unique situations that they face in their daily life.
In the financial consultant example, you could write an article for business owners about how consistent exercise contributes to increased productivity (which, in turn, contributes to wealth).
And, if you can pull it off, there is clear evidence that people will share and read your content.
3. Money
More time, better health, and more money. Hopefully you’re catching on to the trend.
The blog topics that perform best are the things that people want most in life.
The Penny Hoarder has generated tons of loyal fans by providing readers with advice on how to make and save money.
Here’s an example of one of their most successful money based articles:
The article isn’t overly in-depth, but it does provide brief information for readers on how to earn extra money.
And that’s not the only article they’ve written on the topic that has yielded great results. Over the last 12 months, three of the top four articles around the term ‘making money’ were created by their writers.
With social shares above 173k for each article, it’s safe to say that they have a pretty firm handle on what their readers want to hear about.
It’s also safe to say that writing about money, and how to save and/or make it, is a great way to generate the type of interest that produces social shares and visitors.
4. Happiness and Getting What You Want Out of Life
Want to be happy? Of course you do. And so does everyone else.
That’s why content related to happiness, and achieving it, gets shared so much.
Take a look at these six pieces of happiness-related content that have all been shared over 95,000 times to date.
As we look at these BuzzSumo results, it’s also important to note the platforms where the content is being shared.
The written articles about happiness were most likely to receive a majority of their shares on Facebook.
The content that features quotes, however, received over 95k shares on Pinterest but only 88 on Facebook.
As we move along in this article, we’ll dive deeper into the importance of considering the platform when deciding on a blog topic.
5. Travel
Travel content doesn’t have the share power that the above topics do, but it can certainly produce solid numbers when the topic is implemented into your content strategy correctly.
Not everyone is an adventurer. But as science tells us, there are quite a few people who are born to travel.
And there are a lot of content creators generating massive shares from taking advantage of this.
Take these articles for example:
As you can see, Facebook is where the majority of shares are being seen for this topic.
Pinterest is another platform where travel content works well, especially when it’s posted alongside an appealing visual.
Try to work relevant travel based articles into your blog. Doing so is a great way to break free of the monotony of utilizing the same topics while satisfying the interests of your readers along the way.
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Tying These Blog Topics in With Your Target Audience
As you browse through the above blog topics, you might be thinking, “Well, that’s great that these topics perform well, but my niche has nothing to do with these things.”
With a little creativity, however, you can find ways to work all of these blog topics into the content that you write.
Take Evernote for example. Their app is designed for note taking, organizing, and archiving. So you’d think they’d stick to articles about productivity and saving time.
But they don’t. Instead, they diversify their blog by writing travel articles that give users a better sense of how they can use Evernote to travel better with their app.
They also feature articles about minimalism and happiness, both of which are topics that are trending in recent years.
This article generated over 500 social shares. And while that’s nothing to gloat about, it’s certainly a worthwhile number for a brand whose main focus lies in productivity.
Choosing Topics Based on Social Media Platforms
When you’re choosing a blog topic that you want to be read and shared, you absolutely need to consider where it will be posted.
Social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk frequently talks about the necessity of respecting the platform that your content will be featured on.
Vaynerchuk is relentless about this as he feels that you absolutely must, “Respect the psychology of what people are doing when they’re on a platform.”
Someone’s mindset is much different on Facebook than it is on Pinterest. And that mindset varies even more when they’re on LinkedIn.
Vaynerchuk could not be more on point here. Kissmetrics put a post together, titled The Science Behind What People Love to Share on Social Media, that echoes his sentiment.
On Facebook, the most shared articles are those with a word count between 2,000-2,500 words. Articles between 3,000-4,000 words received the least amount of shares.
On LinkedIn, the opposite is true. Professionals there are looking for in-depth content, and are therefore more likely to share content between 3,500-4,000 words.
As far as blog topics go, LinkedIn users tend to read and share more content related to self-improvement than any other topic.
The keywords that were most often found in frequently shared content there included:
But writing about these topics and keywords on Pinterest would be an awful idea.
Their users love food, DIY, and wedding related content.
Focus on the Platform and Your Audience
As you continue to work towards creating amazing content that gets shares, be sure that you’re respecting the platform and the mental state that the audience there is in.
By doing so, you’ll put yourself in a much better position to earn the highest possible number of visitors and shares. If you’d like some help coming up with blog topics, our team of experts would be more than happy to provide assistance. Talk to us today!
