Content is here to stay: no doubt about it. But how is content considered successful today, based on search engine ranking potential and real value-add to readers?
The Ultimate State of Content Marketing In 2015
We’ve gathered the top factors of successful content for 2015, based on over 15 top sources (including major content marketing studies) in one comprehensive infographic. Enjoy, and don’t forget to share and comment! (Transcript below the infographic of the content and resource links.)
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Did You Know? Crucial Content Stats For 2015
95% (9 out of 10) B2B marketers in North America use content marketing.
60% of marketers use content marketing WEEKLY.
41% of marketers confirm content marketing has a positive ROI (Stateofinboundmarketing)
82% of prospects find relevant industry content most valuable (Marketo)
Engagement is the most frequently cited objective for content marketing by US B2B marketers. (Curata)
Content marketing is now defined as using/creating content that is not promotional but interesting or valuable in itself. (Emarketer)
Buyers are most likely to share blog posts more than any other content form. Next most likely shared content form: infographics. (DemandGenReport)
Whitepapers used to be one of the most popular content forms (in 2013); now, 95% of buyers prefer shorter content formats. (DemandGenReport)
In social media, buyers are more likely to be on LinkedIn & Twitter. (DemandGenReport)
Length matters: Blogs that are at least 2,500 words on a 10+ year old domain rank the best in Google. (serpIQ) Content at least 3,000 words gets 2x the amount of shares shorter posts do.
Six Key Factors of Content Success In 2015
What makes successful content tick? Let’s take a look.
1. Quality is the number one ranking factor.
Although authority and relevance win the rankings (Redevolution), quality is the number one ranking factor for web content (Neilpatel).
2. Useful content posted consistently will succeed.
The keyword is useful; if your readers gain something from reading, they will share and engage. Correct SEO copywriting is essential for websites.
3. A lot of time will be spent crafting perfect headlines.
Five times as many people read the headline as read the actual body copy. (David Ogilvy) (represent in a statistic?). This means when you write a headline, you spend 80c out of a dollar (also represent in a statistic possibly?)
Headline copy is one of the top 5 MOST impactful elements for lead generation. (MarketingSherpa)
4. Content auditing is the best way to monitor content quality.
Say goodbye to bad content: embarrassing content and outdated links won’t happen again if you maintain content auditing (Copyblogger).
Content auditing tools: a content expert’s human eye, time, SEMRush
5. Content curation is becoming mainstream.
Most marketers are now utilizing content curation as a key component of their content marketing strategy. 56% of marketers say that quality content is their greatest content marketing challenge. Curation is a top solution for this challenge. (Forbes/Curata)
6. Creativity will be in demand as content marketers strive to rise above.
Today, SEO copywriting isn’t finished when the content is well-written or even useful: the content must also excite the reader. The more creative the content, the more the engagement.
Storytelling will be in demand as a top engagement tool to connect audience to content. (BruceClay) Just remember: not everyone is a storyteller. (Wordstream)
Storytelling is an excellent tool to use in your content marketing strategy, giving your brand personality and connecting you with readers. It can help boost your content and shares, but just how can you go about telling a story with your content? Where can you get excellent inspiration?
In this blog, I want to look at the BBC’s Sherlock series, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as everyone’s favorite consulting detective and Martin Freeman as his loveable friend, John Watson. (If you’ve yet to watch this incredible series, it is available on Netflix and on DVD/BluRay.)
Let’s take a look at some great lessons you can learn!
How BBC’s Sherlock Wins at Storytelling
Since BBC’s Sherlock is such a great resource for storytelling, I am going to look at what you can learn for your copywriting. These are some amazing things the show does, and it can help your content incredibly.
1. It Utilizes Excellent Story Symmetry. Symmetry is a great part of storytelling and can make a story more impactful. This could be whether in the framing on a TV show like Sherlock or a Stanley Kubrick flick. However, Sherlock illustrates symmetry not only in filming but also within the story. When we get to the end of the first episode of season 1, we see John Watson taking things into his own hands, willingly saving Sherlock’s life. He could have been caught and even charged with a crime, but his friend was more important than his criminal record. When we get to the third episode of season three, the same thing happens, only this time it is Sherlock saving John in a similar fashion. He knew he would get caught and punished, but he wanted to protect his friend, knowing Watson would do, and has done, the same for him.
While you don’t have to create a symmetrical story like this, using symmetry in your posting can help to bring about consistency. Symmetry is soothing to many people and if you create symmetrical content, you could see more engagement and shares. You can create symmetrical copy with your writing or you can create images or videos that utilize it. Either way, it can help you stand out and make you look incredibly professional.
2. The Writers Utilize Emotion to Draw in Viewers. If you watch any season of Sherlock, you know that it can be an emotional roller coaster. What do you mean Moriarty did that and why is Sherlock listening to him? Who is this Magnussen and why is he threatening John and Mary? Whatever happens, people feel the anger, excitement, and sometimes extreme sadness due to the storytelling by the writers of Sherlock. One of the most intense episodes, The Reichenbach Fall, connected with many viewers and created a huge stir online. It still has an impact, even if you’ve watched it multiple times.
Using emotion in your content can be a great way to draw in readers and convert visitors into leads. You can focus on a variety of emotions whether they are happy, sad, upsetting, or even cause anger. Always remember when dealing with emotions to do so respectfully, especially if you are going to write content on something people are angry about. Emotions can help you connect with your audience while also giving your brand a personal voice both on social media and within your copywriting.
3. We See What Sherlock Sees. The show lets us in on what Sherlock sees by going over a person’s body or items and highlighting aspects with words. We learn that someone owns a dog, has a wife in labor, and more just from Sherlock’s glance. When this happens, we are all transported into being Sherlock. This is a great way to connect watchers with the show and help them feel like they are part of it. Breaking the wall between viewers and a show isn’t always recommended in television, film, or stage productions, but many BBC shows, like Doctor Who and Sherlock break it. When it is broken well, people can really engage with the story. Just think, if you’ve watched Doctor Who, how terrifying is it that the Weeping Angles are still stone because you the watcher are staring at them?
You can break that wall easily with your copy, and it isn’t as touch and go as it is with TV or stage. A great way to break it is to write in first or second person and ask your readers direct questions. It can be a rhetorical question like I did above about the creepiness of the Weeping Angels, or it can be an open-ended question that gives your readers the ability to answer with their own opinions and questions. Let people in on what you’re writing to build a great connection and relationship with them. Writing in something like second person can be a great way to draw your audience in and help them connect with your content.
4. The Show Repurposes the Original Stories to Create Something New. Sherlock is one huge example of just how you can repurpose a story and create more for further content. The show has a lot of great source material to work with due to the many stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the writers always make sure to create something incredible and unique. If they followed the typical storylines we all have memorized (see: The Hound of the Baskervilles) then it would quickly become a boring show. However, the writers make each episode different, adding their own twists to each and repurposing the content effectively to create a powerful story.
You can do something similar with your content by repurposing your other blogs and copy to create something new and impactful. You can use your older content to help build a story and create storytelling that will connect with your readers while still using your existing copy. Repurpose content to see just how powerful it can become and how many clients and readers you are able to reach out to when you do this.
5. Sherlock Gives Us More Content Than Most TV Shows. With Sherlock, the BBC gives you a lot of content for a TV show, which encourages people to watch even more. It can be a bit of a letdown when you start a show and realize that, while it might be on air for an hour, you only get 45 minutes of content. This can make people give up on a TV show, especially if it doesn’t have a captivating story like Sherlock. This show would probably be just as successful if it were only 45 minutes, but something that really sticks out to fans is the fact that we get a full hour and a half of content. This helps to immerse watchers and get them into the show more than a shorter series. While we only get three episodes, we get a lot of content per episode.
Your readers and clients are taking time out of their day to come to your website and read your content, and if you don’t provide them with enough, they could leave. However, if you provide them with more content than what they’re expecting, you can give them a great surprise and make them happy that they took time out of their busy days. You can give them a variety of content types or give them something free for taking the time to look at your site. Whatever you choose to do, you can help build confidence in your content and business by giving them more than they expected.
6. The Show Uses Visuals to Create a Huge Impact. If you take some time to watch Sherlock, you will notice that the showrunners don’t just focus on the written story but visuals as well. This is what helps make the stories even more powerful than they were on paper and any watcher can get easily immersed in the story when watching. The directors frame the shots gorgeously, and they focus on important details within the story, even if we don’t know what they are yet. In addition to simple images of streets and clues, the visuals of the actors acting out some of the most emotional scenes adds such an impact. Whether you are laughing at Sherlock’s attempts to surprise John or watching John cry with horror, you feel the intensity because of what you see.
According to Susan Kusinitz, at HubSpot, visuals are an important aspect of content and if you want to create something powerful, you need to make sure you utilize them. You don’t need to go quite the route of Sherlock, but if you film high-quality videos, share great images, and create infographics, you can connect with your audience quickly and easily. When you are crafting your content, don’t leave out the incredibly important visual aspects.
Did You Miss Me: Don’t Miss Using Sherlock for Great Content Inspiration
As you can see, there is a lot of inspiration to glean from this show, helping you create powerful, impactful stories for your readers. If you need guidance to create epic storytelling content or would like experts to craft it, then look no further than Express Writers. We have some of the top writers who can create excellent story pieces for your content, as well as create different impactful content types by using similar aspects that the BBC uses for Sherlock. Don’t hesitate to contact us to see how we can help!
This June, our little ol’ team at Express Writers is becoming bigger and better than ever before.
We’ve spent some serious time and resources (might add, blood and sweat to that) to update our major content products and launch some brand new things.
One thing you can say about us—we are not your typical content writers. We’re a firm that’s dynamic, ever updating, and developing new things internally that are ahead of the curve. Our staff is passionate and involved, and we all love what we do! Ready to hear about all our new changes?
Express Writers Re-Launch This June: What Are Our Major Changes & Updates?
For about three months now, our CTO Josh McCoy has led his team of developers in creating an ultra-custom Membership system that will be accessible to our ongoing clients. As our CEO, I’ve sat down and recreated our major Content Strategy training and written tests for all our Strategists, as well as wrote and launched content standard quality tests for every single one of our writers and editors. Our team is better than ever before, and we’re staffing more people almost every week to keep up with our growth.
1. Membership Platform
The long-awaited Membership platform and program is finally here! Custom designed on a platform built from scratch by our development team, the Membership system replicates our Content Shop with an online ordering platform only accessible to clients who deposit and spend a minimum of $1,000 a month. When the deposit is placed, it activates the platform and clients will be able to see and order with their ongoing membership rates on every product. Besides the discounted rate access, membership clients will have easier input forms that allow them to simply upload monthly project specs: and we’ll also dedicate a project Editor to each membership client account that comes in with a style guide.
Membership Benefits:
Membership platform, allowing clients to access and order all the discounted products.
Dedicated Staff Editors, exclusive to Membership accounts only: we train one of our staff Editors on your style guide and requirements for long-term, specific editorial attention. This is an optional add-on, starting at $85 for 20 pages.
No contracts, ever. Just deposit and spend $1,000 per month.
Consistently lower rates on all our products – up to 20% off!
We’ve completed training and testing our entire staff of writers and editors on the proper use of high quality citations, checked with the MozBar, in all our blog content. We’ve also updated our content formatting rules to include high quality headlines and sub-headers that will better attract and engage readers. These fundamental quality updates will ensure your blog content meets and exceeds Google’s content standards. See our Content Shop Blog Prices.
3. Content Blogging Plans Update
We’ve done a thorough audit of how our blog plans work, and found that a word span within 1,500 words works best for the average blog. (Longer words are always favorable for Google rankings, as long as it’s quality: we recommend buying or creating single blogs over 2,000 words a few times a month for posting on your blog.) We’ve also created an additional plan for more versatility. All blogs will include high quality citations and text formatting. Lastly, we’ve introduced add-ons for blogging that include the revamped Content Planning service (a full monthly Editorial Calendar and more); as well as optional premium designed images that we can create for every blog. View our Blog Packages in the Content Shop.
4. Content Planning Replaces Content Curation
Formerly called Content Curation, our Content Planning is an entirely re-vamped product in our Content Strategy lineup, available as an add-on for all of our blog plans, single website pages content planning (research and title creation), and fundamentals package for clients with new websites or blogs.
Our revamped product, Content Planning, adds a new section to the Editorial Calendar we deliver monthly, as well as overview reports, called BuzzSumo Analysis. In this analysis we conduct research on your industry influencers and what is currently trending on the web (the people who are succeeding at content in your niche) and using BuzzSumo, we’ll look at what content they are writing, how many shares it gets on what platform, and prepare a topic analysis report. Finally, our Content Strategists will identify any competitor and influencers shortcomings and notate how you can do it better with a few top suggestions and takeaways.
Tools we used: BuzzSumo, SEMRush, WordTracker, Hubspot/Portent title helpers, Quora, human eye of our Content Strategist.
Content Planning Package: This is where you’ll experience the most out of our content planning products. Our ongoing Content Planning packages are for those who have our blogging plans and are looking for total content planning, organization, and creation. We’ll analyze what content is currently trending in your niche using BuzzSumo, research keywords and topics, and create an Editorial Calendar mapped out for best monthly content. Clients also get to talk to their Content Strategist in a 30-minute monthly strategizing meeting.
Content Planning Fundamentals: This is a packaged plan for those who do not have an existing content plan, blog, or web content going: or are looking to re-vamp their current content. Our Content Strategists will deliver a Content Planning Overview excel report with page or blog suggestions, full keyword analysis report, and a BuzzSumo Content Analysis. Clients can (optionally) meet with their Content Strategist for a 30-minute discussion.
Content Planning For Websites: Perfect for the new (or revamping) website owner who doesn’t know what pages to plan for and add to their website. We’ll conduct keyword research, deliver a BuzzSumo Content Analysis, and create an overview report that suggests categories and specific pages to add for successful web content. Clients can (optionally) hold a 30-minute meeting with their Content Strategist to share input.
5. Social Media Improvements
We’re now creating custom, branded & designed images with Canva, using our stock image subscription from Getty Images/iStock. These custom images will be created for and included in all of our re-vamped social media packages. Our social media managers have been fully trained on how to use Canva to create and post your branded images. Premium designed images have been proven to boost re-tweets and social engagement by 35%. (SocialMediaExaminer).
Here’s an example of a tweet with an image we created:
— Express Writers | Your Content Writing Partner (@ExpWriters) June 11, 2015
If your business isn’t taking advantage of this engagement tool, you are missing out. That’s why we’re integrating it into our products.
Why Canva?
Canva is quickly growing to be the #1 premium designed image creation tool and is used by millions of people! It allows the user to create beautiful, engaging visual elements that will attract and convert readers much better than a standard image. (Also, they are rocking out on their content marketing, we love these guys: see their blog.) We compared this tool to PicMonkey, the other leading one, and Canva has far more features (more templates that are social media and blog friendly, more options).
Besides premium-designed imagery, we’ve also trained our social media managers on using Pinterest. Every plan now includes Pinterest. This social platform is becoming more and more crucial for businesses to be present on: more than 72 million users exist here, a whopping 93% of which usually shop online while they pin. And pins with prices get 36% more likes (SproutSocial). Read more about why you should be on Pinterest on our blog The Rise of Pinterest: 5 Reasons It Should Be Part of Your Social Media Mix.
Our content auditing has undergone an improvement with the addition of BuzzSumo as a tool our Content Strategists will use to research and discover clients’ best competitors and influencers. We’ll put these findings on a new tab in the content audit report, with notes on what the competitor is doing for their blogs and social presence. These discoveries can help clients replicate the strategies of successful businesses in their niche in creating and sharing content, with actionable takeaways listed. We’ve also added Wordtracker, a Moz recommended keyword tool, as an additional tool besides SEMRush for even more powerful keyword strategy and research; and we’ve included PDF guide overviews that will explain the audit process and reports. View Content Auditing in the Content Shop.
7. Keyword Strategy
We’ve entirely revamped our research process for clients’ best keywords. Our former two products, keyword research and topic research, are replaced with one all-inclusive, comprehensive and powerful product: Keyword Strategy. For this new product, we now partner with and have a paid subscription to these three tools:
BuzzSumo, a leading content insight analytic platform
SEMRush, one of the best SEO software programs online
Wordtracker, a MOZ-recommend, high-performance Keyword Tool
BuzzSumo and Wordtracker are brand new to our team, we’ve just finished training our Content Strategists on how to use them. Our Content Strategists are fully trained and ready put to full use the power of our new tools to create a thorough keyword and content strategy. We put together clients’ best keyword findings in an Excel according to competition, CPC, search volume per month, and more; send a full content analysis from BuzzSumo that shows how hot a keyword or topic is currently trending online, and our Content Strategists will write full content topics using the keyword findings.
Deliverables: a full keyword research report, with top 10 keywords and over 200 full cut findings; topic research, where we’ll write 10 optimized, ready-to-go, topics using the top keywords in our findings for blogs and content pieces that you can create (or have us write): and a content analysis report generated by BuzzSumo to show you what content is currently trending on the Web for your keywords.
We’ve fielded for a great designer to fulfill the marketing, infographic, and formatting areas of our content. Our new premium designer resource is an award-winning consultancy designer who currently creates visual content for Johnson & Johnson, ESPN, US Government, and many more worldwide companies. See an infographic example.
Our new design capabilities include:
Bespoke infographics
Illustrated print and e-book covers
Premium formatting and visual elements for e-books, brochures, whitepapers, and presentations
Storytelling character elements & more!
That’s It, Folks.. For Now!
We’re excited to introduce this new and re-vamped lineup to launch off our summer, this 2015! And we’re grateful to each and every one of our valued clients that make it possible for us to keep growing and getting better.
Blogging is such an incredible tool within content marketing—one of the most powerful ones, too. It gives you a unique ability to reach out to a wider audience and gives you the chance to write on a variety of things from why people need your product to what colors a dress might be.
Most importantly, it also gives you the ability to grow your traffic and bring in new visitors, giving you the possibility of increasing revenue. Let’s look at just how you can do this with a few excellent blogging practices.
18 Incredible Ways to Increase Traffic With Great Blogging Practices
Just how can you grow your traffic through your blog? Let me walk you through some great points that can help you improve your overall content marketing campaign! Be sure to let me know which of these practices reach out to you in the comments.
Blogging Can Increase Rankings and Bring in More Organic Search Traffic. A great reason why blogging can be great to grow your traffic is because it helps you rank higher on the search engines. Organic traffic is great, and the more you blog, the more likely you are to increase that. Remember that each blog you write is just one more landing page that gives readers and visitors a chance to see your web page and products. The more you write, the more landing pages you create, which helps you create more opportunities for your site to rank and be found.
Write Different Content Types to Drive Traffic. A good idea to help create blog posts that help drive traffic is to follow some of the findings from Newscred’s social media study. Researchers found that things such as “how-to” posts and lists brought in more social media traffic, as did blogs with evergreen topics. One thing the study also noted is that content types tended to be shared differently at different times throughout the year. This is a good reason as to why you should always research your audience and pay attention to your analytics. You can figure out which blog topics will do best at which times, giving you the chance to create great blog posts that increase traffic.
Share Your Blogs on Social Media to Increase Traffic Even More. Increasing traffic to your blog isn’t going to happen as soon as you write and publish. In fact, you are going to need to do a little more work to drive traffic through blogging. A great place to start with is social media. Social media is an incredible way to help boost blog traffic to your site, and you can do so in many different ways. Just work with your social channels and research your analytics to see what things you need to tweak and which things are working well for you.
Never Ever Forget About Email Newsletters. Another way to bring in more traffic with and to your blog is to send out information about your blogs in your email newsletters. You can promote a wide variety of things in your newsletters, and your blogs should be one of those items. Encourage readers to click and read your blog postings, and encourage new visitors to your site to sign up for a newsletter to know when you’ve posted a new blog.
Write On the Latest, Trendiest Things to Bring in Viewers. Something that can really help drive traffic with your blogs is when you blog about the latest, trendiest items out there. You can blog about new films and how they can inspire people in your industry, use memes that have gone viral, or any other currently trending item to help bring in visitors. Remember, you shouldn’t only focus on viral, trendy content. But it is a great idea to boost traffic.
Always Make Sure Your Blogs Have Epic, Impactful Headlines. According to Lindsay Kolowich over at HubSpot, headlines are a vital part of every single content marketing strategy. A headline is what convinces someone to click on your link, which then helps to improve traffic. If you want to boost your traffic through blogging, then always make sure you are creating powerful headlines that encourage people to click. This could be your only chance to bring in new viewers.
Utilize Different Keywords, Especially Long-Tail, In Your Blogs. Neil Patel points out that keywords, especially long-tail keywords, are vital to your blogging campaign. You need to make sure you are using excellent keywords that can drive traffic, and you should also make sure you use a variety to bring in a wider audience. Patel shows that you can increase your traffic and clicks by 78 percent when you use long-tail keywords, which is truly remarkable! Use your keywords, and bring in more traffic.
Make Sure Your Posts are Perfect for Your Audience. In the article I shared above, Neil Patel also points out how important it is to know your audience and have posts that are specifically for them. Research your demographic and the clients you already have to gather information on what your audience will like and want to see. You can also send out questionnaires and ask your social media followers what type of posts they’d like to see. The more you write posts that are perfect for your audience, the better your chances are of increasing your overall site traffic.
Have a Stunning, Professional Blog Layout and Design. Written content isn’t the only thing you should consider when trying to use your blog to drive traffic. You should also consider making sure you have a great and professional blog design with an easy-to-follow layout. This can help encourage your readers to come back and read future blog posts, and can even encourage them to read your past pieces. If your blog looks like it is thrown together, your readers aren’t likely to stick around for very long.
Utilize Images, Videos, and Infographics in Your Blog Posts. Along with a great design, you should also focus on visual content on your blog, as well. You can share videos with your clients, create an infographic out of a longer post, and attach images to your written content. This can help get more attention from a wider audience. People enjoy having multiple content formats to consume, and each of us consumes content differently. Give you readers and visitors options to help drive continual traffic.
Create Evergreen Content to Drive Traffic Constantly. Trendy topics are a great way to drive traffic, but those will only last for a few weeks or even a few days. Once the trend goes away, the traffic will dwindle; so how can you keep it going, as well as increasing it? You can write evergreen content that focuses on topics that don’t go stale. A great way to know if you’re writing evergreen topics is to pay attention to your topic and how you write. If you write something without focusing on trends or current pop culture references, chances are it is evergreen. If you’re writing or referencing something that is popular right now, then it isn’t.
Always Craft Excellent, High-Quality Articles. Increasing and maintaining traffic are two sides of the same coin, meaning you need to focus on both when creating your blog content. One of the best ways to make sure you are working on both is to write amazing, high-quality content. If you aren’t sure if you are writing high quality, you can always hire a copyeditor to look over it or simply hire a copywriter with training in high-quality web content.
Consider Covering News Topics on Your Blog. Writing on fun trends can make your blog pop and bring people in, but sometimes you should focus on writing something a bit more serious and informative. A great way to increase traffic through blogging is to write blogs on news pieces. If you’re in the social media world, then writing on what new thing Facebook is doing or a new social media channel will be great for news content. News content can be amazingly captivating for your audience while providing them with top information from the latest news sources.
Write and Publish Blogs Consistently. A consistent blogging schedule can also help increase your traffic. People like to know when to expect blogs from their favorite sites and companies, and if you set a schedule, they are likely to keep an eye out for your new blog. Set a schedule and play with it for a bit to see how often and which days work the best for you. Make sure you keep your schedule the same for a few months to get the best measure of what days work and also so that you aren’t constantly changing things around on your readers.
Engage With Your Audience to Promote Further Clicks and Engagement. Another great way to increase traffic with your blogs is to engage with your readers when they comment. Always be sure that you reply to a comment and consider doing more than the cursory, “Thank you for reading” response. You can ask your reader a specific question in reply to their comment or answer a specific question they asked. Engaging and conversing with them can help encourage them to come back and read your newer blogs, and can eventually convince them to become clients instead of just readers.
Don’t Hesitate to Pay to Promote Your Blog. Organic traffic is great, but sometimes you need that extra push to help increase website traffic with your blog. You can promote your blog through various ways such as pay-per-click ads or utilizing social media ads on channels like Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. This can help drive some traffic, and when people find your blog and see that you’ve spent a good portion of time and energy on it, they’ll stay. Once this happens, then you can be well on your way to getting organic traffic.
Comment on Industry Blogs and Link to Your Blog. You can also encourage people to visit your blog by commenting on industry blogs with a link back to yours. This doesn’t mean to promote your blog and get all spam-like. Write something that provides value to the writer of the blog, and if you have a similar blog you can mention it. In addition, many comment forms allow for people to share a website along with their name, which is a great way to help link people to your page without even mentioning it in the comment.
Allow Readers to Share Your Blogs Easily on Social Media. As I mentioned earlier, social media is a great way to increase your traffic through blogging. You can post your blogs to social media, but you can also allow your readers to share your blog easily through social share buttons. Putting up social share buttons on each post can help you reach a wider audience because, if a reader likes one of your posts, he or she can then click the social button and share to their channel quickly and easily. This can help bring in more viewers, and end up converting those visitors into clients. Never underestimate the power of a social share button on each and every blog post.
Remember, Patience Truly is a Blogging Virtue
When it comes to increasing your traffic through blogging, remember that it might take some time. Even though a lot of viral content can make it seem like things happen in a snap on the Internet, the reality is that it takes time to build your presence. You want to be a trusted source, so follow these tips with your blogs to create a great presence and drive traffic. If you need help with creating blog posts that are engaging, then contact Express Writers. Our blogging services provide you with excellent, high-quality material that you and your readers will enjoy.
When it comes to writing blog content, many people dedicate a lot of their minds to writing the body of the piece. This is great because you will be able to create some great content that way, however, many times when that is complete, the headline ends up suffering.
You might not have the creative energy to think up a great headline and end up slapping up any old idea you can think of.
This is not a great move at all. To get more people to click, you really need to make sure you spend a good amount of time crafting an excellent headline. How can you do this and just how important is a headline? I am going to explore this for you and give you some great, data-backed research.
Just How Important is a Headline?
Before I get into how to craft a great headline, I want to look at just how important a headline is. The following portion is going to cite great information from HubSpot’s infographic on the importance of headlines and how much effort you should put into them. Let’s take a look! 1. A Headline Could be the Only Chance You Get. Posting your content to social media is a great way to get clicks and shares. However, you need to make sure you have a great headline to catch readers’ attention. Your headline might be the only opportunity you will get for clicks, shares, and revenue, and you don’t want to pass that up. You need to give a decent amount of thought to your headlines so that people don’t pass you by. 2. Headlines Tell Readers What to Expect from a Blog. One of the great things about a headline is that it gives readers the chance to know what to expect from the blog. If your headline is ambiguous, it won’t give them any information, and they are likely to pass it. When you give them a small amount of information up front, they will be able to decide if it is something they would like to spend their time on. 3. Great Headlines Help You Stand Out on Social Media. If you create excellent headlines, you won’t only get clicks from your followers but you can also grab people’s attention that are friends with them. When you craft an excellent headline and put a lot of effort into crafting it, you will stand out from other blogs being shared. It can also help you stand out from your competitors.
Five Ways to Write Truly Epic Content Headlines
Putting effort into your headlines will truly help you have a successful content marketing campaign, but you might be wondering how to write them. I found some great points that I want to share with you to help encourage you to put a decent effort into all of your headlines. 1. Use HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator for Ideas. If you are looking for some great inspiration for a headline, or even a blog topic, head over to HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator. You just put in a noun or three (however many you have) and the generator will come up with some ideas to help get you off the ground. 2. Leave the Client’s Needing and Wanting More. While I said earlier that you want to let your clients know what to expect in your blog through a headline, but you always want to make sure you don’t give too much away. When you create your headline, keep your clients wanting and needing more. Ask or present a question in your headline and answer it in your blog. This will encourage more clicks, and can help improve your engagement. 3. Ask Questions Like What, Why, How, and When. A headline that asks a question is a great way to encourage people to click on your link and read your blog. If you’re talking about how to garden and save plants from birds, you can say something like, “Gardening How-To: How Can You Avoid Pesky Birds in Your Garden This Year?” This will drive many new gardeners to click on your link, taking them to useful information that could be what saves their garden this year. No matter what your subject matter is, you can always ask a vital question that people want to know the answer to. 4. Let People in On a Secret. A great way to encourage people to click on your headline is to let them in on a secret. All you need to do is write, “The Secret” in your headline followed by something that will be interesting to your audience. A secret is a powerful thing, and letting your clients in on one is a great way to encourage them to click on your link and head to your blog. 5. Create a List of Mistakes People Should Avoid. We all know that learning is important, right? Which means when it comes to anything be it writing content, washing a cat, or how to wash certain clothes, people want to know what mistakes to avoid. When you create a headline for a list of mistakes, you can use the words “mistakes to avoid” or something similar to get your point across. People will want to click on that to learn just what to avoid and make sure they do everything correctly.
Just a Few Simple Words and People Will Click
Creating a headline that draws people in is vital to your content campaign. Because of how important a headline is, you will need to put in a decent amount of effort into creating them. If you are looking for an effective way to come up with headlines and create content to match, then look no further than Express Writers. Our team of copywriters works to make sure each piece they create is high quality with great, intriguing headlines that are sure to capture attention. Contact us to see how we can help your content marketing campaign, today.
