A Year in Review: 2014 At Express Writers

A Year in Review: 2014 At Express Writers

Can I sum up the year with two words?

 

Extraordinary. Real.

 

It’s extraordinary here, daily. A team of now 70 writers, editors and staff come together and deliver content. Written words that impact lives as real people read them online. Blog posts, web pages, visual infographics, tweets, and so much more. Our writers create, our editors proofread; and our staff delivers the content on time, maintain relationships, bill, notate, confirm, contact.

It’s real. Our content is real, tangible, and written by real authors. Our writers have real expertise and diverse backgrounds that give an opportunity to our clients for content success. Our content is real in today’s SEO world. The biggest proponent of content, Google, doesn’t allow machines and spam to enter the world of highest-ranking content. No, the best ranking content must be real, genuine, well researched, and original.

And this year, we’ve had an amazing base of clientele to serve, in a variety of countries. We’ve delivered enough pages to drown a person (no one was harmed because they were published online, not printed, thank goodness); and we’re going to get ready for some hardcore growing in 2015, with the launch of our new Content Shop this Christmas.

2014 was our year. We said that in 2013; and I hope we’ll say it again in 2015. Content is a big need and a foundational point for online marketing. With the Internet only growing, I really don’t see that changing.

 

What Express Writers Was Up to In 2014

Here’s a short overview. This sums up what we were up to—we’ll explain more and give you some highlights below.

  • Over 1.5 million words written
  • 30,000+ combined pages (blog posts, web pages, press releases, brochures, ads, social media content, sales pages, product descriptions, etc.) 
  • 1,078 clients served in 35 countries
  • 65 team writers, 5 staff members
  • Developed new services content curation and auditing

 

2013 to 2014: How Much Did Express Writers Grow?

In 2013, we hired our first team manager, helping me take over some of the many hats I was wearing as company owner, manager, editor, etc. By the end of 2013, we had four staff members.

 

Staff: Today, we have the same amount of staff, which means these same wonderful people haven’t budged and are still with us today. We’re getting ready to add more sales people and a new hiring staff department in 2015.

 

Writers: Last year, we ended the year with about 50 writers. This year, we end the year with 65 writers, several of whom we hired for their specific expertise. We’ve added a writer who is an Attorney at Law; a writer with an MBA in Business; an author with a Master’s in Politics; a tech blogger and salesperson for Intuit and IBM; and other highly qualified copywriters with specific expertise.

 

Clients: In our client and content output department, we grew quite a bit. In 2013, last year, we served over 800 clients, and crafted over 23,000 pages for the year. This year, we served about 1,078 clients, and delivered over 30,000 pages (from press releases to blogs, marketing letters, brochures, whitepapers, and more) for the year. That’s over 1.5 mil words, my friends.

 

This year, our customer map looked like:

2014 map

 

I was amazed when the data said we serviced 35 countries! (Yes, the map is a screenshot of our actual customer base.) This included 3 customer from Azerbaijan; 1 from Cyprus; 1 from Taiwan; 3 customers from Brazil; 6 from Russia; 46 from Australia; 8 from India; 1 from Uganda; 1 from South Africa; 48 from Canada; and over 1,000 from the US.

Express Writers: Biggest Moments of 2014

When I asked Annie, our Content Manager, to summarize our busy year, she gave me this beautiful letter. I don’t think she could have put it any better:

The biggest moments of the year? It is a very difficult task- to single out a list from a year that was filled with great moments. High-quality deliveries that made a client happy, new additions to the writers’ body that instantly became wonderful members of our team, unexpected thank you notes from a client or a helping hand from one of our writing experts on a difficult job- these were all moments that made me feel great about being a part of this breathing and kicking live organism that is Express Writers.

A content creating machine that became a way of life and a daylong friend for me- Express Writers stands for a group of people that have been brought together by a single common goal- to prove quality IS possible.

I cannot single out just one moment or ten. I am proud to say that I have had at least 365 such moments along the past year. Every day brings at least one- moments when I thought everything was lost, that an order was going to be late, or a client would be unhappy for some reason and one of my colleagues unexpectedly came out and said: let me help, I can do it and what they delivered was nothing short of excellent.

Moments where you open a document and have the surprise of discovering a piece of exquisite writing, where craftsmanship is doubled by wit and a professional voice. In those moments, you feel so proud for being a wordsmith, part of this organic and fully talented group of people that Express Writers is.

 

Besides Annie’s beautiful words, here’s a short list of some of our 2014 highlights:

 

  • When our salesperson first hit a five-figure weekly goal (early in the year)
  • We celebrated our 3-year-anniversary in May
  • When our CEO had her first baby, on May 25
  • We were pretty sad when Robin Williams died in August
  • When we created our exclusive new services, content curation & auditing, and launched them November 25
  • When we saw a steady traffic increase and ranking increase from the Penguin update in early November
  • When Julia had her first podcast with SearchEngineLand in December

 

Content Shop Launch! And finally, the Content Shop will be out by the end of 2014, so every single moment of the Shop’s development has been a milestone towards this very huge moment. We are revolutionizing the way people will order their content online with a custom-built, custom-developed, exclusive content system that’s been underway for 12+ months. In 2015, we want our Content Shop to be the new way people get their online content: and we believe it can happen!

 

What’s Ahead For Us (& You)?

We made some predictions for content in 2015, and we expect the next year to be a big one—for us, and you who invest in content.

I believe content will be more important than ever, and the quality of content will be even more in demand. I think with the growth of content on the web will come the necessity of more tools, more structure to handle it all. How do you come up with new ideas for content in a world that’s full of them? Curate. Using tool like Scoop.it, SEMRush, and doing regular content audit and curating will be vital to keeping your content fresh and successful. Find a content strategist if you have no time to plan your content. It won’t be as simple as picking up a topic and writing on it, in 2015. You’ll have to plan, strategize, and create, to be outstanding in your content marketing. And if you’ll invest in us along the way, you know you’re investing in a team that will never let your content down. We are ever growing, always challenging ourselves, and our goal is succeeding—no shortcuts, the right way.

How Chipotle is Nailing Their Content With The Cultivating Thought Series

How Chipotle is Nailing Their Content With The Cultivating Thought Series

Unique content campaigns are a great way to reach out to your audience and give them something valuable. This is exactly what the ever-popular restaurant Chipotle did with their recent campaign, publishing a series called The Cultivating Thought Author Series. What is this and how can you learn from it for your campaign? I am going to take a look at The Cultivating Thought series and give you some excellent insights that can help you improve your very own campaigns to get major success! Let’s take a look.

What is The Cultivating Thought Author Series?

Ah—Chipotle, the yummy Mexican food eatery that sets anyone’s stomach to growling the instant one reads the eatery’s name! Have you tried their special lime tortilla chips? You don’t know what you’re missing out on till you do. They dip and fry them in lime juice for a succinct, wondrous lemony-lime flavor on salty tortilla chips.

This company isn’t only known for their food, however. No matter what, they always find numerous, excellent ways to do content marketing to bring in new clients and maintain their existing ones. Each time they’ve released a new campaign, they’ve done something unique, and we’ve had a chance to learn from them.

Their latest bit of content marketing is a unique series known as The Cultivating Thought Author Series where well-known authors are creating new content for the company. It was started because someone suggested that the company did something with the blank spaces on their cups and food bags.

In a smart move, Chipotle decided to follow what the customer, Jonathan Safran Foer, suggested and asked 10 well-known authors to write stories for the different cups and bags. This created a fun, unique series for customers. As I said, the idea came from Jonathan Safran Foer, and he happens to also be the curator for the series. The ten authors are:

  • Toni Morrison,
  • Sarah Silverman,
  • Bill Hader,
  • Malcolm Gladwell
  • Jonathan Safran Foer
  • Michael Lewis
  • Judd Apatow
  • George Saunders
  • Steven Pinker
  • Sheri Fink

Chipotle is known for having a great sense of humor and being well ahead of most of their competitors when it comes to the content game. When you order food and drinks next time at Chipotle, take the chance to read the cups and bags to see what story and author you got! Who knows, maybe people will start trading them like cards?

How Does this Work with Consumers?

This creates a great chance for customers to read and engage while also sharing and comparing with other customers. This can create a great atmosphere for everyone inside the business, and can make friends and family have a fun time together. Going out to eat is always fun, but Chipotle wanted to add just another piece of fun to the equation. But how does this work with consumers? It seems pretty easy, and straightforward – it engages them.

How likely are you to post a picture of a blank cup on social media? Not very likely, unless you’re going for that hipster shot, but that usually only works with a coffee cup. Now, how likely are you to post a picture of a cup with a story on it? Very likely! In fact, you might post it and hashtag #Chipotle #CaptivatingThoughtSeries and whichever author you got, which helps spread more awareness about the campaign. When this happens, more people are willing to head to Chipotle and get food to see what stories they get. I know I have an inclination to head to the nearest Chipotle to experience this!

Why is it Such a Great Idea?

You might be wondering just why this is such a great idea for Chipotle. They’ve already shown that they are a quality eatery with affordable prices and have a few fun campaigns already, so why is this a good idea? Because The Captivating Thought Author Series invokes humanity’s favorite aspect of life – storytelling. All you have to do is take a walk in a bookstore or movie shop to see just how much we love stories. There are tons of different ones everywhere we look, so why not include stories on cups and bags when we eat out?

Chipotle understands the importance of storytelling and makes sure that they use it to engage their audience and make them feel like part of the company. The Captivating Thought Author Series focuses on telling different stories and you never know which one you will get when you head to the restaurant. It can be pretty exciting knowing you are going to get something unique and valuable when you go out to eat!

How Can You Do Something Similar with your Content?

Now that you’ve seen how this works and why it is a great idea, you might be wondering how you can get something similar. You realize that you can’t get well-known authors for your campaign, but that doesn’t mean you can’t gain inspiration from Chipotle. Let’s take a look at a few ways to get a similar campaign for your business!

  1. Listen to Your Customers. The main thing that helped this campaign get off the ground is that chipotle listened to its customers. When Mr. Foer suggested this idea, the company went ahead and started thinking about what they could do. In fact, they approached him, involving him in the process, making sure they were able to capture his idea for the campaign.

    This shows how important it is to listen and involve your customers. You might have a few successful campaigns if you don’t listen, but they will be much more successful if you listen. Involving customers and learning what their ideas are can help you create the perfect campaign, reaching your audience where they are with what they want.

  1. Use Stories in Your Content. Chipotle also focuses on an important piece of content marketing that some people are overlooking – storytelling. As I said above, humanity really loves stories, so when you use stories in your content campaign, you are able to connect and engage with your audience in new, exciting ways. You can share a story about your company, or do something similar to this campaign where you publish short stories. If you do that, always make sure you have someone who can weave together incredible, powerful stories!
  1. Create Fresh, New Content. Another thing you can learn from this is the importance of creating fresh, new content. Yes, you can always repurpose your content, but fresh content is a great way to bring in and maintain customers. In fact, fresh content is a great way to improve your SEO rankings and get you more results in the long run. This means that you need to update your website content instead of keeping it the same, write blogs on new topics, and share interesting articles and resources on your social accounts.
  1. Engage Your Clients with Small Bite-Size Pieces. Because the cups and bags have limited space, this means that the stories need to be short. This shows that having small, bite-size pieces of content can be a great way to engage with your audience and provide them something they will enjoy. The content length debate is still waging, but if you mix things up, you can have a higher likelihood of reaching a wide variety of individuals.

    A shorter piece of content gives people who are commuting on trains or traveling for the holidays an easier time to read and consume. If they find the shorter piece interesting, they might be more willing to read longer, in-depth articles. However, you are giving them the chance to read something they find interesting without taking too much time out of their day. This might even increase the chance of the piece being shared on social media.

  1. Create Valuable Content that Your Audience Will Enjoy. When you write content, you need to make sure you are creating something that offers value to your customers. Chipotle understands the importance of this, which is why they asked top writers to write for this series instead of having employees or customers write in. While there are probably several talented employees and customers at Chipotle, the company was able to know for sure that these authors were great due to their extensive résumés and top-selling work.

How do you know if you have valuable content? Hubspot has a few great suggestions:

  • Make sure the chosen topics for your campaign are what your audience wants and needs.
  • Your campaign should ask questions, but also provide answers to show why your company is the one people should choose.
  • Always make sure your campaign is aligned with what your audience will understand. If they aren’t industry leaders, don’t use industry jargon.
  • Make sure your voice and writing are clear and concise, giving people the ability to understand what you are saying and what your aims are.
  • Have great examples at the ready to show why your business is the one to choose and why your campaign is the best out there.

Chipotle is great at creating awesome and valuable content, and their latest campaign is no different. Take a few lessons from them and use what you’ve learned in your own content marketing campaigns to have a lot of wonderful success!

Photo credit: Wikipedia.org

 

 

5 Awesome Holiday Content Ads

5 Awesome Holiday Content Ads

Christmastime is here, which means there are several great holiday content ads out and about—from the TV to out there in the wild. This year, while I made my Christmas shopping rounds, I decided to carry my superpower copywriter glasses and along the shopping way, caught a few great Christmas ads and setups to inspire you for Christmas and holiday marketing.

I saw many a Santa, Rudolph’s red nose a-gleaming in multiple locations, and heard Christmas carols till I couldn’t anymore. It was really a great time and I am happy to share some of what I saw with you! Here are a few stores and a charity that really captured the Christmas advertising spirit!

1. Salvation Army – Firefighters and Bag Pipes. While out doing my Christmas shopping, I noticed that there were several bell ringers out for the Salvation Army. This is something that I absolutely enjoy about the holidays because many people will feel more inclined to give during the season, helping many. However, I’ve recently noticed that the volunteers seem to blend into the background and some people might just ignore them in the hustle and bustle of gift buying.

When I was walking up to a store on my Christmas route, I noticed something different about some volunteers – they were firefighters and one had bagpipes. Mr. Bagpipe Guy (this is his unofficial name) wasn’t playing anything yet; just chatting with other shoppers. I went inside the store to buy my gifts and some decorations, and when I headed through the crowds and checkout lines to the door, I heard Mr. Bagpipe Guy playing Greensleeves. He then switched to other Christmas hymns as shoppers bustled in and out. However, every single shopper made sure to take a few seconds out of their busy shopping to gather some change and drop it into the donation bucket.

I thought this was absolutely brilliant on the Salvation Army’s part! People are more willing to support the men and women who protect us, no matter what line of work they are in. And who doesn’t like hearing bagpipes play on Christmas – there’s just something very Christmas-like about them. While not exactly an ad, this probably helped bring in more donations for the Salvation Army.

2. Bass Pro Shops. If you live in the Midwest or South (or a few select Northern areas) then you know all about Bass Pro Shops. Whether you are a hunter, fisher or just like some great quality flannel, you know Bass Pro is the place to go. Bass Pro happened to be on my route of Christmas shopping. Currently, there isn’t a major season such as hunting or fishing that Bass Pro would normally advertise for, except, of course, Christmas. They had deals galore for everything from camouflage to Under Armor and various nice clothing.

One thing I did notice is that Bass Pro is taking the flannel fad and are making it readily available and mostly affordable with many Christmas deals. This is a great example of jumping on the latest trend wagon even if you don’t know how you can market to certain demographics. They marketed the flannel shirts as great gifts for family and friends, with fashion tips for how to wear it or advice on how certain flannel is good for cold weather camping or wearing around the house.

Bass Pro made sure to incorporate the holiday spirit into all of their advertisement and they even have a Santa Claus for kids to get pictures with. This gives families from all over the chance to go to a shop that interests them while still enjoying the holidays. I love seeing the various Santa Claus’ everywhere and think this is a perfect holiday ad. How many people are more willing to buy from a store after seeing Santa? I’m sure many of us are! Santa just says, “Merry Christmas!” Everyone who sees him can’t help but smile and get into the Christmas spirit.

3. Locally Owned Bookstores Know How to Sell Books. While I was out and about, the one thing I really wanted to do was buy a few books for friends at locally owned shops. I enjoy supporting local as much as possible because it helps support more than just the shop, but my community as well. This particular store has had a pretty awesome social media approach to the holidays sharing photos when it snows as well as photos of Christmastime from various stock photo sites. When you walk in the store, you are instantly greeted and the smell of old books greets you, as well. The bookstore is prepped and ready for Christmas and they constantly encourage followers to support local for the holidays. I really enjoyed this and thought their holiday social media approach was really a great way to bring people in this holiday season.

4. Target Isn’t Just Celebrating Christmas and the New Year. One thing I find very important when it comes to the holiday season is for stores to have sections available for other holidays celebrated around Christmastime. The most well known holiday is that of Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights, which lasts eight days. Many stores only market for Christmas, or, if they market for the Jewish holiday, they only have a small end cap tucked away in a corner. However, Target understands what it means to, well, hit the marketing target and reach out to a wider audience.

As I went through their store, I saw content ads galore for Christmas and even went to their “Christmas Shop,” which is filled with tons of Christmas décor. However, on my way, I couldn’t help but notice their rather large and obvious section of Hanukkah decorations, cards, gift ideas, and hilarious toys, including Mensch on a Bench. This is a great idea for those who celebrate the holiday for religious or family reasons, as well as those who would like to keep the tradition alive. The combination of Christmas and Hanukkah in Target was a great marketing move on their part by welcoming in both holidays. What a way to make everyone happy no matter which holiday they celebrate!

5. Barnes and Noble Knows Impulse Buys, Lines, and Santa! The next stop on my Christmas shopping trek was Barnes and Noble. Again, I had a list of different books to get family and friends, and was quite excited to head into the store to find the gifts. When I entered, I noticed that the line was horrendously long, but I also noticed that the store had set up something rather ingenious – the impulse buy Disneyland line. (If you don’t know what Disneyland line is, it is one that snakes around several times, fitting many people into a smaller space.) This is exactly what Barnes and Noble did, but they made sure that people had plenty to look at and buy throughout the entire line.

However, I didn’t head to the line right away – I had presents to buy! I gathered the items from my list, including kid’s books and when I went to the fun kid section, they had a special visitor. That’s right, the man himself, Mr. Santa Claus! Kids were so excited to see him and all were gathered around talking. I liked this particular setup because Santa wasn’t surrounded by tons of fake presents and a line of red rope. In fact, he was sitting in a simple wooden rocking chair with space all around him making it easy for kids to approach him no matter what. This is such a great idea and all of the kids really enjoyed it because once someone finished with a picture, every child was able to crowd around the jolly man and talk his ear off. This made Santa approachable and you could tell that every kid was incredibly happy to be that close to him for so long.

After getting my items, I headed to the line and noticed that it was rather small now. As I walked through the snaking aisles leading to the registers, I saw interesting item after interesting item. While it might not be my proudest moment, I fell for the impulse buy because Barnes and Noble made sure to have something for everyone. As a copywriter, I saw this as something awesome because many impulse buy sections can easily fail if they don’t have enough of a variety. Barnes and Noble did, and I don’t think a single person got through that line without making an impulse purchase or two.

As I got to the front, I realized the snaking aisle was not just a way to promote impulse buys, but to also get people through quicker. They had a helper at the front of the line, directing people to open cash registers and each worker at the registers moved with skilled efficiency all while being cheerful. Barnes and Noble was a pleasant shopping experience, and I have to say, it may have been my favorite of the day.

One Store Failed at Christmas Marketing & Holiday Content Ads

On my journeys, I did come across one store that did not show any Christmas cheer with ads or decorations. I am going to take a look at this and show you how to avoid following their example.

Don’t Follow The Example of Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I did see quite a bit of amazing Christmas advertising in the way of adding Christmas cheer and businesses simply being nice. However, I went to one store that was a downright fail when it came to Christmas marketing, which I think can be a great lesson as to why holiday spirit is vital to your business.

When I walked up to the front door of Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I was looking for Christmas decorations. This is such a wonderful time of year, and I love seeing how each and every place decorates whether it is a business or a house. I didn’t notice anything major – no decals, lights, or even a wreath. Once inside, there wasn’t anything remotely Christmas; no content ads, zero decorations, and I noticed that it was the first store where I didn’t hear Christmas music. The one thing I did happen to notice however was that everyone, staff included, seemed grumpy and ready to get out of the store. I feel that this is correlated with the lack of Christmas cheer. We all know Christmas shopping is stressful and everyone can be rather grumpy at times, but you usually see some people happy as they shop. You especially notice that people perk up when Christmas shopping if they see lots of neat decorations and hear classic Christmas hymns and popular songs crooning from the stereo system.

Bed, Bath, and Beyond had a great chance to get more people to buy more items, but all anyone could think of was getting what they came for and leaving. I noticed I had zero inclination to grab any impulse buys or look around. In fact, my thought was that I could get a few things if I went back to Target, which seemed preferable to this Grinch-like store. This is not something any store wants – they don’t want to lose sales to their competitors. When it is the holiday season, if you question whether or not you should add some great Christmas cheer, always opt for adding it! It will make everyone happy and convince people to shop with you or use more of your services simply because you put them in a good mood.

Wishing All of Our Clients a Very Merry Christmas!

I enjoyed going out and shopping, but also looking for some great business Christmas spirit to inspire you! I hope you were able to glean some great information from these stores and can use them in your next Christmas ad campaign whether online or in a physical store or shop.

From all of us here at Express Writers, we want to wish you a very merry Christmas! Take the chance to enjoy time with your family this Christmas season.

Photo credit: Kmonroe2 / iStock

 

 

The Foundations of Researching Keywords For Your Content (Using SEMRush)

The Foundations of Researching Keywords For Your Content (Using SEMRush)

When Google pulled the plug on displaying the top keyword for websites in 2011, digital marketers were scrambling to find a solution to retrieve that priceless keyword data. The dreaded “not provided” message sent the Internet marketing community into an uproar, with many fists shaking at Google for taking something so valuable right out of reach. It was an unfortunate turn of events for professional SEOs, but it was not exactly surprising. There had been previous predictions on Google eliminating keyword data, but it did not make the blow any less painful.

Today, we are nearly 4 years out from the “not provided” dilemma, and it is clear that this did not end the world of SEO as we know it. The dust has cleared now, and with that, some pretty amazing keyword research tools have come to the forefront.

One of those keyword tools in particular is SEMRush, which is one of the most powerful and accurate research tools we’ve personally found on the market. The top keyword from Google may not be provided, but SEMRush offers a great opportunity to help you create great content. Let’s look at how they do that.

Starting From Scratch: Analyze The Keywords of Your Competitors

If you are on the forefront of your keyword search with SEMRush with a brand new website, one of the logical first steps is researching the keywords of your competitors. SEMRush allows you to research your competitors’ keywords, and they do not block or hide any valuable information from you.

semrush

When you log in to SEMRush, you can simply type in your competitor’s website address. SEMRush will generate their top keywords for you with information including volume, cost per click, ranking difficulty, and traffic percentage.

top keywords

Using Petsmart as an example, you can see a green bar under the traffic column. When you hover over the bar, SEMRush estimates that 40 percent of their traffic comes from their brand name. Hypothetically saying that I run another online pet store, this doesn’t help me too much. I am not a fan of piggybacking off of brand names, so I skip until I find service or product related keywords.

This takes me to the keywords of fish tanks and dog kennels. These keywords are closer to what I need, but they might be a bit too competitive for my new online pet store. From there, I click the view full report option to expand all of Petsmart’s keywords.

petsmart keywords

After a bit of sorting, I find a keyword that is a little more realistic to pursue. The keyword volume is 1900 per year with 468,000 results. This keyword is also long tail, which may mean fewer results with higher conversions. Now that I found a keyword that works for my competitor, but is not ridiculously competitive, I can move forward with creating content that centers on that keyword.

Using SEMRush Keywords to Create Unique Content

Now that you have a keyword in mind, the fun part can finally begin. Your long tail keyword is flea and tick prevention for dogs, and it is essential that you keep that keyword exactly in that same wording every time that you use it.

The easiest first step to creating a content campaign around a keyword is writing multiple (or even a series) of blog posts with that particular keyword. With this keyword example, you have the following opportunities for blog topics:

  • 6 Things You Didn’t Know About Flea And Tick Prevention For Dogs
  • 10 Compelling Reasons Why You Need Flea and Tick Prevention For Dogs
  • The Advanced Guide To Flea and Tick Prevention For Dogs
  • Flea and Tick Prevention For Dogs: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
  • How Flea And Tick Prevention Has Improved In The Last 10 Years

And those are just naming a few. You can literally come up with dozens of options for blog topics, just based off of a single keyword from SEMRush. With that said, keep your content valuable and informative as you build around your keyword. You can rank on page one all day long for a particular keyword, but killer content is what truly influences conversions.

SEMRush Keywords For Established Websites

So what if you aren’t exactly starting from scratch with your website, but you still need some keyword ideas to give your content a boost? Although analyzing your competitor’s keywords is almost always a good idea, part of the keyword research process involves analyzing your own site.

To stick with the pet theme, let’s say that I run a successful online pet store called Chewy. I sell a lot of products and my site is popular, but I am looking for new keyword opportunities.

Just as you would enter your competitor’s website in the search bar, type in your own web address and your keyword data will appear.

semrush keywords

Your top keywords here are your brand name. Since you are trying to find new keyword and content opportunities, you need to view the full report and browse through the selection.

pill pockets

Pill pockets for dogs is yet another long tail keyword that you can pursue. For those who don’t know, a pill pocket is an edible pocket that helps dogs take down their medication. It has a yearly search volume of 1600 with 207,000 search results. Since this website is already very well established, it is pretty realistic to rank for this long tail keyword by generating some great content.

Generating New Content From New Keyword Ideas

Getting new content from new ideas pretty much works the same as described above. However, if you are already established, you have the opportunity to see feedback much faster on a social level. You can start with the new blog topics, such as:

  • Why We Love Pill Pockets For Dogs (and you should, too!)
  • 12 Do’s And Don’ts For Using Pill Pockets For Dogs
  • Why Pill Pockets For Dogs Will Make Your Pup Happy
  • How Much Should You Be Spending On Pill Pockets For Dogs

Post your blogs with your new long tail keywords to social media. You can run a few test trials to see how your audiences engages and reacts to your new content; this can serve as an additional decision factor if that keyword is in fact worth pursuing.

More Ways To Find Content Opportunities With SEMRush

Keyword research on SEMRush goes beyond entering a web address. Although that is a perfect starting point if you have no idea what kind of keyword that you are looking for, there are more keyword search options to explore.

dog toys

Let’s say that you have a keyword idea in mind for content, but you want to see if there are any ways that you can expand on it. Simply type in your keyword query into the search bar, and click search. In this example, we’ll go with dog toys.

dog toys report

SEMRush showcases the top 10 most popular key words containing the phrase dog toys. There are several content ideas that you can pull from this list, such as interactive dog toys and kong dog toys. However, your options don’t stop here. You can load the full report for a seemingly endless amount of additional keyword ideas. With literally thousands of keyword opportunities on SEMRush, it is essentially a goldmine for generating new topic and content opportunities.

Advantages of Using SEMRush For Your Keyword Research

Creating new content can be challenging enough, especially when you staring at a blank document and have no direction. Using SEMRush as the foundation for your keyword research is beneficial for content development in several ways, such as:

  • You can evaluate both SEO and keyword value. SEMRush gives useful keyword data pertaining to search volume and competition; this data can help you make a decision if the keyword is worth pursuing. Finding keywords that drives a good amount of traffic will put your content on the forefront of what customers are searching for.
  • Helping you to avoid writer’s block. There are a lot of tools available online that give good ideas for content, but the SEMRush tool helps you get down to the nitty gritty of your best keyword opportunities for content.
  • Providing you with live data information to help you see what is trending. The live data information shows real time results in terms of competition, cost per click, and search volume.
  • Offering a fresh keyword difficulty tool to analyze the competition. SEMRush recently added an in-depth keyword difficulty tool that tells you how difficult it would be to replace or outrank your competitors on a particular keyword.

keyword difficulty

This example shows that the keyword dog toys has a difficulty rate of 76 percent. It is a popular keyword, but it is clear here that the market is oversaturated and it would be very difficult to get your content exposure based on search rank alone.

Express Writers Collaboration with SEMRush

After a week of research, we found the keyword tools, data, and overall use that SEMRush offers exceed the other tools. Not only that, it was easy to use and simple to learn. SEMRush is our SEO tool for valuable reports and our expert content curation and auditing.

SEMRush is an all-around powerful SEO keyword tool for copywriters, breathing new life into the art of keyword research. One run with SEMRush will have you forgetting about Google’s not provided dilemma, and help you build a solid foundation for a truly powerful content campaign.

Featured photo credit: GetACoder.com

 

12 Blogs of Christmas: Express Writers’ Most Visited Blogs of 2014

12 Blogs of Christmas: Express Writers’ Most Visited Blogs of 2014

Here at Express Writers, every day feels like Christmas with top-notch content that keeps on giving. We had our share of popular blog posts this year, not to mention a pleasant surprise from a Google update not too long ago, resulting in a huge bump in web traffic flow.

Speaking of web traffic, we decided to have a little fun and conduct a Christmas time roundup of our 12 most popular blogs this year. These particular blogs had a high amount of organic traffic, and it makes us smile ear-to-ear knowing that our content is spreading cheer all year long. With our 12 best blogs of Christmas, you’ll find 12 more good reasons that content marketing is a game changer in your overall online marketing strategy.

12. Content Marketing in 2014: 11 Predictions to Expect 

We can’t all have a glimpse into the future like Mr. Scrooge, but we can certainly make guesses as to where content marketing will take us each year. In the beginning of 2014, we made a few solid predictions as to where content marketing is heading.

We predicted that social media will play a larger role in content marketing this year. So far, this has been the case with the recent push in content curation and using unique content as an engagement element. This really comes as no surprise, since social media is all about connection and sharing useful information.

We also predicted that top quality content will be in huge demand. This is becoming more and more prevalent, especially with Panda rolling out regular updates.

As content marketing experts, our audience looks to us for guidance and future trends. We already pulled together a few content marketing predictions for 2015. Let’s see if this becomes a top blog post for next year’s round up.

11. Content Marketing vs. Copywriting: Top Strategies for 2014

Content marketing and copywriting are sometimes used interchangeably to those who don’t understand the difference. However, copywriting and content marketing go hand-in-hand for creating the most compelling content possible.

Copywriting is the seed that makes the content marketing flower grow. Content marketing is all about engagement, establishing connections, and educating your audience. In order to market your content effectively, it must be well written and easy to understand.

This blog gives a smart yet simplistic breakdown of content marketing and copywriting. With its useful techniques and helpful hints, this blog comes in at number 11 on our top 12 blogs of Christmas.

10. Comprehensive PR Writing Guide with Press Release Examples

Writing press releases can be a bit tricky. Formatting alone can trip you up, and then there’s the question of what to talk about. In our number 10 blog on this list, we wrote a step-by-step guide that includes best practices for press release writing.

This guide is educational and helpful: two primary elements that takes content marketing to higher levels. With our useful templates and tactics, readers can discover the best ways to write press releases with a kick.

9. 34 of The Craziest Words in English

At Express Writers, we like to have a little fun with our blogs (and so should you). To take a step back from industry news and how-tos, we put together a quirky list with 34 of the craziest words in English.

Our number 9 blog hits both the entertainment and education elements, which translates to a hole-in-one for awesome content marketing. Blogs in this style are super sharable and fun to read, which is a big reason why it performed so well on a web traffic level.

8. How to Blast Off Your SEO Content Rankings for 2014

Making more money and gaining new business is a goal for nearly every company on the face of the earth. Tech-savvy business owners understand that SEO and content marketing are gold mines for growing your business, and having a plan in place will put you on the path to success.

Our number 8 blast-off blog helps readers to create a smart strategy for the upcoming year. The good news is that these tips are still helpful for 2015; it’s not too late to get your SEO and content goals in gear.

7. Why & How You Should Create Infographics For Your Company

Content marketing isn’t always about writing. Infographics have become a big hit over the last few years, and they’re a perfection solution to presenting your content in a new light.

We all know how important visuals are to hammering our message home, and this is why infographics are so essential for content marketing. Our number 7 blog highlights the popular techniques and uses for infographics, along with tips for creating an infographic of your very own.

6. 5 Rules of Copywriting You Should Never Break

OK, so there’s the saying that rules are meant to be broken. In copywriting, that statement shouldn’t apply. This commandment-style breakdown does an excellent job of overviewing the essential rules of copywriting. In our number 6 blog of Christmas, we’re keeping it simple for our readers: follow these rules, and thou shalt have content marketing success.

5. A Timeline History of Web Copywriting

The 5th blog of Christmas is more of an infographic, but it still scored high with our readers nonetheless. Our beautifully designed (and Pinterest worthy) infographic gave an interesting history lesson in SEO and content marketing, and we included a convenient embed code for our readers to share.

Making history interesting can be a challenge, but adding pretty pictures and useful content made our goal easily achievable. This blog scored high organic traffic because it is educational, relevant, and linkable.

4. The Next Big Thing in SEO Content? Using Citations and Internal Linking

With SEO, there always seems to be the next big thing — this time, it’s citations and internal linking. Citations are nothing new in the world of Internet marketing, and they are used to give credit to online media and information sources. Internal linking helps Google understand the hierarchy of a website, and it also helps with website navigation.

Our 4th blog of Christmas breaks down the importance of the two SEO strategies, helping readers to understand why it is an important element to implement on their own websites.

3. Get Ready for 2014: Those Little Things Called SEO Meta Descriptions and Titles

Touching on another element of search engine optimization, our 3rd blog of Christmas demonstrates effective writing tips for meta tags. Meta descriptions and titles are easy to overlook, but the right words will help drive traffic to your website.

Our meta description and title blog gets high marks in both traffic and viewer appreciation, with helpful hints and techniques on how to boost your click-through-rate. Increasing your click-through-rate can ultimately lead to conversions — and it is all accomplished with 150 characters.

2. Hiring The Best SEO Content Writers

We must have a few hiring managers reading our blog here at Express Writers. Our 2nd blog of Christmas highlights the traits to look for when hiring SEO content writers, and judging by the traffic numbers, this blog post gives quite a few helpful pointers.

At Express Writers, we’ve had our fair share of hiring SEO content writers that get results. We understand exactly what makes a high quality SEO writer, and we share our inside secrets on how you can find those awesome writers, too.

1. Is Keyword Rich Anchor Text No Longer Useful In SEO Content?

Our number one blog for 2014 is our partridge in a pear tree. With Google’s various updates that target spam and low quality content, it can be difficult to determine the best practices for using keywords.

Keyword rich anchor text is an outdated SEO tactic that is bound to get you a lump of coal in your stocking. This particular blog demonstrated several useful techniques for using keywords in anchor text. Not to mention, we included a handy-dandy flow chart with a one-way path to the overall goal: always have a strategy in mind.

keyword anchor text

We take keyword usage and research seriously here at Express Writers, and we have a solid concept for how to make that anchor text flow naturally in your content.

Our Best Blogs of Christmas Make Their Mark in Every Season

These may be our 12 best blogs of Christmas, but they stand the test of time in terms of high quality content. Our highest traffic blogs score high marks for education, relevancy, entertainment, and value. We anticipate 2015’s roundup to feature these staple qualities, giving our readers much more than calling birds, French hens, and two turtledoves.

Photo credit: RomoloTavani / iStock