Publishing a steady stream of ever-flowing content is important for ranking.
If you’re an online content writer in any capacity…
You need a seemingly endless river of blog ideas for writers, one that never runs dry.
So, what do you do when it does?
What do you do when you need to come up with topics, but you feel like you’re stranded in the middle of a rain-parched, burnt-out desert?
You’d better head toward that oasis shimmering on the horizon, and pray it’s the river.
Lucky for you, in this metaphorical scenario, it usually is.
The way to the river of content is a path full of writing prompts, research, brainstorming, and good old-fashioned hard work.
To make your journey 10 times easier, we’ve compiled our best strategies for getting there. Come back to this list again and again for a quick way to get on track.
Let’s get going with blog ideas for writers!
Blog Ideas for Writers: 20 Prompts, Research Tips, Keyword Discovery Strategies & More to Keep You Rolling
Sometimes, all you need is a push in the right direction to get moving. That little nudge is enough to get ideas sprouting in your head, growing quickly, and bearing fruit.
1. Start with a Subject and Create Variations
Chances are, if you’re looking for blog ideas, you probably already have one or two percolating. Take these and create variations to start off with some quick ideas for lots of posts.
For instance, HubSpot recommends creating iterations of one topic by going both broader and narrower with it. If you start with “X Baking Tips and Tricks for Beginners,” you could narrow it down to “X Cookie-Baking Tips and Tricks for Beginners.” Or, go a little broader: “X Everyday Tips and Tricks for Baking and Cooking.”
Keep going up and down the broad/narrow ladder and you could come up with 10, 15, or even 20 ideas quite easily.
2. Use Topic Generators
Another way to find variations of one blog idea is to use topic generators. All you have to do is plug in a keyword, and the generator will spit out different ways to frame the topic.
Sometimes these won’t make grammatical sense, but the point is to get ideas flowing rather than grab ready-made, publishable topics.
One of the most popular topic generators is HubSpot’s. I entered the keywords “baking,” “cakes,” and “beginners” into the generator:
Some don’t make sense, but some are a great starting point for ideas. (I would really want to read “The Worst Advice We’ve Ever Heard About Cakes”!)
Another worthy tool is Portent’s Content Idea Generator. Mess around with these and see what comes out of it. You could make some good sparks that light up your idea fire.
3. Ask Basic Questions
If you’re stumped for blog ideas, go back to basics. Write about basic topics, but frame them in terms of your business/industry, your personal brand/growth, or your keys to success. Here are some good questions to ask to get you started:
What does your creative process look like?
Have you discovered any new tools recently that boosted your workflow?
What’s the top question customers ask you?
What’s the history of your business?
4. Find Trending Topics with BuzzSumo for Blog Ideas for Writers
BuzzSumo is a fantastic tool to aid you in your quest for blog ideas. There are seemingly hundreds of ways to search various topics and keywords and glean lots of helpful data. Here’s just one way.
Go to the site and head over to “Content Analysis.”
Plug your keyword or seed topic into the search box and hit “Search.” From there, scroll down until you get to the section with the heading “Popular Topics for Content Related to…”
Gold!
Here we can see the most popular topics for the keyword, which give us a good idea where we can go with further ideas. For instance, a post about beginner baking tips would probably land really well.
To get different stats, don’t forget to filter by date (scroll back up the top to find that filter).
Plus, for more general ideas on trending topics you can use, head to the “Trending Now” tab and filter the information by your industry. Below, the content is focused on trending stories in “Business” within the last 24 hours.
5. Read Competitor Blogs
Your competitors’ blogs are good benchmarks for success, but you also can get lots of ideas from them and add your personal spin.
Look at these blogs, especially solid ones, and see what they’re up to. What have they been writing about recently? Which posts are getting a ton of engagement?
Grab some good ideas for yourself, but remember: Never copy.
6. Search Quora for Questions
Quora is a great resource for discovering what trends and topics people are interested in right this second.
To find popular questions people are asking about topics in your industry (and whether they’ve been answered!) do a quick search.
First, type in your keyword in the search bar. A list of topics will pop up underneath.
Click on any of these to go to an overview page. You can also click on the bottom text that says “Search: [your topic].”
On this page, you can filter results to see the questions asked and which ones are most popular. You can also see how many people are following questions – this can help you determine which topics might get a better response.
Any of these questions would make great blog topics to address, especially if you have unique answers.
7. Use Keyword Explorer
If you want a quick way to brainstorm blog ideas, head to Moz’s Keyword Explorer and do a search.
An easy way to grab blog ideas is to search for a specific keyword and then check out the “Keyword Suggestions” page.
On that page, go to the first drop-down box and select “are questions” to only display keyword suggestions that are in question form. You’ll end up with a long list of blog ideas to address. You can sort them by relevancy and search volume, too. Score!
8. Crowdsource Blog Ideas
Your audience knows what they want to see from you. Why not ask them directly what that is?
You can do this on social media by posting a poll. Or, it can be as simple as asking your followers what they want to see and inviting them to comment. Most people like this type of transparency, and will be thankful when you dedicate a whole post to their suggested topic. That’s a great trust-builder.
9. Do an Interview
If you’re stumped for blog ideas, tap someone else’s brain and get into their headspace.
Interview somebody knowledgeable from within your industry. Get the lowdown on their secrets for success. Or, quiz them about their favorite creative tools, their process, or the advice they would give their younger selves.
Avoid going the boring route by asking unique questions for fresh insights.
10. Blog for a Niche in Your Target Audience
Here’s another great angle for repurposing or rewriting old posts: try writing them for a different niche audience.
For instance, a post about baking tips for hobby bakers could be morphed into tips for hopeless bakers who want to improve. Similarly, a post about baking for health nuts could go further. It could be repurposed as a post with tips or advice for vegan bakers.
Just make sure the niche you’re writing for isn’t too niche – otherwise, nobody will find the post useful.
11. Approach the Positive/Negative Side
Don’t forget to explore both sides of a story when coming up with blog ideas. This means flipping the coin and looking at a topic from the opposite point of view.
For instance, “X Baking Mistakes You’re Making Right Now” could become “X Baking Techniques You’re Getting Right.” “The Worst Content Marketing Advice We’ve Ever Heard” could become “The Best Content Marketing Advice You Need to Hear.”
12. Write in a Different Format
This one is pretty straightforward: Take a topic you already wrote about. Now, rewrite it for a new format.
For instance, turn an old blog post that performed well into an infographic. Expand on a list-based post and transform it into a long-form guide. Use your imagination and keep things useful for best results.
13. Write a Parody Post
Who doesn’t love a little humor? Spice up your blog roster with a brief break from serious topics. Lighten things up with a parody post based on clichés, jokes, or common mistakes or misconceptions in your industry.
Look at this post from Copyblogger about the anatomy of a web writer for inspiration. It’s mainly a useful guide, but they added some tongue-in-cheek humor that’s a nice change of pace:
14. Make a List of Best Blogs/Articles from Around the Web
You’ve got go-to blogs you rabidly read, plus resources you navigate to over and over when you’re in a pinch. Share these with the world for a top-notch, useful blog post.
You can even create a blog series that splits up your must-visit link list by topic, with one topic covered per blog. I.e., expand your favorite writing links into multiple posts, like “My Top 10 Favorite Writing Tools” followed by “15 of the Best Writing Blogs I Read Daily.”
15. Go Behind-the-Scenes
Getting personal is always a good idea on your blog. It makes you, and your business by extension, seem more real, approachable, and trustworthy.
In this vein, do a “behind-the-scenes” post (or series of posts) that explores the inner-workings of your brand. Do an office tour, write features on your staff members, or even show how you get things done day-to-day.
16. Do “Best-of” Round-Ups with Your Past Posts
Once you start amassing a library of blog posts, you can use these for new post ideas.
Go into your archives and see which topics you’ve given a lot of attention to. If you’ve covered plenty of different angles for a certain topic, do a “round-up” post that puts all the best blogs on that subject together in one handy place.
This is incredibly useful for visitors looking for specific information. They’ll spend a lot of time clicking links to posts in the round-up, browsing information, and getting all your expertise on the subject.
The best part? You can do scores of round-up blogs if you have a trove of quality content about a variety of subjects.
17. Pull from Blog Comments
You probably follow your blog comments closely, but did you know they could be fodder for blog ideas?
Look at the questions visitors are asking, the discussions that may be happening, or the related topics that are raised. Pull ideas from these comments and address them in a fresh blog.
If a reader had a question you answered briefly in the comments, you can also reference this experience. Expand on the answer and the topic further in the post.
You can also head to industry authority blogs and check out their comment sections with the same aim. See what people are talking about, then use that for blog ideas.
18. Search for Topic Variations on Google
On your search for blog ideas for writers, don’t forget to hit up Google. A quick search can help you immensely if you’re totally blank.
Type your keyword into Google, then scroll all the way to the bottom. There you’ll find “Searches related to…” that can give you some quick ideas in a pinch.
Look at these great ideas for “how to bake a cake:”
19. Mine Twitter Chats
If you want the down-low on what people in your immediate network are talking about – stuff you could potentially write about – head to Twitter and find out the scuttlebutt (for non-word nerds, that means “gossip”).
Check popular hashtags, including industry chats and topics. What questions are people asking? What topics are popping up over and over? Keep a notepad and pen handy while you do your research, and jot down your discoveries. These can be turned into great blog ideas that are of-the-moment.
It’s better to have an opinion than to blindly (and blandly) go along with the status quo. Readers don’t necessarily need your unbiased rehash of hot-button issues in your industry.
What’s more interesting? Your personal take on these matters.
Don’t be afraid to have a point of view and assert it. This could win you more readers and more trust than if you stayed safely in your lane.
So, shake things up a little bit. Try being a contrarian in your industry. Don’t just churn out blog ideas; create blogs that have your personal stamp all over them. Don’t just say something – say something with passion.
Turn to Our Blog Ideas for Writers and Get Creating
Hopefully, these blog ideas for writers have switched on that light bulb in your brain and gotten you excited to create. Maybe you already have 10 or 15 new ideas jotted down, or maybe you have a bunch swimming around in your brain ready to be fleshed-out.
Whatever you do, remember you can’t reinvent the wheel. Nobody is an idea powerhouse 24/7. Consider this your helpful little nudge to get you going. After that, picking up speed is entirely up to you.
They’re buying content and are, at the very least, satisfied with your services.
But there’s a problem.
While you’re getting clients to purchase, the content they’re buying is always of the general variety. The type of stuff where the margins are low and the stress is high.
You and your staff are constantly grinding out huge quantities of content.
Your writers are getting burnt out, you’re getting burnt out, and you may even be wondering if all the stress is worth it.
And while this is a scenario that plays out for agencies around the world, I want you to know that it’s possible to turn things around.
It’s possible to go from an agency grinding out low margin content to one that consistently earns content orders with high margins and happy clients.
How do I know it’s possible?
Because it’s exactly what we’ve done at Express Writers.
And I’m going to show you the strategies we used to do it.
How to Sell Your Clients on Buying Better Content (Higher Level Experts, Higher Spend)
1. Provide Immediate Value
One of the most difficult aspects of selling content to clients is the fact that, no matter how good your content is, a long term approach is necessary to maximize success.
Unfortunately, not too many businesses have the patience to commit to a long term marketing strategy.
Your clients want value in the short term AND long term. But how can you accomplish both?
“Nobody is going to invest additional resources in your agency until you’ve proven that you can deliver tangible results for their business. To set yourself up for a long and mutually beneficial relationship with a client, you should focus on providing quick wins as soon as possible.”
But how exactly are you supposed to prove that you can deliver tangible results and quick wins if your clients are ordering general content?
Well, at EW, we do it by offering free content strategy sessions.
Anyone, from business owners and agencies to entrepreneurs and bloggers, have the opportunity to book a call with our Content Strategist.
Advice on the direction their content strategy should take
Assistance identifying realistic goals for their content
Answers to their content related questions
Guidance on what type of content will help them achieve their goals
And not only does this session provide immediate value and a ‘quick win’ for the client, but it helps cultivate the trust necessary to develop a long term relationship.
Takeaway: Provide your clients with ‘quick wins’ that will make them more apt to invest in better content.
2. Help Clients Accomplish Current Goals and Work to Build Bigger Goals
When a potential client comes to you to buy content, they’re likely to be at one of the following stages:
Beginner to Content Marketing. This client has recently become convinced that content marketing can yield real results for their business and are ready to give it a go. It’s likely, however, that they don’t really know how or where to get started.
Semi-Experienced. This client has been blogging for a few months but is getting frustrated at a lack of results. They know content marketing can work, they just don’t know how to make it work.
Experienced. This client has been participating in content marketing for over a year and knows exactly what they want. They’re looking to free up time in-house by outsourcing their content to capable writers.
Knowing that these are the types of clients that you’re going to be dealing with, it’s important to know how to handle each situation for the benefit of both sides.
Because, as we’ve already identified, nobody is going to invest additional resources unless you’ve already proven to them that you can deliver tangible results.
But there’s also another element to this. As the authors of Marketing Metrics tell us,
“The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%. The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%.”
With this information, we can conclude that the best way to sell better content to clients is to first turn them into a customer and help them accomplish their initial goals.
At EW, we do this by making sure that we understand their current goals and only offer content that helps them accomplish those goals.
Let’s take a look at how we might do this when encountering a beginner to content marketing:
1. Set Them Up On a Call With Our Content Strategist. We’ll discuss their goals as it relates to content and provide suggestions for a strategy that can help them accomplish those goals.
2. Talk to Them About the Types of Content We Offer That Can Help. We’ll continue communicating with them after the call, via email or live chat, and identify the types of content we offer that can help. For example, if they’re looking to use content to build an email list, we might point them towards an ebook that can be used as a ‘freebie’ on opt-in forms.
3. Continue Offering Support as Needed. We’ll continue offering our support and suggesting content services that are relevant to their goals.
As this relationship continues, and they begin to work their way towards their goals, they start to see us as a partner rather than a business that’s selling something to them.
And, at this point, we’re now in prime position to help them identify bigger goals that allow them to further scale their business through content marketing (which therefore leads to us being able to offer better content to help them accomplish those new goals).
While we may take a similar approach with semi-experienced and experienced clients, they’re much more apt to have goals that require better content in order to accomplish them.
So, if their goal would be to generate more organic traffic, our content strategist may identify that accomplishing it means consistently publishing expert level blogs.
And, as our relationship grows and bigger goals are identified, accomplishing them may mean moving from expert level to authority level content.
Takeaway: Focus on helping your clients accomplish their current goals first and, as time goes on, help them identify bigger goals that require better content.
3. Offer Social Proof & Present Case Studies
At this point, the strategies outlined have been focused on a long term approach.
And while it’s important to understand that developing long term relationships is key, offering social proof is a strategy that can expedite the process.
Let’s revisit Karla Cook’s quote from earlier where she mentioned,
“Nobody is going to invest additional resources in your agency until you’ve proven that you can deliver tangible results for their business.”
While this is true, social proof presents an opportunity for you to prove that you can deliver tangible results for their business without actually doing it for their business.
So, if you’re able to prove to potential clients that other, similar people, have had a successful experience with your brand, you’ve now proven that you can do it for their business as well.
At EW, we provide social proof two ways. The first is through testimonials from people that are similar to our target clients:
When they see the success we’ve had with other similar agencies and businesses, they come to us with a ‘I want what they got’ mentality.
And, since our most successful clients generally order expert content, it puts us in a position to offer better content from the start.
Since our target client is agencies that need content for clients or their own site, and we’re an agency ourselves, they’re able to relate to our story about how we used high-level content to build Express Writers.
And, in addition to our own story, we feature case studies of other agencies that we’ve helped.
This type of social proof, from an agency similar to our target client, helps us prove that we can help other agencies achieve the same results.
Takeaway: Once you’ve helped other clients achieve their goals with high level content, use case studies and testimonials for social proof to convince new clients that you can do the same for them.
Focus on Building Long Term Relationships
If you want to convince your clients to buy better content, it starts with a focus on building relationships first.
Position yourself as a partner that’s helping them achieve their goals instead of a convenient business where they can make a one-stop purchase.
At the end of the day, that’s the key to selling better, high margin content.
If you’re an agency that would like help creating high level content for your clients, get in touch with our Agency Specialist. We’ve helped dozens of agencies increase their revenue and would love to do the same for you.
At Express Writers, we’re a tight-knit team of content creators that pride ourselves on serving our clients with the best copy on the web.
Since I founded the company in 2011, we’ve served over 5,000 clients around the globe. Watch our video story.
Part of our structure in customizing our content and matching up our writers to our clients for successful results, has been in serving our clients with three specific levels. Our three individual content levels are suited to every kind of budget, expertise level needed, and consistent brand positioning.
To explain our levels better, we created a visual infographic to represent what each of these levels look like. Enjoy! And be sure to scroll down to the content below the infographic to see examples of each content type, written by our creators.
[bctt tweet=”See the three content levels at @ExpWriters #infographic” via=”no”]
General, Expert, Authority: What Differentiates the Content Levels at Express Writers? (Infographic)
Explaining the Three Content Levels at Express Writers
Writer: Your writer passed our hiring tests. Only 2% of applicants do, so they’ve got writing chops. They’re not, however, an expert on the topic and will instead rely on their research and writing skills.
Content Quality Specialist: Your editor follows our unique 5-point quality check to eliminate grammar and syntax errors while ensuring strong word flow and proper formatting.
Thorough Research: Includes statistics, quotes, and/or links that support your article topic.
Benefits of General Copy
SEO-Friendly: Formatted and written to be found by search engines.
Created for Optimal Readability: Content is broken up with subheadings and short paragraphs to make it easy for readers to consume.
Who General Content Is Perfect for:
Small businesses focusing on local SEO
Agencies reselling our content to small, local-focused businesses
Businesses or bloggers in non-competitive niches that need content for their blog or social media pages
Expert Writer: Your writer passed our tests AND has extensive experience writing about your topic. They also have a better understanding of your readers than a general writer would. And, they’re expert in the nuances of engaging writing. Many of these writers have taken advanced courses, live workshops, or coaching sessions on how to write for engagement and conversions.
Content Quality Specialist: Your editor uses our 5-point quality check process AND checks for link quality and research accuracy.
Extensive Research: Using their experience, your expert writer knows where to find the best resources (links, statistics, quotes, etc.) for researching your topic.
Benefits of Expert Copy
Made for Search Engines: Everything, from the quality of the content to the formatting and keywords used, is made for high ROI in the organic SEO rankings, targeted to the real human reader.
Audience-Centric Content: Content is designed to connect and engage with your unique audience.
Positions You as an Expert: After publishing several expert articles, you’ll be well-positioned to start generating organic traffic for the long term.
Who Expert Content Is Perfect for
Businesses or bloggers that want to begin establishing themselves as an expert in their industry
Small or medium-sized businesses that want to start generating organic traffic
Businesses in a niche with moderate competition that are trying to work towards becoming an authority
This content level not only uses the highest level writer and editors in our team, but also has a specialized process, workflow and extra steps for SEO keyword discovery and special image creation.
Content Strategist: Step 1 in the Authority Content workflow. Uses industry-leading tools to perform keyword research and determine which long-tail keywords your content should be built around.
Authority Writer: Your writer, who is an expert on your topic, works with the content strategist to ensure content is written around long-tail keywords that have the best chance to help you rank quickly. This writer has been handpicked out of our best writers and mentored by our CEO.
Content Quality Specialist: Uses the 5-point quality check process, checks for link quality and research accuracy, AND ensures your content passes the quality standards necessary to rank.
Designer: Creates customized images, based on the writer and content strategist’s suggestions, to ensure the content is as engaging as possible.
Benefits of Authority Content
Designed to Be the Best: Everything, from the images and research to the link quality and formatting, is designed to position your content as the BEST available on your topic.
Positions You as an Authority: With our incredibly high standards, the quality of this type of content helps position you as an authority within your niche.
Customized, Engaging Images: Content with images produces 650% higher engagement rates. With the customized images our designer creates, that number could be even higher.
First Page Focus: The goal of this content is to get you to the first page of search engines for the long-tail keyword/s that we’re targeting.
Who Authority Content Is Perfect For
Businesses that are looking for content that “wows” and engages their readers
Businesses in competitive niches that want to get to the top of the search engines
Businesses or bloggers looking to establish themselves as an authority in their industry
Interested in Finding Your Content Level Match? Talk to Our Team!
Content creation tops the list as the most effective tactic for SEO. (Marketing Sherpa)
But if you’re not investing in excellent content for your site, and publishing it on a consistent schedule, the chances of SEO rankings, more inbound leads, and sales drop.
Get off the ground and start flying by investing in custom content for you and your brand!
Want to discover which of our content types is right for you?
Talk to us today! We’d love to help support your content creation.
It’s a technology even older than dial-up internet.
Despite its age (it was invented almost half a century ago), email is still going strong.
It’s like that aunt of yours who has seemingly been old for decades, but she keeps on rolling, as energetic as ever. She’s a standby at family gatherings and never seems to wear out.
In much the same way, email marketing has been a cornerstone for all kinds of businesses for years.
The proof is probably within your inbox right now. Most likely, you get inundated with an avalanche of promotional emails daily from various companies.
However, there’s a problem, especially if you want to take advantage of email for your own business.
What’s the Problem with Email Marketing?
Think about what you do with the emails you receive. Do you open every single one? Do you read all the messages you do open? Narrowing down the pool further, which ones make you want to click-through?
If the answers are “no,” “absolutely not,” and “not many,” in that order, you’re like most people.
With that, we’ve come to the problem.
Via Business.com, this survey shows that the most common complaint of mobile email subscribers is that they get way too many messages.
There’s so much inbox competition, standing out is hard.
So, as a marketer, how do you not only make people want to open your emails, but also read them and click your CTAs?
In short, how do you write email copy that wins the day?
The Solution: Learn How to Write Email Copy That’s Outstanding
You have to write exceptional email copy to get results.
What does this copy look like?
To figure it out, think about the emails you love to read. Think about the messages you look forward to opening.
What do they have in common? Probably one or more of these 12 factors, features, and qualities.
First off…
1. Start with a Surprising, Inspiring, Emotion-Tugging, or Eye-Catching Subject Line
In an email message, the subject line is your headline.
It’s how you initially grab a reader and hang on tight. Before any other component, the subject line has to snag their attention if you expect them to actually open it.
This means you need to cultivate intrigue or curiosity. You have to appeal to some emotion that makes your reader want to learn more.
It’s a tall order. To do it, you need to give your subject line the same care and attention you give your email body copy. To accomplish this feat, try these tips:
Only promise what you’re going to actually deliver – Don’t lure readers into opening your email with an enticing subject line, then completely fail to deliver. If you promise something or inspire action in your subject, make sure you follow up.
Be specific – Don’t be vague in the subject line if you want results. Want proof? Copyblogger tested out two subject lines for the same email. Guess which one was more successful and led to a higher click-through rate? That’s right – the specific one.
Use language that encourages action – Don’t hedge, and don’t be shy about your subject lines. Use actionable language that’s urgent and motivating. For instance, instead of saying “Tickets for X Events Are on Sale Now!” say “Grab Your Tickets for X Event Before They Sell Out!”
Here are a few great examples of effective subject lines that do it right. It’s not surprising that all of them use direct, active language that speaks straight to the reader:
Greetabl grabs the eye in a crowded email inbox because they make a bold proclamation: You’re in the squad.
World Market wrote an urgent subject line that cleverly makes you want to act.
Madewell crafted a subject line too tempting and curiosity-inducing to pass up.
And the king of email, Ramit Sethi, intrigues his readers with an offer.
2. Draw Them in with a Warm, Friendly, Engaging Tone
Some businesses think that making their emails personal means inserting the recipient’s name in the copy a few times. Nope.
In fact, if you use the above strategy, it’s overkill. You’ll sound like a robot.
Instead, make your tone personal. Talk to the reader as if they’re a friend. Unsurprisingly, this inspires friendliness reciprocated back toward your brand. This could inspire them to click your CTA, in turn.
This leads us to our next point…
3. Talk to Your Readers, Don’t Address Them
Sure, your email is going out to a faceless group of people. That doesn’t mean you should address them as such, though.
In fact, you shouldn’t address them at all.
Instead, talk to them. Don’t write as if you’re preparing a speech for an audience; write like you’re penning a missive to a good friend.
To this end, make sure you use second person voice. This means you talk to the reader directly through your writing, using the term “you.” Need an example? You’re reading it right now!
For a good example, check out this “thanks for signing up” email from Papa Murphy’s. They talk to the customer directly with brief but effective copy:
4. Err on the Short Side
Nobody has time to read a novel in your marketing emails. Respect the reader and keep it short, yet informative and useful. Edit your email copy rigorously and ruthlessly if you need to whittle it down.
More specifically:
Stick to the point – Don’t meander in your marketing emails. This is not the place to share deep thoughts, discussion, or something similar. Stay on topic.
Get to the point – For that matter, don’t take forever to get to the point of the email. Get there and give the reader satisfaction.
Stay relevant – Keep your email relevant to the reader. It’s about them, not you. Copywriting guru Ann Handley of Marketing Profs goes a step further with this – she says to make it “relentlessly” about the reader. Be empathetic and place yourself in their shoes.
Keep the email to one topic – You don’t have time to address multiple topics with multiple calls-to-action. You’ll lose your reader. One topic, max, is all you can reasonably address without boring anybody.
5. Be Yourself (Hint: This Is How to Write Unique Email Copy)
How do you add that human element to your email marketing?
Be you. You’re the human element.
Don’t sanitize your writing. Try to write the way you speak, with your idiosyncrasies, unique turns-of-phrase, and vocabulary.
Are you a sarcastic person? Do you make lame jokes? Are you a punster? Or, do you tell it like it is?
Don’t be afraid to insert your unique personality in your writing. Don’t keep yourself out your email copy. People will respond more positively if they can find you, a human voice, present in the message.
6. Focus on Value (Benefits vs. Features)
Along with your human voice, you also need to focus on the value factor in your email marketing.
This goes along with staying reader-focused. What are the benefits you’re offering that help them in their daily lives?
Don’t just list features – instead, think about what positive outcomes the features bring to the table.
For a good example, look at this promotional email from Sephora. They’re promoting “Flash,” their two-day shipping service, but they stay benefits-focused:
They tell you what you get with this service, but it also says exactly how you’ll benefit. Staying value-focused like this is how you appeal to your readers.
Once you’ve outlined the benefits, it’s time for your CTA.
7. Include a Call-to-Action, But…
Keep it crystal-clear. Your call-to-action at the end of your promotional email should give the reader an exact idea of what they need to do next.
The key word, here, is “need.” Your reader should feel a sense of need or urgency from your call-to-action: They’ve got to do X because they’ll get X as a result.
Make sure they understand the benefit of taking action – the “why” along with the “what.”
8. Get a Second (or Third) Opinion
After you self-edit your copy, but before you hit “send,” you need to pass it along to another set of eyes.
This person should have sharp attention to detail and a sense of what good email copy looks like. They’ll catch silly mistakes you might have missed, including tiny punctuation errors and the like. They’ll also see where you’re too wordy, where your tone is off, or where you’re not clear enough.
9. Test Your Copy’s Effectiveness
It’s often hard to know what will work for your particular audience unless you test it out. The same goes for your promotional emails.
For instance, write two versions of the same email and send them out to different, distinct groups. Then measure the response to each. A slightly different tone of voice or a reworded call-to-action might be the key to more email conversions. You’ll never know unless you test it out.
10. Don’t Keep Using a Formula That Doesn’t Work
If one road map for how to write your email copy isn’t working, you can’t expect to see any difference in results if you keep going in that direction.
To use a cliché, don’t beat a dead horse.
To find success with email campaigns, you can’t be afraid to reinvent, revise, and experiment with your approach. That has to include the way you’re writing to your audience.
11. Focus on Copy First, Design Second
The writing is the foundation of your email marketing. It’s your message. The other stuff, including the layout and design, is just the vehicle.
If your emails don’t work without the fancy graphics and pretty visuals, you need to take a step back.
Your email copy, the content and structure of your message, comes first. If you can’t send it as plain-text and get good results, you’re focusing on the fluff, not the substance. It needs to be the other way around.
Take a look at this promotional email from Boden, a British clothing retailer:
It showcases a sleek, styled image of fashionable people. However, take away that image, and the copy still works by itself. These are classic, beautiful, durable clothes for everyone in your family. The brand got that across, without sounding salesy, in one sentence.
12. Find Ways to Delight Your Readers
One of the purposes of your email marketing is to continue to cultivate trust with your audience.
You managed to give them enough reason to hand over their email addresses – now you need to build on that.
A great way to do it? Delight them.
The great part of this is, if you genuinely want to delight your audience, it will come through in your email copy naturally.
“Delight” can mean a lot of different things, too. It can mean positive surprise, joy, humor, glee, and pleasure. It can come from a simple moment of genuine warmth, a surprise special offer to say “thanks,” or some heart-to-heart talk.
In general, it means getting personal for a moment, stepping off your soapbox, and being real. The best part? It won’t just increase trust – it will also humanize your brand, making you seem more relatable.
For an example, look at this email from Poncho. HubSpot loves this company’s email marketing precisely because it’s so delightful:
From their happy, poncho-wearing cat logo to their humor in the copy, it’s an exercise in all-around delight. In a world of bad news, how refreshing! Now that’s good email.
Learn How to Write Email Copy and Start Resonating with Readers
If your email marketing isn’t resonating with your readers, maybe you need to get your copy in gear.
The words, after all, are the foundation of the whole shebang. Without exceptional email copy, you’re left with nothing but a bunch of fluff. And, let’s face it – fluff never convinced anyone to do anything.
When your emails are just one more needle in the haystack, you need more than fluff to stand out. You need more to convince people to open your messages, actually read them, and click on your CTAs.
Follow our tips for exceptional email copy, and see if they don’t make a difference. You might be pleasantly surprised at the results.
Need more “oomph” for your email copy? We can handle that. Express Writers has the chops to give your emails all the “write” stuff. See for yourself!
Both alike in dignity, in fair content marketing, where we lay our scene.
Dramatic Romeo and Juliet references aside, this is a scenario that will come up – if it already hasn’t – when you’re targeting keywords in your content.
The question is, what do you do with closely related keyword terms? Do you keep them together? Or do you split them apart?
These are common questions for the SEO content marketer, and rightly so.
When you have two keyword terms that look very similar – either regarding wording or their underlying ideas – it can be hard to know what to do with them.
Here are some of the specific details you may be wondering:
“Should I create content for both keywords?”
“Can I target both keywords in the same piece?”
“How much content should I create for each keyword?”
Before we jump into the answers to these questions, we need to decide if the keywords in question are about the same topic or two different topics.
In other words, are they both Montagues? Or is one a Montague and one a Capulet?
This has everything to do with whether you’ll target them both in one shot, or separate them with your targeting.
Will you break up your two star-crossed keywords, or keep them together forever?
For Closely Related Keyword Terms, Divide (or Add) by Topic
Look at your keywords closely.
You’re probably rolling your eyes, thinking “I’ve already done that – that’s the problem,” but bear with me.
You need to do some research to determine whether they fall under the same topic. You can’t know this offhand; you need to go to the source to figure it out.
Let us hence, as Shakespeare would say. Open up Google. We’re going to follow a great strategy from Orbit Media.
[clickToTweet tweet=”How much content should you create when you have closely related keyword terms? @ExpWriters breaks it down!” quote=”How much content should you create when you have closely related keyword terms? @ExpWriters breaks it down!”]
1. Search for Both Keywords in Google and Compare the Results
Since Google is the main search engine we’re writing for, we need to see what Google says about the keywords in question.
If the related keywords are about the same topic, they will show similar results in Google. If they’re different, there won’t be much overlap at all.
Orbit Media compares “deck addition value” with “how much value does a deck add.” For our purposes, we’ll look at the differences (or similarities) in Google for the terms “how to make spaghetti” and “spaghetti Bolognese recipe.”
2. Check for Similarities or Differences in Results and Key Terms
Here are the results for “spaghetti Bolognese recipe”:
And here are the results for “how to make spaghetti”:
As you can see, although both key phrases have the same word in each, “spaghetti,” they have zero overlap in Google search results. These are two different topics, and we can create different content that targets each.
Simple, right?
But, what if your key phrases have lots of overlap? Take a look at this tweaked example using “how to make spaghetti” and “cook spaghetti.”
The “how to make spaghetti” results don’t change. Here are the results from “cook spaghetti.” I’ve highlighted the overlap between each keyword’s results:
There’s enough overlap to determine that Google sees these two keywords/phrases as belonging to similar topics.
With this information, we can skip creating content for each phrase.
Instead, we can target both keywords in the same piece of content. Here’s how.
How to Target Two Different Keywords in the Same Content Piece
We can create a blog or article that’s optimized for both “cook spaghetti” and “how to make spaghetti.” It’s a good strategy for killing two birds with one stone when you have two very closely related overlapping phrases about the same topic.
If the keywords share some main words, they’re perfect to target in the same content piece.
In our example, “how to make spaghetti” and “cook spaghetti” share a word.
If we wanted to make it even better, we could tweak the second keyword. “Cook spaghetti” could become “make spaghetti.” This way, we have two similar phrases representing broad and narrow ends of a spectrum.
2. Target Topics, Not Keywords
You have your keywords, but you shouldn’t be worrying about keyword density.
Instead, you should be aiming for a good overview of your topic. The keywords should come naturally and fit effortlessly into the flow of the text.
If you’re doing it the other way around and counting keywords, you’re doing it wrong.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Wondering how to target two different keywords in the same content piece? @ExpWriters has some advice!” quote=”Wondering how to target two different keywords in the same content piece? @ExpWriters has some advice!”]
3. Write Up Your Post with Good SEO Practices
That’s not to say you shouldn’t use good SEO when you’re writing about your topic.
Absolutely go ahead and use the great tips and tricks you know for boosting your content with search engine optimization. This should include strategic keyword placement in headers, the meta description, title tags, and in the body of your copy.
Use a primary keyword in the main header, meta description, and H2s. Use your secondary keyword in H2s and H3s.
I repeat: This is not about counting keywords. This is about the future of SEO, which is the semantic web. It’s about meaning, not about exact keyword-matching.
How Much Content Should You Create for Related Keywords?
Another great question about closely related keywords has to do with how much content you should produce for each (or either).
The content creation question has been much-discussed in the industry, in general. A couple of basic rules to follow have emerged from the conversation. These definitely apply to your related keywords.
1. Quality Trumps Quantity Every. Single. Time.
It’s better to have one exceptional piece of content for a keyword rather than dozens of sub par to downright-bad pieces.
In fact, Content Marketing Institute says your content should be “epic.” If you’re putting that much effort into each piece, your production volume will naturally go down.
Guess what? That’s fine. (Breathe a sigh of relief.)
Always focus on quality over quantity when you’re deciding how much content to create. In fact…
2. Don’t Focus on an Amount to Hit at All
Getting as many pieces of content targeting a keyword out there as possible is not the way to rank. The amount doesn’t matter as much as consistency.
As long as you’re continually updating your site with fresh content that’s high quality, you’re fine. The total amount you put out – whether it’s twice a week, once a week, or once every few weeks – won’t make a difference.
Steadily build your content volume – don’t flood the internet and people’s feeds in a short amount of time. Lots of content will help you, but only if each piece has great value.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. You can’t do that with your clout, either.
The Key for Similar Keywords? Common Sense Combined with Strategy
Now that you understand how to approach similar keywords, you can take that knowledge and run with it.
A couple of basic principles apply in every scenario. First, do your research – rely on Google to tell you what’s what. You can target keywords that fall under the same topic can in one piece. Keywords that end up being about two different topics can each get their own limelight.
Second, remember, for your content creation to go anywhere, you have to set up a balance of quality and quantity.
The amount of content you produce for closely related keywords doesn’t matter as much as what you produce. You need strong, epic posts that strive to be the best on the internet for that topic.
A few epic posts are worth more than tens of lazy, filler posts that have little or no value for the user. Epic posts additionally don’t lean on keyword density. Instead, they use keywords naturally and smoothly with some strategic placement as the cherry on top.
Finally, don’t expect magic overnight. Building your presence and rankings takes time, effort, patience, and determination.
It can be hard to create epic content that uses keywords the right way. That’s what Express Writers is here for. We take care of the work so you can soar.
