Happy October, and thanks for joining me today…you’re in for some fun stuff.
First up, I’m sharing all about the staff changes and implementations we’ve done here at Express Writers this month.
Next, it’s all about the super cool new services launched today in the Content Shop!
Ready?
New Staff Members & Improved Quality Processes
This month, at Express Writers, we’ve been through some serious changes…although it’s been an absolutely crazy month, we’re ending on a very strong note.
For the past three weeks, I’ve been busy prepping and training our writers and managers for our two new services that are now live today in the Content Shop, Authority Content & Case Study Creation. The training I wrote and put out for Authority Content is super detailed – over 20 pages of exclusive, directional content that you won’t find anywhere else. I’ve worked one-on-one with our case study specialist, an inbound marketing expert, to craft the perfect case study for us before we started formulating how to sell it.
So, needless to say, I’m super excited about these two new high-ROI, turnkey content marketing services–read below for more details on both.
And, this month, we’ve been on-boarding and training new faces in the management staff to support the volume of incoming client inquiries and high-level project support. It’s been extremely hard to find reliable, high quality team members in the staff that can fully pass our rigorous tests and nail every part of the process, and be in our team every day working hard. We’ve had several people in staff come and go this year, who weren’t devoted to performance and the hard work it takes to survive in this industry.
It’s taken us a while to find the right people, but we’ve been able to onboard a fully dedicated staff editor for large projects ($8,000+ per month client spend), and a dedicated Wordpress posting editor, besides our regular editing team. Bringing in a wealth of experience on all fronts, our new editors have our quality at heart!
Earlier, in September, I had the honor of hiring the talented Tara Clapper, who comes from SEMrush and brings a wealth in years of content marketing experience to Express Writers, from knowing the ins and outs of online content strategy to hosting webinars and networking at events. Tara has been very successful at helping us on the editing team and giving our clients spectacular insights for their content success.
Janeka, one of our social media experts, was recently multi-tasked with the role of Content Support Specialist, and she’s been rocking it out.
New Logo & Content Shop Icons
As most of you know, we’re on the verge of a major relaunch we’ve been building for 1+ year: a custom developed Content Shop and teamroom. Till then, we decided to run with some major brand improvements early!
Our new logo is an expression of how our brand has truly taken flight this year, despite all the difficulties in our way. ✈️ As a content agency, we are constantly evolving, adapting, and growing. Writing is a skill that takes great mentoring and lots of practice to perfect. That is what we believe in, and our goal and mission as a content writing agency. This year, we’ve never been more focused on our mission and more capable of delivering amazing quality – the content that 2016 marketers need. It was time to take our paper plane and let it fly!
New look in the content shop: 40+ brand new icons for each of our services, shaped and colored in the flat, poly style of design that our new logo is in. Our designer rocked these out in less than a week!
Other fun stuff: we’re going to be hitting up the Search Engine Journal Summit in New York City on November 2: my CTO Josh, Tara, myself, and our SME Krystal! (Want 15% off tickets and a chance to get a copy of my book for free? Check out the details here!)Come say hi if you’re in the area. We’d love to meet you!
Now… ready to hear about our new services that went live today?
What Are the Two New Writing Services at Express Writers This October?
Let me start the new product discussion (yay!) by asking you a question…
Does there ever come a time when you write, create, publish, publish, rinse, repeat…
And you stand back and realize:
Where is the ROI in all this content that I put out?
Create powerful, effective, meaningful content that WILL get ranked well and read, shared by real people who actually got something from your content?
There’s only one way: by creating the most authoritative piece on the subject.
But that means a ton (and I mean a ton) of work has to go into it.
First, you have to research to find your perfect low competition, high volume long-tail keyword before you even write it.
Second, you have to write an authoritative, expert, long-form post (1,500-3,000 words is what Google ranks the most) that nails the specifics of what the topic should give the reader, and is written in an engaging, readable, optimized style.
Thirdly: you’ll need to create custom graphics and visuals for your long-form piece to represent the key points, and finally, a feature graphic branded to you that will go with it everywhere on social media.
The Answer to Your Most In-Depth, Amazing Content Need: Authority Content
I took those points into consideration, picked the best four writers out of my team of over 50, and over the past month I sat down and created a workflow process where we nail all three of those points, called Authority Content. You know what? The workflow means four people are involved in creating one post.
That’s what it looks like nowadays when you want to nail content.
Be the biggest name in the book.
Outshine every other result in the SERPs and be THE result people WANT to click on…
And when they click through, present them with the content piece that answers every question they had on the topic.
Then, and only then, do you truly get ROI for your content.
Launched TODAY live in the Content Shop, I’m excited to offer a content product where I’m so sure we’ll nail the topic you want us to research and create an authoritative piece for, that your money will be given back if we don’t.
This month, I sat down, picked the best four writers out of my team of over 50 creators, and wrote a workflow process and extensive guides where we nail all three of those points. (I even created a five-point structure for winning at every single intro.) Then, I mentored my best writers on the process I wrote, tested them, and trained other team members for the other parts of the process (designing custom graphs, researching the keywords). I was hoping to launch it this week, but the quality process took longer than I expected: and today, it’s live!
You know what?
Four people from my team will be involved in creating one piece of authoritative content. Not counting editors. (Yes, they’re involved.)
Here’s a preview of the input form for Authority Content (activates as soon as the order is placed in the Shop, click the + to expand.)
Second Product Out Today: Case Study Writing & Design (A Full Package)
A content type that is worth every penny of your time and money to invest in is case studies.
And, they’re a hot ticket item in content marketing, if done correctly.
You basically take a happy client of yours, create their story, and repurpose it as content that will sell your leads on why you.
You’ll need to interview your case study participant: if possible, get a direct quote. Take all the information and copywrite a beautiful, flowing case study with actual data. Then design it into a PDF for marketing; create a landing page where people can access it; and, if you really want to go places, write a blog story around it with a link to the downloadable resource.
Everything I just outlined is part of the process in how we create case studies. We have an exclusive, inbound marketing certified copywriter ready to interview and write; and our team designer that will put the PDF together in a beautiful design.
Designed PDF (perfect for your marketing materials)
AND a short story blog about the success you had with your clients.
We even take care of approaching and interviewing your client participant, included in the cost and perfect if you don’t have the data or time to grab a direct quote (we’ll professionally represent you!).
Here’s a preview of the input form that’s live and ready to go as soon as Authority Content is purchased in the Shop (click the + to expand.)
When Matt Janaway, CEO of England-based digital marketing agency Marketing Labs UK, realized he needed copywriting help, he knew just who to turn to.
Janaway had worked with us before, and had a number of good things to say about the experience. According to him, hiring Express Writers for his copywriting needs was a “no-brainer.”
The Story Begins: The Need for a Copywriting Team
MarketingLabs recently experienced an influx of clientele in need of digital marketing services. While an increase in business is never a bad thing, the workload quickly became too much for MarketingLabs’ two in-house copywriters to handle.
Janaway knew that forcing his copywriters to spread themselves thin would result in low quality work and – more importantly – unhappy customers.
And he also knew his company wasn’t ready to take on a third full-time copywriter. Not only would that lead to an increase in overhead, but it would also result in redundancy once client demand died down.
For Janaway, the choice was clear: hire a copywriting agency.
Not Just Any Agency
Janaway knew he had a number of copywriting agencies to choose from, but he ultimately decided to work with our team at Express Writers.
He explains, “The ability to have skilled writers on-tap and ready to jump straight into a project…is a vital part of the growth strategy of our business.”
Like we said earlier, this wasn’t the first time Janaway worked with Express Writers. What drew him back was our team’s ability to quickly turnaround assignments without sacrificing quality, as well as our writers’ in-depth understanding of digital and content marketing.
The Results
Janaway saw his own results, and his clients, grow to successful heights with our copy. Here’s what happened:
Marketing Labs’ monthly website traffic doubled from 25,000 to 50,000.
A single post on Marketing Labs’ blog gained over 2,000 shares on social media.
A client of Marketing Labs saw a 77% increase in revenue year-over-year after Express Writers optimized their product description web copy.
To Our Clients’ Continuing Success
At Express Writers, we don’t aim to just snag a client and make a quick buck.
Our goal is to provide value and forge a connection with our customers that leads to ongoing success for everyone involved in the process. And we make this happen, over and over, with every project we take on.
If you work in online marketing, you probably know what it feels like to have too much to do, and not enough time.
While this applies to virtually all sectors of running a business, it’s especially true for content creation.
We live in an increasingly digital world, and there have never been more platforms to maintain than there are today.
Between a website, a blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and marketing content like ebooks and whitepapers–it’s amazing all marketers don’t just pull their hair out, really.
Luckily, there’s a solution.
While it’s true that the content demands of today are more intense than they’ve ever been before, it’s also true that the popularity of professional copywriting services has exploded, and that using quality copywriting services is an excellent way to put out great content without going nuts in the process. Read on to learn more.
How Professional Copywriting Services Can Save the Day
Flyin’ through words, shaping them up.
Professional copywriters are the heroes of online content–no joke about it.
While brands everywhere want to produce the kind of quality material they read on the websites and blogs of influencers, virtually nobody has the time, skill, or resources to do this on their own.
Right now, only 42% of B2B marketers report that their content marketing is effective, and most experts believe that this is, in large part, because most marketers simply don’t have the time to create the content their brands need.
This is where copywriting services come in.
For businesses ranging from startups to major enterprises, copywriting services have the potential to fully overhaul a marketing strategy and help founders, CEOs, and CCOs reclaim their sanity in a fast-paced world.
5 Signs You Need Professional Copywriting Services
Still not convinced you need professional copywriting services? Take a moment to consider whether any of these five signs apply to you.
1. You’re behind on publishing blog posts, social posts, or website updates
If you have an editorial calendar or plan, but you’ve found that you’re so busy you can’t keep up with it, you need copywriting services STAT! Neil Patel wrote a blog this August on what happens when you stop blogging. In the study, Patel took a look at Robert Ryan, who didn’t post anything for 251 days – 8 months, 7 days.
His traffic…
overall fell by 32%
organically dropped by 42%
contact page traffic was down by 15%
total site conversions were down by 28%
That’s an awful lot.
Don’t be that person that stops blogging, because you don’t have time. Instead, turn to copywriting services to help take some of the stress of content creation off of your shoulders. If you choose the right solution, you’ll come across copywriting experts who have a real interest in helping your brand succeed–so you may even learn a thing or two by hiring copywriting experts.
2. Your online content isn’t converting the way you want it to
Maybe you’re keeping up with your content creation responsibilities, but you do not see much engagement in return. If this is the case, copywriting services are a very good idea. Online marketing is tough, and it’s easy to miss the mark without knowing exactly how it’s happening.
If you’re not seeing conversions, shares, or likes, an online copywriting expert may be able to come in and give you some insight into why. What’s more, they’ll likely be able to help you turn the trend on its head.
3. You’re starting to receive negative comments
If you’ve noticed that the engagement your content is seeing is taking a turn for the worse, it’s time to enlist copywriting services. Every marketer goes through growing pains with content, and as long as you catch negative engagement early, it’s easy to turn it around and reclaim your positive interactions.
Keep in mind, though, that it’s critical to act quickly. Hire professional copywriting services as soon as you start to see negative online comments, rather than letting it persist for weeks or months at a time.
4. You’re starting to repeat yourself
If you’ve noticed that you’re repeating topics, a few things may be to blame. One common cause is a stagnant keyword strategy. If you haven’t researched new keyword opportunities recently, copywriting services can often provide in-depth keyword analysis that can provide new life for your content.
If your keyword strategy is up to date, the issue may simply be your proximity to the topics. As you think and write about a subject regularly, it becomes harder to keep the content fresh. Because of this, hiring copywriting services is often an excellent way to add a new perspective and continue providing value to readers.
5. You’re running out of time or getting stressed
Content creation is too important to sacrifice, but it still shouldn’t come at the cost of your well-being or sanity. If you’re finding that you don’t have enough time for content creation, or that the responsibility of populating all of your various platforms is driving you crazy, hire copywriting services to help.
Because a copywriting service is dedicated specifically to content creation and distribution, it can help you bear the burden of content creation without sacrificing other aspects of your business in the process.
Simple, Streamlined Content Creation Starts Here
Let’s be frank: content creation shouldn’t be as difficult as everyone makes it out to be!
While it’s true that great content takes time, effort, and work, marketers can have their cake and eat it, too, by hiring professional copywriting services.
Dedicated to crafting quality content for brands, copywriting services are ideal for helping your brand build its online presence, create higher-quality content, develop material readers love and want to interact with, and build a level of authority and relevance online.
While many brands assume that they don’t need copywriting services and that they can manage their online presence on their own, the fact of the matter is that copywriting services apply to everyone and that every brand has something to be gained from hiring copywriters.
So, whether you’re too busy to create quality content or you aren’t seeing real results from your content, expert copywriting services can help you strengthen your brand and improve the functionality, relevance, authority, and interest of your online content.
This, in turn, is something that’s good for both your brand and your readers!
In a world where more than 27 million pieces of contentare shared on a daily basis, it can be difficult to stand out from the “content sea” long enough to get noticed by new readers.
This is complicated by the fact that every business has competitors, and every single competitor wants to be stand out just as much as you do.
So, you’re in a field where other businesses are likely looking to cover the same topics, news, and events as you are.
That’s a tough deal.
So, how do you ensure that your content is what stands out from the crowd, and you’re the one rising above field competitors?
Let’s explore.
Why Study Your Competitors? “Only the Paranoid Survive”
If you’ve been in the management world for awhile, you’re probably familiar with Andy Grove’s famous book Only the Paranoid Survive.
While Grove’s book title might seem dire, it’s actually a good lesson for anyone looking to outperform their competitors.
The truth is that, in today’s world, content is competitive and in order to gain a cutting edge on the other companies in your industry, you need to be able to foster and engage a deep-seated curiosity about what your competitors are doing and how they’re doing it.
Here at Express Writers, we’ve done just that.
While we wouldn’t call ourselves “paranoid” by any stretch, we’ve dedicated ourselves to outperforming our competitors.
Our Blog vs. Theirs: How We Outdid the Competition
As a content creation company, we pride ourselves greatly on being able to write amazing content.
Heck, check out this massive case study I just published on the fact of the matter: we outrank other writing companies by a whopping 5% on Google. We’re talking companies with literally 100x more funding than us. (Come on, guys, it’s as simple as using the service you provide! Actually…it’s a lot harder than that just sounded.)
So, one small facet of our overall content marketing picture is to look at what our competitors are talking about, and how to do it a lot better.
Check out how we did just that.
Here’s a real case study of how we’ve outdone our competition:
Them (Competitor): An agency in our industry field recently wrote a <500 word, general piece on “how to do content marketing for boring industries.” There was no formatting, sub headers, and it was written by a non-native English speaker (which would be okay if the writing flow wasn’t significantly off in a few sentences). Us: We took the idea we saw from our competitor as inspiration, went a step further, and first researched a long tail keyword with a viable opportunity. Using SEMrush and KWFinder, both of which are our go-to SEO tools, we found out that “guide to writing for boring industries” gave us both a great long-tail keyword and an idea for a topic. We handed this to one of our full-time copywriters, Ashley. She put a piece together for the Write Blog that was more than double the length and offered practical points that every business owner could put to use on how to create content for their online presence even if they were in a “boring” industry. Ashley talked about the actual writing content part instead of the broader content marketing picture, as our competitor did (we got more nitty-gritty): she showed our readers how to develop a metaphor, use statistics, and more. The piece included much more research, outbound/relevant and high quality links, and practical solutions.
Here’s what the us vs. them looked like in the end. (Domain name removed from the competitor screenshot.)
Them: Under 5 social shares. No comments. No rankings.
Us: 91 social shares, a couple comments. Ready for the cool part?
We be cool cats. #1 ranking for that keyword. Heck, we outdid Moz!
So as you can see, in the end process we don’t just “copy” topics from others when we do study our competitors. (I don’t condone that.)
We’ll go deep and look at what questions they’ve left unanswered in their content, or what’s missing from the value in the content, and how we can do it better. Sometimes, we’ll even look at the comments on the piece with questions from readers. And, we might back that up with checking to see what people are asking about on Quora in the topic; then we’ll write blogs to provide a fuller, clearer picture on the topic.
As mentioned earlier, because of strategies like these, we have more content ranked in Google than any of our copywriting competitors, by an entire 5% visibility on average. In Google, 5% is a big deal.
How’s that for a solid strategy?
While you don’t need to lose sleep over what your competitors are or aren’t doing, it will serve you well to pay careful attention to what they might be missing within their content and how you can do it better.
Here are five tips to get you started.
5 Key Ways You Can Write Better Content Than Your Competitors
When it comes to scoping out your competitors’’ content, there are a few key places you want to look. These tips will help give you a structure you can develop further as you progress.
1. Keep an eye on the competition
As is true with any sea, the content sea is always moving. Because of this, it’s important to stay on top of the game when it comes to monitoring your competitors. While we’re not advising that you install tracking software on their cars or anything quite that “out there”, we do advise that you use commonly available monitoring practices to keep an eye on their content creation efforts, especially in the following areas:
Links. Who is linking to your competitor and which posts are earning those links? It’s easy to monitor links by using a service like BuzzSumo link alert. This service will let you know every time your competitor receives a link to content they’ve published, so you can get a feel for what is performing well and what’s not.
Content performance. Of the content your competitor published in the last week or five days, which piece is the most popular and how many social shares is it getting? What topics did they cover in that same period? Which posts had the least interaction? BuzzSumo also offers content alerts that will allow you to see when your competitor publishes new content and how many social shares it has received.
Break-through content. Break-through content can be classified as any content that earns a high level of social shares or a high-profile mention from an industry influencer. Has your competitor published any and, if so, what sort of response has it gotten?
Social media mentions. How often is your competitor’s content mentioned on social media? Where are those mentions coming from? Not surprisingly, you can use BuzzSumo to track your competitors’ mentions, although you can also choose from a variety of other tools, including Google Alerts and SocialMention.
By monitoring your competitors’ content activity, you can get a solid feel for exactly what they’re doing and how you can do better.
2. Dissect their content
Now that you know where, how, and how often your competitors are publishing content, it’s time to get started dissecting it to find places that you can do it better. To begin with, let’s think about the following measurements:
Content length
Images/visuals in content
Content quality
Keyword optimization
Content Length
How long is the content? If you read the comments, does it seem like readers are hungry for more or are there questions that were left unanswered within the content? Is the article too short for such a broad topic or too long and drawn-out for a simple one? Could you do the topic more justice by shortening the length of the content or expanding upon certain ideas? While there’s no specific benchmark for content length, long-form content (around 2,000 words) generally performs best in terms of engagement and social shares. Keep this in mind as you seek to create your own competitive content. Images/Visuals in Content
Does your competitor use visuals in his or her content? If so, how many? Are the visuals well-placed and relevant to the body of the content? Are there other visuals you could include that would help enhance the readers’ understanding of the topic? Screenshots, for example, or charts? Would adding a custom infographic or a high-quality stock image enhance the feel of the piece. Conversely, would the piece do well with fewer visuals? While creating great content comes down to much more than just altering the visuals your competitors include in their pieces, it’s wise to take notice of another company’s visual strategy in order to enhance and outperform it. Content Quality
This is a big one. Is your competitor’s content lacking in quality? Are there factual inaccuracies, outdated statistics, spelling and grammar mistakes, or other such content sins? If so, it’s easy to outperform this content. More and more today, readers and search engines want quality, expert content. Creating content that is better-written and more relevant than the content of your competitors is a great way to get your foot in the door and begin staking your claim as a leader in your industry. Keyword Optimization
Is it obvious which keywords your competitors are optimizing their content for? Is it keyword-stuffed or are the keywords too sparse within the content?
Using a tool like SEMrush can help you gain insight into more than 120,000,000 keywords while also gaining access to analytics reports that tell you things like how your competitors are conducting their digital advertising, where their organic and paid search traffic is coming from, and how they’re using link building to enhance your content. This can help you glimpse the “bones” of their content strategy so that you can build up your own.
Here’s that screenshot I shared earlier, which was taken in SEMrush of the project we have set up there to analyze Express Writers against a few main competitors:
3. Create a new funnel
If you’ve noticed that there is a major piece that your competitors are missing (A social media outlet, for example, or an educational opportunity), it may be wise to create a new funnel.
This means creating content that operates from the standpoint of pre-established goals and is designed to be distributed on a very specific platform or in a specific format.
While this is often a labor-intensive approach, it’s a fantastic way to establish yourself as a leader in the industry and to create unique, original content that runs parallel to your existing website.
Here are a few ideas to create a new funnel for content:
Develop a course. Is there a distinct lack of a certain “how to” within your industry or questions that readers ask that nobody seems to be answering? Creating a course and an associated landing page can be a fantastic way to not only deliver this content to users by to establish yourself as the authority in the niche.
Dominate social media. If you’ve noticed that your competitors have a very weak presence on a social media platform (or several social media platforms) don’t hesitate to establish your own presence there. This will help ensure that you’re meeting all of your followers where they choose to interact and that you’re providing valuable content for readers on all platforms. Plus, if none of your competitors are there yet, it helps you ensure that your content will stand out that much more!
Create some infographics. Infographics are a fantastic form of content for anyone who wants to go viral in a hurry. If there is data in your industry that could easily be turned into an infographic, it’s wise to consider the possibility. In addition to being highly sharable, infographics are also fantastically valuable for readers.
4. Focus more on human interest
Sometimes, the weak point of your competitors’ content is not that it lacks information, doesn’t optimize for keywords correctly, or is poorly written – it’s simply that it declines to focus on human interest.
If you think about it, every piece of content you create elicits some type of reaction from your audience.
With many companies, however, that reaction is simply boredom. It doesn’t matter how statistically accurate or well-written a piece is if it doesn’t resonate with readers.
In light of this, it may be wise to identify the places where your competitors’’ content simply misses connecting with its readers.
Is there a place you can answer their questions better? Get inside their heads more efficiently? Help them solve their problems? Help them identify their problems? Is there a place you can simply be funny and make them laugh? No matter what type of content you deal in, these simple questions can go a long way toward helping you connect more efficiently with your readers.
Empathy, human interest, and impact are powerful factors in the success of content and if you can harness them to work to your advantage, you’ll find that you have award-winning content in no time.
One great tool to help you do this is ContentMarketer.io. This simple tool can help you connect with influencers and reach out to people you mention in your content and posts. Fantastic for securing mentions from influencers and helping rocket your content into the spotlight, this tool will quickly become a go-to.
5. Keep your eyes on the horizon
Remember the content sea analogy? If you don’t know where you’re pointing the ship, it’s easy to wind up somewhere you don’t want to be. In light of this, it’s important to balance your content monitoring efforts with a healthy dose of anticipating what’s going to come next.
Fewer people will be interested in content on how to start a great blog, for example, than they will about Google’s huge new algorithm release.
Novelty is powerful and people want content that stays up to date on the happenings within the industry. While creating time-tested evergreen content is important for the overall health and well-being of your blog, keeping your eyes on the horizon of your industry and being aware of developing trends is a great way to become to go-to for readers who want relevant and timely content.
To help yourself stay abreast of what’s happening, use a tool like BuzzSumo to track trending content and get a feel for what’s earning the most shares in the industry.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, outshining your competitors’ content is as simple as paying closer attention.
By monitoring their content output, evaluating what gets shared and what doesn’t, and locating places that you can fill in gaps in their strategy, you can build a content strategy that will quickly outshine your competitors’ on every level.
When it comes to web page writing, there are several skills that every writer creating these pages needs to have.
Because so much scrutiny is placed on websites today–between Google’s high standards and the short attention span of modern readers–it’s critical for the modern web page writer to have key skillsets.
Web page writers need to be adaptable, quick to learn, and flexible enough to embrace mistakes and synthesize something new from them.
I wrote today’s guide to share with you the top skills every web writer should have to succeed today. Let’s get into it!
[bctt tweet=”Got web page writing skills? @JuliaEMcCoy shares us the top 10 skills every modern web page writer should have.” username=”ExpWriters”]
Defining a Web Page Writer
A web page writer is a specialized type of content writer who writes online web pages for companies in various industries.
While this writer may also create blog posts, articles, social media content, and ebooks, he or she specializes in web pages, which is hard since web pages have become an increasingly more demanding form of content in recent years.
The guidelines span 145 pages and were designed to help Google’s flesh-and-blood search quality. Evaluators determine what a good web page was and what wasn’t. Within these guidelines, Google introduced two acronyms meant to help evaluators do exactly that: EAT and YMYL.
What is EAT?
EAT stands for “expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness” and is used to describe the three things web pages need to be considered quality.
One of the main reasons that web page writers are so important is that they possess the expertise to produce these three things in on-page content, which many novice or non-specialized writers do not.
Because web page writers understand Google’s complex standards and ranking factors, they’re the best possible person to create web page content that will adhere to it.
What about YMYL?
Secondly, YMYL. YMYL stands for “your money or your life” and is used to describe web pages that contain critical information that can have an adverse impact on a reader’s health, wealth, or safety if transmitted wrong. Examples of these pages include financial advice, medical advice, pages on divorce law, or tax information.
In the case of YMYL pages, it’s critical to hire a knowledgeable, experienced writer who can create a spot-on web page that uses facts, statistics, and stable sources to make a point. In addition to the fact that pages like this are less likely to be dinged or down-ranked by Google, they’re also better equipped to serve the target audience well.
10 Skills Web Page Writers Need to Have in 2016 & Beyond
With these things in mind, it’s easy to see why expert web page writers are so critical to the health and wellbeing of online content. In addition to keeping a site owner out of trouble with Google, these skilled writers also possess the capabilities to write quality web pages that deliver flawless information.
1. Adaptability
As a web page writer, you write about topics for various industries, from auto care to finance, and it’s essential for these writers to be flexible and adaptable enough to shift their voice, perspective, and tone.
Within this adaptability comes the ability to speak directly to very different audiences, understand different points of view, and morph correctly into the writer various industries need for their online content.
2. Attention to detail
Being a web page writer is a very detailed job.
In addition to staying on top of Google’s various changes (some of which are minuscule), a web page writer must also be able to track small changes and alterations in text and understand the many places in which a tiny shift will make a big difference.
This goes for things like spelling and grammar just as much as it does more complex issues like tone and voice. When a web page writer pays incredible attention to detail, everyone benefits.
[bctt tweet=”In addition to staying on top of Google’s various changes (some of which are minuscule), a web page writer must also be able to track small changes and alterations in text… – @JuliaEMcCoy on the top #webpagewriter skills.” username=”ExpWriters”]
3. Research skills
Writing good web page copy often requires heavy research, and if a writer doesn’t know how to do this, the entire ship begins to sink.
By understanding how to locate and vet sources and how to integrate facts and statistics through a piece of content, a web page copywriter can create beautiful, unique, high-quality online content that benefits the company and its customers.
4. Precision
Web page copy must be precise – both regarding the information within the content and the way it’s presented.
Readers are more than willing to walk away from long, rambling content that lacks a point or definitive direction, and it’s the web page writer’s job to keep them enthralled by using precise language and short, succinct sentences.
Without this skill, web page copy that should be flawless rapidly becomes chunky, ugly, and difficult to wade through.
5. Multi-tasking skills
It’s not uncommon for a web page copywriter to have several different pieces of content in the works at one time, for several different companies.
Without a healthy set of multitasking skills, it’s likely that these things will get confused and muddled. Instead, a web page writer needs to be able to categorize different jobs mentally and physically. One voice for one job, another voice for a separate job.
What’s more, a web page copywriter must also be able to research, write, and edit all at once, if that’s what the workload requires.
6. Technical know-how
A web page writer is part SEO, webmaster, and editor, all in one.
During the process of developing web copy, it’s not at all uncommon for the writer to also be called upon to resolve minor web issues or to figure out little formatting or presentation problems. Because of this, it’s critical that the writer in question has the skills and adaptability to work his or her way through a technical environment that goes far beyond the bounds of writing. This makes the writer more valuable and increases the offering that he or she can present to the client.
[bctt tweet=”‘A web page writer is part SEO, webmaster, and editor, all in one. – @JuliaEMcCoy’ Do you agree? Know more about the top #webpagewriter skills in this post.” username=”ExpWriters”]
7. Insistence on quality
A web page writer that is not focused on quality can easily cause a large problem for the web page owner.
Because Google pays such close attention to the quality of web page copy across the internet, web copy that is sloppy, inaccurate, or poorly constructed can cost hundreds, even thousands, in lost revenue.
With this in mind, it’s critical for a web page writer to hold themselves to a high standard of quality.
In addition to reflecting well on the writer, this also helps ensure that the web page itself doesn’t suffer as a result of sloppy writing.
8. Professionalism
As a web page writer, criticism is virtually guaranteed.
It’s impossible to work in the industry for any extended period of time without making a mistake, and, when a mistake does happen, a web page writer must be able to handle the subsequent criticism like a professional.
This ensures that projects keep clipping along at a good pace and that nothing gets held up or waylaid because of the web page writer’s inability to act like a professional.
9. Understanding the value of & how to write for different content formats
Various companies want different things in their web page copy.
While one company might want long-form content more than 5,000 words, another might want short, bulleted lists or videos. An infographic is always a great idea, too. But each requires various writing styles and types. An infographic will need short, targeted copy that can easily be put into headlines and sub-points. On a blog, long-form content that goes in-depth on every point is best.
[bctt tweet=”‘A web page writer should understand the value of & how to write for different content formats – @JuliaEMcCoy’ Does your #webpagewriter have this skill?” username=”ExpWriters”]
10. Knowledge of SEO and how to write meta descriptions
While being a writer is very different from being an SEO expert, it’s critical for good web page writers to have a solid understanding of SEO. Things like meta descriptions, alt text, headlines, and sub headers all need to be optimized for SEO.
When it comes time to find your perfect web page writer, there are a few things to consider.
First, you need to be compatible with your new writer. There’s nothing worse than working with someone with whom you do not see eye-to-eye, and it’s bound to create a challenging content creation environment if this is the case.
Secondly, it’s valuable to find a web page writer with skills or expertise in your given industry, as this will help create relevant content and ensure a deep level of understanding.
Finally, it’s also essential to find someone with a demonstrable degree of skill in web page copywriting.
[bctt tweet=”The perfect web page writer should be compatible with you, has industry expertise, and skilled in web page copywriting. – @JuliaEMcCoy on finding the right #webpagewriter” username=”ExpWriters”]
When you combine all of these three things, it’s easy to find a web page ghostwriter who can create beautiful, high-quality content for you. Regardless of what your goals may be or whether you’ve ever used a web writer before, finding someone who possesses the traits listed in this article is the first step on your way to online success.
Hire your web page writer today from Express Writers! Visit our web page services in the Content Shop.
Our new logo is an expression of how our brand has truly taken flight this year, despite all the difficulties in our way. ✈️ As a content agency, we are constantly evolving, adapting, and growing. Writing is a skill that takes great mentoring and lots of practice to perfect. That is what we believe in, and our goal and mission as a content writing agency. This year, we’ve never been more focused on our mission and more capable of delivering amazing quality – the content that 2016 marketers need. It was time to take our paper plane and let it fly!
