For today’s infographic, we put our “brains” together and put an infographic about the copywriter’s brain, lifestyle, habits, and thought process (pun intended ?). We’ve taken a look at most common demographics that make up the database of online copywriters today, what goes on in their head (most of the time), important skill sets all copywriters maintain, and much more. Enjoy!
[bctt tweet=”See inside the brain, lifestyle and habits of a modern #copywriter in this #infographic ” username=”ExpWriters”]
Inside The Brain & Life of a Copywriter (Infographic)
Why Is The Online Writer So Essential Today?
Did you know? There are over 2 million blog posts posted online every day. And there are more than 900,000,000 websites online, and dozens more launching per minute; the web is estimated to house 1 billion websites somewhere in 2016. With content marketing becoming the foundation of two-thirds of all B2B marketers’ marketing, and a priority investment in all their marketing, it’s more important than it’s ever been to hire your best-fit writer to create content that makes your brand stand out online.
The Everyday Copywriter
Writers are the behind-the-scenes superheroes who make the web go around, but who are they in real life?
Stay-at-home moms: Since many writing jobs offer the benefit of working from home, many copywriters are busy parents who want a fulfilling job that allows them to spend time with their families and still exercise their creativity and talents.
Out-of-work professionals: Many copywriters are past professionals who have had a career or job where they were laid off. They’ve turned their career around and found writing opportunities that allow them to use their expertise. Many of them work remotely and telecommute.
Millennials: Many copywriters are millennials hired to make large companies more relevant and exciting to customers. 70% of companies are creating more content than they did a year ago and millennials are filling much of this demand.
Quick Learners: Copywriters are organized, creative, and quick to learn new things. The average marketer uses between 12-16 different types of content and copywriters must be familiar with all of them.
Storyteller: Many of the best creative writers grew up telling and writing natural stories. These early skills kindled a passion that later flourished into a writing career, with online writing as an open field for job opportunities.
Left Brain of the Copywriter: Practicality
Copywriters are in charge of creating compelling, valuable content for a variety of industries. This requires organization and plenty of practicality. Here’s how they use their left brains to do it:
Organization: Copywriters often work on several projects at once, so they need to be organized, detail-oriented, and able to balance deadlines efficiently.
Research: Copywriters generally specialize in a few different areas and may write about dozens of different topics each day. Because of this, they are masters at research and learn new things quickly.
Synthesis: In order to write content that stands out in today’s content-saturated environment, copywriters need to be able to synthesize new information quickly and turn it into something valuable that readers will love.
Structure: Structure is the foundation of great writing. Copywriters know how to break a document down to make it easy and fun to read.
Perfectionism: Copywriters strive to make everything they write as good as possible. This often means reading and revising a piece several times!
Right Brain of the Copywriter: Creativity
Being a copywriter isn’t all about analytics. Copywriters also have to be creative, intuitive, and innovative. Here’s what the right brain brings to the table:
Uniqueness: What sets one copywriter’s work apart from another’s’? The answer is unique perspective. Each copywriter needs to be able to harness creativity enough to write from a unique voice and POV.
Innovation: There are thousands of articles on SEO out there but copywriters make theirs interesting and relevant by finding innovative ways to approach broad topics.
Visualization: Copywriters know how to pull in different media formats – like video and images – to add depth and value to their writing.
Humor: Great writing is relatable. Copywriters often use humor to make their writing more approachable to readers.
Anticipation: In order to stay abreast of their industries, copywriters use their knowledge of the niche in order to anticipate what topics, developments, or conversations are coming next. This helps them stay on the cutting edge!
Common Thoughts of a Copywriter
Copywriters are the chameleons of the marketing world – constantly transforming themselves to offer different voices, viewpoints, and positions. Here are some of the things copywriters think about in order to create great content. “How do I write a great headline?” Copywriters know that a headline is the single most important piece of an article. 80% of people read the headline of an article while only 20% read body copy, so copywriters are experts at crafting quality headlines that get people to click. “What does my reader need?” A great copywriter knows that readers come to content for one thing: to answer questions. In order to cater to readers as well as possible, copywriters think about how to provide the maximum amount of value to a reader all throughout an article. This is an empathetic skill that involves placing themselves in the readers’ shoes. “Where’s the gap?” Right now, 27 million pieces of content are shared across the web on a daily basis. Despite that, there are still people who aren’t getting their questions answered and can’t find content that caters to them. A copywriter’s job is to fix that. They do this by seeking out gaps in niches or topics and then filling them with quality writing. “How do I entertain and educate?” If you wanted dry, boring writing, you’d head to the phone book, right? Copywriters know that their job is to entertain their readers while also providing value, so they seek to entertain and educate in everything they write. “Is there real value in this content piece?” Regardless of whether a copywriter is writing an article about how to start your first blog or expand your already-advanced SEO strategy, they seek to add as much value as possible to everything they write. This involves finding great statistics, referencing industry leaders, taking relevant screenshots, and linking to other relevant content.
5 Key Copywriting Techniques
Great online writing is a learned skill and, in order to be good at it, copywriters need to master these five techniques.
Embrace Storytelling: Every great copywriter is an old-time storyteller as well as a marketer. In order to engage audiences, they must know how to make any topic relatable and exciting.
Write to One Person: Rather than writing to a “Target audience,” copywriters know how to write to a single person within an audience. This makes all web copy more personal, valuable, and enticing.
Back it Up: Copywriters know that a piece of writing is only as good as the statistics within it. Because of this, they know how to harness facts and statistics to back up every claim they make.
Keep it Organized: Copywriters are experts at organizing content in a way that makes it flow logically – giving the reader information in a logical and relevant order in order to enhance understanding.
Make it Actionable: Nobody wants to read content that doesn’t offer true tips, tricks, or hacks. Because of this, copywriters know that, in order to write great content, it all needs to be actionable and easy to execute.
It’s true…copywriters rule the online writing world and provide awesome content for readers everywhere!
Just like life, facts and even chocolate, words in the English language have a life-span.
Some that we use today are actually thousands of years old, and originate from a time before English even existed.
Others have since changed, been replaced, or completely ditched.
Here are 30 obsolete or uncommon words that we think have gone before their time. Have fun in your next conversation and try a few!
30 Amazing, Intriguing, Obsolete Words We Should Absolutely Start Using Again
1. Crapulous – we know what you’re thinking; you’re thinking this has something to do with feeling crappy, right? Well, you’re not entirely wrong. It means to feel ill from excessive eating or drinking, like feeling crapulous the morning after your cake-binge-worthy birthday celebration.
2. Grumpish – this one dates back to the 1720s and it makes us pretty grumpish to realize it’s no longer used. It’s an alternative to sullen or grumpy.
3. Groak – while the origin of this word is unknown, it means to watch someone silently as they eat, in the hope that you will be invited to join them. For instance, how am I supposed to enjoy my sushi while that guy is groaking me the entire time? Whoa, that sounds similar to something else…maybe let’s not revive that one…
4. Pismire – literally, a word that’s derived from small insect and piss. Defined as an ant. “Hey look, there goes another pismire!” Em gee. Let’s bring that back, shall we?
5. Snowbrowth – dating all the way back to the 1590s, snowbrowth refers to freshly melted snow, as in “this morning there was a perfect carpet of white on the lawn, but now it’s merely snowbrowth.”
6. Excogigate – To plot, plan, devise, with Latin roots that mean to bring out by thinking. Also, NOT used in relation to writing lists. “Oh my, what is George excogigating over there?” (Yikes, that almost sounds bad – like George is choking to death or something.)
7. Apricity – you know when it’s a cold winter’s day but the sun is just gloriously warm? That’s “apricity” and the word dates back to the 1620s.
8. Twattle – this sounds like garbage that you’d tweet, doesn’t it? What it really means is to gossip, as in stop twattling and get back to work!
9. Elflock – if you have wavy hair and you wake up with it tangled and mangled, that’s elflock, as though the elves have tied it into knots during the night. For instance, Geesh, have you seen the state of my elflocks today?
10. Gorgonize – from the early 17th century, this lovely word means to have a mesmerizing effect on someone, as in, “I was gorgonized by his charisma as he spoke to me.”
11. Cockalorum – coming straight out of the 1710s, this word refers to a little man who has a high opinion, as in that guy has short-man syndrome, he’s a total cockalorum.
12. Snoutfair – No, it doesn’t refer to a festival of cute pigs with lovely looking snouts. It actually refers to a good-looking person and comes from the 1500s. Today we’d use it as, the girl who plays Super Girl? Total snoutfair!
13. Jollux – even in the 1780s they had slang and “jollux” was a term to refer to a fat person.
14. Curglaff – you know when you plunge into that cold ocean water and want to scream? That shock is curglaff! It’s a Scottish term from the 1800s.
15. Brabble – remember when you heard that mom and daughter having a rather loud argument in the grocery store? They were brabbling over something inconsequential.
16. Twitter-light – no, this doesn’t refer to the backlight on your phone as you’re scrolling through Twitter, believe it or not. It’s actually a 1600s alternative to the time of day we call twilight.
17. Lunting – in the 1820s gentlemen would enjoy a post-meal lunt. That means they would go for a walk and smoke a pipe.
18. Beef-witted –some of today’s reality shows are totally beef-witted! The 1590’s word refers to something stupid.
19. Monsterful – out of the 1810s, this word refers to something rather extraordinary and wonderful. The Dead Pool movie was every bit as monsterful as the trailer promised.
20. Callipygian – this word is something the likes of J-Lo and Beyoncé own. While it was used in the 1640s, it means to have a beautifully shaped buttocks.
21. Fuzzle – now here’s what probably happened to you on your stag night. In the 1910s friend would gather and get fuzzled to have a good time – drunk or intoxicated.
22. Quockerwodger – from the 1850s, this funny-sounding English term referred to a wooden puppet that was controlled by strings. She can’t think for herself, she’s such a quockerwodger!
23. Resistentialism – a little more “recent” (as in 1940’s), this phrase refers to malevolent behavior that would be displayed by inanimate objects, such as, that statue looks a little vicious, I think it exhibits resistentialism.
24. Lethophobia – do you fear oblivion at all? You may well be lethophobic!
25. Sluberdegullion – did you spend the weekend sprawled on the sofa with no intentions of moving? In the 1600s you’d be known as a sluberdegullion, as is slovenly.
26. Curmuring – remember that day you had an important meeting and no time to grab a bite to eat beforehand? And then just at the moment the director got up to speak your stomach gave a proper, loud rumbling? That’s curmuring!
27. Lumming – in the 1900s it could come lumming down on rainy days.
28. California widow – did you marry a man who goes off to work in other parts of the state for long periods of time? You’re an 1889 California widow.
29. Zenzizenzizenzic – yes, I might have saved the best two for last two. You’ve been rewarded, reader that stuck with me! This wondrous word means to the power of eight. In the 16th century, when people explained it to one another, they’d say: “It doth represent the square of squares quite squarely.” Nice.
30. Houppelande – saving for last but not least! My personal favorite word of all time, or at least for today. It means cloak and was used in the medieval days. I mean, how much cooler does it sound then to say where’s my houppelande? Or even the grandiose imaginative picture of swinging your houppelande about you as you take your leave, head held high. I just love that word so much!
BONUS: Two Amazing, Obsolete Words We Really Shouldn’t Bring Back to Life
What NOT to say when trying to act cultured.
31. Wonder-wench – have you told your wonder-wench how much you love her today? No, not your mother-in-law, your sweetheart, according to this word! Okay, DON’T use that one. No, really, if you love her, don’t.
32. With squirrel – recently had the great news that you’re expecting in 6 months’ time? In 1953 people would have referred to you as being with squirrel. Don’t try this on any pregnant ladies…ever.
While I pride myself on being a bookwright (an author), it seems there are so many incredible words from the English language you and I could be using to create more impactful content and I think it’s about time we brought them back.
Do you have any great words that are Englishable? (that can be rendered into English?) Feel free to share them with us!
Don’t have the gift of the gab? Don’t worry! Our creative, expressive team can help you create sensational copy! Get in touch today.
Blogging is crucial for brands and businesses. One simple reason: marketers that blog get 67% more leads than those who don’t.
If you haven’t launched your blog yet, or you have one but you’re not yet serious about it, it’s time you make that commitment. And I’m here to help you.
If you’re ready to write for and launch your blog, just how do you launch a successful blog?
Many people experience a fear of the blank page, or let’s say blank blog, and try to think up ways to conquer the world, or make a dent when they hurry up to meet a blogging schedule or launch their new blog. Then the worst of the worst happens, in the blogger world (or blogosphere). With no definite direction, newbies risk the all-too common problem of floating by: becoming the next sub-par blogger with no audience presence and no ranking potential on Google. Don’t be that blogger; read our guide to start off strong and maintain a blog that you’re proud to show off to your friends, family, and most importantly, potential customers.
Your Brief But Ultimate Guide On Creating & Maintaining a Solid Blog
After years of writing and publishing blogs, and with over 300 keywords in the top 10 pages of Google, I like to think that I know how to write blogs that rank; I’ve also been the most-read guest blogger at Search Engine Journal and Content Marketing Institute. So, here’s a few thoughts from my vault.
I. How to Start a Blog
Without further ado, here are thirteen ways to start and maintain a solid blog: and to make it easier, I’m going to break them up into I. How to Start a Blog & II. How to Maintain a Blog.
1. Find YOUR Niche
Not just a niche but your niche. The one that makes you thrilled to wake up, excited to voice your thoughts on. Yeah – if you know that feeling, and you can identify what makes you feel that, you’re golden.
And narrow down here. Do you like the business niche? Okay, what kind of business? Coaching entreprenuers? OK, what age group? You like young, inspired people? Okay, that’s your blogging niche. Could you be the world’s foremost peanut butter authority or an expert on locksmith tips for an average homeowner?
Hone down, my friend, hone down. Find your niche and your viewpoint on any and everything about your topic.
And here’s a tip for those who have a niche that’s somewhat broad and maybe a bit unoriginal. It’s okay: businesses and people may have been ruminating on the topic for years, but as long as you’re able to follow the next few steps, you’ll find yourself running with the big dogs.
2. Develop a Unique Idea and a Point
Developing a unique idea is difficult and somewhat daunting, but it’s doable. Maybe you want to explore how to write a unique post in an in depth way that few bloggers, if anyone, has explored before.
The post linked to in the last sentence isn’t necessarily a unique blog topic, as many people have explored how to write a unique post before, but it is very unique in its depth and how it gives the step-by-step process the author takes to come up with an idea, writing the blog, and posting it.
Although you can also develop a unique blog post by giving broad strokes, you want it to be at least somewhat focused. A successful blog post won’t be titled “5 tips on X” and ramble for 1,000 words; you’ll get very few hits. What you can do is expand your idea and tie together seemingly disparate concepts in an interesting way.
Unique spins show that you’re well versed in your topic as well as gives your blog some SEO weight.
3. Analyze the Competition and Keywords
Figure out what the crux of your blog is and whittle it down to a key word or phrase (one to two words in most cases). Use SEMrush (see my guide here) to take a look at how often your SEO keyword is searched. If it looks good, make sure to put it in your title, description, and metadata. Also, have some minor keywords sprinkled throughout your post. This will generate a few more hits you wouldn’t have otherwise had.
After you have your unique idea and keywords, analyze what you’re up against. Search common keywords related to your topic and check out what the competition on the first page looks like.
Domain authority is a big one. If you’re up against heavy hitters and massive corporations, you may want to rethink your keywords. Again, keep it natural enough that the average person will search for it, but try to avoid going up against H&R Block if you’re blogging about tax law.
You’ll also want to be mindful of backlinks. This will let you know if you’re going up against blogs or posts with 54 viewers or 54k viewers. Needless to say, one is easier to knock out than the other one.
Finally, take note of the age of the blog. Shoot for blogs that are older and not updated or newer. Those are the low hanging fruit you want to compete against. Older blogs that are updated frequently get an air of authority about them in the search engines.
4. Research and Find Links
There are two types of links that you’ll want to use to create a successful blog: internal and external links.
Internal links are links to your own site. This will generate more hits to your site and show the search engines that people are staying on your page for longer. This correlates directly to domain authority.
External links should be chosen carefully and should be to high-ranking sites. These links, again, add up to domain authority, a higher ranking in the search engines, and more page views. Keep in mind that this should come naturally. Ideally, backlinks in today’s SEO era come through shares: you reach out to someone who has a great site, ask them to share your content, and if they really like it, link to it; or someone likes your content so much they’ll link to it. (That usually comes in time after you’re more of a known blogger.)
A simple way to do this is to leave a thoughtful blog comment on someone’s high-quality blog that’s relevant to your topic, and leave a link to your blog. Something like: Hey, Joe! Thanks so much for this helpful piece on content marketing. I’m going to try to work on scoring my headlines according to your tips in #8 now. Would you like to read the blog I wrote as well on a similar topic, How to Create Headlines for Your Email Campaigns? {link}
5. Outline a Structure
This post would be an unreadable mess if it were a simple stream of consciousness. Rather than write how a person would say all this in a casual conversation, there was a deliberate outline and structure that went into it.
The structure of this blog post is as follows: introduction, a step-by-step process for your first blog post that can be used for subsequent blog posts, and a guide for maintaining a successful blog.
Make sure that your reader can digest each point in its entirety before you go on to the next one. Just because a strangely laid out narrative structure worked for the movies Memento and Pulp Fiction doesn’t mean that it will work for your blog.
6. Write
By this simple “write” I mean that you should put your outlined ideas down how they come out naturally. Just let them flow and don’t worry about the details.
When you’re writing, be mindful of the word count. Short form blogs are all well and good if you can pump them out by the bushel full but longer posts can gain hits too. For instance, this post is roughly 2,000 words long. That was decided before pen hit the page (or fingers hit the keyboard in this case).
7. Get Visual
Once you have your basic structure pinned down, get some images. They break up your blog into easily digestible pieces, illustrate the point further, and look fantastic.
Think of a longer Wikipedia post like “Philosophy.” It doesn’t necessarily need pictures; it’s an abstract concept. That being said, it has pictures of famous philosophers because it breaks up the post and looks nice to the reader. A successful blog post will have a smattering of images throughout.
8. Proofread
After you write and find images, take a day away from the post. Come back to it with fresh eyes and really get into the nitty gritty of your post. Reword awkward sentences. Check for flow. Deliberate every comma. Ensure the post reads well and is flawless in spelling and grammar.
As you become a bit more successful with your blog, you’ll find that it’s nice to have a new set of eyes take a look at what you’re writing. This is beneficial in a few ways.
The benefits of someone not being emotionally invested in the content can’t be understated. They’ll take an objective eye to the project and won’t hesitate to cut out the fat and correct your mistakes.
Another massively important benefit to an outsourced writer is that you, as a writer, will learn things about writing that you never thought about before. This will make you a better writer and your blog more successful.
II. How to Maintain Your Blog
Maybe you wrote your first post and it was a runaway hit. Or maybe you wrote your first post and it got a few hits, but you want to keep writing either for the love of the game or to create a successful, unique blog.
It takes work on your part. Blog posts don’t grow on trees.
9. Pay Attention to & Answer Comments
If your post gained enough traction to have a significant amount of comments, take a look at them. Find out what is being discussed or what common threads go through each user’s input.
They’re telling you what they want to hear. Take those ideas and run with them for subsequent posts, even if they’re not your next ones.
Then, answer those people to encourage them to keep reading and commenting.
10. Write Down Ideas
Keep a notebook of your ideas, whether it’s virtual or physical. Note the word “a” in the preceding sentence. You won’t want your blog ideas written down on a dozen restaurant napkins, in three notebooks you used for college, and inside of a book you were reading last year. You want them accessible at any time and easy to find. I use a Google Doc.
Ideas don’t need to be limited to blog titles or subjects. Anything that catches your fancy might be used in a future blog. As they say, it’s the little things that matter.
Every week or two you should take an inventory of the ideas. Pick out the good ones and ignore the bad ones. Keep the “bad” ones around; they may be helpful in the future.
11. Motivate Yourself
Motivation is a tricky one. Everyone has different motivations in life and different motivation techniques work for different people.
One piece of advice that will motivate you from the start is to pick a niche that interests you and you’re passionate about. If you’re not at all interested in Ancient Rome, don’t blog about it just because it’s a topic you can choose from. If you love what you’re writing about then it’s easier to motivate yourself to write.
One way you’ll find yourself lethargic, scared, and unmotivated is to set your bar too high. If you’re thinking that you’ll make a living off of three or four blog posts, you might set the bar low for yourself in terms of writing content. Make the expectations realistic so you aren’t quickly burnt out.
Another way to stay motivated is to get inspiration from others! I hold weekly Skype sessions where my team and I “brain-dump” on new topics. It’s fantastic for new ideas!
12. Find, and Maintain, a Schedule
The holy grail of writing a successful blog is figuring out how often to write your pieces. This was briefly touched on before but it bears going into more detail.
Your schedule should be directly affected by how much you plan to write per piece.
If you’re writing brief, pithy posts about current events, you may want to write a few pieces per day. This is dangerous territory, especially for those who have full time jobs. If you’re only putting out 300-500 word pieces once a week, you likely won’t have people sticking around on your blog for too long, hurting your domain authority. Read my post on why evergreen content (which is long-form, very thorough content) matters so much.
Newer blogs or blogs that have short, but original content can be updated about once every day. This is still somewhat trying, but it can be done if you’re taking a few hours to write every day and laying out blogs a week or two ahead of time.
Some people decide to post certain topics on regular days. For a fashion blog this might mean posting “Wardrobe Wednesdays” or “Monday’s Workday Apparel.” For these types of blogs, a few postings a week will suffice since they are frequent, but regular.
Finally, longer blogs can be written and posted around once a week. Don’t take the risk of posting bi-weekly or monthly since readership might decline and people might lose interest in that long amount of time.
In the end there is something to be said for experimentation in this area. Successful blogs tend to follow a set schedule and a few rules, but there is some flexibility in posting frequency.
I publish to our own blog three times weekly: the third post on Fridays however is created by Rachel, our Social Media Specialist, and is a recap of our Twitter chat #ContentWritingChat. On guest blogs, I publish an average of 10 blogs/weekly. I know – I write a lot!
13. Want to Stay Committed? Get Blogging Backup
I wouldn’t be here without my writing & design team. I seriously feel like I have the world at my fingertips with the resources I have here at the writing agency I’ve built.
And while I realize not everyone has the luxury of owning an Express Writers, I also know it’s easy to find some accountability partners, or simpler yet, a writing solution backup. Whether that’s just ordering a blog from time to time.
Remember, blog posting doesn’t just mean you need to be writing and posting 365 day a year. Quality over quantity. But, don’t disappoint your audience. Blogging does mean a serious commitment of both time, effort and actual published pieces; if you’re not blogging at least twice a week, I don’t think you have the opportunity to really build a sure audience, especially as you’re new. If you’re not blogging at least once a week – you, my friend, are not a serious blogger.
But as you get further into the world of blogging, get regular readership, and find a few blogging buddies, you’ll find it easy to ask for a guest blog or two. Guest blogs are great for a few reasons – just remember to get a high-quality guest on your blog, or it’s all worth crap (really). First, the owner of the blog gets some much-needed rest while still providing content. Second, the owner of the blog gets a bit more recognition since the guest will link to the post on your blog. Third, the guest gets some exposure to your readership and a few more hits because of it. Finally, the reader is exposed to a blogger they may not have heard of before and may come to love.
Conclusion
Reality: my thirteen steps listed above are not easy and blogging isn’t a quick way to drive business or earn a living. It takes tons of work, dedication, and creativity to gain traction. I have over 600 blogs on my site in the last 4 years to earn my 300+ keywords in the top 10 positions in Google. (Say whaaa?)
However, I can tell you right here, right now that blogging can be a massively rewarding undertaking in and of itself, for your brand, business, credibility boost, and lead generation.
Also, blogging gets creative juices flowing, allows you to integrate with social media, causes you to see the world in a new way, and provides an insight into what drives people. Not only are these things useful for businesses, they’re beneficial for the individual who wants to get out there and start a successful blog. Need a blog, several blogs, or a monthly package? Check out our services!
In online writing, as in everything all other careers, there are several sure-fire ways to dig your own grave. From plagiarism to sloppy content, completely avoidable mistakes can spell death for the copywriter.
Even for the best Grammar Nazi-slash-word-nerd among us, without an extra eye and the time investment of careful proofreading, your best blog can go from wow to yuck just because of one or two glaring misspells. But it’s not just misspells. What’s more: being unaware of the right online writing practices, or how to talk to your audience, among many other key foundations, could spell death for your audience (or, if you’re new at this: future/potential audience).
15 Ways to Dig Yourself a Writing Grave: The Don’ts of Online Writing
Fortunately, you can route around these things by being aware of them and knowing how to avoid them. Here are the top fifteen mistakes web copywriters can make. Avoid digging yourself a grave: instead, be aware and practice the right online writing skills so you can start growing your presence, rankings and readership immediately.
1. Poor SEO
You can err on two sides here: not caring at all about SEO, and thus not working to bring in your audience with your online audience; or overstuffing your keywords in your content.
For all writers creating any form of online writing, SEO is the foundation from which everything else springs. In addition to providing the structure needed to rank in Google and other search engines, SEO also makes it easier for readers to find and navigate your content. When an online copywriter doesn’t fully understand SEO or know how to integrate it into their content, it’s almost guaranteed that the content won’t perform as well as it could. Because of this, it’s wise to get familiar with common SEO techniques like keyword optimization and link building as quickly as possible. This will prevent you from making easily avoidable mistakes and will help ensure that your content has the “bones” it needs to succeed.
2. Poor content structure
Imagine this: you write a flawless 5,000-word article and post it on two sites. On one site, the article is posted as a continuous block of text. On the other, it is broken neatly into heading, subheadings, bullet points, and links. Which one is going to get more clicks and reads? If you guessed the second article, you’re right. Even though the text is exactly the same, the way it is structured makes a huge difference. All online copy should be easy to read and structured in a way that creates a flawless user experience. This means small blocks of text, subheaders, bulleted lists, and plenty of links throughout.
3. Ineffective tone and voice
Why am I here? This brand doesn’t know me at all.
Who are you writing to? If you can’t answer that question quickly and effortlessly, you’re in trouble. Conducting research on your target audience is one of the first steps you need to make as an online copywriter. This allows you to speak directly to the group that will purchase your products and to address their questions, concerns, and fears succinctly and efficiently. If you miss the mark on this, you’re going to wind up speaking to the web at large and failing to find your niche or develop a devoted group of followers.
4. Boring content
We’ve all been here, and you know what I’m talking about. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing about cleaning supplies or outer space – all content can and should be exciting. Boring content is often a symptom of a writer’s lack of knowledge or engagement and it’s not content that readers are going to want to interact with on any lasting level. To avoid this, ensure that you’re spending enough time with your content to understand what makes your topic special and how you can approach it in a way that will grab the attention of your target audience. Remember – there are no boring topics, only boring writers.
5. Spammy content
This should go without saying, but I still see it lurking around in the dark corners of the Internet. Spammy content is a deadly sin in today’s content marketing environment. In addition to getting you penalized by Google, content that is keyword-stuffed or riddled with intrusive or irrelevant ads will earn you plentiful and speedy back-clicks from your readers. To avoid this, be sure that you’re incorporating keywords naturally throughout your online writing and that any ads placed on your site abide by best practices. This means a limited number of ads “above the fold” and relevant, valuable ads that actually have something to do with your company or target market.
6. Irregular publishing schedule
Companies that publish more than 16 blogs each month earn 3.5x as much traffic as companies that publish only 0-4 monthly posts. Because of this, it’s clear that blogging often and on a regular basis is a pivotal part of becoming a successful online copywriter. Too many bloggers and copywriters don’t post content regularly, which leads to stagnant blogs, losing the audience they started to build, and lowering traffic on social media pages and websites. These things are alienating for readers and can cost you your traffic and your rankings. Avoid nose-diving rankings by creating a content schedule and sticking to it.
7. Plagiarized or duplicate content
I want to say this to everyone who plagiarizes.
This should go without saying, but it often doesn’t. In addition to earning you severe Google penalties, posting plagiarized or duplicated content is a great way to lose readers and bury your career faster than you can say “Bad online writing practices.” To preserve your credibility, keep your readership intact, and avoid Google’s evil eye, ensure that everything you post is high-quality and, most of all, original. If you’ve got any doubts about the authenticity of your content or simply want to ensure that you’re not flirting too closely with any of the sources you use in your material, run your copy through a plagiarism-checking service like Copyscape.
8. Being generally unhelpful
Writing web content that doesn’t offer actionable solutions to some type of problem is an impossible task that gets you nowhere at the end of the day. For real: long-form, useful content wins. Today’s readers want actionable content that provides them with real value and helps them solve everyday problems. That said, if your content isn’t improving your readers’ quality of life in some way, it’s likely that you’re not doing your job. Alternately, if you’re creating content that’s totally devoid of any real meaning or purpose besides link building, you’re failing your readers and Google in the same breath.
9. Good, bad and ugly headlines
Yes—all three of those things are no-no’s. And why is good a no-no? Because you have to be better than good. You have to be great.
Let me define the good, bad and the ugly side of headlining:
Good: “5 Ways to Create a Great Landing Page”. This is good, but will your reader click on it? Haven’t they seen a million of these lying around the Internet already?
Bad: “Chiropractic care in Georgetown, Texas”—bad: you’re just using your keywords—or “Click and Learn 5 Ways to Help Your Back”—that’s just spammy.
Ugly: “Why the mother killed her kid! You’ll be shocked…”—and the story is actually about a little goat that was ran over, not killed, by the nanny goat. Yeah, the publisher downright lied, that’s This is also the worst of the BuzzFeed-style headlines you’ll see. I hate those. Pet peeve.
Here’s why headlines matter. While 80% of people read headlines, only 20% click through to read the body copy. What’s more, the 20% that are clicking through are likely reading exciting, unique, click-worthy headlines. In order to ensure that your content gets the attention it deserves, you need to be writing interesting and original headlines. This means ensuring your headlines aren’t too long or too short (5-10 words is a good guideline) and that they use action words, appeal to a reader’s interest, and promise a high ROI for the reader’s click. If that seems like a tall order, you’re not wrong. Writing quality headlines is a learned skill but if you practice it often enough, you’ll see your blog traffic begin to skyrocket.
Last year, Google released the entirety of their Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. While the 160-page document contained a wealth of useful information, one of the most enlightening aspects of it was the document’s focus on expert content. Nowadays, Google is looking for content with a high level of E-A-T: Expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. With that in mind, all content needs to be expert content – written by either an everyday expert or a certified and trained expert. Writing expert-level content from a novice standpoint is a great way to get yourself blacklisted by search engines and readers all at once.
11. Too many/poor quality links
Linking is an important part of writing quality, SEO-focused, reader-centric content and if you get it wrong you’re likely to suffer from decreased reader numbers and poor rankings, as a result. The cardinal sins of link building include links to spun content, links that are obviously paid, and low-quality directory links. Avoiding common practices of bad link building can help you ensure your content remains high-quality and that you maintain your reputation as an authoritative and trustworthy source.
12. Content without a CTA
CTAs – or calls to action – are a pivotal piece of effective web content. You risk losing a follow-through from a lead if you don’t place them in your content. In addition to giving your reader a direction, CTAs help your content achieve its desired effect, be that recruiting email subscribers or encouraging purchases. While writing quality CTAs is an art, it’s one that’s well-worth learning in the name of good online copywriting.
One rule of thumb here: don’t over-CTA your content, or you could drive people away from too much “spam.”
13. Content that hasn’t been adequately proof-read
Content that is riddled with grammar or spelling mistakes isn’t good for anyone – most of all you. To avoid this, ensure that you’re taking adequate time to proof-read your content before you publish it. In addition to helping you avoid embarrassing factual mistakes, proofreading your content adequately can also help you put out a quality product that reflects on your brand well.
For a complete checklist of what you should be proofreading for, check out this Hubspot resource.
14. Negative content
Content that sends out negative vibes is a downer for readers. It’s also not as helpful as it could be. To avoid losing ranking and readers as a result of an excessively negative viewpoint, focus on keeping your advice, discussions, and topics positive in your online writing. This reflects well on your company and keeps readers from abandoning you for something a little sunnier.
15. Rambling content, political rants, etc.
Let’s be frank here – nobody wants to read your personal diary on the web, unless you’re a celeb or simply not intending to use your blog for any kind of business or online reputation.
While there are dozens of successful lifestyle blogs and blogs that focus on personal topics, it’s important to remember that content that is truly in-demand is content that is reader-focused. While it’s fine to discuss a personal problem or experience, you want to ensure that you’re leaving the reader with something they can use. Rambling on a soapbox isn’t useful and it isn’t something that will help your brand grow, so you should be avoiding it at all costs.
Online Writing Success: Avoid These Dangerous Mistakes
While great online writing is a learned process, there are several things that will bury your career in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, it’s easy to ensure a long, healthy copywriting career by avoiding these 15 web writing mistakes. In addition to improving your reputation as a writer, steering clear of these online writing no-no’s helps you provide relevant content that your readers actually want to engage with.
Don’t struggle through online copywriting alone. Contact Express Writers today to learn more about our top-tier copywriting services.
If you’ve been paying attention to the news in SEO lately, you’d have noticed news stories like “Four Ads on Top: the Wait is Over.” These headlines are referring to Google’s recent decision to alter its SERPs to display four ads at the top of the page, and remove sponsored ads in the space adjacent to the search results on the right-hand side.
While it may not seem like this is big news in the world of SEO, it is. The new SERP layout is much more inbound-friendly and much less welcoming for traditional, cold advertisements. This creates a better user experience and produces SERPs that are more useful, relevant, and easy to navigate than they’ve ever been before!
To see exactly where the ads used to be, refer to the below screenshot, question mark referring to the empty space where sponsored ads were:
Google Says Goodbye to Right-Hand Sponsored Ads: What This Means for Marketers
So what’s this “Huzzah!” attitude all about? How does this change affect marketers and their rankings in the SERPs? How will it affect you and your content? Here’s what you need to know about this new change.
What the New SERPs Look Like
If you’ve searched for a high-volume keyword lately, you’ll notice that the SERPs look a bit different. Before this recent Google update, ads appeared at the top, bottom, and right side of organic search results.
Now, however, they look like this for competitive search terms, with a clean slate on the right side. Cheers, Google – you look so tidy!
While the change didn’t affect the ads that appear below the search results, it did do away with those to the sponsored ads to the right of the search results. This leaves more room for organic search rankings and throws inbound marketing into a whole new world of importance.
Why Google Made the Change
As far as most content marketer experts can guess, the primary reason behind this new feature is user convenience. Displaying ads in two places rather than tree creates a simplified user experience and makes mobile search easier than ever, which is something Google now sees as a major priority (As evidenced by recent algorithm changes).
Additionally, top-placed ads seem to simply perform better in terms of clicks and traffic than side-placed ads. In light of this, Google’s new change streamlines a page and focuses traffic while also enhancing user experience.
How The New Ad Placement Will Affect Organic Search
The introduction of four ads above SERPs will have an effect on search, but primarily for marketers who are paying for sponsored ads rather than creating valuable content. Because the new ad structure places more importance on organic search, it stands to reason that marketers who focus their attention on creating quality content and optimizing their material for organic search success will perform better in the new environment. While this new change has shocked many content marketers, it’s clear that it is simply one in a series of Google changes (including Knowledge Graph and Featured Snippet) that are meant to provide users with relevant, quality results without intrusive advertising.
4 Ways Content Marketers Can Cope With Google’s Sponsored Ad Changes
Again, Google’s most recent changes really only present a challenge to people who have been relying heavily on sponsored ads. For everyone else, it’s more of a pivot than a change. In light of Google’s new ad placements, the importance of organic, quality content is going to be more important than ever. Here are a few steps you can take to ensure that you appear prominently in the new SERP layout.
1. Review your sponsored ads now
If you’re a content marketer that has invested in Google’s sponsored ads, and you’ve got live campaigns going on, check on their position and appearance from your dashboard. If your ads aren’t where you want them to be, it’s important to consider how you can alter them to perform better. While you can do this a few different ways (increasing your bid, boosting your position for the keywords you’re targeting, or increasing your quality score), the best way to go about it is to take a comprehensive approach to increase your ad’s performance. Don’t jump to increase your bid first thing. Instead, seek to make changes that will improve your quality score. This means making your text more relevant and helpful and ensuring that you’re targeting keywords properly.
2. Shift your focus to content
Google has made it painfully clear over the last several years that content is the king of the game and that’s especially true with this recent change. While sponsored ads used to rank on the same level as organic ads, the tables have turned and sponsored ads have left the building. In light of this, it’s important to shift your company’s focus to how you can create quality content Google will want to rank well. Content marketers focusing on just that–content marketing–will do well to boost and improve the quality of that focus.
A Little Case Study From Moi
Yours truly, Julia from Express Writers speaking here: we’ve been in business for five years and we’ve never used a sponsored ad. Instead, we’ve taken all of the money we could have poured into purchasing ad space and we’ve allocated it to creating content. By hiring quality writers, focusing on publishing relevant, long-form content on our blog, and creating guidelines that genuinely answer our reader’s questions, we’ve gained more than 300 positions in Google rankings through organic content alone.
We’re proof that it is possible, and you can get there, too!
If you’re a little unsettled by Google’s new SERP structure, consider how you can re-allocate your resources. If you’ve been purchasing sponsored ads with the majority of your marketing budget, focus on creating content instead. Guides, in-depth, long-form, how-to content, and relevant blog posts are all sure-fire ways to draw more readers to your content and gain SERP prominence without spending money on sponsored ads. Because the new layout of Google’s SERPs is much more geared toward inbound marketing, relevance, and organic search, it’s clear that the companies who embrace their users’ desire for relevance, quality, and information will come out on top.
3. Research
If you read Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, you know that the importance of E-A-T (Expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness) in content has skyrocketed lately. From the demand for expert content to Google’s astonishing willingness to dock sites that don’t have it, information is everything today, so it’s important for companies and content marketers that want to succeed in the new SERPs to comply.
One of the things I believe contributed to our huge boost in rankings is research. We research everything we write and we take the time needed to ensure that it’s all factual, relevant, and backed-up. And research doesn’t stop with your content. By researching topics in places like Quora and Buzzsumo, you can ensure that you’re providing relevant, quality content that your readers will love, and which will help you rank well. By bringing heavier research and analysis of all your topics, content, and information, you can also ensure that you continue to rank prominently in the SERPs, even in light of the recent changes.
4. Ramp up your content production
Content marketers: hear, hear! If you’re only creating thin, occasional content, you’re missing out. According to HubSpot, companies that publish 16 or more blog posts each month get three times as much traffic as those who publish 0-4 posts a month. While blogging often isn’t the secret weapon that will get you everything you desire in ranking and SEO, it is a powerful start. In addition to helping you establish a constant web presence that gives your readers something to look forward to, blogging often also helps you hone your writing skills, develop your brand, index more pages with Google, and create substantive, dense content that is actually helpful for readers.
Keep in mind that blogging often doesn’t matter at all if you’re letting your quality fall by the wayside. Creating relevant, unique, high-quality guidelines, how-to articles, and blog posts will draw readers to your site in an organic and sustainable way.
The Verdict: This Change is Good for Marketers
While you may feel compelled to panic over Google’s SERP update, don’t. While the change has certainly decreased the importance of sponsored ads, it’s really only served to increase the importance of the things we should already be doing well, anyway: content, research, expert information, and relevance.
When brands stop focusing so much on purchasing ads and start focusing more on creating quality content that provides value for readers, the quality of the overall brand increases and the content therein is suddenly more valuable and more relevant for readers. Google’s recent changes send a clear message to content marketers (and really, all marketers everywhere): inbound is in, so get onboard the content train. To learn more about how we create quality content for our customers, or to check out our services today visit our Content Shop!
