Express Writers
#ContentWritingChat March 1 2016 Recap: How to Level Up Your Content Writing Career

#ContentWritingChat March 1 2016 Recap: How to Level Up Your Content Writing Career

by | Mar 4, 2016 | ContentWritingChat

Did you miss #ContentWritingChat this week? You’re in the right spot, because I’ve put together a recap of some of the best tweets from Tuesday’s chat all about How to Level Up Your Content Writing Career. Ready to learn? Let’s dive in!

#ContentWritingChat March 1 2016 Recap: How to Level Up Your Content Writing Career

This week, our guest host was Tara Clapper. Tara is the Blog Editor over at SEMrush and the Senior Editor at The Geek Initiative. (She’s also a moderator on Julia’s Facebook group: Learn Online Writing.) She joined us to talk about building your career as a content writer. Our chat this week was amazing. We had lots of new participants and a ton of energy going during the chat. It was hard to keep up with all the participation! Some of the fun kudos shared:

The SEMrush team was kind enough to share an offer for our participants, too:

Now, let’s get into the recap of the chat questions and leading answers!

Tara gave some great advice for anyone looking to switch to a freelance career. Don’t rely on just one employer. You never know how things will go and you want to make sure you have other options. As Kathleen said, you should get started NOW. Don’t quit your 9-5 job before you’ve established yourself in your freelancing career.

Julia, our CEO, didn’t quit her minimum wage job for writing cold turkey either. Build up your portfolio and start connecting with contacts first before you make the leap.

Laura gave some sound advice on staying firm to your rates, too.

If you’re wondering if content writing is the career for you, here’s how to tell: Make sure you’re fine with managing the business side of things. You are going to be responsible for finding clients and landing jobs. It’s all on you! And as Michael said, content writing needs to be your calling. You must have a passion for it in order to succeed!

We got some great tips from people in the chat about what skills content writers need to have! As Tara pointed out, you need to know the basics of SEO. Taking the time to optimize your posts for search engines is so important if you want to make sure your content gets seen. (And you do!) Grenae said you also need to know how to research and be able to meet deadlines. And as Ashby said, a good content writer needs to be able to engage his/her audience through storytelling. Storytelling is key to great writing to keep your audience interested and reading until the very end.

Julia points out that great headline creation skills are important here, too.

For the most part, everyone in Tuesday’s chat said keyword stuffing is OUT. Content shouldn’t be filled with keywords. They should be worked into the content in a way that sounds natural. Your readers don’t like articles stuffed with keywords and neither does Google.

We received a ton of recommendations for great tools to use in content writing. If you haven’t already, check out a few of these suggestions: CoSchedule’s headline analyzer, SEMrush, and Grammarly. But as Kristen said, you can’t rule out the good ol’ Thesaurus. It’s always helpful!

If you want to establish a good reputation as a content writer, take Tara’s advice: Go the extra mile. Clients will appreciate when you go one step further to create great content and build a relationship with them. Don’t forget to network with others in the community too.

Kathleen and Village Print&Media said it well, too: be sure you’re observing deadlines, and stay true to quality.

Shayla points a great key of client satisfaction: actually being ahead of schedule, as a few others said too.

To land repeat work, both Tara and our CEO, Julia, agree: sign up with an agency. (Like ours! We’re hiring writers and editors!) An agency can provide you with regular clients so you get more work. Tara shared a great tip about keeping in touch with past clients. Stay top of mind so they’ll come to you when they need more work.

Where is content writing headed in the future? Tara encourages you to answer the questions people ask Google through your content. And Pat reminds us that long-form content wins – Julia confirms that we create it constantly for clients!

We look forward to seeing you at the next #ContentWritingChat! Be sure to join us on Tuesday, March 8th, 2016 at 10 AM CST!

#ContentWritingChat February 23 2016 Recap: Strategies for Rising Above the Noise With Your Content

#ContentWritingChat February 23 2016 Recap: Strategies for Rising Above the Noise With Your Content

by | Feb 26, 2016 | ContentWritingChat

If you missed this week’s #ContentWritingChat, there’s no need to worry. I have you covered with a recap of some of the best tweets from the chat. Our topic was Strategies for Rising Above the Noise With Your Content with a wonderful guest host, Carrie Morgan. If you want to learn how to create better content that stands out, keep on reading!

#ContentWritingChat February 23 2016 Recap: Strategies for Rising Above the Noise With Your Content


Our guest host this week was Carrie Morgan. Carrie is a published author of the book endorsed by people like Jay Baer, Ann Handley, and Jay Baer, Above the Noise: Creating Trust, Value & Reputation Online Using Basic Digital PR. She’s also a Digital Public Relations Consultant and you can find out more about her via her website, Rock the Status Quo. Be sure to follow her on Twitter: @morgancarrie.

As Carrie pointed out, knowing your audience is very important. You need to know who you’re writing for in order to create great content they’ll love. Nicholas agreed, but he also brought up user experience. Your website should provide a good experience for each visitor.

If you want people to notice your content, make sure you’re optimizing your posts for search engines and sharing regularly on social media, as Carrie suggested. When you take the time to optimize your posts, you’ll rank higher in search results, increasing the likelihood your target market finds your content. You don’t have to be an SEO expert, but you should at least know the basics.

A great reminder from Netvantage Marketing: Be original! To truly stand out online, you need to be yourself and put your own spin on things.

Don’t be afraid to just ask your audience what they’re interested in and what they need help with. They hold the answers to your questions. All you have to do is ask! You can create a survey for readers to complete or figure out where they spend time online and engage them. Kristen suggested spending time in forums and reading blog comments.

Build trust with your audience through your content. Share authentic content that provides value to your audience, as Yanique pointed out. Make sure you’re also engaging them, as our CEO, Julia, said. Starting a conversation and building relationships with your target market is essential to building a level of trust.

Stand out from your competitors by consistently providing high-quality content to your audience. Carrie says you should constantly work to improve your writing skills. The more you write, the better you get!

As Nicholas mentioned, visuals are another way you can stand out from your competition. Create eye-catching graphics your audience will love to help your blog posts and social media updates get attention.

To become an authority figure in your niche, you need to provide your audience with the content they’re looking for. Use BuzzSumo and Quora to find topics to write about. This is something we do often here at Express Writers! When you become an authority in your niche, people are going to come to you for your thoughts. And as Michael said, you can’t be afraid to share your opinion.

Make sure you get your content out there. Kathleen suggested utilizing PR and link building as ways to reach beyond your own niche.

A great answer from Village Print & Media: Create content that is relatable, relevant, inspiring, problem solving, and conversational. Your audience will love it! Ema suggested creating eBooks, webinars, and more that your audience will love and give it away for free. Everyone loves free content, but make sure they’re high-value!

And be sure to keep Kristen’s tip in mind the next time you’re writing content. Ask yourself if you would take the time to read or watch what you’ve creating. If the answer is no, there is a good chance your audience won’t either.

Carrie brings up a great point about brand consistency. Utilize your brand colors, fonts, etc. when creating images for your blog posts and social media. It helps your audience to easily recognize your graphics! If you really want to stand out with your graphics, ditch the typical stock images. So many of them have been overused so you want to find images that aren’t everywhere and find ways to make them your own.

We look forward to seeing you at the next #ContentWritingChat! Be sure to join us on Tuesday, March 1st, 2016 at 10 AM CST!

#ContentWritingChat February 9 2016 Recap: SEO in 2016 and Beyond with Jeff Deutsch

#ContentWritingChat February 9 2016 Recap: SEO in 2016 and Beyond with Jeff Deutsch

by | Feb 12, 2016 | ContentWritingChat

Rachel is our team Social Media Specialist.

If you missed this week’s #ContentWritingChat, you’re in luck! We have rounded-up some of the best tweets from our chat on Tuesday, February 9th at 10 AM CST. Ready to dive in and learn more about SEO? Keep reading!

#ContentWritingChat February 9 2016 Recap: SEO in 2016 and Beyond with Jeff Deutsch


Our guest host this week was Jeff Deutsch. Jeff is the VP of Marketing for Ptengine and a contributor to Inbound.org. (Check out the post where he got famous: Confessions of a Google Spammer.)

Jeff is super knowledgeable in SEO. He joined our chat to share his expertise on the best SEO practices you should be using. We were so excited to have him joining us!

As Jeff and our CEO, Julia, pointed out, SEO is about optimizing your content for search engines. You want Google to view your content as relevant and authoritative in order to rank higher in search results.

Jeff also gives us a very important reminder about making sure you’re writing for humans. Google’s algorithms keep getting better and better and you want to keep up – and this is a key way.

Kavita mentioned the importance of keywords in her answer. Make sure you’re selecting the right keywords for your content. Use keywords that people are actually searching for so you can reach them. Include keywords in your post title, throughout your content, and in the alt tags for your images.

Don’t forget to think beyond keywords, too. Netvantage brings up a great point about making sure your website is optimized. Google favors websites that are mobile-friendly and have quick loading times.

If it wasn’t already obvious by the answers from Jeff, Kavita, and Netvantage Marketing, picking the right keywords is essential! You want to target the keywords your audience is actually searching, otherwise you cannot expect them to find your content. Kavita added a great tip which is to make sure you’re including your focus keyword in your post title, throughout the post itself, and in the alt tags for your images. Very important!

However, don’t forget to think beyond keywords. Netvantage Marketing reminds us the importance of having an optimized website. Google favors websites that are mobile-friendly and ranks them higher in search results. You also want to have faster page-loading times because that’s a good thing to Google!

What are some good standards for SEO content?

Follow the advice from Jeff and Ryan and make sure all of your content is relevant and authoritative. High-quality content is key first and foremost!

Try asking yourself Jeff’s question the next time you’re writing, “Would an expert on this subject link to this?” If not, you might want to step it up!

Jeff and Julia provided great answers for this question! Storytelling is important for building a connection between you and your reader. That kind of connection is memorable to your readers and is going to make them want to share your work.

Focus on building a stronger relationship with your readers to grow your brand.

To naturally earn links for SEO, focus on providing quality content for your audience. When you create valuable content for your audience, they’ll want to share it. As Jeff pointed out, be known as “that guy” or “that woman” within your niche. Position yourself as an authority figure for whatever it is you do. Become to go-to person everyone knows and trusts.

Andrew also reminds us that while great content can earn links on its own, promotion is important. Don’t forget to spread the word about what you’ve created.

Jeff offers a great tip here! If you have a piece that you want major influencers in your niche to see, contact them! It may seem scary, but it’s worthwhile to just put yourself out there. You never know who might be willing to share your work so it’s worth a shot!

Michael mentioned the importance of connecting with your audience. Building that relationship with them is key because they’ll be more likely to share your content when you do.

Don’t forget the hashtags, too! Use the hashtags you known your target market is using so they will be more likely to discover your work. It’s a simple way to reach new people.

Don’t fall for any of those bad or outdated SEO practices! Take Michael’s advice and ditch the robotic copy. Focus on writing great content and working your keywords in naturally. No keyword stuffing either because you don’t want Google to think you’re spam.

Julia offers a great point when she said you should think about your reader. Your reader comes first so make sure you’re providing them with valuable content they’ll love. When you do, they’ll keep coming back for more.

Jeff offered some examples of black-hat SEO practices he’s heard about and they are ones to avoid!

We look forward to seeing you at the next #ContentWritingChat! Be sure to join us on Tuesday, February 16th, 2016 at 10 AM CST.

#ContentWritingChat February 2 2016 Recap: How to Use Periscope and Live Video in Content Marketing with Christoph Trappe

#ContentWritingChat February 2 2016 Recap: How to Use Periscope and Live Video in Content Marketing with Christoph Trappe

by | Feb 5, 2016 | ContentWritingChat

Did you miss this week’s #ContentWritingChat? Not to worry! We have you covered with our weekly recap of our third-ever Twitter chat, on Tuesday, February 2nd at 10 AM CST.

#ContentWritingChat February 2 Recap: Periscope & Live Video with Christoph Trappe

Our guest host this week was Christoph Trappe, the creator of the Authentic Storytelling Project, content marketer, a global keynote speaker, frequent Periscoper and blogger, and recipient of The Content Marketing Institute’s 2014/ 2015 Top 100 Most Influential Content Marketer award. We were thrilled to have him on!

And, exciting times – once again we became a trending topic in the USA, ranking in at #47 this time!

Known as The Authentic Storyteller™, Christoph is a frequent Periscoper and shared his expertise with us specifically on live streaming video.

With the growth of live streaming apps such as Periscope, MeVee, and Blab, many marketers are feeling the pressure to join these platforms. As a marketer, it’s important to be where your audience is if you want to reach them! Live video allows you to better connect with your audience as a brand and on a personal level. Plus, it provides such a great way to engage them when you can get immediate feedback.

Our guest host, Christoph, mentioned that his favorite live streaming platform is Periscope. However, you shouldn’t count out the others. You should definitely give MeVee a try and Blab. Blab is great if you’re feeling a little nervous and want to have someone co-host with you. Grenae is right: live streaming is a great way to put a name with the face.

As Maureen pointed out, live video is just another layer to the content you’re already producing. It provides a whole new way to connect with your audience and get to know them. Strengthen your relationships with your customers, as Grenae said, and your audience is sure to love you.

Do you want to do a better job on Periscope? Take Christoph’s advice: be real! It’s so important to be genuine and show your audience your true personality through your live video broadcasts. When your audience gets to know you and like you, they’ll start trusting you!

Michael’s tip of promoting your Periscope broadcasts in advance is fantastic if you want to get more live viewers. If you have a broadcast coming up on a popular topic or are just talking about something you really want your audience to hear, let them know ahead of time so they know when to tune in.

Broadcast on Periscope or do a live video stream when you feel like you have something to say. If you have quality material you want to share with your audience, go live.

Our CEO, Julia, mentioned that daily scopers are seeing growth, so you may want to ramp up your presence on the platform when you’re just starting out. It will help you be seen and grow your audience quickly.

However, you should also keep your audience in mind, as Grenae mentioned. Think about what time it is before you broadcast because you don’t want to go live when a majority of your followers are likely in bed. If you want live engagement, you have to give people the chance to join!

Ai is spot on in suggesting to share quality content. If you want to gain followers and keep them, make sure you have something of value to share with them. Christoph brought up the importance of interacting with your audience by answering their questions. Don’t ignore the comments that come up while you’re broadcasting. It’s a turn-off for your viewers. They want to know you’re listening to them!

Both Michael and Alejandro shared some great tips as well: create a plan before you go live. This will be helpful if you forget something or even if you get nervous. Just don’t plan it out word-for-word. Be natural when speaking! And before you sign off, give your audience a call to action. Tell them what they should do next!

Great advice from Christoph: If you want to attract the right viewers to your broadcasts, use a title that’s descriptive and states exactly what you’ll be talking about.

Use hashtags in your video titles as well. When you share your broadcasts to other platforms (like Twitter) your Periscope will show up, which will get you more exposure.

As with anything online, privacy is always an issue. Be safe, especially when you’re broadcasting a live video. Turn off location sharing when you’re at home, like Julia mentioned. Michael also brings up a good point about being aware of what’s in your background. You don’t want to accidentally expose confidential information.

We look forward to seeing you at the next #ContentWritingChat! Be sure to join us (@ExpWriters) on Tuesday, February 9th, 2016 at 10 AM CST.

Want to be a guest host? We’re still scheduling guest hosts out for 2016. Email Julia! 

#ContentWritingChat January 26 2016 Recap: Best SEO Practices With SEMRush Strategist Elena

#ContentWritingChat January 26 2016 Recap: Best SEO Practices With SEMRush Strategist Elena

by | Jan 29, 2016 | ContentWritingChat

As you might already know, we recently launched our Twitter chat, #ContentWritingChat. We had our second ever chat on Tuesday, January 26th at 10 AM CST, and our topic was Best SEO Practices for Online Writers. We had such a great turn out that we went “viral” on Twitter, trending at #50 in the USA on Twitter–again!

#ContentWritingChat January 26, 2016: Best SEO Practices With SEMRush Strategist Elena

For this week’s chat, our lovely guest host was was Elena Terentyeva, strategist at SEMrush, the leading SEO software online. Elena joined us to chat all about SEO. We’re thrilled that so many of you have been joining us for the chat, but we’ve compiled some of the best tweets just in case you missed it. This week’s chat had so many amazing content creators and SEO experts ready to share their best advice!

Let’s dive into the recap.

Our CEO, Julia, couldn’t have described SEO any better! It’s all about creating quality content and optimizing it so search engines can rank you higher. As Elena (our guest host) pointed out, SEO is not an extra activity. It’s essential to your online presence and something you should always do!

We love Netvantage Marketing’s example of PB & Jelly (SEO + the writer), and Ryan put it point-blank!

A quick note to all the content creators out there: SEO is a must! Good words from Julia and Ecreativeworks.

High-quality content is essential! Focus on writing something great and then add in those keywords, headers, ALT tags, and more. Remember: no keyword stuffing! Use keywords in a way that’s natural. Grenae brings up being good at editing your content, a great point.

What skills do you need to have? First and foremost, you need to focus on strengthening those writing skills. Then, make sure you know how to effectively do keyword research to find the right keywords for your content. Don’t forget that SEO is always changing, so you have to stay updated!

Alejandro says it well: know your objectives. And Elena’s example of Backlinko was superb!

Make sure you’re using the right keywords to attract the audience you want!

Do SEO keyword research every single time you create new content. You need to make time to optimize your content if you want it to get noticed!

How many of these SEO tools are you using? Our participants gave some great suggestions!

We look forward to seeing you at the next #ContentWritingChat. Be sure to join us (@ExpWriters) on Tuesday, February 2nd at 10 AM CST!