Blogging Archives - Express Writers

How Long Should a Blog Post Be, Really?

December 28, 2018/30 Comments/in Blogging /by Julia McCoy

There’s been a lot of moaning about our shortened attention spans, which are just 8 seconds in length — shorter than that of your goldfish.

Apparently, our dynamic, tech-laden world has made us busier than we’ve ever been — we’ve got inbox overload, and Attention Deficit Disorder, and . . . oh, look — a chicken!

And yet, the wizards of the marketing world would have you believe that long-form content — those posts, white papers, and other e-content that passes the lofty peak of 1,200 words or so — is supposed to be king for getting results in the form of traffic.

These two things certainly don’t go hand in hand.

How long should a blog post be, really?

As we approach 2019, I thought this would be a useful topic to tackle, as you’re prepping those content pieces for the New Year calendar. Read on and discover the startling truth about blog post length best practices.

How long should a blog post be? @JuliaEMcCoy discusses the long and short of it (yes, pun intended!). #contentmarketing Click To Tweet

Size Matters — The Ideal Blog Post Length for 2019 Is . . . Long

So, you’ve heard, right? Gone are the days of short-form content, those bite-sized posts of less than 600 words?

(Actually, they’re not dead yet, but more on that later.)

And gargantuan posts that might take you — gasp — seven minutes or more to read are here to stay?

You’ve got your fingers pressed to the keyboard and you’re ready to start writing, but you need a goal, a number to reach for. Well, it’s . . . it’s . . .

It’s complicated.

You see, “long form” means something different to everyone. Take a look as some of the experts weigh in.

1. Moz and BuzzSumo — Contented with 1,000 Words

SEO-focused Moz coordinated with BuzzSumo to analyze over a million articles to understand how shares, links, and content are intertwined. Here’s what their research showed:

Content that was at least 1,000 words or more got higher levels of shares and links than shorter pieces, particularly when the material dealt with research and fact-finding.
They also found that most of the content online — over 85% — doesn’t reach the 1,000-word threshold, so it will be easy for you to perform well if you can surpass that high-water mark.
Their research found the boost in search rankings and links diminished when content got over 2,000 words.

That’s a lot of in-depth study, but it’s not the last word on content length. Check out the next one:

2. Google Says It’s So — SerpIQ — Contented with 2,416 Words

SerpIQ, the keyword research tool, conducted a study in 2012 using over 20,000 keywords to find the average content length of top 10 results.

Image: serpIQ

Survey says — all of the content sitting in the top 10 spots in Google was over 2,000 words and the average of the content in the number one spots across all keywords was 2,416 words.

Looks like Google like the long stuff. And yet . . .

3. Backlinko – Contented with 1,890 Words

Backlinko also conducted some research on factors that affect search engine rankings by using a million search results from Google.

They found that the content featured on Google’s front-page results averages 1,890 words. And in case you weren’t confused enough . . .

4. Hubspot — Contented with 2,250 Words or More

Moving along, we asked, “How long should a blog post be, Hubspot?” Their answer was in line with Google’s estimates, coming in at 2,250 words or greater.

Image: Hubspot

However, once you tip over the 2,500-word count, traffic drops off sharply.

On the flip side, content with over 2,500 words has more backlinks and is shared more often on social platforms, so if your goal is more social media sharing, then aim for >2500 words.

You’ve seen all the data. So, how long should blog posts be in 2019? The answer is — it depends on your goals. Let me explain — remember my three-bucket content strategy?

While content should always — let me repeat — always be high-quality, the length will depend on your specific goals and where you are in your marketing cycle.

How long should a blog post be? The answer depends on a lot of things. @JuliaEMcCoy shares her insights, alongside the experts, in this new blog post. #contentmarketing Click To Tweet

How Long Should a Blog Post Be If I Want to Rock SEO?

In determining how long a blog post should be for SEO, it’s important to consider trends in the world of search engines.

For example, if you asked how long should a blog post be in 2017, your answer would be totally different than this year’s response.

Why?

Because Google’s adopted a mobile-first index for this year. That means your content needs to be optimized for mobile to achieve the rankings you desire, which may affect rankings for even posts with spot-on length.

Nonetheless, research pegs the best content at about a 7-minute read.

Image: SearchEngineLand

But that still doesn’t help us discern the absolute right blog post length for SEO success.

And do you know why?

Because it’s not just about length.

You need to outpace your keyword competitors by producing longer — and stronger — posts, not just copying what they’re doing.

To do this effectively, you need to set two goals for your content.

Answer your audience’s questions or fill their needs
Exceed competitors’ content length

And then you need to realize that content length is keyword-dependent.

For example, if your research shows the average length of posts for your target keyword is 600 words, then you need to write at least 600+. If it’s 3,000 words, write more than 3,000.

If the average post length for your keyword is 200 words, you can probably slide into the number one position with a post of 1,000+ words.

Post length signals the search engines that you’re giving readers more value than your competitors, justifying a boost in ranking.

The Fly in the SEO Ointment

Seems like you have your answer now, right? Not so fast.

To really filter all this “how long should a blog post be” data requires stepping back from the results and giving them a broader look to understand why the longer posts are doing better.

Brian Dean from Backlinko has the answer, and it’s short and sweet:

Longer blog posts rank better because they’re filled with details. These details are what is giving readers value. Reader value is driving ranking.

So, this takes us back to my favorite mantra, “High-quality content is more critical than quantity.” People invest in you because of the quality of your content, not the quantity.

High-quality content is more critical than quantity. People invest in you because of the quality of your content, not the quantity. More on the truth about #content length via @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

And the data from the Backlinko study backs me up, showing that high-quality, comprehensive content helps websites achieve higher ranking than shallower content.

Image: Backlinko

The secret sauce in this recipe is your authority.

How Long Should a Blog Post Be If I Want to Target Brand Awareness?

I am so glad you asked this question because here’s where the blog-post-length plot thickens. Let’s untangle the mystery by starting with some basics.

What Is Brand Awareness?

Brand awareness is the extent your audience can recognize — and connect with — your brand. It’s the first association they have when they hear your brand’s name or see your logo. Examples?

Mercedes — luxury vehicles
Toyota — reliable vehicles
Jeep — rugged vehicles

Your goal in creating this awareness for your brand online is to have a positive association with your brand — using content, of course.

Short-Form Content Shines for Brand Awareness

Ideal blog post length is less of an issue for businesses with brand awareness goals.

That’s because the focus of this content should be shouting like a Who down in Whoville — “We are here! We are here! We are here!”

via GIPHY

There are many great ways to accomplish this, including repurposing some of your long-form content blog posts into snappy infographics, cheat sheets, and checklists.

These provide real value for your audience in a short, easy-to-consume format. Other ways to leverage the power of short, but mighty, content includes:

Interactive Content

Interactive content, like video, helps your target audience understand your brand better. In fact, 97% of marketers claim video has performed exactly this way for their brand.

Add that to the fact that 72% of people would rather see a video to learn about a service or product and you’ve got short, interactive content that packs a punch.

Remember, using video still requires the creation of actual content — in this case, a script — to relay your point succinctly and accurately.

But, you can fit a lot of words into a short time frame with video. In fact, a Forrester study showed that one minute of video can contain up to 1.8 million words!

Image: IdeaRocket

Even if you choose video over “standard” content, you’ll need to craft those words carefully to ensure they’re providing value for the viewer — or no rankings for you!

Social Media Content

Social media is the ultimate short-form content venue, with the added plus of increasing engagement among your audience.

Brands like GE, Airbnb, and IBM have mastered the art of brand storytelling on these channels with creativity and aplomb, pulling their followers right into the narrative.

Standard Short-Form Posts

Part of short-form content’s bad rap stems from the fact there’s so much crappy short content hanging out there.

And yet, Seth Godin has become a front-runner in his industry by focusing on short-form content. His second most popular post, Stretching, is under five paragraphs!

Image: BuzzSumo

How can this be?

In part, because it’s incredibly valuable to his audience, whom he knows well (read: develop a persona, people — it works!).

Okay, okay — so you’re not as recognizable as Seth, how does this affect you? Well, have you heard of IFLScience? Most of you probably haven’t.

Yet this brand’s customers know them very well, indeed, as witnessed by their performance:

Image: CoSchedule

And their content is made up almost entirely of short-form — under 1,000 words — content. Why does this work?

Because they’re grabbing their target audience’s attention through their short posts by:

Providing shareable content that’s unique, educational, informative, high-quality
Using a single topic as a focus to each post
Adding striking graphics to underscore the point
Writing creative, hook-oriented headlines

What do all those features distill down to? Knowing your audience and providing high-quality content.

There is no one-size-fits-all template for content length. But there is one thing more important than content length: high-quality content. #contentmarketing Click To Tweet

How Long Should a Blog Post Be for Sales Enablement?

Have I mentioned how important content is to your sales efforts?

All of those posts you’re creating — including blog posts, white papers, case studies, and more — are building trust and authority with your audience.

This positions your brand with them as the go-to when they’re ready to make a purchase.

If you look back to what we learned earlier in this article — that long-form content is critical because it provides those salient details your customers crave — you’ll realize that how long a blog post should be is directly related to the topic you’re sharing.

You want to create deep, highly informative content on your topic. If it’s a complex subject with lots of layers, then you’ll need to explore it in as much detail as possible.

Complex subjects require longer, more comprehensive blog post lengths. @JuliaEMcCoy on #blogging Click To Tweet

Of course, that doesn’t mean you need to always write 5,000-word posts. For information that requires this kind of depth, consider a series of posts or a white paper.

Any way you slice it, your posts should be offering potential clients all the reasons they need to choose you over your competitors through high-quality content that trumpets your expertise in your industry.

Blog Post Length — The Long and Short of It

There you have it — the whole story on blog post length as it relates to each bucket in your topic strategy, for results as well as maximized profit.

You should have all the answers you need to forge ahead — whether you’re a new brand wondering, “How long should my first blog post be?” or an existing brand looking to fine-tune your content marketing strategy.

Just remember, there is no one-size-fits-all template for content length. It will vary depending on your industry, your keywords, and your marketing goals, so don’t let word count get in the way of your ultimate goal.

Can you guess what that is? (If you’ve been paying attention, I bet you can!)

High-quality content.

That’s right — length doesn’t matter at all if the content you’re writing doesn’t have information, actionable steps, and real value for your audience.

For best results in rankings, awareness, and sales, the final target should be producing exceptional content that stands head and shoulders above your competitors’.

And hey, if you’re not sure about how to do that, I’ve got about a hundred of the finest content writers on the planet that can help you with that. 😉

How to Expertly Partner with a Blog Ghost Writer for Content Domination

September 19, 2018/30 Comments/in Blogging /by Julia McCoy

The benefits of blogging for business are BIG.

(Say that 5x fast.)

When you blog, you will:

Attract organic traffic to your website
Help search engines index your pages for relevant industry keywords
Build up trust with visitors, turning them into readers, then customers
Educate visitors about your industry/business/products/services
And more

Need content creation support? We can help! Click to see our prices, or register as a client here.

According to a well-known HubSpot study, businesses who blog generate more indexed pages in Google than those who don’t blog. Plus, those extra indexed pages literally lead to more leads.

Blogging is a big deal. It can quickly lead to more exposure online to the exact right people (read: future customers).

The only issues that could possibly get in your way?

Lack of time
Lack of writing skills
Lack of SEO blogging knowledge

No biggie. The solution is obvious:

You need a blog ghost writer.

This is a writer who can seamlessly step into your brand’s voice and style, write blogs that appeal to your target audience, and position you as an authority with high-quality, optimized, amazing written content.

Sounds great, right?

Not So Fast: There’s a Common Problem Inherent in Working with Blog Ghost Writers

If you get that outsourcing your blog writing is going to help you or your clients gain more traffic/leads/conversions/sales, that’s great.

However, there’s another problem that may pop up:

How do you work with a ghostwriter (or a team of ghostwriters) so you get to the scenario we described above?

More often than not, marketing agencies and small businesses turn to ghostwriters hoping to achieve that amazing ROI, but what they get is significantly less than they expected, like:

Poor writing or obvious clues a non-native English speaker wrote the piece
Bland, general blogs that don’t show off any industry expertise
Writing riddled with silly errors and inconsistencies
Writing that doesn’t match up with the desired brand style/tone

An example of bad content. Did a human even write this?

For a few of these examples, the problem is obviously with the quality of writer you’re hiring. (Cheap writer = cheap content. See above.)

As for the rest, what if I told you the problem might not be with the writer’s skill set? What if the problem (ghostwritten content that doesn’t live up to expectations) stems from the way you’re working with your ghost writer?

It’s possible.

That’s because there is a right way to communicate and work with your writer so you get the best outcome possible: Amazing content that brings in ROI, so you more than recoup what you originally invested in its creation.

That’s what we’re discussing today: How to work with your blog ghost writer to get the best results possible. Results like:

Content that hits the bullseye for your brand voice
Writing that draws in the right readers
Optimization that ensures search engines love your blogs
High-quality content that converts

Ready to get into it?

Working with Blog Ghostwriters: 6 Keys to Remember to Get the Best Content Possible

1. Be Willing to Collaborate

Let’s get something straight.

In your industry, business, or profession, you’re the expert – not the writer.

Don’t get me wrong. Ghostwriters are exceptionally good at research, and they excel at taking on the tone and voice you want. Many also have years of experience behind them, including a background in your industry.

Despite all this, the writer still can’t ghostwrite for you without any guidance.

You can’t just hand them the wheel with no direction and expect magnificence.

You must – I repeat, must – be willing to collaborate with your ghostwriting partner. You are the one with ideas, knowledge, and experience to gift to the wider world.

Ghostwriters are just the vehicle, there to help you clearly communicate all of that in ways that are readable and interesting.

So, to start off, come to your ghost writers with ideas, direction, and purpose for what you want them to produce. Talk with them, collaborate, be willing to answer questions and provide guidance. The end result will be a much better product, and will lead to higher ROI.

2. Respect the Writer’s Process…

Although online writing has become more common as a profession, the job itself still doesn’t get much respect (unless you’re a Stephen King-type penning best-selling novels).

Proof: The median pay for online writing, content writing, and ghostwriting is still absurdly low. Well-paying jobs are the exception, not the norm.

According to data from PayScale, freelance writers earn an average of $24.70/hour.

But that’s just an average calculated from the self-reported pay from about 400 writers across the country.

A more accurate picture of an online writer’s pay looks like this:

It varies. Widely.

You’ve got your content factory workers, who make bottom-of-the-rung pay (literal pennies per word written).
Then you have the other end of the spectrum: The highly-paid experts who can make upwards of $50/hour.
In the middle are the majority.

Perhaps this pay situation stems from the fact that writing looks deceptively unlike work.

That’s a sad misconception, because, as any writer will tell you:

Writing is hard.

You probably have a good grasp on that fact – after all, you attempted to sit down and write your own blogs, but couldn’t figure out how to do it profitably.

You need a ghostwriter for a reason, so respect their work, their process, and their time. You’ll end up with a loyal partner who will be glad to continue a long-term working relationship with you.

3. …But Don’t Give Your Ghost Writer Too Much Free Rein

Give creative work like writing too much free time, and it will run amok.

For most, open-ended assignments are a recipe for disaster. Writers can edit something forever and get stuck in a loop without clear deadlines.

Via Inkygirl

For instance, did you know the more familiar you are with a written work – like your own writing – the more likely you’ll miss obvious errors and mistakes? (A study from the Journal of Research & Reading proved it.)

Boundaries, on the other hand, help encourage the kind of honed creativity that results in stellar content. Set them for your writer for better results, like so:

When working with a blog ghostwriter, always set deadlines. Don’t just say you need the piece “A.S.A.P.” – specify a day on the calendar when you would like it ready.
If you can, it’s helpful to identify a window of time for when the writer can hand in the completed piece.
- This is because each writer has their own individual process and works at their own individual pace. They likely have multiple projects on their plate at once, so a deadline window helps them figure out what to prioritize and lessens the pressure, so they can do better work.
It’s additionally wise to check in on your writer periodically, especially if the deadline is weeks or months away.
- A pro will happily provide progress reports and updates – just don’t bombard your writer daily with messages asking if the piece is finished yet if the deadline is still in the future. That’s a recipe for a harried writer who won’t produce their best work.

4. Include Extras in the Contract (Like Revisions and Keyword Research)

Many people who hire ghostwriters for the first time are unaware of the little details that come with the territory.

Think edits/revisions, research time, and deadlines/turnaround time.

For example, you may need to send a piece back to a writer to make specific changes. Are these revisions included in the agreed-upon rate?

The writer may also need to spend a significant amount of time researching your topic and gathering sources. This is time for which they will want to be compensated, because it’s often an essential part of the process.

Making sure these extras are covered, either in the agreed-upon pay rate or in the contract, is essential to avoid hiccups down the road.

For example, at Express Writers, our policy is to include two free revisions with each project. This is clearly stipulated so there are no questions later.

5. Chat One-on-One with your Blog Ghost Writer About the Project

A huge part of collaboration is communication, but what if you’re struggling to get your ghostwriter to understand what you want?

Furthermore, what if you have an easier time explaining concepts in speech rather than writing (which may be one of the reasons you need a ghostwriter in the first place)?

In these scenarios, talking with your writer one-on-one can be an immense help. Whether you meet with them in-person, chat on the phone, or connect virtually via Skype or some other tool, sometimes a quick talk can immediately clear things up.

This is also a great time to bounce ideas back and forth, answer questions, and help the writer get an even more intimate feel for your style, perspective, and unique voice.

Recommended collaboration/communication tools:

6. Don’t Get Too Nit-Picky

Of course, you want your content to look and sound a certain way – that’s why you hired a ghostwriter.

However, there are reasonable expectations and unreasonable ones.

For example, don’t send a piece back to your ghostwriter for a revision if they misspelled a word or forgot to add a link. That wastes everybody’s time.

Instead, include these small changes you made in your feedback to the writer. A good one will note what they missed and double-check that everything is in order before they submit next time.

In the end, the big picture of the content is more important than the niggling details. If the writer nails your style and voice, hits all the points you want covered, and produces an engaging read that addresses your target readers, a few tiny errors that are quickly fixed are no big deal.

You + Your Blog Ghost Writer = Content Magic

If you dream of content magic but don’t have the time or the skills to make it happen, a ghost writer could be your ticket to greatness.

You just have to know how to work with your writer to get the best results.

Take some time to understand the writing process, give your writer plenty of direction, and communicate.

After all, your ghostwriter is on your team. Are you on theirs?

5 Blogging Tips for Technical Writers to Help You Explain High-Tech Topics to Your Audience

September 18, 2018/48 Comments/in Blogging /by Julia McCoy

If you’re a technical writer engaging in content marketing, you may not be reaching all of your possible readers.

Technical writers are great at writing for other tech experts, but what about the average person?

The person with basic computing knowledge (they can navigate word processing software, cloud storage, and basic photo editing, and can set up online accounts)
The person who is handy with their phone as long as they have the right app
The person who is adept at social media
Someone who can build a website as long as they go through a platform with a drag-and-drop editor

These people have some basic tech knowledge.

It doesn’t go very deep, though. They have never tinkered with HTML, XML, or CSS; they don’t understand how back-end development works, and they don’t have the technical vocabulary required to understand your more in-depth blog posts.

So, why are they worth your attention?

Sometimes, these people are the big decision-makers. They’re the bosses who have the final say on whether the tech expert you’re writing for can buy that new software.

Or, they’re the higher-ups who have the last word on whether their company invests in your technology.

Their tech knowledge may be basic, but their clout is BIG.

So, if you’re only blogging and writing for other developers and tech-savvy experts like you, you may want to rethink that approach.

By all means, continue writing in-depth articles and how-tos on nitty-gritty tech processes, workflows, and developments.

If you’re in a tech industry, you also absolutely must consider writing for the tech layperson every once in a while to help them understand the value of certain technologies, including how they work.

With that said, we’re sharing tips to help you come down to earth and write for people with average tech knowledge and know-how.

The Technical Writer’s Blog Guide to Writing for a General Audience: 5 Key Tips

1. Imagine Explaining Your Topic to a Person You Know

It can be hard to sit down and write a blog post with a “general audience” in mind. It’s not specific enough to help guide your writing.

Instead, when you sit down to write the post, focus on explaining the topic like you would to someone outside your field who has average tech knowledge – like a family member or a friend.

How would you approach helping them understand the subject?

For starters, you wouldn’t use a technical vocabulary. If you had to use technical terms at all, you would need to explain them first, and maybe put them into contexts your listener would understand. (See tips #2 and #3.)

As you can see, thinking of a specific person can help direct your approach to explaining complex topics. It gives you a starting point because you’ll have a good idea of what that person knows and doesn’t know about your subject.

Just remember to choose someone to write for who matches up with the base knowledge of the general audience you want to address. (Note: This is a good opportunity to develop a new audience persona for future use!)

2. Use Analogies, Comparisons, and Examples

One of the best ways to introduce complex topics to a general audience is to relate them to concepts or ideas your readers already know intimately.

One apt comparison or example can neatly illustrate a difficult point much more effectively than you’d think.

For example (see what I’m doing, here?), look at this blog post from an IT services company. The post topic is the present-day use of the cloud.

In this section, the writer explains how companies use cloud technology:

The technical blog writer could have said “It seems every company out there has to have some product or service with ‘cloud’ attached to it” and left it at that. Or, they could have reeled off a list of companies with cloud technology and stopped there.

That wouldn’t work, though, because that approach wouldn’t help the audience put the concept of cloud computing in context with their everyday lives.

Instead, the writer uses multiple examples of how his readers might be using the cloud without even realizing it: The music they listen to, the fitness trackers they wear on their wrists, the pictures they share on social media, and even their fancy new refrigerator implement cloud technology in some shape or form.

For many people, this is a huge key to unlocking comprehension of a concept. As soon as they can relate it to what they already know and understand, the lightbulb clicks on.

As such, sprinkle plenty of real-world examples, analogies, and comparisons into your content to make complex ideas relatable and easier to understand.

3. Be Mindful of the Words You Use

Take a look at this blog post about dynamic email templates from a software company:

“Transactional templates”? “Deep object replacement”? “Dynamic templating languages”?

The vocabulary used here is way over a general audience’s head, but that’s because the writer is talking to other developers.

If you don’t have any of these terms in your word bank, this post isn’t for you. However, if you’re the one knee-deep in terms like these day-in and day out, it can become second-nature to include them in your speech. You may forget what a general audience knows and doesn’t know.

To write for the masses, you don’t have to dumb yourself down; you just need to adjust your vocabulary.

Avoid specialized terms and industry jargon. If you do use them, offer definitions and explanations.
Try to find simpler terms that are easier to understand to replace specialized vocabulary.
If you find you can’t explain a concept without using specialized terms, you may need to broaden your topic to explain it more generally.

Look at how WebsiteSetup.org highlights specialized terms in the text and takes ample time to explain what they mean:

4. Start Broad

Complex topics are easier to explain if you begin with broad, basic facts to set up a foundation for understanding. Then, once your readers get the basics, you can drill down to specifics.

Setting up your explanations this way is called the cone principle:

Start with the most basic concepts you can assume your general audience already understands.

For example, if I wanted to write a blog about setting up a website from scratch with WordPress, I would begin with these basic assumptions:

My audience has heard of this platform
They have a very basic understanding of HTML
They know how to carry out basic internet tasks, like downloading and uploading files

In the blog above, the writer assumes his audience understands these basics, which lets him start his explanation of website setup by going over the function and use of a content management system as an alternative to coding a website.

He doesn’t have to teach them how to boot up a computer, how to use the internet, or what the heck WordPress is. They have a broad baseline of understanding the writer can use to walk them into new concepts.

That said, the writer is still starting by explaining fairly broad concepts, but he needs to do this to orient his readers. Once he walks them through the landscape of that topic, he can introduce them to specific parts of the scenery.

For example, once the writer explains the broad concept of a content management system, this sets up the reader with a baseline of knowledge so they can later learn how to customize and tweak their website within that system.

5. Break Up Your Content into Manageable Chunks

The final tip for simplifying and clarifying your writing is the easiest:

Break up your content.

Yet, in school, we’re trained to write differently. We’re told that each paragraph should contain a topic sentence, plus 5-6 supporting sentences.

For online writing, that doesn’t work.

The average internet user has an attention span shorter than a goldfish.

Long paragraphs full of complicated explanations are hard to read, hard to understand, and, because your readers are staring at an electronic screen, hard on the eyes.

Your audience isn’t reading a printed page, so don’t treat your content like you’re writing a book.

Help aid ease-of-reading and shorten your paragraphs – significantly.

Look at this example, a blog about how to set up an email campaign. It’s nice that they have bolded key terms, but the paragraphs are way too long:

Paragraph #2 alone could be divided into 4-6 separate paragraphs, which would make it easier to read and understand.

In contrast, look at this blog on a similar topic. Paragraphs are very short, and each one is limited to a single key point:

As a result, it’s a much clearer, easier read.

When you’re writing about complex topics or addressing a general audience, you need to make sure you are as clear as possible. Shorter paragraphs can help immensely.

This is the easiest way to make your writing more readable right away, so don’t neglect it.

Technical Writers CAN Blog for General Readers – And They Should

If it makes sense for your business, blogging for a wider, general audience can do a lot for you. It can:

Help expand your online presence
Introduce newbies to your technology or software
Help the tech experts you usually write for to get buy-in from their non-techie bosses or higher-ups

Before you dive in, analyze your audience. Are there readers you’re ignoring with your content? If this is the case, implement the above steps to help you write technical posts in a down-to-earth way. Dedicate one or two posts every month to this group.

You never know what opportunities may come from your technical writer blog as a result.

Blogging ROI Case Study: How 18,000 Keywords In Google Bring Us Six-Figure Income Months

July 9, 2018/7 Comments/in Blogging /by Julia McCoy

“I’m ‘doing’ content, but it’s just not bringing me clients.”

“I’m posting and creating regularly – in fact, consistency is my middle name – but I’m still a one-person show with little funding to achieve my next level.”

Lately, I’ve heard this ALL too often – but the reality is, if you develop content strategically, you CAN achieve six-figure income months in your business.

Since it’s been almost two years since I created a case study on my brand (specifically, how we are our own content guinea pig: we’re able to make monthly six-figure sales happen from clients that found our content online), I decided it was time for a new one.

I started the research for this in February, and today – almost five months later! – the case study is all done and live, as of today.

Our last case study focused on how we achieve rankings – “How We Outrank Every Competitor & Win Through Organic Content Without Spending a Penny on Ads (Express Writers’ Content Case Study),” from October 2016. Today’s case study focuses on how we actually earn real income (to the tune of six-figures per month) from the content and rankings we’ve achieved.

I’m specifically thinking of you struggling, DIY-marketers still not achieving the kind of revenue you’d like to see from your organic content efforts… yes, you! I think you’ll find today’s case study truly useful.

In today’s blog, we’re sharing a real, practical look at how we’ve built our company through content marketing. 99.9% of our leads and business revenue comes through the content we produce. And the majority of that content? Well, it’s published on our blog.

Next, we interviewed a client we work with from time to time: Magnificent Marketing, a full-service marketing agency. They also incorporate content marketing and blogging as their primary marketing avenue, using us to produce much of their content. We’ll share how they’ve boosted their client traffic numbers and rankings with great content.

If you read one blog of mine this quarter, read this one. Grab a cup of coffee or tea, and dig in!

Why & How SEO Blogging Equals ROI for Any Brand

Blogging (a form of great content marketing) equals ROI, for any brand.

In itself, blogging is a key online content format capable of building a brand, attracting your ideal clients to your website, and growing your entire business. Especially blogging written around viable SEO keywords you want to rank for.

But here’s the caveat to that.

That statement is only true if your blogging strategy includes consistency, relevancy and quality.

Businesses who create content strategically achieve ROI in the form of:

Better, more qualified leads that convert at a higher rate than traffic from paid ads or paid search
- How many leads? Our content marketing ROI formula can help you estimate your average monthly leads/sales from content marketing
- Here’s the formula: Monthly Visitors x 16% Organic Traffic to Lead Conversion Rate = X Leads/Month)

According to that formula, an average of 1,000 visitors/month can get you at least 160 high-quality leads/month from strategic blogging

That’s not all, though.

Blogging also brings in:

Year-over-year site traffic growth that’s 8x higher than those at the back of the pack
6x the conversions of those who don’t publish content, according to a well-known study from Aberdeen and Kapost

Incredibly convincing numbers, right?

But, even better than stats, we have a prime, real-life example of what blogging ROI looks like.

Ready? Let’s dig in and see exactly what the power of blogging–and great content–can do for a business.

Express Writers’ Blogging ROI: $1,600 in Content = $66,700 Worth of Traffic & Organic Google Positions

Here’s a real-life, extreme example of how great, consistent content creation can work incredibly well.

Take a look at the current traction below for Express Writers. This is after six years of consistent content, with over 1,000 blogs published to-date on our site across those six consistent years.

(Remember, steady content creation has a dominoes effect: It does better over time.)

According to our data on SEMrush (pulled June 1, 2018), current paid search efforts to achieve our current month’s site traffic — 22,800 visitors — would cost $66,700. (This amount increases on a monthly basis for us. Lately, every month it’s been a 1-2k increase in traffic, with a fluctuating increase in rankings as well.)

If we were to buy this much traffic through Google Adsense, that would be an average paid search cost of $2.92 per visitor.

And, we haven’t even figured out how many of those are leads (buyers) yet. Expensive! $$$

How Much Content Do We Produce to Achieve Blogging ROI? + the Costs

We publish, on average, one long-form, comprehensive piece of content weekly, and we update content on a monthly basis, too. Besides that, we publish monthly podcasts with show notes, and monthly #ContentWritingChat recaps.

Here’s an example of one of our long-form blogs:

And here’s an example of a #ContentWritingChat recap post:

What does it cost to create this type of content regularly?

Our costs run:

Money: $400/month (this used to be $750, but we shaved off $300+ in costs by switching our Twitter chat to once/month instead of weekly)
Time: 4-5 hours of my time/month in blogging prep, publishing, writing, outlining, optimizing, & 3-4 hours/month in email marketing

If you qualify the hours I personally spend on our content into a “staff cost,” that alone could run $1,600+ per month.

How Do the Costs Compare to Paid Methods?

If paid search would cost $66,700 to achieve our current traffic in a month (22,800 visitors), and my cost of content marketing to achieve that traffic is $1,625, then paid search would be (at a minimum) 40x more expensive than my organic content marketing efforts.

Or, put it another way – a solid, consistent content marketing strategy over time could be 40 times cheaper than a paid marketing strategy. For business owners and higher-ups who think exclusively in dollar signs, that’s convincing.

What’s the Estimated ROI from Blogging at Express Writers?

Now, let’s put those numbers into the ROI formula (using my base visitor amount, to stay conservative — my site traffic is an extreme example after consistent years of targeted content):

6,701 (monthly visitors) multiplied by 0.16 (average traffic-to-leads conversion rate) equals 1,072 monthly leads.
1,072 (monthly leads) multiplied by 0.14 (average leads-to-sales conversion rate) equals 150 monthly sales.

In this example, a monthly investment of $1,625 into a content marketing strategy would lead to 150 (minimum) sales.

The Reward: Just How Much ROI Does Our Business Blog Bring In?

Here’s what you really want to know.

Let’s look at real, hard data and see just how much ROI an average month of blogging brings in for us.

Let’s use May 2018 as our example month of data.

Inside that one month, expresswriters.com had 93,000 visitors:

And the majority of those visitors came in through search rankings:

Let’s estimate the leads and sales from that traffic once again using the content marketing ROI formula. Then we’ll compare the results to our recorded data for May 2018.

Infographic: Using the Content Marketing ROI Formula, Here’s our Real ROI Numbers for Blogging Results

Our Estimated Blogging ROI Using the Content Marketing ROI Formula

Our formula is grounded in two vital stats:

The average conversion rate for traffic to leads: 16% (Marketing Sherpa)
The average conversion rate for leads turning into sales: 14% (Business2Community)

Plugging those stats plus our traffic volume into a simple equation helps us estimate two huge content marketing ROI benchmarks: leads and sales.

First, we’ll estimate the leads we could see stemming from the month’s total traffic (93,000):

93,000 Monthly Visitors x 16% = 14,880 Leads

Next, we can estimate how many of those leads will turn into sales:

14,880 Leads x 14% = 2,083 Sales

Based on our traffic numbers for May, we could expect to see 14,880 leads and 2,083 sales resulting from our blogging and content marketing efforts.

The Actual Blogging ROI

Here are our sales numbers for May 2018:

235 orders placed
2,140 “items” (content services) ordered
$186,128.50 in gross sales

Keep in mind: Many of these orders were from return and repeat clients, although many of them were new clients, too. Our average client retention rate is increasing, as well. Several of our recurring clients have stayed with us for 3-4 years now.
But, it’s 100% accurate to say that across all of our clients and lead generation methods, 99% of every client we’ve worked with to date has found us through our search rankings.

Our ROI from Blogging Is on Fire

The 2,140 individual content services ordered matches up very well with our predicted ROI from traffic we earned through consistent blogging (2,083 sales from 14,880 leads).

The real kicker, however, is apparent in our gross sales number.

If $1,600 in content costs per month can generate $186,128.50 in gross sales, I’d say content marketing is a safe investment to bet on if you’re considering every marketing avenue (keeping in mind these are gross numbers before we pay our team of 70+ people, and cover other business costs & taxes).

Even more importantly:

If we had to pay $66k in PPC ads to achieve our gross sales numbers, we’d be broke (there’s no way we’d make a profit after that high PPC cost and then the cost of delivering content services).

It’s safe to say that content marketing, mainly in the form of blogging, is the lynchpin for us in terms of drawing customers to our business.

Magnificent Marketing Case Study: Blogging = Steady Monthly Traffic Growth

I recently sat down with David Reimherr, founder of Magnificent Marketing, and their firm’s content marketing manager, Bre South.

Here’s what they had to say about how content marketing and blogging contributes to their client’s success.

“Our content strategy success begins with a deep dive onboard with our client to walk through targeted audience demographics, content mission statement, and their content tilt. In discussing the core messaging of the client’s product; we dig into the core of a client’s product and why it would resonate with its audience. We find which content angles will serve their audience, and how to reach their audience appropriately.

We help them figure out how to talk the talk their audience wants to hear.

All content efforts are driven by the content mission statement in addition to what our client already knows about their audience and experience. This gives way to the creation of determining main pillar topics and sub-topics the client commits to producing content for.

We help them create this mission statement for which all efforts will follow.

The main pillar topics are determined based on what a persona would actively be searching for as a problem they are looking for help to solve.

What topics will the audience care to read, interact and engage with?

All pillar topics funnel up to the brand’s content mission strategy and position the client as a thought leader in their specific industry. From here we are able to segment awareness, consideration and purchase pieces specifically and begin the roadmap of content construction and execution.

Blog writing is SEO focused which stems from a detailed keyword discovery and current ranking report to highlight the keywords to target for from their pillars.

We outline their content writing strategy by creating suggested headline topics built from our keyword report.

ROI & Success in Content Marketing

We’ve seen tremendous success, specifically in Emancipet, a national nonprofit veterinary service providing low-cost but high-quality care since 1999, through identifying keyword opportunities and crafting content around the terms to target.

We took over the account in January 2018 and through a strategic SEO focus around blog posts, consistent social media scheduling, and additional content creation we’ve seen a 16% increase in organic search. From that increase, 15% have been new users.

In addition, Emancipet nationally ranks in the top spot (#1) organically for the following keywords:

affordable heartworm treatment
Austin low cost vet
low cost heartworm treatment
cost of heartworm treatment
how much does heartworm treatment cost
how does microchip work for lost dog
free vet clinics in Houston
low cost heartworm test
heartworm shot cost
affordable pet care Austin

On a local level, we kicked off marketing efforts with Austin Dental Care, a company that has been around since 1997, with no previous strategic marketing in place, in November of 2017. Unfortunately, they did not have the proper Google tracking in place for us to historically compare but we saw the following continual uptick in organic search since our content plan kicked off.

Increase in organic search users:

November: 30 users
December: 112
January: 216
February: 263
March: 313
April: 337
May: 408

Magnificent Marketing continues to implement successful content for their clients–and Express Writers helps fulfill that content!”

How Can You Achieve the Same Results and ROI from Blogging?

One of our passions is to spread the word about content marketing and help people achieve amazing results with it, like our own success at Express Writers.

Because – fantastic news – you can absolutely do this, too.

Here are some solid steps to help you get to a real level of blogging ROI.

1. Write Down What You’re Willing to Invest in Blogging and Content Marketing – and Stick to It

The type of blogging that earns ROI requires a two-fold investment of time and money.

Whether you take content creation in hand or outsource it to experts, the best stuff depends on what you’re willing to put into it.

Thus: Budget for your blogging. Write down a ballpark estimate of what you’re willing to spend, then proceed to the next step.

A typical starting budget could look like a monthly cost of investing a blog management package, where you’re posting 1-3x per week or more, and a social media plan that boosts the activity on your brand’s Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

2. Calculate How the Investment Will Pay Off

Let’s say you choose to outsource your content.

At Express Writers, if you want our best writing level, that’s Authority Content. One authority-level blog costs $375, including full design, content, research, keyword strategy, and more.

You would actually receive SEO keyword research from our trained experts in each Authority piece, and have the possibility of ranking high with each blog. Investing in one year of authority blogging would cost about $19,500 if you publish one authority blog/week.

Or, if you want our next-best writing level, you could invest in expert writing, which is not as intensified, long-form and powerful as authority, but is also a high-quality, worthwhile writing level. You get an expert writer who knows your industry. No SEO research and full design, content only. This costs $395/month for 1 blog a week, posted on your site. Or $4,740 a year. (See blog management packages here.)

Since we write to appeal to your specific readers and search engines, we can estimate your keyword rankings. We can also use stats to figure out your click-through rate and traffic from organic blogging.

We hashed it all out in our post on content marketing ROI:

With an estimate of your monthly traffic in hand, we can then estimate potential leads and sales using our trusty formula:

As you can see, this is an easy and eye-opening way to determine how your blogging investment will pay off.

If you’re not satisfied with the potential ROI, play with the numbers and see what happens as your investment increases.

P.S. A note about blogging. You really need social media activity (posts, sharing of your blogs, relevant facts about your brand, etc.) from a qualified social media copywriter if you don’t have social media going on yet. It will really complete the full-circle picture. For example, our Twitter profile @ExpWriters is responsible for 10% of our monthly traffic!

If you were to add social media coverage from our social media packages to the blogging you do yourself, or the blogging we could do for you, this would start at $360/month to promote the blog and share other relevant posts about your brand consistently, adding $4,320/year in costs. Making sure you have activity under your brand name on social media is absolutely necessary for every brand.

3. Blog the Right Way (that Makes the ROI Roll In)

Here’s one caveat: You’ll only earn blogging ROI if you blog the right way.

The ROI formula only predicts what you’ll earn from consistent, high-quality, targeted blogging.

If you phone it in, you will not see the results the formula predicts.

We have lots of guides here at EW that can help you blog profitably. Here are a few for starters – read up to improve your game:

4. Remember That Cheapening Out Also Cheapens Your Content

Remember that investment you committed to in step #1?

If you flake out on it, your content will flake out, too.

Cheapening out likewise cheapens your content.

For example, if you cut the time you devote for blog creation in half without improving your productivity, you’ll start pushing out lower-quality blogs.

Similarly, if you cut the budget for your content, you’ll only be able to afford the cheapest content mills. Usually, this means bottom-of-the-barrel writing, or writers whose native language is not English.

With the latter, mistakes like these are too common:

Examples via Mark Matsuno

No bueno.

Mistakes like these can kill your blog ROI, because content that’s thin, riddled with errors, factually incorrect, poorly written, or hard to read does NOT rank.

Need a visual reminder of poor blogging? Here you go:

Not only does this blog make your brain hurt, it’s also completely useless information. From one post, it’s painfully obvious that this business went the cheap route for their blog.

Yikes.

Ready to See ROI from Your Blog? Be Inspired from Our Success Stories

Here’s the deal:

Our blogging ROI at Express Writers is huge because:

We have invested SERIOUS time and money into creating great content
We have blogged consistently, regularly, and predictably for six years
Our blogs are usually long-form, SEO optimized and targeted to our audience
We’re committed, heart and soul, to high-quality blogging

There are no “buts” about it.

If you want to see similar ROI down the road, you MUST commit to blogging and invest in quality.

Are you ready to bring it?

We can help with that. Trust us with your blog content creation – we know what it takes.

Blog Optimization: The Ultimate Guide on Optimizing Your Blog Posts for Better SEO & ROI

June 5, 2018/26 Comments/in Blogging /by Julia McCoy

Want your blogs to rank in the top #3 of Google… or even earn a coveted Featured Snippets placement?

Want huge ROI in the form of traffic, leads, conversions, and even sales from your blogging efforts?

It’s time to start optimizing your blog posts.

Blog optimization is the road to take if you want to hit the bullseye on Google’s various ranking factors.

And, because ranking factors for your posts/web pages are based on the relevancy and ease-of-use they provide to your audience…

… Optimization is also the #1 way to draw in more profitable traffic.

In other words, what satisfies human searchers also satisfies search engines.

If you do that, your content will rank.

Here’s how Moz puts it:

Think of it this way:

The more work you put in to make your blogs 100% user-friendly, the more your results will skyrocket.

So… Where to start?

If you have no idea how to create a blog in a way that nets targeted SEO, traffic and subscriber growth…

…Or you’re staring at a recommended laundry list of what to do, but aren’t sure you know the right points to focus on, this post is for you.

With this guide in your hand, I promise you’ll be able to learn the methods and techniques you need to optimize your blog posts for results, right now.

(Psst: I’ve been able to net 99% of our traffic, leads, AND clients at Express Writers through publishing consistent, SEO-optimized blogs.)

Ready? We’re digging in deep for this one, so buckle up.

Table of Contents: Blog Optimization (The Ultimate Guide on Optimizing Your Blog Posts for Better SEO & ROI)

Before the Blog: 4 Simple Steps to Prep for Powerful Blog Optimization

For SEO Rankings: Do Keyword Research
For Your Audience: Do Topic Research
For Better Content: Outline Your Blog
For High-ROI Blog Optimization: Craft Better Headlines

How to Write Your Blog (& Optimize Correctly As You Go) in 5 Steps

Keyword Use and SEO Optimization
Blog Length
Adding Images + Using Keyword-Rich Alt Text
- How to Optimize Images with Alt Text in WordPress
Blog Formatting
Conversion Techniques That Get the Clicks
- Write Matching CTAs for Your Blog Posts
- Write Your CTAs Powerfully
- Insert at Least One CTA at the End of Your Blog, & Test Other Placements
- Try Offering a Lead Magnet

Publishing the Blog (How to Push Blog Optimization Over the Top)

Writing Metas
- How to Write an Optimized Meta Description
Optimizing in WordPress with Yoast SEO

After It’s Live (What to Do for Blog Optimization and What NOT to Do)

Low-Cost Content Promotion
- How to Write and Send Emails Promoting Your Newest Blog Post
- How to Not Get Canned in Spam
Blog Optimization Done Right: A Crazy Good Example

Before the Blog: 4 Simple Steps to Prep for Powerful Blog Optimization

Before you can start crafting a high-ROI blog, you need to do some blog optimization prep.

This is the research, drafting, and outlining that will make all the other steps much easier.

It all starts with keyword research.

1. For SEO Rankings: Do Keyword Research

You cannot optimize your blog for search results, Google rankings, traffic, and more without keyword research.

It’s just impossible.

The value of using the right keywords in your blog content is astounding:

Businesses that use blogs with keywords generate 67% more leads than businesses without keyword-optimized blogs.

The right keywords will attract the right traffic.

No matter your industry or niche, use this general guide to get started finding those high-ROI keyword opportunities to use in your blogs:

1. Start with broad, general seed keywords (also called “root keywords”) related to your industry, products, or services.

Example: If I sell bike parts, I might start with a no-brainer root keyword, “bike parts.”

2. Plug that keyword into the tool of your choice (find good ones to use in the next sub-section).

Example: Plugging the keyword “bike parts” into Keyword Tool immediately brings up a list of long tail keyword variations I can research further:

3. Continue to search for long tail keywords that expand on your root term, but hit a desirable sweet spot: low competition + high search volume + low difficulty score.

For a deeper dive into to keyword research, check out our guide, “How to Find SEO Keywords.”

Recommended Keyword Research Tools

2. For Your Audience: Do Topic Research

Got your keywords? It’s time to dive into potential topics you can write about using those hot terms.

Topic research is essential to the blog optimization process because it ensures you’re writing about what interests your readers.

What’s important to them, what will help them, what will capture their attention?

If, on the other hand, you write about topics they don’t care about, your content marketing will suffer. Nobody will want to read those posts.

How do you find hot blog topics?

Try a few tried-and-true methods and tools:

1) Watch Your Competition

The most successful competitors in your industry are a good benchmark for content and blog topics.

Check out their content, and start taking notes about the topics and subjects they’re covering.

Analyze each topic idea and ask yourself a few questions:

How can I put my own spin on this?
Can I write a better post on this topic? (more thoroughly researched, better writing, better visuals, etc.?)
Is there a sub-topic or facet of this broader topic I can write about with more depth?

2) Use BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a great tool to use to get a sense of what’s hot with readers.

One of the easiest ways to find topics is to use two general features: “Most Shared” and “Trending Now” (under “Content Research”).

The “Most Shared” feature lets you research which content pieces have the most engagements over a set period of time. So, I could search a broad keyword and see which topics have done well in the past for that term.

In the example above, I searched the term “mountain biking” to see which articles were most-shared over the past 6 months.

News articles do very well, but I also notice that mountain bike reviews are hot, as are reviews of the best places to mountain bike.

These results give me some great jumping-off points for my own blog topics.

Similarly, the “Trending Now” feature can help you find topics that are hot or trending in your industry.

To see these articles, you’ll need to create your own Trending Feed:

This lets you add custom topics to follow based on hashtags and keywords you specify. Once you create your Trending Feed, BuzzSumo saves it for you so you can quickly click on it and see what content is trending right this second.

Check out the topics that are hot, and brainstorm ways you can use this information.

For a deeper look at how to find hot topics using BuzzSumo, check out our guide, How to Use BuzzSumo to Crush Your Competitors & Produce High Traction Content.

For additional research inspiration, take a look at What Blog Topics Get the Most Shares & Reads? A Data Driven Answer.

3) Analyze Google Results

Sometimes doing a cursory Google search can give you great ideas for blog topics. This is a perfect method to use when you’re short on time.

First, start by entering a keyword into the Google search bar. A box should pop up underneath with a list of keyword variations, which can give you ideas for topics:

Next, analyze the top results for the keyword you want to use and see how various competitors have spun the topic.

Remember, all this research is for inspiration/ideation purposes only. NEVER copy another creator’s content!

For even more inspiration for coming up with blog topics, read up on our list of 20 creative blog ideas.

3. For Better Content: Outline Your Blog

You may groan at the idea of creating an outline for your blog post, but this is a helpful optimization step you shouldn’t skip.

After you have one or two keywords and a solid topic to write about, creating an outline will:

Give your blog post direction and organization (think of it as a map or blueprint for writing the post)
Help you plan keyword-optimized headers and sub-headers
Make sure you cover everything that needs attention
Increase your writing speed (because you’ll know exactly what to write about and when)
Prevent rambling or tangents that can bore your readers
Give your creativity a honed focus

Convinced yet?

The best part is your outline can be as simple or as detailed as you want. No matter how loosely or precisely you organize your thoughts, your outline will serve as a tool for a better final product.

Copywriter Henneke Duistermaat of Enchanting Marketing has some great outlining tips – for example, she likens creating an outline to following a recipe.

You could go deeper than this. For example:

Try writing out first-draft versions of your headers and subheaders with a short explanation of what will go in each section.
Or, simpler: Make a list of your main topic and subtopics using only key phrases.

Outlining is a great way to draft your blog post and get all your ideas on paper. Commit to making outlines and your posts may just become more cohesive, thought-out, and organized – all of which is great for your readers and optimization.

4. For High-ROI Blog Optimization: Craft Powerful Headlines

Another step involved in prepping your blog post for the most clicks, traffic, and shares is optimizing your headline.

What does this mean?

It means you make your blog title as enticing as possible, which ensures it looks good in Google search results.

And, if your headline looks good, more people will click on it and check out the meat of your post.

Here are the steps to get there:

Insert your keyword at or near the beginning of the headline. Google cuts off headlines in search results after about 50-60 characters. Keeping your focus keyword toward the front helps readers understand the relevance of your post more quickly.

Keep your headlines shorter, about 8-14 words.

Research from HubSpot has shown that headlines that fall into this length range get the most engagement on Twitter and Facebook.

Write for the reader. If your headline does nothing but plainly describe what your blog post is about, it won’t look very enticing. Instead, write your headline to appeal to your audience.

Luckily, there are tried-and-true words, word combinations, and formats that have been proven to make people want to click. Here are the best of them, according to a Conductor study:

Start with a number, i.e. “10 Ways to Improve Your Life without Spending Money.”
Address the reader, i.e. “You Need These 10 Tips That Will Improve Your Life Without Spending $”
Start with “how to,” i.e. “How to Improve Your Life without Spending a Dime.”

Find the best words for the job. Don’t be afraid to evoke emotion in your headline. Use strong verbs and adjectives that are descriptive and powerful. CoSchedule says all great headlines include both emotional and power words to make the biggest impact.

To see how many of both are in your headline, use their Headline Analyzer. You can also use this tool to tweak your headline and optimize it for length, character count, format, and more.

Read more about crafting high-ROI headlines: The Ultimate Guide: How to Create Headlines that Will Go Viral

How to Write Your Blog (& Optimize Correctly As You Go) in 5 Steps

Now that you’re prepped and ready, armed with strong keywords, blog topics, an amazing headline, and an outline, you can dive into writing the actual body of your blog post.

What are some ways to SEO optimize as you write?

Ah, the tricky part.

This section will show you everything you need to know.

Let’s start with keywords.

1. Know Keyword Usage for Better SEO Results From Blogging

Using the keywords you found during the research phase is essential for blog SEO.

But, how should you use them while writing your blog? When? How often?

Strategically, strategically, strategically.

Here are the basics.

Using keywords this way will help search engines crawl your page faster and understand its relevance quicker (which leads to higher rankings).

Your Handy-Dandy Blog Post Keyword Usage Shortlist

Use your focus keyword once in the title tag (A.K.A. your headline).
Use your focus keyword once in the opening paragraph.
Use that keyword in most, if not all, of the subheaders (H2s).
If you can, use the same keyword in a few of your H3s (sub-subheaders).
Write the body of your blog post. If using the keyword feels natural in the text, do it. The same goes for any related terms or secondary keywords.
Include the keyword once in the closing paragraph.

2. Know Your Blog Post Length Standards for Better Optimization

What’s the right blog length for the post you’re writing?

This is a common question that leaves many content creators scratching their heads.

The reason?

There are different answers to this question all over the internet.

Many experts like Neil Patel agree that 2,500 words is a good standard length for highly-shared blog posts.

I’ve even put together a study on why long-form content is incredibly sticky in the rankings:

Be comprehensive at all times when you're working on blog content that has a goal of building your online authority. @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

And remember, the length of your blog needs to depend on the audience you’re writing for, the topic you’re writing about, and the exhaustiveness of the information you’re sharing.

If you’re going super in-depth, your blog post should be longer. 10,000 words isn’t easy to bluff your way through, and will absolutely position you as an expert on the topic (and take weeks, or months, to put together).

Case in point: the blog you’re reading is 5,000+ words in length, and took 4 weeks to assemble, create, produce, and publish.

On the other hand, if you’re sharing news in your industry or a personal opinion, your post might be shorter. The key is to follow the outline you created during your blog prep, edit ruthlessly, and write as clearly as possible.

Remember: A successful blog post doesn’t always depend on its length. It depends on the quality of the research and writing, the accuracy of the information, the usefulness of the content, and the value you provide.

3. Add Images and Use Keyword-Rich Alt Text

As you write the body of your blog post, you may want to use images and screenshots to help support your points.

That’s great!

Images are proven to encourage your readers to stay on your page longer AND remember your content better (this is called the picture superiority effect).

Of course, if you include images in your blog posts, you need to optimize them, too. You can do this by using keyword-rich alt text.

Alt text (alternative text) tags are pieces of HTML markup that tell web browsers what to show the user if your image won’t load (like if the user has a slow connection or uses a screen reader).

Here’s what that code looks like, via W3schools:

If your image can’t be loaded, the browser will grab and display the alt text inside a placeholder instead, like so:

Image via wpbeginner

Alt text is also useful for web crawlers, which can’t “see” or interpret images.

Descriptive alt text tells the crawler what the image is about. (Bonus: this will help your images rank in Google Images, too.)

How to Optimize Images with Alt Text in WordPress

If you use WordPress to publish your blog, you can add alt text for all your images as you go.

1. In your WordPress dashboard, when you’re creating a new post, you can insert images or gifs directly into the body by clicking “Add Media”:

Now you should have a view of your image library, where you can select images or upload new files.

2. Select the image you want in your blog post (or upload a new one). On the right-hand side of the image library, a sidebar will pop up where you’ll find the image details as well as the option for adding alt text:

3. Enter a short, yet descriptive, word or phrase into the text box that will tell web crawlers and users alike what the image is about.

4. Then click “Insert into post.”

Remember to keep your alt text short.
When relevant, use your keywords as alt text to describe your images.

That’s it! Easy-peasy.

Bonus: Not only does using alt text for your images help ALL users understand your page better, it can also contribute to Google rankings.

Win-win.

4. Know Your Blog Formatting

Another way to optimize your blog while you write?

Blog formatting.

This piece of the puzzle is important mainly for your readers.

A well-formatted blog makes the text easier to scan, read, and digest for internet users and their short attention spans.

This also means you’ll help people stay on your page longer because they’ll find reading your post as easy as breathing.

This is called “dwell time” – the logic is, the longer someone stays on your page, the more relevant your page must be to their search.

Here’s a good example of that from Ahrefs:

Longer dwell-time (and a lower bounce rate) is great for more possible conversions and Google rankings.

Since good formatting helps increase dwell-time (time visitors spend on your site), never neglect it in your blog creation process. @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

Blog Formatting Shortlist

Here are the basic must-dos for a well-formatted, easy-to-read, organized, logical blog post:

Outline! This helps organize your post and is useful for making sure your points are logically laid-out, which aids reader comprehension.
Keep paragraphs shorter. Electronic screens are harder on your eyes than printed paper. Plus, the internet is full of distractions that can pull at your readers’ attention, especially if you present them with mind-numbingly large blocks of text. Shorter paragraphs help with both issues.
Use headers and subheaders. This organizes your content so readers can find the pieces that interest them. Most online readers skim, so don’t hinder that process.
Use H1, H2s, H3s, etc. for headers. Your headers need to be a larger size (and perhaps a different color) to help differentiate them from the body text.
- In WordPress, you can apply headers to your text by highlighting the phrase and choosing the right heading level from the “Paragraph” settings.

Where it’s logical, use bulleted and/or numbered lists. For example, if you have a long list of items separated by commas, that list will be easier to read if you format it with bullets.
- In WordPress, it’s easy to add bulleted lists:

Use bold or italics to highlight significant words in a paragraph. I’m using this technique right now – it draws your eye to the most important information, which makes the text easier to understand and skim. Just don’t overuse this technique; you’ll start looking silly, and may hinder the reader rather than help.

5. Know Conversion Techniques That Get the Clicks

Everything we’ve discussed so far should go a long way toward helping your blog conversions. Making your post as user-friendly and SEO-friendly as possible are the first steps.

However, there are a few extra strategies you can use to nab more profitable reader action from your blog.

1) Write Matching CTAs for Your Blog Posts

If you want more conversions from your blogs, each and every post you write should include at least one matching call-to-action.

What do I mean by “matching”?

Just that: the CTA you include should seamlessly integrate into your blog post topic. It shouldn’t stand out like a sore thumb – it should make sense within the text.

Here’s a good example from a HubSpot blog, The 17 Best Advertisements of All Time:

Their CTA naturally ties into this topic – they want you to download a freebie about “The Best Marketing and Advertising Campaigns”:

We’ve done the same thing with our posts at the Write Blog.

Check out, for instance, how the header of this very blog you’re reading and our CTA at the end match.

Here’s the blog header:

And, the CTA:

2) Write Your CTAs Powerfully

Including CTAs with every blog post is important for conversions, but nobody will convert on a weak CTA.

Your CTA is weak if you use weak words. Here’s an example: Say you want to encourage people to subscribe to your mailing list at the end of your blog post.

Weak CTA:

“Subscribe to the mailing list.”
“Book me for a call here.”

Why it sucks: This CTA is not persuasive. It’s boring. It uses weak verb, “subscribe,” which, frankly, nobody will care to do, because they have no idea what’s in it for them. And “book me for a call?” you should tell me why I should do it, not just tell me what to do.

Powerful CTA:

“Sign up today to get freebies, tips, and updates sent straight to your inbox!”
“Want copywriting so good, it’s internet-breaking? Click to see our services!”

Why it works: I use straightforward action verbs (“sign up,” “get”) to inspire the desired action. I also tell the reader what’s in it for them (freebies, tips, updates, results so good they’ll break the internet) if they follow through. Finally, I top the whole thing off with an exclamation point for emphasis.

3) Insert at Least One CTA at the End of Your Blog, & Test Other Placements

There are lots of studies out there that compare how well various CTA placements on a page convert: above the fold? In a right-hand sidebar? Tucked into the body text?

According to Kissmetrics, though, there isn’t much difference in conversion power between these options.

What should you do, instead?

Focus on at least placing a CTA at the end of your blog. Then, test out other CTA placement areas and see what works best for converting your particular audience.

Optimizely explains A/B testing (or split testing) in more detail in their glossary. This technique can be great for finding the perfect formula for your CTAs.

4) Offer a Lead Magnet

If your current CTAs aren’t enticing enough, maybe you’re just not offering the type of goods your readers will go for.

Try to up the ante and offer a lead magnet in exchange for mailing list sign-ups, for instance.

Lead magnets are high-quality content pieces that contain information you haven’t offered elsewhere. Their value should be apparent, which will make your audience much more likely to opt-in to get them. (Read: they’re conversion gold.)

Here are some lead magnet examples for inspiration:

Digital Marketer offered these free Facebook ad templates, which netted them almost 36,000 new leads in 60 days:

Shopify offers this free return policy generator as a lead magnet for e-commerce business owners:

Our lead magnet, featuring our best samples, earns an organic subscriber growth of 3-4 new people per day, and is heavily targeted to win the attention of our ideal customer: Free PDF: Our Sample Library

2 Major Steps in Publishing Your Blog (& How to Push Blog Optimization Over the Top)

You’ve done the research and prep. You’ve written the blog.

It’s time to publish.

But, wait.

Not so fast.

There are some final steps you can take to prep for publishing and make sure your blog hits every possible optimization note.

1. Write Your Metas

Once your blog is finished and edited, it’s a good idea to write out your metas, next.

A meta description is simply a short summary of your blog, up to 320 characters in length.
A meta title is the main headline of your blog.

Search engines often, but not always, use metas to populate your listing in the search results:

Good news: You’ve already written an SEO optimized headline, which also can be used as your meta title.

Now you just need to write your meta description. Then you can insert both metas into your blog.

How to Write an Optimized Meta Description

Along with a short summary of your blog post, your meta description also needs 4 things to be optimized for search engines and users:

Your focus keyword included once, near the beginning of the description
A secondary keyword (if you have one) included once, naturally
Actionable language (much like a CTA!)
A benefit – what users will get from reading your post

Here’s an example of a good meta description, broken down into its essential elements:

To learn how to add metas to your post in WordPress, continue on to the next section. You can do it using a plugin called Yoast SEO.

2. Optimize Your Post in WordPress with Yoast SEO

If you use WordPress, you can double-check your blog optimization and add meta information to your posts using Yoast SEO.

Here’s what it looks like on the WordPress dashboard when installed. All the options show up when you’re ready to add a new post. Just scroll down the page and find this box:

This plugin has lots of features that help you optimize your optimization (see what I did there?).

First up: the snippet preview. This shows you what your blog post may look like in Google search results:

If you click “Edit snippet,” you can directly edit the title, URL slug, and meta description from there.

Underneath the “Edit Snippet” feature is the place where you tell Yoast your focus keyword:

This information is vital, because the plugin will check your post for the strategic inclusion of your focus keyword in the right places.

Next up is the “Analysis” feature. Yoast will analyze your content and SEO for best-practices, readability, and accuracy.

As you can see, this part tells you what’s good and not-so-good about your post. It also offers suggestions for improvement:

If you get a lot of red and orange bullets in this section, you should review and try to fix them.

For example, for the red bullet that reads “No meta description has been specified,” I can click back to the snippet preview and edit the meta:

If you’re shaky on SEO best-practices and techniques, Yoast SEO is a great help and can get your blog posts where they need to be. Just don’t go 100% by the green/orange rating: I’ve had a few orange-rated blogs rank in the first three of Google.

Remember, a great blog is all about optimized SEO, relevancy to your reader, and usefulness (value). Put that above a Yoast rating at all times. @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

Double-checking your SEO is a fantastic last step for an SEO-optimized blog post, right before you publish.

But, what about after you publish your post?

Are there still ways to optimize your blog for more clicks, traffic, engagements, and conversions?

The answer is yes.

2 Major Steps to Do After It’s Live (What to Do for Post-Publishing Blog Optimization and What NOT to Do)

Finally.

Your blog is published.

It’s LIVE.

You may want to dust yourself off at this point and settle back to monitor its traction…

But wait!

You know the drill by now: There’s still stuff you can do to optimize your blog and get as many eyes on it as possible.

Do Some Low-Cost Content Promotion

Promoting your content can be a vital step toward pushing your blog post to the next level.

Want more traffic and engagement? Promote.

Here are some of the best, lowest-cost ways to do it.

How to Write and Send Emails Promoting Your Newest Blog Post

One content promotion tactic you can’t beat (it’s free) is sending an email to your list every time you publish a new blog post.

This doesn’t have to be a complicated or long email – it can be nothing more than a short-yet-sweet heads-up with a link to your post.

Here are some basic best-practices for sending out these promotional emails:

Test your subject line using the Email Subject Line Tester from CoSchedule to optimize for the most opens.
Only include one link in your email (the one to your new blog post) to avoid hitting your readers’ spam folder. (For more tips to avoid being marked as spam, check the next section.)
Keep it friendly, but not too informal. Starting your email with “What’s new, losers?” might work among your group of friends, but it won’t go over too well with your audience. Stay friendly, but not too friendly.
Quickly summarize what your post is about, then reveal one benefit your audience will get from reading it. This could be insider knowledge, fresh stats, or maybe a freebie/lead magnet that goes with the blog post.
Send your promotional emails on a schedule – same day, same time. For instance, if you publish on Monday nights, you might choose to send your emails on Tuesday morning.

How to Not Get Your Fantastic Blog Email Canned in Spam

For your low-cost email promotion to work, your messages have to actually reach their destination (i.e. your readers’ inboxes, not their spam folders).

Here are some tips to avoid getting canned in spam:

Only send emails to readers who opted-in for your mailing list. Sending unsolicited emails IS spam. Period.
Keep your subject lines honest. Don’t promise something you can’t deliver.
Include your business address in the email footer. It’s actually against the law to skip this. If you work exclusively online, consider getting a P.O. box to use for business purposes.
Include an opt-out or unsubscribe link in your email. Your readers must always have a way to manage the email communication they receive from you.
Keep your sender information accurate. This includes the “from,” “to,” and “reply-to” fields as well as the routing information. For example, you can’t try to make it seem like an email you sent came from somewhere else.

Here’s an example of accurate, trustworthy sender information in a promotional email from Barnes & Noble:

Blog Optimization Done Right: A Crazy Good Example

Whew.

We made it this far.

By now, you should have the hang of optimizing your blog posts from start to finish.

To keep the good vibes going, let’s look at an example of superb blog optimization.

Study this blog and note how all the pieces, from huge to tiny, seamlessly fall into place.

Take inspiration, then go forth and optimize!

How to Write Sales Copy (and Win More Clients) – Enchanting Marketing

Here’s a great example of a post ranking in Google that’s optimized to a tee: How to Write Sales Copy (and Win More Clients).

Let’s look at each piece of optimization that contributes to the whole.

First off, the focus keyword (“sales copy”) is used strategically throughout.

We can find it in the optimized headline and first paragraph:

And in the H2s and body copy:

Next, let’s dig deeper into the HTML.

The meta title and description are on-point:

And we can even see that the post was optimized with Yoast SEO:

Let’s not forget the blog formatting, either.

It’s easy to read, well-organized, and incorporates lots of bulleted lists. Paragraphs are short, and headings give meaning to the content and make it skimmable:

The images are optimized with alt text, too:

Finally, there are CTAs throughout the post that are persuasive, well-written, and make sense for the topic of the blog post:

Overall, this blog post has optimization nailed. It’s no coincidence that this post is currently ranking #2 on Google for “sales copy.”

Now, what about earning a coveted spot in the rankings… like ranking as a Featured Snippets answer?

Here’s an example of a blog I wrote for Shopify. It’s ranking in the featured snippets as one of the primary answers to define “seo product descriptions.”

Look at how the snippet content itself is structured.

Do you see the pattern of a well-structured blog post that we’ve been discussing all along?

Shopify did something smart and created a Table of Contents featuring these 5 points at the top of the blog post:

You might have seen a Table of Contents in this blog, too (scroll to the top). 😉

And finally, here’s an example of a blog on our very own site, ranking #2 for “blogging statistics.”

Again, if you check out the blog, you’ll see the exact same structure, formatting, and style that we’ve been discussing in our guide.

Bonus: I jumped on a keyword that was at a 30-ish score in keyword difficulty at the time of publishing.

Months later, this same keyword went up 10-15 points in difficulty!

Need to know how to find (and jump on) great SEO keywords for your content? Read my guide on how to find SEO keywords here.

Optimize Your Way to Better Blogging Results

Taking the time to optimize your blog from beginning to end can have amazing returns…

But only if you do it the right way.

Follow this guide to make sure your posts are user-friendly, not to mention SEO and ROI-rich.

Trust me: the time it takes to research, prep, write, publish, and promote will pay off tenfold when all is said and done. So, opt to optimize your content!

10 Smart, Easy Tips for Starting Your Law Blog and Working with Legal Blog Writers

October 25, 2017/11 Comments/in Blogging /by Julia McCoy

The benefits of starting a blog for a law firm or legal business bear repeating, even if you’ve heard them before (and you probably have).

By now, you understand how blogging helps grow the chances of getting discovered through online search for any business.

You’re well aware of how it builds trust with readers.

You know how a blog helps position you (or, if you’re a marketer, your client) as an authority in any industry.

A blog can play a hugely instrumental role in the first part of the sales journey:

(Via Hubspot)

As a result of its ability to attract prospects, it can help grow your business, too.

Just look at this case study from Jeff Bullas to see five great examples of blogging success, including companies like Etsy and OptinMonster.

The benefits of blogging can’t be disputed. In fact, you’re probably ready to get going with a law blog right this second. After all, the sooner you begin, the sooner you can reap the rewards.

But where to begin?

If you need a little push making the first move toward content marketing success with a law blog, you’re in the right place. These tips for starting a blog with legal blog writers will show you how it’s done.

How to Position a Law Business for Success with a Blog + Legal Blog Writers

The first must for starting a law blog? Hire the right writing talent!

1. Hire Legal Blog Writers!

A blog can’t be successful without good writing talent behind it.

You can’t just hire any writer, either. You’re working within a niche industry. Useful, thorough, factually accurate blogs about legal topics require expert knowledge. You need writers who are up to the task.

Generally, you won’t find these types of writers at a content mill. If you do end up hiring cheap services, it’ll leave you with cheap, inaccurate filler blogs that provide no value for your audience.

Bottom line: If you want a good legal blog, one that does everything you need it to do for successful content marketing and SEO, you need higher-level writers who know their way around legal topics.

You gotta hire and invest in expert legal blog writers.

For inspiration, here’s what a great law blog looks like:

The Startup Law Blog is a perfect example of a blog with solid writing and expert knowledge behind it.

It also gets tons of engagement!

For proof, look at how many comments a recent post got:

2. Don’t Give Legal Advice

Lawyers and law firms need to tread carefully when posting online and blogging. There are ethical lines you should not cross to avoid misleading readers.

The American Bar Association has outlined general guidelines to follow when posting online. One biggie is to know the distinction between offering legal information and giving legal advice.

Legal advice is specific and relates to the information and circumstances of an individual case. Legal information, on the other hand, is general, hypothetical, and can be applied to lots of different cases. To avoid ethical tangles, you should stick to the latter in your blog posts.

Here’s where hiring an expert legal blog writer can save you – they’ll know this distinction inside-out and can make clear statements in posts about it. They’ll let the reader know the information is general and not intended as legal advice.

3. Keep the Language General and the Tone Approachable

It could be easy to forget who you’re writing for and include legal-speak in your blog posts.

This is a big no-no. For one, your audience is probably much more general than you think. You’ll mainly be talking to people who have been searching the web for basic information and explanations about legal topics. These people won’t have any legal training.

This means you need to keep your language general. Don’t include legal jargon (unless you’re willing to define it in plain terms), and explain basic concepts in a down-to-earth way. Otherwise, you may turn visitors away.

4. Focus on Quality and Usefulness

It can be hard to come up with a steady stream of blog topics, but there are always two keys to keep in mind for subject matter. Focus on providing quality and usefulness to your readers.

What does quality look like?

Clear, easy-to-read text with good grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Ideas are broken up into short paragraphs for maximum readability.
The blog is organized with headers and subheaders.
One idea flows logically into the next, and the next, and so on.

What does usefulness look like?

The topic is one that would interest your target audience.
The blog features enlightening or practical information – it speaks to your readers’ lives, concerns, or pain points.
The blog is written in a relatable, understandable, clear tone.
It’s factually accurate.
The blog is timely, or better yet, timeless (it will still be good information a week from now, a month from now, or six months to a year from now).

Quality and usefulness are two universal aspects that should apply to every single blog you write, no matter the topic.

If you phone it in, your readers will know, and they’ll stop caring.

5. Write to Your Target Audience

With a blog, you can’t write to the entire world at large.

First of all, that’s impossible. Second of all, if you tried to do that, you would end up with something way, way too general to be useful.

You need to have an audience in mind when you write in order for your content to be effective and serve its purpose.

What’s that purpose? Helping people find answers you can provide.

You can’t help everyone, though. You can, however, help the people your professional law services target. Plus, this kind of targeting helps your business and your blog tie together seamlessly.

If you haven’t found your target audience yet, you need to get going on market research. Only then will you understand who to address in your blog posts.

Need training to become a more proficient writer? The Practical Content Strategy Certification Course is an in-depth training from Julia McCoy featuring A-Z teaching for online content creators, including legal ghostwriters. Get in today and save up to $130 on all-access enrollment with coupon BLOG10.

6. Stay in Your Lane

You may be tempted to write about any law topic under the sun for your blog, but you really shouldn’t. Instead, focus on your expertise.

In other words, stay in your lane. This will help you build a unique blog that is incredibly useful.

Go too general, and you might not bring in the audience you’re looking for. Stick to that sweet spot where you can write about useful topics and employ your personal expertise and practice area. This combination will help you hit each blog out of the park.

For example, this blog successfully focuses on a niche legal topic/practice area – contract drafting:

Staying in your lane also includes writing about your specific geographic region. Focusing on law topics for your state or city will help you attract local readers who could become clients.

Take a look at this blog from a Nebraska law firm. They have targeted a specific county in this post to draw in readers from that region:

7. Use Your Voice

Over 2 million blogs get published on a daily basis. There are hordes upon hordes of voices clamoring for attention online.

To stand out, you have to use your voice. You have to position yourself as an individual. After all, there’s only one of you. Use that to your advantage!

General tips for finding and using your voice:

No matter what you’re writing about, pretend you’re talking to one person.
Imagine this person as an individual from your target audience (look at your brand personas and choose one to write for).
Write to them on a one-to-one level, like you would if you were addressing them face-to-face.
Really think about how that conversation might go. It would be professional, of course, but you might throw in a joke or two to lighten the mood. You might have a warmth and sincerity that comes out naturally. Or, you may prefer to get down to business and waste zero time.

Whatever your personality and conversational style, let it leak into your writing. Use your voice and stand out from the masses of other law blogs out there.

8. Avoid Sounding Salesy

If your blogs sound like you’re selling your legal services, you’re doing it wrong. To put it bluntly, you’re making yourself look like an ambulance-chaser.

Selling should be the very last thing you think about when you’re blogging (the call-to-action at the end of a blog post is the only exception).

9. Don’t Rehash Easy-to-Find News or Information

Planning to write a blog about a big law that just passed, or a high-profile case that’s in the news? Just say no to rehashing information that’s already out there and nothing more.

If your readers can easily google the topic and find a better-written news story about it, there’s no reason for you to rehash it. Instead, summarize the details briefly, then provide your take on the issue at hand.

For instance, approach it from your perspective as an expert in a specific type of law. Give your readers a professional’s opinion on the matter.

This tip goes along with #7, above. Don’t contribute to the wasteland of duplicate, useless content that’s already out there. Be unique, have an opinion, and avoid rehashing.

10. Change Up Your Posts

To help your blog stay fresh, change up the type of stuff you post. Don’t feel nailed to one style or format – think outside the box.

Here are some quick ideas:

Go slightly off-topic. As long as your blog has a general focus that you stick to regularly, you can feel free to go slightly off-topic every once in a while. This can shake things up and even draw in new readers.
Share a personal story. A personal story can help your blog and your brand seem relatable, friendly, and approachable – all great for business. The story can relate to your profession or not. If it’s entirely personal, this helps reinforce the idea that a human is behind the screen.
Invite discussion. Sometimes it’s fun to sit back and let your audience take the reins. Introduce a hot-button issue or topic that’s deeply relevant to your readers, then hand it over to them in the comments and see what happens. Make sure you participate and add your two cents!
Do an interview. Do you have a wise mentor who guided you to where you are today? Have them drop some of this wisdom on your blog. Can a colleague provide some timely information? Or maybe there’s a law blogger you respect who you’d love to feature. Present any of these people in an interview format to shake things up.

A Law Blog + Legal Blog Writers = A Smart Business Move

Content marketing is proven. Blogging is proven. These facts are undisputed.

If you haven’t started blogging yet for your law business, what are you waiting for? People are out there on the internet, looking for expertise on legal topics that’s both solid and trustworthy. They have questions that need answering.

You are uniquely positioned to provide those answers. It’s a golden opportunity to build your reputation in your field and draw in new clients. All you need is a blog and legal blog writers to make it happen.

Ready to begin, but lack the time or expertise to start writing?

Express Writers has a team of general, expert, and authority writers who can do it for you. Try a blogging package today and start taking advantage of the power of blogging.

6 Reasons Professional Blog Writers Are Worth Every Last Cent of Your Investment

October 24, 2017/1 Comment/in Blogging /by Julia McCoy

There are writers, and then there are writers.

Or, let’s put the distinction this way: There are cheap writers, and there are pro writers.

What’s the difference?

Cheap writers are cheap. That’s all they bring to the table.

Professional blog writers have experience, talent, skill, and style. There’s more, though.

Writing is a field of expertise, just like any other industry, and these people know it inside-out. They read widely and absorb different writing techniques. They know how to conduct thorough research. They understand the basics of constructing a solid article, whether short or long. They’re creative and dedicated to their craft.

Should I keep going?

Proficient pro writers need to have all of these skills, plus more. (Via Learn How to Become)

And yet, despite the obvious benefits of hiring a professional writer for their content marketing, lots of brands and businesses still aren’t doing it. Instead, they think they can cut corners. Something’s gotta give somewhere, and, a lot of the time, that something is the writing.

You may be guilty of this, too.

If you are, I’m here to set you straight.

You have to understand exactly why professional writers are worth it. You need to know what cheap content mills are doing to your content marketing. You need to understand the value of good, professional writing.

Why Professional Blog Writers Are Worth Every Last Cent of Investment

There are reams of blogs out there that try to tell you the secrets of professional writers.

Even more explain the basic elements that make up good content. You’re supposed to learn these and then apply them to your content marketing and copywriting.

Articles like these are all over the ‘net. They try to give you a lesson in skills which pro writers already have. (Via Quick Sprout)

Guess what? Professional writers have an entire arsenal of writing “secrets.” You’ll never learn them all, or understand them in the same way, because writing isn’t your bread-and-butter.

You haven’t been reading and writing for years upon years – for fun. You probably didn’t major in English, journalism, or communications in college. You most likely never attempted to write a hefty fantasy or detective novel when you were 12. (Seriously, ask any pro writer – they’ll tell you all about their ridiculous first novel, short story collection, etc., that they wrote when they were young and foolish.)

Of course, not every writer has professional training or education. However, every single pro writer has passion and experience.

Let’s get more basic. If you’re a marketer, marketing is what you do. If you’re a business owner, running your company is what you do, and all that it entails. If you’re a pro writer, writing is what you do.

If these still aren’t good enough arguments for you, here’s more about what good writers can do for your content marketing. These key factors set them apart.

1. Professional Blog Writers Treat Your Content with Care

Cheap writers are not concerned about quality – they only care about quantity. That’s because they sell their services for the cheapest price possible, then get as much volume as they can to make up the difference.

As such, the work they do has no craft behind it. They are focused on getting the words out as fast as possible to make a dime.

Pro writers, on the other hand, are concerned with quality and quantity in balance. They’re trying to make money, too, but they’re also worried about producing good work.

Because this balance is number one, that means…

2. They Spend the Necessary Time Getting the Writing Right

Any pro writer will tell you straight out: Good writing takes time.

You cannot dash out a page of text in 10 minutes and expect it to be worth anything, let alone readable.

Writing for content marketing requires even more diligence. It needs to mirror the brand’s voice, use the right keywords in the right places, address the target audience effectively, and be readable and useful.

If it’s really good, the content will also pull the reader into the text. It will encourage them to keep reading aaaaall the way down to the end of the page.

Interlude: Case Study Time

You want a good idea of what focusing on quantity over quality looks like (versus a focus on balancing quantity + quality)?

Let’s take a gander at the difference using a fantastic example from this real-life case study by Startup Grind.

They readily admit that they fell for the lure of cheap content. As such, they hired five writers offering ridiculously inexpensive rates to do a paid test assignment. What they got back made them balk, to say the least.

Here’s one example from the test. This piece was titled “Quantity Is the King in B2B Lead Generation”. (The phrasing of this headline alone is worth a long pause of concern. What follows is not all that surprising.)

If you can read this without wanting to bash your head against a wall, I sincerely applaud your effort.

What’s wrong with it? Everything, for starters.

It’s not engaging – it’s repetitive and wordy. The overuse of determiners also makes me suspect the writer’s first language isn’t English.

This is supposed to draw in leads? I don’t think so.

Naturally, Startup Grind abandoned this approach and tried a different tack. They did the research, came up with the blog title, and provided points to cover. They hired two test writers from cheap agencies who could fill in the blanks. Easy-peasy.

Well, actually…

Neither writer could deliver. One handed in an article that had nothing to do with the outline. (After two more revisions, the resulting article was still incoherent and messy.) The other writer included points from the outline but loaded it with filler and meaningless sentences in the gaps.

Yep, it turns out the old saying is true. You get what you pay for.

To drive this point home, let’s compare the example of cheap writing, above, to this introduction from a pro-written blog:

(Via Hubspot)

Can you compare them? They’re not just in different leagues… they’re in different universes.

Part of the reason they’re so different is not just about the overall quality, it’s also about the attention to detail.

This leads us to the next differentiator for pro writers…

3. Pros Love Good Grammar and Are Shameless Punctuation Nerds

Details. Good writers delight in details.

In fact, though it may be counterproductive, a writer can spend quite a bit of time perfecting even one sentence. They may agonize over the placement of a comma or whether an em-dash is necessary.

This is because they know the details are everything. Paying attention to them is how the writing reaches its height.

The details include grammar, spelling, word usage, and punctuation.

If you want to know the truth, writers are punctuation nerds at heart. A well-constructed sentence sets our hearts aflutter (go ahead, judge us all you want).

(Via Bored Panda)

4. Professional Blog Writers Are Often Subject Specialists

Good, thorough research must be an essential part of content creation for lots of niche industries.

Your content needs facts and stats to back up claims. The writer also needs underlying basic knowledge about key concepts within that industry.

Will a cheap writer from a content mill have that expertise? Will they be able to write about your specialization or niche industry with authority and confidence? Can they teach your readers and provide value?

No, no, and no.

In fact, if you go with a cheap writer for your specialized blog topics, you’re playing with fire.

Why?

Because you risk confusing, misleading, or turning off your readers altogether. Goodbye, leads.

This is the precise reason why so many professional writers are subject specialists in multiple areas. It lets them swoop in and write with clout, gravitas, and confidence for lots of different industries.

If you’re in an industry that requires specialized knowledge, like SaaS, stocks and trading, contract law, or advanced B2B marketing, you need a writer with a corresponding specialization. Neil Patel even lists specialization as one of the key essential skills for content marketing copywriters.

Need training if you’re a professional writer seeking to upgrade your skills? The Practical Content Strategy Certification Course is an in-depth training from Julia McCoy, with A-Z teaching for online content creators. Take your skills to the next level. Get in today and save up to $130 on the all-access pass with coupon BLOG10.

Pro writers will have it. Cheap writers will not.

5. They Can Switch Between Tones and Styles

Another key factor that sets professional blog writers apart is they’re adaptable. Their writing skills can morph to fit the content need.

Part of the reason they can do this is they have immersed themselves in different styles of writing. This means they read. A lot. And, as any writer knows, reading is one of the best forms of training.

They are constantly reading, constantly writing, and continually work toward improving their game.

They can write in third-person, with an objective tone, for a blog in the medical industry. The next day, they can easily switch to writing in first-person for a beauty brand that requires a lighthearted, fun approach.

Pro writers are masters of flexibility. Can a cheap writer do that?

6. They’re Passionate about Writing

Here’s the main distinction between pro blog writers and content factory grunt writers: passion.

Professional writers become professionals because of their dedication to their craft. They have a passion to produce great work, get results for clients, and keep getting better.

After all, the writing profession is no joke. Like most creative career paths, it’s hard out there. Only the most dedicated scribes become true pros and make their living this way.

For writers offering cut-throat rates, the clients they take are no more than dollars and cents. They want to get hired, crank out some mediocre words, get paid, and move on to the next. There is no passion or craft involved here.

These people probably won’t be working as writers-for-hire for very long. They’re just trying to make a quick buck.

If You Need High-Quality Content, You Need High-Quality Professional Blog Writers

Good writing is essential for successful content marketing.

If you want content that’s engaging and grows your readership, you need a pro writer.

If your content needs to address specialized topics in your niche industry, you need a pro writer.

If you want your content marketing to succeed beyond your expectations, you need a pro writer.

If you want to grow your authority and your brand voice, you need a pro writer.

Still don’t think you need a professional writer? Consider this: Lots of marketers have expressed concern that we’re well on our way to reaching what they call “content shock.” It means that we will eventually produce so much mediocre, half-a** content, audiences won’t be able to keep up.

Not that they won’t want to – they just won’t be able to. There simply won’t be enough hours in the day. This means brands will be fighting over readership and paying people to look at their content. At least, this is the bleak future according to Mark Schaefer.

Here’s the thing. This is the future of crappy content. And who writes crappy content? Cheap, crappy writers!

Copyblogger sums this up nicely: “There is no glut of quality content.”

“…there is not a glut of content that is useful, passionate, individual, and interesting.”

Useful, passionate, individual, and interesting.

This is exactly what professional blog writers bring to the table. If you want to set yourself apart, if you want to improve your content marketing, if you want to differentiate yourself – you have to have the right talent backing you up.

You’re not a writer. You can’t do it alone. And that’s okay.

If you’re ready to hire a pro blog writer, we’re here, ready to step in and level-up your word game.

Check out our awesome blogging packages and expert copy, and let’s get going!

We Hit 1,000 Blogs! What It Looks Like to Blog One Thousand Times = And the Return

October 10, 2017/4 Comments/in Blogging /by Julia McCoy

On Wednesday, October 4, we hit a major milestone:

We published our 1,000th blog.

How crazy is that?!

Across the last five years, we never stopped blogging, and it has really paid off.

Need great content? Click here to sign up as a client.

To celebrate, I’ve put together a short, interview Q/A style piece on why and how our blogging has brought us serious return and become a worthwhile investment.

Enjoy!

We Hit 1,000 Blogs! What It Looks Like to Blog One Thousand Times = And the Return On Investment

Ready? Let’s jump in!

How Long Has the Write Blog Been Running?

Since September, 2012, we’ve been blogging at www.expresswriters.com/write-blog.

As of today, that makes 5 years and 1 month.

How Consistent Have We Been?

On average, we publish 3-4 blogs every single week, and have kept up this consistency since our first month.

How Much Has This Consistency Paid Off?

HUGE dividends.

1) Rankings: Today, we have over 11,000 keywords ranking organically in Google from the blogs we’ve posted:

Many of the ranking terms are long-tail keywords, and we see our blog posts hitting the top 3, 5, 10 and 15 spots in Google for these keywords. Over 400+ keywords are within the top 5 results of Google.

2) Direct leads and sales: Our talk to sales forms come in primarily when prospects find our content in Google. Here’s an example of one of those forms. Our Sales Manager, Tamila, assisted prospect Jeff with a cart containing the product he needed, and he bought within just a few days.

And…

We’ve had over 500 talk to sales forms filled out since 2012!

On average, 50-70% of our Talk to Sales close within 1-2 weeks. Our typical minimum investment is anywhere from $60 – $100 or $150, on a new client’s first order. If we were to shoot for the middle, $100, that’s $50,000 minimum right there. But, many of these Talk to Sales have worked out to much more. For instance, one contract was worth $75,000 over the course of 15 months.

Safe to say, these organic leads have brought us a HUGE majority of our income.

How Much Have You Invested Into It?

I write a major part of all the content on the Write Blog, with a lot of assistance. I have three trained expert writers on staff that help me create some of the content, while I research and write about the trends. I write and schedule all email content. We have a designer on staff that creates the content visuals for us.

Rachel, our social media manager, writes weekly recaps for #ContentWritingChat, and sometimes guest blogs as well as schedules shares on all our published content. Hannah, our Content Director, has also guest blogged on the site, along with one of our client social media copywriters, Krystal.

Content types like infographics, for example this one, can cost upwards of $500 to create, plan, and design. We do infographics quarterly.

Besides that, I audit and check our website content, product descriptions, and update as needed, which is usually a bi-weekly job. We have more than 90 site pages, not including product descriptions!

Tools and Costs Involved?

We use ConvertKit, which is $75/month for email marketing: MeetEdgar, $49/month to social share: and on average, I pay out a minimum of $250/weekly in content creation time to my designer, content creators, editors, and our staff social media manager. My hours are at least 5 weekly, sometimes more.

It’s Not Easy, But Done Right The Dividends of Blogging Are Huge

If you’re not regularly blogging, let this be a testament and inspiration to what happens when you do – and roll your sleeves up and get going!

We’re a team that lives what we say – we abide by the products we sell! Seriously, I don’t know of another content agency that lives and eats because of the huge amounts of content they’ve created. We’re able to see leads organically roll in from Google consistently – day in, day out.

And if you need help – because I for one know how tough this is to maintain! – our professionally written and managed blog packages are always here, anytime you need us to help you.

20 Creative Blog Ideas for Writers: Never Run Out of Blog Ideas Again with This List!

September 6, 2017/18 Comments/in Blogging /by Julia McCoy

Publishing a steady stream of ever-flowing content is important for ranking.

If you’re an online content writer in any capacity…

You need a seemingly endless river of blog ideas for writers, one that never runs dry.

So, what do you do when it does?

What do you do when you need to come up with topics, but you feel like you’re stranded in the middle of a rain-parched, burnt-out desert?

You’d better head toward that oasis shimmering on the horizon, and pray it’s the river.

Lucky for you, in this metaphorical scenario, it usually is.

The way to the river of content is a path full of writing prompts, research, brainstorming, and good old-fashioned hard work.

To make your journey 10 times easier, we’ve compiled our best strategies for getting there. Come back to this list again and again for a quick way to get on track.

Let’s get going with blog ideas for writers!

Blog Ideas for Writers: 20 Prompts, Research Tips, Keyword Discovery Strategies & More to Keep You Rolling

Sometimes, all you need is a push in the right direction to get moving. That little nudge is enough to get ideas sprouting in your head, growing quickly, and bearing fruit.

1. Start with a Subject and Create Variations

Chances are, if you’re looking for blog ideas, you probably already have one or two percolating. Take these and create variations to start off with some quick ideas for lots of posts.

For instance, HubSpot recommends creating iterations of one topic by going both broader and narrower with it. If you start with “X Baking Tips and Tricks for Beginners,” you could narrow it down to “X Cookie-Baking Tips and Tricks for Beginners.” Or, go a little broader: “X Everyday Tips and Tricks for Baking and Cooking.”

Keep going up and down the broad/narrow ladder and you could come up with 10, 15, or even 20 ideas quite easily.

2. Use Topic Generators

Another way to find variations of one blog idea is to use topic generators. All you have to do is plug in a keyword, and the generator will spit out different ways to frame the topic.

Sometimes these won’t make grammatical sense, but the point is to get ideas flowing rather than grab ready-made, publishable topics.

One of the most popular topic generators is HubSpot’s. I entered the keywords “baking,” “cakes,” and “beginners” into the generator:

Some don’t make sense, but some are a great starting point for ideas. (I would really want to read “The Worst Advice We’ve Ever Heard About Cakes”!)

Another worthy tool is Portent’s Content Idea Generator. Mess around with these and see what comes out of it. You could make some good sparks that light up your idea fire.

3. Ask Basic Questions

If you’re stumped for blog ideas, go back to basics. Write about basic topics, but frame them in terms of your business/industry, your personal brand/growth, or your keys to success. Here are some good questions to ask to get you started:

What does your creative process look like?
Have you discovered any new tools recently that boosted your workflow?
What’s the top question customers ask you?
What’s the history of your business?

4. Find Trending Topics with BuzzSumo for Blog Ideas for Writers

BuzzSumo is a fantastic tool to aid you in your quest for blog ideas. There are seemingly hundreds of ways to search various topics and keywords and glean lots of helpful data. Here’s just one way.

Go to the site and head over to “Content Analysis.”

Plug your keyword or seed topic into the search box and hit “Search.” From there, scroll down until you get to the section with the heading “Popular Topics for Content Related to…”

Gold!

Here we can see the most popular topics for the keyword, which give us a good idea where we can go with further ideas. For instance, a post about beginner baking tips would probably land really well.

To get different stats, don’t forget to filter by date (scroll back up the top to find that filter).

Plus, for more general ideas on trending topics you can use, head to the “Trending Now” tab and filter the information by your industry. Below, the content is focused on trending stories in “Business” within the last 24 hours.

5. Read Competitor Blogs

Your competitors’ blogs are good benchmarks for success, but you also can get lots of ideas from them and add your personal spin.

Look at these blogs, especially solid ones, and see what they’re up to. What have they been writing about recently? Which posts are getting a ton of engagement?

Grab some good ideas for yourself, but remember: Never copy.

6. Search Quora for Questions

Quora is a great resource for discovering what trends and topics people are interested in right this second.

To find popular questions people are asking about topics in your industry (and whether they’ve been answered!) do a quick search.

First, type in your keyword in the search bar. A list of topics will pop up underneath.

Click on any of these to go to an overview page. You can also click on the bottom text that says “Search: [your topic].”

On this page, you can filter results to see the questions asked and which ones are most popular. You can also see how many people are following questions – this can help you determine which topics might get a better response.

Any of these questions would make great blog topics to address, especially if you have unique answers.

7. Use Keyword Explorer

If you want a quick way to brainstorm blog ideas, head to Moz’s Keyword Explorer and do a search.

An easy way to grab blog ideas is to search for a specific keyword and then check out the “Keyword Suggestions” page.

On that page, go to the first drop-down box and select “are questions” to only display keyword suggestions that are in question form. You’ll end up with a long list of blog ideas to address. You can sort them by relevancy and search volume, too. Score!

8. Crowdsource Blog Ideas

Your audience knows what they want to see from you. Why not ask them directly what that is?

You can do this on social media by posting a poll. Or, it can be as simple as asking your followers what they want to see and inviting them to comment. Most people like this type of transparency, and will be thankful when you dedicate a whole post to their suggested topic. That’s a great trust-builder.

9. Do an Interview

If you’re stumped for blog ideas, tap someone else’s brain and get into their headspace.

Interview somebody knowledgeable from within your industry. Get the lowdown on their secrets for success. Or, quiz them about their favorite creative tools, their process, or the advice they would give their younger selves.

Avoid going the boring route by asking unique questions for fresh insights.

10. Blog for a Niche in Your Target Audience

Here’s another great angle for repurposing or rewriting old posts: try writing them for a different niche audience.

For instance, a post about baking tips for hobby bakers could be morphed into tips for hopeless bakers who want to improve. Similarly, a post about baking for health nuts could go further. It could be repurposed as a post with tips or advice for vegan bakers.

Just make sure the niche you’re writing for isn’t too niche – otherwise, nobody will find the post useful.

11. Approach the Positive/Negative Side

Don’t forget to explore both sides of a story when coming up with blog ideas. This means flipping the coin and looking at a topic from the opposite point of view.

For instance, “X Baking Mistakes You’re Making Right Now” could become “X Baking Techniques You’re Getting Right.” “The Worst Content Marketing Advice We’ve Ever Heard” could become “The Best Content Marketing Advice You Need to Hear.”

12. Write in a Different Format

This one is pretty straightforward: Take a topic you already wrote about. Now, rewrite it for a new format.

For instance, turn an old blog post that performed well into an infographic. Expand on a list-based post and transform it into a long-form guide. Use your imagination and keep things useful for best results.

13. Write a Parody Post

Who doesn’t love a little humor? Spice up your blog roster with a brief break from serious topics. Lighten things up with a parody post based on clichés, jokes, or common mistakes or misconceptions in your industry.

Look at this post from Copyblogger about the anatomy of a web writer for inspiration. It’s mainly a useful guide, but they added some tongue-in-cheek humor that’s a nice change of pace:

14. Make a List of Best Blogs/Articles from Around the Web

You’ve got go-to blogs you rabidly read, plus resources you navigate to over and over when you’re in a pinch. Share these with the world for a top-notch, useful blog post.

You can even create a blog series that splits up your must-visit link list by topic, with one topic covered per blog. I.e., expand your favorite writing links into multiple posts, like “My Top 10 Favorite Writing Tools” followed by “15 of the Best Writing Blogs I Read Daily.”

15. Go Behind-the-Scenes

Getting personal is always a good idea on your blog. It makes you, and your business by extension, seem more real, approachable, and trustworthy.

In this vein, do a “behind-the-scenes” post (or series of posts) that explores the inner-workings of your brand. Do an office tour, write features on your staff members, or even show how you get things done day-to-day.

16. Do “Best-of” Round-Ups with Your Past Posts

Once you start amassing a library of blog posts, you can use these for new post ideas.

Go into your archives and see which topics you’ve given a lot of attention to. If you’ve covered plenty of different angles for a certain topic, do a “round-up” post that puts all the best blogs on that subject together in one handy place.

This is incredibly useful for visitors looking for specific information. They’ll spend a lot of time clicking links to posts in the round-up, browsing information, and getting all your expertise on the subject.

The best part? You can do scores of round-up blogs if you have a trove of quality content about a variety of subjects.

17. Pull from Blog Comments

You probably follow your blog comments closely, but did you know they could be fodder for blog ideas?

Look at the questions visitors are asking, the discussions that may be happening, or the related topics that are raised. Pull ideas from these comments and address them in a fresh blog.

If a reader had a question you answered briefly in the comments, you can also reference this experience. Expand on the answer and the topic further in the post.

You can also head to industry authority blogs and check out their comment sections with the same aim. See what people are talking about, then use that for blog ideas.

18. Search for Topic Variations on Google

On your search for blog ideas for writers, don’t forget to hit up Google. A quick search can help you immensely if you’re totally blank.

Type your keyword into Google, then scroll all the way to the bottom. There you’ll find “Searches related to…” that can give you some quick ideas in a pinch.

Look at these great ideas for “how to bake a cake:”

19. Mine Twitter Chats

If you want the down-low on what people in your immediate network are talking about – stuff you could potentially write about – head to Twitter and find out the scuttlebutt (for non-word nerds, that means “gossip”).

Check popular hashtags, including industry chats and topics. What questions are people asking? What topics are popping up over and over? Keep a notepad and pen handy while you do your research, and jot down your discoveries. These can be turned into great blog ideas that are of-the-moment.

For example, here’s what our own Twitter Chat #ContentWritingChat brings up in Twitter search.

20. Have an Opinion!

It’s better to have an opinion than to blindly (and blandly) go along with the status quo. Readers don’t necessarily need your unbiased rehash of hot-button issues in your industry.

What’s more interesting? Your personal take on these matters.

Don’t be afraid to have a point of view and assert it. This could win you more readers and more trust than if you stayed safely in your lane.

So, shake things up a little bit. Try being a contrarian in your industry. Don’t just churn out blog ideas; create blogs that have your personal stamp all over them. Don’t just say something – say something with passion.

Turn to Our Blog Ideas for Writers and Get Creating

Hopefully, these blog ideas for writers have switched on that light bulb in your brain and gotten you excited to create. Maybe you already have 10 or 15 new ideas jotted down, or maybe you have a bunch swimming around in your brain ready to be fleshed-out.

Whatever you do, remember you can’t reinvent the wheel. Nobody is an idea powerhouse 24/7. Consider this your helpful little nudge to get you going. After that, picking up speed is entirely up to you.

At Express Writers, we like to think of ourselves as content creation genies. If you need fresh ideas and a fresh content approach, see how we can help.

The Ultimate Guide to Creating Your Best Blog Images: Sizes, Optimization & More

June 5, 2017/3 Comments/in Blogging /by Julia McCoy

We’ve all heard the saying: a picture is worth a thousand words.

But how does this impact blogging?

Today, it’s virtually impossible to create a great blog without also creating strong visual content. In other words, your words matter less when they stand on their own. Modern readers want to be engaged on all fronts, and they look to visual materials to facilitate this.

It’s proven: blogs with high-quality, original images rank better, get more attention, and earn more shares than those without. And with 2 million blogs going out daily, you can’t afford not to stand out!

Here’s a crazy eye-tracking statistic by Springer International Publishing about the importance of good visuals in online content: people following a set of directions (which is common to long-form blogs) do 323% better with illustrations included along the way!

This leaves one big question, though…

How, exactly, do you go about creating “high-quality, original images?”

What does that even mean?

Here’s your complete guide.

The Ultimate Guide on How to Create Your Best Blog Images Ever: First, The Importance of Visuals in Your Blogs

Today, a massive 37% of marketers report that visual marketing is the single most important form of content for their business, second only to blogging.

With this in mind, consider what happens when you combine the two!

While the combination of visuals and blogs has gained steam in recent years, it’s not a new thing. In fact, visuals have always been a critical form of marketing. In addition to the fact that people are more likely to remember what they see than they are what they read or hear, content with images has a long history of performing better in search results, social media platforms, and private channels than its image-less counterparts.

In fact, BuzzSumo once reported that blog posts with images every 75-100 words earned twice as many shares on social media as posts with few or no images!

With all of this in mind, it’s clear that adding images to your blogs is more important today than ever before.

Be aware, though, that it’s not enough to simply slap a stock photo into your WordPress post. Instead, you’ve got to go the extra mile and create high-quality, custom images that provide relevance for your users, and context for your content. That’s what we’re here to talk about.

How to Create Your Best Blog Images (7 Keys)

Like learning to blog or use Twitter effectively, learning how to create blog images that are highly effective is a process. Luckily, these simple tips will help you get off to a great start:

1. Don’t Shy Away From Themed Images

Here at Express Writers, we believe deeply in creating themed images. We create custom themed images in our posts on The Write Blog and have seen great examples of themed images on sites like twelveskip.com.

Check out some of our examples from the blog roll:

While most people imagine some hokey holiday thing when they think of “themed images,” the reality is much different.

Themed images are actually a series of images that fall into a specific design structure. Of course, this design structure varies from company to company, but it’s always predictable, reliable, and recognizable.

This serves a critical purpose. By making your blog content more recognizable to your consumers, themed images help promote brand recognition and develop a consistent branding presence.

If you’re going to create themed images, keep things like your company’s color scheme, typeface, and voice in mind as you work through the process.

2. Hire a Designer

While platforms like Canva have made it easy to create your own graphic content, it remains a difficult and time-consuming task for people who don’t do it frequently. If you, like so many marketers, have your hands full with other responsibilities, consider hiring a professional designer to create your images for you.

Not only will you get a large batch of high-quality images all at once, but you’ll save the time you would have otherwise spent struggling to create them. This time can then be applied to more productive business pursuits that help grow your company and your social presence.

Not sure where to find a designer? You can go through a content agency (Express Writers offers custom image design for social media and blogs!) or work on finding a freelancer on your own.

3. Develop a Format

Regardless of whether you choose to design the images on your own or hire a professional to do it for you, one big time-saving tip is to create a standard image format that you can work off of and customize down the road. Our agency calls this an “image set.” Put simply, it’s your best featured image size with minimal text, then a formula for an inset image that can be shared on Instagram or other social platforms like Pinterest.

While each of the images you create should be unique, saving these presets in your system will streamline the creation process and ensure you wind up with high-quality images every time. To give you a head start, here’s the best image sizes for all major social platforms, according to Louisem.com:

Instagram: Instagram posts look best when they’re 1080PX x 1080PX.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn images should be 1200 x 628PX.
Facebook: The ideal image size for Facebook is 170PX x 170PX, although experts recommend uploading images of at least twice that size to ensure quality.
Pinterest: Pinterest Pins should be about 736PX x 1104PX, while board covers are 736PX x 736PX.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Want to create blog images that stand out? @ExpWriters is sharing how to size and optimize every online image!” quote=”Want to create blog images that stand out? @ExpWriters is sharing how to size and optimize every online image!”]

4. Pay Attention to Alt Text

While frequently overlooked, alt text on featured images matters hugely to SEO. Alt text is the string of text input “behind” an image, which makes it readable for search engines and people with visual disabilities.

According to Yoast, they look like this:

< img src=“image.jpg” alt=“image description” title=“image tooltip”>

But, you probably won’t have to deal with the “code” if you’re in WordPress.

Here’s what alt text looks like on the featured image upload section in your WordPress (arrow on the right):

If you have a target keyword for the blog post you’re writing, it should always be in your alt text.

This helps search engines make sense of your image and rank your content accordingly.

Unlike meta descriptions or tags, alt text doesn’t have a hard-and-fast maximum length. The better rule to consider is to always include your focus keyword here. It is important, however, that you add alt text to every image in your blog (especially the featured image) and that you’re including relevant information, like full product names and product IDs, as well as head or long-tail keywords.

So…

To end tip #4:

ALWAYS include your keyword in your ALT text on images uploaded to your blog.
This is extremely important to focus on in the Featured Image section, where Google usually indexes key images from to show with your blog in knowledge graph search results.

5. Upload the Right File Format

While most people don’t realize it, the type of files you upload for your images has an impact on their quality! While many people upload JPEGs to the web, there may be another option. First, here’s a quick breakdown of the three main file types for visual content, and their strong suits:

JPEG. JPEG files are common in photographs and images where places, things, and people are featured.
PNG. PNG files are the best for logos, text-heavy designs, and graphics. They’re also ideal for screenshots and images that have a transparent background, such as a logo designed for website use.
GIFs. GIFs are animated files and typically feature in memes.

When it comes to creating visuals for your blogs, you basically have to remember two rules: JPEGs for standard photos, and PNGs for any custom graphics you create.

In addition to the file format you choose, you’ll want to pay attention to your image dimensions, as well. Huge files take forever to download, and can affect the final quality of your image.

While many web publishing platforms (like WordPress) have functionalities built-in that automatically re-size images, it’s still wise to use an editor like Lightroom or Photoshop to resize your images (according to the above guidelines) before you upload them to the web.

6. Be Cautious With Stock Photos

While stock photos can be a valuable tool in blog image creation, they’re best used carefully. Too many stock photos in your visual strategy will make your blog look, well, boring. While it’s best to use original photos whenever possible (take a look at how LMS platform Wisetail does this on their site), this isn’t an option for companies that don’t have the photography power or the personnel to do it.

In these cases, using stock photos is fine. If you’re going to use stock photos, just be sure to follow these tips:

Look For High-Quality Options. Stock photos come from professional platforms, yes, but that doesn’t always mean they’re nicely done. As you search for images to use in your visual strategy, look for ones that are clear, crisp, and on-brand. Make sure the people in the photo (if there are any) reflect your target audience and that the topic of the photo is relevant to your post.
Focus on White Space. For a stock photo to perform well in your visual strategy, it needs to have enough white or empty space to take to text. While you can enhance the visibility of text overlay with filters, layers, and font colors and sizes, it’s always difficult to get text to show up well on top of a complex and colorful stock image.
Understand Attribution. Most stock photos don’t require any attribution when you use them. The operative word there, though, is most. By understanding the topics of attribution and copyright, you can avoid legal issues arising from your stock photo use, and keep your blog images thoroughly between the lines.

7. Focus on 10x Content

While they’re intensely important, most people regard blog images as an afterthought in the larger scheme of their blogging strategy. Unfortunately, this is exactly the wrong approach. Instead, you need to apply the principals of 10x content to your blog images. Coined by Rand Fishkin at Moz, “10x content” refers to content that breaks the mold and does something truly astounding.

It’s essential for good blogs and social media posts, and no less important for blog images.

Instead of just scraping by with your blog images, you’ll want to invest the time and energy required to grow a true visual strategy, and to ensure that every image you publish is the best one yet. While it’s true that this takes extra effort, it’s well worth it.

Think of it this way: your blog image features right next to your headline when you post new content.

While the headline has long been considered one of the most essential pieces of any blog, it’s arguable now that the featured image is up there, too.

When your featured image is high-quality, unique, attractive, and interesting, it draws people in. When paired with a great headline and a strong hook and body content, it makes for irresistible written material that is far too powerful to underestimate.

With this in mind, never stop striving for better blog images. When your visuals move up the content quality scale, the rest of your material will, as well. For more research on this, learn about the Skyscraper Technique and figure out unique ways to apply it to your blog strategy.

For example, can you evaluate your old blog images and come up with ways to make them better? Maybe you can partner with other companies or professionals to create images that the web has never seen before!

How about a hand-drawn image to accompany a fun blog post? We did this for a typically “boring” SEO blog post on a numbered list of SEO tips, by adding “to rule your content castle” at the end of the topic, then giving the title to our creative designer! Here’s the result:

The possibilities are endless, and it’s up to you to get creative.

Learn How to Create Blog Images that Win & Become a Better Visual Blogger

Today, there’s no room on the web for low-quality content – not even in your visuals. Of all the digital resources your company has, your blog is one of the most essential.

After all, 70% of customers prefer to get to know a company through content rather than ads, and 61% of consumers make purchases based on information from blogs!

With this in mind, it’s clear that you can’t afford to overlook your blog, or the images that accompany your text.

By getting proactive about your image creation strategy and actively looking for ways to improve your visual content, it’s easy to develop a high-quality approach to images that will benefit your blog for years to come.

Don’t waste any more time on sub-par blog images. Check out our custom image design services today!