Blogging Archives

How to Hire the Right Travel Writer Every Time

February 6, 2025November 12, 2024 by Sarah Damron

Imagine your brand’s content so vivid that readers can feel the silica-white sand of Tulum Beach between their toes, or taste the rich, juicy flavor of the world’s rarest meat— the Japanese Kobe beef. This kind of sensory magic can only be crafted by a writer with specialized skills — someone who can build enough excitement to compel readers to book experiences with your brand. With realistic destination descriptions, timely travel advice, and a sneak peek into cultures worldwide, the right travel writer can make your brand the go-to for people seeking inspiration to embark on their next adventure. Every travel brand needs such a master crafter. It’s time to learn what to look for when hiring a travel writer. What Is a Travel Writer? While the general description of a travel writer is someone who writes travel articles, a real travel writer focuses on capturing the essence of destinations, experiences, and cultures, enticing readers to explore. Let’s face it, give any writer a travel topic and they’ll write it through general research. But, can they include a storytelling aspect describing the immersive experiences waiting to be explored? Hand a true travel writer the same topic and you’ll notice a massive difference. They’ll dive into detail describing the rugged hiking terrains, the mouth-watering cuisine, and the cultural highlights of different destinations. Because they’re focused on giving the most useful information, they also recommend upcoming events and even throw in tips on what to do or avoid. As a polished travel writer, I’ve seen firsthand how capturing more than the basics transports readers to destinations so realistically that they can’t wait to book the next flight. In a nutshell, here’s a recap of qualities that make up a true travel writer: Depth in writing: They tackle topics expertly by giving credible information and unique perspectives beyond surface-level knowledge. Storytelling: This is distinct from depth. How well can they paint a picture of landscapes, cultures, and other adventures with their storytelling skills? Cultural sensitivity: A real travel writer honors other cultures by writing respectfully about their customs, no matter how different they are. After all, they were passed down to them through generations. Adaptability: Travel is diverse. Expert travel writers switch their writing style seamlessly from rugged travel adventures to luxury experiences. SEO practices: Savvy travel writers write with SEO in mind. How will readers learn about all those wonderful places if the content isn’t visible on search engines? Why Quality Content Is a Must in a Competitive Travel Industry Quality travel content is well-researched, valuable, easy-to-read, and engaging. It must meet the needs of your target audience, whether you’re in the airline, hotel, or cruise business. Such content captures the essence of a destination or experience while providing practical information that motivates readers to plan a trip or book a service with your brand. The travel industry is highly competitive. With over 42,700 travel agencies in the U.S. by the year 2023, customers are spoilt for choice as each travel agency vies for their attention. Each business must stand out with quality content to attract and retain customers. Your content should provide readers with the accuracy needed to make informed decisions, nudging them to choose your services over your competitors. Risks of Using Generic Content and Inexperienced Writers Standing out in a competitive travel market is impossible with generic content and writers who don’t understand your niche. Generic travel content is broad and superficial. It’s uninspiring and lacks new insights. Such content features vague descriptions of destinations without showing what sets them apart. It also lacks personal experiences and cultural context essential for attracting readers. Additionally, generic content is often associated with plagiarism and keyword-stuffed articles that focus on search engine optimization without considering reader engagement. Content generators can easily create this kind of content. While these tools can generate ideas, they’re superficial and can’t create a heartfelt sense of mystery, excitement, or longing. Without that human touch, generic content fails miserably at capturing the reader’s attention and establishing credibility, making it ineffective in this highly competitive travel industry. The Amazing Benefits of Hiring the Right Travel Writer There are positive outcomes for your travel business if you hire the right travel writer. Having traveled to numerous destinations and read a lot about them, travel writers bring a wealth of experience. I’ve traveled extensively in my lifetime, including to mysterious places like the mythical site of the Lost City of Atlantis in the Mediterranean. I also read and watch a lot of travel books and documentaries. Exploration is my cup of tea, and that helps me write exact descriptions while adding other useful information I’ve learned. Similarly, hiring travel writers who are excited about travel and understand your industry brings these benefits to your table: Destination expertise: Their firsthand destination knowledge helps them provide readers with vivid descriptions of places that invoke wanderlust and inspire bookings. Cultural insight: They have a deep knowledge of cultures, having mingled with many locals while exploring the world. Accurate travel advice: They are up-to-date with health protocols, weather conditions, infrastructure, political changes, and environmental alerts essential for planning trips. Sneak peek of unique gems: They often highlight exciting hidden locations, local festivals, markets, or authentic restaurants travelers might overlook. Practical Tips: They provide readers with essential tips such as what to pack, places to avoid visiting alone, and even budget-saving ideas. Such comprehensive information not only enhances your customer’s travel experiences but also elevates your brand as a credible source of information. Experienced travel writers apply the best SEO tactics to ensure your content ranks high on search engines. After all, how will readers discover the amazing destinations begging to be explored if they can’t find your content? At Express Writers, our travel subject matter experts will transform your brand’s content into narratives that captivate and convert. They are skilled at highlighting your business’s unique offerings with an intensity that evokes wanderlust in readers. Our seasoned travel writers are more than captivating storytellers — … Read more

Your Complete Guide to Optimal Keyword Placement for SEO

September 26, 2025October 1, 2024 by Sarah Damron

When making a sales pitch, you want to sound eager but not desperate, but you also don’t want to sound too indifferent. Keyword placement for SEO in content requires a similar careful balance between too many, too few, or not being placed carefully enough to show a connection to a topic. It’s a strategic dance with Google’s search algorithm. You want to be obvious enough with your keyword placement to improve your Google indexing but not too eager for Google to assume you are spam. Here are ten tips for where to put keywords that yield the best results in Google. Why Does Keyword Placement Matter? In Google Search’s infancy, keyword placement was very straightforward. When a content creator used a word or phrase repeatedly in content, Google would naturally assume that was the topic’s theme and pull that content in relevant searches. Imagine you sell shoes. You might repeatedly use phrases like “shoes for sale” or “cheap shoes” to attract your audience. The more often you use it, the higher your chances of Google ranking you. Here was the issue. Spammers caught on to the algorithm and began keyword stuffing or placing keywords in every nook and cranny, hoping to increase their search engine ranking for that topic. The problem was most of that content wasn’t that helpful or well-written. It would also sometimes be on a completely different topic. That’s why Google shifted from keywords being the king of SEO to quality content being at the forefront. SEO content cannot rank without being well-written and demonstrating authority and personal experience. However, keywords still play a valuable role because Google still needs to know what your content is about. The phrases you use in your content help the algorithm know (because it’s a computer, not a human that can use deductive reasoning). Since you are dealing with an algorithm, you need to be clear about your content’s theme by choosing keywords or search phrases your audience uses in Google search throughout your content in strategic spots that will stand out. How Many Keywords Can You Use? Can an article only rank for one keyword? We often see our content ranking in several different searches. Google won’t only pull your content for the keyword you select. It can list your content for related searches, too. However, trying to rank for too many keywords is like mastering several sports simultaneously. You may be able to rank in more searches, but you won’t master one. You would see much better results by having a laser focus and putting all your effort into ranking for a single phrase and related keywords in each blog post. The related keywords appear one or two times each throughout the content, while the focus keyword has the spots of honor. By using synonymous and related keywords, you not only decrease your chances of Google seeing you as keyword stuffing but also read more naturally to readers because you aren’t repeating the exact phrase. 10 Places to Place Your Keywords Learn where to put SEO keywords to see the best results and tips for sprinkling those secondary keywords around the focus keyword. 1. Blog Title Your blog title is the H1 that appears at the top of your blog post. This is one of the most important spots for search engine keyword placement as it quite literally tells readers and Google what your content is about. Try to include it naturally in the title, correcting grammar errors and using stop words when necessary. Stop words are words like a, and, your, and the that doesn’t change your keyword’s meaning – only make it more natural. For instance, if your keyword is “best marketing tools,” your blog title might be “7 Best Marketing Tools Transforming Businesses in 2024.” 2. Introduction Paragraph Your blog’s first section before the first sub-heading is your introduction. This section should be 200 words or less. It’s only a sneak peek at your content and doesn’t need to hold any essential information. However, it does need to contain your focus keyword. Some marketers take this a step further and aim to have their focus keyword in the first paragraph. No significant data shows a difference between the first or last paragraph in the intro. You have this area covered as long as you hit on that keyword at some point while introducing the topic. 3. One or More Sub-Headers While the title is the most important header for your keyword, you will want to include it in at least one sub-header. These are your H2s, H3s, H4s, etc. What you want to avoid is adding your focus keyword in every single header. Instead, switch up your focus keyword with synonymous keywords. If your focus keyword is “financial services for doctors,” you might also use the phrases “medical financial services” and “healthcare financial services” in your H2s and H3s to avoid keyword stuffing and just sounding annoyingly repetitive. 4. Throughout the Body The number of times a keyword appears in the text has no official rule, and the number of opinions on keyword distribution is as many as the number of SEO strategists. However, one generally accepted concept is the 1% rule, or using keywords no more than once every 100 words, no matter how long your blog post is. Notice, I said KEYWORDS, not FOCUS KEYWORD. That’s because you want your focus keyword distribution to be much less dense. That ratio is for all your keywords. Would you enjoy reading a sentence that sounded like this: “When choosing the best smartphone repair near you, you want your smartphone repair service to match your smartphone repair cost.” That’s not a sentence. That’s a string of keywords patched together. Disperse all keywords once every 100 words unless they naturally fit closer together. Your focus keyword should only appear once every 400-500 words. You can even get away with it appearing less often if it’s very distinct and doesn’t fit naturally throughout. Instead, opt to use synonyms. … Read more

How Long Should a Blog Post Be, Really?

June 25, 2024June 19, 2024 by David Ingram

Human beings have fretted over the possible ways new technologies might affect us as long as we’ve had the means to record our worries and anxieties for posterity. In 370 BC, in the dialogue Phaedrus, Plato’s Socrates spoke at length about the perils of a new fad that would “introduce forgetfulness into the souls of those who learn it.” He warned his audience that users of this drug — for Socrates calls it a pharmakon in Greek — will “not practice using their memories, because they will put their trust in it instead.” So, what was this nascent form of premodern TikTok with the power to destroy people’s memories outright? It was the art of writing itself. The notion that — for the first time — we could put knowledge somewhere besides our own minds. In a thing. On a shelf. While Socrates’ hot take on the downsides of literacy likely seem freakishly exaggerated to us now, we’ve certainly not ceased to worry that for every bell and whistle we add to world around us to better serve our needs and wants, we might lose something of ourselves in the process. Researchers at UC Irvine have been conducting a continuous study in trends in the human attention span since 2004. And so far, the observed trend has been singular and pointing in one direction only. 20 years ago, the average human attention span — measured by the amount time spent on a task before switching to another — was two and a half minutes. By 2012, it had diminished to 75 seconds. And in 2024, most of us go looking for distraction after a mere 47 seconds — about 10 seconds longer than it took you to reach the end of this paragraph, if you read at an average pace. Yeah, So Get to the Point and Tell Me How Long My Stuff Should Be Already Given that we’re all thoroughly “distracted from distraction by distraction” — a criticism of our minds’ aimless wanderings penned 71 years before the release of the first iPhone — what’s the magic number of words for effectively communicating content without losing the audience? If our attention spans are only getting shorter, should content length simply follow suit? Not exactly. After all, most of us want our readers to do more than just endure our content till the end. We’d like them to share it, cite it, or even go and make a decision in the real world based on something they learned from it. And speaking to that part of ourselves — our action-driving values lurking just below the surface of our fleeting attention — requires a little more than just giving our first and worst impulses what they want all the time. Stirring people into action or to convince them of a new idea — be it the moral necessity of a grand cause or the superiority of a particular sneaker — seems to take a bit longer. Based on the average word count of first-page content on Google in March 2024, you need about five and a half minutes of your reader’s more-or-less undivided attention — or roughly 1400 words at the average adult reading pace — to get the keys clacking and the thumbs tapping out those precious conversion actions. What Does Everyone Else Say? Of course, there’s more to the world of content performance metrics than just Google Analytics. Afterall, averages can be deceiving without context. For example, both Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos have homes in the 3000-resident township of Medina, WA. Nevertheless, locals should probably not expect their creditworthiness to skyrocket based on the town’s average net worth per resident alone. Similarly, figuring out optimal content length requires a bit more information. Let’s look at what the other hierophants of content marketing have to say. BuzzSumo Publishing platform specialists BuzzSumo recently conducted a study of 400,000 long-form blogs and articles to identify the hallmarks of high-performing content. They found that length does positively correlate with performance within a specific range, such that pieces shorter than 1000 words suffered a 1% reduced chance of high engagement with diminishing returns… well returning… above 2000 words. Image source BuzzSumo Moz SEO gurus Moz have mostly chosen to answer the question “How long should blogs be?” with a set of questions you should ask yourself about your own audience and goals first. In large datasets used to calculate averages, how many of the studied posts target the same keywords as your content? How do you tell correlation from causation? Afterall, the top result for any search query didn’t achieve that position based on having a magic word count. It simply communicated something better than the available alternatives. What’s the quality of traffic the highest performers receive? If the quality is low, is it worth imitating? Semrush Semrush’s most recent State of Content Marketing Global Report found that blog posts with over 3,000 words receive 138% more page views than those with fewer than 500 words. They concluded this is largely because longer articles tend to be more comprehensive and detailed, qualities that surprisingly appeal to both search engines and their putative human masters. Nonetheless, relevance and quality still trump length outright, as unnecessarily long posts will inevitably lose reader engagement. To determine the best length for your specific needs, Semrush recommends: Establishing Clear Goals: Define whether your aim is to rank high on search engines, drive social media shares, generate leads, or promote a product. Understanding Your Audience: Tailor the content length to your readers’ preferences and their level of expertise on the topic. Focusing on Search Intent: Analyze the top-ranking articles for your target keywords to gauge the appropriate length and structure. Backlinko Backlinko has published some mold-breaking content on the subject of content length. Their analysis of 912 million blog posts found that comprehensive and detailed articles are more likely to receive backlinks and social media shares. In another noticeably 41,130-word post entitled How to Write a Blog Post: The … Read more

50+ Blogging Statistics to Guide You Beyond 2024

June 11, 2024June 9, 2024 by Sarah Damron

Data takes the guesswork out of strategies. You can go from “We should try this and see if people respond” to “Most people respond favorably to this strategy. Let’s also invest in it.” We are bringing you the latest data on blogging. As you move through 2024 and beyond, use these blogging statistics to keep your blogging strategy current and focused on what users want most, optimized for the most popular devices. General Blogging Statistics Blogging is popular globally. Blogs account for 31.6% of 1.9 billion websites. Here are a few statistics to help you understand how popular blogs are and how people use this effective platform in marketing. There are over 600 million blogs in 2024. 93% of online experiences begin in a search engine. Blogging is your way to appear in search engines, attracting part of that traffic to your website. Google holds 85.55% of the global search engine market. They have roughly 83.79 billion visitors monthly. Every day, people publish over 2 million new blog posts. Blogging is very alive and active. About 77% of internet users engage with blogs. 80% of bloggers see strong marketing results, and those who publish regularly see the best results. Blogging Growth Statistics Not only is blogging alive and active, but it continues to see growth. Here are some projected growth statistics as we move through 2024 and beyond. Between 2024 and 2031, experts predict the SEO industry will grow at a CAGR of 25.54%. By 2032, the global content marketing industry should reach a $2 trillion market size. In 2024, 45% of B2B content marketers plan to increase their marketing budget. Blog post length has increased 42% over the past five years, showing the need for longer, more insightful content. B2B Blogging Statistics B2B blogging is a unique strategy as your audience tends to be more discerning and expect higher quality content. About 71% of B2B buyers read blog posts before making a purchase. 61% of B2B content marketers regularly meet with their content creation team, usually meeting daily or weekly. This additional alignment is crucial for B2B marketing as marketers often employ strategies such as account-based marketing that rely on a well-aligned team to craft personalized experiences. 58% of B2B marketers were able to increase their sales and revenue from content marketing in 2023. 66% of B2B marketers prioritize audience needs and pain points above conversion because B2B marketing builds relationships with loyal clients rather than make quick sales. B2B blog posts tend to be 12% longer than other blog posts. Image from HubSpot Blogging and SEO Statistics Organic search is one of the main reasons marketers add blogging to their list of strategies. SEO prepares blog content for search engines to rank well in search results, generating higher traffic rates. Here are a few statistics that give you insights into the interactions of blogging and SEO. Active blogs are rewarded with 434% more indexed pages and 97% more inbound links. The indexed pages and inbound links significantly improve a website’s search engine ranking, demonstrating the importance of keeping your blog active to generate consistent traffic. Blogs with 6-13-word headlines drive more traffic than shorter or longer ones. Google prefers updated, relevant content. That is why 34% of bloggers update their blog content regularly to strengthen their traffic results. About 75% of search engine users don’t look beyond the first search engine results page. In addition, 31% of users click on the first organic search result. Because of this startling number, marketers strive to snag one of those top search engine spots to see a healthy traffic stream. Image from DemandSage Blogging Content What do people use their blogs for? These statistics will give you insights into how you can design your blog posts for the most engagement. The average blog is 1,416 words While most blogs have a higher word count, 75% of readers prefer blog posts that are 1,000 words or under. Yet, articles with higher word counts tend to lead to better results. Only 3% of bloggers regularly publish posts over 2,000 words. Despite the longer word count, the average reader only spends 52 seconds on a blog post. Consumers read blog content three times more than emails. About 44% of bloggers publish 3-6 times monthly. The most popular blog niches are food, lifestyle, and travel. The average blog post that does not use AI takes two to three hours to write. Half of bloggers publish weekly or more. About 61% of marketers host their blogs and websites on WordPress. Images are essential for engaging readers. Three-quarters of bloggers use between one and three images in their blog posts. When bloggers use images, they receive 94% more views than posts with no visuals. Video content is growing in popularity. Videos can drive 50 times more organic search traffic than text posts. Embedding videos into your blog posts to see the best of both worlds. Image from SEMrush Blog Readers Statistics Who is writing and reading blogs, and is your audience among those readers? We gathered some of the most telling demographic details about blog readers and a few about blog writers. The average age of bloggers is 21 to 35 years old. The average age of Google users is 18 to 34. About 26% of Google traffic comes from the US. 59% of Google users are male and 41% are females. Blog Marketing Statistics While some bloggers use their blogs to generate income, it’s often just one of several content marketing strategies to promote a business’s products and services. About 90% of marketers use blogging in their marketing strategies. Blogging is a valuable source of new leads, with companies that blog generating 67% more leads than those that do not. Blogging is the third most popular marketing strategy. Video and eBooks are the first and second most popular strategies. ROI of Blogging One of the biggest blogging challenges is accurately measuring ROI. Because blogging often doesn’t produce direct results, such as leading to a sale … Read more

Find the Blog Posting Frequency that Works for You

May 1, 2024 by Adam Oakley

You know having a blog for your business or brand is critical to drawing in new customers and keeping the ones you have. However, you likely have wondered what the right blog posting frequency is. Should you post once a week? Every day? Multiple times a day? What’s the ideal blog posting frequency for you? Of course, the answer depends on your needs, goals, and the size of your business/brand. In this guide, we will answer these questions and help you craft the ideal content calendar for your blog. What Is the Ideal Blog Posting Frequency? At the end of 2023, there were over 1.1 billion websites. Of those, about 18% are active, which translates to over 200 million active websites on the web. Over these billions of websites, there are about 600 million blogs on the internet with millions of new blogs posted every day. With statistics like this, it can make you wonder how you could ever make an impact in your small corner of the internet. However, with the right marketing strategy and blog posting frequency, you are more likely to attract the attention of the customers you need. Knowing how often you should post blogs is a question that continually puzzles digital marketers because there is no single recommendation that fits every website. Smaller businesses may find blogging less often, like one to four times a week, works for them, while larger businesses may need to blog daily or even multiple times a day. There is also the consideration of what types of content you’re covering. If you operate in a small, niche area where information is stable and does not change frequently, you might find success with blogging less often. Another part of the blogging frequency puzzle is what your goals are for your blog. Most brands either want to drive organic traffic or increase their brand awareness. According to HubSpot, if driving organic traffic is your goal, you should blog more frequently, while increasing brand awareness doesn’t require as much content. 8 Considerations to Determine Your Frequency of Blog Posts While you can take a guess at the number of blog posts that works for you, you will have better success evaluating industry trends and considering your blogging goals. 1. Look at Statistics According to Orbit Media’s 10th Edition of the Annual Blogger Survey, blog trends have changed a lot in the past decade. While successful bloggers were previously posting every day, many of them are now posting less often. However, the difference is, their blogs are longer and more detailed. While a 500-word blog posted daily worked in the past, bloggers are finding longer blogs over 1,000 words posted less frequently get better results. The survey shows the average blog post is 77% longer in 2023 than it was in 2013. As for how frequently bloggers post, the most popular responses were weekly and several per month. 2. Monitor Your Industry Just like any other part of your business or brand, it is a good idea to look at the competition. What are similar content creators doing on their blogs? Monitor 10-20 blogs in your niche and see how often they are updated. If you’re not posting as often, you could get left behind. This also means you need to keep up with any industry changes. If there are frequent updates in your industry, your blog posts need to reflect that new information. You can save time keeping up with this information by updating old content. 3. Consider Your Constraints A large multi-million-dollar company is going to have more time and resources to put into blogging than someone who is a solo content creator. If you try to keep pace with a multi-person team, you are most likely going to feel burnt out and the quality of your blogs is going to suffer. One option to increase your blogging output without overworking yourself or your staff is by outsourcing some or all of your blogging needs. Consider finding a high-quality writing agency or writer to help you expand your content calendar and keep up with the competition. 4. Focus on Quality Just like most things in life, it is better to deliver quality over quantity and Google backs that up. In late 2022, Google released an algorithm update that added an ‘E’ to the SEO acronym EAT. The new EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. You will get better Google results producing high-quality blogs, released less often than pumping out lower-quality blogs more often. If you can produce and publish a high-quality blog every day, that’s awesome. If your capabilities and mental load limit your blogging frequency to once a week, then that is ok, too. Just make sure whatever you publish is the best it can be. If you are struggling to produce high-quality content, hiring an experienced professional writer could be the best choice. Consider how much you could gain by publishing premium content on a regular basis. 5. Remember Your Goals It is easy to simply copy whatever your competitor is doing. However, that strategy may not give you the best results. Instead, you need to remember what your goal is for blogging. Why are you doing this? Consider the following questions: Are you prioritizing SEO? Are you trying to improve your brand recognition? Are you trying to get a higher position in your SERPs for specific keywords? The answers to these questions will help you refine your blogging purpose and frequency. 6. Focus on the Needs of Your Audience What does your typical customer/reader look for or need when visiting your blog? Are they looking for new information every day? Do they have specific questions that your blog can answer? Is there information missing from your website that would prevent them from moving through the customer journey? One of the primary functions of a blog, especially for a business, is to offer value. Publishing a blog that doesn’t add anything new, simply for the act … Read more

What Makes Compelling Content?

November 16, 2023 by Michael Miller

Websites and blogs need compelling content that compels readers to take action. Simply putting words onscreen doesn’t do it, which is why AI-generated content is so bland and ineffective. You need content that grabs the reader’s attention, makes them want to keep reading, and inspires them to do more. How do you create content that is compelling? The best way is to hire a professional writer who knows all the tricks of the trade, like Express Writers’ professional content creators. Our writers know how to create compelling content—and are eager to share some of their most useful tips. Informative The first key to creating compelling content is to ensure the content itself is useful to the reader. That means creating content that contains the information the reader wants and needs. People read articles, blog posts, and white papers because they’re looking for specific information. People want to know what’s going on in the world around them, how things work, and how to do certain tasks. They read to get the information they need. If a post or article doesn’t contain useful information, readers will abandon it. A post or article without detailed content is like snack food—it may be entertaining but it doesn’t deliver any value. Engaging Including useful content isn’t enough. Content must also engage the reader and pull them into the copy. They have to feel compelled to keep reading after the first sentence or paragraph. If the content isn’t engaging, you lose readers’ attention and they click away to other sites. How best to engage the reader? The key is to speak directly to the reader. Write as if you’re talking to a specific person. Write in the second person (“you” and “your”) rather than the more formal third person (“his,” hers,” “their”). For example, instead of writing “It’s a great deal,” write “It’s a great deal for you.” Don’t say “Our customers will enjoy it,” say “You will enjoy it.” Make your content personal. You can also engage the reader by asking them questions. Start an article with a question that pulls the reader into the piece, something like “Do you know the seven reasons why this thing works?” People will keep reading to find out the answer. Compelling Content is Targeted Compelling content is not generic. For content to be compelling to a given audience, it has to be targeted to that audience. Readers aren’t interested in content that is of no value to them. You don’t want to try to sell an AARP audience on the benefits of pimple cream—or tell a teenage audience about a new retirement home. Your copy should be written for a targeted audience, the more specific the better. Knowing your audience is also important because it tells you what information to include—and how to include it. Different audiences not only have different wants and needs, they have different knowledge and expectations. You need to figure out who the audience is, how much they know, and how much they don’t know. You can then provide what they want at the level and in the style they want—and not write over or under their heads. Gets to the Point—Quickly Most people don’t want to read long pieces online. People today have very short attention spans—and those attention spans are decreasing. According to a recent study, the average attention span is used to constant distractions. Human beings now have shorter attention spans than goldfish! This is clearly evident online. Internet users don’t read articles, they graze them for key information. The average online reader will not repeatedly press the Page Down key or click the Next Page button on a long web page or blog post. You have their attention for a single screen, at best, so you need to make the most of it. Keep your content short and concise or your readers will lose interest. Organized and Hierarchical One way to deal with the attention span issue is to organize your content into small chunks. Use a copious number of section heads to break your content into two- or three-paragraph sections. This makes it easy for readers to scan the headers and graze the short sections. When organizing your content, you should always put your most important information upfront. This way readers will get your key points quickly, even if they don’t read the entire post or article. Think of your content as an inverted pyramid. Tell readers exactly what they want to know in the very first paragraph, and then fill in additional details through the rest of the post or article. Don’t make them sludge through a long web page or post to find what they’re most interested in. Give it to them upfront, and then tell the rest of the story and provide additional details. You should also strive to use short paragraphs, sentences, and words. This is, to some extent, practical, as small smartphone screens make reading lengthy passages difficult. It’s a matter of adjusting your writing to the medium and to the audience. Captivating Copy is Easy to Understand One of the most important ways to make your content compelling is to speak in the language of your reader. You need to choose the right writing style for your target audience—which, for most content, means writing in a conversational style. If your writing sounds overly technical or uses too much insider jargon, it’s going to turn off the average reader. Instead, you should write in a style that is not too formal, too stiff, or too technical. Your writing needs to feel genuine and natural, just like you’re having a conversation with someone in real life. Use the right style for your audience and everything else will fall into place. In most cases, that means translating complex terms and topics into plain English. Don’t use industry buzzwords and three-letter acronyms, use language that average people speak every day. It should be like you’re sitting in a coffee shop talking about the topic to a … Read more

Unlock Your Content Empire with White Label Ebooks: A Game-Changing Solution for Any Business, Any Industry

January 18, 2024June 20, 2023 by Adam Oakley

You might not see white label ebooks every day on the latest content marketing sites, but that doesn’t mean they are irrelevant. In fact, ebooks are still a powerful marketing tool that any business, regardless of industry, should be utilizing in their marketing strategy. If your company is not using an ebook, you are missing out on the opportunity to educate and retain potential customers and position yourself as an authority. Hubspot Uses Ebooks – and Savvy about it Too Take Hubspot, for example. They publish ebooks throughout the year and put them on their site. “State of Marketing 2023,” is a popular one that they release annually, telling you what’s new, what’s trending, and what they see in the future. Yes, these are all free, but that doesn’t mean Hubspot is not gaining something from using them. To download the ebook, you must give Hubspot your email. Once they have your email, you are part of their marketing funnel. You will get email marketing campaigns, some of which you might click on or even act on. All for a free download. What is a White Label Ebook? Hubspot creates its ebooks in-house, but that doesn’t mean you have to. Hubspot is a major corporation with the means to hire in-house writers to tackle the research and writing of their ebooks. You are more likely to benefit from a white label ebook for your business than trying to hire an in-house writer. Ebooks as “white label,” are ebooks written by a third party, such as a writing agency you have hired, but published under your company’s name or even your name. You are the author. You didn’t research or write it, but you get all of the credit. By no means is this misleading. You are a busy business owner and need to outsource things like content creation – including ebooks – to help your content marketing strategy and build your business. With these white label services, you get the expertise of a writer in your niche that can research, create, and edit – with some companies, like here at Express Writers, you can even get the book designed so it is ready to publish the moment you get it. You are a busy business owner and need to outsource things like content creation – including ebooks – to help your content marketing strategy and build your business. With these white label services, you get the expertise of a writer in your niche that can research, create, and edit – with some companies, like here at Express Writers, you can even get the book designed so it is ready to publish the moment you get it. A Quick Note on White Label Ebooks and AI AI is here, and it is writing content for a lot of businesses. However, we’d like to share a little caution when it comes to using AI to create an ebook – whether it is 4 pages or 40 pages. AI is NOT creative. It is not original. Yes, sure, your ebook might pass on Copyscape as “original” copy, but the reality is that your copy was generated by stringing together phrases and keywords already on the web – meaning content written by someone else already out there. So, your ebook is not white label if you opt for AI as your means to creating it. The only way to protect your brand and ensure you have a genuine, white label ebook is to hire a writer and have them create that ebook from scratch using their words, their research, and of course, your branding. The Benefits of Purchasing White Label Ebooks on a Platform Like EW At Express Writers, we understand the importance of a worthwhile ebook. In return, you want to flex your knowledge and gain something from your ebook. If you’re on the fence about outsourcing, let us discuss with you a few reasons customers purchase ebooks from our team rather than turning to a content mill or even AI. You Build Credibility and Authority with Your Audience Yes, long-form blog posts, such as our Authority blogs, help build your authority (an important part of E-E-A-T), but ebooks can do it even faster and better. After all, no one wants to read a 10,000-word blog, but they will read a 10,000-word ebook. Ebooks are the epitome of long-form content that help establish your brand’s credibility and authority in a single piece of content. You can share case study information, in-house statistics, and even more in-depth information about the products or services your company offers. It doesn’t matter if your target audience is a consumer or another business – ebooks build credibility all the same. Inexpensive Compared to the Return on Your Investment The return on your investment with an ebook is well worth it. Not only can you use ebooks as a gateway to capture emails and expand your potential customer pool, but it only costs a few hundred dollars for you to unlock leads that are actually interested in you. A single ebook locked behind providing an email address could give you hundreds of potential customers all for a few hundred you spent writing that one ebook. Purchasing leads will never generate results like that. Easy Distribution White label ebooks are digital; therefore, you don’t have to find a publisher or even worry about going through the demands of a digital publisher. Instead, you have a download-ready ebook you can put on your website, link in social media, create a landing page for, etc. Distribution is only limited by what you are willing to do to market the ebook. Likewise, your readers can access and download the content on any device – computer, phone, tablet, and more. Use Your Ebook as a Guide to Educate Even Further You can use an ebook as a “guide” to help your readers better understand your products or services. It works in any niche. For example, you sell custom resin pen blanks (quite the … Read more

Revisions: Your Secret Weapon for Perfecting Your Blog Content

September 26, 2025May 2, 2023 by Korilynn V.

You’ve waited a few days, and you finally received your copy. You’re excited to get moving on with your project, open up the document, and realize that the tone is not correct, the keyword wasn’t used as you wanted it to, or the direction of the blog itself didn’t go the way you had hoped. You filled out the input form, so you know you had requested specifics for this piece, but you don’t feel the writer nailed it. Now, you have to send it back for a revision. You can feel a sense of annoyance creeping up as you click “Request Revision.” While you might think revisions are terrible, you are missing out on seeing the incredible value of requesting a revision. Clicking that button has just improved your investment in your content. How so? Four Benefits of Requesting a Revision from Your Content Writer Revisions are a good thing. Let me say that one more time…revisions are a good thing. It does delay your project another day or so, but you are investing in your writer, brand, and project by requesting a revision. Let me show you how that is… You are Not Revising It Yourself – Saving you the Time and Hassle Yes, you could save a few days by revising it yourself. But how much time did you save, really? You outsourced your content for a reason – because you didn’t have the time to write it yourself. So, why are you revising it yourself? Instead, you need to let the writer that crafted your content do the heavy lifting – that is why they offer revisions. Take advantage of those free revisions and send your piece back. While you wait you can get started on ordering your social media posts and your email copy for the blog post you are waiting to launch, while our team fine-tunes things for you. No matter what, you have saved yourself time. You are not spending 30 minutes, an hour, or maybe a few hours reworking your content. Instead, you have that done for you free of charge as part of your initial order fee. You are Working with Your Writer to Get that Tone/Style/Niche Perfect – Which Pays for Itself in the Long Run At Express Writers, we aim to have you work with the same writer, not just for this project but for all projects for that specific brand. Every time writers work with you, they learn more about your preferences, nuances, preferential stylistic needs, etc. These are things embroidered in your mind, but your writer needs to learn them to continue using them in future content. If you don’t request a revision, how will your writer know what you prefer them to do on the next order? What comes easy to us only sometimes translates well on paper. When you fill out an input form, what you see as a “casual” content tone might not be what a writer views as casual. When there is room for interpretation, there is room for something to be “off” slightly. That is why there are revisions – so you can help the writer better understand what you meant in your input form. You are Finetuning Your Wants and Needs (Some You May Not Have Realized You Had in the First Place) When you complete an input form, you convey what you want right down to the preferred style/tone, but as we said before, what you may think is “casual” is not how the writer interprets it. Or, you might request that a blog be written more academically, only to realize that doesn’t jive with your tastes. Revisions help you finetune what you actually want in your content because sometimes it takes seeing content that needs to be corrected to realize what you need to get it there and find what your style is. Sometimes you think your style is more “encyclopedic,” only to realize it is not after you see what that type of content is. We don’t want you stuck with a piece of content that doesn’t suit your style, so we offer the opportunity to revise and refine. You are Ensuring that the Final Product is Right – and Future Orders Will be Right from the Get-Go When you have a project that was a home run, you can request that same writer on future projects. If you work alongside that writer via revisions to fine-tune your content, future orders will go much smoother. The writer might hit it out of the park the first go around on assignment #2 – even if the first assignment required a few rounds of revisions before it was right. That is why we aim to have the same writer work on your same brand or projects – so that everything they’ve learned about your brand from those revisions is applied to future content. Not only will the writer be more on point, but you will notice that turnaround times decrease. Your writer no longer needs as much time to create your content because once they see the title, topic, and keywords, they know what you intended for them to create, and they don’t have to spend as much time researching background information to create it. You benefit from having an in-house writer without the hassle of managing them. You’re working alongside them to fine-tune your content today so future orders are much easier and more efficient tomorrow. How to Get the Most Out of Your Revisions Simply requesting a revision is not enough. You want to ensure that when a project goes back, it returns to you right. When you request a revision, here are a few tips for getting the most out of it: Be Specific About What’s Right and What’s Wrong: Saying “it is wrong” doesn’t point the writer in the right direction. So, be specific here. Let them know what was right and what parts specifically were wrong so they know a) what parts you do … Read more

What Does Done-for-You Content Marketing Mean Anyway?

June 19, 2024April 18, 2023 by Alicia Oakley

At Express Writers, you often hear us mention “done-for-you” content marketing in our blogs, and on our website, and we even boast about it in some social media posts. But what does done-for-you content marketing entail? For those who have wondered what DFY content is, how it works, and the benefits of seeking providers who can do it for you, look no further than this mini guide. Today, we will talk about done-for-you marketing and how you can get more out of your content while spending less time and money than you would going the traditional route (i.e., doing it yourself). Isn’t All Content Ordered Considered Done-for-You Content Marketing? Yes, and no. It depends on the service you are ordering and where you are ordering it. Some companies offer done-for-you content bundles, like Express Writers, while others offer DFY content, but it includes nothing more than writing content. It doesn’t necessarily include the expertise, research, and quality assurances you need to satisfy Google’s E-E-A-T and improve your website’s authority. Genuine DFY content is written by a subject matter expert in your niche – not a freelance writer who dabbles in that industry. Basically, your writer is a mirror of you – only they are saving you the time and effort of writing a blog yourself using the information you provide and leaning on their own experience and expertise in the niche to deliver top-notch content. Getting a content bundle is the best way to expand every penny spent on your content marketing and provide you with high-quality content that returns continuously year after year. What is a Done-for-You Content Bundle, and Why Should You Use Them? Yes, you could order a single blog written by a subject matter expert, but if you buy an entire bundle, you are unlocking even more benefits while saving time and money. By bundles, we are talking about the blog, its meta, SEO research, images, and the expertise behind it. A popular bundle option is our Authority Package service. Within the Authority Package, you receive: An In-Depth Content Strategy Designed around Your SPECIFIC Topic: A content strategist researches your desired topic and creates a click-worthy headline that touches high on the EMV scale. Then, they search for high-volume, low-competition keywords to sprinkle into your content so that you rank well in the SERPs. The strategist will look for strategic linking opportunities and even provide details for the writer to hit on to satisfy the topic with E-E-A-T in mind. A Subject Matter Expert Writing Your Content: Once you approve your content’s research phase, it heads over to an SME writer with genuine experience in your field (not only do they have 5+ years of experience writing in it, they have advanced degrees in that field as well). In-Depth Editing: To ensure everything is included and that you receive the highest quality writing possible, an editor reviews the content and fine-tunes it before delivery. Custom Designed Images: The Authority Package doesn’t use stock images. Instead, it includes custom images created in Adobe by an in-house designer. It includes a header image, inset, CTA image, two custom images or graphs, and four pull quotes to help specific text pop off the page. In 2022 alone, Express Writers provided authority packages for hundreds of clients saving thousands of hours of work. Add social media posts and emails to go along with that package. You now have a blog with authority, an email newsletter to let readers know it is there and ready for consumption, and social media posts to sprinkle on your favorite platforms. What are the Benefits of Using DFY Content? Let’s break it down and look at the benefits you receive with DFY content. You Get Three Professional Services in One Package Price Taking the Authority Package example, you have three core services in play. If you were to do these yourself, you would need to outsource to multiple freelancers for your SEO, writing, and professional design. In the package, you get all three professional services already vetted and ready to go from the same location. Saving you the hassle and time of searching for freelancers to fulfill these gaps yourself. You Unlock Access to a Team that is Up-to-Date on Google’s Wants and Needs Google does a lot of updates, and they all carry the same theme: authority and trust. Trust is not new to the marketing sector. If you think about it, trust has been around since the dawn of content marketing. Sales pages, landing pages, Ebooks, emails…the goal has always been getting your reader to trust you. So, what has changed? Google now wants to see that trust for itself. When people do not trust your site, they will never purchase from you and will not return. You have that one shot at building trust, building up those relationships, and converting them. Trust is a central component of Google’s latest guidelines with E-E-A-T. Trustworthiness doesn’t help your ranking directly, but according to Yoast, that “back” button when a client realizes they don’t trust you can. When you hire someone to do DFY content, they are more than aware of the latest algorithm changes and what Google demands in their latest E-E-A-T. EW writers are all trained on E-E-A-T and what it entails by offering an in-depth course within our university. So, when an SME writer tackles your content, they bring every aspect of E-E-A-T to the digital table: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. You Save a Significant Amount of Time Think about how much time you would invest if you did each component of DFY content bundles for yourself. First, you need to subscribe to tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush to start generating your reports and researching your topic. You would need to familiarize yourself with the EMV scoring system and how to improve your titles so they are click-worthy. You would need BuzzSumo to help you find what is trending in your industry so that you can play off both trending … Read more

The Future of Blogging: Today’s Recipe for a Perfect Blog Post

April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 by Korilynn V.

A craveable, delicious, delightful blog post isn’t much different from a pastry. As long as you follow the recipe, steps included, you will create a post your readers are hungry to devour – and might even return for more. The good news is you won’t make a special trip to the grocery store to get started on the perfect blog post. Everything you need is in your virtual pantry – you just didn’t realize it. Writing a blog post, especially in today’s competitive market, is intimidating. Once you break it down and understand the ingredients, however, you can whip up these readable bits on the fly and stay up with the trends for the future of blogging in 2023. So, What Do You Need to Craft the Perfect Blog Post in 2023? The future of blogging has certainly changed. What worked last year doesn’t necessarily apply today. Therefore, staying up on the latest blogging and SEO trends is essential so that you know what Google expects – and, more importantly, what today’s reader wants. The Perfect Blog Recipe Before you start to type, you want to make sure you have the following essentials ready to add to the mixing bowl: 1 click-worthy title 1 attention-keeping introduction A pinch of creativity A few cups of informative, scannable subheaders A splash of succinct body copy A handful of authoritative research and your expertise 1 part formatting 1 delectable conclusion A dusting of enthusiasm for the topic A garnish of passion for your niche Putting it Altogether – How the Future of Blogging will Change How You Use These Ingredients As you can see, the ingredients haven’t changed, but how and when you use them has. We will break down each portion of this recipe so that you know how to mix it all in and get your readers to come back for more. Creating Your Title By far one of the most essential ingredients! Your title sets the stage for what the reader can expect, even determining if they ever get past the SERPs to read your blog. Spend time on this stage of your recipe. In fact, whatever you title it as your “working” title, be prepared to come back and rework it until it is just right later. Don’t hastily toss forth the first title you have in mind. Instead, let it sit and rest, and the flavors meld together. Think of title creation as a slow, steady simmer rather than a rapid boil. A good title mixes intrigue and information and is not too long. Yes, Google says there is no limit, and the length of your title will not influence your search engine results. Instead, it affects whether or not someone will click on it. The first 60 characters matter the most – so make those count even if you have a 100-character title. Whatever you do, don’t over-sprinkle in the keywords for your title – not only will it kill your readability factor and turn off any enthusiastic taster, but it will turn away Google too. Roll Out Your Introduction Your introduction supports your title. So perhaps you may not create it until you have solidified your intro – and that’s okay. An introduction requires time and patience. While you will mix up something short, sweet, and enticing, you will also want it to rest a few hours before you revisit and rework it again. While adding a keyword to the introduction is essential, ensure it is not the highlighting flavor. An introduction gives readers just a taste of what else is to come, but the full flavor doesn’t explode until the end. Of course, if your introduction isn’t tasty enough to keep reading, the end doesn’t matter much. So, take your time, rework it after the entire blog is done, and ask yourself, would I eat this up? Never Forget the Power of Creativity Too many recipes lack creativity. Think of those five-star restaurants – are they working with “vanilla” recipes used over and over again? Of course not. They are hashing out something unique that stays with their branding but still tantalizes the tastebuds. Never leave out a pinch of creativity in your content – all of your content. Creativity should be tossed in from the start; if you can’t taste it, add more. Start Rolling Out Subheaders Subheaders help your reader scan and understand what they are about to digest. They should go in an even flow, make sense, and inform. Ideally, subheaders are introduced every 300-500 words max (there’s nothing wrong with adding them in fewer words as long as the words in between pack a powerful punch). Subheaders are a great place for optimizing with secondary keywords but don’t overdo it. Time to Mix in Your Body’s Copy You have a working title, and you’ve rolled out the subheaders. Now comes the time to mix together your blog’s body. But before you add anything, do your research. You may be an expert in your niche, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need resources to back up what you say. Today, using authoritative, high-quality links is still a must-have for any recipe. Search Engine Journal states that every site needs credible, authoritative, and trustworthy content – and a reader can’t take you at your word without some citations. As you mix up that copy, make sure to spice it up enthusiastically. Nothing turns a reader away more than negativity. So, likewise, be as passionate about your niche as you want your reader to be as you create your blog – if you are not excited about it, why should they be? A few other things to keep in mind while you mix up your body’s copy: Optimize Gently. Optimizing your content is like working gluten. Too much, and it’s gotten too chewy, stiff, and undesirable. Yes, keywords matter in 2023, but how and where you use them has changed. Focus on Your Brand’s Authority. What Google praises more than keywords are brand … Read more