Blogging Archives

25 Best Blogging Tools for 2023

January 9, 2024March 21, 2023 by Alicia Oakley

Maintaining a regular blog is a valuable marketing tool that can help businesses connect with their customers and grow their business. According to a study published by HubSpot, companies with blogs are more successful than those without. These companies receive, on average, 55% more visitors and get 97% more inbound links. With powerful statistics like these, it makes sense to make blogging a business priority in 2023. Whether you have been blogging for years or are just now considering adding a blog to your marketing plan, this list covers the best blogging tools to take you through 2023 and beyond. Blogging Tools for Topic Research Choosing the right topics can make the difference between a successful blog and one that gets little to no attention. These blogging tools can help guide your topic research. 1. BuzzSumo BuzzSumo makes it easy to research relevant topics. On the homepage, you can enter either a keyword or domain name to generate content ideas. The results page shows you recent trending topics that include your keyword and how they performed on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Source: https://app.buzzsumo.com/content/web?q=content+marketing+budget In the example above, you can see the most popular content with the keywords “content marketing budget” has 181 total engagements. It also has an evergreen score of 2. This score is unique to BuzzSumo and represents how popular content is with audiences a month after its release. For the score, the higher the number, the better. In the Content Analyzer results, you can skim through a few of the most popular topics to see how they approached the topic. You can then customize your topic to fit your target audience and business niche. BuzzSumo is a free tool. However, it only gives you a limited number of free searches each month. For unlimited searches and more in-depth information, upgrade to a premium account. 2. AnswerThePublic This unique website offers an innovative way to do topic research. Type your desired topic into the search field, and results are returned as an interactive wheel that shows questions people have asked related to your topic. Source: https://answerthepublic.com/reports/6de565a6-31bd-4d52-a619-5dc22e36868e When you point at each question, it changes color based on how frequently people have searched for that phrase. Beyond the visuals, the search results include alphabeticals, which show related searches that include each letter of the alphabet. Source: https://answerthepublic.com/reports/6de565a6-31bd-4d52-a619-5dc22e36868e 3. Quora Quora is a crowdsourced website that answers questions and shares commentary on popular topics. Here you can search for topics related to your industry and see what questions people are asking. If you have valuable insights to share that answer those questions, this could be a great idea for an in-depth blog. Source: https://www.quora.com/search?q=content%20marketing%20budget 4. Portent Title Maker In some ways, your blog title can be more important than the blog itself. The title is what attracts people to your blog and convinces them to start reading. Of course, you need quality content to back up your engaging title. Although it won’t matter how good the rest of your content is if your title doesn’t work. To help you create more creative titles or even give you inspiration for the rest of the blog, try using Portent Idea Generator. Enter your chosen topic into the search field, and it will generate titles for you. You can click “See Another Title” until you find something you love. You can also click on words and phrases within the title. The tool then offers a quick explanation of why it works in the title. Source: https://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker/?refreshed_idea=content+marketing+budget 5. Twitter Trending Topics There may be times when the latest news connects with your brand. Check the trending topics section on the Twitter homepage to see what people are talking about. This is a great way to try out newsjacking – tying your brand into the latest viral news story. Blogging Tools for Organization Once you have a list of great ideas, you should organize them into a workable content schedule. There are numerous tools available to help you do this. 6. Dropbox There may be some blog topics that include files, like images, videos, or PDFs. Dropbox makes it easy to store these items and keep them together. 7. Google Calendar Google Calendar and other calendar tools can be easily transformed into an editorial calendar. For example, if you plan to publish one blog per day, you can record the daily topics as events and reorganize them, as needed. You can also schedule time for writing and any other content creation needs. 8. Evernote Evernote is a popular note-taking app that helps you organize projects, notes, and schedules. It has a robust tagging system to help you categorize your content in a variety of ways, whether by topic, planning stage, or anything else. Evernote also works with other apps like Google Calendar allowing you to track everything in one place. 9. Todoist Whether your content team is small or large, Todoist is versatile enough to work with any size team. It is one of the most popular organizational apps. You can be flexible enough to adjust your schedule to be as simple or as complex as you like by breaking down tasks into subtasks and moving tasks into projects. Blogging Tools for Optimization An optimized blog is one that fulfills the needs of the searcher. For example, if someone searches for “content marketing budget” and you have written a quality, optimized blog focused on that topic, it has a better chance of appearing near the top of the search results. These tools can help you create the best optimized blogs. 10. Yoast Yoast is a plugin that works with WordPress. It can help you optimize your content for keywords, in addition to suggesting relevant internal links. It uses red, yellow, and green color codes to show you what you did well and where you need some more work. 11. Keyword Planner Keyword Planner is a free resource available as part of Google Ads. It can help you research keywords for your … Read more

The Ultimate Guide to Blog Optimization for SEO and Conversions

September 26, 2025October 18, 2022 by Nicole Inge

Your content ranks on the first page of Google’s search results. You receive tons of organic traffic to your site every month. And your engagement and conversion rates are through the roof! It sounds like a dream, right? Well, it could be your reality with the help of some blog optimization. By optimizing your blog posts, you take an ordinary piece of content and enhance it. Then Google is more inclined to show it folks searching for the content you offer. In turn, you’ll gain more exposure and see a boost in traffic. You do this all while satisfying the readers looking for content in your niche. It doesn’t hurt that Google stays happy as well. This might sound like a lot of time-consuming work, but it’s not as daunting as it seems. And with the ROI you’re likely to see, the undertaking is worth it. You still might be wondering what blog optimization is. In this guide, you’ll learn techniques that are essential to optimizing your blog posts for massive rewards. Table of Contents: The Ultimate Guide to Blog Optimization for SEO and Conversions To simplify the process, we’ve broken it down into four key areas. Here’s an overview: Before Writing the Blog: 4 Steps to Prep for Blog Optimization Although it may be tempting to dive right in and start crafting content, you’d be missing a crucial first step: blog optimization prep. This stage requires you to research, then outline and draft your content. While this takes additional time and effort, you’ll have already made your job easier when it comes time to write. 1. For SEO Rankings: Conduct Keyword Research It’s impossible to optimize your blog without first doing keyword research. Selecting the right focus keyword for your content is imperative if you want to rank higher in Google’s search results and ultimately generate more traffic for your website. But if you’re not sure how to optimize blog posts for SEO, you likely need some tips for conducting proper keyword research. After all, 68% of online experiences begin with the user searching via a search engine. That means they’re typing in a specific phrase or keyword they want more information about. And as the creator, you should ensure your content provides helpful guidance on the topic they’re searching for. No matter what industry or niche you’re in, the tips that follow will assist you in finding high-ROI keyword opportunities. This way, you’ll increase your chances of ranking and getting traffic. Start with broad, general seed keywords, also known as “root keywords,” related to your industry or the products and services you offer. Example: If your business sells car parts, you might want to start your search with a no-brainer root keyword, such as “car parts.” Plug that keyword into your preferred keyword research tool. There are tons of options to assist in keyword research, with free and paid tools available. The strategists Express Writers consider Semrush one of our favorites. You can also check out Mangools or Moz’s Keyword Explorer. Example: If you plug “car parts” into Keyword Tool, a list of long-tail keyword variations that can be researched further will pop up. This search, for instance, shows options such as “euro car parts” and “car parts near me.” Image: Screenshot of Keyword Tool keyword variation suggestions. Search for a long-tail keyword that expands on your root keyword, but hits that sweet spot, meaning it has low competition, high search volume, and a low difficulty score. This will be the ideal focus keyword for your content because you’ll stand a better chance of climbing to the top of the SERPs. 2. For Your Audience: Do Topic Research Once you have some keyword ideas for your content, you’ll want to brainstorm potential topics. Topic research is an essential element of the blog optimization process that ensures you create interesting content for your target audience. If you write content they’re not searching for, they won’t discover or be interested in it. You should always consider what your audience finds important. What is going to grab their attention? What kind of content is going to address their biggest pain points? Your reader is always wondering what’s in it for them, so you need to provide tremendous value every single time. So, how do you find those hot blog topics that people want to read? There are a few tried-and-true methods perfect for getting the creative juices flowing. 1. Scope Out the Competition Odds are, you already know who the biggest competitors are within your industry. And you’ve probably had your eye on them for a while. But what you likely haven’t been doing is using them as a source of inspiration for your content. In reality, your competitors hold a wealth of knowledge. Take some time to browse their content and note the topics they cover. Then, ask yourself a few key questions to determine if it’s worthwhile for you to cover as well: Can I put my spin on the topic in question? You never want to blatantly copy someone because it won’t be a positive reflection on your brand. Instead, you want to draw inspiration from and add your unique perspective to the topic. Then you differentiate it from things already published. Can I write a better blog post on this topic? Whatever your competitors are doing, you want to do it better. Find opportunities to be the best and improve on the content that’s out there. This could look like conducting more thorough research, higher quality writing, or incorporating more visuals into your content. Can I go more in-depth on a broader topic? If your competitors tend to be very broad with their content, that’s your sign to dig deeper. Dig into a topic and provide insights into a particular facet of it. If you provide more specialized content, folks are more likely to engage with it. 2. Use BuzzSumo With the help of BuzzSumo, a simple search will allow you to see what’s popular with … Read more

How to Build a Foolproof Blog Content Strategy for Your Brand

July 5, 2022 by Nicole Inge

There are more than 600 million blogs living on the web. And if yours is one of them, it’s wise to take extra measures to ensure your content stands out from the crowd. The best way to do that is by creating a blog content strategy that makes your published content more intentional. This way, you’ll see better traffic results, engagement, and conversions on your site. In this post, we’ll cover the benefits of having a blog strategy and share eight steps to create a powerful, effective strategy of your very own. With these tips, you’ll be well on your way to a successful blog. The Benefits of Having a Blog Content Strategy A blog strategy is an important part of your overall marketing plan. It creates a sustainable way to develop high-quality content for your website. But that’s not all it has to offer! Here are a couple of reasons why it’s essential to cultivate a blog content strategy: Content Will be Planned in Advance: No more scrambling to come up with content ideas at the last minute. With a strategy in place, you’ll know what your target audience wants to read, have keyword research, and you’ll have plenty of ideas ready. It’s also great for consistency, ensuring you’re publishing new content regularly. It’ll Increase Your Authority: When you’re showing up and adding value to your audiences’ lives, they’ll keep coming back to your blog for more. And, in time, they’ll begin to see you as an authority in your field because they’ll view you as a trustworthy resource. 8 Steps for Building a Foolproof Blog Content Strategy Starting a blog is a real commitment. It takes time, effort, and even money to create quality content. For that reason, you want to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck. You want your investment to pay off. For that reason, you need a blog content strategy in place to ensure intention behind everything you create. Here’s how you can create a strategy for your blog: 1. Get Clear on the Purpose of Your Blog First, you need to know why you’re blogging. When you have a clear purpose for your blog, you’ll know what you’re working toward. Plus, you’ll be able to measure the success of your blog based on your goals. Many brands use their blogs to generate awareness, bring traffic to their website, and drive sales. What are you hoping your blog will help you do? Having the answer to this question will ensure there’s a purpose behind the time and energy you’re investing into blogging. 2. Determine Who Your Target Reader Is Next, you’ll need to take time to figure out who your ideal reader is. If you’ve been in business for a while, then you probably already have a clear picture of your target persona. But if you don’t, you have some work to do before moving forward. Knowing all about your reader is a huge part of your blog content strategy because the content creation is for them. If you don’t know who you’re writing for, it’s will be for your content to resonate. Luckily, there are a few ways to get to know your reader more deeply. For instance, you could create surveys and ask questions to develop more personalized content. But if you want to take it a step further, hop on a few market research calls where you can talk to people one-on-one and get their feedback in real-time. 3. Assign Someone to Write for and Manage Your Blog If you’re a solopreneur, then it’s likely every blogging task will fall onto your to-do list. But if you’re lucky enough to have a team working alongside you, you can assign various blogging tasks to the team members that are best suited for the job. For instance, you probably have someone with spectacular writing skills and someone else who is great at editing and fine-tuning content. Bring them on board to help create a thriving blog your readers and Google will love. Alternatively, you might consider outsourcing your content creation to an agency with a team of skilled writers, like Express Writers. Not only do we create expert content for a wide array of industries, but we can develop a blog strategy based on SEO research to ensure you’re publishing content that attracts readers and traffic. Just visit our Content Shop for more. 4. Decide How Frequently You’ll Post An important element of your blog content strategy is the frequency at which you post content. Consistency is key because you want to give people a reason to keep coming back to your site well into the future. And you do that by providing high-quality, valuable content for visitors to consume. But should you aim to publish a certain number of posts each month? According to data from HubSpot, sites that publish 16 blog posts or more a month receive 3.5 times more traffic than those publishing less than four posts. That’s likely because many people will come back to check out every new post. Plus, the more content you publish, the more opportunities you have to rank in search engine results. However, it’s understandable that you might not have the resources to publish 16 posts per month. It takes time and effort to create incredible content. You don’t want the quality to suffer because you’re stretching yourself too thin. It’s better to ask yourself how many high-quality posts you can commit to each month and make that your goal. 5. Conduct Keyword Research to Plan Topics Coming up with content ideas that are fresh and exciting is arguably one of the most difficult parts of content creation. After all, how are you supposed to know what a reader wants to see from you? At this stage, you already know quite a bit of information about them. You know their interests and their pain points, which is a fantastic starting point. Put yourself in their shoes and think about the … Read more

Express Writers History: Where We Are Now and What’s Next

June 29, 2022March 30, 2022 by Adam Oakley

Creating quality content for your website, social media, or other platforms is crucial if you want to stand out online these days. It’s your content that attracts people to your brand in the first place. And that very same content that will keep them coming back for more. Without it, you risk going unnoticed, missing out on potential opportunities for new connections and generating income. That’s why it’s so important to invest in writers who are experienced and highly skilled, allowing them to effortlessly create content that will position your brand as an authority in its field. But the question is, where do you find writers who genuinely know what they’re doing and have a passion for expertly crafting irresistible content? We know that it takes a lot of time to find, hire, and train writers – that’s where Express Writers fits in. Read on to dive into the history of Express Writers. We’ll cover how long we’ve been in business and how many orders we’ve completed successfully, as well as how we help businesses of all sizes. A Brief Express Writers History At Express Writers, our team is committed to providing our clients with only the best content. It’s been our primary mission since our founding in 2011. In that time, we’ve served over 5,000 clients and completed more than 40,000 projects. Our team is remotely located throughout the United States, and we’re always growing. That means we have all the necessary resources to tackle your projects and not only meet, but exceed, your needs for high-quality content. Plus, you can rest easy knowing that we hire writers based on their industry experience, allowing us to handpick the writer that’s best for your project. If you’d like to learn about a few of the core members making up our team (and put faces to their names), visit our About Us page to check out their bios. A Look at Our Best-Selling Services Now that you know a bit about our impressive Express Writers history, let’s talk about some of our top services. This will give you an idea of the services we offer and can help you see how our writers can transform your content. Four Content Levels, Based on Your Needs Brands are looking for different things when they come to the Express Writers team. That’s why we created a model for customizable content to match our clients’ unique needs with their exact vision. As a result, we created four content levels so there’s something for every budget. Here’s a quick overview of what Express Writers has to offer: General, Expert, Specialist, and Authority Content: These are our four different content levels. You can expect quality content at every level, but which you choose depends on your needs. For example, General Blogs do not receive editing, while higher levels do. And for technical industries, you’ll want to choose specialty content. Contract-Free Model: You’re never locked into any kind of contract when working with our team. That means you can order content whenever you need without being tied into a specific number of pieces. Managed Agency Service: We provide content at scale for agencies looking for a team to handle high-volume projects. You can be hands-off as our team tackles all the writing and editing. Our team expertly crafts blog posts, web pages, press releases, ebooks, and more. Just check out what one of our past clients had to say about working with us: “We use Express Writers as an agency for some of our client content projects, including emails, ebooks, white papers, and blog posts. They have it all. High quality, valuable prices, great service, and all the content offerings you could want in an agency!” For Quality Content, Trust Express Writers With over 11 years of solid experience, our team of writers knows how to help you best. We have expert writers with the knowledge and skills to develop content that will attract your target audience and keep them coming back for more. Instead of managing content creation by yourself, outsource it to our team for maximum ROI. Curious how we can help you? Contact us today to discuss your new project.

Top 10 Fundamental Strengths Every Great Blogger Should Have

January 10, 2024November 2, 2021 by Adam Oakley

10 Fundamental Strengths Every Good Blogger Should Have

Out of more than 1.8 billion websites, there are over 500 million blogs. Every day, more than 2 million new blog posts are published. However, quality is more important than quantity. How many of those blogs do you think are good blogs, ones that people enjoy reading? Now that you mention it, how do you define a “good” blog? 🧐 Most people can generally agree that a good blog is one that provides regular, relevant content. It can be informative, newsworthy, and/or entertaining, as long as it somehow enriches readers’ lives. Facts are cited and linked back to credible sources, content is unique, and the writer’s perspective is knowledgeable and authoritative. Great blogs inspire conversations. People love sharing content, and when they read a blog that really connects with them, they’re happy to tell their friends and share the content on social media. Good blogs don’t go unnoticed. In fact, they’re often shared among other bloggers in the form of citations and backlinks. But, behind every good blog is an equally good — or great — blogger. Need some help with your blog? Our specialty content service partners you with an expert writer to create in-depth authority content, starting at $140/500w. Understanding Bloggers: The Real, Regular People Behind the Blogs Who is responsible for creating these posts on the worldwide web? Believe it or not, bloggers are regular people, just like you and me. Sure, some of them may be successful CEOs and serial entrepreneurs, but there are equally skilled bloggers who are stay-at-home dads, mommy bloggers, taxi drivers, late-night bartenders, etc. You don’t have to be rich and famous to be a great blogger. What you do need, though, is a particular skill set, work ethic, and unique insights into a topic or industry. The best bloggers have a talent for turning the mundane into the extraordinary through the magic of words. But blogging has evolved into something much more complex than the online diary entries you used to see in the early days. Business blogging has proven to be a lucrative form of content marketing that earns high engagement and conversions while costing 62% less than traditional forms of marketing and generating 3x as many leads. In fact, companies with an active blog have 434% more indexed pages and 97% more inbound links on average. However, the same best practices and rules apply. Being a business owner doesn’t automatically guarantee you can produce good content or mean your blog is any better than the hobbyist posting in his or her spare time. If you want to have a good blog, you need to be engaging your readers in the right way. If you’re struggling with your content strategy, we can help! [bctt tweet=”You don’t have to be rich and famous to be a great blogger. 🤩 What you do need, though, is a particular skill set, work ethic, and unique insights into a topic or industry. Learn the 10 top strengths every blogger needs:” username=”ExpWriters”] What’s a Good Blog? The 10 Most Important Strengths of the Best Bloggers No matter who you are, no matter what you blog about, you should strive for these 10 fundamental strengths that the best bloggers share. 1. Consistency The most popular blogs on the internet maintain their position by posting regularly. What does this mean in terms of a personality trait for the blogger? Although you might assume that a blogger doesn’t have to worry about deadlines, the fact of the matter is every single day is a blogger’s deadline. Bloggers need to be self-motivated to get things done. A consistent blogger is one that draws the admiration of his or her followers. An inconsistent blogger frustrates readers, and failing to update content often is an invitation for your audience to leave. 2. Uniqueness Serial entrepreneur, web designer, and podcast co-host Matt Wolfe said, “There’s a lot of information out there for free, so you’ve got to figure out what makes your information different.” True uniqueness isn’t something you can simulate or copy. It’s something that resides in all of us and just needs the right opportunity to come out. Ask yourself, “Why should people read my blog? What can I offer my readers that my competitors can’t?” This is known as your content differentiation factor (CDF). The best bloggers are those who tap into their innate uniqueness and carry it over to their blog. People love a spectacle, and if you provide one to them, they’re happy to keep coming back for more. 3. Eloquence Sadly, the art of eloquence seems to be lost on many modern bloggers. The successful ones are the light that shines out of the fog. They illuminate how important it is to present your ideas clearly. As writers, our very art – the thing we live for – boils down to how well we represent ideas through our medium of words, how well we connect with strangers, and how we share our insights and imaginations. As a blogger, this is a rare and important trait to have. Those who communicate well reap the spoils. 4. Niche-Based Mindset Niche bloggers develop content within a community that’s based around common interests. Bloggers who tackle the pertinent issues and topics within their niche are usually respected by their peers for what they do. Finding a niche gives you fuel to drive your blog because, in any niche, there are hundreds of thousands of possible topics. The great bloggers know how to use this to their advantage. For example, our blog (the one you’re reading right now), is clear about its specific niche. We are your authority source for practical content marketing advice, and we’re not shy about stating that: (See? It’s right there under the page title.) We know who our readers are. We know what we do best. And we know what kind of niche our expertise thrives in. You should, too. 5. Passion “You should do what you love for a living.” This advice is the … Read more

How to Create Long-Form Blogs That Your Readers (and Google) Will Love

February 23, 2021February 23, 2021 by Adam Oakley

Blogging. What comes to mind when you read that word? Maybe it’s chillaxing on the beach with a laptop and a martini while typing up your latest adventure? Yeah, that stereotype is about as old and tired as the content best practices from the last decade. (Not to mention unrealistic. Also, don’t take your laptop to the beach.) Maybe it’s the endless to-do list-slash-content calendar that’s one more dismal thing you have to do to make your business run – and what’s it even do, again? Oof. Hand me that martini. Here’s a bit of news: if your ideas about blogging fall into either camp, you’re doing it wrong. Here’s what blogging looks like in the 2020s, plus how to create long-form blogs that work FOR you (rather than being WORK for you). [bctt tweet=”What does #blogging look like in 2021? ? How do you create long-form blogs that work FOR you (rather than being WORK for you)? @JuliaEMcCoy has the answers on the Write Blog ?” username=””] What IS Long-Form Content? Like a lot of things in the content world, the idea of long-form comes from journalism. There, it referred to a story that ran over the typical length – about 500 words (or about 14-16 inches depending on the paper’s formatting). In content writing, long-form similarly refers to content that is longer than your typical content. It’s hard to pin an exact number on that average because it changes. In particular, it’s growing. Let’s paint a picture. The phrase long-form content has floated around on the internet for a long time – the first mentions start around 1998. This was the early days of Google before we’d really figured out the true magnitude of the search engine’s power. In those days, long-form content referred to anything over 300 words. That’s about the length of this section. However, by 2018, the average had crept up to 1,100 words. Blog posts that went over that frequently ranked higher, got more engagement, and enjoyed more widespread sharing on social media. And guess what? Marketers noticed. By 2020, HubSpot found that the average blog post was 2,164 words – almost double what it’d been two years earlier. Blog posts have been trending longer for some time. Blog post length is creeping up over 2,000 words. Source: Orbit Media. So, what is long-form content in 2021? According to BuzzSumo, long-form content is anything over 2,000 words. According to HubSpot, it’s anything between 1,000 and 7,500 words – buuut you want to hit 2,500 words minimum to get the most shares and backlinks. However, according to Core DNA, your content doesn’t get to wear the badge of long-form until it’s a whopping 4,000 words (about 2.5 times the length of this article). This brings us to another point… When to Use Long-Form Content If longer articles catch more eyeballs, win more clicks, and result in more shares, then longer is always better. Right? Wrong. Like everything, long-form content is a tool with some very good applications. Use it when: You’re building pillar content. One meaty, well-researched article full of links to articles that deep-dive into subtopics can transform your content. Long-form content is excellent here. You’re trying to outrank competitors with long-form content. If your competition is routinely posting 2,000-word articles, your little 1,100-word work of art won’t cut it. In these cases, long-form content combined with the skyscraper technique can work wonders. The topic needs it. What’s worse than bad content? Content that fails to fully address the topic. If the topic needs 2,000 words, don’t try to squeeze it into an 800-word blog article simply because you have to publish four articles per month. You’re better off having your writer do one 2,000-word article that really delves into the topic than four 800-word posts that scratch the surface. The content will land in front of the reader in the deeper stages of the buyer’s journey. A 35-minute read might be intimidating to a casual browser or someone with a short attention span. Target serious seekers with your long-form content. You’re building authority or thought leadership. Long-form content helps improve a site’s Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness – or EAT, one of Google’s quality guidelines. [bctt tweet=”If longer articles catch more eyeballs, win more clicks, and result in more shares, then longer is always better. Right? ? …Wrong. Long-form content is a tool with some very good applications. Learn WHEN to use it here ?” username=””] How to Create Long-Form Blogs That Everyone Will Love So, you’ve got pillar content planned that will position you as an authority in your industry. Great! Here are four tips to follow when creating long-form blogs that will impress both your readers and the search engines. 1. Break Out the Statistics! Did you know that blogs are considered the fifth-most trustworthy source of information? And having statistics in your blogs is one of the easiest ways to boost that trustworthiness rating. Statistics have a lot of benefits, especially when they’re unique to your business. They give your readers some brain candy, and they prove to Google that you’re an expert in your industry. Therefore, DO: Compile unique statistics to give to your writers whenever possible. Emphasize fresh statistics (within two or three years, depending on your industry). 2. Diver Deeper into Topics Are there 26 blog posts already on the topic you want to write about? Think about another way to attack the topic. Differentiating yourself in the search engine does more than just give your readers something fresh. It also sets you apart from the competition by showing original thought leadership – you aren’t just rehashing what someone else has already said. DO: Find angles and leverage your content differentiation factor. Look for studies or research that hasn’t been used by others. Do your own case studies and incorporate them into pillar content. Want to learn the ins and outs of creating not just long-form blogs, but long-form blogs that create ROI? Check out The Expert … Read more

From Blah to Blog: 10 Tips for Hiring the Best Education Blog Writers

January 1, 2021November 17, 2020 by Julia McCoy

Hey, business owners in the educational business space – tired of publishing blah posts that you wish were blog posts? This one’s for you. Believe it or not, but writing an education blog doesn’t have to be boring. Yet, mention that you maintain a blog about education, and you might see some eyes glaze over. That’s because learning has a bad rap. In fact, if you pull up the word associations of the verb “to learn” the top three results are: memorize, teach, horrify. That’s the exact opposite of the goal of a blog: to delight, entertain, and educate. Here’s how you do it … starting with ten tips from our very own education blog writers on how to level up the quality of your blog. (We’ve ghostwritten hundreds of web pages and blogs—one of our educational business clients is McKissock Learning.) Let’s go! ??‍? [bctt tweet=”Believe it or not – writing an education blog doesn’t have to be boring. ? Learn to delight, entertain, AND educate your readers with 10 tips for hiring the best education blog writers ?‍?” username=””] 10 Tips to Level Up The Quality of Your Educational Blog Starting an education blog can be a great way to further your career as an educator – an increasing number of professionals are doing it (Edublogs boasts 4.3 million blogs alone). However, if you’re new to the world of blogging, you might not know where to start. That’s okay! Here are ten tips from our own expert educational blog writers to help you get the most out of your blog. 1. Niche Down and Specialize Education is a broad, broad topic. That means simply starting an educational blog isn’t going to cut it. On Edublogs alone, there are blogs by… School libraries Universities Teachers Homeschoolers EdTech professionals Educational philosophers So, what are you? That’s going to have a big influence on what sort of content you craft. However, niching down and specializing also helps you stand out. (Niche content is totally in and will stay in for a long time.) Consider it. There might be 4.3 million educational blogs out there, but how many of them are run by middle school science teachers who focus on collecting unusual experiments and labs to conduct in class? Specialization is your biggest advantage. Afraid of running out of ideas? Topic clusters can help you get more content out there. Source: HubSpot 2. Look for Writers With Mad Research Skills If you browse through lists of topic educational bloggers online, you might notice something: they all seem super well-informed. Why? They load up their blog posts with links to research and relevant statistics. That’s because one of the easiest ways to develop your own authority is to recognize the authority of others. That means citing them and dropping references to numbers where possible. Authoritative content is something that both Google and your readers want to see, so give it to them! The best education writers: Back up claims with relevant scientific research ? Provide links to original sources of statistics wherever possible ? Use Alexa to identify high-quality sites (the lower the rank, the higher the quality) ? [bctt tweet=”The best education blog writers: 1️⃣ Back up claims with relevant scientific research 2️⃣ Provide links to original sources 3️⃣ Use @alexainternet to identify high-quality sites to link to ?” username=””] 3. Reach Out to Your Community Unless your educational blog content focuses on things like EdTech or the government’s education policies at a very high level, much of your content will likely be influenced by your local community. That’s a huge advantage because your own community is a goldmine of content that can help you grow your readership and your thought leadership. Don’t be afraid to reach out. Your community can be a rich source of: Guest bloggers Blogging topics Helpful resources Tips and tricks Stories Newsworthy current events Readers 4. Collect Helpful Resources For many sites, a blog is an additional feature that serves to deliver value and help a company grow its brand. As an educational blog writer, you probably won’t be selling anything (although you might). Your blog is all you have, and that might not be enough for some readers. Collecting and distributing helpful resources related to your topic can help with that. For example, the middle school science teacher above might have a section of downloadable files for other science teachers to use. Likewise, you might consider reading lists or links to online groups that your readers might be interested in joining. The more pages you have on your site, the more opportunities your writers will have for internal linking. Doing this will not only help keep visitors on your site longer (which signals quality to Google), but also help build your authority as someone who’s in tune with your niche. Need more guidance on building out your content library (and your content strategy) for your business? Check out my Content Strategy & Marketing Course. 5. Monetize With Care Tips on how to monetize your blog abound and many of them work quite well. In fact, most articles that are tips to monetize an educational blog will include affiliate marketing on that list. However, affiliate marketing is easy to get wrong. Don’t be tempted to fall into the trap of spamming up your page with Google Ads, or linking to affiliate products at every single chance you get. [bctt tweet=”Blog monetization tip ☝: Affiliate marketing is easy to get wrong. Don’t fall into the trap of spamming up your page with Google Ads, or linking to affiliate products every single chance you get. ?” username=””] Instead, choose products that: You’ve used and stand behind Are immediately relevant to your readership Have good reviews Don’t require additional subscriptions or involve other strings 6. Give Writers as Much Information on Your Readers as Possible Demographic information is gold for writers, and it’s part of why we ask so many questions when we onboard your project. Of course, that … Read more

The Best Kept Secrets Ecommerce Blog Writers Use to Craft Content That SELLS

January 1, 2021November 10, 2020 by Julia McCoy

The Best Kept Secrets That Ecommerce Blog Writers Use to Craft Content that SELLS

So, you want to start an ecommerce blog? Nice. Everyone’s doing it, to a point where good ecommerce blog writers are in demand. Maybe it’s because 61 percent of people are more likely to buy from a brand that produces unique content. Or perhaps it’s the fact that 34 percent of buyers will make an unplanned purchase after being convinced by a piece of content. ? A blog means more traffic, more eyeballs, and more opportunities to sell a product or many – if you nail it. Always easier said than done … right? Nailing ecommerce blog content can seem mystifying … and finding an ecommerce blog writer worth their salt can seem even more difficult. If only there were a set of skills that ALL good ecommerce blog writers had in common… You’re in luck! Here are five of the best-kept secrets that our specialty blog writers use to craft content for the likes of Shopify, BigCommerce, and many other SaaS brands. [bctt tweet=”61% of people are more likely to buy from a brand producing unique content (@smallbizgenius). A blog means more traffic ?, more eyeballs ?, and more chances to sell your product(s) ?. Learn how to craft ecommerce content via @juliaemccoy” username=””] Let’s go! Here’s Why Your Ecommerce Store Needs Blog Posts, Too It’s a lot of work to set up an ecommerce site. I know, because here at Express Writers, we’ve done it. Our ecommerce platform is literally how we sell our content services to our clients. However, an ecommerce site isn’t just a website full of product pages. Unless you’ve got a killer marketing strategy, you’ll find that simply building a site isn’t enough anymore. That’s where having a blog comes into play. A blog earns: More indexed pages on Google. Some 434 percent more, in fact, than your competitors without one. The opportunity to better connect with readers. Product descriptions aren’t the time or place to connect with your readers and grow a community. That’s what a blog is for. A way to grow your brand authority on your turf. You might have a strong social media presence, but what are you going to do if Facebook or Twitter suddenly shuts down your account? If it’s on your website, you control it. Those reasons might seem simple, but don’t underestimate them. Blogging has been shown to increase site traffic by up to 300 percent. Your blog may be one of the first points of contact that future customers have with you brand. That’s why it’s important to make a good first impression. Source: HubSpot 5 Secrets Ecommerce Blog Writers Know to Make Your Store Stand Out By now, you know an ecommerce blog is a powerful step to growing your brand. Now, you need to nail the execution. Here are five secrets crowdsourced from our own expert ecommerce blog writers to help you deliver delightful, engaging, conversion-oriented content. Without further ado, good ecommerce blog writers… 1. Emphasize Storytelling Think telling stories is just for creative writers? Consider these two examples where you’re trying to sell a pair of sneakers: Blog Post A. The Windy Sneaker is a lightweight, comfortable shoe designed for performance athletes. With a contour perfectly designed for your foot, you’ll barely feel it’s there while you seize that gold medal at your next marathon. Buy now! Blog Post B. Winning a marathon seemed like a pipe dream for Jane. At 38 and struggling with chronic foot pain, she had tried dozens of specialty shoes only to get the same results each time. A friend told her about the Windy Sneaker. She was skeptical, but within moments of lacing them up, her foot pain vanished. Read about the shoe that helped Jane win a marathon. If you picked Blog Post B, you’d be right. Even research proves it. ? Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal for growing a brand. People don’t always react well to being told outright to buy something, which is exactly the end goal for ecommerce blog writers. In contrast, storytelling helps your readers connect with your brand on an emotional level while sidestepping the bad vibes associated with a lot of sales tactics. Make sure your writer is up to speed on this and knows how to tell stories. The first “blogs” were full of stories. Source: Wrong Hands 2. Pay Attention to E-A-T and YMYL SEO, PPC, CTR, EAT, YMYL … Google likes its acronyms. But what do those all even mean??? I’ve covered EAT and YMYL before, so here’s a quick rundown of what those two mean: Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Those are Google’s watchwords when determining the quality of your content (and thus your rank in the SERPs – another acronym. Hah!) You need to nail all three to rank well. Your Money or Your Life. A special set of quality standards for pages with content that could potentially impact a person’s health, finances, or future happiness. Good ecommerce blog writers are aware of YMYL in the event that they’re writing a blog for a company that sells products which may fall into one of those categories. All sites should pay attention to EAT, but not all sites need to remain mindful of YMYL. For example, a fashion ecommerce site probably won’t impact the health, finances, or future happiness of users … a site selling herbal supplements, however, might. If you do fall into the YMYL category, make sure you’re: Linking only to super reputable sources Gathering high-quality backlinks (disavow poor quality backlinks) Providing the identity and credentials of the content creator Using the appropriate keywords, and using them correctly Hiring specialist writers with demonstrated experience in your topics 3. Make Blog Posts Actionable Everyone knows that it’s best practice to include CTAs in blogs. According to Marketing Sherpa, 90 percent of the people who click on your headline will also click through your CTA. It’s almost a no-brainer to include one … but that shouldn’t be the only actionable … Read more

Medical Blog Writers: How to Produce Concise, Credible Content That Grows a Practice

January 1, 2021September 25, 2020 by Adam Oakley

Doctor by day … blogger by night? You bet it’s a thing. In 2020, 90 percent of businesses out there are blogging because it’s the single biggest thing you can do to improve your visibility in the search engine. In fact, if you don’t have a blog on your site, you’re all but invisible online. However, as a medical professional, you can’t just fill your blog with all manner of random pieces of content and expect to win at content marketing. You need medical blog content from an expert medical writer who actually knows what they’re talking about. Finding good medical blog writers can be tricky, so here are a few insights on what goes into writing medical blogs and what are the best practices around writing a medical blog. By the time you’re through, you’ll know exactly what to do – and what skills to look for in a candidate when you go to hire a writer. Let’s go! [bctt tweet=”Doctor by day… blogger by night? ‍⚕️ You bet. Learn what goes into writing medical blogs, best practices, and how to find good medical blog writers via @juliaemccoy” username=”ExpWriters”] Why Medical Professionals Need to Blog If you’ve started a medical practice, a blog probably isn’t at the top of your list. Yet, it’s a powerful tool to grow your practice and reputation. Starting a medical blog helps you: Increase visibility. According to SEO Tribunal, companies and brands with a blog generate 97 percent more traffic than those without one. More eyeballs mean more potential patients. Answer common questions. Are there questions your patients seem to consistently ask? Save everyone’s time by crafting thoughtful content that answers these questions. Connect with your current (and potential) patients. Blogs offer one more way for you to connect with your community. Whether you’re discussing relevant events or talking about health issues that impact your patient base, your readers can connect with you by interacting with your blog. Become a reputable source of credible information. Way back in 2013, Pew Research found that some 77 percent of people started their search for health information online. That’s still true today, as the rush to correct pandemic misinformation in 2020 has shown. Writing a medical blog allows you to meet patients where they are – online and looking for information you can provide. Clear, Concise, Credible: The Medical Blog Writer’s Eternal Struggle Medical blog writing is a skill in its own right. Unlike other industries, you aren’t simply writing to entertain. People turn to medical blogs for information that will have a direct impact on their lives. That raises the bar quite a bit regarding the quality of what you publish. No matter what your specialty, medical blog content must be: 1. Clear: Because There’s Enough Confusion Out There Do you know what sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia is? (Try saying that five times fast, heh.) It’s characterized by the acute onset of cephalgia resulting from referred pain when the trigeminal nerve is triggered. Ouch! I’ll bet you a whole penny you’ve never heard of that condition … and another penny that you’ve experienced it. It’s called brain freeze. But that wasn’t clear at all, was it? With medical blog writing, it’s super easy to get carried away with technical jargon or complex explanations, especially when you’re a professional who already knows what these words mean. However, doing this reduces the clarity of your writing. That’s a problem because unclear content: Inspires panic. Which sounds more frightening: sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia or brain freeze? May prevent or delay someone from seeking medical attention. Good medical blog writers know when to make it clear that readers should seek prompt medical attention. Undermines your professional authority. Through your blog, you’ll demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about – so make sure you’re clear! Bad advice abounds. Medical blog writers must be a light in the dark. Source: XKCD [bctt tweet=”Medical blog writers need to take care ❤: Unclear content or technical jargon can 1️⃣ Inspire panic 2️⃣ May prevent or delay someone from seeking medical attention 3️⃣ Undermine your professional authority. Learn more:” username=”ExpWriters”] 2. Concise: Because People Want Answers, Not Science Lectures How many times have you gone searching for answers, only to spend several minutes scrolling three-quarters of the way down a page for a simple answer to a question that you still couldn’t find because it was buried in a wall of text? (If you’ve done that more than once or twice, you’re a rarity. Most people spend 15 seconds or less on a page before they bounce.) Think about how much more annoying that is when you’re looking for answers to a potentially serious medical problem. Be concise. Answer the question upfront, then go into detail further down the page. 3. Credible: Because It’s Your Money or Your Life 2020 superbly illustrated the prevalence of confusing and inaccurate information. From misinformation about how to wear masks to reports of deaths from people following bad advice, unclear or confusing advice isn’t just unhelpful … it’s dangerous. That’s why credibility matters, and why Google has special quality requirements for medical blogs, legal advice, financial articles, and similar topics that may impact a person’s health, happiness, or financial stability. In Google’s Guidelines, Section 2.3 talks about “Your Money or Your Life Pages” and the very high quality score they must achieve to rank well in the search engine. In Section 3, you can read about exactly the metrics Google’s evaluators use to rank the quality of sites. They are: High E-A-T. E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness. Those are three major metrics that Google uses to determine the overall quality of a site. Positive site reputation. Evaluators are trained to look through your – or your practice’s – reputation online. They’ll use things like Yelp reviews, industry news, and more. The amount of “MC.” MC stands for main content, and they expect it to be satisfying to the reader – I.E., comprehensive enough that questions and curiosity are answered. An … Read more

A Case Study in Blogging: 21,600 Keyword Rankings in Google and 90,000 Visitors Per Month

June 18, 2024May 9, 2019 by Adam Oakley

This May, we’re celebrating our 8th full year of business at Express Writers. Looking back, it doesn’t even feel like eight years. More like a century. (Just kidding!) Seriously, though, I’m thankful that we’re here this May. Eight years is nothing to sneeze at. Just look at these statistics from Motley Fool: 80% of new businesses survive past their first year of operation. 50% of businesses make it to five years. And only 33% of businesses make it to ten years. Considering that I started this entire operation back in 2011 with an investment of the crumbs left in my broke-college-student savings account, $75, I’m thrilled that we’ve made it this far. With a 100% chance of failure, I rolled up my sleeves and put in many 60 and even 90-hour work weeks in the beginning. We kept chugging along, growing at incredible speeds every year. As I was digging into ideas to write a blog to celebrate our eighth year here on the Write Blog, it hit me that we didn’t have any fresh case studies on our blogging traffic and analytics, which have recently been the highest they’ve ever been. It also came to my mind the current state of affairs: how many content marketers and blog publishers are still struggling to even see success from their online efforts. So, this case study is needed. If you read one blog from me this year, make it this one. A Case Study in Blogging: 21,600 Keyword Rankings in Google and 90,000 Visitors Per Month Let’s dive into my blogging case study! First, let’s talk about the beginning (strategy), and the end (results). The Power of, and Strategy Involved In, Brand Blogging that Works Fun fact: Blogging used to be just for the people that “journaled their thoughts” on the web. The idea of blogging online itself originated in 1994, when a college student named Justin Hall began a stint of “personal blogging” that lasted eleven years. He was enrolled at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Originally, the words “escribitionists” and “weblog” were used to describe what is now known as “blog.” Thank goodness that word evolved! Blogging is now far more than just an online diary. It’s a huge opportunity for businesses, brands and marketers to express themselves to their audience, grow and build a real community, and share the authentic real “human side” behind the brand. Blogging is a #1 method for marketers and brands to add consistent new site traffic that may eventually convert and become a buyer. At Express Writers, I’ve managed to write and publish over 1,100 blogs on our site over the past eight years, with the help of my team. The amount of content we publish on our blog, the consistency of it, and the quality and relevancy of our blog posts are the biggest factors behind what is now 90,000+ visitors/month coming to our site: We have 1,188 blogs published to date since 2012, the year I began consistently blogging. That’s an average of 169 blogs published per year. Our traffic went up steadily over the years, increasing when we put an emphasis on quality over quantity of content in late 2016 and ramped up in 2017. Our quality > quantity emphasis that began in 2016 focused on a few things: implementing a real content strategy for the first time and going from publishing four blogs/week to 1-2 high-quality blogs/week. Here’s a timeline tracking our biggest historic growth points, pulled from this blog I wrote on content strategy and my masterclass on how to build a strong content strategy. Right around the time we focused on a content strategy and quality over quantity, our results started to shoot through the roof. The data speaks. Check out how our SEO tracking in SEMrush reflects a spike in growth right around the time we built a content strategy and emphasized quality over quantity: Last week, when I was giving a talk on content creation right here in Austin, Texas, I shared these two slides that sums up our content success story well. The Google Analytics screenshot below was from March of this year, and this April, we had our first 90,000 traffic/month. Smart marketers shouldn’t be too excited by these numbers until they see the conversion rate and the sales. (Mr. Wonderful on Shark Tank, anyone? “Talk numbers!”) On average, we are achieving the benchmark conversion statistic for organic search traffic. 14-16% of our leads are converting. As Mr. Wonderful would say, “To cash flow!” Now, here’s what our traffic numbers look like as of writing this blog over late April 2019. Our Google Analytics: On the right, in the blue box, you can see how 10 out of these 14 visitors are on a blog post the moment this screenshot was taken. This is very common for our traffic. Now, check out our SEO ranking statistics in SEMrush again. We’re at 21,600 keyword rankings in Google. I have the graph set to “all-time”, so this is going back to May 2013, when I first started a SEMrush tracking project for our site. I’m in love with the traffic growth shown in this graph that spiked beginning in 2017, which is the year we got strategic. Learn more about how getting strategic paid off for us, here. Because of the content geeks we are and how consistent our content is, Google loves our site. Plus, everything we do is always organic, audience-first, and ethical. I never pay a dime in PPC ads, and we don’t allow advertisers to ever have access to our site or blog (even though I’m pitched at least once per day). You can see proof of our Domain Authority with expresswriters.com in Alexa, Amazon’s pioneer in the world of analytical website insight. Alexa clocks us at being the 97,000th-most popular website in the world, which is pretty crazy given there are over 1.6 billion websites in the world (InternetLiveStats). As for our content creation itself: everything — everything — we publish and create on our site is focused around several key things: Offering real value, factual and statistical (real) insights, truly useful … Read more