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Why Social Shares Don’t Really Equate to Reads—And What Does Matter to the Success Of One Piece of Content

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Why Social Shares Don’t Really Equate to Reads—And What Does Matter to the Success Of One Piece of Content

20 shares. That’s all I had to show for a new blog post I’d worked three weeks on. I stared at the screen in frustration. 8 hours later, a decent amount of promotion, and just 20 shares. I’d assembled key automation strategies I’d learned over a 9-month span and laid out the information, with many accompanying screenshots, in a blog post that went live on my site that morning. What happened? The Day I Learned the Truth About Social Shares As I twiddled my thumbs, I decided to randomly email the blog to my list. I’d already shared it in all the social groups I’m in, and our online profiles (my promotions done at 10 am that morning). So, at 2 PM on a Tuesday afternoon, I sat down and scheduled a very simple campaign in ConvertKit. It took me <10 minutes. The email content was dead simple, just a few lines about why I liked this blog post I wrote (straight from the heart, because I put my heart into writing it): 2 PM rolled around. Sent. I hit refresh in ConvertKit’s broadcast section. 25 people read the email in the first 5 minutes of sending. 5 people clicked through. Refresh. 55 people. Refresh. 60. I checked back in an hour. 200 reads. Over the next twelve hours, 557 people on my list opened that email. In total, 12.5% of my 4,444 email subscribers read it. 60 clicks. 12 unsubscribers. On average, I’ve been getting a 10-11% open rate on the same list, and a 1% click rate, so those stats were good for my list. (This list is five years old and needs some serious cleaning). P.S.: It since climbed up to 13% open rate as of September 16. That evening, an email and a comment on the piece landed in my inbox from a marketer I revere—the CEO of Scoop.it, Guillaume Decugis. The comment he left was very well thought-out and added a lot to my blog. That same hour, I received another reply asking about our writing services. The next morning, a chat message came in thanking me for the article and asking me to explain a step I’d detailed near the end. Another comment came in the article discussing how the tool I’d mentioned, Commun.it, looked like it should be avoided. Buffer even came in and left a comment on the blog post, thanking me for mentioning them. On LinkedIn, I had several more messages from readers and group comments. The comments I was reading told me these people had read my article—to the very last word. I was ecstatic. This piece I painstakingly put together had actually helped several people. I looked at my social shares again after the whirlwind of messages from readers. 25. Really, though? And then it hit me… Why am I looking at the number of social shares? Why am I sitting here, counting numbers? Isn’t it nothing more than…a figure? What does it represent? What does it mean? Relationships and conversations is what I really want to happen around my content. And wait, didn’t some of that already start around this very content piece already? Why Shares Don’t Matter a Fragment as Much As Real Conversation Does Another content piece on my site has had over 1,000 shares since it was posted live last December. But not one comment. Or a real inquiry dropped in my email. Or a chat message left from a reader on what they learned from it (or what they didn’t learn–I welcome both). Not anything like what I’d received in less than a day on yesterday’s piece. 24 measly shares on my about carefully written and planned blog on automation in content marketing, and yet there was real conversation and even some ROI happening from it. So, which content piece returned in more value for me? The one with 24 shares, or the one with 1k? You can guess my answer. What if we have it all wrong—it doesn’t matter how many social shares you have at all, what really matters is are you reaching real people, are they reading the whole thing, and are they gaining something from it? Shocking Fact: What If A Lot of People Sharing Aren’t Actually Reading What They Share? I write content for several highly sought-after guest blogs. On one site, each piece gets on average 800-1,000 shares. The minute the new pieces go live, I get incoming Twitter notifications like nobody’s business: “@JuliaEMcCoy wrote a new piece on XYZ at Acme.” Times that by 200-300 people in the first hour it was published. I’ve asked myself, have any of those people read my piece? It’s especially suspicious when the tweet goes out literally moments after my piece went live. Wait, you can’t read THAT fast, can you? A 1,500-word piece read in 30-60 seconds? Hey, I’ll admit it. I’ve shared content I haven’t read in full—but, I can tell you truthfully, I’ve never shared a content piece I haven’t read at least a part of. And I mean more than just the headline. I’ll even share a content piece if a major statistic stands out from it in the body. But, what if the majority of the shares going out are from people that haven’t even consumed a part of your article? This scary theory has already been put to the test…and here’s what was found. In 2014, NPR ran an experiment. They wrote and published an article entitled “Why Doesn’t Anybody Read Anymore?” to Facebook. The results were overwhelming, in the comments and shares. People pointed fingers, debated the topic, accused the rise of cell phones and the use of ebook devices as the reasons why reading was on the downtrend. Society had fallen. Everybody confirmed and summarized the worst about the new generation. The content of the article, if people had actually clicked through and read before commenting or sharing, was: Congratulations, genuine readers, and happy April Fools’ Day! We sometimes get the sense that some people … Read more

A Guide on What To Automate In Your Content Marketing (Step-by-Step Tool List Included)

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A Guide on What To Automate In Your Content Marketing (Step-by-Step Tool List Included)

Bill Gates was certainly right when he noted that content is king, back in 1996. Today, it’s easy for anyone to be an online publisher. But it’s a pretty daunting prospect. Thanks to an entire tool lineup of smart new tools, it’s also never been easier to create, promote, share, and market your stuff. However, there’s a trade-off between ease and effectiveness. For the true content marketer, who really wants to make a difference with their content, it comes to this balance: easy does not always equal effective. Yet, we live in a time when it is essential for brands to be communicating 24/7. Those that have a powerful online presence and engage their audience are the ones that aren’t afraid to experiment with the tools of content automation – but know how to strike the right balance and stay engaged, relevant, and consistent in original creation. What tools can you use to automate your content marketing… and where do you draw that line in creation vs. automation? I’m here with an intensive step-by-step list, based on what’s worked for me after a lot of trial and error. Keep reading! 4 Key Tools to Use In Automating Your Content Marketing, & What to Avoid How can you successfully balance time-saving automation with the necessities of creative, original creation? Here are the top four tools I recommend. Some come with a warning label, so tread carefully. Tool #1: Buffer I love Buffer. For all-around social media post scheduling, it can’t be beat. Their dashboard is easy, customizable, and so clean. I’ve tried Hootsuite and Buffer, and like this tool the most. There’s just more features, cleanliness, and organization here. Buffer, of course, requires manual work, unlike tools like Edgar that do the repurposing for you: but I honestly don’t like letting go of scheduling out my tweets myself. I share my login with our social media manager, Rachel, who helps schedule out our blogs as well. In Buffer, you can upload visuals and videos to your posts as well as schedule them out. As you can see on the left in the screenshot, we have a ton of accounts hooked up to our one Buffer Pro account. I also love that Buffer removed their “automation” feature–better known as the Suggestions area. They took away a huge crutch for the automation-happy users, and I applaud them for it. There is no “bad,” or “don’t use,” in Buffer’s features. Good work, @Buffer! Tool #2: Commun.it Approach this tool cautiously. Do not, do NOT utilize this tool to it’s fullest. This tool offers some serious social automation. It has good and bad points. If you’re considering this tool, here’s something you need to know about Commun.it right now. Don’t even go to their site and check them out: read this first. If you sign up for this tool, you’ll need to immediately go to the Schedule tab (this used to be called Campaigns)… and turn OFF all the scariness of automated tweets, DMs, etc., that are “ON,” in this list (click Edit > Pause OR Delete): I don’t have a screenshot of when I turned on my account, but I wish I did. There were 20+ automated things on.  All the auto “tweets” you’ll find turned on I do not suggest even trying. (More on that in the do’s vs. don’ts list below.) @commun_it – if you’re listening, turn OFF these automation features for all new users! The automation ON is very, very dangerous… a new user could spam the heck out of everyone they know without even realizing. Now that we’ve clarified the bad and how to avoid it… There are some good features to this tool. I’ve hooked up about 6 accounts to my Commun.it and paid for a year of Business Pro, starting in January 2016. Here’s what my main dashboard looks like when logging in: After four months of using the program (only a few hours a week if that), the biggest benefits I’ve noticed are in the suggested “consider to follow,” and “consider to unfollow” lists. I’ve never been able to build such a targeted amount of Twitter followers before—with any tool. I can also “retweet” top tweets straight from here, to get the eye of an influencer, see all my notifications across the board (who interacted with me and said what), and more. My favorite area to go to every time I open the tool is the Community section: It’s very easy to just click through the tabs here and start engaging–real engagement, with some real users that align with your interests. Commun.it’s algorithm on who to follow is decently, but not always, helpful. Be sure to keep an eye on it, don’t just click-click-click and repeat: sometimes you’ll see an occasional follower not suited to your interests or audience type. Or, a 100% spam account will sneak in. DO use these features of Commun.it: Community-building feature Follow the “consider to follow” list, unfollow the suggested to unfollow, while keeping an eye on it as you do it “Leads” section to find strangers related to your interest and start building new connections Use the “monitoring” for brand mentions, hashtag mentions for reputation management/engagement building Set up your own well-written, reoccurring customized tweets or DMs to publicize your stuff – for example, a podcast you have, or a blog (no auto tweeting of their automated tweets – see below) DO NOT use these main two features: #1. Too much or non-personalized auto-DM’ing. Confession: I do have a few auto-DMs going. Here’s what I think about auto-DMs: Never do them with a free software. “Automated” or “by X tool,” inserted by the tool as the last line in the message, turns people off more than anything With my paid version, I can insert their name and a day of the week – this is ideal for personalization I check back and write replies, etc, when people answer them DM’s done in that way can be done well. I’ve been redoing them every month, but haven’t achieved any “clicks” – although I’ve seen replies from real people thanking me for the DM … Read more

Stop Selling, Start Helping: What The Aim of Your Branded Content Marketing Should Be

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Stop Selling, Start Helping: What The Aim of Your Branded Content Marketing Should Be

Content marketing is a breeze, right? In theory. The theory often goes like this… You take a bunch of words, string them together, complement those sentences with striking images and stick out there for your fans and followers. If you have the know-how you can add a couple custom images, videos or even podcasts…maybe an infographic or two. You tweet, post and holler like crazy–until your content goes viral. It’s that easy, isn’t it? If only! Building Customer Trust Through Branded Content Marketing The lure to create, curate and then distribute content is so strong for brands because it works. Brands and marketers who prioritize blogging as not 5, or 10 but 13x more likely to enjoy a positive ROI. That’s huge. Content marketing generates 3x as many leads as its more traditional counterpart, outbound marketing, but costs more than 50% less. So, how come only 30% of all content strategists consider their efforts effective? And, there’s a lot of B2B marketers who seem lost in translation between their actual business results and content marketing efforts. So, what’s going on? What’s missing from the big picture? Is branded content marketing really “all that?” In short: content marketing is all that. The longer answer: content marketing will work if you care enough to delve into that nitty-gritty element of gaining your reader’s trust and creating content that is catered to them. Here at Express Writers, we think of branded content marketing as something much bigger than merely a tactic. It’s an essential tool. Better yet, it’s your lifeblood online to help you build meaningful relationships with customers and prospects. What you put out makes you, online. Or breaks you, if you don’t put anything out. Be the brand that does content marketing right. [clickToTweet tweet=”Content is your lifeblood online to help you build relationships with prospects. -@ExpWriters” quote=”Content is your lifeblood online to help you build relationships with prospects. -@ExpWriters”] Building Relationships Rooted on Trust The swiftly and ever evolving digital landscape has made it entirely possible for brands to overcome all sorts of weird and wonderful barriers in order to reach out to their target demographics. Brands and markets can now effortlessly seek and segment prospects, garner information and very readily respond through a whole shopping list worth of platforms. And best of all, feedback arrives in a matter of seconds. This all sounds great, doesn’t it? And it is. But you cannot force your services and products on your tribe once you’ve found them. You’ve got to work at building relationships, one solid piece of content at a time. For every piece of content you post, your number one goal should be to gain trust and elicit a real response from your audience in favor of your content (an action, whether that’s conversion-oriented or a simple responsive comment). Gaining Trust: Emotions vs. Logic Charts, statistics data – they’re all pretty cool. They’re like the geek squad who unwaveringly support your brand’s claim or cheer on about why you’re the best thing to ever happen to your niche. But hang on just a second. Have you ever stopped and thought about how your customers and prospects go through the gamut of emotions on a daily basis? Whether you’re promoting hip replacement surgery, selling a bread knife, or convincing your readers that a holiday to Bali is just what they need, it’s important to craft content that makes them feel. You need to be creating content that will have them nodding in agreement, chuckling at your humor and leaning in closer to read and share your words. In due time, it’s those emotions that will draw them to subscribing to your newsletter, signing up for a free trial and ultimately, seal a deal. According to Roger Dooley, brand campaigns with highly emotional content perform twice as well as content that is rational. Emotional content also does a little better than mixed emotional and rational content. What’s more, the more positive the readers feel with your content, the more likely they are to start talking about your brand. 5 Ways to Build Trust With Your Branded Content Marketing To whittle it down: emotions drive buying decisions, and to evoke emotions in your readers, you need to build trust in what you put out online. Let’s explore how. 1. Who Is Your Audience & What Are Your Intended Outcomes? Brands always need to consider who they’re writing for and why. It’s a lot easier to build trust (which leads to sales) when the right reader is presented with the right content. Then brands need to think about why they’re writing: what’s the goal of your content marketing? If your object is trust – and it should be – make sure you’re not pushing too hard, too soon 2. Determine Content Type, Frequency & Location While these three elements alone won’t build trust, trust really begins by placing the information your audience wants somewhere where they’ll benefit from it. So let’s say your audience mostly looks for content on Reddit, make sure you make it available to them in their favorite space. 3. Share > Promote > Engage In order to build trust, you need to get word out that your content is available. That being said, there’s a fine line between spammy promotion and a little nudge towards awareness. Share on the platforms where your audience is most active and curate your content carefully to help the reader realize that want to read it. Finally, once a reader takes time to engage with your content, reach out and let them know you appreciate it. 4. Make It Easy To Connect With Your Brand If you’re working hard on your content, chances are good you want to make it easy for people to connect with your brand, right? So make sure interested readers can easily connect with you, be it through RSS, email, phone or any other means. 5. Analyze Responses, Optimize for Next Time Brands need to look at their content to what’s being viewed, shared and, of course, engaged with. If particular content is attracting a good response and other posts are being ignored, then you need to … Read more

The Content Creator’s Guide to Content Marketing Ethics: 9 Simple Rules

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The Content Creator’s Guide to Content Marketing Ethics: 9 Simple Rules

If you’re an online content creator – be it blogger, podcaster, vlogger, group creator, Twitter expert or Instagrammer – you already know you’re an important part of a wider public discussion. You probably also know that your role in creating content for your traffic comes with a great responsibility. Where you should be respectful, honest and fair to your audience and about the content you’re creating. In other words, you need to know your content marketing ethics – and we’re about to lay them out for you in this post. Keep reading! Why Ethics Are A Core to Great Content Marketing As a matter of fact it is: it’s the club of the most impactful art form there is (well, we think so). It’s the art of creating content. Why exactly do content marketers need some sort of ethics guideline? It’s simple: words are incredibly powerful. In fact, over 50% of consumers trust branded websites and editorial content, according to a Nielsen report. Unlike the editorial content that is published by journalists, there doesn’t seem to be a set-in-stone code of ethics for content marketers. Sure, we know there are a few things we should be doing. But do we follow through? Chances are, the content you’re creating now is going to outlast both its relevance and your own lifetime so it’s critical that it is a truthful representation of the topic for those who access it today and those who access it in the future. Above all else, as a content creator, your job is to be sure you present opinion as opinion and fact as fact. And that’s where the Content Code of Ethics comes into it. While content creation for marketers is very clearly different from journalism, it is still essential to the future of content marketing that we don’t squander the trust of our audiences. That’s why we’ve gone ahead and created our own content marketing code of ethics. A Brief Content Marketing Code of Ethics in 9 Simple Guidelines See what you’re missing, or check off the points you’re covered on. (As you’re reading, tell us in the comments what you’d add to our list!) 1. Know Your Role in Content Marketing Society Some of the most basic elements of a democracy include the freedom of information, freedom of speech and freedom of content creation, be it in hypertext, video, print or audio. So the ability to both produce and distribute independent content is an important democratic right. So, content creator, it’s up to you to protect the freedom of speech. That means not succumbing to the pressure from anyone who may want to prevent the free flow of information, prevent open debates or deny free access to sources. Furthermore, it is the right of a content creator to share information on what goes on in our society and also uncover and disclose matters that may be subjected to criticism. (Disagree? Let us know below! We’re always open to feedback; it’s how we learn and grow). 2. Maintain Responsibility & Integrity No pressure, but you also carry full and personal responsibility for the material contained in your work, no matter what form you are working in. So you should be guarding your own credibility and integrity if you want to be free to act independently. It’s up to you to reject attempts to break down clear distinctions between unbiased content and advertisements. Ads that are intended to exploit or imitate an editorial product aren’t a good idea to take on. Nor are advertisements that undermine trust in your own integrity and your independence in general. You have an obligation to provide your audience with accurate information. That means that every piece of content you create needs to be thoroughly researched. By researching properly, you can avoid error and provide context for your information. By the way, when you’re distinguishing between content marketing and advertising, advertorials and paid guests posts need to be disclosed. 3. Know & Identify Accurately Your Sources As a rule, all your sources of information should be identified, unless this happens to conflict with source protection or some sort of consideration for a third party. You need to be critical with the sources you choose and ensure the information provided is correct. It’s good practice to aim for relevance and diversity when choosing your sources. All your sources of information, data and quotes have to be properly cited. Try to link to further information as often as you can. 4. Fact vs. Fiction: Know Your Rules for Publication & Abide Within Them It’s important to be clear about what is comment and what is factual information. Respect a person’s identity and character and not draw attention to private or personal aspects if they aren’t relevant. You should ensure that introductions, headers and leads don’t go beyond what you’re dealing with in the text. What’s more, always reveal your source when content is quoted from or even based on other content creators. Draw a line between fact and opinion. By all means, make recommendations and offer advice through your content, but represent your opinions as just that. If you’re using graphics, illustrations, photos, audio, video or any other kind of content, it’s important to always credit the original creator. What’s more, you need to be cautious when using photos in any other content than their original intention. 5. Build Audience Trust As a content creator, do you understand that your first and most important responsibility is your audience? A brand possibly pays your salary, but you have an obligation to build a relationship with the target audience through that honest, accurate and helpful content. If you have not done that, you have not done your job. If you want to gain that audience trust, make sure you never distort facts or use any material that misrepresents your content. That also means avoiding imposing your own biases or stereotyping on the information your creating. 6. Know that You Have an Obligation to Be Transparent We don’t need to tell you that content marketing’s … Read more

Three Foolproof Strategies to Creating Engaging Content

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Three Foolproof Strategies to Creating Engaging Content

Let’s talk about creating engaging content. Have you ever torn a page out of a book in sheer, desperate anger? I definitely haven’t. I don’t think I know anyone who has. As a writer, if I saw someone tear a page out of a book I published, it would feel like they were tearing a page out of my soul. What a silver lining it’d be to know my writing could compel someone to interact with my book by ripping apart the page and sharing their anger. My writing mattered to them. My content was enough for them to act on it. That, despite the undesirable reaction, would make all the difference. Having words powerful enough to engage the reader is a goal every content writer works toward. Crossroads of Memory Lane and Opportunity Drive Back in the day, before dial-up and “You’ve Got Mail!”, a world existed without the Internet. Farther beyond, a realm without television or movies existed for the majority of recorded human history. Books were very valuable. Compiling information onto paper for leisure, education, and communication was the cornerstone for sharing our thoughts across the distant lands we couldn’t travel to ourselves. Now, we live in a world where people can search galactic amounts of information, share their opinions with millions of people, and express their disapproval at the click of a button. More importantly, we live in a world where more content is created than is consumed. This pivotal moment in history is crucial. It’s the fundamental underpinning all strategic content writing. With more and more people creating content, the industry is becoming overstuffed and armies of content writers are springing up everyday. Grabbing a large slice of your own readership may appear to be a fool’s paradise. Or is it? When my closet is overstuffed, it’s an opportunity to throw out what I don’t need. It’s an intriguing moment, because it forces me to sit down and actually think about what I want to see in my closet every time I open it. I have to be aware of my daily priorities. And that’s what counts, isn’t it? We live in a world with billions of readers, but it’s what matters most that we’ll want in our lives everyday. Sorry, Not Sorry: It’s Not About You Anymore I was never impressed with TIME magazine’s May 2013 cover. The “ME ME ME Generation” concept is a theory that could be applied to every generation at some point. Still, there is a level of entitlement to young adults today. We are keenly aware of the options offered to us. We get to choose our celebrities and news sources, a freedom not readily available to those born before the ’80s. We don’t have to settle for a handful of cable networks and newspapers to spoon feed us the information we seek. Industry Standards Are Steadily Rising Everywhere Having so many options available, consumers are much more selective. Standards are being raised across all industries, and the dependence on monopolized profits is a tune business owners don’t get to sing very often. A higher standard doesn’t necessarily mean working harder; being smart about your approach and listening to other experts in the field is a tried and true way of propelling your own career. In fact, listening to anyone other than yourself is a fantastic idea if you want to improve. Playful sarcasm aside, this shift in the business world has been a positive one, and what’s becoming more important is our responsibility to quality. It’s our duty to improve our skills every day and learn from others; there are no shortcuts in the world of content. The Ethos of the Internet Community This shift is apparent in the world of marketing. No one gets to walk in, dressed as Don Draper, and tell you an advertisement is going to work because they say so. Today, internet marketers are expected to use statistics and structured plans of action to sell you on an idea. A prevalent theme across successful social media marketers is the rule that you should interact with your followers ten times for every post you make. People want to be acknowledged, and everyone values this connection with other people. These interactions are reciprocal in nature. Engaging with your follower is often met with an engagement in return. It’s cringeworthy to some, sure, but people often place depthless value in the number of likes a post receives or the number of followers who read their tweets. And aren’t most of us guilty of feeling the same? When you speak out, isn’t it great to be heard? This isn’t specific to the millennial generation, but it’s particular to the new world of social media networking. Now, more than ever, understanding one another is increasingly advantageous. Everyone Online is a Content Creator People may not view themselves as writers or content creators, but they love to write Facebook posts. In 2012 alone, Facebook users were publishing over 293,000 status updates every 60 seconds. That’s a lot of writing. Human beings love to share. They’ll share what’s important to them. If it makes them laugh, they may share it with you. If it solves a problem they’re researching, they may share that as well. And if it means a lot to them, they’ll definitely share it with the world. Sharing is caring, so what do people care about most? That lies at the heart of the single, most effective strategy for creating highly engaging content. Repeat After Me: Create Content That Matters I’m not asking to abandon what matters to you. I personally have a blog with content that is of the utmost importance to me, but I’ll be the first to tell you it has less traffic than a back road in the rural parts of North Dakota. However, when you want to build a loyal readership and maximize your traffic, knowing what matters to your demographic should be at the core of your content strategy. And … Read more

Why Expert Copywriting is the Wave of the Future

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Why Expert Copywriting is the Wave of the Future

This is a short-form piece of content I wrote in ten minutes. Let me know what you think in the comments! Writing is precious. Unique. Valuable. Long-lasting. Crafted by a human, who sits down to wield the full potential of their muse, driving their essence out onto paper. Great words can’t be automated. The names of the greats: Neil Gaiman. William Shakespeare. Stephen King. J.K. Rowling. Tolkien. Immortalized forever by avid readers, these names are near and dear to our hearts. Their writing is valued. Their written words have made them unforgettable, throughout the ebbs of time. Today, there is a sea that’s rising daily. It’s called online content. The only way to stand out and gain attention is by being the best that you can be. You have to become a great. Expert copywriters. An authority voice, an expert on the topic, an author that writes spectacularly. General won’t cut it. Standard won’t make it. Google has furthered the fact of great writing with the standards they re-defined late 2015: E-A-T, (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust), and Y-M-Y-L (Your Money or Your Life – the topics that deserve a true expert). Without a voice that stands out in your category, you’re going nowhere online with content. It comes down to that simple fact. Want to win? Invest not only in a good writer, a writer who “meets expectations,” but a writer who is an expert. And not just an “expert” in a field that matches yours. Because you can be a great lawyer, but a horrible writer. A wonderful software developer, but a choppy author. A raw talent in writing comes first. It’s the ultimate credential you should seek in an expert writer. Creating engaging content that is easy on the eyes (read: flows) is a true art. You can be trained to be a great researcher, and get ahead of almost any subject. Or, you can use your real-life experience to further your knowledge in a narrow topic. Here’s the secret… you can’t learn the great level of writing. The real, true, heart level of engaging writing. Expert copywriting is born out of a talent given at birth. Where writing flows from the fingertips smoother than cream from the top of raw milk. An expert writer is a gifted writer. Without such a voice, you’re not going to succeed online.   It’s time to invest in your expert copywriting. This month, I’ve hand-picked a new team of expert writers who are providing great content for select clients with 100% success rate. Join this select group of happy clients: get in touch and request our hand-selected expert copywriters, or simply order niche copywriting and put that request through the order form. We’ll match you up with an expert copywriter who will make your brand proud.

A Holistic Approach: How SEO and Content Marketing Work Hand-in-Hand Today

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A Holistic Approach: How SEO and Content Marketing Work Hand-in-Hand Today

Have you ever assembled a puzzle? Most of us have. There’s a deep sense of satisfaction watching the image slowly come together through tedious effort and clever tactics. But for some, putting the puzzle can be frustrating. There might be one piece, just ONE piece, that’s missing from a section, and it can drive you mad looking for it. Here’s the thing — content marketing can be a lot like a puzzle, with many pieces coming together to make something amazing. Unfortunately, content marketers often get fixated on a single piece, leaving the rest of the puzzle unassembled. That piece is, very often, “Search Engine Optimization (SEO).” SEO and content marketing are becoming two pieces to a puzzle in today’s friendly online marketing era. Yet, SEO as a separate piece has still earned more than its fair share of attention. Frankly, it’s not hard to understand why. Getting to the front page of a search engine like Google can seem like the make-or-break gauge of success for a piece of content. But there’s a lot more to what makes a fantastic SEO and content marketing strategy, where you win with both Google and readers; and ignoring it will simply leave you with an incomplete puzzle. A holistic approach to it all is what you need today in order to win. A Holistic Approach: How SEO and Content Marketing Fit Together Thankfully, there are definitive steps you can take to ensure a holistic approach to your SEO and content marketing strategy. Here’s how: 1. Learn the Difference Between Advertising and Marketing One major mistake marketers tend to make with their content is making it overly advertorial or salesy. Sure, potential customers might stumble across your blog through a referral, or a backlink, or a search engine. But if they’re looking for helpful information or a solution to their problem and all they find is an advertisement for your latest product or service, they’ll feel alienated right off the bat. In fact, 28% of Americans actively seek to avoid advertisements online, according to Hubspot. And advertisers are the second most hated group online, only falling behind criminals and hackers. Yup. If your content becomes perceived as a sneaky advertisement, you might quickly find your brand being seen in a light you never intended. It doesn’t matter how great your SEO is if you’re creating content that is entirely self-serving. Truly great content will help to inform and assist the reader, rather than cajole them into a conversion. The positive impression a reader engaging with your content will have a far greater impact than merely a sales pitch alone. Customers who feel serviced and satisfied will willfully engage with more of your content, explore your brand in greater depth, and even recommend you to others. And here’s the best part — all these efforts to ensure your content benefits a potential customer will pay dividends in SEO. It’s Not Just About Keywords Anymore It’s not just about keywords anymore. There’s a lot more to building a comprehensive SEO strategy. Among the most effective methods to increase search engine visibility is generating quality backlinks from other sites. And, simply put, no one is going to link back to an advertisement. People link back to valuable, easy-to-understand, hyper-relevant content. If you break out of the mindset of needing to convert every reader with a sales pitch tucked in every piece of content, you’ll find your SEO improving in tandem with your conversions. 2. Write Exceptional, Meaty, Evergreen Content for Your SEO and Content Marketing Campaigns How long does it take to put together a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle? No matter how good you are, it’s a time consuming process — and effective content creation is no different. Anyone can whip up a stubby blog a couple hundred words long stuffed with the requisite keywords. As a matter of fact, many are already doing it. It’s a super bad habit, and a perfect example of a strategy focused purely on SEO and not on content. There’s evidence to back this up, too. Neil Patel of Quicksprout found that posts he made over 1500 words received 68% more tweets and 22% more Facebook likes than shorter posts. That’s a massive boost for a more thorough article. Even if you have good intentions about informing your audience, if it’s not well-researched and relevant, it won’t appeal to readers. In content marketing, it’s not the thought that counts — it’s the product. With that said, it’s important to dig deep into your subject matter to create content that’s so thorough, readers will frequently return to you for their information. Speaking of information, that’s the other thing you’re going to have to consider. What kind of information do you intend to share? It can seem daunting to break new ground, especially in fields that are written about with extreme frequency (here’s looking at you, content marketing.) Thus, it can be a bit tempting to jump on current events and tie your content to that. Trending hashtag? Next blog post. Viral challenge? Gotta upload a branded video. There’s just one problem — this type of content has a short shelf-life and won’t have the long-term impact it could. That’s why you need to build a foundation of “evergreen” content for your marketing strategy. Evergreen content involves creating pieces that are relevant for as long as possible (ideally forever, but things do change and need to be updated.) When you develop a marketing strategy, consider developing content that won’t become outdated anytime soon. This means it can continue to draw views, shares and backlinks well after its publication, giving you a long-term SEO boost as a consequence. In the long run, your dedication to creating long-lasting and meaningful content will result in a wealth of engaging and relevant material that will drive readership years after it is written. This doesn’t mean you have to completely ignore current events — quite the opposite. Making your content relevant to the experiences of your viewers is essential. … Read more

30 Tools Guaranteed To Increase Your Productivity In Content Marketing

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30 Tools Guaranteed To Increase Your Productivity In Content Marketing

You’ve gotta have the right tools for the job. That’s a truth humans have experienced since the introduction of the wheel. The caveman who used a hammer and chisel surely got the job done faster – and better – than his neighbor with chipped teeth. Another way to word this philosophy? Work smarter, not harder. If you’re a business owner, this is your new mantra (if it wasn’t already). Now, how about some tools to make the content marketing part of it all easier? The Right Tools Make Your Content Marketing More Effective (Read: Possible) Running a business is a lot of hard work. It doesn’t matter if you’re managing a corporation of 100+ employees from a mahogany board room or running a scrappy insurgency of “me, myself, and I” from your breakfast nook. It requires work…and planning…and operation costs…and salaries…and IT…and marketing…and analytics…and R&D…and, and, and. Yet, intelligent and creative business owners and managers find a way to make it work. People find new ways to streamline manufacturing, budget for overhead, and effectively market every day. They do it by creating or utilizing the right tools. The Importance Of Online Presence: That’s An Understatement Mintel’s 2015 Online Shopping report shows that 70% of American consumers shop online. That’s over 200 million people, all contributing to the $1.5 trillion done in global e-commerce sales. If you’re not going digital with your business, you’re shortchanging your business. The catch is that people have to know you’re there before they can care – or register, purchase, donate, sign-up, re-post, or even click through to your site. And you can’t just expect any old online presence to pay dividends. The right online presence – crafted with the right tools – will make the difference. And that difference is huge. Chitika, an online advertising firm, studied millions of clicks and determined that people click on only first page results a whopping 94% of the time. Sarah Wai, of Tribute Media, says effective online presence is obtained with “social media presence,” “search engine prevalence,” and content. So without further ado, let’s plunge into our top 10 picks for these categories: Content Marketing SEO & Social Media Content Marketing: Your Go-To List of Top 10 Tools Content marketing can be summed up like this: It’s a way to build your brand for a specific audience so that they will take action on what you’re offering (convert on a service or product). That may sound simple, but the moving parts required to make that process work are incredibly complex. Optimization, tracking, metrics, split-testing, and other business best practices can be hard to keep track of. That’s where these 10 content marketing tools come in handy: 1. BuzzSumo. This all-in-one monitoring tool offers content research and insights, studies influencer activity, analyzes competitors, provides real-time alerts concerning keyword searches and shares, and so much more. We absolutely love this tool and use it constantly, both for our own content and clients. BuzzSumo helps people understand influencers on the web by being able to follow and compile a list of influencers, and differentiate between topics and domains. Read my guide on how to use BuzzSumo. 2. Qualaroo. Gain qualitative information on web content by moving beyond traffic analysis to understanding the intent of website visitors. With Qualaroo, customized, targeted questions are deployed at every stage of your website, from home page to “deep in your conversion funnel.” Content marketers can easily use Qualaroo’s insights to intelligently adjust their online content to better user experience and drive higher conversion. 3. Typeform. This gorgeous and fun tool makes boring forms a work of art. A simple and intuitive drag-and-drop user interface allows people to build informative, thorough, and appealing websites across all media platforms. Tablets, smartphones, laptops – Typeform is programmed to perfectly interact with a mobile world. Typeform’s Basic plan is full of features and absolutely free. 4. Optimizely. This is a powerful, sweeping testing platform helps content marketers deliver truly personalized digital experiences to their visitors and consumers. Optimizely makes it easy to test multiple variables across multiple pages, so marketers can truly understand how even the smallest of changes affects individual visitor behavior. A 30-day free trial is available. 5. CrazyEgg. This interactive analytics algorithm shows site owners exactly where visitors are clicking, how far they’re scrolling down the page, the number of clicks on any element of any given pages, and more. That means you can see what’s working and what’s not. Easy and fast setup allows users to immediately get up and running with CrazyEgg. Plus, all plans are free for the first 30 days. 6. UserTesting. This is a unique testing service that actually provides site owners with audio, video, and written feedback. UserTesting works hand-in-hand with companies to create customized tests that record real users interacting with the company’s web content on any platform or device. See exactly why site visitors confirm or abandon purchases; how they react to photos, videos, and other media assets; and conduct A/B testing for winning variables. 7. Google Docs/Sheets. Everyone uses Google Docs. But very few people probably use these tools to their full potential. Content is not only readily available to teams and organizations through Google Docs, it’s also highly-customizable. Users can create brand-specific layouts and designs. Sheets offers more than just Excel-style columns. It’s customizable as well, works across all platforms and devices, and always saves your work. A feature that many people forget to use with Sheets is the Explore panel, that helps users gain insight from summaries or selected columns. 8. ContentMarketer.io. With an umbrella of three separate tools named Connector, Notifier, and Marketer, ContentMarketer.io is all about getting your content seen. Connector helps build loyalty with personalized outreach emails. Notifier instantly reaches out to influencers you’re mentioning in your content, building important networks and relationships. Marketer finds influencers interacting with your content. Plus, if you know the creator of the tools, Sujan Patel – well, he’s really cool 😉 9. ClearVoice. Dynamic and easily shareable editorial calendars help users organize what’s next and search what content has worked in … Read more

Keep Calm and Write On: A Guide on How to Handle a Negative Online Review

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Keep Calm and Write On: A Guide on How to Handle a Negative Online Review

Imagine this… You sit down at your computer one fine morning, coffee cup in hand, and begin to make your online rounds. You check all the usual things: social media, analytics, blogs, and email – until you gasp in horror and stop in your tracks. Someone has left you a negative online review! While this is a shocking and upsetting experience, you’re not alone. Ever heard the saying… Haters Gon’ Hate? The truth is that any business that works with customers on a regular basis is bound to get a bad online review or two, and while it’s never a fun situation to be in the middle of, a negative online review doesn’t have to be a catastrophe. HelpScout reports that for every one customer who lodges a complaint, 26 customers stay silent. Kind of sucky: but a fact. Although it feels bad when it happens, you won’t be (anything close to) scarred for life. By the end of today’s post, you’ll actually learn that it could be a good thing! And negative online reviews have happened to us too: so I can tell you, personally, that you’ll come out of the fire refined. 5 Key Tips You Can Put to Immediate Use in Handling A Negative Online Review In five steps, here’s a simple breakdown of what to do post-apocalypse (after you’ve received that yucky online review). 1. Stay calm Refer to our Keep Calm & Write On graphic. (Save it, print it out, hang it up, do whatever you like.) You’re a business owner: you work hard for your company, and it’s understandable that finding a negative online review would make you feel hurt, sad, and even angry. If this happens, though, the first thing to do is to stay calm. Nothing good ever came from blowing up at a negative online review, and you’re liable to do irreparable damage to your company if this is the path you choose. As a general rule, it takes 12 good experiences with a company to make up for one negative experience, so you could be digging yourself a big hole with your customers if you fly off the handle before thinking through things. Instead of being reactionary, take a step back from the review and give yourself a bit of time to consider the situation. Begin by sizing up the content of the review. Is it factually correct? Is there a way to address or resolve the problem for the customer? Does the review offer insight into something your company could do well to fix, anyway? For example, if a customer at your restaurant complains that it took 30 minutes to get a glass of water after sitting down, and you were indeed tragically understaffed that night, there’s a simple solution. In this case, the correct path would be to apologize to the customer and offer a comped or discounted meal the next time they return. Once you’ve addressed the complaint, you could even consider hiring more staff or implementing different protocols to prevent that type of situation from happening again. If the report is factually inaccurate, however, your approach will be different. While malicious reviews don’t happen very often, they do happen. Luckily, there’s a way to deal with them. If someone is making dishonest or defamatory statements about your company, it’s within your rights to ask the third-party review site to remove the comment. This is true regardless of whether the review is on Yelp, Facebook, or Google. Keep in mind that getting reviews removed can be an extensive and arduous process, so it’s one to undertake carefully. First of all, you’ll need to provide proof that shows the review is factually inaccurate. If you can’t do this or can’t wait for the third-party site to decide on the review, set the record straight in the comments section below the review. Just remember to be neutral and professional to avoid making the situation worse. Take it from Amy’s Baking Company – which won catastrophic web-wide recognition when the owners repeatedly and aggressively lashed out at a displeased reviewers on Yelp. As if the above wasn’t bad enough… So, there you go on a brief rundown of what not to do. Now, let’s look at best next action steps. 2. Take Action/Offer a Solution Customers don’t often go out of their way to write negative reviews for no reason, so it’s in your best interest to heed the review and do everything in your power to rectify the situation. Your first case of action here is to determine if this is a legitimate customer – because you can only service the legit negativity. We hate to say it, but yes, there are people out there who will leave fake negative reviewers (are either paid by competitors, are the competitor themselves, are are acting out of personal angst). If you know this is a stranger, and not a legitimate complainer: well, here’s one scenario you could take inspiration from. I’m going to tell you a little story. The Story of Jane, Bill, & Will: (Or, the Art of Handling the Fake Negative Review) Let me run you through a story about what we’ll call Bill the Fake Reviewer Writer. Bill heard of a made-up negative story about a company, word-of-mouth, from Jane. Jane was fired from her company just that week. At Jane’s very frequent pushing, Bill went and published a fake review on Jane’s company. He was amped up by Jane and wrote a lot of angry words, calling the company names and even going as far as to put libel on the company owner. It was a weekend and late in the evening. Still, the company social manager was online and saw the angry posts being left by Bill; he alerted the company CEO within minutes of it happening. Let’s call that CEO Will. Will took a breather (see #1). After ten minutes, he immediately replied to Bill, cordially starting with hello. Then he stated facts: 1) we’ve never served you and 2) please provide proof on and who is spreading information about the things you’re currently stating. Bill couldn’t, told by Jane … Read more

Break the Internet: Learn What It Takes to Create Viral Content From 5 Of the Hottest Pieces On the Web

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Break the Internet: Learn What It Takes to Create Viral Content From 5 Of the Hottest Pieces On the Web

Brannon Powers is a Content Specialist at Express Writers. Ever wanted to see a piece of your content go viral (aka, break the internet)? It’s a dream of many of us as marketers, but in order for a piece of content to “break the internet,” it needs to go viral in a big, big way: and it takes a special mix of things in order for content to be able to do that. In addition to being interesting, it also needs to have that special “something” that gives it an edge over the competition. In this post, we’re going to break down some of our favorite viral pieces and help you understand why and how they got that way. Keep reading. What Makes Viral Content… Viral? Viral content doesn’t just happen by accident. Instead, it’s a highly strategized and intentional form of content that draws upon a few proven, essential things to become popular. There have been multiple studies conducted on the topic of what it takes for content to go viral and every study finds the same things: great content has a series of traits that help it stand out to audiences. We’ll breakdown the 7 trademarks we think all viral content has in a moment: but first, we need to take a look at a few content pieces online that deserve everyone’s attention, so you can be inspired on what they did right. Drumroll please. Here are a few of the hottest content pieces on the web in our beloved industry, content marketing and SEO. 5 Content Pieces that Went Viral 1. “Google is Hiring an SEO Manager to Improve its Rankings in Google” – Search Engine Land One of the most-shared articles on Buzzsumo under the keyword “SEO,” this sucker earned more than 21,000 shares across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+. The reason for this is clear: the headline is shocking. Anyone who knows anything about SEO would know that Google is a company that does SEO, so the fact that the king of the castle would have to hire a king to teach it to be king is shocking. To provide extra value for readers, this piece of content also includes a screenshot of Google’s own job listing and excerpts about the requirements and experience needed to qualify.   2. ”7 Social Media Experiments That Grew our Traffic by 241%”– Buffer  With more than 12.7 thousand total shares, this piece is a fantastic example of content gone viral. This article was shared on Twitter by HubSpot, SEMrush, and the Mayo Clinic’s Social Media Network department, to name a few. So what makes it notable? Well, to start with, it promises great things. The article is apparently aimed at marketers, and the implication that Buffer grew its traffic by 241% (a number so large it’s almost hard to comprehend) means, of course, that the people who read the article can, as well. It’s a confident statement, but since Buffer has already done it with their own content, they’re sending the clear message that their readers can, as well. When you visit the article, the writer also does an excellent job of getting right inside your head. The opening line is, “If you’ve asked this before…’How do we get more visitors to our website?’…you’re certainly not alone…” By making the content relatable for readers, the writer inspires trust as well and a relieving feeling of “oh yeah, he gets me.” Finally, the article uses a handful of really well-done images to demonstrate its point, break up the text, and provide proof of the headline’s claim. 3. “The Nit-Picking Glory of the New Yorker’s Comma Queen” – Ted Pop quiz: what made this headline go viral? Interest, authority, and visuals? Right, you are. This article is actually a video published by Ted. It has more than 11.7 thousand total shares, with more than 9 thousand shares on Facebook alone. But why? There are a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s a video, which makes it perfect for social media and quick sharing. Second of all, the title is quirky, entertaining, and authoritative. “A comma queen?” the reader thinks, “What’s that? I must know!” Once the interest has been piqued, the reader absorbs the reference to The New Yorker, which is one of the most authoritative literary journals in the world right now, so the article immediately establishes credibility. Finally, the word “glory” promises that this will be entertaining, funny, or both. Oh, also, who cares about the Oxford comma? She does. 4. “3 Unusual Hacks to Dramatically Up Your LinkedIn Game” – Moz With more than 17 thousand shares, this Moz article by Larry Kim went viral in a big way. Can you guess why? First of all, it’s the first how-to article in this list, which makes it appealing to readers right off the bat. Secondly, it offers three points, and while longer lists do tend to rank well, this one communicates to readers that it’s immediately actionable, and absorbable now. As in: they can be using these tips on their LinkedIn accounts today. This piece does a few things right. First, it’s beautifully laid out, with plenty of white space to give the reader space to navigate through the content. Additionally, it makes use of graphics that make the reader feel like they’re wandering through a great story, like this one:   Thanks to the mix of helpful text and unique graphics that give the piece a distinctly festive and fairytale-esque feel that stands out, this piece manages to be exciting to readers while also being useful, relevant, and actionable. It’s also a long piece of content, which dives into the reader’s questions, answers them thoroughly, and offers plenty of evidence, screenshots, information, and proof to back the material in the content up. 5. “Why it’s Impossible for you not to Read this Sentence” –The Independent Why did this piece go viral? If you guessed the headline, you’re right. With upwards of 5,400 total shares, this article on brainwashing and the written word reached audiences across the … Read more

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