how to beat writer's block
Alyssa Erichsen

Copywriting Fixes: How to Beat Writer’s Block and Churn Out Decent Copy

/0 Comments/in /by

This blog is guest authored by a full-time writer at Express Writers, Alyssa.

As a copywriter, I wheel and deal with words.

Every word I write is worth something: money in the bank, bills paid on time, food in my fridge.

Needless to say, when your words are your currency, you have to be able to produce.

Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. There are all kinds of scenarios that threaten my writing.

Sometimes my dog sits at the foot of my chair and stares up at me for minutes at a time. Her eyes get big and sad.

Eventually, she sits up on her hind legs and reaches out one little paw, giving me a gentle pat on the leg. “Hey, remember me?” she seems to say. “I depend on you for survival.”

cutedog

At this point, I can only sigh deeply and try to understand what she wants. Usually, this is her not-so-subtle way of asking for a bathroom break.

My dog is the least of my worries, though. There are other barriers to writing.

The worst of them seems beyond my control.

Writer’s block.

This anxiety-inducing state is not only dreaded, but unavoidable.

Seconds, then minutes, tick by as I sit motionless, staring at a blank page and a blinking cursor. These two portents of doom taunt me.

This is the point where I have to act, or I’ll never get out alive.

So, what’s a copywriter to do in the face of this self-created melodrama? If you’re still with me, I’ll show you my strategy.

how to beat writer's block

A Copywriter’s Guide to Winning Against Writer’s Block

Writer’s block can be a copywriter’s nemesis. It doesn’t want you to write a word, and it certainly doesn’t want you to get in a groove.

Here’s how to fight back.

1. Focus – No, for Real

I know if I have writer’s block, my mind is elsewhere. If it’s the same for you, I suggest sitting back and discovering where your mind has gone (or when).

Then, yank on it and rein it in.

Put your phone away. No, don’t put it in your pocket or set it within arm’s reach. Get up, go into the next room, and literally hide it from yourself. You’ll thank me when you don’t have notifications pinging at you every 20 seconds.

Next, close every extraneous browser window/tab you have open. Just say no unless it’s essential to your process. For instance, I like to leave a tab open for an online thesaurus. It’s useful for cases of overused adjectives (“great,” “beautiful,” and “excellent” are common culprits).

Once you have eliminated distractions, center yourself. Meditate on the topic you’re writing about. If your mind wanders off again, pull it back, and be firm with yourself.

2. Do You Need Mood Music?

Once your distractions are gone, you may feel antsy. Sometimes, the silence amplifies writer’s block. It becomes a solid, menacing entity versus a metaphor for brain fog.

In these cases, I recommend background music.

Example (purchased from MelodyLoops):

This infographic from WebpageFX gives you an idea why:

music-and-productivity-1

I’m talking about the kind of music that gets your brain quietly but steadily moving, like a running brook. You don’t want waterfalls – unless you prefer that mind environment. If that’s you, by all means.

For me, a quiet, steady, musical movement equals production in an equal measure. Like the music, the words drop at a constant beat and keep coming. It’s not just like a brook, it’s like a faucet turned on to a continual drip.

I require instrumental music. Not angry, dramatic symphonies or complicated melodies, but simple arrangements. A piano, a violin. Clear notes at a moderate pace.

For you, this might be totally wrong. I recommend searching your favorite music app until you land on something that sets your perfect writing mood.

If this sounds incredibly fussy, believe me, I know. However, if your currency is words, you’ll understand.

Struggling to beat writer's block? Check out these tips from @ExpWriters to start writing great copy again!Click To Tweet

3. Light the Wick

Here’s another scenario: What if you don’t need music? What if you only need ideas?

Chances are, if you’re a copywriter, you had a topic handed to you. Whether you find it inspiring, the client needs 1,500 words expounding on it.

If you look at the topic and feel dead inside, you probably need a therapist. If you look at it and feel blah, you need to light the wick.

How?

Strike the match. Start by skimming everything you can find on the web about that subject. Read every article, blog, and website you can with the time you have. If applicable, look at pictures, too. Get inside the topic and swim around.

Reading is one the best ways, I find, to get inspired and find your footing. Once you have a better idea of where you are, you can discover an angle to explore.

If you can, make that angle as interesting to you as possible. Not only will it be more fun to write, that interest will bleed into your tone.

Let’s face it: We all know when a writer is bored to death. To combat that bored tone from boring your readers, get in there and find the interesting side.

Comic by Grant Snider

4. Resort to the Dying Arts

So, what if silence isn’t bothering you? What if distractions aren’t an issue? What if you have ideas, but the writer’s block is still there?

If you’re blank, you need my last-resort strategy. It requires three steps:

  1. Get out a notebook.
  2. Grab your favorite pen.
  3. Write – in cursive.

I’m not talking about the modern scrawl you use to sign checks and jot grocery lists. I’m talking about formal, cursive handwriting.

Yes, the type they don’t want to teach in schools anymore. The kind you practiced during painstaking sessions of loops and swirls in second grade. That one.

When all else fails, this causes my brain to light up in a new way. I start thinking differently than when I’m typing. Sometimes, I’ll even jot down a whole introduction to my article in cursive. Then I switch back to the keyboard to keep going.

It works like a charm. Try it out and see what happens.

The Number One Writer’s Block Tip? Just Do It

When all the tricks and cursive writing in the world don’t help, there’s one last-ditch cure left.

Just do it.

Nike trademarked this phrase for a reason. It’s motivating.

Sit down and do it. Don’t overthink it. Just write.

Image via QuoteHD

Meanwhile, writer’s block has retreated to a dark corner. It’s rubbing its hands together and whispering, “Until we meet again…”

You’re not worried, though.

You’ll be ready.

Is writer’s block plaguing your content efforts? Express Writers has a team of pro writers that consistently block crushers. Let us help.

cta great copy

copywriting how to get started
Marcie M

5 Questions Everyone Asks Before Jumping into Copywriting: How to Get Started (A Real-Life Guide)

/4 Comments/in /by

A few months ago, I was asked by Express Writers to write about my own journey as a creative copywriter.

It was thrilling. I strive to be honest with others, so I have to say that after a regular schedule of writing content for clients who take my words and use it for their needs, it was exciting to have something with my name on it.

I shared it on Facebook without reserve. My husband shared it with the comment “my wife wrote this.” People liked it, and I was in writer’s heaven.

It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. As a kid, I kept journals and I received high grades on writing assignments. For the last several years, while working with a nonprofit, raising three kids, and going back to school, writing has been at the back of my mind.

I’ve always known I am a writer.

I just need to write. (Jeff Goins)

copywriting

Searching for Answers (On Google, Of Course)

If you type “how to get started in copywriting” into a Google search, you will see that there are almost 700,000 search results.

There is a lot of different advice out there, including tips like:

  • “You can become a well-paid freelance copywriter with NO experience!”
  • “Get a job in sales to help you prepare.”
  • “Become a freelance copywriter and earn a 6-figure income working from home.”

While I respect the journeys that others have taken in their writing and the advice they can share, not all of these statements have been true in my own experience with copywriting.

I never had a job in sales. I definitely don’t make a 6-figure income.

And while it is true that you can work your way up to “well paid,” it doesn’t come without at least some experience (and a full pot of coffee, but maybe that’s just me).

Every person who wants to get started in copywriting will be at a different place in life, have a different income requirement, and bring their own skills and experience to the industry.

I would not want anyone to fall for a scheme or believe that this job requires little work for big bucks.

Copywriting is not a get-rich-quick gig.

At the same time, previous experience and/or an education could push you to the higher end of the pay scale in a faster amount of time. Low-end freelance writers can make anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000 per year, while those who are more high-end can eventually earn 6 figures.

Moving from Writing Wannabe to Creative Copywriting: How to Get Started

When you are thinking about moving from a writing wannabe to a creative copywriter, you will no doubt have some questions. Whether you are a recent graduate looking to break into the industry, a stay-at-home parent who needs extra income, or you just love writing, there are legitimate opportunities that can work with your schedule and abilities.

Here are some common questions you might have:

1. Is online copywriting the same as general writing?

Copywriting and general writing are two very different types of content. As Search Engine Journal reminds us, the distinction lies in the purpose behind the writing. Copywriting is used for promotion and in marketing, to entertain and draw the audience in so they engage with the company or brand.

Content marketing is backed by an objective, a goal, that is supported by authoritative research in an effort to connect with the readers and sell the idea. It is professional yet warm, engaging yet relevant, and seeks to build trust while also maintaining a conversational tone.

Copywriting can be sarcastic, funny, creative, or focused. It’s used by big and small companies, entrepreneurs, medical professionals, business-to-business (B2B) markets, and just about anyone who needs to promote a brand or message.

2. Do I need to be a fantastic writer to get started in freelance copywriting?

First, writing needs to be, at the very least, something you enjoy. If content writing is something you are seeking out just to have some extra pocket cash, that’s okay, but there needs to be some passion behind it.

Your level of writing experience could be minimal, especially if you are working with a company like Express Writers. When I first signed on, I had written previously on a casual basis, but not as a job. Thankfully, our team of editors has been patient and willing to guide me in the right direction as far as meeting the clients’ needs, etc.

Over time, I have grown to really enjoy long-form blog writing (like this piece) and for those tasks I don’t like so much, I fake it. I research the particular industry and try to put myself in the place of a customer for that particular company. What would he or she be looking for?

This is true for blogs, web page content, and social media posts.

A copywriter will work to create high-quality content or improve the existing content to fit a specific need. So, you do need a basic understanding of proper grammar, proofreading, and sentence structure.

At the end of the day, clients are counting on you to deliver to them a product that they can use. And you will find that the longer you continue to write, the more you will grow and continue to improve.

3. What types of writing should I be familiar with? (Source – by our CEO, Julia McCoy!)

Depending on the position, a copywriter can receive a number of requests from clients with very different objectives.

For example, a startup that is looking to jumpstart their business with powerful social media posts may request your copywriting services at the same time as a restaurant professional wants a website makeover.

  • Web Content: This textual or visual content appears on websites of all varieties and may include images, video, and page descriptions. Web content should be original, useful, and relevant to the industry for which you are writing.

Here are some content writing examples and tools to reference.

  • Blogging: This type of writing is best done in long-form, beginning with a powerful introduction and including engaging sub-headers throughout. This is where research becomes important, as well as eye-catching visuals and relevant screenshots.

If you’ve never written blog posts before, take a look at this article.

  • Social Media: A basic knowledge of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest is a good place to start. Take some time to research what works and what is not as effective. Learn about the best times and days to post. It’s okay in this type of content to have teasers that will entice the reader to click through to the post.

Check out how to craft social media posts in no time flat.

  • Advertising/Sales Copy: Ad copy can take the form of a clickable advertisement that grabs the reader’s attention and leads them to a specific link. Ad and sales copy is a combination of search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing tactics for a variety of industries.

This article explains a bit more about how to write effective ad copy.

  • Industry Writing: When you write for a specific industry, there is often a bit of research that needs to be done first; this is especially true if you are not familiar with the topic. Industry writing is tailored for various businesses to share about a brand.

Here is a good post on how to write content for an industry you know nothing about.

  • Journalism: This type of copywriting involves gathering information, assessing sources, putting together the content, and presenting all of it in a written format. Journalism is a unique type of content creation, especially as our world has moved to delivering more news online.

Here are some journalism examples from a few years back.

  • Creative Writing: Creative writing can take many forms, including poetry, personal essays, speeches, fictions, and plays. This type of content varies but can be a fun and unique medium for expression in a specific niche.

Check out these examples of creative copywriting.

4. How is online writing formatted?

While every client has different requirements, there are some general guidelines to keep in mind when writing online content.

Titles and headlines need to be strong, and breaking up content with sub-headers helps to separate information so that it’s easy to skim. You can see from the graphic below that readers tend to prefer headlines with numbers and that are addressed to the audience.

headline chart

Graphic from Content Marketing Institute

The beginning of the content can be formed using the inverted pyramid approach, which presents the most important information first followed by secondary details. This encourages your audience to stick with you until the end.

Practice consistency in each section of content. Vary sentence style, including length and structure, and find a rhythm that fits your voice. This may take some practice, but with time you’ll find your style.

Relevant quotes and statistics have the potential to add authority and fresh voices to your written work, as long as they are used effectively and at the best time.

Sentences should be short, adding clarity to the content. Too wordy, and you’ll lose your audience. Graphs and screenshots can contribute greatly to audience engagement and interest if they are relevant and trustworthy.

5. Can I take inspiration from other online writers?

Absolutely! There are so many expert writers who consistently deliver quality content that is relevant and timely. Check out Neil Patel, Jeff Goins, and Seth Godin, just to name a few.

There will always be those who have gone before us who know more, who have more experience in copywriting, and who will offer us the best tools with which to work.

Follow these experts, read their content, and pay attention to the advice they give. They know what they’re talking about!

Here are some good blogs to follow, even though the writers may vary:

Also, check out this post on the best books to help you learn copywriting.

Connecting with a Content Writing Service

One important factor involved in the process of becoming a copywriter is choosing a company to work with that hires individuals for copywriting. How to get started?

A simple web search will result in many companies who hire copywriters, but you don’t know the people behind the screen. Do they pay fair? Are they realistic with deadlines, expectations, and treatment of their writing team?

When I started with Express Writers back in 2014, it was through a blog writer who had put together her own recommendations for work-from-home solutions. I read through reviews of the company and thought a lot about the decision before applying, and I am very fortunate to be working with this team.

Here are a few places to start when you want to find out more about companies that hire individuals for copywriting:

  • BloggerLocal has a list of top 10 blog writing services and article content writing services. The site provides valuable information about local businesses and helps to connect people with their local area.
  • Jeff Bullas put together sites that will pay for content pieces. His experience as a blogger and author has landed him featured pieces in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and with Forbes.
  • B2C’s list of content writing services includes companies that aspiring writers can contact to see about hiring them. Business 2 Community features thought leadership, articles, and real-life experiences from thousands of contributors who know what they’re talking about.

Would I Be a Good Freelance Writer?

Freelance writing is a bit different. If this is the route you want to take, you will have more freedom to set your own schedule. While the flexibility may be convenient, it also means you won’t get paid for the days or weeks you choose to not work.

If you plan to go into freelance writing with zero experience and you aren’t well-known in the industry, this path may choose to be more challenging. However, if you have built up an audience and you have gained respect, the possibilities here can be endless.

Advice from a Fellow Freelance Writer

When it comes to breaking into the freelance industry, the rapid-fire market research approach may be the best one for you.

Just like you wouldn’t create a restaurant menu and then ask customers what they like eating, it might not make much sense to write a bunch of content that isn’t tailored to a prospective client.

When Danny over at Freelance to Win was looking to get into copywriting, he did research first and found out what paying clients were looking for, then tailored his writing samples around those particular needs.

He reminds us to not dive into a writing job that requires special knowledge about subjects we aren’t familiar with. It may be wiser to start slow so that you don’t get in over your head with work you aren’t able to complete.

By looking at the description of writing jobs first, you can get a picture of what the client needs and then move onto creating a portfolio.

Remember that his opinion is just one of the many you will hear in your journey.

Creating a Minimum Viable Portfolio

No one wants to put sweat into creating a portfolio that doesn’t mean anything, so instead, Danny the freelancer also suggests creating a simpler set of content samples for a client to have.

  1. The writing sample should be simple but not exactly what the client needs.
  2. The writing sample should be short and provide the client with a glimpse of your abilities.
  3. The writing sample should be completed in about a half hours’ time.

Other experts suggest keeping a portfolio of your best copywriting content, always adding to it and adapting as you gain more experience. This, too, can be tailored to the type of job you will want to pursue in the future.

Whether or not you choose to keep a portfolio of your work is a personal preference. Keeping a collection of your best work as you go along could end up being a valuable resource.

Never be afraid to be proud of what you’ve done. While your content may need to go through a refining fire (thank you, editors), it is your work and your efforts are something to be proud of.

To Hone Your Writing Skills, Remember: Practice, Practice, Practice

Experts will tell us that in order to be good at something, we have to practice.

Remember learning to ride a bike? Ever play an instrument? Memorize a long passage or give a speech from memory?

All of those skills take practice, and writing is no different.

It may not be that you keep a journal or blog on a regular basis, although these may help you. At the same time, when writing becomes a daily habit, you will find that you grow in your creativity, your ability to craft high-quality content, and the types of writing you are able to produce.

What Are You Waiting For?

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to copywriting. How you will get started depends on where you are in life during this season, your writing background and skills, and whether or not writing will be your primary income.

The most important step you can take is to just go for it. Use the tools I’ve given you today, read the writings of content experts, and begin to familiarize yourself with the basics of content writing.

Subscribe to our The Write Blog and be inspired by our team of writers; we come from all different backgrounds and levels of experience. And just like you, we were all once asking the same questions you are.

Everyone starts somewhere.

So – what are you waiting for?

You are a writer; you just need to write.

cta

great modern copywriting
Julia McCoy

7 Fundamental Pillars that Make Up Great Modern Copywriting

/0 Comments/in /by

Modern copywriting: while it may be similar to the copywriting of years past, it’s a different animal entirely.

Today, copywriters must be Jacks and Jills of all trades – switching effortlessly between marketing prowess, fine-tuned technical know-how, poetic turns of phrase, and hard-driving SEO experience meant to produce results.

If this sounds like a tall order, it’s because it is!

Modern copywriting is hard, and few people understand what it takes to excel in the field.

Read on to learn more about the seven key pillars of modern copywriting, and how they set the art this craft apart from anything that’s ever existed before.

modern copywriter

How Do You Define Modern Copywriting?

That’s a great question, and it’s also a complex one. In many ways, modern copywriting is anything that’s being created right now. That’s not the extent of it, though. While modern copywriting is certainly content that’s being produced in the current era, it’s also a different type of content entirely.

Today’s copywriting is dedicated to so much more than just making sales. Instead, it’s about building relationships, defining brands, telling stories, creating laughs, playing on reader emotions, and learning how best to present a product, good, or service to interested consumers.

Thanks to all of these things, today’s copywriting is a drastically different pursuit than anything that’s existed in recent years, and it’s adapting every single day to become more functional and targeted for rising and developing brands.

The 7 Essential Pillars of Modern Copywriting

Just like any other industry out there, modern copywriting has a rulebook, and the people who excel in the industry know how to play by it. With that in mind, here are the seven foundational “laws” of modern copywriting, and how they all influence the industry for the better.

1. A focus on the customer

In the days of old, copywriting focused on the customer, but for all the wrong reasons. The copywriting of the past was all about making sales and convincing readers that they needed a product, good, or service, regardless of whether they did or not. Most of the time, this approach came off as pushy and sales-y because, hey, it was.

Today, though, copywriting takes a much different approach to relationships with customers. Instead of trying to shove something down peoples’ throats, the copywriting of today uses a complex series of emotional appeals, facts, statistics, and storylines to create a real, ongoing relationship with consumers.

Instead of thinking of customers purely from the standpoint of, “What can this person do for me?” Today’s copywriters look at customers as a unique group of individual people. To honor them as well as possible, copywriters attempt to create truly valuable content that addresses consumer issues and helps them solve problems, alleviate pain points, and build healthier, happier lives.

In this way, modern copywriting is more customer-centric than anything that came before it.

2. A dedication to quality and relevance

Before Google got as smart as it is today, and before consumers demanded quality, copywriters and marketers often settled for scrapped, spammy, and just plain bad online content. The attitude was, “As long as I’m putting something up on this web page or blog, it’s good enough!” Today, this no longer flies.

Modern copywriting is all about creating truly high-quality content that stands out. Spammy, black-hat techniques are no longer the norm and, today, it’s the best material that is the most likely to get noticed.

Contrary to the copywriting mindset of just a few years ago, when the creator who could put out the most content in the shortest period was the winner, today’s copywriters earn respect by crafting unique, original material that consumers (and search engines) love.

3. A focus on social media distribution

As I mentioned at the start of this post, today’s copywriters are evil masterminds who know how to use all of the things of the internet. Instead of being just writers, or just social media experts, the modern writer is both, and a whole lot more!

Today, copywriting that succeeds is copywriting that’s meant to be distributed on a wide selection of platforms. Because of this, the majority of modern content is designed for distribution on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

In addition to the fact that these social platforms often produce more engagement than a blog or website, they’re one of the most efficient ways for modern creators to connect with audiences in an effective and meaningful way.

4. A willingness to engage in storytelling

While storytelling has been around as a marketing strategy since the beginning, it’s become the focus on online marketing in recent years. Today, the pervasive notion is that copywriting is nothing without good storytelling and that any brand worth its snuff will understand how to craft a good tale for its audience.

From advertising to product launches, storytelling exists everywhere, and modern copywriting is credited with developing, perpetuating, and fine-tuning the practice.

5. A focus on additional types of content (video, audio, and visuals)

Modern copywriters know that, for a piece to be interesting, engaging, and compelling to increasingly discerning audiences, it needs to feature everything the audience wants and nothing it doesn’t. This is why so much content today features multi-modal assets, such as visuals, graphics, and video content.

By interspersing content with these unique formats, today’s copywriters succeed in creating an interesting and engaging body of work that truly benefits and fascinates consumers, rather than simply leaving them cold.

What’s more, adding visuals and videos into modern content is a wonderful way to ensure that a piece’s readers are getting the most out of the information offered.

6. Freedom to be as creative as possible

Anyone who has ever seen Dollar Shave Club’s launch video understands that creativity is here to stay in the world of modern content.

While the buttoned-up marketers of the 1950s would have cringed at such a bawdy, funny piece of content, today’s copywriters understand that creativity like this is one of the most effective ways to reach tough audiences.

By making a marketing message funny and unique, it’s possible to do virtually anything, and modern copywriters specialize in taking a brand’s message and making it creative. This, in turn, helps readers connect with the brand and makes it easier than ever before for brands that specialize in so-called “boring industries” (such as razor production) to stand out as marketing gurus.

7. A willingness to break the rules to make progress

Today, pushing the envelope is the only way to make true progress, and modern copywriting knows this. Today, copywriting has broken the metaphorical shackles it used to exist within to develop a creative, innovative, flexible mindset that allows it to adapt flawlessly to virtually any industry.

While this may seem like a luxury, it’s a necessity today.

The reason is simple: before the last several years, companies have never been so profoundly involved in online marketing as they are today. And this massive switch to the digital world has created a whole host of new challenges.

How does a brick-and-mortar tax compliance company, for example, create compelling content that makes people want to visit a local location? These are tough issues to solve, and modern copywriting has had to adapt and get creative to address them.

By breaking some of the long-held rules of the industry and being willing to make bold moves that push the boundaries of the industry, modern copywriting manages to extend incredible value to companies in all sectors. What’s more, it’s managed to make marketing something collaborative, engaging, and exciting, rather than icky and stale.

The Case for Modern Copywriting

While it’s obvious that the copywriting of today is different than the copywriting of yesteryear, few people understand how truly critical modern copywriting has been in overhauling the face of marketing as a whole.

While it goes without saying that today’s copywriting is more creative, unique, collaborative, and innovative than anything that’s existed in the past, it’s also true that all of those traits have given modern brands the freedom to express themselves more fully than ever before.

By creating a platform for expression, differentiation, collaboration, and branding, today’s version of copywriting has made shopping more exciting for consumers while also making the process of developing, launching, and marketing a brand much more enjoyable and inspiring for entrepreneurs.

So, how’s that for some positive changes? In a way, you could say that modern copywriting has sort of altered the world – for the better, of course!

Need modern copywriting services to help your brand shine? Contact Express Writers to hire our skilled copywriters today!

engagement cta

how to create headlines
Julia McCoy

The Ultimate Guide: How to Create Headlines that Will Go Viral

/0 Comments/in /by

We’ve all heard it: while 80% of people read headlines, only 20% read body copy.

What does that mean in practice, though?

In other words, how do you create headlines that entice that elusive 20% to keep reading? Or to share, comment, and convert?

The truth is that viral headlines are rare, and they take time, effort, and skill to master.

Fortunately, the content marketers who develop solid headline skills have a better chance of standing out from the crowd. Modern customers are attracted to quality and effort, and a great headline reflects both.

The good news is that headlines like these aren’t out of reach. Here’s your complete guide to creating them.

guide to creating headlines

What Makes a Headline Viral?

If you want to create viral headlines, you must first understand what, exactly, makes them go viral. What are the components they include, and what’s their foundational structure look like?

Here are a few critical elements of every good headline, as laid out by Steve Rayson in a BuzzSumo article:

  • Viral headlines have an emotional element
  • Viral headlines use content elements to their advantage
  • Viral content covers trending topics
  • Viral headlines follow a format
  • Viral headlines promise the reader something

Here’s Rayson’s table, to illustrate:

steve rayson table

According to him, most viral headlines employ not one, not two, but three or four of these elements. This combination allows them to perform in a unique way, and to grab your readers’ attention.

Which Headlines Get Shared?

The good things about learning to write viral headlines is that there’s a lot of information about which headlines get shared and which don’t, and this can help guide your efforts.

For example, in 2014, OkDork published a post that showcased the results of a survey that analyzed more than 1 million headlines. Here’s what they found:

The Most Popular Phrases in Viral Headlines

The OkDork survey found that the most popular words and phrases in headlines were:

creating headlines quote 1

As you can see, list posts top the charts time and time again. And this makes sense – they’re easy to skim, valuable for readers, and ideal for virtually all industries.

Beyond that, the survey also made it clear that people love personalization, and that content that addresses the reader personally (by using the words “you” and “your”) sat at the top of the list, as well.

Readers also loved any post that promised a better situation or hinted it would teach them to do something. As you can see, using the right words in your headline is essential, and can make all the difference in your readership.

Emotional Headlines

As the web has become more personalized and targeted, there’s been a push toward emotional headlines. These headlines take all forms. They can be shocking, infuriating, laugh-inducing, or curiosity-inspiring. Readers just want to feel something when they read your headline.

This requires the use of power words. Some power words, like free, easy, and DIY are already included in the list above. There are many others besides these, though. Terms like approved, competitive, unsurpassed, and confidential all inspire strong emotional reactions in readers, and help drive shares for your content.

There’s science to back this up, too.

According to CoSchedule, posts with a higher emotional value earn more shares than posts with little emotional value.

CoSchedule Table

Headlines That Utilize Trigrams

A trigram is a three-word phrase used in a headline.

While the number 3 has significance throughout nature and mythology, it’s also a powerhouse in the world of writing and, specifically, headlines. The rule of three states that things that come in packs of three are funnier, more impactful, and more satisfying than things that don’t and this holds true for a viral title. BuzzSumo reports that certain trigrams within headlines earn more shares and likes than others.

Here are a few to get you started:

  • X Pictures That
  • X Signs You’re
  • How Well Do
  • Can We Guess
  • You Should Never
  • X Things Only
  • The Science Of
  • History Of The
  • The Art Of
  • The Future Of

As you can see, these trigrams are just a skeletal structure that you can apply to any headline in any industry.

Superlative-Rich Headlines

If you’re like most writers, you’ve been taught not to use superlatives in your writing. It’s time to turn that on its head, though. According to BuzzSumo, superlatives can increase the share volume of your headline when used correctly. Because they boost the emotional value of a headline and make it easier for readers to get excited about them, superlatives are ideal for creating viral posts that spread widely across the web.

Here are a few superlatives to get started with:

  • Amazing
  • Inspiring
  • Surprising
  • Successful

Particularly useful for content designed to be shared on social, superlatives can make your headlines more impactful, promising, and exiting for your readers.

Content Formats

There are a few content formats that get shared more often than others, and using them is a great way to make your content more viral. These include lists of ten things, how-to guides, and quizzes. Quizzes are especially exciting since they represent a form of interactive content many marketers aren’t creating. In addition to going viral, interactive content like this also allows you to expand your reach and help you stand out as a leader in your industry.

How to Write Viral Headlines: 5 Tips

Now that you know which types of headlines go viral let’s talk about how to write them for yourself.

1. Evaluate The Headline’s Emotional Impact

Remember: headlines with a high emotional impact get shared more frequently than minimally emotional headlines.

With this in mind, use a tool like the Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer from AMI. Designed to evaluate the way your headline’s word groups come together to elicit emotional responses from readers, this tool is free and easy to use.

Here’s an example of what it looks like in action:

headline analyzer

2. Follow a Formula

If you’re just getting started with headlines, and you want to ensure yours perform well, look for ways to include tried-and-true methods in your headline approach. Trigrams like those mentioned by BuzzSumo are always a fantastic jumping-off point.

In addition to making your headlines more impactful, using these trigrams as a structure is an excellent way to get out of a rut and ensure your headlines are performing the way you want them to.

Here are a few examples of what you could do with the trigram structure:

creating headlines quote 2

As you can see, it’s easy to take these headlines and run with them, tweaking them to your preference to ensure they fit your industry and cater to your audience.

3. Choose a Trending Topic

It bears mentioning here that creating viral content is a different animal than creating evergreen content. When you create evergreen content, you want to choose a historically useful topic that will appeal to your readers for years to come. Since evergreen content is meant to attract traffic to a post or page long after its publish date, it wouldn’t make any sense to use a fleeting, trending topic as the foundation.

When it comes to viral headlines, though, the approach is different. Because viral headlines are meant to drive a significant amount of traffic to a site or post in a short period, they thrive on trending topics.

This means anything in global, national, or industry news is fair game.

For example, check out this screenshot of some “trending” topics from Facebook:

Facebook screenshot

You can also use Google Trends to discover trending topics, and build a headline from those. Since it’s Google, the data capabilities behind the trends you can search here are massive!

google seo trends

Be sure you keep the headline ideas from trends relevant to your industry, or else you stand the chance of missing out on the audience-specific traffic your headline could be generating.

4. Make a Promise

If you’ll remember from above, some of the top-performing headlines included words like “how to” and “DIY.” The reason for this is simple: these headlines make a promise. By telling the audience they’ll teach them something, these headlines get a jump start on providing value and relevance to readers.

To make your headlines more viral, include an element of promise within them. This promise can revolve around revealing a story, telling a secret, or offering insider tips.

No matter what you do, the more exciting you manage to make your headlines, the more likely your readers are to bite.

5. Make it Emotional

Today’s best headlines are highly emotional. In addition to inspiring readers to share, highly emotional headlines also stick with people and promote recall long past the point a customer would typically remember a headline. This allows these headlines to stand out as monsters in their industries, and to be shared widely across the web.

To make your headlines as emotional as possible, include power words that make people want to click. The more of these you can include, the more impactful your headline will be.

Keep in mind that, while a good headline is emotional, it should also be natural. Readers don’t want to feel like a used car salesman is writing their blog headlines.

What Not to Do With Your Headlines

While there are a lot of dos when it comes to writing viral headlines, there are also dozens of don’ts. It’s true that headlines follow a formula and that good ones often have several things in common. You do need to be careful, though, that you’re not getting too formulaic or standardized with your headlines, or else you’ll risk coming off as spammy and untrustworthy.

Here are a few simple don’ts to keep in mind as you work toward the perfect headline.

Don’t Cram Your Headline With Exact Match Keywords

Exact match keywords are, by and large, a thing of the past. While they can be useful to guide your content, they shouldn’t act as its backbone. In addition to the fact that they look spammy, they’re not often very organic, and can cripple an otherwise great headline. Instead of relying on exact match keywords as you work your headline out, look for semantic matches, synonyms, or other phrases that get at your user’s intent but don’t feel artificial or plastic. This will make your headlines more emotional while also ensuring you’re doing a good job of matching the questions, topics, and interests your readers want.

Don’t Make A Promise And Not Deliver

As we mentioned earlier, great headlines make promises to their readers. Whether that promise is to teach a reader to do something or expose an industry secret, promises are compelling and exciting. As such, one of the worst things you can do in your headlines is make a promise and not deliver on it. In addition to being disrespectful to the reader, this also doesn’t do much for your reputation as a trustworthy source, and can harm your readership in the short and long-term. That said, make sure any promise leveraged in your headline is also supported by your body copy.

Don’t Get Too Short With Your Lists

While list posts rule, some are stronger than others. Most research suggests that 25 is the magic number when it comes to list posts and that longer lists may perform better than shorter lists.

With this in mind, don’t sell your readers short with your list posts. Instead of skimming the surface with a list of three or four things, go longer and stretch the list out to include 15 or 20 points.

Don’t Stop With Clickbait

Viral headlines are more durable than pure clickbait. They inform readers while they excite them, and they deliver on their promises. While creating run-of-the-mill clickbait headlines can be enticing, you’ll find these fall short with your readers. Instead of just flashing something shiny before their eyes, go deeper and write headlines that are as informative as they are exciting. What, exactly, will your reader learn from your content? Which questions will you answer? These elements prove your headline has substance and work to make it stand out from the crowd.

Don’t Get Overly Complex

A good headline is simple, precise, and to-the-point. If you get too complex with jargon or lingo, you risk losing readers and making your material harder to relate to or interact with. What’s more, the best headlines are the ones that can spread the furthest, and this is unlikely if you’re only writing for a specific audience. With that in mind, make your headlines appealing to as many people as possible. Not only will your readership balloon, but your headlines will more likely go viral as a result.

Viral Headlines Made Simple

If you’ve been in pursuit of viral headlines, you’re not alone. Luckily, they’re not as challenging to create as you may think. While it’s true that learning to write viral headlines is a process, it’s also entirely attainable and isn’t outside the reach of any moderately talented copywriter. That said, these simple tips are all you’ll need to learn to write viral headlines that resonate with your audience and earn your content the reach it deserves.

When you take the step toward viral headlines, your entire content strategy benefits. Not only do you rise above the sea of so-so, boring content, but you also enter a place that few content marketers know how to access. By mastering the art of the viral headline, you stand to improve your content’s value, drive more traffic to your site, and become a better content marketer, starting right now.

Hire expert copywriters to help you write viral headlines in our Content Shop!

engagement cta

obvious copywriting errors
Julia McCoy

Misspelled or Mispelled? & 6 Other Obnoxious Copywriting Errors (Pop Quiz inside)

/1 Comment/in /by

All copywriters are very much human. Even though they might publish copy that looks absolutely pristine and perfect.

How do I know? Because we make spelling errors just like the rest of the mere mortals. 😉

But the difference between you and me?

Because when I’m a copywriter and make a mistake, a lot more people are going to see it. That’s a whole lot of pressure.

Let’s face it:

English spelling is hard.

For example, how come if you write a play, you are a playwright, not a play write?

And why in the world is kernel spelled colonel?

In fact, George Bernard Shaw once pointed out that under English spelling rules, fish could just as easily be spelled g-h-o-t-i as f-i-s-h. (As in the gh from tough; the o as in women; and the ti like in nation.)

With all the wacky spelling rules, it is easy to see why even the smartest of us have problems every once in a while. Still, though, there are some mistakes so wrong that nobody should be guilty of making them. Yet, there they are, constantly being included on lists of the most commonly misspelled words (misspell, by the way, is not misspelled: however, mispelled definitely is).

If you want to make it in the copywriting biz: do not make any of these common errors. We’ve put together a fun spelling test pop quiz for you in this post! Our talented designer created a quiz graphic for every question. Remember: don’t peek at the end till you’ve taken a guess!

How well will you do on our spelling test? Ready…set…go!

copywriter errors

7 Common Spelling Problems You Should Not Be Making in Your Copywriting

Be creative with your copy, but not your spelling. Don’t even try to get creative with misspelling, i.e. krazy kopywriting. PSA: that’s not cute – that’s just bad spelling.

Here are seven words you should consistently be spelling right, but that a whole lot of people aren’t. If you want to make it in the copy game, time to get all of these right.

1. Most Obnoxious: They’re always getting their words mixed up over there.

They’re vs. their is a spine-chilling error that wins most obnoxious spelling mishap on the planet. - @JuliaEMcCoyClick To Tweet

They’re vs. their.

People seem to have a lot of trouble with this one, but if you are going to be a copywriter, you have to figure it out.

For starters, let’s go over they’re. Whenever you see an apostrophe that is not possessive, you know it has to be a contraction. So they’re has to be one as well. And, of course, it absolutely is. It stands for they are, and it should never be used in any other way.

Then, there is there. It’s a location – as in over there. It should never get mixed up with their – which is possessive. As in, their property.

Ready? Test yourself:

misspelled quiz question 1

2. He needs to leave to buy that car by the store. Bye!

Everyone should know the difference between buy, as in purchase, bye, as in adios, and by, as in a preposition.

Yet, here is this used car sign that makes me question everything I thought I knew about the level of grammar knowledge:

bye

This particular store will bye used cars. I guess that sort of make senses. I mean, maybe they were going for the message that they quickly get rid of used cars, as in they go bye. However, I feel like that is a stretch. They just apparently needed my spelling lesson.

How about you? Are you better than this used cars sign? Get this question right and prove it:

misspelled quiz question 2

3. If you lose any more weight, your pants will feel loose.

Lose is a verb. It means to replace. Loose is an adjective that means not firm. It seems so easy.

Yet when a sign for Hoodia Patch, a weight lose aid, claimed to be the effective way to loose weight, people quickly pointed out their mistake.

And even fixing said mistake made them the butt of jokes as people pointed out that their ad must have gone on a diet because their loose lost an o in the edit. Now that is not the type of attention you want your copywriting to get you.

Are you ready for the quiz on this section? It should be an easy one:

misspelled quiz question 3

4. Here are two cookies that need to be eaten later because they are too hot now.

Two people pretty much have figured out. It’s that pesky to and too that they just can’t wrap their minds around. Let’s break it down. To is a preposition. Too is an adverb meaning either a higher degree than is desired or else also.

Easy, right? Tell that to this tax office who thinks it is never to late to file your taxes (but is it too late to fix the sign?):

taxes

Do you have it down? Or do you need extra help like those accountants, too? Select the right answer:

misspelled quiz question 4

5. Why don’t I like that sign? Because it’s got to fix its spelling.

Admittedly, its and it’s can be a little confusing if you are used to ‘s being a possessive. However, when it comes to this common misspelling, all you have to know is that it’s means it is or it has and absolutely nothing else.

Did you happen to notice that in the accounting sign above, they also got this wrong? That’s a truly awful sign. Its not to late to file your taxes should have been it’s not too late to file your taxes. If you ever see this sign on an accountant’s door, please know that it’s not too late to find another accountant.

Now for the quiz question:

misspelled quiz question 5

6. A lot of people think alot is okay. (It isn’t.)

Alot does not exist. It is no more real than alittle or apair or adumb.

It is always a lot, every single time.

That being said, here is this section’s quiz question. (No excuses on this one.)

misspelled quiz question 6

7. You’re right – that’s not your problem.

Where do I start? Your is possessive. You’re means you are. It could not get any simpler. And yet here I am talking about it. Why?

Because Seagate didn’t know this. And they are certainly not the only one.

So are you one of the misspellers? Here’s your question (and note that I didn’t say here’s you’re question):

misspelled quiz question 7

8. Our friends are almost here.

Are is a verb, our is possessive. Are you getting all of this? I hope so because our spelling lesson is almost done. Get the difference?

See how well you do with this one:

misspelled quiz question 8

9 . Always know when to say no.

Here is the last on this list but most certainly not the last of the commonly misspelled words: know and no.

If you understand something, you know it. If you mean the opposite of yes, then you want to say no.

Make sense? Let’s see.

misspelled quiz question 9

Pop Quiz Answer Time!

Now here are the answers. I’m sure you aced it.

misspelled quiz question answers

Before You Hit Submit, Think About Your Copywriting for a Spell

When you are writing copy, it is easy to misspell a word, even when you actually know how to spell it.

With copywriters, it’s easier to misspell than you’d think. You’re typing fast, and your thoughts are coming in fast, so it is easy to make a typo.

The problem with our jobs, however, is that when you make that typo with copywriting, a lot of people are going to end up seeing it. And when they see it, they aren’t going to know whether you don’t know how to spell or you made a simple mistake. They will assume the former, though.

The solution to saving yourself from a world of embarrassment is simple. Think before you submit.

  • Double and triple check your work.
  • Use, but never depend on, spell check.
  • Have someone else double and triple check your work.
  • Read through it backwards (it works very well – I don’t know why).

Just make sure it does not go to print with some glaring spelling error you would be embarrassed to have credited to you.

 

And if you want someone else to write your copy for you to really clear yourself of blame, take a look at our copywriting services.

engagement cta

troll copy conversions
Julia McCoy

How to Kill the Fear Troll that Stops Copy Conversions From Happening & Win Over Your Readers (Case Study)

/0 Comments/in /by

What is it in your copy that leads someone on your site from the point of almost purchasing, to actually converting?

Better yet… What stops them from that last step (the sale)?

The answer is relatively simple.

At some point, they came face-to-face with an ugly troll that is known as prospect fear.

Today, we’re calling it the “Copy Fear Troll.”

If you’re lacking copy conversions, this troll is out there, living and breathing in your copy, on your web pages, ready to pounce on anyone who is considering a purchase on your site. The good news? You can do more than just stop it: you can kill it.

Read on to learn what website visitors fear the most (defining the Copy Fear Troll), and how I overcame a personal troll of our own, living and breathing on our site, as a New Year’s goal for my agency’s online presence.

fear troll instagram title

The 3 Subconscious Fears of Your Online Visitors (Before Copy Conversions Ever Happen)

Every member of your audience has a different buying style: some are impulsive and will buy with little to no research, while others will want their decisions reaffirmed before making any commitments.

Here are some reasons your potential customers may do a quick dash for the figurative door before taking action.

1. Insecurity

Insecurities come from many different places, including past experiences, a lack of information, and a sense that the product or service is not quite good enough. This is the fear troll’s area of expertise – dredging up all the reasons why this transaction is going to fail.

2. Mistrust

The goal in content marketing is to build trust and keep readers coming back for more quality content. There are many reasons to not trust, especially if your readers have been burned before. The fear troll loves sending subtle reminders about why a customer should quit before getting too involved.

3. Waste

Most of us can remember a time when we wasted money on something foolish, whether it was a door-to-door scheme or online purchase we felt we could not do without. No one wants to repeat that mistake, so the fear troll whispers doubt at every step.

Getting Rid of the Copy Fear Troll

copywriting troll

So, what’s a content marketer to do?

You might be surprised at how easy the answer is: kill the fear troll with real, down-to-earth, authentic copy that transparently situates your brand and your services before your prospects.

Thorough transparency.

It’s the name of the anti-copy fear troll game.

We recently worked on going from almost-good-enough to fear-killing-copy on our site, and the results have been promising.

A Case Study of How Killing the Fear Troll in Your Copy Works

In December of 2016, to prep for a great January and an even better 2017, I recruited one of our top internal marketing writers from my agency to help boost our site copy.

As of December, we had roughly 6,000 monthly site visitors, and our non-paid reach in Google SERPs was worth $13,000 in organic value:

google rankings

Yet our average new customer number was around 20-30 a month, and some converted at low numbers. Only one or two visitors per day actually sent in a contact form. We wanted to change that!

Together, my ad writer and I looked at my agency site, our services, and worked out the best emphasis on “how to sell” in our own copy.

3 Ways We Banished the Copy Conversions Fear Troll—& Won

The problem we found was that visitors were bouncing early on—after a few clicks from the home page.

My ad copywriter decided that we needed a) more copy and b) more effective copy.

The biggest two takeaways I learned from auditing our site and reinventing the weak copy that we had:

  • Cut to the core of what you do best. Be simple and authentic about your product and value.
  • Be confident and speak with confidence. You’re the A-team: show clients that!

Here’s the core of the changes we did:

1. New Fear-Banishing Page Around Our Values

Inspired, I created the new Our Values page. In it, I concentrated on telling – from my heart – why our brand stands out above all our competitors. We take a lot of pride in a process that removes 98% of the applicants that approach our writing team, but I wasn’t telling the story of our process on the site.

2. New Image Choices (Visualizing a Happy Client) & Friendlier Menu

We then re-created the menu at the top of our site with more clarity:

  • We have a lot of resources—podcast, blog, and Twitter chat—and we grouped that under one tab called “Learn.”
  • We created an “About” menu that included Success Stories (which we didn’t have live on the site previously), and a Meet the Team page.
  • We worked together to create a strong page that emphatically shared “our values.” The end result was so strong that we took it out of the About tab and put it live in the menu as Our Values.

We even changed the image on the home page. We had a stock image of a writer, thinking, pen in hand. The new image my ad consultant suggested was a visualization of a happy client receiving their content. Literally, someone smiling at a computer, with at least one other person. It was important to visualize the end result for the client rather than just our team doing the work. The result when we changed up the image concept (simple—a Shutterstock purchase!) was tremendously better looking.

Here’s the difference, visually, between our old menu and home page stock image:

old home page ew

And our new home page menu and image:

new home page ew

In less than a week, more than three live chats have been started from the Our Values page by brand new, incoming agency leads (our ideal client type), discussing thousands of dollars’ worth of work.

We’re starting to attract communications from our ideal client type—after I decided it was time to speak to them, in our copy!

After reading the Values page, and landing on it, here is what one of those leads had to say on our live chat (we use Drift for onsite chat). Names hidden for privacy reasons:

drift lead from the our values page convo

She converted at $5,000 inside the next two weeks.

The language in the entire chat that came from this lead was so friendly, natural, and at a level where we didn’t have to “hard sell” at all. She was “sold” from the start, instead, after landing on that page. We didn’t experience conversations like these, prior to the new site page being launched. Typically, we had to convince with multiple phone calls and meetings to get a lead to that point.

Killing the fear troll with more on-site, real, down-to-earth, authentic copy, works.

Different Content for Different Goals

Your authentic copy must be uniquely created for your brand, especially when you consider that certain content types won’t work as well for conversions as others.

For instance, if increasing sales is a priority, your time may be better spent creating buying guides, product videos, and page descriptions. On the other hand, if you run a DIY website, a consistent and high-quality blog with step-by-step instructions could be a valuable tool for your audience.

Remember the 4 Stages of Customer Wooing

Different content marketers will explain the stages of the audience differently, but they all end up at the same place: conversion and retention. No matter where your prospects may fall, the key is to pay attention to all the details, however small they may seem, and make sure each one builds trust and smashes fear.

moz funnel

Graphic courtesy of Moz

1. Discovery

At the top of the funnel is discovery, which is kind of like trying catch the eye of someone you like across the room.

Is he aware of me?

Would she be interested?

Should I make a move?

For content marketers, it’s more difficult to make batty eyes, so we focus more on brand awareness and educational content. This is the stage where we tell people that yes, they do have a problem and yes, we do have the solutions.

It’s not a time to talk about ourselves – it’s the stage where we get to know them.

No one likes the guy who won’t shut up about himself, right?

Keep in mind, also, that your potential conversions may have been burned in the past and are really, really looking for trustworthy solutions.

Smash the fear by providing quality content that will make your audience feel secure in their dealings with you and your brand, whether it’s in the form of email newsletters, how-to guides, or webinars.

2. Consideration

After you catch the eye of your lead, you will probably want to move onto considering whether or not to make a move.

Meanwhile, your readers are starting to think about making a move with the solution you’ve presented. They will be researching specific product or brand information, credible authority to back up your claims, and all the evidence that points to your superiority over your competitors.

In other words, why should Mr. or Mrs. Cutie like you more than all the other Cuties in the room?

Smash the fear by being authoritative, confident, and authentic. Be yourself – you have something awesome to share, so let it show.

3. Conversion

Ah, conversion. That lovely place where you are finally interacting with that potential lead through conversation that will hopefully retain them for a long time to come. They are looking at reviews and product descriptions in order to compare and, hopefully, buy what you’re selling.

It’s the courting of the marketing world.

Smash the fear by providing honest answers and following-up at the appropriate time.

4. Retention

The goal at this stage is to keep your customers coming back for all the good content you have to offer. This will look different for everyone, but may include the creative use of technology to understand your audience, educating your customers, and focusing on quality service.

Retention is the marriage of the content world.

Check out how nine successful companies have used innovative approaches to making sure their customers have a great experience and stay loyal.

Smash the fear by continuing to offer quality resources and interacting on every channel.

Overcome Your Content Fear Troll

When you are armed with the right tools, knowledge, and resources, it is possible to kill the fear troll at every stage of the buying journey.

Take inspiration and get on the road to more copy conversions and a better, higher quality online presence.

Let us help you kill that troll today with copy written to suit your brand audience! 🙂

engagement cta

Custom Writing Service
Julia McCoy

What to Expect from a Custom Writing Service

/0 Comments/in /by

If you’re like most marketers, you’ve probably considered hiring a custom writing service at one point or another.

But if you’re like most marketers that are new to delegating their online writing, there’s another side to that: you’re also probably not sure what to expect from working with a custom writing service.

We’re here to shine a light on the topic!

If you’ve ever wondered what a custom writing service is and what you can expect when you hire one, this post is for you. Read on to learn more.

Custom Writing Service, copywriting service, content writing service

Let’s Define a Custom Writing Service

A custom writing service is any company, individual, or firm that writes custom web content for customers.

Seem simple? It is, but it’s also very varied.

A custom writing service can write anything from blog content to print books, depending on what the customer wants and needs. Custom writing services are run by expert copywriters, marketers, and SEOs, and are designed to help busy marketers get the custom content they require, without the hassle of stressing over producing it in-house.

Check out a short list of what we do, from our pricing page (over 40 products in our Content Shop!):

express writers pricing

To see a full list of what our copywriters can handle, check out my guide: How Copywriting Works.

5 Standard Expectations to Have with a Quality-Oriented Custom Writing Service

If you choose to hire a custom writing service, you’ll be in for a unique experience. Because custom writing services are highly individualized by definition, the service you receive from the company or individual you hire won’t necessarily be comparable to anyone else’s experience.

The custom writing service is there to define, understand, and exceed your unique needs – that’s the whole point!

You can, however, count on a few standard protocols and methods from any custom writing service you hire. These are as follows:

1. A custom writing service will take time to consult with you about your needs

To serve you effectively, a custom writing service needs to understand what you hope to get out of the partnership.

For example, are you looking to populate a new site with content? Do you want to improve your leads and enjoy more conversions? Are you publishing an ebook and looking for someone to help you write or organize the copy? Maybe you’re looking to start a blog, but you don’t have time to manage it.

Whatever your needs may be, the first thing any reputable custom writing service will do is seek to understand them. This information is critical for the writing company because it allows them to do the following things:

  • Gain a deeper understanding of your company
  • Develop a plan to meet and exceed your goals
  • Craft custom content that caters to your corporate aspirations
  • Adjust existing content to support your business’s trajectory

When you first hire a custom writing service, you’ll want to be prepared to be as open as possible about your goals. This will help the company better serve you.

2. A great custom writing service will evaluate your current content

They won’t just throw a quote at you – a good writing service will actually evaluate where you stand and go from there.

If you’ve already got content on your site or blog, or if you’ve provided a layout for a bigger project, like an ebook, the custom writing service will evaluate it and reach out with suggestions, questions, or observations.

This helps the writing team you select get an idea of how long you want your content to be, which topics you’d like covered, what voice you’re looking for, and what goals you’d like the content to achieve.

For best results, be sure to maintain an open line of communication with the custom writing service. Remember: great writing flows easier when both of you communicate freely about the direction of the project. More tips on that in our guide on outsourcing your writing.

3. They will develop a content plan

Depending on the goals you set out earlier in the process, the custom writing service will now help you develop a content plan designed to meet the objective. For example, if your primary goal was to increase your social media following, the custom writing service may design a social content plan that includes several posts each week on all of your platforms. This plan would likely include a mix of curated, original, visual, and textual content to intrigue and inspire your readers.

This is a point at which you can expect to work very closely with the company. Does the plan adhere to what you had in mind? Is there anything you need clarification on? Do you want more detail about why a particular keyword is being targeted or why the use of infographics, for example, is so smart? All you have to do is ask! Any custom writing service worth its keyboards will be happy to help shine a light on these things for you.

4. Your custom writing service will optimize content for SEO

If you’re publishing web-based content for the purpose of marketing or lead generation, you can expect your custom writing service to optimize it for search engines and readers. Remember, your readers come first, but SEO is vital too.

Today, 81% of consumers research online before they decide to buy a product, and having content that is optimized for SEO is one of the best ways to ensure that your content appears when and where readers need it.

If you’re not familiar with SEO, a good custom writing service can help you understand it more deeply. Essentially, SEO is the process of optimizing content for search engine visibility and a positive user experience. This often entails methods like keyword inclusion and meta content optimization, to name just a couple.

The fact that so many custom writing services now optimize for SEO is one thing consumers love. Because today’s most visible content has all been optimized for SEO, hiring a quality custom writing service can help you remove the middleman and get professional, expert-level, properly optimized content from a single source.

5. They will publish content for you, upon request

If you’re looking to be as hands-off as possible with your content, it’s easy to find a custom writing service that will handle everything from the topic mining to the distribution for you. This is particularly the case when it comes to web content like social media posts and blogs. Dozens of custom writing services handle all of the publishing and distribution for their clients, and this is one simple thing that many marketers love about hiring a custom writing service.

Expect to pay more for this – if it’s done right, you’ll get a meta description, writing, and post optimization along with publishing.

5 Reasons Hiring a Custom Writing Service Is a (Very) Smart Idea

I mean, we are a custom writing service, but we above everyone else know how and why our clients benefit from our content. 😉

There are tremendous time savings and ROI benefits to hiring an outside writing service.

Now that you know what custom writing services do, let’s talk about why hiring one is such a good idea. Don’t be the marketer that underestimates the importance of custom content.

As it stands right now, 90% of shoppers find the presence of custom content helpful, and 61% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a company that delivers custom content. With that in mind, it’s clear that creating custom content is not just important, but critical, for any business that wants to build success in the world of online marketing.

If you’re still in doubt that hiring a custom writing service is a smart move, consider the following points:

1. A custom writing service will make you more competitive

Today, more than 86% of B2B marketers and upwards of 77% of B2C marketers take advantage of content marketing, and while many of them have in-house content creation teams, many hire their content creation out to custom content companies. If you’ve not yet jumped on the custom content bandwagon, the chances that you’re missing out on traffic are high.

Today, consumers don’t just want custom content – they expect it. And if you’re the only company in your industry that’s not giving it to them, you’re missing out on business. By hiring a custom writing service, you can populate your site and social profiles with high-quality, original content that caters to your individual consumers and helps to boost your conversion rates across the board.

2. A great writing service will diversify your content voice

Maybe you’ve been creating content in-house for quite some time now. And maybe it’s been going well. Perhaps you’ve noticed a drop-off in reads and shares, though, and you’re wondering why. Even if you have an established reader base, keeping your content fresh is difficult, and even the most loyal customers will begin to drift off if your content becomes stale or uninspired. Because of this, it’s essential to keep things fresh and do whatever it takes to ensure quality content at all times.

Hiring a custom writing service is a great way to do this. Because a good custom writing service has a team of skilled writers rather than just one or two individuals, you get the benefit of many people putting their heads together to create unique topics and write inspired content for your company. This benefits your readers just as much as it does your brand, and can go a long way toward improving your content’s performance on all of your distribution channels.

3. An excellent custom writing service will help you stay on track

If you’re running a business or trying to get a company off the ground, you’re busy, and it can be tough to hold yourself accountable to create a few blogs or social posts each week. Unfortunately, letting these things fall by the wayside doesn’t do anything but hurt your company in the long run. Today, custom content is more important than it’s ever been before, and if you neglect its creation because you’re trying to build a functional website or fix bugs in the system, you’re going to see a drastic drop-off in your visitors and readers.

When you hire a custom writing service, though, these problems cease to exist. While running a company is still hard, having the professional help of a custom writing service can make it much, much easier.

Because a custom writing service can take over your content creation efforts and free you up to focus on things like building your product, it’s the perfect tool for busy founders who need a break. When you hire a custom writing service, nothing has to suffer for everything to come into place down the line. Instead, you get the benefit of a successful company and quality content to reflect it.

4. Learn best practices from your up-to-date writing team

If you’re a little out of touch on best practices in content marketing, a good custom writing service can help bring you up to speed. Because the writers at a custom writing company write marketing and promotional copy for a living, they’re highly knowledgeable about the current best practices and industry standards.

While it may seem tempting to throw these things to the wind under the assumption that they don’t matter, best practices are more important today than they’ve ever been before, and finding a team that understands them and knows how to adhere to them is critical.

5. A custom writing service can offer technical know-how, as well

While good writing skills are essential, technical expertise is, as well, and a custom writing service can pick up on all of the picky aspects of SEO that you don’t understand (or simply don’t care to understand). By doing things like optimizing your meta content, adding alt. text to your images, and ensuring that your targeted keywords are utilized properly throughout your content, a custom writing service can deliver quality content that’s as functional for search engines as it is for people.

A Good Custom Writing Service: Your Secret Weapon for Success

A skilled, reputable, professional custom writing service is exactly what you need to build a successful online presence and ensure that you’re providing the content your customers and would-be customers need from your company.

While it’s tempting to think you can go it all on your own, a custom writing service can take the burden of content creation and distribution off of your shoulders and help you build a solid online company with a reputation for authority, leadership, and intelligence across the board.

taxbreak cta

seo copywriting service
Julia McCoy

Separating the Wheat from the Chaff: 14 Traits to Look for In Your SEO Copywriting Service

/0 Comments/in /by

Finding a good SEO copywriting service is no joke.

In addition to being professional, the service you hire must also be knowledgeable, experienced, and able to turn on a dime to accommodate your needs.

Sound like a tall order? It is! We hear new clients tell us all the time horror stories about their past experiences.

Writers that didn’t pan up to the promises, didn’t even have experience in the industry they swore up and down they did, and deadlines that were left in the dust.

My team, founded on high principles, has been around for six years now. We know a thing or two about values, and what it takes to create content that fulfills every need for clients. We’re here to share today the key elements to look for in an SEO copywriting service that will put the “wheat,” not the chaff, in black and white for you. Keep reading!

wheat vs. chaff in seo copywriting

Defining SEO Copywriting

SEO copywriting is the marriage of two essential skills: SEO, and copywriting.

While each of these things has existed separately for many years, the focus on bringing them both together has arisen in response to increasingly intelligent search engines and increasingly discerning consumers.

  • SEO used to be aimed at optimizing content so search engines could find it. This often entailed keyword stuffing, black-hat link building tactics, and spammy content pasted across every page of the site.
  • Copywriting, on the other hand, used to be aimed only at sales. The copywriters of old were the great salespersons of the web – pitching ideas, pushing products, and doing anything they could to get an early, interested, underwhelmed audience to bite (ah, for those low-volume internet days to return to us again!).

Today, though, both of those things have shifted.

Within the last several years, search engines have gotten smarter, and major names like Google have begun to penalize sites that use the SEO tactics of yesteryear. Today, spammy links, crappy content, and over-stuffed keywords simply don’t fly.

That’s not where it ends, though – Google has also begun to push for better-quality, more user-focused content, and customers have followed suit. Today, readers want quality, informative, relevant content that helps them solve their problems, and Google wants SEO that optimizes for readers just as much as it does for people.

Because of this, SEO copywriting has become an essential service for successful companies near and far. Today, SEO copywriting is critical for businesses that want to target their customers and help to solve problems and relieve pain points with the aid of unique, relevant, and high-quality online content.

Why Hire an SEO Copywriting Service?

Every business needs online content, and that online content needs to be optimized for reader experience and search engine visibility.

With few exceptions, most marketers don’t have the time, expertise, or resources in-house to create this type of content or to optimize the content they’ve already created. Without a centralized plan for improving SEO and crafting great content, things begin to go to pieces. Content comes out disorganized or irrelevant, and SEO falls by the wayside.

This is why it’s so critical for companies who are serious about their success to hire an SEO copywriting service. In addition to helping make SEO and content creation a more cohesive, cooperative process, a good online copywriting service has dozens of additional benefits, as well.

Some of the largest are as follows:

  • Increased traffic: Right now, 61% of internet users around the world search for products online. Unless you’ve crafted enough targeted, custom content to catch their attention, you’re going to miss out on significant amounts of attention for your site. A good SEO copywriting service can help you identify your customers, and then develop material that speaks directly to them, contributing to increase your site views and help your brand become a household name.
  • Boosted leads: According to HubSpot, companies with websites ranging between 401-1000 pages earn 6x as many leads as businesses that only have between 51-1000 pages. When you hire an SEO copywriting service, one of the top priorities will likely be to create blog and web page content. As you create blogs, for example, each new blog is an additional page for Google to index. This helps boost your site’s visibility and increases the number of leads your site will draw through organic traffic.
  • Increased relevance to customers: Today, customers use web content to answer questions and gain new information. When your company creates custom content meant to cater to these purposes, you become more relevant to your consumers, which is good for brand recognition and customer loyalty.
  • Decreased costs: While inbound marketing is drastically more efficient than traditional, outbound marketing, it’s also significantly less expensive. In fact, HubSpot reports that companies save an average of $20,000 each year by migrating to inbound marketing tactics.

14 Traits of a Worthwhile SEO Copywriting Service

1. Clearly defined boundaries

SEO copywriting services are not SEO-only services, and it’s important to understand that from the get-go.

While a good SEO copywriting service has an extensive understanding of everything that has to do with search algorithms, and likely conducts Google-specific duties like keyword research and on-page optimization, it’s unlikely that an SEO copywriting service will do anything like updating your link profile, for example.

With this in mind, an SEO copywriting service should neither define itself as an SEO company nor should it attempt to tackle the most convoluted aspects of technical algorithms. These jobs are best left for other, more technical firms.

When an SEO copywriting service clearly defines what it is and isn’t, you can bet that the content delivered will be high-quality and that the scope of focus will be narrow enough to provide you with targeted, quality service.

2. A willingness to work with your company’s brand

A professional SEO copywriting service will morph to adapt to your brand. Everything from the company’s voice to their approach should shift depending on your unique target audience and preferred tone.

While this may sound like a tall order, copywriters are chameleons by nature, and altering these things to provide you with a good experience should be natural for the firm you hire.

3. An insistence on perfection

SEO copywriting can be a huge boon for your company, so it’s essential that the SEO copywriting service you hire insists on quality, professionalism, and perfection in everything they do.

The company in question should have a good network of writers, editors, and reviewers in place and should run everything through plagiarism-checking software before submitting it to you. These systems help ensure quality work and will help your business gain online visibility, over time. Want to see what a few faces from a team of 60+ looks like? Check out our About page!

4. Demonstrable SEO copywriting experience

A good SEO copywriting service should be able to point to extensive examples of what it has done in the past. These examples should be high-quality and wide-ranging – running from blog content to white papers and beyond. (We have over 40 content services in our Content Shop!)

Demonstrable experience helps you ascertain the skills of the SEO copywriting service and get an idea for their style and methods before you commit.

5. A wide selection of expert-level knowledge

Expert content is critical for any company that wants to build a sustainable online presence, and a good SEO copywriting service should be able to cater to a variety of expertise and industries. Most professional firms have several professional writers on staff. These writers specialize in industries like marketing, law, and finance. By finding a business that offers writers who specialize in your unique industry, you can ensure expert content for your site and high-quality material for years to come.

6. Outstanding research skills

A great SEO copywriting service will go above and beyond regarding research. Whether the firm is researching one of your products or searching for quality statistics to include in a blog post, excellent research skills are critical.

Look for a documented research method and standards for what separates a good source from a bad one before you hire an SEO copywriting service.

7. Ability to appeal to reader emotions

Great SEO copywriting services know how to use reader emotions to make your content convert.  Whether the copywriter is crafting a sense of urgency through limited time offers or inspiring customers to click by warning them about common pitfalls or easy-to-avoid mistakes, a professional SEO copywriting service should be able to use your readers’ emotions to make your content more compelling and actionable.

For best results, look for examples of how they’ve done this in the past. Previous marketing copy is a good source, as is on-page copy created for other companies.

8. An ongoing use of the positive voice

Most marketers don’t realize how much positive voice affects their customers’ mindsets. When a writer says “Don’t make this mistake…” it leaves the reader with a negative feeling. When the author says, “Avoid pitfalls by doing this instead,” the reader’s emotions shift to a positive outlook. Writing in the positive voice makes content more actionable.

Instead of giving the reader a list of what not to do, it provides solid action points that help the reader make positive change. This, in turn, creates more valuable content that can benefit your company. With this in mind, look for an SEO copywriting service that knows how to write in the positive voice.

9. A focus on simplicity in online writing

The best SEO copywriting services take complex concepts and make them easy for your readers to understand. In addition to making your content more accessible, this approach also ensures that you’re not alienating readers through jargon or overly-muddled online material.

Look for an SEO copywriting service that uses short sentences and simple words and pays attention to reading levels when crafting online content.

10. A dedication to specificity

Specificity transforms online content. Instead of saying, “Many customers use search engines,” a good SEO copywriting service will provide statistics that offer information on just how many readers. This, in turn, creates a better experience for the customer and makes content more valuable by making it more informative. Specificity is essential in online content, and it’s critical to find an SEO copywriting service that agrees.

11. A commitment to white-hat strategies

While black-hat SEO firms aren’t the law of the land anymore, they used to be. Today, it’s harder to get away with spammy, black-hat SEO copywriting, but some firms still do it. Unfortunately, this will harm your Google rankings and alienate your customers over time. For best results, find an SEO copywriting service that uses white-hat SEO techniques like guest blogging, consistent posting, keyword research, and quality link building to improve rankings and draw traffic. In addition to being more sustainable, these tactics are better for your site and your readers.

12. Willing, open communication with clients

SEO copywriting is a difficult task, and it’s essential for a good SEO copywriting service to maintain clear and open communication with its customers. If you want a change, an edit, or a different approach, the SEO copywriting service should be willing to oblige, and should help explain any aspects of the process you don’t understand. This builds a positive relationship between your brand and the copywriting service and contributes to high-quality, unique content that benefits both of you.

13. Ability to craft quality CTAs

A good call-to-action (CTA) is essential for actionable content, and a good SEO copywriting service will understand how to write CTAs that don’t alienate your customers. Look for brands that have increased the conversion rates of other companies in the past, and feel free to ask questions about what a good CTA entails. A good SEO copywriting service will have a profound understanding of the topic.

14. Current SEO knowledge

The best practices for SEO change often, and a good SEO copywriting service must have a good grasp on them. This means using the newest tools, understanding Google’s most recent algorithm updates, and being able to adjust their tactics according to new information. Without this knowledge, it’s impossible for an SEO copywriting service to provide to-the-minute offerings.

Finding a Good SEO Copywriting Service Made Simple

While finding a great SEO copywriting service may seem difficult, it’s well worth the time and effort to find a firm that you click with.

In addition to streamlining your content creation and ensuring high-quality material for your site, building a partnership with an SEO copywriting service is a wonderful way to help your brand become more visible online.

Need help developing high quality SEO copywriting?  Contact Express Writers today!

robots won't replace the writer
Julia McCoy

Why Robots Won’t Replace The Writer Anytime Soon, and How to Create Content that Will be Read

/0 Comments/in /by

In recent years, there’s been some concern that robots will eventually replace human writers.

Automated systems have successfully replaced people in thousands of factory assembly jobs, surgical positions, security posts, and farming positions. Why not writing, as well?

While there’s no doubt that writing has been, and will continue to be, aided by technological advancement, I say it’s unlikely that robots will ever fully replace the human copywriter.

Why?

Robots can’t process a human level of creativity, thinking, and subsequently, writing.

While robots, algorithms, and automated systems may have methods in place to “crawl” and interpret data, they will never understand the distinctly human joy of curling up in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea and a great book.

Think about these scenarios for a moment:

  • Robots will never know how exciting Tolkien’s world can be, or how a great novel or short story can transport you to another time, place, and headspace.
  • Robots will never know what it means to read a Content Marketing Institute article that punches you in the gut, that you feel compelled to share so everyone can learn what you just learned (content marketing nerds unite).
  • Robots can’t ever wipe away their own tears at the last lines of Shakespeare’s dying Romeo, or Mufasa’s passing in the Lion King.

For these reasons, human copywriters will not be replaced anytime soon.

While robots might be capable of incredible things, only we understand how deeply human the act of writing is, and how much heart it takes to produce material that other people want to read.

robot vs. writer

Why Robots Won’t Replace the Writer: The Raw Power of Human, Conversational Content

You know what else robots are lacking that humans have down pat? The power of conversation. Sure – robots can be programmed to talk, answer questions, and tell jokes, but they’ll never be the conversational natives that humans have always been.

This gives us a serious edge when it comes to copywriting.

If you’ve been working in the digital marketing space for a while, it’s likely that you can think of a few examples of funny, conversational, relatable content you’ve read and enjoyed that features a distinctly human touch.

Here are a few of the brands that come to mind for me when I think of conversational content:

1. Dollar Shave Club

Dollar Shave Club is almost always on the top of these lists because the brand has done such an incredible job of making itself approachable, funny, and relatable. There’s no doubt these guys have real, hard-working humans behind their digital content. While there are dozens of examples of how the company does this, check out this screenshot of the “How it Works” portion of their website for a great demonstration:

Dollar Shave Club Screenshot

2. Poo~Pourri

What I love about Poo~Pourri is their genius level of creativity in every bit of copy and marketing material.

Their theme? Creative humor. They win at it.

poopourri

If that’s not fun, relatable and conversational, I don’t know what is. We all can give a little belly laugh in the name of joining a “potty” community ready to spritz the bowl and “trap-a-crap” (a product name, not kidding you).

Show me a content scraper, algorithm, or robot that can evoke that humorous level of creativity.

3. Headspace

Headspace built a meditation app that provides access to fast, accessible meditations for situations ranging from anxiety to anger to general wellbeing. While meditation often feels like a lofty and unapproachable practice, Headspace hits the ball out of the park when it comes to making the pursuit user-friendly and approachable.

HeadSpace Screenshot

One of my favorite examples of their conversational their content is their “How the Headspace App Works Video.”  Watch it and then tell me you’re still feeling intimidated about developing a meditative practice:

5 Reasons We Have to Learn Conversational Writing

While the brands above are all killing it at conversational writing, the people behind this content didn’t just come in off the streets and start excelling at it. While it’s true that people are conversational natives, writing marketing copy (and everything listed above is marketing copy) that connects with readers requires a set of learned skills.

Most of us are familiar with marketing messages that feel cold, pushy, overly sales-y, or cheap. This material makes us recoil and click “delete” as fast as we can. While a human may have written it, it doesn’t do anything to make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

With this in mind, we have to learn conversational writing. Here’s why:

1. School didn’t teach us

If you’re like most people, you remember being told you were too wordy, informal, or grammatically incorrect in your school papers. While this may have made sense when we were learning APA or MLA formatting or constructing a senior thesis in college, it doesn’t hold up in the real world.

Sometimes, approachable marketing writing bends grammar rules. Sometimes it’s less formal than a college essay, and sometimes it pushes the envelope – but that’s okay! In fact, that’s necessary.

While school taught us to abide by hundred-year-old grammar rules, it didn’t teach us how to be approachable and conversational in the material we write.

2. Conversational writing takes relies on the audience

What your audience might find approachable and what my audience might find approachable may well be two separate things. While some aspects of conversational writing carry across all industries and target personas, there’s no doubt that being compelling in marketing copy requires you to know your target audience intimately. If you don’t, you can’t expect to speak directly to them.

3. It takes time to get good at this

While there’s a fine line between being professional and robotic, there’s also a fine line between being conversational and downright rude or unprofessional. Conversational writing, like all things, requires a delicate hand and a certain level of skill. You don’t develop this overnight, and it’s important to give yourself time and space to hone the craft and develop your unique style.

4. Old habits die hard

For some people, breaking out of the box of academic writing and learning to be more conversational and approachable is a severe uphill battle. It’s tough to un-do old teaching, and writing in a conversational and friendly way can feel counterintuitive, at first. This is one of the biggest reasons we must learn to write like this, rather than just expecting it to sprout up overnight.

5. Great writing shouldn’t sound like writing

Take a moment to wrap your mind around this one.

Elmore Leonard once said:

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”

The best sales pitch shouldn’t feel like a sales pitch, and the best marketing writing shouldn’t sound like writing – it should sound like a casual conversation between friends.

10 Impressive Ways to Write More Conversational Content

So, now you know why we must learn to write conversationally. Now, let’s talk about how.

Here are ten smart tips you can put into action right now:

1. Stop trying to be everything to everyone

Imagine this: you’re sitting down at your computer to write your weekly email newsletter. You want it to be exciting, compelling, and valuable for your audience. The tough thing is, though, your email list contains every internet user on the globe – about 3,424,971,237 people.

That’s an impossible task, right? Right. There’s absolutely no way you can appeal to all those people, and you’d be wasting your time trying.

The first step in creating more conversational content is to hone your audience. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, you want to be a very specific something to a very particular set of people.

When you sit down to write your copy, you should be able to pick one individual that’s representative of your target audience and write to that person and only that person. This will make your writing infinitely more approachable and unique.

2. Don’t try to sound casual

Any time you try to show off, things take an immediate turn for the worst. This is as true in sports (ever tried to look cool on a ski hill, only to face plant in front of the large group you were trying to impress?) as it is everywhere else in life. Don’t try to sound casual, or cool, or funny in your writing. Your readers will know immediately that you’re trying to impress them, and you’ll lose interest. Remember: the best writing doesn’t sound like writing. Keep it natural for best results.

3. Talk to people, not at them

Think about how much easier it is to stay engaged with a conversation than a lecture. Now, bring this into your online writing. When you write to people rather than at them, you create room for a two-way exchange, which is much more valuable than a soliloquy.

4. Be yourself

When you read Dollar Shave Club’s web copy, it doesn’t feel like they’re trying to be something they’re not. Instead, you get the distinct idea that the company has a host of funny, cool, witty people on their team – people you’d probably like to get to know. The easiest way to be approachable and conversational in your content is to be yourself. When you’re not trying to fit yourself into someone else’s mold, your voice shines through, and you immediately come off as more authentic.

5. Ask your readers questions

To show your readers you care what they think, ask them questions. Simple things, like their feedback on a recent site redesign or input on a blog post topic are excellent access points and can make you a more accessible brand straight away.

6. Cut the fat

Today, the human attention span is limited. To be precise, it lasts about eight seconds. This doesn’t mean you have to compress all your writing into micro-sized packages, but it does mean you need to slash anything that’s not obviously contributing value. Flabby content doesn’t reflect well on your company, nor does it grab your readers. Trim the fat for more engaging writing.

7. Feel free to bend or break grammar rules

While you want to keep your writing readable (that’s the whole point, after all), it’s okay to break grammar rules here and there. Many of them are antiquated and ill-suited to conversational writing, anyway. For best results, keep it reasonable – use broken sentences here and there, start sentences with “and” or “but” occasionally, and break up your paragraph structure for more impact. While your English teacher of yesteryear might not appreciate the approach, your readers will.

8. Write to a close friend

Lifestyle coach and fitness nut Tim Ferriss is famous for saying he had an awful time writing his books when he was trying to write a book. As soon as he sat down and wrote like he was writing an advice email to a close friend, after a glass of wine, however, his writing changed entirely. Maybe this is why he’s become a multi-time NYT bestseller!

9. Evaluate your process regularly

Like all things associated with writing, creative and conversational copywriting requires regular check-ins. For best results, check in with your results on a regular basis. Are people still responding? If they’re not, consider altering your approach. Being flexible will keep you relatable now and in the future.

10. Keep it simple

Conversational writing is a skill rather than a science. When you keep it simple and avoid the temptation to make it hard and complicated, you’ll automatically increase your chances of success.

To Get People to Read – Write to Be Read! 

There you have it: humans are the irreplaceable ingredient in conversational copywriting.

Today, audiences want material with a human touch, and it’s conversational, highly-readable content that gets shared and talked about today.

We’ve all heard the saying, “if you want to be interesting, be interested.”

The same goes for writing – “If you want to be read, you have to write to be read!”

If you’re looking for professional copywriters that can nail the art of conversational copywriting, look no further than Express Writers. Contact us today!

writing great copy
Julia McCoy

The Secret of Writing Great Copy: Finding Your Vein of Gold

/2 Comments/in /by

Sometimes, copywriting feels like gold mining.

To find even a few ounces of gold, you must move mountains of earth.

The same thing goes for writing!

When you sit down at your computer to write (whether it be a blog, page, copy), you tap out thousands of words–only to go back and sift through them all.

You move some here, delete some hundred there, separating and refining them in search of that one valuable nugget, that one shiny sentence that makes the entire process exhilarating, rewarding, and worth it.

 Not everyone has the time, patience, or skill to give the writing process the attention it deserves, however – just like not everyone has what it takes to strike it rich as a gold miner.

Because writing well is a craft that takes so much attention and dedication, that only those who are willing to develop those things will earn rewards. The writers who are prepared to move the mountains of earth to find the richest vein, or put their heart into their writing until it turns to pure gold, are the ones who will ultimately succeed.

secret of writing great copy

The Secret of Writing Great Copy & Finding Your Vein of Gold

There’s no shortcut to success, and this is as true with copywriting as it is with gold mining.

Keep reading: I’m going to talk about how to find your “vein of gold” in online copywriting, and why truly great writing is the only type of writing worth doing this year.

To be Great, You’ve Got to be Tough

There’s a thin line between being excellent and being “good enough.”

The great (and awful) thing about the web is that most content creators fall into the latter category.

Hey, that was me, when I just started out in 2011-2012.

I’ve since deleted a boatload of blogs from those days. I wasn’t tough on myself. I didn’t analyze every content piece, stressing over every sentence, perfecting every single H2. I wrote, edited, threw together a graphic, called it a content piece, scheduled it, got it “out.”

Those days are long gone. And I’m so glad.

The content creators that just want to be good enough, which truly means “get content out,” are like miners who refuse to invest in the right equipment, or won’t put in the long, hard hours in the sun.

While this can be terrible for readers, who must slog through tons of mediocre content to reach the great material they deserve, it’s good news for content creators who are willing to go the extra mile. When nearly everything else is sub-par, standing out gets a bit easier.

Remember: if striking gold were easy, everyone would be doing it.

The reason so many people push out low-quality content is that that is infinitely simpler than writing thousands of words, sitting back, and then filtering it all down to that one sentence, that one thought that matters.

At the end of the day, being great means being tough – in your edits of your writing, in your dedication to the craft, in your expectations of yourself, and in your commitment to blowing everything else out of the water. Sure, it’s harder than the alternative, but it’s the only approach that honors how crowded the web already is, and how important it is to add only quality material in the coming years.

How else are you going to strike that vein that offers rewards beyond your wildest dreams?

The Secret of Writing Great Copy: Being Willing to Walk Away from Your Work

It sounds almost crazy, doesn’t it?

“Write 5,000 words and then scrap 2,500 of them.”

That seems like an exercise in futility. It seems like a Sisyphean task.

Remember the gold miner, though? Remember how gold miners often have to move thousands of tons of earth to find a few ounces of gold? If you take mining for its surface value, it seems insane. Until, however, you realize that a few ounces of gold can be worth hundreds of thousands – even millions – of dollars.

Then things start to make sense.

In writing, as in gold mining, there’s no shortcut to success. You’ve got to bow your head to the work and be willing to do some of it in vain. While being great might be true that you’ll slash many of your hard-fought words from each piece you write, think of those words as the tons of earth you have to move to get to the good stuff.

There’s no way around it, and you’re not going to find the material that glitters unless you’re willing to dig. While it can be tempting to think that everything you’ve written is gold, this is just hubris, and it won’t do anything to help you hone your skill.

The Secret of Writing Great Copy: Narrowing Down to Your Best

The gold of your writing is hiding beneath the dirt, and to access it you need to be able to recognize the work involved and commit to it.

While it can be discouraging to write and re-write, the goal is to refine your content until you find the one sentence that matters, the one paragraph that gets your reader in the gut.

Once you find it, start there.

It’s your standard now for the entire piece.

Your lamppost, your guideline.

Make sure everything that follows is just as shiny and inspiring.

Cut everything else out. Trim the fat.

Remove everything that doesn’t bring something new to the table. If it’s just noise, you don’t have a right to publish it, and your readers shouldn’t be forced to wade through it.

An Example of Trimming the Fat

Content Block A

It’s critical to look at everything that is nothing better than “wordy,” and cut, cut, cut that out. Your content must shine. It must be polished, to stand out in a sea of online content that keeps rising every day. Discover in your copy what’s poor, what’s not as good as the rest. Cut out everything that doesn’t matter. Trim the fat.

Content Block B

Cut out everything that doesn’t matter. Trim the fat.

See what I did there?

I narrowed everything down in Content A to my two last sentences. That was the heart of my paragraph. The gold. All the other words, which took a while to compose and write, were trashed.

(Also, ironic, eh? I trimmed down to “Trim the fat.” :-P)

How much more impactful is that copy?

Far more.

And with the attention span of today’s reader less than a goldfish, it takes carefully chosen words to fully impact your audience.

Don’t assume that every word you’ve written deserves to be published. That’s like the gold miner saying the dirt covering the gold deserves to stay where it is. With thinking like this, he’d reason himself right out of a job.

Be analytical and real in your approach to your copy. Don’t hold back on pruning to discover your best roots and content health.

Your Job as a Content Creator Comes with Responsibility: Use it Wisely

Today, our job as content creators isn’t simply to push out written material – it’s to create targeted, from-the-heart content that resonates with our readers, that provides something different, and that comes from a place of passion and true belief.

To get to this place, you’ve got to be tough–on yourself.

Develop an eye for excess, and understand that creating your best work often means walking away from much of it.

Remember the gold miner.

At the end of the day, his brow is bent to the earth. He’s sweaty and bronzed from the sun, back turned to the mountains of soil he’s moved to uncover the tiny spot upon which he now focuses. He’s shaking his sifting pan rhythmically back and forth, running water through it like a baptism.

You can call him crazy if you’d like, but that small spot contains riches untold, and he knows exactly what he’s doing.

When you bring this kind of attention, diligence, and commitment to striking gold in your online writing, there’s no way you can go wrong. You’re on your way to great copy, every single time you publish.

Nuggets From The Secret of Writing Great Copy: Finding Your Vein of Gold

Save this slide to your desktop and open it every time you need a reminder of how to find your vein of gold. 😉

 

Need content help? Talk to our team.