Looking for insightful blog posts on content writing, and SEO copywriting? You will find them on Credible Content Blog. Updated almost daily. Fresh, unique perspective.
How to make the maximum number of people open your emails
When you’re sending regular office emails the recipients, normally, have no choice but to open your email because it is work related. But when you’re sending emails to people who are not expecting to hear from you, who may not even know you, it becomes difficult to make them open your emails.
One of the biggest challenges faced by people who want to do email marketing is getting people to read their emails. Here are some helpful tips:
Use a familiar From name
The “From:” field tells your recipient from whom they are receiving the message. Messages from companies are usually ignored. Messages from strange names are also ignored. Nonetheless, using a name is far better than using a company name
You are more prone to opening an email from “Amrit” than “Credible Content”, or even from “Google”.
Use compelling subject lines
After the “From:” field, it is the subject line which is the biggest factor in people opening your email. Research shows that 47% of people base their decision of opening your emails based on the subject line (source).
There are some tried and tested formulas for writing compelling subject lines such as invoking the fear of missing out on a great opportunity, catering to the vanity of people, expressing curiosity, making people laugh, retargeting (sending emails to people who have abandoned your shopping cart), and such.
Send the emails at the right time
When are your recipients most likely to open your emails? There are different ways of finding it. You can use your common sense. You can use analytics data provided by your email marketing service such as MailChimp.
This may take some time. You will need to send multiple campaigns and then note during which time period your messages are opened the most.
Be regular on delivering value
Even if people open your email message the first time, they won’t open the subsequent messages if you don’t deliver on your promise. If they expect some value from your email messages, make sure you deliver that value. If they want to learn from your email messages, make sure that they learn something each time they open your email.
Make emails easy to read on mobile
59% of the millennials use their smart phones to check email. 67% of the generation z check their email on their mobile phones (source).
Whether you are enamored by the mobile or not, make sure that your email is easy to read on mobile phones. It is not even very difficult. Just keep your emails straightforward.
So, if you want to make more people open your emails, when you’re sending the email for the first time, the subject line plays a very important part, but after they have opened the email, and have become familiar with your name, it is the quality of your messages and the email content that is going to make them open your emails again.
The short answer will be, he or she should be able to write well, convincingly, and just the way you want him or her to write.
The long answer is that you need to take certain facts into consideration before settling for a particular content writer.
Of course, you’re not just going to hire anyone. You will visit a few websites. You may also scour through freelance websites where many content writers have created their profiles. Some people prefer to hire from LinkedIn. That’s your choice.
Whoever can write, is not always a content writer you can rely on. As mentioned above, there are multiple factors. You also need to remember what’s your requirement.
Why do you need a content writer?
Do you need a general content writer whose services you can use for writing blog posts, social media updates, email campaigns or website content?
Here are a few things to keep in mind when hiring the right content writer for your business.
Carefully analyze your requirement
This will definitely have an impact on the performance of your content writer. What are you looking a content writer for?
There are writers, and there are content writers. A person who is a good writer should be able to write for any requirement. At the cost of bragging, I can give my own example. I write content for all sorts of writing requirements. Even if a client needs a copywriter and not a content writer, I can fit the bill. This is because of two factors:
I have written content for many years now (almost 2 decades) and I have lots of experience writing for different businesses and for different requirements.
I’m a writer first, and then a content writer. It means I’m good at expressing myself. Provided I know what is to be said, I can say it well through writing.
Therefore, clients hire my content writing services for all sorts of needs, but this may not be applicable to the content writers you are evaluating.
Hence, analyze your content writing requirement carefully. If you’re not sure, don’t try to cast a wide net. Look at your immediate requirement.
Do you want someone to revamp your website content alright your website content from scratch?
Do you need a blogger?
Do you need an email writer?
There are some clients who unknowingly are looking for a stenographer who will simply write what they want him or her to write, and yet, they want to work with a content writer.
Whatever are your requirements, look for a content writer accordingly.
Do you need a content writer or a copywriter?
There is a fine distinction between a content writer and a copywriter. A content writer is supposed to inform and educate your visitors. A copywriter is supposed to sell.
Both are important. A content writer brings traffic to your website and a copywriter converts the traffic to paying customers and clients.
Many clients commit the mistake of mixing them up. They think that just because someone can write, he or she can also write to generate sales.
No, it is not as simple. There is a reason why copywriters charge so much money. They have the ability to turn casual visitors into paying customers and clients.
Hence, when you’re looking for a content writer, make sure that you’re looking for a content writer, and not a copywriter, and if you’re looking for a copywriter, make sure that your content writer can wear that hat too.
Ask for writing samples
Every professional content writer should be able to show you some writing samples. They can be websites. They can be blog posts. Anything that gives you a sense of how the content writer writes.
You will need to pay close attention to how the content writer writes for your industry. If you are in tech industry, you must be looking for someone who can comfortably write about technology. If you’re in the fashion industry, then the content writer should be able to comfortably write about haute couture. For a food related website, the content writer should be able to write about, of course, food.
What if the content writer is good but does not have samples related to your business or industry?
Again, I will give you my own example. Sometimes I don’t have the appropriate samples. I offer to write a few hundred words for the client and if he or she likes what I have written, we go ahead and decide to work on the project.
You will need a content writer who can write for the web. Sentences should be crisp and clear. The writing style should be convincing. The writer must know how to use your keywords strategically. He or she must be able to pack the maximum punch in as few words as possible.
Look for consistency and commitment
Although, on the Internet it is quite easy to find content writers who may fit the bill, looking for new content writers repeatedly can be a hassle. It adversely affects your content quality. Hence, when you are hiring a content writer, make sure he or she can commit for at least a few months.
How can you know that you can depend on a content writer?
There is no scientific formula for it. Use your own judgement. In my case, you can see that I have a website to offer my content writing and copywriting services. This at least tells you that I’m serious about my business and I’m constantly putting an effort to promote my work and get new assignments.
You can also check social media timelines of a content writer, preferably LinkedIn. Is he or she active over there? Most of the serious content writers consistently post on the social media accounts they maintain.
Even if you find your content writer on freelancing websites, the ratings should be able to tell you if he or she is consistent. If he or she has worked on many assignments, you can safely assume that he or she will be able to commit.
What about the charges? The content writing rates?
Although rates matter, if your decision to hire a content writer depends on paying a few dollars more or paying a few dollars less, then the writer is not important.
Set a budget in advance. This is not a government tender where you need to hire a content writer who charges the least. Remember that you are building an asset – the content for your website or blog. It’s the quality that matters. When you are building a home or an office, do you go for a talented contractor or who charges the least no matter how lousy his work is?
Again, I’m not telling you to spend more than you can. Set a budget and then scale your content writing requirement accordingly.
Hire a content writer in a manner that it is a mutually beneficial partnership. Just as you need to grow your business with the help of the content being written by your content writer, a content writer needs to grow financially and intellectually while working on your project. Keep that in mind.
Choosing between a content writing service or an SEO company
Many SEO experts claim that there are 200+ factors that influence your search engine rankings. Optimized content is one of them. But most of these factors are influenced by the quality of your content.
Often, I advise my clients that if they need to make a choice between hiring an SEO company and hiring a proficient content writer, at least for the time being, make the choice in favor of a content writer. Not because I provide content writing services and if they hire me, they are going to pay me, it is the most obvious choice to make.
Now, when I say writing optimized content is one of the biggest influencing factors for your search engine rankings, I assume that I’m talking about, and your understanding, high-quality, relevant content.
Content is the foundation of the structure of rankings you are going to build upon. This foundation can be solid. This foundation can be weak. But foundation it is. If the foundation is weak, you are either not going to be able to build your structure of rankings, or your structure is going to collapse sooner or later.
SEO experts are important. I’m not saying they are not important. They give your content writing the right direction.
In fact, if you can hire a good SEO expert and a content writer, this can be a win-win situation.
A year before Covid-19 hit, I was working with a UK-based market research company. They had hired a good SEO company to strategize content writing. I could have done that for them, but they preferred to work with an expensive SEO your company. Which was a good decision.
One thing I liked about the SEO company is that they knew exactly what titles I needed to write content for, how tough or weak competition our individual titles faced, and how long must the pages be in terms of the number of words. They had access to some great SEO tools that I don’t have. This saved us a lot of time.
For example, when I am in a flow, I don’t mind writing 1000 words even if the client has asked me to write 600 words (I don’t charge extra for those 400 words). But the people from that SEO company insisted that if they had asked for 600 words, I stuck to 600 words. The logic was, writing those extra 400 words was a waste of time, and they didn’t have much time. To beat the competition, they needed just about more than 550 words. Made sense.
By the end of the day, I won’t hesitate to say that for better SEO, all you need is high quality content that is well written and written in a manner that is easily understood by search engine algorithms.
An SEO company can help you get back links – you need back links to boost your rankings.
An SEO company can audit your website structure to make sure that the content organization is search engine friendly and all the elements needed to make your search rankings better are present.
An SEO company also monitors your current rankings and raises the red flags in case some of the rankings are going down.
So, in that sense, an SEO company provides you the needed vigilance. As a business serious about improving and maintaining its search engine rankings, you need such vigilance. The rest is taken care of by regularly publishing high quality content.
For the past few months, I have been working on a book on how to build your own successful content writing business, and in one of the chapters, I talk about the qualities that make you a great content writer.
Now, by any stretch, I wouldn’t openly admit that I’m a great content writer, although secretly, I may fantasize about being one. I still need to learn a lot. I still need to polish my skill. There are some awesome content writers on the web who can easily give me a run for my money.
But there is one thing: I can recognize great content. I can recognize content writers who really give it their all. It’s like, even if you cannot perform classical music, you can appreciate the quality and the grandeur.
Simply to be able to write doesn’t make you a great content writer, especially not a professional content writer who consistently gets paid for his or her skills. Below I’m listing 7 skills or qualities that make you a great content writer.
1. You are a writer from within
I recently read a writer saying that the process of writing can make you cry the tears of blood. I wouldn’t go that far, at least not while you’re not writing something to challenge Tolstoy, but writing can be difficult.
For the past couple of months, I have been writing for a company that develops blockchain applications. I’m a tech savvy person but for me this technology is fairly new. I know zilch about blockchain, crypto coins, cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. Nonetheless, I’m quite satisfied by the work I have done so far. It is difficult. Very difficult. Not because the topic is difficult. Anyway…
What I’m saying is, writing doesn’t always come easy, but still, your basic ability to write must come easy. It should flow. You must be a writer from within. When you are writing on complex topics, only the topic should be complex, not your writing process. Your writing must flow smoothly.
When you see a dancer, you can make out whether she is dancing from within, or simply pretending to be a dancer. The same is applied to your writing skills. You cannot pretend to be a writer or a content writer. You need to be a writer from within. No matter how tough the topic is.
2. You have strong research skills
Whereas you don’t need to be a research scholar in a university to be a great content writer, your basic research skills must be solid. You must be able to find the information that enables you to write content.
Researching doesn’t mean doing a few searches on Google, randomly opening multiple links in multiple tabs and then regurgitating whatever content you come across.
Strong research skills means finding the useful information, grasping it according to your own understanding, compiling it in a logical manner, and then expressing it in your own, distinct language.
Of course, it also means finding the right information. For that you must know what search terms to use. To give you a straightforward example, if you want to find information on content writing, you shouldn’t start your search with “content marketing tips” or “digital marketing tips”, because these topics are quite vast. Learn to narrow down your search and know exactly what to look for.
3. You are comfortable with technology
By “technology” I mean the tools of the trade. It may also involve basic knowledge of hardware and software, especially when you are working as a content writer on your own.
Are you comfortable with all the mainstream word processors? Do you know their basic capabilities? If you’re not happy with your current word processor, can you find alternatives on your own? What about not using a word processor at all (I do that quite often)?
What about curating information? Do you use notetaking apps like Evernote, OneNote, or Google Keep? How do you organize the information that you can find even after two years? Do you use mind mapping tools? Do you know basic image editing using Photoshop or another image editing tool?
These may not be a part of a typical content writers daily routine; they instill a sense of confidence in you. Since as a professional content writer, you will be mostly providing your services on the Internet, you should also be comfortable with the related technologies.
4. You can empathize with people
The Oxford dictionary defines empathy as “the ability to understand another person’s feelings and experience.”
Frankly, if you cannot empathize, forget about being a great content writer, you cannot even be an average content writer.
You will be mostly writing content for businesses. Businesses cater to customers and clients. Through their content (which, they get written from you), they aim to solve their customers’ and clients’ problems. You cannot solve their problems unless you understand what those problems are, how those problems are affecting people, and how important it is to solve those problems. You need to be able to connect emotionally. You need to be able to write passionately and passion comes with empathy, understanding, and acknowledgement.
5. You are completely original
Most of the content writers are not original. They’re simply picking sentences and paragraphs and shuffling words here and there and then passing them on to their clients as original pieces. This is mostly junk content.
To be a great content writer you should be able to write original content. By original what I mean is, whatever you write, comes from you.
Of course, the information may not be original. Even the facts that you may be using in your writing may not be original because you will be taking them from other sources.
But how you present those facts and thoughts in your own unique manner, will be original. This is what is valued by clients. Most of the clients who respect their businesses know how difficult it is to publish original content and that’s why they value content writers who can write original content.
6. You can write in an engaging manner
People should want to read what you write. If you simply drone, nobody is going to read. You must write engagingly. You must directly talk to your reader. The excitement must rub onto your reader. If you don’t feel excited about what you’re expressing, believe me, people will get bored and disinterested in your proposition.
How do you write engagingly?
Have a conversation with your readers. Present information in short, digestible bites. Strategically use single words. Use a mix of short and long paragraphs. Ask questions. Instill doubt. Alarm them. Invoke a sense of urgency. Reassure them. Make them feel as if someone is sitting right in front of them and talking to them.
7. You don’t just write for money
There are many content writers who approach me and when I suggest that they should hone their skills by writing regularly even when they are not getting paid, they don’t pay attention. They want to spend their time writing only when there is a prospect of being paid.
Consider any art, or even any sport. If you are an athlete, do you practice only when a major event is approaching, or do you practice every day even when no one is there to appreciate your effort?
If you are the singer, do you sing only when you have an audience in front of you, or when you are being paid for your talent, or do you practice every day? Can you even sing at the performance level if you don’t practice every day? Fat chance.
Nonserious content writers think that since they know how to write, they will be able to write whenever they are offered a paid assignment.
A great content writer knows that just like any other skill, writing skills must be honed daily. You must write everyday whether you’re being paid or not. Whether you want to write or not, you must write because you know this is a skill that you value from your heart.
Writing should be a labor of love, not a forced occupation. If you cannot write without getting paid, you won’t be able to write better when you are being paid.
As you have read above, being a great content writer doesn’t mean that you simply need to write impeccable sentences and paragraphs and you should be able to use grandiloquent words and phrases. You can write very short sentences. You can use very basic words. Still you can be a great content writer if you empathize with your readers, write in a conversational manner, are able to find the right information, and can use the appropriate technological tools.
Using Google Trends for better SEO content writing
SEO content writing is all about choosing the right keywords and then creating your content around them. Being a veteran of your business, you may feel that certain keywords must be more popular than other keywords. The reality might be different.
A few weeks back I was writing a blog post on copywriting and while doing some research, I noticed that many writers use “copy writing” instead of “copywriting”. Although Google may not differentiate much between copy writing and copywriting, I wanted to use a word that most people use. On a whim, I went to Google Trends, searched for both the terms, and then compared them. This is what came up:
Using Google Trends to compare copywriting and copy writing
As you can see, worldwide, people are using “copywriting” more than three times over “copy writing”.
This is one way of finding out what words to focus on when writing content. There are many similar sounding words but there are some words that people don’t use often, and some words people use a lot. When writing content, you want to focus on words used by maximum number of people.
This Entrepreneur blog post suggests many uses of Google Trends, including
Search volume: It tells you if there is more demand or less demand for the key phrase or the keyword you are trying to write SEO content for.
Search trend: Since Google Trends presents the data graphically, you can see whether the use of a particular keyword is on the downswing or upswing. It may be that a few months ago the keyword was quite popular, but it is no longer popular, or vice versa.
Related searches: These are for long tail keywords. What different keyword combinations are people using to search for information?
Search filters: You can check Google Trends for your chosen regions. In the above screenshot, I checked worldwide stats. You can check stats for specifically USA or India.
Forecast: Google Trends may not show forecasts for all the keywords you search for, but sometimes it tells you what the trend is going to be in the coming days.
Comparison: Just what I have done in the above screenshot. You want to compare 2-3, or even more words and see which word you should be focusing on.
Aside from the fact that you can use Google Trends to find the right keywords for content writing, you can also use search segmentation for geographical targeting.
There may be certain keywords that are used more in China than in USA. This is just hypothetical: if I want to target China for my copywriting services and if in China people use more “copy writing” and less “copywriting”, I should be using the former phrase with greater frequency when I’m writing about my copywriting services for China.
The forecasting feature can help you plan your content publishing. If you know that the time for a certain keyword is going to rise or fall, you can decide whether to publish more content or less content on that keyword.
Similarly, you can use various features of Google Trends to streamline and target your content writing efforts.
