Tag Archives: Content Writing

How I plan to promote my content writing business during the Coronavirus outbreak

Content writing in the times of the coronavirus

After originating from China the Coronavirus has taken the entire world in its grip. Thousands of people have died. More than 200,000 are quarantined or being treated as I’m writing this. Businesses are being shut down. People are losing jobs.

During such a human and economic disaster, how do you take care of your business? My content writing queries are going down; what steps am I going to take to see me through this lean period?

Businesses depend on each other. I provide content writing services but I can provide my services only to those businesses who are in a position to spend money on marketing, branding and SEO. When they are grappling with the question of survival, they aren’t much worried about marketing.

Even the markets to which they need to market themselves aren’t responding, aren’t in a position to respond.

Nonetheless, a good thing about the Internet is that you can work from home, and you can provide your services to different parts of the world.

Although many countries are struggling with the pandemic, there are many other countries who haven’t been as affected as some countries have been. Till the world realigns itself, you need to continuously find opportunities, as little as they are.

Below I am listing a few things I’m going to do to promote my content writing business even during the Coronavirus outbreak. Maybe you can apply some of the things that I mention here to benefit your own business.

Don’t worry much

Worrying is a natural reaction. Whenever we are alarmed we worry. Worrying kept us safe when we were living in jungles and caves. Even at the slightest of sounds and movements in the bush, we simply bolted without spending a single second on second-guessing. Hesitation could get us killed.

We live in relatively safer times. Even when long months of recession gawk at us, worrying isn’t going to help much. It stunts our thinking. It even harms are immune system.

Find out ways to get rid of your worry. If you cannot do it yourself, talk with someone close to you.

Network with other business owners

You may not just get new business, you will also provide support to each other during hard times. Maybe you know something that the other person doesn’t know and the other person knows something that you don’t know. You can both help each other.

Also, you can refer a new business to each other – something that you may have ignored in the past.

Work on improving your online presence

Yes, it also involves publishing more content on your website. Remember that no matter how dire the situation becomes, there is someone out there always looking for you.

I’m still getting a lot of content writing queries from all over the place. Even from Europe and America. So, if on an average I’m getting 2 content writing queries, if I can improve my SEO and make it easier for people to find me, I can increase that number to 3, or 4, or 6.

I have been buried under lots of work. I’m still working for a few clients and I know I have plenty of work for the next two months,

I’m also going to get lots of free time to add extra content on my website and blog, which I have been ignoring in the recent months because of my work. I’m going to use this extra time as an opportunity to improve my search engine rankings and add more content to my website.

Explore untapped opportunities

Are there some opportunities you have been ignoring? What about your mailing list? Haven’t you always wanted to have your own mailing list? Maybe this is a time you can start focusing on building one.

What about LinkedIn? Personally I have always wanted to spend more time promoting myself on LinkedIn but there hasn’t been much motivation which, I’m sure, is going to manifest now.

Improve conversion rate

Although I’m constantly working at improving my conversion rate so that I get more content writing traffic that converts rather than bringing those people to my website who simply want to learn how to write better content (no harm in that, though), there is always scope for improvement.

You can use Google Analytics to take note of what type of traffic your website or blog is attracting from Google and how much of it brings you actual business. Study the keywords that convert and then generate more content around those keywords.

Decide to outsource

If you haven’t been outsourcing, this is a good opportunity to consider. To be frank, my entire business depends on people’s tendency to outsource their content writing needs.

Businesses and people don’t hire me full-time. They contact me whenever they need quality content to improve your conversion rate or SEO.

You can outsource many things. You can outsource content writing if you don’t want to spend time writing and creating content for your website or blog.

You can outsource graphic design or your web maintenance or your SEO. What about accounting and bookkeeping? I’m writing content for a website that does precisely that – take care of accounting for many businesses.

Outsourcing saves you time and money, and it also gives you greater choice. You are never stuck with a single employee. You can dip your feet in the global talent pool.

Audit your content

For a small business having 50-60 web pages and an equal number of blog posts, this shouldn’t be a tough job.

What does content auditing mean?

It means going through individual content pieces and improving them. Improvement may involve rewriting their titles and descriptions, improving content quality, making your content simpler and concise and pretty much, incorporating improvements that make your content better. Content auditing also improves your SEO.

In the end, I suggest, don’t worry about the sky falling unless the sky is actually falling. Use the time. It might be a blessing in disguise. Maybe the collective destiny of the world wants you to turn over a new leaf and start exploring opportunities that you have been ignoring so far.

What does voice search optimization mean and how to write for it

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Optimizing content writing for voice search

Voice search optimization means writing your content in a language that people use when speaking.

You write shorter sentences. You avoid using complicated words. You write in the form of questions and answers.

30% of all search is voice search these days. More than 60% of Amazon Echo and Google Home users don’t plan to go back to using keyboard for looking up for information.

2019 voice search statistics

Voice-enabled interfaces are increasingly being used, including Siri, Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant.

As the number and sophistication of voice-controlled and voice-enabled devices increase, it is becoming more important to take voice search optimization seriously.

What is voice search optimization?

Optimization for search engines still includes using the right language and the right keywords. Keyword optimization isn’t going anywhere.

Voice search means writing your content the way people talk, the way people use their voice to interact with their devices.

You must know that the way we talk and the way we write are different.

Normally, the words and phrases that you use when you’re writing, are quite different from the words and phrases that you use when speaking.

Write like people converse

When you speak, you use more day-to-day words. You speak smaller sentences. You don’t use lots of conjunctions.

When you use voice search, you don’t use very stiff language. You use conversational queries. You talk as if someone is sitting in front of you.

Another very important thing is that you don’t use monosyllables or mere keywords to search. You use complete sentences or complete questions.

Remember longtail?

Suppose you have a mobile app development business and you are looking for a content writer for your website. When using voice search, you may say, “who is the best content writer for my web design business?” Or “find me the best content writing service for my web design website”.

Since it is easier and convenient to say instead of write, people tend to use very precise queries.

Hence, when you are optimizing your content for voice search, you keep two things in mind:

You optimize for longer expressions, sometimes complete sentences.
You use very simple language, and to the point, shorter sentences.

Include the most important information in the beginning itself because when people use voice search, their devices talk back to them based on the information they find on your web page or blog post.

Another big reason why the language that you use must be very simple and straightforward is because when people speak into their devices, they hear back from their devices.

So, for example, if someone uses the Google Assistant to search for information, and if Google finds your link, it is going to read the first paragraph to the searcher.

It will be easier for the searcher to understand what is being said if the sentences are shorter and straightforward and the words are easier to pronounce.

Why optimize for voice search?

People use voice search because it is faster. Of course it helps that it is also becoming easier and more accurate. Even back in 2017 the Google Assistant was almost as efficient as humans when it comes to understanding and processing language.

Sometimes you don’t even have to pick up your phone. You can just trigger the voice enabled interface (“Hey Google”, for example) and search for information. Then through the speaker you will hear the result. You can go on doing whatever you are doing without having to physically interact with your device.

Devices are becoming more efficient in listening to what is being said and then finding the information accordingly. Which means, many people use voice search and voice commands just by default, without even realizing how the technology has advanced over the years.

Why optimize for voice search?

Because optimizing for voice search helps you whether people are using voice to search for you or typing using the keyboard. Voice optimization also helps you optimize your content organically.

Search engines like Google are preferring voice-optimized content over traditional content.

How to optimize for voice search when writing content

Many people fear that if they right very simple content it doesn’t sound professional.

This is not the case. You can see it on my website or blog. I don’t use very complicated or highfalutin words.

Nonetheless, you won’t say that my writing is unprofessional.

Simple writing doesn’t mean writing unprofessionally. If you have lots of grammar and spelling mistakes, then your writing is unprofessional.

If you have a very pedantic style of writing, even then you seem unprofessional because unnecessarily complicated writing means you lack confidence.

Here are some things you can do to optimize your content for voice search:

Write in the form of question and answer

Write if you are providing an answer to a question.

For example, do I provide content writing services to help you improve your search rankings for voice?

Yes.

And then I explain how I achieve that for you.

Optimizing for search, or for that matter, even in the conventional sense, isn’t a matter of hurry.

Develop an understanding of how people talk, what words they use, when they talk about your business or the product or service you sell.

Then use that language to write your content.

Provide the answer in the beginning itself

It is understandable that you want to provide as much information as possible on your web page or blog post.

It is often advised that you should create very long blog posts – 3000+ words – for better search engine rankings. So, you must wonder, if you spill the beans in the beginning itself, what do you cover in the remaining copy?

In the beginning, provide the answer in a gist so that when the person hears it, he or she gets the needed answer for the question that has just been asked.

Then, in the remaining copy you can explain various steps.

Since longform content is better than “thin” content, I have observed that many writers needlessly inflate their writing with lots of information and stats. Especially in the beginning.

For example, if you want to learn how to optimize your content for voice search, is it really important for you to know how many people right now are using voice enabled devices?

You already know how important it is to optimize for voice search and this is why you’re looking for information.

Sure, stats are important. Graphs are important. Data analysis is important.

But you don’t have to cram everything in the beginning just to build a case for yourself.

Having said that, if you really want to pack lots of information, you can do that later, as an add-on.

Write simpler sentences

Again, simple language does not mean unprofessional writing. It simply means not beating around the bush.

When you are writing content, every sentence must solve a purpose. It must have a reason to exist. When you are writing a sentence, think whether it is adding value to your overall writing or not. If it is not adding any value and you are using it just to show off your writing skills, remove it.

The same goes for difficult words. When you’re writing professional content – content for a business website or blog – it is not an opportunity for you to showcase your writing skills.

You are writing so that more people convert. For that, without having to make lots of effort, they should be able to understand your copy and then decide whether they want to buy from the website or not.

Hence, be specific. Don’t try to capture multiple ideas in a single sentence. Use one sentence for one idea.

Make your content as relevant as possible

Remember that compared to conventional way of searching, voice search is very precise and at the same time, random.

In the conventional way of searching (using your fingers to type the query) you get to see multiple results in front of you. If you don’t find the first result satisfying, you can click the second or the third result or even the 10th result.

This is not the case with voice search. Google (or another voice assistant) simply starts reading what it thinks is the best result. There are no alternatives. There is only one top result. So, give your best.

Use conversational keywords when writing content for voice search

Spend some time observing people. Don’t depend a lot on “keyword tools” because they create noise and stop you from thinking from the perspective of your users or visitors.

Talk to people if you can. Ask them what they would search for if they need to buy your product or service.

Maybe initially you won’t get the answers you’re looking for. Keep trying.

Make a list of keywords people actually use and then weave your content around these keywords.

Know what is the intention and then write accordingly

Billions of searches are done on Google alone with different intentions.

When optimizing your content for better rankings – whether for voice or for the usual text/typing – knowing the intention of the searcher is very important. Even small things can make a big difference.

Why do people look for the information they’re looking for?

Do they want to compared two gadgets to decide which one is the better to buy?

Do they want to educate themselves to make another, related decision?

Are they simply searching for the name of the company to find the URL and then go to the website?

Broadly, there are three types of search intents:

Informational intent
Navigational intent
Transactional intent

In informational intent, you are simply seeking information, for example, “why were the pyramids of Giza built?”

or “which is the best historical tourist destination in South India?”

or “how to optimize my writing for voice search?”

These are instances of searching for information. You don’t intend to buy something, at least not right now.

Optimizing for informational intent brings you exposure even if does not bring you customers and clients with a desire to buy something immediately. It is good for branding and visibility.

In navigational intent, people simply want to go to the website but either don’t want to type the URL or don’t know what’s the URL.

You may search for “credible content” to go to credible-content.com.

You may search for “Twitter advanced search” to find the section on Twitter that allows you to do advanced search.

“Knitters club website in Wisconsin” to find a website of some knitters club.

Transactional intent is for buying. It may not be immediate buying, but the person carrying out a transactional search is about to buy. He or she is just looking for the right thing or the right information. For example “MacBook Pro rates in Washington”.

Hence, for voice search optimization, you may first decide which searcher’s intent you want to target and then write content accordingly.

You can target any intent because they all have their uses.

Conclusion

Finally, all boils down to relevance and ease of use. This is something that cannot be stressed enough.

Be highly useful so that your content comes up in search results for voice. And explain your point as clearly as possible so that people can understand it when the device is narrating your information.

Why you should pay for quality content writing

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Why you shouldn’t mind paying for quality content

One of the biggest problems faced by good content writers is that most of the clients undervalue quality content.

I have expanded my presence on the Internet enough to attract clients of different dimensions.

Hence, if there are some clients who are not comfortable with paying the rates that I request, there are many other clients who are ready to pay my rates and in fact, many believe that I should be charging more.

There was a time when I never had conversations with clients who had problems with my rates. I would simply tell them to look for another content writer.

With age I have become more patient. I try to have conversations with those clients.

I try to explain to them that when they are spending money on a quality content writer, they shouldn’t worry about needlessly spending that money because writing on their website is the most important aspect of their presence on the Internet.

Read: Why quality content writing matters and how to maintain quality

Some understand. Some don’t. Some understand but don’t want to accept that they have understood.

For an average person or entrepreneur, it is difficult to recognize the uniqueness of business content because writing is everywhere.

You go to any website, writing is just there, by default.

You notice the header. You notice the logo. You notice the animation. You notice the images. You notice the color scheme. You notice the layout. You notice even the font type.

But writing?

Writing is just there.

You will rarely say, “wow, what a writing!”

You come across writing on the blogs. You come across writing in newspapers and magazines. You come across writing on social media websites. It is everywhere. Everyone writes.

So, I can understand if you don’t feel like paying your content writer what he or she deserves.

With so much writing, people forget that casual writing and sharing your thoughts is different from writing for business.

I will give you a small example.

You use free services on the Internet without giving them even a second thought.

You use free email. You use free social networking tools. You use free blogging platforms. You use free video hosting services. You use free cloud storage space.

But the moment someone asks for money, you start thinking about the pros and cons of using the same service that you have been using for years.

Even if tomorrow Google starts charging for Gmail, you won’t pay eagerly.

You will quickly start looking for other “free” email services even if they are not as good as Gmail.

You will pay for Gmail only if you cannot do without its features.

So, if you’re not ready to pay to Google for a service that you have been using for years, for free, how do you expect people to spend money on your website especially when countless other alternatives are available on the Internet?

The Internet gives you unprecedented opportunities, but it also gives you an unprecedented level of competition.

If you sell something, there are hundreds of people selling the same thing and people are already buying from them.

If you offer a service, there are hundreds of people offering the same service and people are already using that service.

Even your website layout and template may look the same as someone else’s because you have probably bought a template that is being used by many other businesses.

One thing you can be totally unique at is your writing and hence, whether people realize it or not, it is your writing that is a deciding factor.

For example, this blog post that I am writing is completely unique.

Even if someone has already written about the issue that I’m writing about (why you must pay for quality content writing), the way that person has written is totally different from what I’m writing here.

Whether you realize it or not, your entire business is based on what you have written on your website.

Deciding to buy something is an emotional decision.

Emotions are controlled by words. Written words.

People don’t decide to do business with you because of the image, or the logo or the animation or the layout of the website.

People decide to do business with you after reading what you have written on your website.

Not wanting to pay for quality content writing is like not wanting to clean the air you breathe because the current state of the air, though polluted, isn’t killing you, yet.

Most of the websites have lousy writing on them because the content on them is not written by professional and trained content writers.

Importance of quality writing for SEO

Quality content writing is more so important when you want to improve your SEO.

Read: 5 Reasons Why Content Writing Is Important for SEO

Long gone are the days when your SEO depended on the way you used your keywords.

Keywords still matter, but what matters more is the way people interact with your writing.

If your writing is not relevant, if it is not engaging, you begin to lose your search engine rankings.

More than 97% of your search traffic comes from Google.

Google is spending millions of dollars every month to make sure that irrelevant and useless content doesn’t show up in the search results or at least doesn’t show up in the top search result pages.

More than 300 maths PhDs are constantly modifying ranking algorithms at Google to enable the crawlers crawl and rank high value content.

If you want to compete with these 300 maths PhDs, it’s your choice, but an easier option is to give Google the type of content it is looking to rank higher – quality content.

Why paying for quality content isn’t a waste of money?

The writing on your website is an asset.

Although, on your blog you are constantly publishing your content, the content that you publish on your main, business website, remains there for months, and sometimes even for years.

This means, for months and for years, this content will make people do business with you.

The writing on your website is a business-generating machine.

It is a high-value asset.

People are going to form an impression of your business by reading what you have written or published on your website.

They will decide whether they want to do business with you or not, after reading your information.

If your writing is not compelling, if it is not engaging, if it is not conversational, people are going to leave your website to explore and evaluate another website.

Small businesses are always personality-based.

If someone goes to a Google website or an IBM website or a Microsoft website, he or she is ready to put up with small annoyances and even lousy writing.

But if the same person goes to the website of a small business, he or she is going to become all judgmental.

Even a tiny uninspiring sentence or word will send him or her away.

It’s because, whereas Google, IBM and Microsoft don’t have much competition, a small business has lots of competition.

Going to another website is as simple as going to another link or doing another search on Google.

If I’m looking for a mobile app developer and I’m not convinced with the information you have presented on your website, all it takes is a couple of seconds to go to another mobile app development website.

Aside from these, here are a few reasons why quality content is important for your website.

People want to share high-quality content

Sharing gives you brand visibility.

Content shared by people is more valuable than content distributed through advertising.

The more people share your content on their social media timelines, the better are your search engine rankings.

Not just sharing, even when people “Like” your content, it gives indications to Google that people are appreciating your content.

Every instance of sharing your content, liking your content or any other reaction to your content (someone leaving a comment), sends out signals to Google which are then used to decide your search engine rankings.

Quality content establishes your authority

If personal branding matters to your business, then you must establish yourself as an authority.

When people respect you for your knowledge, wisdom and your hold over your subject, they want to do business with you because they know that they are dealing with an expert.

They will also eagerly pay you higher compared to your competitors.

In my content writing and online copywriting business too, since I’m constantly sharing my thoughts, my expertise and my knowledge, people are eagerly ready to pay my rates even when sometimes they feel they’re having to pay higher than they would pay to another content writer.

Good quality content helps people remember you

Good quality content on your website renders a unique personality to your presence.

When you work with a professional content writer, he or she also brings a unique personality.

Many of my clients want me to write for them because of my writing style. They want the same writing style for their website and blog.

Retention is very important on the Internet.

If people cannot distinguish you from your competitors, it is difficult for them to develop a sense of loyalty for your business. They get distracted easily. They switch easily.

So, the next time, if you are wondering why you should pay for high-quality content writing, remember these points and you will enjoy greater clarity.

In terms of content, what you should adopt and leave what, in 2020

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How your content marketing should be in 2020

This LinkedIn content marketing blog post compiles insights by various industry experts on what to adopt and what to leave in 2020 while implementing and carrying out a digital marketing and content marketing strategy.

The first, and the most noticeable advise is from Michael Brenner (because I too have been advising the same thing to my clients) who says that marketers should shift away from content randomness and have a clearly-defined idea of why they are publishing a particular piece of content.

He says that brands that stop publishing content randomly and follow a consistent pattern experience an increase of 50-200% in traffic and leads.

When you use content marketing to promote your business on the web, it is like maintaining a publishing or a media platform.

Whether they are consciously aware of it or not, your target customers and clients expect you to publish high-value content on regular basis.

Read How to come up with great content writing ideas every day.

Another issue that I have experienced with many content writing and copywriting clients is that all their content requirements are based on their keywords.

Yes, keywords are important, and you must optimize your content for better SEO, but if you solely focus on the keywords instead of the value that you plan to deliver with your content, your content begins to lose meaning.

As the next person in the thread says, you should escape the “sea of sameness” and focus on something unique.

The beauty of the world is, every person is unique.

Although, when you’re working with a content writer or an online copywriter, his or her own perspective is going to permeate through the content, but you can control the direction of the content to a great extent by choosing to focus on the value that you want to deliver instead of the keywords you want to optimize your content for.

How do you do that?

Stop living in a cocoon.

Take an active interest in your industry.

Follow conversations on Twitter and LinkedIn and participate in those conversations.

See how you can align your marketing message with the issues affecting the society in general.

You can also publish valuable content by vertical focusing.

Talk to a single individual instead of targeting a broad spectrum.

Focus on problems and issues being faced by a single individual for that blog post or web page.

Yes, if you don’t handle multiple issues in a single blog post you may have to publish multiple blog posts but then, this is a blessing in disguise.

You do need to publish multiple blog posts to cover all possible topics.

Does a strict schedule matter?

If you are publishing a blog post every Wednesday, unless people are really expecting to hear from you on Wednesday, it hardly matters, as long as, you are publishing every week.

Regularity is important.

It increases your brand visibility.

People become familiar with your business and they also begin to recognize you for your quality and sincerity.

This is what ultimately improves your SEO.

The right content writing way: focus on value and accommodate SEO.

The wrong content writing way: focus on SEO and accommodate value.

The wrong way doesn’t work but it seems like shortcut and hence, most of the people want to follow it.

The right way takes time and effort but also delivers results.

Content Writing Update – January 15, 2020

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I just noticed that the last content writing update that I posted was on December 28, 2019.

Been busy with work.

In one of my updates I had mentioned that I’m writing content for a university website.

Lots of pages need to be added to the university website, so it is going to take a while.

A couple of clients vanished after initial interaction about their content writing requirement.

Precisely this is the reason I take an advance: then there is a commitment from both sides and I also know that the other person is serious about getting the work done.

Otherwise, I needlessly end up wasting my time.

An interesting project I’m doing is for a Dutch website.

In fact, it gave me an all new idea to offer my website rewriting and translation services in English.

Rewriting and translating existing text is actually fun and also easier compared to writing completely original content.

Although Google Translate is a good tool, it doesn’t exactly convey the needed emotion.

So, no matter in which language the content is written on the website, first I use Google Translate to understand what it is conveying, and then I rewrite it in my own style and my own language.

Also embarking upon a project of rewriting an e-book.

It’s already written in English. I need to make it sound better. Fun.

I have also started publishing my newsletter with some regularity.

If you have subscribed, you must have noticed you are getting more updates these days.

That’s it for today.