Tag Archives: Content Writing

Why original Internet content is worth the effort

There is lots of regurgitated content on the Internet. Many people blame the Internet for degrading the quality of content writing and general writing because one, everybody can publish these days, and two, copying/pasting is so easy. This is a weakness as well as a strength. I think the ability to publish with least effort has empowered millions of Internet users to express themselves and share ideas with the fellow Net denizens. There is no dispute in the fact that the ability to publish easily is a great blessing. But many people exploit this ability and hence the problem of inferior content arises.

The problem is, after all, how much original content can be produced on limited topics? After a while the repetition is unavoidable and this happens in every form of expression whether it is writing, or photography, or painting, of filmmaking; you will find trails of repetitions everywhere. So how do you produce original content?

Many clients often approach me with pre-existing content; they want me to rewrite it in my own style. since it is mostly rewriting, they expect me to charge less than my usual rate and which I think is fair enough. I don’t reject such work because even if I have to rewrite something existing I rewrite it in my own style, rendering my unique voice to it so it is as good as original content. Sometimes I even go beyond the material the client has sent me; I gather my own information and try to learn as much as possible about the subject and then write it according to my own understanding and the clients often love it. Although I’m being paid less for the same amount of work I do for “original” content I feel happy that my clients always get original content from me even when they are not very crazy about the idea of original content.

I think it is not as difficult as it seems. Agreed, practically every topic under the sun has been dissected over the Internet but still, if you apply your mind to it you can always give your own take. People know that the same information exists on various websites and this is very much expected when they conduct a search on some search engine, in fact they may find thousands of pages more or less talking about the same thing and that is not the point. The point is whether you can present your own perspective or not.

But you may wonder that if the same sort of content exists on so many websites then what’s the big deal about going for original content? I’m talking from the perspective of a client who has to spend money to get content, and not from the perspective of a blogger who writes on his or her own.

Well, there is noise and then there is voice. You have to decide whether you want to become a voice that people would like to stand and listen to or you are satisfied being a noise — it doesn’t matter much whether it exists or not. The world treats you the way you treat your content; just as you want people to take you as an individual who is quintessentially unique, the same applies to your content too. Original content lets people know that

You take what you say on your website or blog very seriously.
You have a point of view.
You know what you’re talking about.
You are alive to what’s going on around you.
You have an in-depth knowledge of the service or the product your offering to your visitors.
You take your business seriously enough to hire a professional content writer (this means that you are so confident about your business that you are ready to invest money in it without any inhibitions) or spend enough time coming up with your own original content.

What do you think?

Content writing is not just an e-mail or a web page

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A while ago I was talking to my good friend Akshar Yadav of Centronics Support and we were discussing how I normally charge my clients. As you must have already read my previous blog post I recently started charging an hourly rate. Akshar these days outsources almost all his content writing and copywriting requirements to me and he was among the few clients who weren’t quite thrilled about the hourly system.

So in this conversation he said, “If you spend two hours on a mailer then it’s not cost-effective for me if you charge an hourly rate.” — he would pay almost double the amount I was charging for a single document when I used to charge per document. Akshar was referring to a specific case and I must admit I had mixed up his requirement and gone on my own tangent while creating the mailer.

But the point that I was trying to make was it’s not the number of words or the number of pages that matter, but the value that is being delivered. When I write content for you and you pay me for it, you aren’t paying me for the “N” number of words that I have written for you – writing is not a commodity, it’s a service, its value. If it were just words that matter, anybody can write and then you can use that content on your website or your blog.

When Akshar sends his mailer he is going to get lots of new projects. All his future expansion plans might be depending on that mailer (I might be exaggerating, but I take my work seriously). If his only concern is whether I’m spending one hour on his mailer or two hours, it indicates two things: either he’s not sure whether he’s going to get work from the people he is targeting or he is not sure whether MY writing is going to work or not.

I’m just using his name to drive in a point: content writing is a highly critical service. I’m not saying spend all your money on content writing, but don’t save all you can save on content writing. You can compromise on web design, you can compromise on your SEO efforts and you can also compromise on the sort of office you have, but you cannot compromise on the quality of your written content. It’s your written content that does business for you. It convinces your visitors into doing business with you (or do whatever you want them to do).

No, it’s not a rant and I’m not saying that my clients aren’t paying; fortunately, and this also includes Akshar, I’ve gotten great clients lately and I’m very thankful for that. All my clients understand the importance of good content and they know what a difference it can make to their online businesses.

How to help your business stand out with unique content

Publishing unique content on a regular basis

Publishing content – whether you’re doing it on your website or your business blog – regularly is an integral part of your short-term and long-term content marketing strategy. There shouldn’t be long delays in publishing new content. The problem is not writing and publishing, the problem is coming up with unique content ideas non-stop. How do they do that? How do successful bloggers and publishers come up with totally unique ideas day after day, week after week, month after month, and amazingly, year after year?

Whether it’s difficult or easy, it depends on your level of involvement. My personal experience has been, when I am eagerly seeking out new content writing ideas, I get them, and when I don’t, it becomes very hard to write something interesting and unique.

How unique content helps your business stand out

The usual stuff isn’t much interesting. People don’t share it, people don’t seek it and people don’t talk about it.

But does it mean I cannot write on a topic like “How to create killer headlines for your blog posts?” because every copywriter, content writer and blogger on the World Wide Web has had something to say on it?

Not necessarily.

Even if the topic has been beaten to pulp you can still make it unique by giving it your touch and applying your business philosophy on it.

In India there is a corporate motivational guru called Shiv Khera and one of his famous taglines is, “Leaders don’t do different things, they do things differently”.

Normally I don’t relate to this tagline much because I believe doing different things is as important as just being different, but in this context, it can help you create unique content if you present it differently, and by differently I don’t mean simply changing the vocabulary of the article or the blog post, but giving it a twist that only you can give.

Remember that when you’re creating content you want to make an impact. If you’re writing it for your customers and clients, they need to see the inherent message and grasp it in the right manner.

Let’s come back to “How to create killer headlines for your blog posts?”

Normally you would have a bulleted list on how to create great headlines. Now consider these headlines:

Increase your conversion rate by 400% with your headlines
Your blog headlines can make or break your online business
The money is in the headlines
No compelling headlines? Forget doing business

In these three headline options we are basically talking about the same thing – the importance of creating compelling headlines but we’re using different contexts to attract different readers. Some readers would want to know how they can improve their conversion rate, some would like to know how critical they are for the survival of their business, and so on.

You can go on and on. You can talk about the importance of headlines for hospitality business, for a web design business, for a business consulting business, basically everything under the sun.

Add context, write in your own unique style, make it relevant to your readers and you have got yourself unique content that can help your business stand out.

Why my hourly rate has been a hit among my clients

Writing content for non-profit organizations

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Of late I have started taking care of the online presence of a few non-profit organizations including their websites, blogs and social media profiles. Aside from maintenance I also prepare and strategize content for these organizations.

Writing and organizing content for non-profit organisations is totally different from creating content for commercial businesses. In this case you’re not trying to sell a product or service, but a cause. You need to touch people emotionally (although personally I believe the work these organizations do is a lot more practical than many for-profit organizations do). Rather than promoting products and services you promote stories and experiences that really make a difference.

Many hard-core marketers often say that everything eventually boils down to selling. After all, you are trying to sell the inherent benefit of a cause. Why do you have a website for a non-profit organization? Almost every non-profit organization is looking for donations and fundings and a vibrant online presence can help reach out to a wide audience whether it is from website, blog or social media/networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Of course it is selling but then we all have our way of expressing different things.

Publishing content for non-profit organizations

As already mentioned above you can use different platforms to publish content for non-profit organizations. The idea is to reach as wide an audience as possible without diluting the niche. My personal observation, when it comes to niche concerning with social causes and social work, is that people who feel emotional towards one particular cause also are eager to associate themselves with another cause. For instance I have closely worked with organizations helping persons with disabilities and most of these organizations readily get involved with causes concerning natural disasters, environment and ecology, social justice, animal care and old age care (just to name a few). The underlying idea is, doing something good and constructive, and doing something that makes a positive impact. This is the message that your content on various platforms must convey when you publish.

Content on Twitter normally involves publishing small updates, links to useful information, news releases links and answers to some urgent queries.

Content on Facebook profiles is a bit more detailed, It involves messages that trigger conversations and other sorts of engagements. Since discussions can be threaded (multiple comments can appear under one posting) and there is no word limit, you can publish detailed messages, although they shouldn’t be as big as articles and blog posts.

Blogs are the best way to publish impactful stories and experiences. As long as they are interesting and gripping you shouldn’t worry much about their length. The style should be as conversational as possible although most of the non-profit organizations avoid publishing content on the first person basis (many businesses do this these days and it is recommended).

Making positive impact with content

When you write and publish content for non-profit organizations you are trying to achieve the following:

Raise awareness about an issue or a pressing need
Encourage more and more people to get involved
Encourage more and more people to spread the word regarding various activities and engagements of the organization
Encourage more and more people to provide monetary assistance

It is a humane activity and this is what you have to highlight in order to make people want to become a part of it. The stories should be personal as well as non-personal. Non-profit organizations are as much about people working there as well as people and environments they are impacting.