by Mark Bloom | Sep 19, 2016 | Website Content
Revise Your Business Site to Improve Sales
September brings change. The kids go back to school. The long summer days cool to brisk autumn nights. If you’re anything like the writers at Ray Access, you get energized when fall returns every year. You may be past school age, but you still feel the charge in the air. It makes you want to start a new project, complete an old project and generally get caught up.
So tackle something that helps your business. The fall season is the perfect time to review your company website. The holiday rush is still months away. Your fourth quarter marketing plans will get a boost from a revamped website. And your business will charge into the New Year with renewed momentum.
Why You Need to Review Your Company Website
Website design is a lot like automobile design. You may not notice big changes year-to-year, but by the end of the decade, you can definitely pick out the 10-year-old car, and not just because of the accumulated dents. Website design changes happen even more frequently than automobile design. As a result, your five-year-old website might look like it was designed by someone driving an Edsel.
The design of your website makes a first impression on your visitors. An outdated design says, “I’m excited to have a website, and it’s only 2002!” If you don’t keep your website current, potential customers might think you don’t keep your company up-to-date. When no one wants to buy last year’s model, your website visitors may disappear with a click.
Look Beyond the Design
In addition to your website design, review your company website content. In fact, even if your design is still current, you should reread the content that graces your website pages. Is it effective? Has it generated leads and contacts? Ideally, that’s what your business website is supposed to do.
Yes, that’s what Ray Access does — provide website content and blog posts. But whether you hire a professional writer or do it in-house, you want your website to work for you, don’t you? You want an active site that:
- Engages your visitors
- Connects with potential customers
- Builds trust in your company
- Establishes your authority in your field
- Answers common questions
- Persuades visitors to contact you
- Turns visitors into loyal customers
If your website doesn’t accomplish these goals, than it’s a money pit rather than a moneymaker. In the world of online marketing for business, everything you do needs to pay for itself. Every ad campaign, every design change and every website investment has to have an ROI that makes it worthwhile. And no other investment pays off more than new content that reaches your audience.
Start Today
So review your company website. See it from an objective point of view. And then take action if it falls short of expectations. If you need help, Ray Access offers a service called a website assessment that reviews your website, page by page, from a visitor’s point-of-view experience. The experts at Ray Access can tell you what works on your site, what doesn’t work, and what opportunities you’re missing. Contact us today for your website assessment!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Sep 11, 2016 | Small Business Advice
Sales Techniques Every Small Business Needs
So you’ve finally taken the leap and stepped out on your own. You’re great at building engaging websites, creating stunning graphics, building beautiful surfboards, writing, sewing, fixing… you fill in the blank. But are you good at sales?
You’re following your bliss and that dream state certainly doesn’t include knocking on doors and asking for business. If you’re like most small business owners, you probably didn’t give much thought to learning:
- Where to find new clients
- The best opening
- How to read a customer
- How to approach corporate clients
- How to overcome objections
- The art of the close
- And most basic of all: How to sell successfully
No Way Around It
Maybe you think of used cars or insurance when you think of sales techniques, something distasteful that’s definitely not cool or anywhere on your radar. But unless you have a product that is so hot that everyone is scrambling to find out where they can get it, you’re going to have to tackle the sales issue. There’s no way around it if you want to stay in business.
Even with the next greatest idea, if no one is selling it, your business is going nowhere. And as the maxim states: a business that’s not moving forward is actually moving backward. Ideally, you can hire an outstanding salesperson who can persuade customers to buy what you’re selling.
But for most small start-ups and one- or two-man shows, you are it. You’re the floor sweeper, receptionist, marketing pro, web writer, bookkeeper, salesperson and, oh yeah: the main person who does the service or creates the product.
Sales Techniques for Dummies
After taking a few sales tips from those in the know, we’ve plucked the best to share with you. So here are a few sales techniques to master. If you’re really passionate about your service or product and want to spread the word, you’ll enjoy learning these techniques to sell more.
- Ask for Referrals
This is by far one of the least intrusive and most underused of all the sales techniques you can learn. A referral is better than any advertising, public relations or marketing you could imagine. When someone loves your work, ask for a referral. Just come out and say, “Do you know anyone else who would like our product/service?” What’s the worst thing that could happen? They could say, No.
- Identify a Need
Remember that sales techniques are not about you. You may feel passionate about the service or product that you can deliver. You may get all pumped up when talking about it. But while your enthusiasm may be entertaining (even contagious), your listeners — potential clients and referrals — can’t get worked up about it unless you first illustrate what’s in it for them. Answer the question about why should they care even before you start thinking about what you can deliver.
- Find Out What Makes Your Customers Tick
After you learn to get out of the way of the sales process, the next thing to do is find out what hot button gets your prospects revved up so they want to know more. Is it saving time, making more money, finding good employees, seeing pretty colors or being environmental consciousness? Everyone has a button and once you find it, you’ve got to be brave and push it. This sales technique only works if you are prepared to ask questions and then listen closely for the trigger that needs pushing.
- Call on Real Prospects
Whether you’re trying to sell your idea to investors, aiming to recruit the best talent or gunning for new clients, you need to spend your time on potential calls with those are ready for your pitch. They must be in a place where they can help you, either by funding you, working for you or buying your product or service. Pick a region or an industry and become an expert. Instead of just flinging spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks, focus your cold calling to make it more like warm calling or even better — hot calling.
Do your research before hitting the proverbial pavement. It takes more than dumb luck and the latest sales techniques to grow your business profitably. It takes:
- Smarts
- A willingness to get rejected
- Consistent persistence
These sales techniques can work for as well for you as it’s worked for Ray Access. We expect nothing in return for sharing this information, but if you found it valuable, consider sharing it. (In other words, refer this article to your friends who might also benefit from it.)
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Sep 5, 2016 | Small Business Advice
Networking Tips to Get the Most from Meetings
The principals of Ray Access believe in the power of networking. For local marketing, face-to-face networking has provided us with a local web of clients and partners. These connections serve several business purposes. They’ve:
- Created professional relationships that we continually nurture
- Effectively spread word-of-mouth brand awareness for us
- Delivered projects and referrals that directly add to our bottom line
- Provided opportunities for us to give back to the business community
In short, networking is a valuable tool for increasing your local business. At Ray Access, we think so highly of networking that we’ve written about it before:
- How to Work a Networking Room, which discusses how to approach a room full of people
- 10 Tips for More Effective Networking, which provides networking tips to help you make a great first impression
But There’s More to Say
Networking tips don’t end there. While these two articles offer valuable advice for any businessperson, you may want to know more. There’s certainly more questions about networking. For example:
- What about when you finally sidle up to a prospect?
- How can you give that person (or group of people) your undivided attention while making a positive first impression? Sometimes, it’s difficult enough not to say the wrong thing, let alone trying to say the right thing.
- How can you leave a conversation confident that others you’ve met will remember you?
Questions and Answers
It’s a tall order, especially if you’re an introvert given to mumbling in a one-on-one conversation. It’s OK. If you use these networking tips, you can still be yourself and leave a positive first impression. To get to a good place in the conversation, remember three essential networking tips that will serve you well:
- Listen attentively to what others say and be able to comment on it.
- Don’t force your way into a conversation; wait for the pause.
- Focus not on what people can do for you, but how you can help others.
If you can act on these three networking tips, you’ll leave your mark on the person or persons with whom you’ve spoken. Networking at a business event isn’t much different than making the rounds at a party. You want to be entertaining, yet learn a little bit about the people you don’t know. So your approach should be the same: ask interesting questions, let them talk and don’t talk business unless someone else brings it up.
Moving the Conversation Forward
You’ll fail at networking if all you can add to the conversation are generic comments on the weather, the economy or local sports. In fact, whenever we hear someone mention the weather, a bomb goes off in our heads warning us that this conversation is turning tragic. So we work hard to turn it around. If successful, we not only rescue a conversation from oblivion, but we end up building rapport. Other people, consciously or not, understand the conversation-about-weather time bomb.
Granted, we’re writers, so we know a little bit about a lot of different topics. We can draw on the research we’ve done in many medical disciplines, hiring practices, real estate, marketing, education, website development, or even disaster recovery and plumbing, just to name several. Our clientele take us all over the map in terms of subject matter, and we’re always eager to learn something new.
But you too can do what we do with a little practice. It’s a matter of listening attentively and thinking of something valuable to add to the conversation. For example — and this is an easy example — if someone comments on the weather (especially after an uncomfortable pause), turn the conversation back on that person. Ask him if the current weather pattern reminds him of his hometown or if it’s any different from where he grew up. That question can spur a whole new conversation.
Asking Good Questions
Staying with the topic of the weather, there are other questions that can reinvigorate a conversation. In the meantime, the answers tell you something new about the person you’re talking to. Everyone has a weather-related story. Ask about it. Ask about the most favorable place, regarding the weather, that the person’s lived. Ask about the favorite season, but probe to get reasons. Never ask a yes-or-no question, or if you do, ask follow-up questions.
If the subject of work comes up, as it often does in a business networking event, don’t stop at asking what other people do. Ask what brought them to their profession. Ask what they like most (and least) about it. It’s one thing to know what a person does; it’s quite another to know why.
Once you get on the subject of career, it opens a whole window of past experiences that can really shed light on the person’s personality and work history. You’re not being nosy; if someone prefers not to answer, don’t push it. But if they do answer, you’re off and running on a conversation that will help you really connect.
Networking Tips Return to Basics
When you’re out networking for your business, keep in mind your goals:
- To make connections with other local businesspeople
- To make yourself useful by connecting people as needed
- To leave the people you meet with a positive impression
Networking isn’t about handing out business cards to every single person. If you connect with someone regarding your business, then it’s OK to hand over your card, but in general, the best networking tips are about connecting with other people. Hardly anyone gets business directly from a networking event; it comes later, when someone you’ve met needs your product or service — or better, when others refer you to someone who does need what you offer.
So venture forth. These networking tips will guide you as you hop from one conversation to another. Putting these tips into practice will help you reach your networking goals, which will eventually lead to the success of your business.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Aug 22, 2016 | Communication
Don’t Sacrifice Courtesy for Convenience
There’s been much written about the sheer audacity of cellphone users who refuse to set down their devices when in the physical company of others. Enough about it already. If you don’t understand etiquette, the ways of polite society, enough to understand that it’s rude, inconsiderate and downright wrong to bury your nose in your phone while another person is standing or sitting right in front you, then there is little hope for your future success in any relationship — be it in the personal or professional arena.
Instead, let’s review some basic email etiquette boundaries and rules. And we’re going to get personal here; something we rarely do at Ray Access. But as technology takes over our lives, it’s more vital than ever that we treat each other with respect.
Email Etiquette Trumps Texting Time
As baby boomers who have fully embraced email in lieu of talking on the phone, we understand that these days, many people eschew email in favor of texting. We also understand that much of the email traffic occurs on mobile devices, versus the draconian desktops or more familiar laptops.
That’s all well and good; we love the convenience of texting as much as the next person. But texting is not appropriate for long messages with instructions or questions that call for lengthy answers. Even email requires some level of thought and consideration rather than just a quick “Pick you up at 8,” version that’s more suited to text messages.
Anybody Home?
Whatever device you use to receive and send email, the rules of email etiquette are clear and, for the most part, unequivocal. At least if you want any of our business. So do us all a favor and follow these simple rules:
- Respond in a timely manner. If we send you an email to ask if you’d like to work for our company, for example, you’d best reply within 24 to 48 hours. Otherwise, you’re toast in our book — black toast that only belongs in the trash. We don’t need an instantaneous reply, but we do expect the courtesy of a response, even if it’s to say, “no way.” And we’re sure other employers feel exactly the same way.
- Make sure the subject line matches your email message. Please don’t add us to a 30-message string. Not only does it make us feel like an afterthought, there’s a chance we’ll miss the actual message you’re sending.
- Which leads us to another tactless point that email etiquette lovers shiver when we see: Don’t look up an old email and tag on a new message with reply. At least take the time to delete the previous verbiage that has nothing to do with your current request.
- Use the important tag only when it really is vital and you want us to look at it and respond immediately. Email etiquette demands that if something is really important, you should call. By calling, you have a much higher chance of an instant response if that’s what you really need. Don’t try to bully us into thinking your message is more important than others.
- On our list of Top 5 Email Etiquette Blunders is this one: Proofread your work before sending. If your message is so long that you don’t have time to give it a quick read for errors, then it’s too long for anyone. Consider creating a Microsoft Word document that you can play with, edit and change before you send it.
Email Etiquette for Dummies
Once you hit “Send,” your integrity, values, personality and intelligence are out there for the world to see — or at least for the recipient of your email to see. If you want to appear smart, considerate, respectful and polite, think before you click.
Others may have different email etiquette priorities, and you can tell what those are by the way they communicate with you. Some people, for example, believe that it’s rude not to include a greeting and ending salutation to an email. That’s not required for us, but we respect those who practice it. Everyone can take away some suggestions from this blog that yes, is a bit of a rant. Mea culpa. Send us an email if you disagree: info@rayaccess.com.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Aug 16, 2016 | Agency Advice
Web Developers and Businesses Both Suffer
Content delays reflect those endless days, weeks or even months of waiting when you’ve completed website design and development, but there’s no approved content for the new site. You’ve slaved over the design, maybe going through several iterations to please your client. You’ve sweated the details to deliver a thing of beauty that’s guaranteed to make a splash.
Meanwhile, your client had no idea a new website was going to take so much time and energy. The old one only took a month to put together five years ago (although it shows, and you’ve persuaded them a new site is in his best interest). But you can’t use the content from that old site because of the changes, so the project screeches to a halt and content delays keep everything from moving forward.
Nobody Wins During a Content Delay
Content is often one of the last pieces of a website project. All that work to get to this point — all the pressure, all the deadlines — now seems like wasted effort. It seems so simple: just write down some words that describe the product or service. And yet, the client can’t seem to deliver anything, even though he’s had months to do this one little task.
Content delays are frustrating for everyone involved:
- You can’t close the project and collect your final payment until the website is live — and you can’t publish the new site without content.
- Your client can’t reap the benefits of the new website you built until it’s online — but he didn’t realize writing content for it was going to be so difficult.
So you’re stuck, your client’s stuck, and every day that passes, you both feel worse about starting the project in the first place. If this scenario sounds familiar, you’ve experienced a content delay that has sucked the energy out of a client relationship more thoroughly than even a nasty lawsuit.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Here are three ways to avoid content delays.
1. Get the Content First
If you could go back in time to the beginning of that website project, you might insist that your client deliver the new content before you start. So learn from your mistake and insist on it for your next project. Build it into the schedule — right at the beginning — and insist that you can’t move forward without approved content.
That’s not to say that the content won’t change at all, but at least you’ll have valid content that someone has reviewed before you put in the hours, days and weeks needed to design a website. You’ll have content that’s “good enough” for a website launch. And you’ll have content that reflects your client’s business from the inside. That’s valuable when designing for that client.
Smart website designers, in fact, prefer to design to the content, instead of trying to fit the content into a new design. In this way, form meets function, which improves the visitor experience on all levels. The website you produce, in the end, will be more effective, making you, your client and your client’s customers happier.
2. Prioritize the User Experience (UX)
You design and build websites for clients, but your clients really aren’t the people who’ll use the website. Their website has to attract and please visitors. So consider adding a UX specialist to your team. When you focus attention on the user experience of a website, the content naturally becomes part of the conversation. In the design process, therefore, content is an important deliverable, not an add-on line item.
User-centered design has been a trend in software since the days of the “helpful” Microsoft Office paperclip — “It looks like you’re trying to write a resume; do you want to use a thesaurus?” The industry has thankfully progressed well past that disaster. Now software is much more intuitive. Websites should be as well.
To avoid content delays, you must prioritize the content. If it’s important to a visitor’s website experience, it becomes important enough to devote resources to. Content delays often happen because no one thinks about the website content until the end of the project. A UX specialist would make it a priority.
3. Hire Professional Content Providers
Professional content providers like Ray Access specialize in effective content no matter what the industry, service or product. Not only can they research the topic so that they can write authoritatively about it, but they also understand how to use keywords, which in conjunction with search engine optimization helps people find the website online. Even the best site does nothing if no one can find it.
The professional writers and editors at Ray Access deliver an additional benefit to combat content delays: they are deadline-driven and deliver on time, every time. That means you’ll receive the content you need in time to keep your project on track. Your client will have the time to review — and if necessary, call for revisions of — the website content well in advance of your deadline to launch the site.
Effective content connects with the audience, providing a positive user experience. But only if you don’t have to wait weeks for it from your client. Be proactive and budget for a professional writer right from the start. Learn about the range of services Ray Access offers web developers and designers — agencies that have suffered from content delays.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Aug 9, 2016 | Blog Writing
Infectious Blogging Tips That Keep You Healthy
Prior to 1999, when you heard the word “viral,” you ran in the opposite direction — or donned a protective mask so that you wouldn’t catch a fast-spreading disease. The word “virus” comes from the Latin work for “poison,” and it has maintained its nefarious definition, even when it comes to computer use. A nasty computer virus can do all kinds of damage to your PC.
When a virus spreads, it is said to be viral, as in a “viral infection.” But today, “viral” has taken on an entire new identity in Internet parlance as a positive adjective (as in a “viral video”) or an attractive idiom (as in “go viral”). In other words, it’s not a disease, but something that’s become popular. Like many other words hijacked by the language of computers and the Internet, “going viral” is a good thing that requires no physician.
Videos can go viral. So can news reports, Twitter feeds and blog posts. In this article, you’ll discover blogging tips that can help make your blog post go viral. Words alone aren’t usually enough, but words provide the best starting point in anything viral-worthy.
Viral In a Broader Sense
In one sense, “viral” is the perfect word because the primary reason for even writing a blog for your business is to spread the word about yourself, garner more name recognition and establish your authority in your industry or on a certain topic. In other words, you want your business to go viral. The more eyes that see your blog and the more decision-makers who read your blog — the better your chances of earning more business.
For a blog post to go viral, it usually must accomplish at least one of the following objectives:
- Tap into a current trend, to either add relevant information to the discussion or poke fun at some part of the trend
- Hit on a newsworthy topic that reaches the level of “water cooler conversation” (an antiquated term for the first social media mechanism)
- Contain hot keywords that people are searching for
- Be easy to read, without long, complicated sentence and paragraph structures
- Be well written, with no errors — while communicating worthwhile content
- Get promoted on every possible social media outlet
- Make those who share it look smart, savvy, witty and hip
Making a Blog Go Viral
Taking the time to use all these blogging tips and do all the work required to make your blog go viral, the hit-or-miss process may seem insurmountable. And it is considered a hit-or-miss prospect. If it were formulaic, you’d see viral blog posts everywhere. But the public is fickle, and not every well-written blog post captures the attention it may deserve.
You can always invest in a blog post idea you believe in. You could hire writers at Ray Access to provide you with a “viral-worthy” blog post. You could then pass it on to another contractor to promote it to search engines and social media. With enough reach, your blog post could go viral.
Or you could settle on a few of the following blogging tips to make your blog post go viral. It won’t always work, but you might be happy with an occasional viral outbreak:
- Carry around a notebook or smart phone. When an idea hits for a trendy topic that your business can tap into, record it. Each week, before you write your blog post, pull out your notes.
- Prepare a list of keywords well in advance that have proven worthy. Weave them into your copy at a 1 percent saturation rate, which is once per every 100 words.
- Write about controversial subjects (either showing both sides or as a spoof that won’t alienate potential clients).
- Use inspiring, funny, fantastic or otherwise eye-catching titles.
- Rely on someone with a critical eye to edit your blog post before you publish it.
- Use awesome photos or graphics. Images attract the eye. The best images for your blog post may need a clever caption to tie it in.
- Set up automatic posting links on your website and on social media.
Don’t Accept Failure
If at first you don’t succeed, keep writing. That’s another reason to blog every week. You keep adding to your website and giving yourself another opportunity to catch a trend that goes viral. Never give up. If you use these blogging tips properly, you should see blogging success in the near future. Contact Ray Access for help going viral.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Aug 1, 2016 | Content Provider
Content Writing Examples Show Our Diversity
Ray Access isn’t a fly-by-night company. It doesn’t farm its work out to writers in other countries in an effort to save a buck. It doesn’t employ drunken college students to pump out words on a page. The writers and editors at Ray Access are professionals whose native language is English. As a result, the website content, blog posts and press releases delivered are always of the highest quality.
Producing online content is a serious business for clients. You want your website to generate leads through content marketing, and that only happens when the words are targeted to a specific audience and are strong enough to inspire action. But don’t just assume that’s the truth when you’re looking for content writing examples; do your research.
Content Writing Examples
The founders of Ray Access write most of the content the company produces and review everything to maintain the quality that’s resulted in a stellar reputation. And while that reputation means everything, you should demand content writing examples before hiring anyone. You can get an inkling of the Ray Access quality in our latest projects by visiting the Portfolio page.
But that page can’t contain the vast assortment of work that the writers of Ray Access have produced. You’d need a database to see the enormous variety of content writing examples available. And you can’t just do a Google search for “Ray Access,” since, as ghostwriters, they don’t take credit for the work. Once it’s paid for, you own it and can put your own name on it.
Website Content Writing Examples
In addition to the websites listed on the Portfolio page, Ray Access has a long history of proven success. Websites must connect with their audiences, generate trust and convert visitors into customers. It’s a tall order. To see how well Ray Access achieves these goals, check out the diverse website pages below. In each case, Ray Access provided only the content, not the design or development of the site:
Blog Writing Samples
Blog posts need to attract attention. The job of every blog post is to draw visitors to your website. The goal of every blog post is to go viral. Of course, that doesn’t happen all the time, but the Ray Access philosophy includes: answering questions for visitors, building website content over time and delivering engaging stories that highlight your business.
Besides the 10 content writing examples listed on the Portfolio page, listed below are links to many more that show the diversity and effectiveness of Ray Access blog writers and editors. You don’t have to read them all. Pick one that interests you and then pick another you don’t think would interest you. You’ll find you enjoy reading each one (and likely learn something new):
It’s this diversity — being able to write on a variety of topics with authority and panache — that’s the trademark of Ray Access. It’s what sets these writers and editors apart from other content providers. They can write about any industry and any topic for any audience, as long as they can find reliable sources for research.
That’s the value you get by hiring a former reporter and a former technical editor. Little runs across the desk of Ray Access that doesn’t perk their collective interest. So while you may think your industry isn’t “sexy,” great writers and editors can make your story sing in harmony to a really sexy tune. To find out how Ray Access can help you market your company, contact us today.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Jul 22, 2016 | Blog Writing
Your Blog Post Word Count Influences Rankings
If you want to help your website move toward the top of the search results page, take all that search engine optimization (SEO) advice and lock it in the closet for now. If you want to make your site more engaging, ignore all those opinions about consumers dumbing down and not reading anymore. If you want to attract more website visitors, put aside any preconceived notions you may have about the Internet, its place in an intellectual society and who’ll read your words.
Internet readers are no longer impressed with a really low blog post word count. Anyone can throw a few words together, but when a blog post contains very little useful information, people are discovering it’s just not worth the time. Short blogs that are obviously designed to grab your so-called “limited attention span” are beginning to be recognized and tagged for just what they are — disguised ads and SEO placeholders.
The Number Continues to Climb
Just like the woman who says, “Size doesn’t matter, honey, it’s how you use it,” the saying, “Nobody wants to read a long blog” also is a lie. In fact, according to Orbit Media Studios, of the 1,000 leading blogs in 2015, the average length was 900 words, a 10 percent jump over 2014.
SEMrush found in a 2016 study that the average blog post word count for first-place entries on Google search results pages was 1,890 words. And serpIQ found that in 2015, the top 10 pages that consistently ranked high on Goggle searches contained a blog post word count of more than 2,000 words, with the top spot coming in at 2,416 words.
That’s a Big, Big, Big Blog Post Word Count
And if those words are strung together in an entertaining and easy-to-digest manner and if they impart useful information, they give readers a reason to keep reading. When a blog post has a high word count, it translates into a means for keeping visitors on your site for a longer period of time. That’s called “engagement” in the world of SEO lingo.
Blogs with high word counts are called “long-form content” in SEO parlance. Long-form content is identified by at least 1,200 words. Some experts say you need 1,000 and others say at least 1,500, but that’s like saying you need three people for a discussion, when some would argue that two or five make for a better discussion. In other words, the exact line in the sand is flexible.
Put two (or five) SEO professionals in a room, and you’ll undoubtedly get two (or five) hotly debated opinions on what makes for good SEO. The important point here is that the blog post word count should consistently reach long-form status, assuming you want to engage your audience and rank your website.
Who Has the Time?
You reply that you can barely scrape out a 250-word blog once a week. Or your in-house writer isn’t a novelist, but more of a rapid-fire Twitter genius who can put together a decent 500-word blog post when necessary. Or you can’t find enough to say to justify a blog post word count of 1,200 every month. It’s not an uncommon complaint.
But you can find help, and not from a blogger. Bloggers too are a thing of the past — or gradually leaving the scene in favor of true writers with a sense for trends, consumer preferences and marketing necessities. Today’s consumers want to understand and to learn; they’re tired of glib, short answers and incomplete access to the truth. They want full disclosure. To make a place for yourself in the content market now, you need to consistently produce long-form blog posts that have depth and substance. Your readers will find them inspiring, insightful and useful.
Where’s the Meat?
No matter what industry you operate within, you most likely can talk about it and its peripheral issues for days on end. Chances are that your spouse cringes when you get started at dinner parties because once you get started, you can’t stop talking about your business. But sit down at a computer to write about just one aspect of your industry that people might find interesting — and you choke up.
What’s that all about? It’s about being afraid — afraid to make a mistake that will be in print forever. A fear of not knowing the right words, not having a large enough vocabulary to increase the blog post word count confidently and stylishly. So today — right now, in fact — Ray Access is going to share the biggest writing secret of our industry:
“Write like you talk.”
That’s right. You know what you want to say. Speak to your audience as if they were sitting across from you at the dinner table. Anticipate their questions — you know you know what they want to ask — and answer them all. Don’t worry about fancy words. Just speak from your heart — talk about what you know. And then clean it up in the editing process.
Topics Galore
So, back to the issue about professional bloggers. Today, writers like those at Ray Access are not called “bloggers,” but instead are known as “content marketing professionals” or “content creators.” And content creators know how to take advantage of the many different techniques professional writers of every ilk depend on. Some of the skills a professional online content creator brings to the table include the ability to:
- Brainstorm a never-ending stream of trending, relevant topics
- Dig into the background and foreground of every topic to increase your blog post word count easily
- Shape the tone of a blog to suit your specific audience
- Sound just like you, as a matter of fact
- Tell a story
- Twist words to entertain
- Get to the point
- Elaborate on important points
- Drive traffic
- Improve engagement
Mix it up, but make sure your content marketing professionals are giving you at least one long-form blog post a month. That’s the blog post word count to count on. Otherwise, you may find your content marketing dollars are ending up like a splat on the ceiling.
Don’t guess what will stick. Ensure your readers stick by giving them content they can’t live without. That’s the kind of content Ray Access delivers.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Jul 19, 2016 | Blog Writing
Professional Bloggers Talk Writing Process
Potential clients, friends and curious business owners regularly ask the writers at Ray Access: “How can you ghost-write blog posts for someone else when you don’t know anything about their business?” They usually want to know how we’re able to capture the voice of another person or company and how we can write so authoritatively about it. It’s a good question, and one we answer earnestly.
While the whole ghost writing issue is certainly an interesting topic, this article deals with the writing process and how it applies to writing for others. At Ray Access, we follow a strict three-part procedure:
- Research
- Write
- Edit
The Writing Process of Ray Access Bloggers
This process is valid for many forms of writing, but here we’re applying it specifically for writing business blog posts for other businesses. It doesn’t matter who the client is or what the business does. Ray Access writers use the same process for everyone.
That doesn’t mean the end result is the same. It means the process is the same. We put the same amount of energy and enthusiasm into every blog post that Ray Access delivers. If you’re curious about how it might work for you, send us an email. Or try the process for yourself. These are the steps Ray Access takes for every business blog post:
Step 1: Research
First came the idea, and the idea was good. Ray Access generally plans its clients’ blog topics in advance. Brainstorming ideas, doing keyword research and reviewing hot topics and news items yields a slew of industry-related blog topics. We ask our clients to approve the best of the bunch, and they often select the ones that best fit their strategic goals.
The writing process then continues with online research. When people ask us how we can write about medical, plumbing or financial services, the answer is always, “through careful research.” Ray Access writers can write about any subject they can research. For example, medical websites like the Mayo Clinic or the National Institutes of Health offer a treasury of reliable information, making medical research readily available.
Regardless of the subject matter, however, research has to be done properly. Any Wiki is liable to contain inaccurate data. User-informed websites lack authority. Even other blogs may be wrong. At Ray Access, we insist on the facts. If we’re not sure, we crosscheck information. While our clients review the work our writers deliver, we aim to get it right the first time.
Step 2: Write
Yes, everyone who works at Ray Access is a good writer, a true professional with training and experience in various forms of writing. It’s not just about words, sentences, paragraphs and sections, though. It’s about flow, meaning, delivery, language and tone. Rhetorical writing is the art of effectively persuading a readership through words. It’s imparting information in a way that not only effectively communicates, but also influences action.
The writing process is at the heart of Ray Access’ business. We’re essentially content providers and content marketers. We deliver value to our clients because we’re able to connect with their audiences. Online writing has been called a science and an art, so when Ray Access writes for an online audience, we use keywords properly. Because it matters.
The online audience has shorter attention spans, but hungrier appetites. When they want to know something, they want to know it now and they prefer to get all the information they need in one place. Ray Access writers satisfy that hunger.
Step 3: Edit
No blog post is complete without a careful edit. Another set of experienced eyes catches any typos, grammatical mistakes, misspelled names and missing words. But the skilled editors at Ray Access also improve the article with incisive changes, such as:
- Tightening up the copy
- Choosing more powerful words
- Eliminating the passive voice
- Crafting stronger openings and endings
- Inserting calls-to-action
The editing step doesn’t involve mere proofreading. Sometimes, whole paragraphs get moved around. Other times, whole sections are replaced. As any writer will tell you, “Good writing is rewriting.” Editing is a vital part of the process. Ray Access has understood this from the very start. It’s the difference between what’s on websites and what’s on effective websites. It’s part of the Ray Access advantage.
You can either use this writing process yourself or contact the writers and editors at Ray Access to get the most effective and most engaging content for your blog. And we’ll even ghost write it for you.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Jul 11, 2016 | Content Marketing
Only Hire Content Writers Who Deliver Quality
Content for the sake of content is no longer enough. Ad blocking on desktop computers, laptops and mobile devices is rising every year like a great solid state cement wall around the cloud that is the Internet. According to Priori Data and Pagefair, an analytics company, more than 419 million people block ads on their smartphones now. And that’s up about 90 percent for the period between January 2015 and January 2016.
All that blocking software is posing a really serious threat when you’re talking about one-fifth of the world’s 1.9 billion smartphone users. In 2016, about a quarter of laptop and desktop users employ ad blockers in the U.S., totaling about 70 million people. And that’s going up too. Content strictly for marketing purposes is now hollow and transparent, and people aren’t buying it any longer. They are, however, buying the ad blockers to keep obvious ads off their screens.
Enter Quality
For website and blog writers, SEO consultants, web designers and marketing pros, that’s a huge challenge. Found a keyword you really love that puts you high up on a Google search? Your customers have an app to block that. Pushing your weekly blogs through social channels? They’ve got their choice of content blockers for that. Think you hire content writers to sway the masses with quick wit and common words that trump the day? Yep, your target audience has got big bad comb-over blocking apps for that.
And don’t forget: all the while the Internet is being flooded with new ad-blocking apps for every possible device, search engines continue to mature and become more discerning. It’s a double-whammy. So what can you do? Actually, there’s only one way around it and that’s through it.
Search Engines Demands Quality
You’ve got to hire content writers who can overcome these growing Internet user habits by creating something we in the content creation biz call: “interest” or “buzz.” Let’s face it, you just can’t get around good content creation that draws you in with its sly character assassinations and good, old-fashioned stories. Stories work in marketing because people like stories.
Good content creation requires imagination, creativity, a nose for the news and a pulse that resonates with readers. When you hire content writers today, you’ve got to love their words, fall for their phrases and relish each and every syllable as if it were a life force. Stories live. Stories breathe life into stale marketing campaigns.
Internet surfers aren’t going to hold still for writing that doesn’t inspire flat-out love and infatuation. Content that tries to pull readers in with keywords that have no relevance will fail. Poor writing that’s hardly decipherable will fall flat.
Hire Content Writers Who Deliver Quality
If your content isn’t good enough to pass the search engine filters and can’t quite get around the ad blockers, it’s definitely not good enough for the masses. If it’s not effective content, it’s not worth anyone’s time.
Break it all down to plain English, which is another enviable virtue that you get when you hire content writers who prize quality. For your customers to spend any time with your content, it must be:
- Unique
- Excellent
- Interesting
- Free of errors
- Valuable — maybe the most important quality
Writing to Connect
Write to your readers like they’re real people. Because they are. Tell your content writers to stop writing to some sentient algorithm. Stop trying so darn hard to write content that ranks. Just give the people what they want — entertainment, information and quality writing they aren’t embarrassed to share or let anyone know they’re reading.
It’s time to push unique content creation to the next level. If you stick with the tricks your SEO guy tries to sell you, you can bet your marketing team a week’s salary that there’s gonna be an app to block it — sooner rather than later. Instead, embrace the evolving techniques and industry-standard practices that are leaning heavily toward customer engagement. In other words: interest them, and they’ll take an interest in you.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
