by Mark Bloom | Aug 9, 2021 | Small Business Advice
What Is Email Marketing?
Email marketing’s been in the news a lot lately, but what is it exactly? Consider those direct mail flyers and envelopes that appear in your mailbox every week. Sometimes, they offer coupons. Sometimes, they announce new products, services or locations. These mailers are marketing pieces, and they’re effective. Even if you don’t act on them, you often remember the company names, even if you don’t mean to.
Email marketing works the same way, but with two very important differences:
- Your marketing words are delivered directly to your customers’ email inboxes, instead of their external mailboxes.
- You don’t need to worry about printing costs, although you do often need a web-based service, such as MailChimp or Constant Contact — just two names of many options.
Email marketing, like direct marketing, allows you to send coupons from your business, announce new products, services or locations. You can also use email marketing to share news of your industry. Like blog posts, email marketing pieces can provide tips for better using your products or services. And like all online content, you can use an email marketing specialist to produce effective content.
How Do Newsletters and Email Marketing Work Together?
Newsletters for businesses act as vehicles for email marketing. You can deliver them once a month or as often as twice a month to your email list. Sending a newsletter:
- Keeps your business brand top of mind
- Reminds your customers of your value and quality
- Shares your latest deals and offers
- Delivers useful and valuable information
Newsletters for agencies may have a dual purpose. If you run an internet agency, you can use a newsletter to grow your own business, but you can also offer email marketing services to your clients. It’s another service to help your clients succeed.
Using a professional email marketing specialist takes care of the details for you, including the content creation, the email list management and the delivery process. While you still get the opportunity to approve all content, including the newsletter design, before it gets sent, you don’t have to worry about the details. An email marketing specialist like Ray Access handles it all.
What Do I Need to Start a Newsletter?
The first and most important requirement for a newsletter is a list of email addresses of your clients and prospective clients. Acquiring email addresses is an art and a science. Perhaps the best way, after gathering the email addresses of all your clients, past and present, is to offer something of value on your website that your visitors have to sign up to get, leaving — you guessed it — their email address.
In addition to an email list, you need to either hire an email marketing specialist or buy a membership in an email marketing service that can send out hundreds or thousands of emails at the same time. You need to design a template on that service and then populate it with content however often you plan to send your newsletter.
Interested in starting a newsletter for your business or agency? Contact Ray Access, an email marketing specialist who makes it happen for you. Need more information about email marketing or newsletter? Read some of our other blog posts, including:
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 26, 2021 | Agency Advice
What Can Good Writers Do for My Business?
Having a writer on your team who knows how to navigate the business environment can be a huge asset to your company. In fact, a good writer can save your business in more than one way. No matter how good your products or services are, you need a writer to:
- Promote your goods and services
- Connect with your target audience
- Make search engines take notice of your website
- Help potential customers find your business online
- Protect your company’s online reputation
So then the question becomes how to find good writers. You can find writers in every city, town and hamlet. You can find writers by the score online with a simple search engine search. But how to find good writers remains a problem for businesses that want to hire or contract them.
Want to Learn How to Find Good Writers?
While finding writers is no problem, vetting them is. But there are answers to this dilemma. When you’re ready to learn how to find good writers for your business, listen to your friends at Ray Access and employ tips that include:
- Review the writer’s portfolio, including not just quality, but specialties and breadth of work
- Interview the writer to ask pointed questions about process, favorite accomplishments and research techniques
- Ask for references and follow up on them
- Find out if the writer uses a style guide or can write in different styles, depending on need
- Ask about the length of time required to complete an average project
To find a writer who matches your business needs, you have to do your due diligence. Even after a writer satisfactorily answers the questions above, and you move forward to hire or contract, you must stay vigilant to ensure that the content the writer produces continues to meet your standards. Don’t let your writers get lazy or sloppy.
How Else Can I Ensure a Business Writer Meets My Needs?
It’s one thing to know how to find good writers; it’s another to actually find out if they’re right for you and your business. Ray Access as a business is always on the lookout for good writers to add to the team. Once a writer agrees to our terms, he or she is given a test assignment, usually a short blog for a client.
This is a paid assignment because the principals of Ray Access believe that no writer should work for free, and the point of this exercise is to actually produce something useful. If the writer shows enough promise, other assignments will follow. Otherwise, the writer’s paid for the work and told to find work elsewhere.
How Do I Keep Writers Delivering Quality Work?
A test assignment is part of the process for onboarding a new writer, but even after the writer is accepted into the position, the principals and editors expect to coach the new writer through at least several assignments. Coaching takes several forms, including sending:
- The article back with notes for a rewrite
- Constructive criticism of completed work
- The edited version of the article back to the writer to compare
- Occasional general tips to stop commonly seen issues
If writers continue to make improvements, Ray Access continues to work with them. Plagiarism is grounds for immediate dismissal, but if the quality slips badly or no progress is observed, the writer is warned and then dismissed.
Deadlines are extremely important to the editors at Ray Access, as they are to you. Missing deadlines without prior notice is as a dismissible offense. It’s a balancing act, but the ultimate goal is to have a team of writers delivering good quality work. If you’re not sure how to find good writers, contact Ray Access.
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 Guest Blogger | Jul 19, 2021 | Agency Advice
And Why Email Marketing Best Practices Matter
Four out of five marketers and organizations say they’d rather give up social media than email marketing, which shows how powerful it is. Email marketing lets you stay at the forefront of your customers’ minds while communicating directly with them. If you’re still not convinced about the benefits of email marketing, learn more from our friends at emailpreviewservices.com.
Perhaps you’re ready to harness the power of email marketing best practices, but you’re not sure where to start. If that sounds like you, don’t worry. You’ve got company. This article outlines eight things to know about email marketing best practices.
1. Know Your Audience
Before creating a solid email marketing strategy, get to know your target audience. The key to securing leads is understanding your ideal customer’s buying habits, pain points and product wish lists. Popular brands use email marketing best practices to nurture healthy relationships and to add value to their conversation with their customers.
Find out about your audience by posting surveys on social media, which allows your audience to reply anonymously. Offer an incentive such as free shipping or a 10 percent discount on their next purchase. Surveys provide an overall idea of what your customers want so you can curate and send valuable content into your list’s email inboxes. Make sure you’re not only sending promotions, as it could deter customers.
2. Build an Email List
One of the top email marketing best practices is o constantly building your email list. There are many ways to do this, but providing an incentive is almost always effective. For example, you can:
- Introduce gamification to your site. This is a game-style element that encourages customers to sign up. This could be a quiz, test or even a spin-to-win widget. The key is to offer a prize to the winner, whether a freebie or discount, but only once they’ve entered their email and verified it.
- Get promotional pop-ups to appear while the customer is browsing your site. Make sure that the pop-up’s content is relevant to your visitors. For example, if they’re browsing shoes, then activate a pop-up that offers “30 percent off footwear for our email subscribers” to tempt them.
Regardless of how many signup opportunities are on your site, always send out welcome emails. This reassures the recipient that the signup works while letting you make a winning first impression. For instance, send an informative email or update them about what’s new with your brand.
3. A/B Testing Is Your Friend
A/B testing is the lifeblood of email marketing best practices. It allows you to track how each element is performing. Only test one at a time and on a large group of customers so you have extensive data to work with. For instance, you could test frequency, subject lines, and time of the day. But only test for one thing at a time.
When you use A/B testing, you must do it regularly. Get in the habit of tracking your email engagements. That way, you can make any necessary adjustments in a timely manner.
4. Write a Compelling Subject Line
First impressions are crucial in digital marketing, whether it’s your website’s usability or social media prowess. With emails, your subject line is the first contact customers have with your email, so make it count.
As a general rule, keep the subject line concise. You can make it witty or funny, if that works for your brand. Personalize it so it catches the recipient’s attention. You can also use questions as the subject line or write a controversial statement to pique interest.
5. Personalize Your Emails
On average, office employees receive around 121 emails every day. That means your brand must cut through the noise. A cost-effective way to do this is by personalizing emails. Address each recipient by name. Use customers’ behaviors to justify the email. For instance, thank them for downloading your latest e-book or send a “we miss you” message if they haven’t used your services in a while.
If a customer has recently made a purchase, suggest relevant products that work well with the new item. If the customer bought a hat, for example, then suggest sunglasses from your latest collection or matching shorts. There are many ways to personalize your emails.
6. Consider Your Timing
As with most areas in life, timing is paramount. Email marketing best practices say not to bombard customers with daily emails. That’s a turnoff for many. Instead, figure out when the click rate is at its highest.
Run tests to determine when customers are most engaged. Avoid sending emails at the top of every hour. Eventually, you’ll see a pattern to help you learn when the optimal time is to send emails.
7. Segment Your Subscriber List
Although it takes time, segmenting your email subscribers results in higher engagement. You could lump customers who have made a recent purchase together. Group those who live in the same country. Separate customers from prospects. Decide how best to segment your audience.
Email marketing best practices want you to use those segments. Don’t send the same email to your entire list. You risk sending irrelevant content to the wrong audience, putting your hard work to waste. You have segments for a reason, and that reason is to send targeted emails to the right people.
8. Keep the Email Design Consistent
Whether you hire a graphic designer or create a template yourself, the email design must align with your brand identity. You want the recipient to know that it was you who sent the email. As soon as they open the message, they should recognize your brand. Make sure you use the right colors and prominently display your company’s logo.
Also, reduce your copy to three paragraphs and break it up with images. Readers don’t want to see large blocks of text. It’s intimidating. Keep the email light, lively and upbeat. Further, stay up-to-date with the latest email marketing best practices regarding whether to use automation to streamline your process.
This was a guest blog post written by Ester Adams.
by Mark Bloom | Jul 11, 2021 | Agency Advice
Why Do Businesses Need Email Marketing?
Small and medium-sized businesses need to take advantage of every opportunity to compete. Marketing helps you gain customers and grow. Traditional marketing isn’t an affordable option for many smaller businesses like yours. But you can opt for more modern, inexpensive and effective marketing methods like e-mail marketing.
Many businesses find customers online in this post-pandemic era. Using email marketing, businesses attract and capture customers more easily. Small and medium-sized businesses enjoy the following five benefits by adopting these marketing strategies:
1. It’s Easy to Use
All businesses must employ a reliable email marketing system. Then, all you need to do is write a single email. The system then broadcasts it to the email inboxes of all your e-mail subscribers. After all, the reason to capture email addresses is to use them in marketing and newsletter campaigns.
If you’re looking for an email marketing system, test VerticalResponse free plan for email marketing and enjoy 60 days with free support. With this system, you even have the option of A/B testing your emails. No matter which product you use, the goal of email marketing is to reach your prospects and customers to keep them engaged and interested in your products and services.
2. It Includes Effective Calls to Action
The calls to action you create in your marketing messages entice all your readers. Calls to action lead your subscribers and prospects directly to a product or service to purchase, a social media page with more information or a blog post you want them to read. All they have to do is simply click the link or button in the email.
When potential customers land on your website, they may have to wade through a number of pages before they get to what they want to purchase. They do their online search, read a review or two, and may even visit your competitors’ websites. Instead, increase your sales and keep your customers engaged with simple and effective calls to action that bring them directly to what they’re looking for.
3. It’s a Cost-Effective Marketing Method
Regardless of the size of your business, marketing is an expensive endeavor. You must allocate your resources efficiently to grow your customer base. Email marketing as a marketing strategy compares favorably to other marketing methods in terms of cost. Email marketing systems are not expensive to use. And you can expect an ROI of about $40 for every $1 you spend.
For a small and medium-sized business, the returns from email marketing come with small startup costs. That means you can get started right away instead of having to save up or borrow before you’re ready to begin. Plus, your business can spread its resources across other departments and activities at the same time. You don’t have to stop your processes just to market your products and services.
4. It Builds Stronger Relationships with Your Customers
Your business more easily connects with your customers through email marketing. Your words go directly to your customers’ email inboxes. You stay top-of-mind as their business of choice. You keep in touch with your prospects, too, providing updates about their favorite products and services.
Consistency is one of the major drivers of email marketing. You have to write emails to your customers on a regular basis, but you don’t have to write your emails every day. In fact, you shouldn’t write to your customers every day; it’s too much. A weekly or monthly email that your customers look forward to is enough to keep them engaged with your business.
To build a good relationship with your email readers, send them informational emails regularly. Don’t just promote your products. Send your customers emails that provide them with useful information for their daily life. Encourage your readers to connect with your social media pages to increase your credibility.
5. It Allows for Customer Feedback
Another benefit from email marketing is getting customer feedback easily and quickly. You can design polls to send to your customers. When your email readers reach the poll in your email, they answer your questions right then. You’ll receive their feedback as soon as they submit their responses.
Email marketing systems allow you to design a poll for your customers without needing a programmer. You get forms to make questionnaires, which ensures that your small and medium-sized business knows what your customers are thinking at various times during the year.
Conclusion
Different-sized businesses employ different marketing strategies for their growth. Email marketing is one of the most effective strategies for small and medium-sized businesses. This approach builds engagement and your relationship with your customers.
Email marketing allows you to communicate easily with your customers and prospects. It’s a cost-effective marketing method so it won’t break the bank. Do it yourself or contract the experts at Ray Access.
by Mark Bloom | Jun 28, 2021 | Agency Advice
What Do You Mean, Being an Expert Isn’t Enough?
Consider Albert Einstein, one of the foremost authorities in advanced physics since Isaac Newton. You may think that his discoveries and calculations were the most difficult aspect of his work, and there’s no doubt his discoveries were groundbreaking. But if he couldn’t communicate his ideas to others, they would have remained undiscovered.
As a result, he developed analogies to explain his complex theories. Regarding how time worked in his theory of relativity, he famously said, “If you spend an hour with a loved one, it seems like just a second. But place your hand on a hot surface for a second, and it seems like an hour.” So it is with business.
How Is Business Like Albert Einstein?
Being an expert in your field isn’t enough to make your business successful. You need to be able to communicate your expertise in a way that your intended audience can understand. You have to be able to market your products or services the same way Einstein explained his theories. But this dilemma brings up a number of questions:
- Who exactly is your intended audience?
- What language do they speak (technical, slang, jargon, etc.)?
- What do they want to know about you?
- What’s important to them?
- Why should they care about you?
The list goes on and on. It means that being an expert isn’t enough to reach your audience. You have to give them what they’re looking for, in a language and style they can understand. You have to help them understand why you and your business — your great idea or new theory — is so important to them.
How Can I Reach My Audience?
It’s a good question, for which there’s no easy answer. To increase your odds of being successful, stop being the expert and become the audience you’re trying to reach. If you can answer the above questions, you’re closer to your goal. You can also try creating one or more personas to get closer to your target audience.
At Ray Access, our writers and editors do the research to discover what your audience is seeking. We answer questions in your website content — questions your visitors are asking. We can do that because we’re not the expert; in other words, we’re not coming from the point of expertise. We are the conduits between you, the expert, and your audience by providing:
- Instructive how-to blog posts
- Informative website pages
- Engaging content that’s clear and succinct
- Meaningful newsletters readers want to open
How Can I Be More Like Albert Einstein?
Einstein’s theory of communication, his trick for explaining complex ideas, was to stop being an expert and boil down difficult topics to their essence. The idea that time can bend, speed up or slow down is mind-bending for most people. But creating the analogy about how people perceive time helps them come to grips with at least this one aspect of his theory.
Using analogies works on many levels, if you can find the right one. But you’re an expert in your field, not an expert in communication. That’s where Ray Access can help you, the expert. Once we understand what you’re trying to say, we can help you find that analogy or example or explanation that more clearly communicates your value in business. 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 Mark Bloom | Jun 15, 2021 | Blog Writing
What Are the Content Topics for 2021?
When you plan content for your marketing or website clients, you have to realize you’re not writing for them. You’re writing for their customers. That content performs a marketing role, interesting and engaging customers. To that end, there are four content topics for 2021 that will work for your clients and their customers:
- Classic problem-solving
- Mistake prevention (often in the form of tips)
- Goal orientation
- Behavioral changes
High-quality content can hit these topics from different angles over the course of this year. Your clients will enjoy the new content because it’s bound to be successful in attracting new customers. Your clients’ customers will enjoy it because it’s what they’re seeking. These topics can provide a framework for your content strategy for each client.
1. Classic Problem-Solving
Of all the content topics for 2021, this one is the most popular. Many people go online looking for answers to problems. Imagine if a piece of content — a website page or blog post, for example — can clearly describe a real problem that your clients’ customers actually experience. And when the same content provides a viable solution, it connects the audience to the company.
The content creator needs to understand the clients’ customers to be able to know which problems they’re experiencing. And the solution, which likely involves the client’s products or services, has to be reasonable. Knowing what’s reasonable goes along with knowing the audience. For example:
- One target market may not think twice about buying a yacht to solve a problem.
- Another target market would balk at having to purchase an annual membership to a gym.
2. Mistake Prevention
Helping your clients’ customers avoid making mistakes can come in macro and micro instructions. The most common form of mistake prevention appears as how-to information and immediately useful tips. Again, the content provider needs to know what’s important to your clients’ customers. They must know what these customers are having problems with so they know which mistakes to address, such as:
- How to best use a certain feature of the client’s product
- When a service, from cleaning gutters to fine-tuning a carburetor, is recommended
- Which product or service is best for their particular needs
If the client is perceived to be a reliable source of useful information, that generates a lot of trust and more than that: referrals. No one likes making mistakes, to the point that avoiding one becomes an emotional endeavor. If your content topics for 2021 can tap into that emotion, it creates a strong bond with your clients’ businesses.
3. Goal Orientation
Consumers want, ideally, a respected source that tells them how to reach their goals. Where do they go to learn the best brand of TV to buy for their needs, the cheapest way to gain new business or a foolproof plan to invest their savings? Whatever the goal, if your clients offer a solution, your content writers should be able to explain why it’s the:
- Most cost-effective
- Most efficient
- Cheapest or
- Best targeted
Consumers have a limitless list of goals so branch out beyond those goals that tie directly into your clients’ specific products and services. Good content writers can make it work. How else do you explain hair care products that make the consumer feel successful with the opposite sex? That’s an example of tying an indirect goal to a specific product.
4. Behavioral Changes
Of all the content topics for 2021, this one is the most difficult, yet empowering. It involves teaching new ways of doing a task — not just with a new tool, but with a new approach. It’s one thing to produce and sell a new fabric for cleaning a car, for example. But it’s another thing to start thinking of car cleanliness as part of a daily routine. Changing behaviors for better overall results is beneficial to consumers, but difficult to implement. Remember:
- Even after seat belts became mandatory, it wasn’t until a massive, ongoing marketing campaign began to change drivers’ and passengers’ behavior.
- Cigarette smoking is in decline only because of a change in social values and lots of advertising.
While there are still people who don’t use a computer or smart phone on a daily basis, it took market saturation for mobile phones to become accepted.
Ray Access offers expert writers, thorough researchers, and professional editors all in one package. When you subcontract Ray Access for your clients’ content needs, you can stop worrying. We ask the right questions, dig into authoritative sources and deliver effective, compelling copy. If you need additional content topics for 2021, contact Ray Access 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 Mark Bloom | Jun 1, 2021 | Small Business Advice
How Can You Best Handle the End of the Pandemic?
Photo by Laura James from Pexels
The coronavirus that began spreading in early 2020 is still raging in parts of the world. If you run an international business, you still may be feeling the effects of the lockdowns, the uncertainties, and the downturn in the global economy. Here in the U.S., the vaccination rates have reduced the dangers of widespread infections, opening the economy to free commerce once again.
It’s been a long time coming. With the end of the pandemic in sight, you may wonder about the best strategy to take advantage of the public’s expansive spending mood. There are as many right answers as there are businesses. For example, you can:
- Hold a grand sales event that includes both an indoor and an outdoor venue, if possible
- Sponsor a “coming out” party for your customers, who are emerging from their homes
- Host networking meetings and make the rounds, face-to-face again
What’s the Strategy for the Next Phase?
If you’re like most people, you crave some person-to-person contact. Masks are coming off for all those vaccinated, and the stores and restaurants are beginning to fill up. You could take a page from your pre-pandemic marketing plans to:
- Ramp up your marketing budget
- Plan for more active consumer spending
- Renew your efforts to upgrade your website and online marketing efforts to support the in-person events
- Remain flexible enough to adjust to changing conditions
No matter which path you plan to implement, one truth remains even more important than it was before we ever heard the word “coronavirus:” knowing your audience. Nearing the end of the COVID-19 crisis affected people in numerous ways. Many changed their spending habits as their priorities shifted. New markets emerged as others were destroyed. Do your research and know whom to target.
Can You Ignore Your Online Presence?
While you plan in-person events to celebrate the end of forced lockdowns, don’t forget to maintain your online marketing efforts. The pandemic changed the way people shop forever, and you need to have a strong online presence to stay in front of their searches.
Your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts drive traffic to your website. Your social media campaigns direct customers to your carefully crafted landing pages. But the content of your website, including those landing pages, is what clinches the deal. Revisit your marketing messages and your website content to align with the new realities here at the end of the pandemic. Consider:
- How your previous customers view your business
- How new customers will experience the image you’re presenting
- What language you use to share with your audience
- How your present your products and services to meet the new needs of the moment
- How you can get new customers to “swipe right” to like your business
Getting consumers to like your business, products, services and messaging may be the next new thing — the end of the pandemic cycle, if you will. Make sure you’re connecting to your market. Hire Ray Access to get your messaging spot-on target. It’s an affordable, but oh-so-important step to attract customers as you maneuver a “new normal” and the end of the pandemic.
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 | May 17, 2021 | Content Provider
What Is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence, commonly referred to as AI, is a robotic or digital device that replicates a human activity. AI is a machine or program that can do a task that once was relegated to human power. But by this definition, you could argue that a water heater uses artificial intelligence, since it performs a task — heating water and keeping it hot — that once took a whole team of human servants.
So a better definition is that AI relies on intelligence, meaning it has the ability to learn and adapt. That makes AI well suited for iterative design, as long as it can study flaws and figure out ways to resolve them. That’s the key, as it turns out, for developing AI: building in an ability to get smarter with every task, finding ways to do things better, faster and more efficiently.
Today, AI can regulate the temperature of your house, keep your car engine running smoothly and design a better toaster. In an ideal world, AI performs all the menial tasks of everyday life, freeing humans to pursue loftier goals. In reality, AI is already encroaching on human-dominated fields. There are AI chefs and AI architects. Is an AI content writer next?
Can an AI Content Writer Deliver the Goods?
We’re undeniably at the forefront of AI content writers. It’s already a reality, and AI is improving. AI programs can write fictional stories, although the quality of the results isn’t yet impressive. Certainly, no AI program has breached the NY Times best seller list or won a Pulitzer Prize. But AI has managed to generate shorter successes, such as:
- SEO content
- Social media posts
- Fake news
- Click-bait headlines
Due to these short-term accomplishments, companies with the resources to do so are exploring the possibilities of AI writing. Why? Once it works and performs consistently, an AI content writer would be capable of pumping out content faster and more cheaply than any human being could. AI-generated content could turn the tide of SEO and online marketing toward these companies.
How Does an AI Content Writer Work?
Programming AI to generate content isn’t simply a matter of lining up the proper ones and zeroes to slap the right words and phrases together to create meaningful sentences. Coders build their AI programs to learn how to write, just as you learn how to speak a foreign language. The steps are similar:
- Learn the rules
- Understand the goals
- Review past successes (most likely by humans)
- Practice, practice, practice
Assuming the program learns appropriately, AI may eventually succeed. It takes a huge amount of existing content and continuous practice to produce something new that simulates those past articles. Here’s an example of an AI-generated blog post about Asheville, NC. While AI writing’s obviously not yet fully functional, there’s no reason to think that, given sufficient resources, an AI content writer may be available someday. In the meantime, we can at least enjoy the setbacks, such as this series of AI-generated pickup lines:
- “You have a lovely face. Can I put it on an air freshener? I want to keep your smell close to me always.”
- “You’re looking good today. Want snacks?”
- “Hey baby, are your schematics compatible with this protocol?”
What Can Human Writers Do?
Human content writers still have the advantage. So far. To stay ahead, however, you must press that advantage. Keep on top of the rules for search engines and SEO. Use your creativity in exciting new ways; it’s still a human strength.
Google is preparing ways to determine real articles from fake news, and human-authored content vs. AI content. Their guidelines follow the same principles that Ray Access has touted since we began writing website content: establishing expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (EAT). If you use these principles in your content writing, you’re closer to not only what Google wants to see, but what website visitors want to see. An it’s what an AI content writer will eventually strive for.
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 | May 3, 2021 | Blog Writing
How Do I Hire the Best Blog Writer?
You can likely find a blog writer in every city, town and hamlet, but how do you find the best blog writer for your business? The first tip to save time and money is not to hire a full-time employee. Then you’re on the hook for more than just the writer’s salary; plus you have to go through the hiring and onboarding process. If the writer doesn’t work out, you have to let that writer go, a chore in itself, and start the process from scratch.
So your best bet is to seek a freelance writer or blog writing service like Ray Access, where you can pay per hour or ever better: per blog post. But the question still remains: How do you hire the best blog writer? Fortunately, there are ways to discover if the writer or writers you’ve contacted have the chops to write your blog.
What Makes the Best Blog Writer?
Unless you’re an expert writer or an SEO expert, you may not be able to discern what makes a writer the best blog writer. Anyone who can string together several sentences doesn’t necessarily know how to write the best blog posts. So first, let’s review the purposes of having a blog attached to your business website:
- Blog posts can be about any subject, as long as you’re able to connect it to your business or industry in some way.
- Blog posts are often posted to social media platforms, so they’re a way to reach out to a new audience who may not have heard of your business.
- Unlike website content, blog posts can be light and fun — they should entertain and engage readers, to interest them in your company.
- Blog posts allow you to capture different keywords than are otherwise on your website.
- Blog posts provide insight into your industry, tips into purchasing decisions or how-to information that’s not available anywhere else on your site.
The best blog writer can deliver on these counts. Find a blogger who can write in various styles, handle research tasks and incorporate keywords seamlessly. That may seem like a lot to ask, but for an experienced blog writer, these objectives are par for the course. The trick is finding the right writer or writers.
What Questions Should I Ask a Blog Writer?
To uncover whether a blog writer is a good fit for your business, ask the following seven questions and pay close attention to the responses:
- How long have you been writing blog posts? This is self-evident. The longer a blog writer has been working in the field, the better the results. You pick up tricks along the way with experience.
- What industries have you written for? It’s not as important to find a writer who’s written for your industry as it is to find one who’s written for a variety of industries. The former writer can delve deep into your industry, but a versatile blog writer has proven they have the ability to research and write compellingly for multiple industries. That’s valuable experience. Plus, a writer from outside the industry may bring new ideas.
- Do you have samples to show? Every experienced writer should have samples of their work. When you review these samples, look for engaging writing from the first line. It shouldn’t be boring. Does the sample make its point without a lot of wasted words? Does it include keywords and a call to action?
- What article lengths have you written? This question confirms that the writer can create short posts as well as long-form posts. The range, from 500 to 2000 words, requires different writing and research skills, and you want to be certain the writer you hire is up to the challenge.
- How long does it take you to finish an assignment? The best blog writer can turn around an assignment within a week — even quicker if needed. It’s best to hire a blog writer who can plan out a schedule weeks or months in advance, but sometimes you may need something quickly to take advantage of recent news.
- What do you charge? Some blog writers charge per word (such as two cents per word). Others charge by the hour, but this means every post may cost you something different, since you’re dependent on the speed of the writer. Ray Access charges per assignment. If you want a blog post with at least 500 words, we charge $75, regardless of how long it takes us.
- Do you provide any related services? Some blog writers do keyword and market research. Some, like Ray Access, provide common-sense keywords (unless you have your own) and blog post ideas. We brainstorm and compile lists of blog post ideas well in advance and run it by our clients for approval well before we’re supposed to write the blog posts.
If you can use this list of questions to find the best blog writer for your business, we’ve done our job. But if you’d rather leave your blog writing in the hands of the experts who provided this advice, contact us today. We can answer all of the questions above to your satisfaction.
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 | Apr 19, 2021 | Blog Writing
Why Is Ray Access Sharing 2021 Blogging Trends?
Ray Access works to stay on top of industry news. We’re always on the lookout for allies out in the real world, and when we find a tidbit, we share it with you. It feeds our mission:
To provide businesses with the best online content
for a reasonable price,
while educating business and agency owners
about the value and purpose of well-crafted content.
If you’ve been following Ray Access for any length of time, you know that high-quality content is our trademark, but helping small businesses and internet agencies is in our company DNA. We strive to make the internet a better place, one website at a time.
So we’re excited to share a recent find regarding the 2021 blogging trends. Did you know that 600 million blogs exist? Regardless of this astronomical number, it’s still not too late to start your own business blog. No one else has your unique perspective on your industry.
What Are the 2021 Blogging Trends?
The following infographic depicts the trends, originally published on the WebsiteSetup website. Whatever your interest in blogging, you’re sure to find something fascinating in these 2021 blogging trends.
As a reminder, blogging is a way to attract a new audience. It’s a marketing tool for drawing visitors to your website. A blog isn’t a promotional medium. Instead, it’s a way to share insights into your industry or company. Readers appreciate tips and advice that relate to your business. By sharing news and other information, you promote your trustworthiness. The blogging infographic:
Can You Write Your Own Blog?
Ray Access encourages its readers to write as much as you feel comfortable writing. If you can write your own blog, do it. Just make sure someone else reads it or edits it before you publish it. One small mistake may make you look unnecessarily foolish. Remember, you’re putting your words out to the world.
If you can’t write your own blog, consider Ray Access. We’re expert researchers, writers and editors who can turn your ideas into well-crafted articles you’ll be proud to publish on your website. We collaborate with you to help your business or agency attract new customers. Join our other satisfied blog clients. Contact us for answers to all your blog questions.
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.
