by Mark Bloom | Dec 6, 2016 | Blog Writing
A Pro Frees You Up to Do What You Do Best
Hiring independent, third-party blog writers may sound like more effort than it’s worth, at least at first glance. You have to find qualified writers. You have to test them out. You have manage them. Who wants all that responsibility?
Then you remember struggling with your blog. Finding topics to write about that other people might be interested in. Spending the hours it takes to actually write the darn thing, even when you know what you want to say. And your articles never come out as well as you want them to.
All that time and effort serves to remind you why you’d at least consider hiring out the writing. So let’s list both the reasons for and benefits of hiring professional blog writers for your company website:
Reason #1: Blog Writers Are Professionals
If you hire a third-party to write your blog posts, you’re hiring a professional writer, someone who makes his (or her) livelihood by writing. This has several significant advantages:
- Professional writers hit deadlines, so your blog will never be late again.
- Professional blog writers know how to write well — they do it for a living, after all — so your blog posts will always be easy to read.
- Professional writers know how to connect with your audience.
Reason #2: Blog Writers Can Do It All for You
When you hire third-party professionals to write your blog posts, they can do it all. They present you with topics for approval. Because they’re not as close to your company as you are, they can come up with interesting topics about your business that you might not have considered.
Professional writers know how to do the time-intensive research to write about your industry. They don’t use Wikipedia or similar websites, but go to authoritative website sources for the information they need. And good professionals also have their work edited before they deliver it. Some third-party professional writers (like those at Ray Access) can manage the whole process for you, including publishing the blog posts on your website!
Reason #3: Blog Writers Free Up Your Time
If you don’t have to write blog posts for your website, you can spend your time more constructively:
- Satisfying your customers
- Managing your staff
- Improving your systems
- Making more money
You’re happier and more productive when you do the things you love to do. So if blog writing isn’t one of those things, leave it to an expert while you get to do the things you’re best at doing. In the end, you’ll save time and headaches by hiring out tasks like blog writing — just as you may do for your bookkeeping and marketing.
Reason #4: Professional Blog Writers Do It Better
If you’re not a writer, the process of writing blog posts takes you longer and the end result may not be as powerful as you’d hoped. Professional writers take pride in their work. They make it as good as it can be. They struggle over their words to make them sing.
The resulting blog posts are powerfully effective pieces of content. These articles successfully market your business. They help your customer base by answering questions and building trust. Blogging works to attract visitors to your website. Attract more visitors with a professionally written blog. Because that’s what professional blog writers do.
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 31, 2016 | Content Provider
And When to Hire a Professional Agency for It
Let’s face it, large companies have their own in-house writing teams, most likely as part of their marketing departments. So these corporate businesses almost always create their own content in-house. That leaves:
- Small businesses (including start-ups and solopreneurs) and
- Mid-sized businesses who may or may not have a writer on staff
So the decision to hire a professional agency often comes down to need and timing. But there’s more to writing online content than that. The goal of this article is to educate business owners on the demands of online content — what that content has to do — so you can better determine when you can write it yourself or whether you need to call in a pro.
Writing Blog Posts for Your Business
Why do businesses blog? No matter what your business, potential customers are going to have questions about it. Blogs work over time to build brand awareness, educate your customers and drive traffic to your website. The most successful business blogs are published consistently — week after week, every other week or at the very least once a month. The best blog posts are engaging, informative and entertaining.
If you have writers in-house who can deliver consistently good quality blog posts, then use those writers and give them free rein to experiment with topics and keywords. If you don’t have a writer you can trust (or any writers), that’s the time to hire a professional agency. Creating blog posts, which are usually 500–1,000 words in length, takes talent, but these writing projects don’t cost that much. So, as soon as you can comfortably afford even $150 a month (for biweekly posts), hire a professional agency like Ray Access.
Writing Business Website Content
Now that every business (and nearly every individual!) has a website, yours has to find a way to stand out. Unless you have absolutely no competition — for example, you’re the only plumber in town or you’ve invented the best mousetrap — you need exceptional content on your website. Unlike a blog, your website has to:
- Connect with your target audience
- Identify who your target audience is
- Generate trust in your business
- Establish your authority in your field
- Convert visitors into customers
This is a tall order for any writer. You can write your website content yourself or hand the task to an in-house writer whose background is English papers, technical documents or marketing fluff, but the results may not accomplish the bullet points above. And accomplishing all five is what you need. Anything less means lost revenue.
Hire a Professional Agency
Website content is arguably the most important piece of your website. It drives home your message. It explains your business. It sells your products or services. Unless you’re a bare-bones start-up, budget for website content like you budget for website development. If you spend $5000 for a website, do not think that $500 worth of content will make your website an effective lead generation tool.
Ray Access has expert writers and editors who can deliver website content that produces leads and converts visitors. Ray Access has many success stories from customers. In fact, one of our clients recently wrote: “Every time I get a call from a client who says, ‘I found you on the Web,’ I like you guys more and more.” That’s the reason you should hire a professional agency to write your website content.
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 | Feb 19, 2016 | Blog Writing
A Step-by-Step Guide by Professional Bloggers
For many people, including businesspeople, writing a blog post seems difficult. Where do you start? What do you write about? What’s the point? You have lots of questions, and we — the professional writers at Ray Access — have some answers for you.
The very first step is to answer two questions:
- Who is your intended audience?
- What do you hope to accomplish?
If you’re in business, your audience is likely the same as your business customers (and potential customers). If you’re writing a business blog, you could be writing to educate (a how-to), to share tips (a list) or to share news about your company or industry. All are valid. Once you’ve answered those two important questions, follow these four steps to write your blog post.
1. Pick a Topic
No matter what your business does or sells, people have questions about you and your industry. Pick a question and answer it in your blog post. The more pertinent and timely your answer, the more traction your blog post may get. Lists and how-to articles are especially helpful and popular. Some sample questions, just to get you started, include:
- How do you find the best [dentist in Asheville]?
- What’s the best way to [stop a leaky faucet]?
- 5 steps to [writing a blog post]
- The 5 best [questions to ask your Realtor]
- [Insurance] tips no one told you
Your topic question or statement may become the title of your blog post. If it’s engaging and promises an answer, use it. Otherwise, wait until you’ve written the blog post to come up with the title. Then you’ll know what to promise.
2. Do Your Research
Believe it or not, you don’t have to be an expert in a field to write knowledgeably about it. We’ve written about subjects as diverse as industrial roofing and cloud computing. What you do need to do before you can write about your chosen topic, regardless what it is, is to research it adequately.
So once you know your topic, do an Internet search to find what others have to say about it. Whenever possible, use reputable sources to get your information. In other words, never use Wikipedia.org. If you’re writing about your industry, you should know which sources are reliable and which aren’t. To be absolutely safe, don’t use anything until you find it on two different authoritative websites.
3. Write the Blog Post
After you’ve collected bits and pieces of solid data, you can write your blog post. Keep the original question in mind as you write. A clear answer should be your goal, while explaining it as best you can. Often, a simple question takes a long time to answer because one question leads to another. And that’s how you string one sentence to another, one paragraph to another and one section to another.
Remember who your audience is and what they may already know. Your goal is to answer their questions and connect with them. Use language that reflects how they use language. For example, at Ray Access, we often write in a comfortably conversational tone. It’’s the way we talk, and most likely how you talk. But we’ve written for clients who didn’t want any contractions in the content. The point is to write for your audience.
4. Have It Edited
Congratulations, you’ve written a blog post! But your task doesn’t end there. Before you share it with the world — or at least with your customers and potential customers — have the article edited. Have someone else look at it with a critical eye. This step shouldn’t be just a proofread. While catching typos and misspellings are important, a good editor can improve the flow of your blog post so that it reads smoothly, point by point, from beginning to end.
And by the way, did you know that Ray Access offers editing services? That’s right. We can take your original blog post (or whatever you’ve written) and make it better. And our editing services are just half the price of our writing services. Good editing can make the difference between a sale and a fail.
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 | Oct 6, 2014 | Office
Does Music Help or Hinder Your Productivity?
Not everyone can listen to background music while working. Sometimes, it’s because you share an office with others. Sometimes, it’s because you work outside or you’re always on the go. Other times, it’s because you have to answer the phone constantly or deal with customers directly.
But if you work in an office or a coffee shop or even at home, you can control your work environment. Whether music increases or decreases your productivity often is a personal choice, though with just the right tempo or soothing audio background, you actually may get more work done with the music on.
Tastes Vary
We all have different tastes in music. We all have different work ethics. We all have different preferences in how we work. So you might not think a single blog post can address this complex issue adequately. And you’re correct, but this article can touch on universal truths about music and productivity.
It doesn’t matter whether you work on a computer, at an easel or in a garage. Most people work at a type of job that requires some creativity or problem-solving skills. Creating the best environment for encouraging creativity and mental focus is the best way to increase your productivity.
The Type of Music
It doesn’t matter what kind of music you like to listen to. According to the Mayo Clinic, the body responds to harmonious sounds like music. Pleasant music creates a very physical reaction; your body releases dopamine as you relax to the music. And when you relax, you become better able to solve problems or come up with new ideas.
While working, your mind might tend to wander or you might be distracted by what’s going on around you. You definitely react to loud noises or the constant drip of water from a faucet — things like that. Music, either piped in from overhead speakers or through your earphones, can help you ignore those distractions and focus more effectively.
Mood Enhancing
Music also helps improve your mood while you work. If you have a job that requires a repetitive task, music gives your mind something else to think about. If you have a job that requires careful concentration, then music soothes your mind while you work. If you’re in a good mood, you are better able to do your job.
This is the reason grocery stores and shopping malls pipe in soothing music during business hours. That’s right: music puts people in the mood to buy. It’s not manipulation; it’s just good business. And if it’s good enough for Harris Teeter and the Gap, it’s good enough for other businesses. Like ours. Like yours.
Distracted by Lyrics
Another question about listening to music while working is whether or not lyrics get in the way of you doing your job. If you’re listening to the lyrics, you can be distracted from your task at hand. Listening to music without lyrics stimulates a different part of your brain than listening to music with lyrics. Lyrics stimulate the part of the brain that processes language.
So the best music to listen to when you’re working is music without lyrics (or perhaps music with lyrics in a foreign language that you don’t speak). Jazz, classical, and world music are all good choices. Music from jam bands could be effective if that’s the music that does it for you. Country music, because it’s usually lyrics-heavy, can be an annoying distraction, although that’s partly our prejudice.
The music you listen to while working is up to you, but remember that it does affect you. Music and productivity can get along, as long as you’re conscious about your choices.
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 | Jun 10, 2014 | Writing
How to Write Effectively in the 21st Century
Today’s Shakespeares look harder at page rankings and reader conversion numbers than at what’s actually on the page. But those days are fast coming to a close. Search engines have been tweaked to recognize the keyword-stuffed, quick-hit advert-articles that have plagued the Web for years. Now they are seeking — nay, demanding — that you put consistent, meaningful quality content on your website or just go home.
The Long or Short of It
The average visitor to a website leaves within 10 to 20 seconds — but that assumes there is obviously nothing of value on the page. Research now shows that if you can capture the attention of readers within those first important seconds, you can keep them there for much longer. And the longer the visit, the more likely you’ll make a sale.
The days of needing to keep blogs, Web pages and articles short to hold readers’ attention are gone. Born again is the prospect of enticing readers to continue reading, to find value in your writing and to stay — and even scroll — to finish your piece. According to researchers at Microsoft, the length of your copy is not as important as the first few lines of copy you offer. So whether you write 250 words or 2,500 words, if you don’t capture readers’ attention in the first couple lines, they’re out of there. Click.
Search Engines Like Quality
Now, attracting readers in the first place is another story. The top 10 listings on Google for a sample keyword search each had more than 2,000 words on their landing pages. The sites aren’t ranked high just because they have a lot of copy; they receive the top spots because they have a lot of rich copy — words that convey a useful message, a message that readers want to read and can’t stop reading. Websites that provide more of what readers want are getting the most respect from search engines.
The adage that’s been working its way through the Web-marketing world the last few years is: “Copy is king.” It seems now that copy is king, queen, jack and the entire court.
Readers Like Quality
Readers prefer rich copy, too. They are more willing to re-post blogs with longer, useful content than shorter, unappealing copy. Quick Sprout analyzed 327 blog posts and found that posts with more than 1,500 words received 22.6 percent more likes on Facebook and 68.1 percent more tweets than shorter articles.
One phenomena linked to these findings is that people are searching for more complex terms than ever before, using up to eight words in a search — which by the way is called a “long tail.” With more copy, you increase the odds that you’ll fit those searches. When they find you, the odds also increase that readers will convert to customers too.
So when asked whether it’s better to write more or less, the answer today is: “More is better!” Richer is better and more is better. But when you’ve got to have it all done right, more rich content is something that we at Ray Access can do too.
Ray Access Today
We’ve bought into the traditional rap that blogs need to be fewer than 500 words to be effective. But we’re retuning our concepts to align with the Google monster that rules so much of what occurs on the Web. Expect to see longer blogs from us occasionally. It’s still time-consuming, and we’ll have to charge more for longer blogs, but with the right combination of length and quality, we expect to get better results, just as you will.
We can’t just throw up some nonsense blog or give you just a quick peek at a really hot new trend. We’ve got to give you reasons and research, reality and really rich rewards if we expect you to stay. And if we expect you to convert and call us, we better give you something worth your while. Let us know. Did we?
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 | Mar 17, 2014 | Small Business Advice
How to Decide If Your Business Needs a Blog
We could say everyone needs a blog, but it’s not exactly true. Not everyone needs a blog. Blogs are only valuable if they fulfill a specific purpose.
If you don’t plan to use your website for anything more than a contact page, then you shouldn’t spend any time or effort on a fancy site, expensive videos or informative blogs. Give customers your address, phone number and hours of operation and be done with it.
When a Blog Matters…
But if you plan to do any marketing at all, if you want to tap into the power of social media, if you expect customers to visit your site regularly for updates and new offerings or if you want to encourage your existing clients to send their friends to your site, then you need to have a blog. And it has to be good, sharing quality content that actually helps them.
Blogs also give you a chance to put fresh content on your site, which helps give it a higher page rank on organic search results. (Sorry to get technical: “organic” means your website appears after a search on your industry or specialty.) Blogs provide the perfect segue to social media platforms. They give you a positive presence among the barrage of ads and promotions people don’t want on their Facebook pages or in their email boxes.
Websites, in case you’ve been unaware how things have changed, have replaced the Yellow Pages for all intents and purposes. When coming to your page, visitors often look for a blog; it’s often where they expect to find the information they need about your business. So you need a blog, and the content in it has to be “share-worthy.”
What’s in a Blog…
Your customers want you to keep them updated. They want to hear from you, the expert, about the latest trends, the most recent news and the best tips and tricks. And it’s your job to give them exactly that. Educate your customer base, and they’ll remember you when they’re ready to buy.
Use your blog to tell stories about your industry. Inform your customers about new ways to use your products or services. Tie your business into current events.
Sure, you can use a blog as a personal journal. Just keep it off your business site if you plan to use the platform to rant or rave about politics, religion and celebrities (unless that’s your business). Personal blogs should be clearly labeled as such and have no connection to your business.
So, Who Needs a Blog?
Do you plan to use electronic marketing as part of your strategic plan for the coming year? If so, then you need a blog. It’s that simple.
Who writes blogs? You can do it yourself if you have the time and inclination. If you only one or the other, contact us at Ray Access. We provide quality blog content that will keep your customers coming back for more. It’s what we do for a living.
If you like writing your blog, but you’ve hit a wall about what to write about, we can supply you with a list of blog topics that will keep your blog fresh. Finally, one more note: if you have a blog, keep it updated. Nothing turns off a visitor to your site than a blog without fresh content.
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.
