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 | 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 Elle Ray | Jul 12, 2015 | Small Business Advice
Instilling a Sense of Urgency Makes Better Copy
“Biggest blow-out of the year!”
“Don’t wait, buy today while prices are at their lowest ever!”
“We’ll never slash prices like this ever again!”
“Hurry! Sale ends Monday at 5:00 PM!”
You don’t believe these ads. Or do you? You are bombarded with these “sales” messages every day — on TV, on the radio and on most Internet ads. The sense of urgency produced probably tends to get tiresome. You stop hearing the repetitious phrases and block out the so-called call to action they imply. Or do you?
Buy Now! It Works
A sense of urgency in your marketing copy can help to double, triple or even quadruple your conversion rates. Why? Because it works.
Groupon has made excellent use of the urgent call to action by limiting not only time that its deals are available, but also the number of people who can claim them. The Asheville, NC-based Rug & Home advertises on television with an obnoxious young blond who tells viewers that the big sales always end on “Monday” or after a big holiday sale when, in fact, the sales never end. Prices rarely change.
But buyers keep coming in. And the company thrives. The sales manager at the North Carolina rug outlet once said that the commercials work because: “The ads shake the trees, and then we rake up the leaves.”
Psyched Up
While it may seem unproductive and illogical, the fear of missing out drives many buying decisions. John B. Watson, the founder of behaviorism in America, worked for one of the biggest ad agencies in New York City. He believed that consumers make buying decision based on one or more basic human emotions — fear, love or rage.
A sense of urgency in your marketing copy appeals to the innate fears most people possess — the fear of missing out. And the ubiquitous nature of social media only confirms this idea. People fear missing out on something more than they fear anything else.
Consider the enormous risks people take texting while driving just to ensure they don’t miss a thing. Mediums like Facebook allow users to get notified about every move made by anyone who means anything, whether or not it is important.
Just in Case
So you may not actually believe the advertised sale is for a limited time. You may know instinctively that if you don’t act within the next 24 hours, you will lose your sole chance to buy that cool thing. Nevertheless, if you’re like most people, you think, “Maybe it’s true this time.” It’s kind of like the agnostic who won’t go all the way to embrace atheism “just in case.”
So build a sense of urgency into your copy. Make your sales last for just the weekend. Set time limits on your special offers. Tell consumers that if they don’t want to miss the biggest deal in town, they should act today. Because otherwise your message will get lost in the fog of all the other “sales” messages.
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 28, 2015 | Blog Writing
Everything You Should Know About Keywords
Writing business blogs, one of the core services Ray Access provides, is not like writing for a newspaper. It’s not writing a scholarly essay. And it’s certainly not like writing a short story. There’s an art and a science to it that few have mastered.
When done correctly, blog content attracts people looking for similar topics. It draws traffic to your website. A business blog can be a marketing tool, promoting your business and extending your reach, but only if your business blog posts are written properly. You don’t necessarily need Ray Access for this process, but we can do it quickly and inexpensively, freeing you up to run your business.
What Are Keywords?
A keyword is actually a string of words that together compose a phrase that someone may type into a search engine entry field. In other words, it’s a phrase that people are searching for. The more people that are searching for that phrase, the more valuable that keyword phrase becomes. Broad keywords (such as “writing”) have lots of competition, while more refined keyword phrases (such as “business blog writing”) may be easier to rank for.
Choosing the right keywords is an important part of gaining online visibility for your website. For example, if you own a massage business, your location should be in the keyword, as well as a descriptive word. So “Asheville therapeutic massage” is a better keyword phrase than “table massage.”
The Science of Business Blog Writing
Using keywords appropriately is the science of blog writing for your business. Keywords make it easier for people looking for your business to find you. Keywords tie your business blogs into the way search engines work.
But that’s not the only thing you need to know about the science of business blogging. You also need to post blogs regularly and consistently. You do not need to post a new blog every day, although that wouldn’t hurt. Once a week is sufficient. Your business still gets benefits from a bi-weekly or even monthly blog post; it just takes a little longer to work.
The Art of Blogging for Business
When you write a business blog post, write for your human visitors, not for the search engines. Only by providing useful content will you gain online traction. While the goal of maintaining a blog is to market your business, the way to do it is to appeal to actual people.
Answer common (and uncommon) questions about your business, industry or location. Share tips about your product or service. Provide content that is “share-worthy.” Going viral is hitting a home run in the blogging community, but don’t expect it to happen often. Target your customers and write to help them in some way. That’s the way to build your business.
Writing Tips
Develop a title that will grab attention. “Tips” is a good word to use in the title. So is “How to.” Include subheadings within the content. That helps visitors scan the article to find information. Subheads also break up the text so you don’t have imposing paragraphs that chase visitors away.
Use language that your customers can understand. When you write, speak to your audience, not at them. Write in approachable terms. You are building a relationship with your customers, so just as you might in real life, face-to-face situations, be polite, clear and friendly. Remember, that people do business with people and companies they like. Be likeable, even in print. It’s a science and an art that the experts at Ray Access can help you master.
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 | May 15, 2015 | Content Provider
We Have Good News and More Good News…
We haven’t been slacking, and we’re not on vacation. The truth is that Ray Access has been busier than ever as April 2015 marked new highs in almost every category of our business. That’s the good news. Linda and Mark love staying busy and love writing, so for us, it’s a winning situation.
Unfortunately, that means our blog has suffered. It’s like the cobbler’s kids going without shoes because the cobbler is too busy mending other people’s shoes. Like us, this particular cobbler is likely the best in town, so new customers keep coming to him and old customers keep coming back. Meanwhile, his own kids go without.
It Will Get Better
So we apologize for not blogging for ourselves over the past month. That’s bad form, and it’s exactly what we advise our clients not to do. Now we’re back for a bit of air and rededicating ourselves to keeping our site active and updated.
We’re also making other changes. You can see our new logo, which we developed with a professional designer. In the very near future, you’ll get to see a new website design as well. It’s “in the works.” We appreciate your patience as we transform our web presence into the successful company we’ve become behind the scenes.
Expanding Our Reach
One of our other initiatives has been to expand our reach beyond Asheville, North Carolina. While most of our clients come from Western North Carolina, we’ve been able to attract some great clients from as far away as:
- New Jersey
- Manhattan
- Charleston, South Carolina
- Columbia, South Carolina
In addition, we network monthly in Greenville, SC, gaining some visibility in the Upstate region. As we grow, our network of referrals grows as well. Why? Because we do excellent work for our clients, and the results show. Our clients are not just getting more visitors to their websites, but they are also converting more visitors into customers. Content marketing, one name for what we do, works over time to gain visibility and market share for your company.
The Internet Advantage
Remember the movie tagline: “In space, no one can hear you scream?” Well, online, no one can tell at a glance whether your company has 2 or 200 employees. In this way, the Internet has become the Great Equalizer for small businesses around the country. To take advantage of this, however, your website has to be top-notch and professional.
By “professional,” we don’t mean “cold and impersonal.” But your website has to look like the company behind it is huge and successful. Design plays an important role. So do photography and iconography. But maybe more important than any of that is the content of your site. It must answer questions. It must invite visitors to stay. It must gain trust and create community. That’s a lot to ask, but it is possible.
So when you want to compete with anyone in your industry, contact Ray Access. We know how to give you the Internet advantage so your business doesn’t end up like the cobbler’s kids.
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 31, 2015 | Content Provider
Most People Want to Know: What Is a Keyword?
To start at the very beginning, a keyword (or keyword phrase, since a keyword can consist of one to five words) reflects the subject of a website page or blog post. The keyword sums up the content so that search engines can identify what’s on that page. It’s a shortcut, but it helps people find your page and visit it, already knowing that you are have what they expect to find.
Keywords are an important part of SEO or search engine optimization. SEO is the art and science of making a website or blog more visible to potential visitors. Using keywords correctly, therefore, helps bring traffic — and the right traffic — to your website or blog. Let us explain, since the writers and editors at Ray Access deal with keywords every day.
1. Finding the Right Word
For any bloggers, but especially for business bloggers, finding the right keyword is the difference, as Mark Twain famously wrote, “between lightning and a lightning bug.” In other words, are you trying to attract meteorologists or entomologists? The keywords you use in your blog can attract the right audience or simply increase your bounce rate.
The bounce rate from your website or blog is the percentage of your visitors who leave quickly after landing on your site. Search engines interpret your bounce rate as people who went to your site expecting one thing and found another. In other words, they didn’t find what they were looking for and quickly left. Minimizing your bounce rate means you’re attracting your intended audience.
2. Choosing the Right Keyword Density
The playing field has shifted as search engines refine what they try to deliver to their customers. In days gone by, it was acceptable (and advantageous) to cram a keyword phrase as many times as possible into a website or blog. Those days are over. If you attempt to keyword-stuff an article with a particular phrase, the search engines will reject it and penalize your website or blog.
The optimum keyword density — that is, the percentage of the keyword to the rest of the words on the website or in the blog — is now a more comfortable one percent. That means for a 1,000-word blog post, the chosen keyword or keyword phrase should appear about 10 times.
3. Placing the Keyword Correctly
Putting the keywords you’ve selected in the right places on (and behind) your page or post maximizes the effect they have on a search engine. Keywords used correctly help your page rank high for the chosen keyword or keyword phrase. Ideally, insert your chosen keywords:
- In the title of the web page or blog post
- In the first sentence or paragraph
- In a subheading
- In several other places in the text (depending on the length of the page or post)
- In the last sentence or paragraph
The keyword should also be part of the meta-title and meta-description. These do not appear on the website page or in the blog post, but they do show up when a search engine shows your website page or blog post in its search results. It’s the title and short description that appears when your site or blog shows up on a search engine results page. You can use the meta-title and meta-description to further entice people to click on and visit your page, as long as you’re honest and ethical about what’s really on the page.
Using keywords on website pages and on blog posts is a subject that runs deep and wide. The introductory tips listed here will immediately help your website or blog rank higher. Just keep in mind that choosing the right keywords is a difficult task to master. Seek help if you need it. It can make all the difference to your website or blog ranking.
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.
