Blog Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide

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.

Mark reveals the writing process

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.

writing process at work

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.

Part 2: When to Write Your Own Content

by Mark Bloom | Jun 28, 2016 | Editing

Do Small Business Owners Have So Little to Do?

Many small business owners are good writers, which is a good thing. When you’re small, you have to do everything yourself. So you write your own content for your website, and if you have the time and energy, you can write your own blog posts. You do it because you have to.

When should you write your own content?

At Ray Access, we understand. We were in the same boat when we started — and we’re professional writers! Fortunately, we did a good job, and our company started to grow. For us, maintaining a weekly blog isn’t a big deal as long as it we keep it a priority. But we’re writers and editors here at Ray Access; website content is what we do.

Small Business Owners Think Business First

When you first start out, you have so many things to do that you barely have time to do any marketing, never mind writing blogs every week. But you do what you have to do and you force yourself to write your own content. You do it because you know it’s important. But unlike the principals behind Ray Access, writing isn’t your best skill. Building the business is your main — and only — focus.

And that’s the point. Writing your own content isn’t what gets you fired up in the morning or keeps you up well past midnight. And once your business starts to do well, you should be tending the store, not writing blog posts. You know that.

Yes, it’s your business, and you know it best. But business blogging isn’t autobiographical; it’s business writing. It just has to be good enough to be valuable to your readers. It only has to be effective at drawing visitors to your website. That’s the job of business blogs. That’s the value a professional agency like Ray Access brings to the table.

Spend Time to Write Your Own Content

If you write your own content, you may spend an afternoon on a 500-word blog post. You want it to be right; you want it to be good. You fret over each word, each sentence, and each paragraph. But maybe it’s like pulling teeth — the process just seems to go on and on.

Professional writers like those at Ray Access can write and edit a better blog post in less than half the time it takes you. Writing is what we do. It’s our passion and we’re good at it. If you hire us to write your content, not only don’t you have to spend the time to write your own content, but you can use that time saved to make more money running your business more effectively. It’s a win-win.

write your own content or hire the best

Online Writing Takes Expertise

Anyone can write a letter, but online writing is an art and a science. Even good writers often don’t get the nuances of online writing. Besides using keywords correctly, online writers have to accomplish a lot in a little space:

Connect with the readers — generate trust by speaking to them, not at them
Establish authority — state your credentials and experience to be believable
Communicate your unique value proposition — explain what makes your company different
Convert visitors into customers — contribute to the company’s bottom line

Can you do all that by writing your own content? If so, go for it. You’re the best person qualified to write your company’s online content, as long as you have the time and the energy to do it. But if you can afford even $150 a month, you can get high-quality blog posts twice a month that will drive traffic to your website.

The Often Overlooked Step

Even if you write your own content, you need to have someone else look it over before you publish. It’s no coincidence that publishing houses employ editors, even for big-name authors. Every professional writer knows that a good editor not only helps you avoid careless mistakes, but also actually makes the writing better — more concise, more on-target and more effective.

A professional editor isn’t an optional step; it’s required if you want your content to look professional. Here’s a good example of the value of editing. It takes a rambling thought and laser-focuses it:

BEFORE: “Buildings are filled with mechanical systems which eventually need maintenance, repair, or replacement. Modernizing your plumbing system can prevent future breakdowns as well as add a level of convenience and comfort to your home or business.”

AFTER: “Old buildings contain old plumbing. Upgrading the plumbing not only prevents costly breakdowns in the future, but also saves you money on maintenance, repair and replacement.”

Learn more about the editing services available from Ray Access.

Part 1: When to Write Your Own Content

by Mark Bloom | May 31, 2016 | Content Provider

And When to Hire a Professional Agency for It

hire a professional agency

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.

hire a professional agency to work with you

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.

Business Blogging: A Baseball Analogy

by Mark Bloom | May 16, 2016 | Blog Writing

Hit for Batting Average or Swing for the Fences?

Blog like you're hitting a baseball

When you’re blogging for your business, you often have several goals in mind:

You want your blog posts to attract visitors, especially new visitors, to your website.
You want every one of your carefully crafted articles to go viral, bringing your company fame and fortune.
You want your blog to have a consistency that reinforces your brand identity.

So what’s most important? Or do you need all three for successful business blogging? The experienced writers at Ray Access can answer these questions, but to make it more understandable, especially to those of you who appreciate the nuances of the sport of baseball, the explanations below come in the form of an analogy using the National Pastime. Everyone, even those who don’t like sports at all, should understand the key concepts by the end of this article.

Goal #1: Attract Visitors

Attracting visitors to your website is akin to bringing fans to the ballpark. If your team doesn’t bring in paying fans, your team may fold or be forced to move out of town. Either way, it’s bad for business.

The more fans you can entice to come to the park — through promotions, advertising or producing an exceptional product (i.e., a winning team) — the more successful your business. So attracting visitors (especially new visitors who’ve never seen your team) is actually the Number One job of business blogging. If your blog doesn’t do that, you might as well pack up and go home.

Goal #2: Go Viral

When you try for a homerun, swing hard Having a blog post go viral is like hitting a homerun. It’s a big success, the best possible outcome from business blogging. Going viral means your blog post has been seen by thousands or hundreds of thousands of potential customers. It’s been shared on social media and garnered many comments. A viral blog post is like showing your company’s commercial during a telecast of the World Series.

But to accomplish viral business blogging, you need training and luck. It’s more difficult than it is to hit a homerun. And experts have stated that hitting a round baseball with a cylindrical bat is the most difficult thing to do in any sport. Hitting a homerun, then, is even more complicated. Yet somehow, it happens.

If you really put in the effort for every one of your posts in your business blogging efforts, you may get lucky and have some of your posts go viral, but that kind of effort takes time. You have to:

Find the most attractive, most topical, most desirable and least competitive keywords (i.e., get your head in the game)
Write a blog post that captures the imagination of your target market (i.e., refine your art through batting practice)
Promote the blog post to the right audience at the right time for maximum visibility (i.e., make sure the media’s watching when you swing)
Hope that the day you publish your masterpiece isn’t a big news day and your blog post gets swallowed in a sea of indifference (i.e., pray the game doesn’t get rained out)

Despite your best efforts, luck is always a factor. All you can do is put your best on display. The rest is up to the public — or at least the sliver of the public that forms your target market.

Goal #3: Blog Consistently

When you make contact, good things happen When you’re business blogging, being consistent week after week is similar to hitting for a high batting average. A hitter with a .300+ average gets on base more often than a slugger trying to hit homeruns every time up. That makes him “a tough out,” meaning he always finds a way to get the job done and so more often comes through in the clutch.

In business blogging, that kind of consistency has value. It shows you’re dedicated, professional and committed. When you post a new blog every week, you may hit homeruns rarely, if ever. But people get talking about you. Maybe they even look forward to your next blog post to appear.

Like hitting for a high batting average, business blogging takes focused and consistent work. You need time to come up with your topics. You need skill and practice to write week after week. And it matters that you write well. Producing garbage isn’t valuable to anyone. You can’t be up at the plate hacking at pitches like a golfer. You need a clean, level swing and a good batting eye.

Which Approach Scores More Runs?

Dave Kingman struck out a lot Homeruns are dramatic. They can take your breath away, especially when they come at opportune moments. But if you swing for the fences every time you step to the plate, you may strike out more often than connecting. Dave Kingman is the perfect example of this all-or-nothing approach. Kingman hit 442 career homeruns, averaging 37 per season, which would put him in the top five most seasons. And yet Dave Kingman is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Hitting for a high average is also a beautiful sight — lacing line drives to the outfield wall, blooping base hits just over the infield’s reach and occasionally blasting a pitch into the seats. Most batting champions these days are not homerun hitters. Tony Gwynn's in the Baseball Hall of Fame Tony Gwynn is the perfect example of this consistent approach. He averaged a .338 batting average over 20 years, easily good enough to be in the top five most seasons. Tony Gwynn is in the Hall of Fame.

So in the end, when you take on the project of business blogging, you’ll score more runs by being a consistent hitter than by swinging for the fences. If you try for a homerun all the time, you may not publish often enough to make a difference. And your odds for an article going viral actually increase the more often you blog. So follow the example set by the writers at Ray Access: blog weekly, promote your work, and connect with your audience.

Why Blogs Matter

by Mark Bloom | Apr 15, 2016 | Blog Writing

Your Blog Posts Keep Your Website Relevant

Here at Ray Access, we specialize in writing website content and blog posts for businesses. We’re professional writers and experts at creating online content that works. Together, the principal writers at Ray Access have decades of writing experience and over ten years of online writing experience. But this article isn’t about why you should hire us; it’s about why you should listen to us.

She's listening to Ray Access; you should too.

She’s listening to us; you should too.

A website is only as good as the visibility it provides you (how easy it is to find) and as valuable as the leads it generates (how much it contributes to your bottom line). Consider your company’s website and ask yourself:

Is it visible? Does it show up on searches?
Does it draw traffic? Does it attract new visitors?
Are the right people finding it? Do potential customers come to your website?
Does it generate leads? Are you getting phone calls and emails from people who found you online?

If you answered “Yes” to these questions, keep doing what you’re doing; it’s working. Otherwise, start making plans to revise your website content or your website content will make you irrelevant.

Every Business Needs a Website

You may laugh at that. Of course every business needs a website! But the Internet is still a relatively recent development. While every business is now online, not every business sees the value in being online. They’re there because that’s what everyone tells them. “Ok, already. We have a website.” But that’s the wrong way to approach your online presence.

Connect to new customers through your website Going online isn’t a necessary evil; it’s an opportunity to grow your company potentially beyond your neighborhood or city. It’s a new way to find new customers. Your business needs to have an online presence not because everyone else is going online, but because it makes good business sense. A good website not only pays for itself, but it generates income.

The Role of Your Blog

So how does your blog fit into your website content? A continually updated blog does many good things. For example, a blog:

Adds valuable content to your website
Helps your business connect with your customers and potential customers
Establishes your expertise in your field
Answers questions people have about your industry
Allows you to explore topics the rest of your website content doesn’t address
Attracts more people to your website
Connects new keywords to your website, making it relevant to a wider audience
Injects some personality into your website, whether that’s fun, poignant or sophisticated

No Hard Sell

One purpose specifically not listed above is “Sells your product or service.” A blog is not a sales tool; it’s a marketing tool. Its purpose is similar to social media’s:

To build brand awareness and community
To educate and inform
To entertain and engage

If you can accomplish all three of these points, your business will be top-of-mind when someone’s ready to buy. And that’s important for two reasons:

Not every visitor to your website is ready to buy at that moment.
People do business with companies they like and trust.

Use your website content to generate revenue long-term. Use your website to convert visitors. But use your blog to build a community. When your audience (or fans or followers) views your website as the Go-To place for information about your industry, they’ll be more likely to buy from you than from your competitors. Find out more about Ray Access’ blog writing services.

How Much Does Website Content Cost?

by Mark Bloom | Mar 19, 2016 | Website Content

What You Need to Know When Hiring Writers

You can find someone to write your website content for as little as five dollars a page. Even twenty dollars a page may seem reasonable to you if you’re a small business. But the content you end up with most likely will be worth only that much, and the costs to your business may run a lot higher.

What does website content cost?

Poor writing on your website reflects poorly on your business. Plus, and this is inarguably more important, badly written content doesn’t generate any leads. It has no ROI, a zero return on your investment.

No one is going to buy your products or services if your website doesn’t persuade them that you’re capable of delivering. We’re not just saying this because we’re in the business of writing website content. We want you to understand the difference between what most companies have on their websites and what successful companies have on their sites.

What Effective Website Content Does

Your website has three jobs, and the first two only exist to support the third:

Connect with your audience
Build trust in your brand
Generate leads and phone calls

If you’re not getting phone calls or emails from interested parties who found you online, your website isn’t working for you. If you pay for new website content, you should see an increase in traffic to your site and an increase in sales over time. Ultimately, that’s what your website is supposed to do.

So How Much Does Website Content Cost?

We could turn that question around and ask you: “How much is effective website content worth to you?” If you could increase your sales by five percent, what would that be worth? Ten percent? More? Of course, that’s not how prices are formulated. Content providers set a price, based on their experience in delivering a return on investment. They know what their service is worth.

Content providers know the value of their work

If you do any research into the issue, you’ll find that prices for website content vary greatly, running as high as $25,000 for a targeted landing page. If that sounds astronomical to you, then you don’t understand how well a tight, effective, urgent landing page can convert visitors into paying customers. Landing pages represent your online sales team. How much would you pay for a good salesperson?

In 2017, Ray Access charges a rate based on length and breadth. In other words, if you want a single 1,000-word web page, you pay $250. But if you want 50 pages — your entire site — you pay just $150 a page for 1,000-word web pages that are thoroughly researched and well crafted by American writers. That sounds like a bargain now, doesn’t it? Here’s an excellent article on website content prices, if you want a second opinion.

How Much Do Blog Posts Cost?

This is kind of a loaded question because for blog posts to work — for blog posts to attract not only a lot of people, but the right people, those motivated to buy your products or services — they need to include the right keywords. And keyword research itself can be costly, as anyone with any experience with an SEO firm can tell you. According to the article referenced above, blog posts can cost anywhere from $80 to $950 apiece.

Ray Access, in contrast, charges $100 for a standard 500-word blog post in 2017. These articles are well researched, well written and well edited. They’re also guaranteed original, meaning they are written from scratch, not copied from Wikipedia. In fact, Ray Access uses authoritative sites for its research, never eHow, About.com or any of those hit-or-miss information websites. You should follow this advice, too.

Why the Difference in Prices?

Among the reasons for varying website content prices, the key phrase is value. Can a piece of online writing prove its worth? Since websites attract visitors through a wide variety of ways (e.g., SEO, backlinks, organic searches, ads, etc.), it’s difficult to attribute a website’s success just to its content.

But conversion rates are strongly tied to content. Effective content persuades visitors to buy. Cheap content can’t convert anyone except the most highly motivated. Poor content may even drive visitors away. But exceptional content converts many visitors — and even gets others to at least inquire.

So website content has to have a return on investment that makes the investment worthwhile. This is business, after all.

When you understand the value professional, cost-effective blog and website content writers bring to your business, you’ll want to contact Ray Access to improve your online sales.

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