Category: Writers & Content Creators

How to Write Marketing Content Better and Faster

Posted on by Anastasiia Lavrinenko

Being a good writer can be exhausting, even if you are a top industry expert. When writing for your own blog, you can take a break or put a topic you wanted to write about on pause to do more research, or simply to think about it longer.

As a professional marketing content writer, you cannot afford that, because your assignments have deadlines that customers expect to be met, and missing one can lead to big issues with the company’s content plan and even overall marketing strategy implementation.

Good news – since content marketing is not exactly literature, you should pay more attention to skills and expertise than inspiration and creativity.

Knowing what makes a good piece will help you write one, so let’s try to figure it out!

readability improving

What makes a good article?

There is no ultimate definition of a good article. It will vary for different companies, but knowing the audience and the business goals your clients want to achieve will help a lot.

Even though the best performing blogs can be very different, here are some common features:

1.    One topic and solution

It is a lot easier to keep your reader’s focus when you don’t lose it yourself. Stick to one core topic and even if it’s a complex one, keep the core theme and don’t dig too far into sub-topic details.

2.    The flow

One sentence should lead to another, and paragraphs should flow in a sequence that makes sense. For example, if you are describing a pancake recipe, first describe the ingredients and only then talk about the mixing and swiping techniques.

3.    SEO optimization

All the good stuff must be highly visible, so don’t miss any opportunity for your article to be easily found. Optimize your marketing content for search engines by including metadata and keywords.

4.    Clear structure

The content of your blog must be informative but also easily understandable. Shorten your sentences and avoid confusing grammar constructions where possible.
Jane Rosenzweig recommends:

“Make sure people are doing things in your sentences, unless you don’t want them to be doing things.

Consider the difference between these two sentences:

  1. All managers should approve and submit expense reports by Friday at noon.
  2. Expense reports should be approved and submitted by Friday at noon.

You can also help readers follow your thoughts simply by organizing and formatting your text in a logical order.

How Do You Become an Expert Writer

What is the blog post structure?

1.    Headline

This is the part of your article that determines whether readers will even give it a chance. It must grab their attention and provoke them to click on it, but make sure you’re clickbaiting in a responsible way – you must deliver on the promise you made in your title.

2.    Opening (introduction) and lede

Here is where you describe the problem and lead to the topic. This part only builds interest, it doesn’t provide the solution, so it’s important to keep it sharp, catchy and short. Sometimes it’s difficult to hit it before actually writing the main information, so you can try leaving this part for later. 

3.    Body

This is the main part of your article, where you provide information. Don’t drop everything in one paragraph, though – structure the text using sub-headers and lists.

4.    Conclusion

The main reason you started writing is not just to share valuable information. It’s because the company expects to achieve certain business goals with what you write. Whether it’s a specific action, opening the next article or just a minute of thinking about the topic, we want the reader to stay for a bit longer. Make sure you.

In summary

Driving better results from content marketing is a lot easier if you not only know what but also how to write. Learning the basics of copywriting and marketing, with a backup of topic expertise, will allow you to create content better and faster.

The Danger of Having Content Formatting and Special Character Errors

Posted on by Michael Marchese

Your content must be free of spelling, grammar and other content formatting errors.

Any of these errors can prevent visitors from reading and finding value in your content. Equally important, it negatively affects the value of that content in the eyes of search engines.

What are content formatting and special character errors?

Content formatting and special character errors generally appear when you convert content from a word processor or other desktop-based application to a web-based application. Basically, this transition is a “what you see is what you get” situation. Essentially, web-based word processors operate under an HTML5 proprietary desktop. Word processing programs like Microsoft Word use their own markup language, which is often not compatible with HTML5 or standard word processors that are embedded, like in WordPress.

When content from Word or other sources is copied over into WordPress or a similar word processor, special characters and weird formatting may appear. These are visible when you view the source code within the web-based word processor.

Sometimes you’ll see code like space markup or language markup, as well as obscure characters associated with apostrophes and other punctuation.

busy employee

What are the consequences of content formatting and special character errors? How can you avoid them?

The impact is twofold:

  • Formatting and special character errors affect the readability of your content. Such errors hinder visitors’ ability to comprehend what you’re writing. More importantly, these errors will frustrate your visitors, and they will leave your site.
  • Errors will affect the perception of your brand and your company. From a visitor’s perspective, formatting and special character errors imply your content is also defective and your company is unprofessional. Consequently, visitors will leave, and your site will suffer from higher bounce rates, less time spent on the site and fewer pages consumed.
  • There is another dark side to poor content formatting. It goes beyond readability and into the world of search engines. If your content has a lot of these errors, Google will penalize that page for low quality and place it lower in the rankings. It may even refuse to index that page altogether.

These are serious consequences, especially considering the hard work required to create a content marketing program that generates results. Mistakes like this end up costing you time and effort to fix.

Make sure to view the source code of the content you are transferring to a WordPress-based or similar editor. By viewing the source code, you can see when these potential issues start to crop up, and you can remove the associated HTML from the source code before you publish.

In summary

If you check for and fix content formatting and special character errors within your content, your content will have better readability for both your visitors and the search engines. And that’s really what content marketing is all about

Need help?

If you have a content marketing program or are planning one, download our e-book 100 Mistakes Businesses Make When Starting, Optimizing and Scaling Content Marketing Programs.

This e-book will walk you through the mistakes of hundreds of other companies and the challenges they faced in implementing their content marketing programs. To learn more about how Tempesta Media can help you streamline your content creation process and deliver quality content at scale, contact us today.

How Your Content’s Formatting Affects Audience Engagement

Posted on by Anastasiia Lavrinenko

For strong audience engagement, your readers need clear formatting just as much as they need good content. To drive success, find the balance.

Your audience engagement is down, and nobody is reading your blog posts.
Well, some people are, but not most. Nearly three in four readers admit they skim blog posts rather than read thoroughly. With that in mind, what can you do to speak to them most effectively?
Apart from ensuring your content is worth reading, you might be surprised to learn that formatting can play a big role in audience engagement. These smart formatting tips should become a vital part of your content marketing strategy.

1. Tear down that wall

If you’ve ever arrived on a web page to find a “wall of text,” you know how off-putting it can be. Short paragraphs with a little whitespace in between can make reading an article seem much less daunting. As a rule of thumb, a good target length is 2-4 sentences, and it’s easier to hit if you stick to just one main idea per paragraph.

2. Guide the reader with headings

The Nielsen Norman Group has noted that “in the absence of any signals to guide the eye, [readers] will choose the path of minimum effort.” You can direct readers through your content with headings and subheadings that are informative, tell a story or echo questions they’re likely to ask. Essentially, headings help divide the text into manageable chunks.
The most popular blog post format for business blogs is the listicle, which uses a numbered heading for each key point. The article you’re reading now is just one example.

deliberate formatting decisions3. Make key ideas easy to find

Remember, most readers skim rather than read every word, so they find concise, scannable text more usable and therefore more appealing. Consider using headings, bullet points and numbered lists to make content formatting more easily digestible and further break up blocks of text.

4. Increase audience engagement with images

With images, your content will look more complete. Beyond interrupting the monotony of text, images can round out your message by adding humor or illustrating a point.
Adding at least one image makes your content more likely to be shared on social media, further advancing your audience engagement efforts. In fact, posts on Twitter that contain images get 150% more retweets than those without pictures.

5. Aim for legible and readable text

Imagine your readers squinting while turning their heads to scan from one side of the screen to the other. You can avoid this scenario by:

  • Choosing a good typeface. It should be easy to read on a screen and large enough without looking childish. Leave a little space between lines and limit column width for faster reading.
  • Resisting excessive emphasis. All caps, frequent italics and colored fonts make your content look cluttered and can overwhelm the reader. They can even make you seem less credible. Conversely, bold text used sparingly can help emphasize headings and key ideas.

6. Link sources strategically

Like bold text, hyperlinks can draw attention to keywords. They do this most adeptly when they’re easily recognizable and linked to a short, specific, relevant phrase rather than an entire sentence. (“Click here” doesn’t meet these standards.)

Formatting is part of a competitive content marketing strategy

Inspiring audience engagement can be a challenge when so many readers only glance through your content. But by making deliberate formatting decisions to support a thoughtful content marketing strategy, you can overcome this obstacle and win the trust and interest of your readers.

Need help?

If you have a content marketing program or are planning one, download our eBook 100 Mistakes Businesses Make When Starting, Optimizing and Scaling Content Marketing Programs.

This eBook will walk you through the mistakes of hundreds of other companies and the challenges they faced in implementing their content marketing programs. To learn more about how Tempesta Media can help you streamline your content creation process and deliver quality content at scale, contact us today.

The Value of a Strong CTA in Your Content

Posted on by Michael Marchese

Many companies struggle with balancing selling to their audience and educating them. Creating a strong CTA in your content is one area where this difficulty often arises.

In this article, we’ll dive into how you should add calls to action to your content and when it’s appropriate. A strong CTA in your content can make all the difference when trying to convert prospects.

What does call to action mean?

A call to action is traditionally a prompt for the person reading your content to do something. Oftentimes, companies think that it means a direct prompt to purchase, but that’s not the case. In most instances, the CTA is different depending on the stage of the buying funnel the content is for.

At the top of the funnel: The CTA should not ask for the sale at this point. Instead, it should get prospects to read other content on your site or sign up for a newsletter. The barriers here for the prospect to take action are very, very low. You want them to show that they are willing to take those initial steps of interest with your company.

At the mid-funnel: You’ll want prospects to download an e-guide or other relevant information that will further educate and qualify them. Examples of mid-funnel CTAs include “Download our guide” or “Check out our new product.” With this, you’re getting them to go check something out.

At the bottom of the funnel: A call to action is traditionally the sales focus here. You’re trying to get prospects to call you, purchase from you, schedule a demo or fill out a lead form. Only at this stage is it appropriate for a sales-oriented call to action.

the consequences of not having a call to action

What are the consequences of not having a CTA in your content or using one inappropriately?

Not having a CTA with your content means that you are essentially stranding your visitor at that stage. If there isn’t a reason for them to continue to engage with your site, they’ll leave. And that is a lost opportunity.

Having a CTA is imperative for every piece of content, including content in areas of your website that are not traditionally sales-oriented. For example, the “about us” section is an area where many prospects go when they’re interested and want to learn more about you. It’s a perfect opportunity to add a call to action to further develop the relationship.

Adding the wrong type of CTA at the wrong stage can also have dramatic negative impacts. As an example, let’s say a visitor comes to one of your blog posts for top-of-the-funnel information, but they get to the end of that post and are now pushed very hard to buy something from your company. They’re not ready yet, and as a result, they’ll abandon the process and may potentially have a slightly negative view of your company because you’re trying so hard to generate that sale.

If you step back and put the appropriate CTA in your content, you’ll experience the inverse effect. Your prospects will have a positive brand image of your company. And, more importantly, they’re more likely to visit other pieces of content or take the other actions that you’re asking them to.

In summary

Having no call to action is just as bad as having a bad CTA in your content. Make sure that every piece of content on your site drives visitors to do something else. And make sure you match the right CTA with the right buying stage of that content.

If you do this, you’ll have tremendous success. Your content marketing program ROI will improve, and most importantly, you’ll drive bottom-line results.

Content Creation Plan: 5 Tips on How to Create an Editorial Calendar

Posted on by Anastasiia Lavrinenko

An editorial calendar is a main part of a strong content creation plan. Understanding each element will help you build a robust outline that delivers value.

To put it simply, editorial calendars are bundles of outlines that map out the content plan for customers. They come in groups of 10 and 20 topics, or outlines, each of which detail ideas for future articles. While calendars are crucial to an organized and effectual content creation plan, they do no good unless you include certain elements that enable the customer to picture the content roadmap and allow the writer to create the full article easily.

Take a look at five tips to help you produce an editorial calendar that does just that.

Understand the customer and their audience

This is perhaps the most important tip to remember: If you don’t write in the customer’s voice and for the customer’s audience, it voids the entire outline, no matter how good the content is. To help you meet this requirement, Tempesta Media provides you with the customer’s Voice Profile™ as well as any additional instructions from the customer themselves.

What to look for

With these resources, you will find information on:

  • Suggested topics: The customer may give you topic ideas or keyword suggestions to build the editorial calendar from. This is a good starting point to help you create outlines that both fall within the customer’s industry and appeal to the right audience.
  • Suggested word count: Sometimes customers will identify their own word counts. In other cases, you can make a word count recommendation by looking under the Content section in the Voice Profile. There, you can find the customer’s average word count range.
    • Note: The word count of the actual outline you create is 100 words per topic. The suggested word count box you fill out is for the full article you are creating the outline for.
  • Details on the customer, their company and their industry: The Voice Profile contains information on the customer’s products and services, their solution/value-add to customer, and other details about their content creation plan. Additionally, at the top of the Voice Profile, you will find the customer’s website link. Refer to this information to ensure you include topics relevant to their offerings.
  • Details on the customer’s audience: Further down in the Voice Profile, you will find an Audience section. Make sure you review this to get a feel for who the audience is, what their problems are and what information would be valuable to them. Otherwise, you could write an outline irrelevant to the readers – you don’t need to tell a medical professional audience that washing your hands is important.

Information doesn’t stop here though! If you need more details on the customer, look on their website or search online for press releases and social media posts. The more information you can gather on the customer and their audience, the stronger the editorial calendar you will write.

valuable information

Research relevant industry topics and trends

A huge part of writing for the correct audience is offering information that is relevant and valuable to them.
For example, if your information is too general or if your topic is for a beginner in the industry, an expert audience won’t learn anything from it. After identifying who you are targeting, you can move on to finding topics for the content creation plan.

Use the Voice Profile

Referring to the Voice Profile, identify the industry and industry segment the customer is in, as well as the solutions they provide.

For example, say your customer is a financial institution. What kind of finances do they handle – personal or business? If personal, what do they specialize in – mortgages/home loans, wealth planning, retirement planning, investment services?

Note: Here, remember to keep in mind the audience’s expertise. If the audience is new to retirement planning, you’ll have to explain concepts and industry jargon to introduce them to the topic.

Turn to the internet

After this preliminary research, you can move on to finding the actual topics of your editorial calendar. Here are a few tips to help:

  • Search the keywords. In the finances example, you may want to start simply by typing in common keywords of that industry and segment: Personal retirement planning, business equipment financing, etc.
  • Identify trends. Try to look at the bigger picture. Over the past decade or so, what has been the driving force for change in the industry? What are companies always trying to accomplish? What has the audience been asking for for years? In terms of finance, it may be more streamlined online banking or enhanced security.
  • Consider direct environmental influences. Currently, COVID-19 is influencing every industry in some way. This is no doubt causing changes in your customer’s business and their offerings, operations and plans. Create a topic that shows how things have changed and how the customer is adapting to resolve the issues to continue to grow.
  • Determine industry events. Similar to the above, consider changes within the customer’s specific industry, like the financial impacts of the CARES Act. Also, consider industry events – maybe there is an annual industry conference coming up or a huge security breach at a national company.

reliable resources editorial calendarChoose reliable resources

The process of choosing good topics for an editorial calendar (and content creation plan as a whole) is multi-fold. Let’s recap – you need to know:

  1. The customer and their offerings.
  2. The industry and segment the customer works within.
  3. The target audience and their pain points.

The last major consideration for a strong topic idea is the resources. Essentially, they should be:

  • Timely. The Voice Profile may specify how old the publication dates can be, but a good rule of thumb is finding sources published within the last 2-3 years.
  • Relevant. Don’t choose a source that contradicts the idea of your topic. For example, your topic may be arguing for how retirement planning will be more difficult in the future, while your source says that things will get easier.
  • Non-competitive. This step requires some scrutiny, but it is crucial. You don’t want to steer readers to your customer’s competition. Your sources can certainly be within the same industry, but make sure their offerings do not overlap with those of the customer. A safe bet would be to rely on news outlets or research firms (as long as that research was not commissioned by a competitor).

Develop strong key points and a quick introduction

For an editorial calendar, and a content creation plan in general, the more detail you include, the better. At Tempesta Media, we require outlines to include at least three key points and a quick introduction to establish the direction of the full article.

After you’ve identified your topic and resources, these steps are just a matter of summarizing the points that you want the full article to highlight. Feel free to use subpoints too.

However, when choosing main points, do not copy ideas directly from one source. That will just result in a duplicate article, provide no real value and present a potential plagiarism issue.

Besides establishing direction/focus, identifying key points is also the chance to set up the organization. How do you think this information could be best presented as a full article? Problem/solution? Chronologically?

Again, the more organized and detailed you are in this section, the more value you will present to the customer.

editorial calendarIdentify a reasonable word count, relevant keyword and strong title

These last steps are quick but nonetheless important to the comprehensiveness of the editorial calendar.

Word count

As mentioned above, the suggested word count box of our editorial calendars are for your recommended length of the full article. This is based on the topic, the details in your key points and any specifications from the customer. Be reasonable here.

Answer the question, “How much space would I need to adequately address all this information?”

Keyword

Try to summarize the outline in a word or phrase. Answer the question, “What would I type in the search bar to find this full article online?” The answer will likely lead you to your keyword.

Title

Use the same tactic here as you did to identify your keyword. Summarize your outline in a few words or a longer phrase. Make sure that it is informative, accurate and catchy as well.

In summary

An editorial calendar is crucial to a successful content creation plan. Each component adds value to the outline as a whole, making it easier for customers to picture their content roadmap and for the writer to create the full article.

Need help with creating an editorial calendar?

If you have a content marketing program or are planning one, download our e-book 100 Mistakes Businesses Make When Starting, Optimizing and Scaling Content Marketing Programs.

This e-book will walk you through the mistakes of hundreds of other companies and the challenges they faced in implementing their content marketing programs. To learn more about how Tempesta Media can help you streamline your content creation process and deliver quality content at scale, contact us today.

How Can Content Creators Improve Content Readability?

Posted on by Anastasiia Lavrinenko

Content marketing can effectively connect you with customers, but only if they get your message. These tips can help you improve content readability to reach those customers.

Content marketing is an effective way to reach out to new and existing customers and build your brand. It’s not as simple as just creating content and posting it, though. Even having a great brand strategy and amazing design might not be enough if you’re missing a key piece of the puzzle: content readability.

Content readability refers to how easily someone can read, digest and understand the information on your website. It involves several factors:

  • Word count.
  • Sentence structure.
  • Paragraph structure.
  • Word choice.
  • Content layout.

Here are four ways you can evaluate and improve content readability.

1: Know your audience

This might seem like an obvious part of any marketing strategy, but when it comes to content readability, you should specifically know the average education level of your audience.

For example, are you writing for academics who are likely to have a Ph.D.? A professional audience with some level of college education and experience? The general public? Answering this question will help you decide the average reading level for your content.

To give you a starting point, according to The Literacy Project Foundation, only about 50% of adults can read at or above an 8th grade level. So, while it’s appropriate to use more advanced writing for some content, most should be written around a 7th-9th grade level to maximize audience comprehension.

Shorter paragraphs can improve readability

2: Pay attention to layout and length

Shorter sentences are easier to understand. Shorter paragraphs can also improve content readability, especially for people using a mobile device.

Limit paragraphs to no more than three to four sentences, and break up your text when possible with elements like bulleted lists, charts and images.

Style matters, too. Review your text for active voice, eliminate insider jargon, and remove or define acronyms that are not widely known.

3: Use visuals

Some concepts are difficult to explain in clear, concise text. If that’s the case, consider using drawings, charts or illustrations to help make your point and improve content readability. Infographics have soared in popularity in recent years because they can distill a lot of information and data into simple concepts that are easy to scan and digest.

4: Check your work

One of the most difficult things for writers is knowing how readable their content actually is — after all, you know the topic well enough to write about it, so it can be hard to assume how well others understand it.

Free tools like the Flesch-Kincaid score in Microsoft Word or the Hemingway app allow you to check the reading level of a text. The Hemingway App displays a reading level and highlights other suggestions for better readability, such as removing passive voice or eliminating unnecessary adverbs.

Improve content readability today

Ready to create better content? Tempesta Media can help. Start today by downloading our free e-book to learn about the 100 most common mistakes businesses make when starting or scaling up content marketing efforts. Then contact us to find out how we can help improve your content marketing.

How Unintended Content Marketing Plagiarism Can Create Issues

Posted on by Anastasiia Lavrinenko

Content marketing plagiarism, even when unintentional, can create serious problems for your website, such as legal issues or search engine sanctions.

Imagine publishing new website copy or a blog post, only to come into work one morning and find your site removed from every search engine. What happened? Chances are the content you published was plagiarized, and you’ve been sanctioned.

Even unintended content marketing plagiarism or duplicate content can have serious consequences for your website, search engine rankings and reputation. Plagiarism is the act of passing off someone else’s work as your own. “Duplicate content” is the digital version of plagiarism, when a significant portion of the content on your website is identical to, or very similar to, copy on another site.

The consequences of plagiarized content

Search engines browse your site and index the pages so they can show them to searchers if they are relevant. If the search engine detects a lot of duplicate content on your site, it could remove your site from searches or drop your site much lower in the rankings. You’ll have to start from scratch to get back to the top.

editor checking

How to detect content marketing plagiarism

Plagiarism is not always malicious or intentional, and it’s not always easy to spot. The best way to prevent duplicate content is to check for these common mistakes:

  • Writers using another article as a basis for content and copying the content (sometimes word for word or the general ideas and outline). Even if it’s not plagiarism, it’s still unethical.
  • Writers copying and pasting small sections from various other sources to create a final product. Check the sources your writer uses to make sure they’re not copying and rearranging someone else’s sentences.
  • Writers copying content word for word without quotes and failing to cite the author. Sometimes it’s simply because the writer lacks knowledge about copyright laws. In other cases, it’s intentional, and that’s against the law.
  • Reposting content from other sources through syndicated feeds or from another blog you think your audience will enjoy. There are appropriate ways to do this, but make sure you take the necessary steps.

The easiest way to detect content marketing plagiarism is to run everything through a plagiarism checker before you publish. If you detect plagiarism, don’t publish the content until you correct the issues.

What to look for in a content marketing partner

These are some important steps you can take to be proactive and avoid plagiarism and duplicate content on your site:

  • Create clear guidelines for writers that outline the consequences of submitting duplicate content or plagiarized copy.
  • Compare submitted content to the sources your writers use to verify it’s not plagiarized.
  • Work with a trusted content marketing partner that hires reputable writers and checks for plagiarism before submitting any work.

Tempesta Media uses a sophisticated plagiarism-checking tool to verify the originality of all writers’ work before they can submit it. We proactively work to make sure every piece you order is unique and fresh and won’t put your website at risk of search engine sanctions.

Need help?

It’s important to avoid even unintended content marketing plagiarism. Learn how Tempesta Media’s content solutions can meet your needs and protect you from the consequences of online plagiarism, and check out our e-book of the 100 biggest mistakes companies make with content marketing.

Five Writing Mistakes Writers Make Without Realizing

Posted on by Anastasiia Lavrinenko

What prevents your content from engaging readers and generating leads? These five writing mistakes could be to blame.

Content marketers cite the number of leads generated as the most important metric they use to measure engagement. Your content can be well written and interesting but still fall short of your lead generation goals if you commit these common writing mistakes.

Not writing for the right channel

It’s not uncommon to see high bounce rates if you’re writing for a blog where content is self-sufficient, but a higher bounce rate could also indicate that your content isn’t adapted to the intended medium.

When writing for the internet, keep sentences and paragraphs short and easy to skim. Use white space to draw attention to important information, and introduce lists and headers to structure your content.

Expert writers use additional strategies, like avoiding walls of text for content that will be read on mobile or placing the main takeaway of an email early enough in the copy to appear in the email preview window.

Picking style over SEO

Varying the words and expressions you use can make copy flow better or feel more stylish. Your content will rank higher in search results if you prioritize keywords that align with the search terms your target audience uses.

notes

Neglecting headlines

A great piece of content is pointless if the title doesn’t make readers want to click on it. A headline that immediately grabs attention and hints at the payoff of the content can make a huge difference.

You can write better headlines by keeping them short and specific. Use numbers if you can, and don’t hesitate to use A/B testing to see which headlines perform better.

Not writing for the right audience

Of all the writing mistakes, this is one of the most important ones. Your writing might fail to achieve its purpose because it’s not relatable, the tone isn’t right or you use too much jargon.

Research your audience before you start writing. Find out what they want to accomplish and how much they already know about the topic you’re writing about. If you’re writing for a brand or business, look into their content marketing strategy to get a better idea of the tone they typically use.

Writing without a goal in mind

Every great piece of copy should end with a call to action (CTA). The purpose of a CTA is to guide prospects to the next step in their journey. A CTA works best if it uses a strong action verb and provides a clear path to the next step.

You will generate more revenues with content marketing if you figure out the desired outcome of a piece and plan your writing around that goal. What kind of arguments will create a logical progression that makes the CTA more efficient?

In summary

You can write better content by listing the goals you want to accomplish before you get started, asking a few questions about your audience, and keeping your platform and channel in mind. When you’re done writing, go back to optimize your content and create a headline that will generate clicks.

Next steps

These are only a few of the common writing mistakes businesses make when developing a content marketing program. To fully prepare yourself to create good content, learn about 100 additional mistakes to avoid in our e-book.

How Do You Become an Expert Writer?

Posted on by Anastasiia Lavrinenko

You are never too old — or too young — to become an expert writer.

However, a few key skills and traits allow experts to stand out from the pack.

Top qualities and skills of an expert writer

To begin with, it’s essential to keep in mind that becoming an expert at anything isn’t easy. It will take time and practice.

Professional writers at the top of their field often have at least five years of experience in their chosen industry. Many have obtained formal education, such as a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a writing-related field. In some instances, expert writers have professional certifications or have undergone specialized training.

If you are at the beginning of your writing journey, here are four suggestions to help you get started:

  1. Read what the experts are publishing. Reading what expert writers are currently producing will help you understand what excellent writing looks like.
  2. Begin to write — a lot. Try to set aside a dedicated block of time every day to write, even if it’s just about ideas or conversations you overhear.
  3. Analyze your work. Look at how you’re writing, and see if there are areas you can improve, like adding more variety to your adjectives or utilizing powerful verbs.
  4. Get feedback, and revise. If you have a friend or know someone who is a great writer already, then ask if they can edit your work and give you tips to improve. Remember, the need for revisions is not an attack on you, and it doesn’t mean you’ve failed or that you’re not good enough. It just means there’s room to improve!

Besides having mastered these steps, expert writers also have certain skills and traits. Let’s explore a few of them.

A real expert knows they always have more to learn.

 

Extensive topic knowledge

While a wide array of writing positions is available, one skill that remains consistent is the ability to research. Writers are often called upon to be up to date on the latest trends in their industry, and conducting market research is often necessary to include the most accurate data. To be an expert writer, you will need to have extensive topic knowledge and be willing to research and investigate what is new.

Always learning

One of the most vital qualities in a writer is the constant desire to learn. This includes both the ability to accept criticism and use it to get better and a tendency to value insight from more knowledgeable sources. Professional and expert writers can often be differentiated from novice or casual writers by their willingness to continually learn new things, study recent trends and adapt to market needs. A real expert knows they always have more to learn.

Practice, practice, practice

Expert writers understand a crucial component to staying at the top of their game: consistent and constant practice. It’s true that writing can be like riding a bike — you might be unsteady at first, but once you get back into it, you’ll find your rhythm. But expert writers know that to create powerful writing, they have to practice crafting readable, audience-focused, compelling copy that demands attention.

Work with the best

Tempesta Media has more than just a pool of freelance writers. The experts who work with us are industry leaders, educators and professionals who have in-depth knowledge of their chosen field.

The combination of gold-standard talent, top-tier editors and all-inclusive service means that customers receive only the best work. act Contact us today to learn how you can experience the Tempesta Media difference.

6 Tips for Copywriters Struggling With Writer’s Block

Posted on by Anastasiia Lavrinenko

As a writer, there’s nothing worse than opening a document and facing an empty page — with zero ideas for where to start.

Writer’s block can happen to everyone, but the process of gaining the inspiration to work through it can vary from writer to writer.

Inspiration is different for everyone

The type of writing you are undertaking can influence what gets you past your writer’s block. Someone who is writing a technical manual may have a better outcome with outlines than someone creating a piece of fiction.

The most important thing to consider when searching for inspiration is that not everything may work for you. Find the tip or trick that works best for you, and keep switching it up! Here are a few ideas.

1. Try reading something new

Ray Bradbury, the author of “Fahrenheit 451,” suggests reading often — and “intensely” — and writing every single day. Think of your writing chops like any other part of your body you would exercise: if you’re not working out your brain to read and write, you aren’t building up that muscle.

2. Allow yourself to daydream

Daydreaming is a form of freethinking, and it allows you to reset neural pathways that may have otherwise become clogged and distorted. Thinking without inhibition can free up blocks of mental space and leave you feeling refreshed.

Go outside your comfort zone

3. Go outside, or outside your comfort zone

Sometimes we can become trapped inside our own homes or our comfort zones. Try to get out and see nature, learn about history or travel to somewhere new. Even if you don’t leave your city or block, just getting out and seeing something new can help open your mind.

4. Keep on writing

This one might seem a bit strange — you have writer’s block, so how are you supposed to keep writing? But it has two parts: maintaining the willpower to keep going and forcing yourself to create a habit.

By using your willpower, you spur yourself to keep going, running into a wall but then making it through.
Building a habit of writing will trick your brain into believing you have to write every day.

5. Take a break

As opposed to the previous tip of continuing, sometimes it’s essential to take a break. If you’re stuck and nothing else is working, take a few moments to walk away. My best advice? Don’t quit for good — quit for food. Food for thought or food for fuel? That’s up to you.

Find the relevant data

6. Focus on the details

Seeing a broad, complicated topic ahead of you can become overwhelming or lead to writer’s block. One great way to overcome your mental clog is to create an outline. If you already have some key points to research, try finding the relevant data for those points first. If not, begin by creating a rough outline of how you want the article to look. Sketch in some basic headers and topics, or the path you want the article or piece to take. You may find that the more form you give the outline, the more inspiration you find for your writing!

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Tempesta Media works with expert writers to create content in your favorite industries. Take on interesting assignments for companies across the country, all while being paid a fair wage.

Ready to write expert content? Become a writer with Tempesta Media today!

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