Take a look at the top Google results for your target keyword. Chances are, it’s not unique content. Subheadings are the same. It’s obvious which keywords they’re targeting. Strip the branding bits from the page and copy it into a Word doc, and you wouldn’t stand a chance at differentiating them. That’s parasite content. Parasite content is stuff that earns lots of links because the site is big and has lots of existing power… not because the content itself is good. It ends up ranking well because of that. You think you need to replicate that parasite content to rank. When in reality: you don’t ..read more

“The client is always right.” That’s a phrase I hear time and time again–and most people think it applies to freelancing, too. But, truth is: I don’t always agree. That’s because a client (or boss) hires you because you’re an expert in your field. They’re paying you do to something because they can’t do it themselves–either in a time or skill capacity. That’s especially true for writers with subject-matter expertise. Sure, the client is the expert in their business. They’ll know what products/services they offer, who their customers are, and what their website needs to communicate. Take sugges ..read more

I worked for an SEO agency before I started freelance writing. Now, I talk the talk… but don’t walk the walk much. This affiliate site started as a mini-experiment: to see if I still could do SEO (so I could really write about it for my clients.) I bought the domain from scratch which meant it had no pre-existing rankings or authority. I also made a matching Facebook and Instagram profile–again, both from scratch. Now, I’ve clocked in 1.75M impressions and almost 90K clicks from organic search in just 13 months, with less than 25 published posts. Here’s how I did it. How I picked my affiliate ..read more

A few weeks ago, I tweeted that word count doesn’t (always) matter. It turned out to be pretty controversial. Why? Because it’s standard practice to include word count research when you’re planning new ideas. You look at the SERP results for your keyword, find the average word count for each piece, then add a bit on top. Ya know, to “beat them.” But “beating them” goes waaaay beyond word count. Think about it: Does adding 500 words of fluff solely for the purpose of reaching X number of words) actually make your content better than the competition? Not at all. Beating the competition ..read more

I’ve always strongly thought of myself as a non-racist, but after spending most of my weekend listening to the Black community and feeling their pain, I realized: I’m not doing nowhere near as much as I can to help. And you’re probably not, either. That needs to change. I wanted to make sure we all have access to important resources to use your white privilege to actually help, rather than stay silent. Along with calling out racism in your own networks (including at home), please spend a few minutes going through these resources to learn more and support the Black community. Here’s some readi ..read more

The fear of a blank page is real. You open a new Google Doc and the white space overwhelms you. It’s your job to turn that blank page into a 2,000-word piece of content. Where do you even start? I felt that fear every time I wrote a new piece of content. That was until I started outlining every piece of content before I wrote it. Why I outline every piece of content A content outline does what it says on the tin: it outlines how your blog post will look, the headings you’ll include, and the nuggets of advice that you want to include. It’s something I create for every piece of content I create ..read more

As a software company, lifelong customers are your bread and butter. They’re the people who subscribe to your product for years, and provide consistent (and reliable) revenue. Who wouldn’t want that–especially when companies in the U.S. lose $136.8 billion per year due to avoidable consumer switching? When people think of a great customer retention strategy, after-sales support and loyalty programs usually spring to mind. However, you might be missing a trick; content marketing is a great customer retention strategy that could convince existing users to stick around for the long-run. Here’s ho ..read more

When I say “competition is tough in content marketing”, I mean it. B2B is no exception. 56% of B2B content marketers increased their content marketing budgets last year, and it’s expected to be an industry worth $412 billion by 2021. To see success, you can’t just publish content and hope it reaches your target audience. The ‘spray and pray’ method doesn’t work anymore–but neither does promoting content to the wrong people. You need to be smarter about who you’re targeting. And once you’ve got a solid grasp of the people you’re talking to, you’ll need to find out what type of content ..read more