How to Write a Blog Post FAST [Tips for Beginning Copywriters]

by

Maybe clients are (finally) knocking on your virtual door, but now you have to write two blog posts for one client, three for another, and possibly two more if the latest prospect accepts your proposal. And suddenly, you find yourself googling “how to write a blog post fast.” Trust me, I get it. You want and need the work, but it can be overwhelming when everything seems to hit at once. Luckily, you can and will get faster with your writing.

Below, I’m going to share six tips on how to shorten the blog-writing process.

  • Use a winning blog post formula.
  • Tap ChatGPT to produce an outline.
  • Gather your research and resources before you sit down to write.
  • Try the Pomodoro Technique.
  • Use dictation software.
  • Don’t forget to build in time for revisions and proofreading.

If you learn better by watching or listening to a video, check out the one I embed at the end of the post.

Let’s get to it.

How to write a blog post FAST

These strategies work for me, but you’ll need to figure out what works for YOU. And then stick with it.

1. Use a winning blog post formula.

Make sure you check out my blog post on how to structure a blog post for SEO. Because once SEO structure becomes second nature, the writing and editing will go faster.

Another way to make the drafting go faster is by choosing a winning blog post formula like one of the following:

  • Q&A format. I LOVE this format. The questions serve as keyword-rich sub-headlines. Then, I answer the questions. Site visitors like this format because it’s easy for them to spot the answer to their query. And Google loves this format as well. Do an excellent job, and one of your answers could end up in Google’s featured snippet, which takes up primo real estate on the search engine results page (SERP).
  • Problem/solution/results. This is essentially a case study or customer story. The keyword is “story.” Tell a great, compelling story.
  • Checklists. People love lists. To sweeten the post, you could turn the list into a PDF that people can download. Check out this post where I offer a free invoice template for copywriters and use it as a model.
  • Numbered lists. That’s the format I’m using for this post. (I use it a lot because if I identify my six or eight or whatever the number of “things” are up front, I simply write quickly under each heading.)
  • How-to posts and “ultimate guide” posts are also winning formulas. But these tend to take longer to write. However, you can cut down the time it takes to do a how-to if a how-to video already exists. You could get the video transcribed from a place like Rev.com, use it as the main content for your blog post, and embed the video. Boom! You’re done.

2. Tap ChatGPT to produce an outline.

Yes, I’m a freelance copywriter recommending the tool that is supposedly coming for my job. 🙂

I’m working on a series of ChatGPT blog posts and videos, but the short of it goes like this: ChatGPT is a great tool. But like any other tool, it has limitations. For one, you’ll need to heavily revise anything it spits out so you can match your client’s brand voice. This is why it doesn’t make sense to ask ChatGPT to write blog posts or long-form content because you’ll need to rewrite everything anyway. I don’t know about you, but I find rewriting someone else’s work takes a lot longer than simply writing something on my own from scratch. (Potential adverse SEO implications also exist. Google does not take kindly to people pumping out generic content to manipulate rankings.)

But ChatGPT can be good for short stuff and brainstorming. THAT’S where this tip comes in. You can prompt ChatGPT to come up with an outline for a blog post.

You should be SUPER specific in what you’re asking ChatGPT to do.

For example, let’s say my client owns a rug company, and we want to do a blog post on “how to choose a rug for a small living room.” It’s a long-tail keyword phrase with only 20 searches a month.

You figure this could be a good Q&A format blog post where you answer a bunch of questions about how to choose a rug for a small living room, like tips for measuring, how to make the living room look bigger, and other considerations.

Your prompt for ChatGPT might look like this: Hi, ChatGPT. I’m working on a blog post for the Totally Awesome Rug Co., which caters to helping homeowners, condo owners, and apartment dwellers find the best, affordable rug for their space, no matter the size or budget. We want to do a blog post titled “How to Choose a Rug for a Small Living Room.” We want to write it in a question-and-answer format. “How to Choose a Rug for a Small Living Room” should be the first question, but I want to craft a blog post with other helpful questions related to choosing rugs for small spaces. Can you come up with a blog outline that includes my initial question but also 9 other questions? Our tone is fun and carefree.

Here’s how ChatGPT responded to my prompt, in a matter of seconds.

for how to write a blog post fast, I recommend ChatGPT. In this screenshot, ChatGPT delivers a blog post outline on how to choose a rug for a small living space.

Not bad, right?

You’ll want to edit it, of course. You might not like one of the questions, or maybe you’ll think of another. But it’s much easier to get going when you have an outline staring at you rather than a blank page.

ChatGPT is like a sous chef who cuts up all your veggies. You’re still the chef. You need to assemble the magical dish.

3. Gather your research and resources before you sit down to write.

By the time you sit down to write, you should have all the “pre-work” done. This includes creating an outline (or having ChatGPT do the honors) and compiling research and resources. I know this might seem like a chicken-egg conundrum—how do you know what research you need if you haven’t written anything yet? But your outline should clue you in on what research, like stats or stories, will help bring your blog post to life.

Going back to our rug outline . . . you might add a question that asks “How do I measure my living room rug size.” Before you sit down to write, you might email or talk to someone from the company to see if they have existing collateral, like a chart or calculator. If not, you might simply ask your subject matter expert how they advise customers to measure. Get their answer in writing or record their answer on Zoom and have Rev.com transcribe it. You’d then have this info ready to insert into your post before you sit down to write.

4. Use dictation software.

Speaking of recording, another way to speed up the writing process is by using dictation software. With your blog post outline in hand, you can record yourself talking through the content for each section. (Use the memo function on your phone to record.) Then, use Rev.com or Temi to provide an automated transcription. (Currently, Rev.com costs .25/minute. So a 10-minute spiel would cost $2.50, which isn’t bad.)

From there, you can revise, optimize, and polish.

5. Try the Pomodoro Technique.

When you do sit down to draft your blog post, do a “down and dirty” draft. Don’t self-edit and don’t worry about SEO. Just WRITE.

The Pomodoro Technique is an excellent way to build this muscle. Pomodoro means tomato in Italian. (Picture those egg timers shaped like a tomato—that’s the idea.)

The gist: Set your timer for 25 minutes. Put fingers to keyboard and just write. Don’t stop. Don’t look up. When the timer goes off, take a break for five minutes. Lather, rinse, and repeat as often as you need to complete the project.

I’ve used this technique a lot over the last 20 years, and it works—for me. But if it doesn’t work for you, that’s OK. Plenty of other time management techniques and apps exist. Find what works for you.

6. Build in time for revising, optimizing, and proofreading.

Once you get the draft down, you need to optimize it for SEO, revise it for clarity and tone, and proofread the heck out of it. This takes time. Don’t skimp. If you want to get faster at blogging, you’ll need to get faster at all phases, not just the drafting part. And this most certainly includes revising and proofreading:

OK! I hope some of these suggestions on how to write a blog post fast are helpful.

Remember, find what works for YOU—and keep doing it. You will get faster over time.

Got a question for the Copy Bitch?

That’s me—I’m the Copy Bitch. I have over 20 years of experience as a freelance copywriter and love sharing what I’ve learned. Reach out with a question or leave a question in the comments on one of my YouTube videos.

 

Blog Best Practices [Tips for New Copywriters]

by

If you’re a new freelance copywriter, I can almost guarantee you’ll be doing a lot of blogging for clients. Why? Well, blogging is an essential element in an effective inbound marketing strategy. This means you must understand blog best practices. You can’t just write any old thing, slap it on a blog, and call it a day. I mean, you could. But you certainly won’t get the results you or your client seek.

So let’s talk about blog best practices. If you prefer watching rather than reading, jump to the end of this article for the video I recorded.

But before we get to the best practices, let’s step back and answer this question:

Why is blogging an essential element of inbound marketing? How does blogging work?

OK, so a little history lesson. Thirty years ago, marketing consisted of casting a wide net. You blasted a marketing message to a large number of people, hoping someone would be interested in whatever it was that you were selling.

Think billboards, direct mailers, TV ads, radio ads, telemarketing, etc. Sure, with this method, you might know the audience demographics. But your direct mailer on landscaping services still hit plenty of people with ZERO interest in landscaping services.

Inbound marketing does the complete opposite. The goal is to attract people already on the market for whatever you’re selling.

So instead of blasting tons of people with ads about your landscaping company, the goal is to draw in people who are already looking for a landscaping company . . . or who are researching the best ways to care for their lawn and maybe realizing they need help.

It makes sense, right? Why not engage folks already looking for the products or services you sell rather than trying to engage with someone who will never be interested in what you’re selling, no matter what you do? (I’ll never forget when everyone in my apartment complex, which had 1000 units, received a direct mailer postcard for lawn care services. Talk about a big, fat marketing FAIL.)

This brings us back to blogging. When someone is on the market for a product or service—or they have a problem that will require purchasing a product or service—they will go online to do their initial research. And if a helpful blog post comes up in search that gives them the information they need, well . . . that’s when the marketing magic can happen.

With blogging, your job isn’t to sell the reader whatever your client is selling but rather engage and educate them on whatever they’re researching. You make it about them, not your client.

And if you do your job well, meaning the reader finds the content helpful, they might read another blog post or poke around the client’s website. Maybe they’ll download a piece of content (which requires them to give their email address), or they follow the company on social media. Your blog post will have done its job of engaging the reader because now your client’s company is on the person’s radar . . . and your client can continue to stay in front of them through emails, social media, or retargeting ads.

Nifty, right?

OK, so let’s get back to the subject at hand.

Blog Best Practices

1. Know the audience.

When you begin working with a client, one of the first things you should discuss is their audience. Does the client have formal buyer personas? (If not, that might be another project you can help them with.) In a nutshell, a buyer persona is a fictional representation of a client’s ideal buyer. Often, your client will have multiple ideal buyers.

If the client doesn’t have formal buyer personas, that’s OK. You’ll need to ask them specific questions about their ideal buyer. Think basic demographic info, like age, gender, income, and education.

But also think about the person’s “pain points,” as we like to say in the biz.

So what do I mean by pain points?

Let’s pretend your client owns a local pest control company. Think about the folks on the market for pest control services, their pain points, and how they might go about alleviating their pain.

For example, if someone is suddenly dealing with an ant infestation in their home, maybe they turn to friends on Facebook and ask for advice, and someone suggests Lysol. From there, maybe they hop on Google and search, “Does Lysol kill ants.”

You could write a blog post honestly answering that question. For the record, it sounds like Lysol might kill the ones you spray, but it’s not an effective long-term solution. Your job would be to discuss various long-term solutions, one of which might be using a pest control company . . . but there might be some other things homeowners can do before they have to outsource

See how that’s helpful content and not self-serving?

BTW, “Does Lysol kill ants” is an excellent keyword phrase to target. See the results in Semrush below. (More on keyword research in a moment.)

Screenshot of Semrush, a keyword research tool, that shows results for "does Lysol kill ants." The phrase has a search volume of 480 and keyword difficulty of 4, which is great. keyword research is an example of blog best practices.

2. Choose compelling topics that speak to people’s pain points.

Developing compelling topics will involve you and your client having a free-wheeling conversation about their customers, including their pain points, the questions they ask, the questions your client wished they ask, etc. Record this convo on Zoom. Then, you should get on Google.

Pretend you’re a prospect. What kind of content would you be interested in? Do some searches and see what shows up in organic listings, but also in the featured snippets and the “people also asked” at the bottom of the page. Both are good places to find compelling topics your target audience might be interested in.

For example, let’s pretend your client is a rug company. Someone on the market for a new area rug for their living room might be struggling to understand what size rug is best for their living room.

I didn’t look at Semrush for this search. I typed in what I’d search on if this were my problem. Here’s what came up for related questions. Some of these would be good questions to answer in my blog post.

A screenshot of google search results for the query "how to measure an area rug for the living room" - a red circle is around the "related questions" list

 

And here’s what showed up in the “people also asked” section—more great stuff for this blog post . . . and perhaps some others.

screenshot of google search results for the query "how to measure an area rug for the living room" - red circle around the "people also asked" section at the bottom of the listing

3. Choose the right keyword phrase for the topic.

People search on the query “How big should a living room rug be” 480 times a month. It has a keyword rating of 49. According to Semrush, this number means the blog post could possibly rank well with “well-structured and unique” content,

Guess who’s responsible for writing that well-structured and unique content? YOU! That’s why you get paid the big bucks.

Bottom line: You must do keyword research. I use Semrush, which costs money. But Google’s Keyword Planner is free.

Doing keyword research is a whole separate topic. I’ll likely do a blog post on my process at some point. But why reinvent the wheel when excellent resources exist, like Semrush’s article “How to do keyword research for SEO”?

4. Format your blog post for readers first, search engines second.

You need the following:

  • Compelling, keyword-rich blog title. Example: “Does Lysol Kill Ants? Our Honest Take”
  • Compelling opening
  • Keyword-rich sub-headlines, where appropriate (you don’t want to stuff keywords)
  • Body content that . . .
    • Is skimmable
    • Uses short paragraphs and sentences
    • Has bulleted and numbered lists
    • Includes visuals (make sure you’re using alt text mindfully for those with sight impairments)
    • Keeps mobile devices in mind.

5. Write awesome content that the reader can’t find anywhere else.

Or, as we say in Boston, write content that’s wicked pissah, dude.

So for the Lysol and ants blog post . . . maybe you open with a true story of a customer who tried Lysoling their ant problem away, but it didn’t end well because the ant infestation took hold, resulting in a much more complex problem to deal with than if the person had called a pest control company from the get-go.

I’m riffing here, but you get the idea.

The type of content people can’t get anywhere else will be those personal stories, anecdotes, and real-life pics and videos. That’s NOT the stuff an AI generator like ChatGPT can come up with . . . or your client’s competitor down the street. It’s content that will be unique to your client’s company.

This is why writers are still necessary. It takes a good writer to draw these interesting little nuggets out of our clients and then write about them in a way that will interest readers.

Other aspects of wicked pissah content include . . .

6. Pay attention to the “post-publish” work you must do.

When a blog post is published, clients usually promote it on social media.

But the promotion shouldn’t be “once and done.”

Sure, an optimized blog post will continue working whether you promote it or not. But you can get much more mileage from each blog post if you continue promoting it. And as a smart and savvy copywriter, you should remind your clients to repurpose the blog content . . .

  • Use it in lead nurturing emails.
  • Promote it in newsletters.
  • Highlight it on the home page.
  • Put it into regular social media rotation.

You and your client should also have a plan for revisiting and refreshing blog posts. Info can go out of date. This doesn’t have to be a heavy lift, either. For example, that excellent blog post you wrote two years ago with compelling stats about mobile phone usage could use a refresh with new stats.

You’ll want to monitor analytics as well.

  • Is the blog post bringing in traffic?
  • Do people read the whole thing or bounce off?
  • Do people click through to other content on the site?
  • Do any of the blog readers become customers over time? (In other words, what’s the conversion rate?)

For underperforming blog posts, revisit the keyword phrase, the copy, etc. Test and experiment to see if you can get it to perform better.

Blog best practices can evolve, but the ones above are evergreen, IMO.

No doubt, you’ll encounter other suggestions or “must do’s” for blogging. Use what works and makes sense. And keep reading and learning. To that end, here are a couple of other articles I’ve written about blogging.

Got a Question for the Copy Bitch?

That’s me! I’m the Copy Bitch. Contact me or visit my YouTube channel and leave a comment on one of my videos. I might make a blog post or video with the answer.

20 Essential Copywriting Skills

by

Want to be a kickass copywriter? Silly question. Of course, you do. Well, if that’s the case, make sure you embrace these 20 essential copywriting skills. I base these skills on my 20+ years as a successful freelance copywriter.

Do you learn better by watching a video? I got you. Scroll to the end of the blog post for the video I recorded.

20 Essential Copywriting Skills

1. Make sure you know how to write.

Duh, yeah, seems pretty basic, right? But I know many folks who dream of becoming a writer and spend ZERO time learning how to write.

How do I know? I used to be that person.

When I was a kid, I talked about becoming a writer. I did this through college. But I never devoted myself to the craft. That wouldn’t come until later when I somehow managed to get hired to teach a writing course to first-semester law students.

Nothing makes you learn something faster than teaching it. It was a humbling experience but also a critical experience for my growth as a copywriter.

If you’re not sure you’ve got writing “chops,” as I like to say, don’t fret. Writing is a learnable skill. Take a course. Udemy is a great place to check out. (I’m sure there are others.)

Once you feel you’ve got your writing chops, come back to this article and keep going.

2. You proofread like a pro.

Nothing can doom a copywriting career faster than sloppy mistakes. Listen, we’re all human, so typos can and will happen. But you must try your hardest to deliver sparkling clean copy to your clients. So get good at proofreading. Don’t treat it as a passive exercise, either. There’s an art to it.

Check out my video on proofreading tips and tricks. (Also, my hair looks really good in this video.)

3. You know the tenets of inbound marketing and content marketing.

As a copywriter, you need to know more than simply writing. You must understand inbound marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, design basics—the list is seemingly endless.

The good news is you can teach yourself all of the above. But this won’t be a “once and done” thing. You need to keep your finger on the marketing pulse and stay up with what’s trending in Copy Land and Marketing Land.

Subscribe to blogs and devote 30 minutes daily to reading about copywriting and marketing topics.

4. You’re creative and know how to tell good stories.

Can creativity be learned? Some would argue no. I like to think that everyone has a creative well inside of them. You simply need to figure out how to tap into it. And here’s the thing: I’m not talking about the type of creativity you need to sustain a whole novel or a screenplay. I’m talking about the little creative spark that can elevate a piece of copy from meh to wow.

So, yeah, I do believe you can learn how to become more creative for copywriting tasks like creating clever (and effective) email subject lines, writing compelling video scripts, developing memorable taglines, etc.

HubSpot has an excellent guide on becoming more creative when you’re not naturally creative.

5. You know how to ask intelligent questions.

I ask great questions. It’s one of the skills I bring to the table. And guess what? You can learn how to ask great questions, too.

I did a video and blog post on 10 copywriting questions to ask clients. Read. Watch. Learn.

6. You have mad interviewing skills.

As a copywriter, you’ll be doing many interviews when creating blog posts, white papers, guides, and the like. You need to know how to interview well. This skill comes naturally to some. But for introverts like me, interviewing people can be one of the most stressful parts of being a freelance copywriter. And yet, it’s also one of the most essential skills to embrace.

And yes, I have a blog post and video on how to sharpen your interviewing skills.

7. You’re not afraid of teaching yourself something you don’t know.

I’m a self-taught copywriter. I didn’t come into this with a degree in writing or English. (I was a communication major in college.) I’ve learned everything on the fly through books, online courses, blog posts, webinars, etc.

And I’m still learning! My newest obsession is ChatGPT. I’ll be doing a series of blog posts and videos this summer. Stay tuned.

Bottom line: You will need to teach yourself things along the way. Jump in.

8. You read—a lot.

Good writers read. Great writers read a lot. And not just for work but for pleasure.

Follow blogs and publications that have their finger on the marketing pulse. Off the top of my head, I recommend following . . .

9. You know how to research—accurately and quickly.

Anyone can plug a query into Google and get an answer. That’s not research. You need to understand how to conduct meaningful research, what a reputable source is, various media biases, your own biases, the difference between primary and secondary sources, etc.

You’ll be writing a lot of content that requires sound research and current data. If you’re weak in this area, focus on developing these skills and flexing this muscle—you’re going to need it.

10. You know what you don’t know.

Often, you won’t know what you don’t know. But much of the time, in our gut, we know what we don’t know. Never claim you know something when you don’t. (That rarely ends well.) Smart people don’t necessarily have all the answers—they know where to LOOK for the answer. (Which ties into the previous point.)

11. You listen well. You listen actively.

Listening well has become a lost art. Our attention spans are shrinking, and so many things are vying for our attention. But listening well and learning to listen actively is only going to make you a better interviewer, a better thinker, and a better partner to your clients and colleagues . . . and it will help you in your daily life as well.

12. You communicate well in writing and verbally.

Many writers suffer from “marble mouth,” meaning we’re much better at using written words than spoken words. It’s natural and understandable. But to take your copywriting business to the next level, you must practice communicating well verbally. You’ll speak with clients, their clients, subject matter experts, fellow writers at networking events, etc.

No one is expecting you to deliver a TED talk. But challenge yourself to improve from where you are today. For example, that might involve getting better at speaking on the phone.

Don’t ignore your written communications, either. I’m not talking about client deliverables—I’m assuming you’ve done a great job there. I’m talking about the emails and texts you send to clients and the comments you leave on social media. Remember, your writing will be under deeper scrutiny if you call yourself a writer. This is fair.

Recently, I’ve seen several budding copywriters make sloppy mistakes in social media comments. I can forgive a typo or two. I have difficulty getting past zero punctuation, misspellings, poor grammar, and incomplete thoughts. I’m watching. So are other people. You’re always on. That’s the world we live in.

13. You meet deadlines.

Deadlines are not suggestions. If you struggle at meeting deadlines, you’ll struggle in this business. So figure out how to get better at this ASAP. Maybe working with a business coach might help. Or having an accountability partner. Maybe give yourself a different deadline than you give the client (and stick to your internal deadline).

14. You can play well with others, but you can also fly solo.

Many writers are introverts and love working alone. (HI!) But keep in mind that you will have to collaborate at times. So you’ll want to make sure you sharpen this skill . . . or if you have it going in, don’t let it get rusty. (The pandemic had this effect on many of us.)

15. You’re good at budgeting your time.

This point relates to the deadline point. If you’re freelancing, you’ll be juggling multiple clients and projects. This is a skill that you usually have to learn as you go. And you will probably falter a bit in the beginning as you get to know your own pace. My best advice here is to always under-promise and over-deliver to the client. If you think you can get a website done in two weeks, tell the client three weeks. I can almost guarantee something will come up. And if it doesn’t, and you deliver the project in two weeks, you’ll look like a rock star.

16. You’re empathetic.

Empathy is when you put yourself in someone else’s shoes and see things from their POV without passing judgment. We need more of it in this world. And it’s an essential concept in marketing. Read more about empathetic marketing here.

17. You don’t panic.

You don’t panic when business slows down, when you get negative feedback from a client, or when new tech hits the scene like ChatGPT. Because here’s the honest truth: You will have ups and downs in your business life, just like in your personal life. The key is not panicking. When something goes awry, take a deep breath, go for a walk, think about the next steps—and then take them.

For example, if work has slowed, reach out to past clients to remind them you’re still available. Send them links to recent work. Go to a networking event through your local Chamber of Commerce. Network virtually through groups on LinkedIn. Etc.

18. You know how to set boundaries, including when to say no.

Ah, boundaries. You must set them—with partners/spouses, kids, pets, and friends. You need to set them with yourself. (As in, you shouldn’t always be working. You need to take time away from your keyboard.) You need to know when and how to say no. This is not an easy skill. But again, it is an essential skill that will serve you well as a freelance copywriter.

19. You’re not afraid to talk about money.

You run a business. Don’t be afraid to discuss money. For example, if a client is late paying you, even if it’s only one day, reach out. That’s what the cable company would do, right? This is no different. More than likely, it’s an oversight, which is fine. But you still need to get paid.

Don’t underestimate the value you bring to the table as a freelance copywriter.

Don’t undersell yourself. (Check out my video and blog post on what to charge for copywriting services.)

20. You mind your copywriting ‘house.”

This ties in with the previous point. YOU’RE RUNNING A BUSINESS. You must keep good books. You must pay quarterly estimates to the IRS and your state (if you’re in the US). You must understand basic accounting concepts, reasons to buy supplemental insurance (e.g., disability, business), and whether you should become an LLC.

I know, I know. You just want “to write.” But if you want “to write” without dealing with all the rest, you might be better off treating writing as a hobby rather than a profession.

Trust me; I get it. And I’m not always great about minding the details consistently. But I always come back because this is my profession and livelihood.

Got a Question for the Copy Bitch?

That’s me! I’m the Copy Bitch. Contact me or visit my YouTube channel and leave a comment on one of my videos. I might make a blog post or video with the answer.

‘We Miss You’ Email Subject Lines: 5 Great Examples

by

If you do a lot of email marketing for clients, one type of email that you’ll want to occasionally send is the “We miss you” email.

Below, I discuss . . .

  • Why do you need to send “we miss you” emails?
  • What is graymail?
  • How often should you send “we miss you emails”?
  • What to keep in mind when creating “we miss you” emails
  • Five examples of “we miss you” email subject lines

Let’s get to it.

Why do you need to send “we miss you” emails?

There’s no rule saying you must send these emails. But if you want to make sure you have an email distribution list filled with contacts who are genuinely engaged with your content, you need to occasionally nudge those who haven’t opened your emails to see if they still want in.

And if you get no response? You should remove them from the list.

I know, I know. That sounds super scary. Why remove someone who might engage with your content someday?

Here’s what I tell clients: I’d much rather have a smaller list of engaged fans than a bloated list with people who never open my emails but who I keep hoping will “someday.”

The number of people on your email list is a vanity metric. “I have 10,000 people on my list!”

The number of active people on your list is the metric that matters.

So again, I’d prefer a list of 1000 people who want to be there rather than 10,000 contacts who mostly have no interest in playing with me.

Of course, cleaning your list matters for another critical reason: Graymail.

What is Graymail?

HubSpot explains it best: “Graymail is email that contacts have opted in to receive, but never open or click. Spam filters can identify and filter out emails that your recipients aren’t opening or clicking. This increases the likelihood that future emails will end up in the junk folder or spam filter. By continuing to send emails to contacts who don’t open or click, you’re lowering your sender score overall.”

Basically, you want to keep a clean and tidy list so that the emails you send have a better chance of getting opened and read by the people who want them.

How often should you send “we miss you” emails?

That will depend on myriad factors, including how often you send emails and your industry. Online retailers (think boutique clothing shops) are famous for sending emails a few times a week—if not more. They might have a better tolerance for someone not opening their emails for months.

Remember that just because someone doesn’t open the email doesn’t mean they aren’t engaging with your business. They might read the subject lines. They might see your brand on social media and click over to the website, remembering that subject line about your new product, for example.

Some businesses are aggressive with their email list hygiene and won’t even bother sending the “we miss you” emails—they’ll simply remove you. (I find this annoying, to be honest. Especially when it’s only a handful of emails I haven’t opened.)

HubSpot has a good article on creating a “sunset policy” for removing unengaged people from your email list.

What should you keep in mind when creating “we miss you” emails?

The point of the “we miss you” email is to reengage folks who haven’t been opening your emails. If they see a subject line that indicates they’re about to get booted off the list (said more nicely than that!), they might be inclined to open the email and take action.

Here’s what you should keep in mind when creating these emails:

  • Make sure your subject line is clear. Using words like “We miss you” can be an excellent way to get someone to re-engage. But make it clear what happens if they don’t open the email.
  • Simplicity works best for the body copy. No need for fancy designs. Text-based emails work best. Don’t guilt people into staying. Acknowledge that everyone’s inboxes are overflowing, and you’ll understand if someone wants out. But if they want in . . . they need to take action (usually by clicking a link).
  • Honor the results. I won’t lie: You won’t have huge conversions when you send a re-engagement campaign. That’s OK. That’s the point. Honor the results, even if it means you’re removing a ton of contacts. (“A ton” is relative. But it will likely feel like a lot to you.)

Here are five examples of “we miss you” email subject lines.

In this video, I share my screen and show you five examples of “we miss you” emails. See what you think.

Got a Question for the Copy Bitch?

That’s me! I’m the Copy Bitch. Contact me or visit my YouTube channel and leave a comment on one of my videos. I might make a blog post or video with the answer.

How to Find Copywriting Portfolio Examples to Inspire Your Own

by

One of the most common questions I get from new copywriters is this: How do I get copywriting samples if I don’t have any clients yet? And that question is followed quickly by this: How should I present my samples on my website?

I answered the first question in this video, which I’ll embed at the end of this blog post. Today, however, I’ll address the second question and discuss how to find copywriting portfolio examples that will inspire your own. Note: I’ve also recorded a video about this topic that I’ll embed at the end of this article. In the video, I share my screen so you can see me go through the exercise. If you’re more of a visual learner, check it out.

How to find copywriting portfolio examples to inspire your own

Google the word “copywriter” and the name of the nearest city that you’re in. Why? Well, people often perform location-based searches for copywriters, meaning they’ll search on the word “copywriter” and the nearest big city where they’re located. Think “Boston copywriter” or LA copywriter.”

See the screenshot below. The volume column means the number of searches per month in the U.S.

So, for example, people search on “copywriter boulder co” 90 times per month.

A screenshot showing four columns: keyword, intent, seed keyword, and volume. The keyword column includes phrases with the word "copywriter" like "copywriter boston"

 

When you do one of these searches, you’ll see who’s ranking on the first page of Google. You can check out their portfolios for inspiration. And at the same time, you’ll have a sense of who you’re competing with online.

Tips for Creating a Good Copywriter Portfolio

The following tips apply to online portfolios.

  • Make it easy to find—no need to be cute or coy. Simply using the word “Portfolio” in the main nav works.
  • Keep it current. Your portfolio is never “done.” You should add new pieces over time.
  • Audit it for broken links. Things break. This often happens if you link directly to a page on a client’s website. Get in the habit of reviewing your portfolio every quarter. Check for broken links. Add in newer work.
  • Swap out older or “meh” work. When starting out, you’ll probably add everything you write to your portfolio to bulk it up. As you do more work for clients, you’ll have more samples to choose from, which means you can be more selective in what you highlight. Your portfolio should demonstrate your range and the best work in each category. Make sure you curate, curate, curate.
  • Break down samples by category. By category, I mean website copywriting, email marketing, landing page copy, white paper, blog posts, etc. You can break things down by category on one longer page. Or you could have a website page devoted to each category if you have enough samples to warrant the separate page and/or if you want to optimize the category page for a particular copywriting service.
  • Remind people you have more samples to share. It’s always good practice to conclude your portfolio with something like, “The above is a small sampling of my work for clients. Ask if you’re looking for something specific that I don’t include above. I likely have examples I can share.”

Got a question for the Copy Bitch?

That’s me—I’m the Copy Bitch. I have over 20 years of experience as a freelance copywriter and love sharing what I’ve learned. Reach out with a question or leave a question in the comments on one of my YouTube videos.

How to Market Your Copywriting Business Online

by

You’ve hung out your virtual shingle for your copywriting business. Now what? Where are the clients? How can you help them find you? Step up, friends. Because that’s what I discuss in this post on how to market your copywriting business online.

Below, I’m going to talk about one specific way: optimizing your website for location-based copywriter searches.

If you’re more of a visual learner, check out the video I did on this topic, which I’m embedding at the end of the post. I share my screen and walk you through how location-based copywriter searches work and the evidence in Semrush.

Let’s get to it.

What do I mean by location-based copywriter searches?

If someone’s in the market for a freelance copywriter, they’ll likely turn to Google. One of the phrases they might search on will be the word “copywriter” or “freelance copywriter” and the city they are in—or the nearest “big” city to them, like Dallas, Boston, or Tampa.

How do I know this?

I’m seeing it in Semrush, the keyword research tool I use.

Check out the screenshot below. This is a small sampling of location-based searches for copywriters.

Results from a database search in Semrush, a keyword research tool. Columns include keyword, intent, seed keyword, monthly search volume, and keyword difficulty. Examples of search phrases include "copywriter boston"

 

Now, 20 or 30 searches a month isn’t a lot. (Seventy and 90 are better.) But when it comes to successful marketing, the key is doing a bunch of little things well. Plus, check out the column labeled KD or keyword difficulty. The lower the number, the better your chance of ranking well for the keyword phrase.

So a copywriter in the Boulder, Colorado, area could crush it by creating a kickass landing page optimized around the phrase “copywriter boulder co.”

Bottom line: Location-based searches for copywriters have a lot of potential. If you effectively optimize a page on your site for a location-based search, the page could bring in business—while you sleep.

If the page is compelling and the rest of your site does well, prospects will likely be reaching out. No, maybe not a ton. But again—this is simply one recommendation for how to market your copywriting business online.

But it’s a straightforward way. And the best part about it? Once it’s done, it’s (mostly) done. (You do need to monitor its effectiveness. More on this in a moment.)

Another benefit of going through this exercise is seeing who you’re competing with online (both in paid search and organic listings).

How do you optimize your website for location-based copywriter searches?

Use a keyword research tool like Semrush (paid) or Google’s Keyword Planner (free) and search for “copywriter” and a large city near you in your state.

If you’re in a big state like California or Texas, do searches on various big cities. For example, here’s what Semrush is showing me for some cities in California.

Search results from keyword research tool called Semrush. The image shows several columns, including keyword phrase, search volume, and keyword difficulty. Phrases include "copywriter LA," "copywriter san diego," and other California-related location-based searches

You can choose the city nearest to you and optimize for it. Or you might decide to optimize various pages on your site for these California-based searches since you reside in the state. The beauty of freelancing copywriting is that you don’t have to be in the same place as the client. So why not become the “go-to” copywriter in various places?

Build a compelling landing page.

When building a page around a keyword phrase, you must make it compelling. This is the place to show off your writing chops. You absolutely could keep it simple and optimize your Contact page. But even your contact page should have more to it than something like “Contact me to learn more about my services.” Talk about yourself and what makes you unique. Include “social proof” (i.e., a quote from a happy client). Promote your certifications, if available, like HubSpot Academy badges. Include links to your best work. You get the idea.

Here’s an example of a copywriter optimizing her page around “copywriter Tampa.”

I have no idea if this page is bringing her business. But it comes up on the first page of Google for “copywriter Tampa,” and that’s more than half the battle.

If she is getting business thanks to the page, great.

If people are visiting the page but bouncing away without contacting her (info she could learn in Google Analytics), she could experiment with different messaging. You should do the same thing with the page you create. See if it’s getting any traffic. And does the traffic “convert” (meaning, someone calls or emails you)? And does that prospect turn into good business? If yes to those questions, wonderful. You can leave the page alone and reap the rewards. If no to those questions, play around with the copy on the page until it brings you the type of business you want.

Got a Question for the Copy Bitch?

That’s me! I’m the Copy Bitch. Contact me or visit my YouTube channel and leave a comment on one of my videos. I might make a blog post or video with the answer.

How to Get into Copywriting with No Experience: 4 Ways

by

You probably landed here because you’ve decided to become a copywriter. The only problem is you don’t have any copywriting experience. It’s a chicken and egg conundrum, isn’t it? But don’t worry. I’ve got your back.

Below, I’ll discuss how to get into copywriting with no experience. I’m living proof that it is possible. I’ve been doing this copywriting thing for over twenty years, and when I started my freelance business, I had zero copywriting experience, too.

The trick is turning “zero experience” into “some experience” and parlaying that into more and more paid gigs.

Note: For this blog post, I’m assuming you already know how to write well, meaning you know the rules of grammar and punctuation, you know when you can break those rules, and you’ve had people tell you you’re a strong writer. If you’re struggling with the writing piece, focus on developing your writing chops first. Then, come back to this blog post and carry on.

If you’re more of a visual/audio learner, scroll to the end, where you’ll find my video on this topic.

How to get into copywriting with no experience: Take a course (or two).

You can never go wrong with education. And the nice thing about education is you’ll often have copywriting assignments that include instructor feedback. So it’s an excellent way to learn, practice, improve, and connect.

Copyblogger and American Writers & Artists Institute (AWAI) have courses. Copyblogger’s are priced at $149/each, and AWAI has various levels. You’ll get feedback from veteran copywriters (and you’ll make meaningful connections to boot; you never know when an instructor might recommend you for a paid gig).

If you’re nervous about jumping straight into a copywriting course, you might want to start with HubSpot Academy. My regular readers have heard me praise HubSpot and for good reason. HubSpot spread the concept of inbound marketing back in the mid-aughts and has remained the leader ever since. It is passionate about educating people in all things inbound and content marketing.

HubSpot Academy is its education hub. Here, you’ll find many free certifications. Start with the following:

  • Inbound Marketing
  • Content Marketing
  • Email Marketing
  • Social Media Marketing
  • SEO

As you complete the courses, update your LinkedIn profile with the certifications.

How to get into copywriting with no experience: Reach out to small business owners you know and offer to do some work pro bono (for a limited time).

You’ve taken courses. You’ve gotten your certifications. Now, you need to apply what you know to real businesses to get some all-important samples for your copywriting portfolio and develop your confidence while you’re at it. Consider people you know who own small businesses. I can almost guarantee you know someone—or you know someone who knows someone.

It could be the owner of a . . .

  • Local hair salon
  • Limo company
  • Garden supply store

You get the idea. Small business owners need help with their marketing. Reach out, let them know you’re breaking into copywriting, and ask if you can do X, Y, and Z for them—free of charge, with no strings attached, and no obligation to work with them after you complete these three items. (This is the ONLY time I recommend writers work for free.)

They’d be foolish to say no, right?

The key is being super specific with what you’re offering. Say something like, “I’ll write two blog posts, a month’s worth of social media posts, and revise your About page.”

Right there, you’ll get plenty of experience and samples you can use in your copywriting portfolio.

And if you do a great job and demonstrate your value, they might ask you to continue doing work for them, at which point you’d say something like, “I’d be happy to continue doing work for you. Here’s what I charge for blog posts, social media management, and revising website copy.”

How to get into copywriting with no experience: Approach local nonprofits or organizations you’re involved with/volunteer for.

Nonprofits and charitable organizations always need marketing help. (I’m talking about smaller organizations, not the big guys like the American Red Cross.)

Take the same approach I outlined above for small businesses.

How to get into copywriting with no experience: Just do it.

The best way to learn anything—how to draw, play tennis, and cook—is by doing.

  • Rewrite the emails you’re inundated with from various businesses. How would you revise the email subject lines? The body copy?
  • Revise the direct mailers that come to your house.
  • Same with any sales letters or letters from charitable organizations (professional direct response copywriters often write the latter, so they can be good pieces to study)
  • How would you rewrite the radio commercial and the TV spot?
  • How would you revise the home page, navigation, etc., for every awful website you encounter?

Practice, practice, practice.

You do that enough, and you’ll develop the confidence to tackle steps #2 or #3 if you haven’t already. Plus, you’ll likely feel confident enough to apply to gigs, network, or even send cold emails or make cold calls.

Now that you’ve learned some ways to get copywriting experience, dig into these relevant topics:

Got a Question for the Copy Bitch?

That’s me! I’m the Copy Bitch. Contact me or visit my YouTube channel and leave a comment on one of my videos. I might make a blog post or video with the answer.

 

10 Copywriting Questions to Ask Clients

by

Asking great questions is the difference between a good copywriter and a great copywriter. Don’t worry: This is a learnable skill. To get started, check out my 10 copywriting questions to ask clients. This works for prospects. And with some customization, this will work with existing clients when they have a new project.

Now, I consider the following general questions that you’d want to ask prospects when you’re chatting for the first time. Once you know what the project is, you’ll want to ask many more project-specific questions. After these 10 questions below, I’m going to give you project-specific questions for a fictional website redesign/relaunch.

Note: If you’re more of a visual/audio learner, scroll to the end for my video on this topic.

1. Give me your elevator pitch about your business. What sort of products or services do you sell?

You want to hear how the client describes their business. Is their message clear? Because if it isn’t, you’ll need to help with that.

2. Talk to me about your audience. (Do you have formal buyer personas?) 

Not sure what a buyer persona is? Read this. The gist: A persona is a fictional representation of the client’s ideal buyer. You want to ask the prospect about their audience’s pain points and how their products or services can help to solve them.

3. Tell me about your competitors. In what ways are you the same? How are you different—and better?

Get specific names so you can check out their websites. Ask the client about their USP, or unique selling proposition.

4. Tell me about the project. What are the main goals? What are your expectations for the final product? What style/tone are you looking for? How will you decide if this copywriting project was successful?

Note: Once they identify what the project is, you’ll want to have a set of project-specific questions handy. (See the ones at the end of this article.) But the above questions are a good starting point.

5. Have you done this sort of project in the past? What were the results? What worked, what didn’t work?

Their answers will alert you if the client has unreasonable expectations or if they might be the reason a project didn’t work in the past. (In which case, you might want to pass on the project. Or, at the very least, charge more.)

6. Do you have an in-house style guide/brand guide? Are there any other specifications or requirements I need to know? (Like legal regs, for lawyers and financial clients.)

You’ll want to know this going in.

7. Do you have a subject matter expert for me to talk to—and will you be facilitating the interview?

The best writing happens when you can interview subject matter experts on the client’s end. That’s what separates generic content generated by AI and compelling content that can’t be found anywhere else, like a competitor’s site.

8. What’s the budget and timeline?

Clarify details around deliverables and milestones. This will help you manage their expectations. And it will help you from a timeline perspective as well.

9. Who’ll be part of the review process?

You know the saying about too many cooks in the kitchen, right? Knowing who’ll be involved in the review process is important to avoid any surprises or delays down the line.

10. So here’s the project as I understand it. Did I miss anything?

You want to make sure you and the client are on the same page. Reiterate the goals, timeline, budget, style, and other details. Do it during your call, but follow up with an email outlining everything, and ask them if it looks good or if they have anything to add. This will help you create a more accurate proposal.

Copywriting Questions to Ask Clients About a Specific Project

Let’s pretend a client wants to redesign their website. Here are some smart questions you could ask IN ADDITION TO THE ONES ABOVE.

Note: These questions are for prospects. If you’re working with an existing client on a website redesign, you’ll want to tweak the questions accordingly. For example, you can bypass questions on the target audience since you’ll already be familiar.

  • What’s motivating the redesign/relaunch?
  • What does the current website do well?
  • What content are you keeping?
  • What new content do you need?
  • Who’ll be handling keyword research?

Website relaunches are ALWAYS fraught. Sometimes businesses think they need a new website simply because they’re bored with it. This is where I might try to steer them into a smaller project, like looking at underperforming pages and seeing if we can improve those.

To identify if a website relaunch is completely necessary, here are some questions you could ask.

I recently asked a client these questions. The client is a professional services company. You’d tweak the questions based on the type of client.

  • How do you define a lead?
  • How many leads came in from your website last year? Of those, how many turned into business?
  • How many leads came in last quarter? How many turned into business?
  • Of those that didn’t turn into business, how many are still in the pipeline?
  • This is more of a subjective question, but what has the lead quality been like overall the last two years?
  • What are the ten most popular pages on the site?
  • What are the top five downloads?
  • When you launched your current website, did you—or the person who wrote it—do formal keyword phrase research? Is it optimized for search?
  • What do you like best about your site?
  • What do you like least?
  • Have you taken website accessibility into account?
  • What other stats/conversion points do you think would be helpful for me to keep in mind?
  • Who are your top three revenue generators?
  • Did any of them originate as web leads?
  • Who do you consider your top three best clients? (“Best” is subjective, of course, but I’m thinking from a revenue perspective AND a “they get and appreciate what we do” perspective)
    Did any of them originate as web leads?
  • If none of the above originated as web leads . . . is there anyone on your current or recent client roster who exemplifies the type of website lead that you want to get more of?
  • Do you really need to redo your website, or are you just bored by it? 🙂

Got a question for the Copy Bitch?

Contact me or visit my YouTube channel and leave a comment on one of my videos. I might make a blog post or video with the answer.

How to Be a Good Copywriter

by

Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been at this copywriting thing for a while, you may be wondering how to be a good copywriter. And by “good,” you might mean “great.” Or, as we say in Boston, “wicked pissah.”

Since “how to be a wicked pissah copywriter” doesn’t get many searches, I will stick with the phrase people search on. Below, I discuss ten strategies for being a good copywriter. Note: If you’re more of a visual or audio learner, scroll to the end for the video I recorded on this topic.

How to be a good copywriter.

1. Read in general and read specifically.

Serious writers are serious readers. If you’re getting into copywriting and you’re not a reader, well . . . you’ll want to rethink things. I’m not saying you should forgo copywriting. Instead, I suggest you challenge yourself to embrace reading or get back into it if you’ve placed it on the back burner. Read for pleasure. But also read blogs and publications that discuss copywriting and related marketing topics. Here are some to check out:

Get into the habit of spending 30 minutes reading daily about copywriting and marketing.

2. Learn how to conduct research quickly without losing accuracy.

Anyone with access to Google can conduct quick research. Accuracy is critical. Make sure you understand what is and isn’t a reputable source. I did a video on how to evaluate sources. I also wrote a blog post on the difference between primary and secondary sources. And here’s HubSpot’s guide on how to research like HubSpot’s research team.

3. Be pleasant to work with.

Sounds so simple, right? But you’d be surprised how much this matters. If you’re pleasant to work with, meet deadlines, and produce good work, you’ll never be without business for too long.

4. Under-promise, over-deliver.

You’ll be eager to do the work and wow the client when you start. Resist the temptation to say you’ll turn around the project quickly to impress the client. (Even if you can.) First, perception matters. You don’t want the client to think you have nothing else to do. Second, life happens. If you promise a tight turnaround and get sick, then what? Plus, you’ll find that most things take longer than you expected, especially when you’re starting out and learning how long projects take. So get in the habit of under-promising and over-delivering. If you end up beating your deadline, great! You’ll look like a rock star, which is what you wanted in the first place.

5. Deliver error-free, original copy. Don’t plagiarize.

I shouldn’t have to say any of this, but you want to consistently produce great work. Proofread, proofread, proofread. Know your weaknesses and edit for them. Don’t plagiarize, period. Keep in mind that unintentional plagiarism is still plagiarism. (And it can happen more easily than you think, even to the best of us.) Grammarly has a good article on how to avoid plagiarism. And here’s my video on proofreading tips and tricks.

6. Keep learning.

Take courses, attend webinars, and go to conferences like Inbound if that’s your thing. The most successful people never stop learning. Plus, consider how much copywriting and marketing have changed in the last two decades. Now, with the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT, we will see even more changes. You must keep up by reading (see my first point above) and educating yourself.

7. Play Devil’s Advocate.

I’m not suggesting you become a contrarian. But clients often need reality checks with their marketing. If they’re going down a road that doesn’t make sense for them, speak up. They might not listen, but you’ll have planted the seed. And sometimes they will listen. I have a client who’s told me I’ve saved their company a lot of money over the years because of the questions I ask and my Devil’s Advocate position on many topics.

8. Learn your strengths and lean into them. Be mindful of your weaknesses.

I mentioned this earlier in the point about writing well. But your strengths and weaknesses will extend well beyond your writing capabilities. You’ll have specific strengths in running a business, maintaining records, networking, etc. The same is true for weaknesses. Lean into your strengths, but know your weaknesses so that you can mitigate them.

9. Learn how to ask for feedback and accept feedback.

Oh, man. Asking for feedback and giving feedback are essential skills for a copywriter . . . and some of the most challenging skills to develop. There’s a talent to each. And both require regular practice. Here’s a good article on how to give feedback to writers. After reading it, you’ll understand what feedback you can expect (and how to request it). You’ll also learn how to give helpful feedback.

10. Strive for work-life balance.

Most of us hear this advice all the time. And you might be thinking, “Well, if I want to be a great copywriter, I need to be working all the time, especially in the beginning.” I’m not going to lie: You might need to work a lot when you’re starting out, and not just on client work, but marketing your business, putting together a copywriting portfolio, and networking. But there’s a difference between “a lot” and “all the time.” Working all the time isn’t going to make you a good or great copywriter. It will make you overtired, grumpy, possibly resentful, and more prone to making mistakes. Take breaks. Get sleep. Eat well. Schedule time for fun things, even if that means simply watching a 30-minute show on Netflix.

Got a question for the Copy Bitch?

Contact me or visit my YouTube channel and leave a comment on one of my videos. I might make a blog post or video with the answer.

What is a Primary Source and a Secondary Source?

by

In my YouTube video on blog writing style, I talked about the importance of bringing in primary sources to enrich your blog posts (and other writing, like white papers). A viewer asked me if I had any tips on finding good primary sources.

Before I answer that question, we need to take a step back and discuss sources in general. And that brings me to the subject of this blog post. (I also recorded a video on this topic. Scroll to the end if that’s more your jam.)

Here’s what I’m going to discuss below:

  • Why you need good, reliable sources in content marketing
  • How to evaluate a source’s credibility, reliability, and accuracy
  • What is a primary source and a secondary source
  • My go-to place for quickly finding lots of primary and secondary sources about a topic
  • A recent example of how I used primary and secondary sources in a blog post for a client

Why do you need good, reliable sources in content marketing anyway?

You might be thinking, “Heck, I’m writing a blog post about a long-tail keyword phrase for a client that’s ultimately trying to draw in a prospective customer to buy what the client is selling. Why on earth do I need to worry about sources? This isn’t an eleventh-grade English class; I’m not writing an academic paper.”

That’s all true.

But using reliable, accurate sources lends credibility to what you’re writing. Are you trying to create light fluff with generalizations and hazy stats that sound suspect? Or are you trying to create a compelling piece that educates and inspires action of some kind?

This is the biggest problem I have with AI right now—and why I’m not worried about AI coming for my job as a freelance copywriter. AI technology hasn’t evolved anywhere close to what a human can bring to the table. AI simply scans the vastness of content already in existence and, through complex algorithms, culls what it’s been programmed to deem as relevant and salient—and then it spits out a narrative.

But how reliable is AI? Not very, based on what we’re seeing. Yes, it gets a lot of stuff right. It also gets a lot of stuff wrong. And where the heck is it getting the right stuff and wrong stuff from—that’s the thing you need to ask yourself.

And it’s precisely WHY you always need to cite sources in your blog posts, white papers, and ebooks—and it’s your responsibility to evaluate said sources before you include them in the first place.

  • Is the source reputable?
  • Is the source reliable?
  • Does the source have an agenda?
  • If you’re dealing with statistics, are they recent?

The definition of “recent” will vary, depending on the topic. For example, health data is a moving target and is often updated regularly. Always aim to find the most recent data and statistics available.

I’m linking to a media bias chart that I encourage you to check out. It provides an excellent starting point on what media publications and news outlets you should consider using—and avoiding—when doing research and citing sources.

Using reliable, reputable, accurate sources shows the reader that you’ve done your due diligence.

For example, let’s say someone is searching for information on kidney stones. Maybe they recently had one and they want to learn ways to prevent a future stone . . . or what to do if they suspect they have another one.

First, they land on a blog post written in the first person where someone talks about their experience with one kidney stone and their “cure” for preventing any subsequent stones from forming. The cure involves a recipe with herbs that the writer says people should drink once a day if they’ve had a kidney stone. There are no stats or sources for this supposed cure.

But in another article, the writer provides official stats on the prevalence of kidney stones (from a reliable source like The National Institutes of Health), tips for foods to eat and avoid (from the National Kidney Foundation), and an interview from a urologist who regularly treats kidney stones and who offers six tips for preventing them.

See the difference?

OK, so how do you evaluate a source’s credibility, reliability, and accuracy?

This is not the place to attempt to break new ground. Go with the gold standards. (A caveat is that I’m US-based, so I’m writing this from a specific lens in terms of what are considered reliable, credible, and accurate sources.)

Sources I consider credible, reliable, and accurate:

  • Pubs and outlets in the middle column (labeled “neutral) in the media bias chart
  • Official US government statistics and data (e.g., census data, Department of Labor stats on various industries, National Institutes of Health, etc.)
  • Interviews with true subject matter experts (SMEs) in their field. A urologist is an expert in kidney stones, but not brain cancer. And I’m not going to quote SMEs who are considered controversial. During the pandemic, a clutch of MDs had vastly different opinions from the majority of other MDs regarding vaccines. Your job as a copywriter isn’t to stir the pot (unless it is, but that will likely be rare). Again, you don’t want the source you use to get in the way of the information you’re trying to impart.
  • Other reliable primary sources (more on this in a moment)
  • Reliable secondary sources (more on this below)

So what is a primary source and a secondary source?

Don’t let the word “primary” fool you. It doesn’t automatically mean “better” than secondary. Think “original” and “first-hand” when you hear the word primary:

  • Original documents, like the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address
  • Original letters and diaries: Letters between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, letters between John Adams and Abigail Adams, The Diary of Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
  • Original video and photos. OK, so we live in an age where deep fake videos are a thing and, of course, it’s easy to manipulate photos. So keep that in mind when looking at contemporary videos and photos. But footage and photos from, say, Woodstock or one of the World Wars—those are all primary sources. The footage people capture of events today on their cell phones is a primary source (think of all the footage we’ve seen over the last several years involving police shootings). Police body cam video would also be a primary source.
  • Interviews with people who can provide first-hand or contemporary accounts of an event or topic. As a copywriter, you’ll likely be interviewing “subject matter experts” or SMEs, as we say in the biz. Your SMEs will often be from your client’s company . . . or a client’s customer (when writing a case study). For example, if you’re doing work for a manufacturing company, you might interview the head engineer on a new product they just released. Or if your client throws a 50th-anniversary party with clients and employees and you’re writing a blog post about the event, you might interview people who attended the party. Again, they’re giving first-hand accounts of the event. While these sorts of interviews are considered primary sources, you always have to ask yourself if the person you’re interviewing is reliable and credible. Think about it this way: five people can witness the same car accident . . . and all will have a slightly different “take,” right? That’s why eyewitness accounts, while compelling, aren’t always reliable, even though they are considered primary sources. (And it’s a great example of why “primary” doesn’t automatically mean “better.”)
    • NERD ALERT: Are you a fan of The Newsroom on HBO? I’m a big Aaron Sorkin fan and love this show. Season 2 deals with this entire topic—primary sources, how you decide if someone is credible, and what happens when a source (or the format it’s presented in) gets manipulated. This is something that’s becoming more problematic in our world, given the rise of deep fake videos.
  • Original research. Again, anyone can produce “research.” You want to look for reputable, reliable research. The gold standard in scientific and academic settings is research published in peer-reviewed journals. And yes, since all research is being conducted by fallible humans, even reputable research in reputable journals can miss at times. Which means mistakes happen. And sometimes research, even in respected places, is retracted. (Here’s a famous example.) So you have to keep that in mind. But my point is . . . if you’re doing an article on vaccines, for example, you’re probably going to want to rely on research from places like JAMA rather than a fringe publication. Unless, again, you’re trying to stir the pot.
  • Official statistics and data. Anyone can spout a statistic. We see that all the time on social media. “The majority of folks believe X.” OK, well, how is “majority” defined, in this case, and where did the statistic originate from? What was the study? Has it been replicated? Peer-reviewed? And yes—it’s really hard for lay people (including me) without any training in statistics or statistical analysis to look at data and draw conclusions. People spend years in school learning how to do this accurately.

I rely on places like government sources for data and stats on things related to health, economics, industry stats (for example, the number of truck drivers in the US), and things like that. Another go-to would be The American Cancer Society for all things related to cancer since its stats are always current and reliable.

Another good source for stats on a wide variety of topics is Statista. It describes itself as “the statistics portal for market data” and offers “insights and facts across 170 industries and 150+ countries.” You can access free statistics, but it also has paid options for unlocking even more. I don’t currently pay—I usually can find what I need from the free database.

What is a secondary source?

A secondary source is only one step removed from a primary source. And it usually relies on and/or refers to the primary source. But it brings in additional insight, interpretation, analysis, research, and commentary.

  • Primary Source: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
  • Secondary Source: All About Anne by The Anne Frank House

Again, you have to always consider the reliability and credibility of the secondary source. Because anyone can “write” a secondary source. I could write blog posts about Anne Frank. But the secondary source listed above that’s written by the Anne Frank House Museum is a much better source, given the access it has to original materials and the vast knowledge base its curators and people have.

See the difference?

Your writing will likely have a good mix of primary sources and secondary sources.

For most stuff you write, you’ll likely be interviewing subject matter experts (a primary source), referring to official data and stats (primary sources), and rounding out our research with credible secondary sources (like articles about a specific topic).

What’s my go-to place for quickly finding lots of primary and secondary sources quickly?

English teachers will cringe at what I’m about to say. But my go-to place for doing initial research often is Wikipedia. I don’t recommend linking to Wikipedia as your source. But Wikipedia is a great place to do research because Wikipedia’s articles do a lot of the heavy lifting for you thanks to all the citations within.

If you’ve ever read a piece on Wikipedia, you’ve likely seen the superscript numbers referring to footnotes. Those numbers are hyperlinked, so you click on one, and it brings you to the footnote at the bottom of the page, which is where you’ll find the source information—and those are usually hyperlinked as well. So you can often find reliable primary and secondary sources in those footnotes.

Sure, sometimes links are broken. And yes, some articles have better sources than others. But it gives you a great place to start.

Again, you won’t use Wikipedia AS your source, with very few exceptions. I know in my own personal blogs, I’ve linked to Wikipedia. And I have a memory of a client’s blog where I linked to Wikipedia for a non-serious topic. I can’t recall what the topic was, but I do remember highlighting the fact I was deliberately linking to Wikipedia by saying, “According to our good friend Wikipedia . . . ” (or something to that effect).

But 99% of the time, you’re going to want to link to a solid primary or secondary source.

Here’s a recent example of how I wrote a blog post for a client with a mix of reliable primary and secondary sources

One of my clients does compliance in the transportation space, mainly for trucking companies. For Women’s History Month, the client tasked me with writing a blog post about women truck drivers throughout history.

I started by googling “women truck drivers in history” and “first woman truck driver” and things like that. This brought up some names, including Luella Bates.

And luckily Luella Bates has a Wikipedia page. Score! From that page, I learned about her—and I got links to truly great primary sources, including clips of articles from 1920 where she was interviewed and quoted. Talk about great color for my piece!

(Again, a newspaper clip where a person is quoted would be considered a primary source.)

For another woman, Lillie Drennan, I couldn’t find a Wikipedia page, but the Texas State Historical Association had a whole page dedicated to her. Drennan was the first woman to hold a commercial driver’s license in Texas. That’s a great example of a reliable secondary source.

You can read the finished piece here: Women in Transportation: Celebrating Industry Pioneers.

When it comes to doing research for content marketing, use your best judgment.

The more blog posts, white papers, ebooks, and other marketing content you write, the faster and more adept you’ll become at conducting research. You’ll get a sense of where to go for certain stats and which publications provide the most reliable and accurate info.

When you’re not sure about something, use your best judgment and always err on the side of caution. If a statistic sounds too good to be true—or you can’t easily find its origins—it probably is too good to be true. Don’t be lazy with your stats. (Says someone who is certain she HAS been lazy at some point in the last 20+ years.) Go find one from a reputable source.

Got questions? Ask the Copy Bitch.

That’s me—I’m the Copy Bitch. 🙂 You can browse through more blog posts, visit my YouTube channel (again, the video about this particular topic is below), or ask me a question. Contact me or leave a comment on my YouTube channel.

Happy writing!