Voice search is the next big trend that’s going to hit marketers, particularly when it comes to SEO and website optimisation. Research by ComScore predicts that in 2020, around 50% of all searches will be done using voice. While mobile search transformed the way we optimised website content, voice search is likely to have a similarly significant impact on the way we write and present content online. The way people search using voice is very different from how they type into a search bar and this is something all marketers are going to need to start thinking about if they want their content to remain effective online. Here are five tips to help you make your content more voice search friendly: Pick long tail keywords or sentences. Unlike when they’re typing, when people are talking into a voice assistant like Siri, it’s unlikely they will use clunky keywords like, “dentist Sydney.” Voice search is typically more conversational, for example a person might say something like, “find a cosmetic dentist in Sydney CBD.” This means you need to start targeting longer phrases in your content and think about how someone would ask for your products or services in conversation rather than what they would type in a search bar. Be specific. There’s no room for vagaries when you’re talking to a voice assistant. We’ve all experienced the frustration of trying to get information and having a voice assistant completely misunderstand a single word or phrase. Searchers know this and they strive to be as specific as possible to get the most accurate answer they can. If you want to come...
As a freelance writer, pitching for work can feel like being on a treadmill of emails, follow ups and rejections. Even if you have a regular stream of steady work, sooner or later there will come a time when you need to get out there and pitch your services to potential clients. A great pitch email will help you stand out from the crowd, show your expertise and encourage your prospect to hire you rather than any of your competitors. So just how do you write a perfect pitch email? Here are a few dos and don’ts to help keep you on track. Do: Keep it short: Chances are the person you’re pitching to is busy, evaluating multiple pitches, and doesn’t have time to read through a lengthy essay. Keep it to three paragraphs or less – if they want to know more, they will ask. Provide relevant examples: It’s always a good idea to provide links to samples in your pitch email, but make sure they are relevant to the job at hand. This reinforces your expertise. Tailor your pitch to the job or client: Make sure each and every pitch is specifically tailored to the job or client. Address the specifics of the project and show how you’re a good fit. You’ll have a much better chance of success if you tailor your response as it shows you’ve thought about the job and you’ve taken the time to address the different aspects of the project. Check and double check for typos: There’s no worse feeling than hitting send on a carefully crafted pitch email and promptly noticing...
Have you ever wanted to be the owner of an award-winning business? Entering (and winning!) local business awards is a great way to boost your business profile and get the edge over the competition. Not only do you get bragging rights and recognition for your skills and talents, you’ll be able to market yourself as an award winner. This is a great way to prove your credibility and impress potential customers or clients. Many of the most prestigious small business awards have hundreds if not thousands of entries so you’ll need to put some time and effort into your submission if you want to impress the judges. How do you write a winning business award submission? Here are a few of our top tips and tricks. 1.Read the question carefully. While at first glance they might all seem the same, we’ve found that the majority of award submission questions differ ever so slightly in their wording. This means that preparing one stock standard answer and using it for all your submissions is not going to work. You’ll need to tailor your answer to the exact question being answered and reading it carefully is the first step to doing that. When you’re writing your answer, make sure you use similar wording as the question so the judges can see you’re addressing the specific criteria. 2.Stick within the word limit. Keeping within the word count is often one of the hardest parts of writing award submissions. This is one case where less is more, but trying to cram a year’s worth of achievements into 300 words can be challenging to say...
Briefing is the most important stage of any freelance writing job. If a project goes wrong or a client is not happy, more often than not, the problem can be traced back to the brief. Spending a bit of time upfront getting the brief right can save you hours of rewriting, and reduce the risk you’ll have unhappy clients and negative feedback. The purpose of the brief The brief is a simple set of questions that you ask the client before starting a new project. As well as giving you the instructions for what to write (and how to write it), the brief is an agreed upon point of reference in the event of a dispute or if the client is not happy with the end result. Ask the right questions and you’ll have a much better chance of nailing it first time and avoiding endless rewrites and frustration on both sides. So how much should you ask? A good brief is not too long, while still covering everything you need to know to complete the job to your client’s specifications. Before you get in depth it’s a good idea to cover off the basics, like: Type of content (webpage, blog, social post etc) Number of pages Length of content (usually this is given as number of words) What the content is about. Once you’ve got the basics covered, you’ll want to ask a few more in depth questions so you can really understand what the client is looking for in terms of style, tone and what they want the content to achieve. Here are five questions you should...
Fear is a powerful motivator, and it has been used to persuade people to do or buy things for decades, if not centuries. Many marketers still rely on fear-based marketing to encourage customers to buy their product, by waxing lyrical on the awful things that will happen if they don’t. But are these kinds of scare tactics still relevant in modern marketing? Why is fear such a powerful marketing tool? Fear is hardwired into humans as a survival mechanism. When we’re afraid, our bodies release adrenaline, which motivates us to act fast. This is also why it’s such an effective sales technique! While inducing a state of outright panic in your prospects is probably not your goal, techniques like limited time offers and urgency based marketing create similar sensations by making a customer anxious about missing out on a good deal or limited edition product. This in turn makes them more likely to buy quickly or impulsively. Fear based marketing is frequently used for industries like insurance, security and health products by showing us a gloomy scenario of what could happen if we don’t buy the product or service in question. Many cleaning product marketers also use scare tactics, by painting a picture of a germ ridden floor crawling with nasties waiting to attack our children. Physical fear is the fear of being robbed or losing your home due to a fire, but marketing can also play on social fears. Fear of judgement, of exclusion and failure are all valid fears that can, and frequently are, used to manipulate us into thinking we need a particular product or service....
