WEBVTT 00:00.420 --> 00:06.300 I know this section was more about copywriting and not necessarily blogging but I do want to include 00:06.300 --> 00:10.930 some tips for writing better articles because Content Marketing is so important. 00:10.930 --> 00:16.560 It's a big part of the success that I've had as an online based business. 00:16.710 --> 00:23.430 But even if you're not an online business writing good blog articles can drive a lot of traffic to your 00:23.430 --> 00:25.050 products and services. 00:25.050 --> 00:27.810 So here are some tips for writing better articles. 00:27.810 --> 00:31.320 The first tip is to research and use proper keywords. 00:31.710 --> 00:36.720 Obviously you want to write articles that people are going to be searching for there's no point in writing 00:36.720 --> 00:38.970 an article if no one's going to find it. 00:38.970 --> 00:42.510 No one's going to be searching for it unless it's just for your own pleasure. 00:42.600 --> 00:48.000 But because we're a business we want to make sure that we have some sort of result from the time spent 00:48.240 --> 00:49.410 writing articles. 00:49.410 --> 00:53.850 But of course the world is seven billion people big and billions of people are on the Internet. 00:53.850 --> 00:59.130 So even if you're writing an article about a very specific topic you might have a good chance of getting 00:59.130 --> 01:01.520 traffic over time. 01:01.620 --> 01:07.170 One key thing to note though is that you can write the best article in the world or you can use the 01:07.170 --> 01:12.300 greatest headline you can have the best keywords you're probably not going to get a lot of traffic on 01:12.300 --> 01:14.470 that very first day that you publish. 01:14.490 --> 01:17.220 It takes a while to build up a reputation. 01:17.280 --> 01:23.400 And what I mean by that is a history of reputation on the Google search engines or of different search 01:23.430 --> 01:30.360 engines because with one article your web site is not going to be found as easily but as you post more 01:30.360 --> 01:37.200 articles and more people do visit your site your web sites as or search engine optimization is going 01:37.200 --> 01:37.740 to increase. 01:37.740 --> 01:44.220 So if you do start writing articles on more specific topics your articles will be seen sooner than your 01:44.220 --> 01:49.020 first ones so I don't want you to get frustrated when you're not getting a lot of traffic when just 01:49.020 --> 01:49.780 starting out. 01:49.860 --> 01:54.720 This is a long term play and that's the greatest thing about blog articles is that they have a long 01:54.720 --> 01:55.410 lifespan. 01:55.440 --> 02:01.650 Generally your blog articles should last at least a couple of years unless they become irrelevant on 02:01.650 --> 02:03.390 the topic or something changes. 02:03.450 --> 02:06.430 So how do you actually do research and find keywords to use. 02:06.450 --> 02:12.450 Well one of the first things is to not go too deep into research and just think what are the 10 things 02:12.450 --> 02:17.850 that my customer is going to ask what do they what are their pain points and we've already done this 02:18.300 --> 02:21.090 what questions do they have and think about it. 02:21.090 --> 02:27.510 Or as people survey your audience survey people online using social media and just see what are they 02:27.510 --> 02:28.890 struggling with. 02:28.920 --> 02:33.920 Also just do a search for your topic on Google and see what other articles are out there. 02:33.960 --> 02:38.210 Do it search for your topic on YouTube and see what other videos are out there. 02:38.250 --> 02:44.040 You know I don't want you to copy what other people are doing but having an article about this topic 02:44.040 --> 02:50.400 or a video about each topic or each question under your own brand is a good idea. 02:50.430 --> 02:55.470 That's one of my strategies is just finding what people what other people are making and doing it in 02:55.470 --> 03:02.780 my own style some next level keyword research ideas are using the Google Keyword planner that's available 03:02.790 --> 03:08.010 if you have an ad words account with Google we're going to be going more over Google hours in the future 03:08.460 --> 03:12.180 or just using Google Trends if you search for Google Trends. 03:12.180 --> 03:18.390 They have a great tool that allows you to find what items are trending right now what topics are trending 03:18.450 --> 03:25.410 and you can even compare to other topics to see if hey do you want to write an article about this one 03:25.470 --> 03:31.890 or that one or this product or that product you can see which ones are more trending and that's generally 03:31.890 --> 03:35.820 a better sign to write articles about that kind of content. 03:35.820 --> 03:39.660 Our next tip is to be generous and give lots for free. 03:40.110 --> 03:44.760 If you're worried that you're giving too much away for free too much good content. 03:44.760 --> 03:47.080 Don't worry that's probably a good sign. 03:47.100 --> 03:54.420 The best companies that I know give so much good free information out especially online brands and online 03:54.420 --> 03:55.770 media brands. 03:55.770 --> 04:01.320 Now this isn't true for every type of business you can't just be giving away free items if you're a 04:01.350 --> 04:04.440 brick and mortar store but the free trial does work. 04:04.440 --> 04:06.380 Giving away freebies does work. 04:06.600 --> 04:11.110 But in terms of writing articles make sure that you're writing super duper high quality. 04:11.220 --> 04:12.510 You're not holding back. 04:12.510 --> 04:17.250 You're giving it all to the audience because that's how people start to like know and trust you. 04:17.330 --> 04:21.000 And if they do that they're more likely to purchase your product or service. 04:21.000 --> 04:24.780 Our next tip is to attract the right people. 04:24.810 --> 04:26.220 We've talked about knowing your audience. 04:26.220 --> 04:31.110 It's just important to make sure that you're serving that specific audience and if it's an audience 04:31.110 --> 04:35.580 that doesn't have money and isn't going to support your business and you can't build a business off 04:35.580 --> 04:38.090 of while you might need to pick a different audience. 04:38.100 --> 04:44.190 But make sure that you're attracting the right people who not only appreciate your content but will 04:44.190 --> 04:47.680 actually eventually be a customer of yours. 04:47.700 --> 04:53.920 A few important things are your subject lines intros and conclusions in that order. 04:53.940 --> 04:59.370 A lot of people will only click on an article based off of the subject line and once they do that they'll 04:59.370 --> 05:02.720 read that intro and then skim down to the conclusion so. 05:02.810 --> 05:07.850 Pay special attention when you're writing those intros and conclusions because a lot of people won't 05:07.910 --> 05:09.810 read what's in between. 05:09.830 --> 05:15.290 So have your calls to actions have links to other articles or talk about your products or services. 05:15.440 --> 05:19.030 In the intro and outros now you don't want to make it to sales. 05:19.040 --> 05:21.410 You don't want to make it always seemed like a sales pitch. 05:21.560 --> 05:26.440 But make sure that you're giving them the option to take the next step. 05:26.510 --> 05:31.790 Include an email opt in form at the end of your article or even right after the intro. 05:31.790 --> 05:36.220 Include a little lead magnet that's specific to that article right after the intro. 05:36.230 --> 05:39.020 This is a great way to grow your email list. 05:39.030 --> 05:44.330 Another important tip is to build curiosity with the first sentence people are reading your article 05:44.330 --> 05:47.230 is because they're wondering what it's about. 05:47.240 --> 05:48.910 They're wondering what you're going to say. 05:49.070 --> 05:52.870 So feed on that and build more curiosity. 05:53.030 --> 05:54.540 Ask questions. 05:54.710 --> 05:59.840 Make bold statements things that will make the reader say that's interesting. 05:59.870 --> 06:00.920 I want to read more. 06:01.010 --> 06:03.440 And it's also important to break up text. 06:03.470 --> 06:10.520 Make sure you are using your headings your other formatting tools like bullet points lists LOC quotes 06:10.790 --> 06:16.670 images photos use anything to make it a little bit more interesting and not feel like they're having 06:16.670 --> 06:17.750 to read an essay.