The Future of Content is Parasocial

Think about the content you seek out in your free time.

The newsletters you read.

The podcasts you listen to.

The YouTube channels you subscribe to.

The influencer accounts you check in on even if you don’t follow the person because you don’t really need them in your feed, but you like to know what’s going on with them from time to time. (Wait…does anyone else do this? Just me?)

There’s a shift happening, and it’s been happening for a while now.

For years, companies and content marketers have been approaching content creation from topic-first angle. They say, “We’re going all in on X topic to be the authority on this particular subject matter!”

For many, it’s a search engine optimization play.

For others, it’s because of direction from leadership, which, is logical, because if you’re selling something, you should probably create content related to the thing, right? To educate your customers, help them use the product, etc.

Of course this type of content creation still has its place. It’s not going away.

But here’s the thing.

People trust people. People trust recommendations from people they know, even if they only know them in the context of a para-social relationship. And this is how sales are made. This is influence.

A few data points to back this up:

• 37% of consumers trust social media influencers over brands

• 28% of consumers discover new products and brands through influencers, with Gen Z most likely to discover products and brands this way (32%)

• 84% of Gen Z has purchased products in direct response to social media content

Influence is no longer limited to celebrities, to brands with enough money for TV advertisements, and to other traditional media outlets (magazines, movies, radio, etc.)

Social media has made influence far more accessible. And people with influence often don’t restrain themselves to a single theme or category.

Think about public figures like Emma Chamberlain. Charli D'Amelio. Logan Paul. They’ve drawn massive audiences with their personalities and the signature style in which they create. People seek out these creators not because they’re teaching them how to 10X their ecommerce revenue or because they’re experts on email marketing. They seek them out because they like them, they like the stuff they create, and they feel a sense of friendship with those people, even if only in an online context.

The truth of the matter is: The future of mass-influence in the content creation space isn’t going to be niche. It’s going to be parasocial.

Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships where one person spends emotional energy, interest, and time, and the other party, the persona, is completely unaware of the other’s existence.

Despite the one-sided nature of parasocial relationships, they’re very real.

I mean…have you ever listened to a podcast and felt a sense of friendship with the hosts? Watched a vlog from your favorite YouTube vlogger and felt personally invested, maybe even rooted for the “main character” there?

I bet you have.

Studies show parasocial relationships are voluntary, provide companionship, and are influenced by social attraction. Viewers experience a connection with the media user and express feelings of affection, gratitude, longing, encouragement, and loyalty toward them.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, as my friend Ronnie Higgins, Director of Content at OpenPhone brought up the topic, saying this:

“This trend towards seeking people (not faceless brands or other entities) is driven by the underlying need to connect with other humans. We crave lived experiences and the perspectives shaped by them. It’s much more relatable. I think this current trend is exasperated by the abundance of content. Humanity publishes an unfathomable amount of content each day—something like 375 billion gigabytes of data per day. That's more than anyone of us can ever consume in our lifetimes (or multiple), so we need to rely on social cues to offset the high search and opportunity costs (AKA the time/effort required to find and consume content). It's a shortcut to avoid misinformation or being influenced by an entity with opaque goals.”

The bottom line here: People with true influence don’t limit themselves to a category or topic. They follow their interest and let their personalities lead the way. And that’s the future of content.

Some companies are already realizing this and are acquiring creators/shows/audiences built by these types of creators.

• Some Good News, a media company founded by actor John Krasinski, was acquired by ViacomCBS.

• Hubspot acquired Sam Parr’s newsletter The Hustle.

There are a lot of examples of big companies buying up personality-driven media outlets as a play to acquire their audiences. The problem, however, is that if the people fronting this content duck out after their payday, the magic often drains away.

Why? Because it wasn’t the content the audience really cared about. It was the host, the creator.

So what can we learn from this?

If you're thinking about launching a new newsletter, a podcast, a YouTube channel, etc., consider not limiting yourself to a theme. Consider NOT talking about what you do for work. Consider being yourself and talking about the things you think are interesting, unique, and noteworthy through your unique lens on the world.

If your company is considering doing the same...maybe take that off the in-house team's plate. Is there an external creator who'd be a better fit? Someone with taste, a unique POV, and proof of product in the audience they've already built?

It might be a better investment, and you'll have a competitive edge.

I think this quote about the future of influence from Brent Leary at CRM Essentials sums things up nicely:

"Millennials and Gen Z create and extend relationships in a completely different way than their parents' generations did, and that impacts who they trust, and how that trust translates into basic activities like learning, shopping and relationship building. It's time for brands to rethink how they connect with customers outside of the traditional or controlled marketing channels. By building out a strong and authentic online presence, businesses have an opportunity to collaborate and leverage creator communities and social platforms that are equipped to provide more genuine buying and service experiences."

How to Build a Style Guide

Can you put out quality content without a documented style guide?​

The answer, as always, is: It depends.

BUT: I will say that if you’re hiring freelance writers who are external to your organization (or if you’re having people across various departments write for a company), it is hard.

Consistency is often lacking across voice/tone/formatting, and the result is that the organization communicates in a way that’s all over the place (which cuts away at its ethos.)

This is why about two years ago, I added a question to the intake form on my website asking potential clients whether or not they had a content strategy in place (part of this being a documented style guide.)

The reason: There were too many times when I’d agreed to work with a content team wanting to move quickly, only to find that without this piece of documentation, things got…challenging.

• It was hard to discern the brand’s desired voice/tone.

• The editing process took longer.

• I didn’t have the context I needed on the target audience.

Now, I exclusively work with companies that have a documented style guide.

As a result, we spend less time on the phone catching each other up to speed, the overall quality of work is improved, the editing process is a breeze, and my clients are generally happier with the content I create for them.

So…how do you create a style guide? And what should it include?

Over the past eight years of doing this work full-time, I’ve seen a vast spectrum of what this can look like: Some are 25-page-long novels, others are a simple one-pager.

• If the style guide is too in-depth, writers may feel overwhelmed (and, let’s be real: No one’s going to remember every single thing you covered, so it’s often wasted energy.)

• If it’s too brief, you may give writers too much editorial freedom (and be disappointed with the off-base outcome.)

In my experience, the sweet spot is on the shorter side of things (three pages or less), but includes a few key areas that are the absolute essentials. We’ll get to those in just a sec.

A few must-haves in a style guide

When you work on building out a style guide, there are a few basics to cover.

I have a style guide template available for purchase if you’re interested in the complete list of elements I think are important to have in this document that’s part of a larger bundle, but if this isn't something you’re interested in buying, here’s the bird’s eye view:

• Objective: What is the end goal of the content you’re putting out? What do you hope it achieves? This might be SEO, conversions, event signups, etc.

• Company overview: What the organization does, plus its mission/values/differentiators.

• Audience: Who you’re writing for (customer personas are helpful here.)

• Voice/tone: At the very least, you need some descriptors of how the writing voice should sound, but ideally there are examples that show what this looks like in action (plus some do’s and don’ts.)

• Style: Notes on grammar, desired reading level, and preferred editing handbook.

• Technical language/word choice: Share if there are any words to avoid, the brand's stance on technical language, and a brief glossary of key terms the audience would expect to see.

What to do with a completed style guide

Once the style guide is done, share this resource as part of your onboarding process with new writers, but also share it with your existing team working on customer-facing writing.

Keep in mind that this should be a living document, not something you build once and then never revisit. Organizations evolve over time, and often the target audiences do, too. That means your style guide needs to change along with it and be regularly updated.

For people working with large teams and multiple freelancers, editing can quickly become a chore if you add the layer of reviewing for cohesion with the style guide on top of editing for flow and quality of content.

That’s where an automated tool like Writer makes things easy: It's an AI writing assistant that automates the correction of off-brand writing in real-time that's based 100% on a brand style guide. Think of it like Grammarly, but way more advanced. It’s pretty handy tech, and a huge time-saver.

Final thought here: Yes, you can produce quality content without a style guide. You can hire talented writers that have a knack for writing and just let them do their thing.

But having some basic guidelines also never hurt nobody. That's my take.

Blog Content Strategy for 2022

If you own a company and are interested in starting a blog, what should you know?

Content creation (see also: blogging) can be overwhelming if you’ve never done it before. There are many questions to be answered, such as:

• Where do you start?

• How do you decide on what kind of content to publish?

• Should you write it in-house, or outsource the work?

As an experienced content marketer with more than eight years under my belt in this space, here's what I’d recommend.

Building a content marketing strategy

First things first: Before you even think about writing your first post or reaching out to a freelance writer, you have to define and document your overall marketing strategy.

This includes:

• Identifying the target audience

• Defining goals and objectives around your content

• Outlining your brand style guide plus general dos and don’ts​

Having these pieces in place is essential to creating impactful content.

Here’s why: As a writer, if I’m asked to work on a piece for a company that doesn’t have its marketing strategy set up yet, I consider it a red flag. It means the company hasn’t yet done its homework to get these basic foundational pieces in place.

In those situations, I usually direct the person I’m speaking with to either a professional content strategist or content strategy templates; both of which can help build out those detailed content strategies.

This way, when they come back to me with a project, they can give me all the information I need to do an excellent job. I’ll know exactly why I’m writing the piece, what the call to action is, and how to structure the piece.

What content should you publish?

Once you have your overarching strategy in place, you next need to figure out what kind of content to blog about to drive traffic to your site and attention to your product.

How? The best way is to ask your audience members.

Ask them what kind of content they’re interested in seeing from you. They're the only ones who know. Asking them will help you prioritize your content creation based on what they want.

“When it comes to what content to create, first, go to your users and ask them what they want to learn about. The rest of the time, you’re just guessing and making assumptions.”

In doing this, you may discover there are gaps in their knowledge you can fill or questions they have you can answer.

You may think you already know what your customers want, but I guarantee there’ll be some surprises if you put in the effort to survey them.

Educational and trend-focused content

If you’re still feeling stuck, look to educational content. It’s a fairly safe bet. Educate the customer on what you’re selling, how to get the most out of it, and tips and tricks. This approach is usually the foundation of a Knowledge Base that lives on the site long-term with valuable “how-to” style content.

Another strategy is to publish content that centers on the trends within the ecosystem where the product lives. By creating content that goes beyond your own product, you can position yourself as an authority in the niche your product sits in.

“Become a go-to source for news and trends in your niche. You know what’s happening there, so comment on it and position yourself as the expert.”

Staying on top of trends, emerging patterns, and news affecting your niche ecosystem will allow you to provide an extra layer of value for your users that is separate from the product you’re selling.

Not only will these two basic approaches help differentiate you from other companies, but it can also open up a huge new area of topics for you to explore on your blog.

Promote and repackage: a multi-pronged approach

While I don’t generally help to promote the pieces I write, I work with teams who do. To start promoting content, most leverage email, social media, and personal outreach to the people referenced (either as examples or experts) in your posts.

The most effective methods to promote content today are multi-pronged, so keep in mind that it’s a good idea to work with different formats to promote it across multiple platforms. This is another instance where customer surveying is valuable: Knowing where your customers spend time and what platforms they’re interested in checking is crucial if you want to reach them.

Next, when it comes to repackaging content, there are a couple of ways you can tackle this:

Repackage content into new formats. Some companies I work with repackage the posts I write by using alternate forms of media to make them into something new, whether that be videos or visual infographics. For podcasts, you can easily turn those into narrative-style recaps with a service like Content Remix.​

Refresh old blog posts on your site. Another way to repackage content is by updating your old blog posts. There are so many ways to freshen up content to make it interesting for the reader:

• Editing the post with updated research

• Adding in new perspectives from new sources and experts

• Challenging the original point of the piece based on new data or insights

• Going deeper with new research, findings, etc.

By doing this, your initial piece of content becomes even more valuable.

In my opinion, not enough companies take advantage of the content they already have sitting in the backlogs; opting instead to create entirely new content.

But what’s the point of investing money into quality content if it’s not going to serve you well over time?

Invest in quality content

When I think about the pieces I’ve written over the years, the ones that are the highest performing two and three years post-publishing are the pieces that took the longest to research, develop, write, and edit.

To me, this is a testament to investing in quality, long-form blog posts; ones that will build authority in your subject niche and that have an evergreen aspect to them.

Why work with freelancers?

Far too often, companies get so used to doing everything on their own that they end up overextending. They forget to outsource work, even when doing so could free up valuable time for their employees to work on more pressing tasks.

There’s no reason your in-house employees should have to spend entire days writing content if there’s an option to outsource the work to a freelance writer who has expertise in the subject matter. Find someone who can draw from their specific pool of knowledge and effectively streamline the creative process for you using your company’s marketing guidelines. (If you need help with this, let’s talk.)

My last piece of advice: if you’re interested in working with a freelancer for the first time, try to get a referral from someone you know rather than through cold leads (Twitter and Slack are good places to put out feelers). This ensures that some kind of validation for the freelancer’s work has gone on behind the scenes.

Your content strategy: Quick recap

To sum up:

• Identify your marketing strategy

• Ask your customers what they want to read from you

• Be creative and multi-pronged in your approach to content promotion and repackaging

• Invest in the creation of quality long-form content

Keep these in mind and you’ll be creating quality blog posts in no time.

Does Your Writing Take a Stance?

There’s a lot of writing out there in the world, but the stuff that stands out in our modern, noisy world seems to follow one approach: It takes a stance.

It puts a stake in the ground and says, “This is what I think and believe to be true. Here’s why.”

Why does it stand out? Because expressing an opinion (especially online) entails a certain level of risk.

• People may disagree with your point of view (and take to social media to start a conversation about it.)

• The internet never forgets, so if you change your mind, someone out there might dig up what you shared in the past and challenge you on it.

• It can spark conflict, confrontation, and disagreements.

Putting your thoughts, feelings, and convictions into writing often feels scary. That’s why so many people just...don’t.

But guess what? Writing that doesn’t take a stance has its downsides, too.

• It can lead to writing that reads as non-committal, wishy-washy, or fluff.

• It can mean surrendering your platform to simply regurgitating what other people think/say on the issue.

• It puts you on the sidelines where you’re not sharing your two cents and using your personal voice.

More and more lately, I find myself seeking out writing that takes a stance. Sometimes I agree with the author; sometimes I don’t. But either way, I appreciate when writers make the brave choice to share their personal thoughts on a topic.​

Take a look at a few standout examples I bookmarked that have come across my desk lately and see what this looks like in action:

1. ​What Do You Mean “You Don’t Have a Bike”?!​

2. ​You Probably Shouldn't Launch on Product Hunt​

3. ​The problem with complaining about the system​

In all three of these examples, the author is coming down on one side of an issue and making an often *very persuasive* case for doing so. They’re shining examples of how to make a case for what you believe in with logic, data, and storytelling that’s all woven together.

So if there’s one thing I can ask you to consider this week as you sit down to write, it’s this: Share what you think.

You are a person with valuable, interesting personal insights. How can you leverage those to make a case for your point of view? It may open the doors to conversations and engagement like you’ve never seen before.

How to Become a Better Writer in 30 Days

Ever launched into a writing practice with a ton of energy, but then got discouraged when you came to your first plateau?

You’ve hit your stride with a regular writing routine…and then, WHAM!

You crash into a wall that brings your progress to a screeching halt.

It’s easy to throw your hands up at this point, but you can and you will keep improving if you don’t give up on writing.

The truth is: You won’t transform into a masterful writer overnight, but you can become a better writer in just 30 days—as long as you have the right approach.

Here’s what you need to consider going into this.

What to do in 30 days to become a better writer

If you want to improve your writing over the next month, you need to write, study, and read every single day. It sounds like a lot, I know…but if you commit to doing all three things for the next 30 days, you’ll be a much stronger, more confident writer.

Your practice also needs to be intentional if you want to see a marked difference in the next 30 days. (So...emailing your sister or chatting in the company Slack channel don’t count.)

The TL;DR version of what you need to do is:

1. Establish a daily writing practice

2. Study writing

3. Read every day

If you're like, "Oh, okay, I think I get it," then I suppose you can stop reading and go on with your day. BUT! I've got a whooooooole lot more advice on each of these steps below. I'd love it if you kept reading.

Step 1: Establish a writing practice

1. Create a daily writing routine

If you want a daily writing habit to stick, you need to bake it into your daily routine. It doesn’t matter when—early in the morning, late at night, or somewhere in between.

What does matter is making sure it’s on your schedule every single day over the next month. Pick a consistent time every day and hold yourself to it. It can be 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour—whatever feels most realistic to you.

That time will likely be cut from some other activity you normally do (like watching TV or scrolling on your phone), but it’s time well spent.

And yes, we all have a spare 15 minutes each day. It’s just a matter of whether or not we care enough to devote it to a different activity.

That said: There will be days that you either don’t feel like writing or have no clue what to write.

That’s okay. Writer’s block strikes us all. But you need to stick to the routine if you want to become a better writer.

Another idea: Get an accountability partner, reward yourself for following through each day with a small prize or treat, or start a jar where you have to pay $X for every day you miss.

These small measures can help keep you on track.

2. Draft internally

While you’re out doing something passive (like walking, driving, washing dishes, folding laundry, etc.) use this time to work on a mental first draft. Even famous authors like Joyce Carol Oates are known for using runs and walks for this very purpose.

It’s sort of like letting your brain work on the topic in the background: I find myself hearing phrases and sentences emerge during this time that I often end up building into the piece.

If it’s helpful, record some voice notes or tap ideas into your phone that you can come back to later (so they don’t float out of your brain to be lost forever.)

3. Hold off on editing

When you sit down to write, resist the urge to make everything *perfect* the first time.

Perfectionism will cripple your writing and might even keep you from improving. You have to get ideas out of your head and onto paper, so write an ugly first draft.

While it may seem counterintuitive, this practice will help you think through your idea in its raw form. It’s a brain dump.

Over the next month, spend your daily writing time writing—no matter how it turns out at first. You can come back to fix it up later.

4. Dabble in other writing styles

Pushing yourself outside of your writing comfort zone can make you a better writer.

You should spend the bulk of your writing time working on your main medium, but you should also set aside some time each week over the next month to write something different.

For example: If you usually write long-form blog posts, try writing some headlines for your favorite companies or product descriptions for the items you use every day. If you spend all day writing landing pages and sales copy, take a stab at explaining one of your hobbies in a blog post.

This exercise will be tough, but it will force you to think about writing from a different perspective. That perspective will give you a well-rounded approach to your daily writing.

5. Use the right tools

The internet puts all sorts of handy tools at your fingertips—so take advantage of them.

Here are some of my favorites when it comes to writing tools:

• Grammarly combs through your writing to find common grammatical and editing mistakes you might have overlooked

• Copy.ai helps generate a variety of ideas when you’re stuck on different facets of writing

• Hemingway app checks for structures that make your writing tough to read (like long sentences and passive verbs)

• Wordtune is great for weeding out repetitive words and suggesting better ones to swap in

If you add these to your daily writing routine, you’ll see the quality of your work shoot up nearly overnight.

6. Read what you write out loud

Reading what you write out loud will help you find your unique writing voice.

Not some edited, ivory tower voice with no personality—your authentic voice. You know: The one you use to rip apart a bad movie with your friends or share good news with your family.

Writing in your own voice makes your work relatable. Readers feel like they’re hearing from a real person with real feelings, not some faceless being.

When you’re reading out loud, ask yourself: “Is this how I’d say that to my co-worker?”

If it’s not, explain to yourself (or call your co-worker and explain it to him or her if you want, and record the conversation.)

Then write it down. That’s your voice.

Step 2: Study writing

If you’re trying to become a better writer over the next 30 days, you need to become a student of writing.

Think of it like this: Do pro sports players only show up to practice and games, then check out for the rest of the week?

Of course not.

• They and their coaches also watch game films.

• They study their own work, the work of their competition, and the work of their idols.

• They’re students of the game, and it makes them much better players.

If you want to become a much better writer, you need to step back from writing and study work you and other people have already done.

Set aside a little bit of time each day for it, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a better writer.

Not sure how to do it? Here are a few ideas to get you started.

7. Work with an honest editor

A great editor is your best friend when it comes to improving your writing.

I mean, it’s fairly hard to become a better writer if there’s no one willing to point out any mistakes (and then suggesting how to improve them.) Editors are your go-to for spotting issues that you may not be able to see on your own.

When looking for an editing partner, seek out someone who is kind, patient...and ruthless.

It’s important they be honest about problems they see without beating you over the head with them and making you feel stupid. This doesn’t have to be a professional editor, either. It can be someone with an external perspective who simply knows good vs. bad writing.

8. Get better at self-editing

On that same note, you also want to learn to self-edit and spot your own writing weaknesses so you can improve them.

Explain what’s wrong with your own writing—can you put your mistakes and possible improvements into words? From there, ask yourself what you can change to fix those errors before you make them.

Are there things you’re doing wrong over and over? Those are simple fixes. Make notes and remind yourself what to look out for as you write.

Remember: Writing is a learned skill, and as such, it requires self-discipline if you want to get better at it.

9. Embrace the reverse outline

Reverse outlining can be your secret weapon for dialing in your writing.

Here’s how it works:

1. Take a paragraph or section that you’ve already written

2. Turn each sentence into a bullet point

3. Follow the paragraph’s information hierarchy to make an outline

Reverse outlining strips away a paragraph’s style and leaves with only the substance and structure.

Ask yourself three questions once you see the outline:

• Does the hierarchy make sense?

• Does the paragraph tell the most important information first then support it?

• Does the paragraph do too much? Should I break it up?

After you have your answers, you can rearrange (or rewrite) the paragraph so it makes more sense.

Step 3: Read every day

One of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve heard comes from Stephen King:

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time—or the tools—to write. Simple as that.”

If you want to become a better writer this month, you should step away from the keyboard and pick up a book for a few minutes every day.

But don’t feel like you can only read non-fiction books about writing this month. Instead, mix in fiction, poetry, education, and the works of writers you look up to.

Each genre will give you a different view of what writing can be and how it affects readers. They’ll arm you with new ideas that you can use to make yourself a much stronger writer.

10. Become a better storyteller by reading fiction

Great fiction writers grab their readers and drag them into the world of their work. Using only words, readers can experience all five senses while reading a novel. It’s powerful.

Expanding your imagination through fiction will help bring your writing to life. You’ll learn to draw your readers in and keep them engaged with your work.

(Psst! Some of my fiction favorites here.)

11. Make your writing more emotion-driven by reading poetry

Poetry forces you to expand your mind while working to understand their imagery and symbolism. It's also a great way to stretch your vocabulary.

Plus: Poetry strengthens your grasp of language and teaches you how to write with emotion and empathy.

You’ll learn to connect with readers' feelings instead of merely transmitting information.

12. Deepen your knowledge by reading non-fiction

Reading non-fiction will improve your knowledge and show you new ways to make an argument and support it.

When flipping through non-fiction, you should ask yourself the following questions:

• How’s it organized? Look carefully at how the author presents information to prove a point.

• What’s important? The main idea of the book should be first and foremost, with plenty of evidence to back it up.

• Does it make sense? Is the writing filled with jargon and technical language that makes you feel like an idiot? This is what *not* to do. Everything should be clear and make sense (without a glossary.)

13. Improve your structure by reading your heroes

Finally, you’ll want to study the style of someone whose writing you really admire.

Ask yourself: Who’s doing what you want to do?

Read for style and presentation. Ask yourself: What is unique about this writer that makes you love their work?

• Is it their subject matter?

• Their style and flair for writing?

• Their expertise?

• Their ability to answer exactly what the reader’s asking?

Once you figure out what makes the writing tick, you can meld their style with your own to become a stronger writer. Reverse-engineer it and make it your own.

You + these strategies + 30 days = Better writer

Ready to get off the plateau and back to improving?

The next 30 days can be the sprint where you make it happen.

Create a daily writing practice, try some new approaches to writing and editing, and increase your reading time.

Need more structure?

My digital book Write Better Right Now is full of even more actionable tips, how-to lessons, and exercises (with a workbook!) that will help you become a better writer.

No matter which approach you take, I'm telling you: 30 days can make a world of difference.

How to Get Readers to Like You in 10 seconds

What if I told you it was possible to make readers like you within 10 seconds of reading?

You’d want to know how to do that, right? (I know I was like: “Um…sign me up!”)

It’s actually pretty easy to do. Here are four ways you can make this happen.

1. Make ‘em laugh

If a writer makes you laugh right off the bat, you’re going to like them. Why? It's science: Laughter cues an endorphin release in the brain. It also levels the playing field with the reader.

However, executing humor is a tough thing in writing; not everything that’s funny to you will be funny to someone else. So how do you write something that’s sure to make a reader internally chuckle, at the very least?

A few tactics I like to test out:

• Quote funny people. If you’re not sure your personal humor will land, find a relevant quote from someone with a more widespread “funny” approval rating and tie it into your opening.

• Poke fun at yourself. A little self-deprecating humor goes a long way. Exaggerate a scene. Never let the truth get in the way of a funny story. Hyperbole is your friend when you’re setting up funny context.

• Keep the humor on the dry side. One of my favorite opening lines is by author Bill Bryson. He writes: “I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.” (This ticks multiple boxes!)

It might take some workshopping to perfect a funny opening, but when you’ve got the kinks worked out, humor puts you in the fast lane to likeability. (There's a lesson on 'how to write funny' in my book, too.)

2. Share your (believable, relatable) flaws

Sharing our shortcomings, flaws, and insecurities (see also: failures) in our writing means that we’re both:

A) self-aware of our imperfections, and
B) willing to be vulnerable with readers.

When we’re honest and vulnerable, it helps readers see us as fellow flawed humans…rather than untouchable, “I’ve got it all figured out” superhumans.

Does this mean you should talk about trauma from deep-seeded family issues or be self-deprecating to a fault? Probably not. Instead, the flaws and imperfections you talk about should be both believable (so, nothing major or grandiose) as well as relatable (so, nothing tied only to your individual life experience.)

Strive for a middle ground when sharing flaws. Tell a story about a time you thought you were going to succeed, but ultimately failed. Talk about experiences with self-doubt, imposter syndrome, or times when obstacles knocked you flat on your face.

Being candid about flaws and failures puts you and the reader on the same page. It says, “Hey, I’m just like you. I mess up, I fall down…and guess what? I survived, and I learned from the experience.”

3. Spotlight your personal achievements (not your privileges)

The flipside of any “I failed” story is that the character usually makes it through to the other side, learns an important lesson, and ultimately leverages that experience to achieve something great.

Those are stories of personal achievements. They’re earned, and they have an instant likeable quality to them.

Privileges, however, come without work. They’re advantages or immunities only available to a particular person or group. Writers who spotlight their privileges (knowingly or not) alienate their readers. No one wants to read about your special treatment. It makes the reader feel less-than.

There’s a reason people love to root for the underdog; the person who had to sweat, get knocked down, and maybe even wiggle through some mud and barbed wire to finish the race. That person had to EARN it.

Readers are never going to cheer for the person who crossed the finish line in a limo, dirt-free, without breaking a sweat. Because quite frankly, that person sucks.

4. Embrace your quirks

Everybody has something that makes them a little weird. Most of the time, society tells us not to talk or write about those things. They diverge from the norm, so we’re taught to hide away our idiosyncrasies.

But guess what? Your “weird thing” is probably someone else’s “weird thing,” too. Think about some of the most beloved characters in literature: They’ve all got quirks! And that’s part of the reason we like them.

Don’t be afraid to spotlight your personal oddities in writing.

You know that feeling you get when you're reading something and you recognize a part of yourself in someone else's thoughts or experiences? That's a super special moment.

It's also a green light when it comes to getting readers to like you.

*The fail-safe*

If none of these strategies are working for you and you still don’t feel very likable in your writing, there is a fail-safe: Write about your pets.

67% of US households have a pet (more than two-thirds!) and people LOVE their animals. If you want to be likable to a mass swath of your readers, write about your pet. It rarely (if ever) fails.

---

Here's to your next piece of writing getting you voted "Most well-liked."

Writing Practice: Focus on Tiny Wins

A few weeks ago, I decided to alter my diet a bit.

Quarantine has me stress-eating (and loading up on sugar, alcohol, and comfort foods.)

The result = feeling like garbage. 

I’ve had too many stomach aches, groggy mornings, and low energy days. 

Plus: This has a big negative impact on my work. If I can’t concentrate, my work suffers (and I’m generally less fun to be around.)

I knew I needed to implement some changes to start feeling better and being more productive. But I also knew that putting myself on some sort of DIET with strict rules wasn’t going to work. 

So instead, I opted to make some small changes, like:

• Starting the day with 32 oz of water with lemon.

• Cutting down to ONE espresso drink per week, and opting for stevia instead of sugar in my coffee.

• Having a fruit/veggie with every meal.

• Dessert only twice a week, alcohol on the weekend (or skipping it altogether.)

These things are minor; they’re manageable. They’re not radical shifts like Whole 30 or going keto/paleo or completely eliminating things.

I think this is the secret to most things in life:

Taking small, realistic steps in the right direction.

My husband (and others) call it “tiny wins”, and it’s an idea that keeps popping up lately.

So often, people want to shoot for the moon: They want to implement a radical, life-changing shift, to accomplish a huge goal, or to achieve amazing results in a short window of time.

Can it be done? Yeah, sure. 

But it’s much more realistic to implement small changes that are sustainable over time.

The same is true when you think about writing. 

Say you want to get better at practicing writing (or you want to publish things you’ve written more often or you want to write a novel.)

You set big goals like:

• “I’m going to write 5,000 words per day and get this book done in two weeks.”

• “I’m going to publish 20 blog posts per month.”

• “I’m going to send an email newsletter three times a week every week.”

Yes, you could crank this stuff out and hit these goals. 

But will it be quality writing? Would you enjoy doing this work, or would it become a slog? 

And how would you feel if you *didn’t* hit your goals? Probably bad. Maybe a little ashamed or angry at yourself (or even embarrassed if you shared your big goals with the world.)

Don’t fall into this trap.

Instead, set yourself up for tiny wins. Set goals that are attainable and that you can realistically be consistent with. 

Over time those little wins stack up to big results, and while the progress may be slower, you’ll be far more apt to stick with your efforts.

There are even things that help with accountability. If you have a writing-focused goal, for example, you could use a tool like 750words.com. It’s a site that’s set up to help you write 750 words per day (totally do-able!) to establish a daily writing practice. 

At the end of the day, to make meaningful changes with a lasting impact, the secret is: Start now and start small.

Want more free insights on writing? Sign up and get them sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.

How to Get People to Read Your Posts

We all know that attention spans are shorter than ever (about 7-8 seconds on average, in fact.)

Compound this with the distractions that crop up every minute of the day in the modern world, and you’ve got a major challenge on your hands when it comes to getting someone to sit still and actually read something you’ve written.

Here’s what usually happens for the average writer:

• We write something up (a blog post, news article, announcement, whatever) and hit publish.

• We send out a teaser about the new post through our owned channels (like email newsletters), post about it across social media, and maybe notify the people quoted/referenced in the post (if relevant) hoping they too will help spread the word.

• A few people click the link and scan through the piece, and then bounce from the site and move on with their day.

• A few days post-publish, the article is dead in the water and traffic completely drops off.

Most writers can tell you that very few people actually take the time to read a full post (let alone share it with their own audiences because they think it’s great and want others to read it, too.)

I can tell you for a fact that this isn’t unique to any industry or publication.

The average blog post here on my website has ~600 views.
The average views on my articles for Forbes are < 2,000 each.

The truth is: Few posts take off organically like this one on pizza arbitrage did. It’s an outlier; an exception to the rule.

So why don’t more people read the stuff we write?

There’s so much content out there. No one has time to read it all...nor do they want to.

Articles and blog posts are often a form of marketing. If you’re writing something and sharing it, you’ve got an end objective in mind. You want people to give you something: Their attention, their money, their time. People are very protective of all of those things.

The ‘what’s in it for me?’ mentality. Humans are wired to evaluate all things through the lens of ‘what’s in it for me?’. For good reason: Time and energy are limited quantities, so they need to be invested in things with a beneficial outcome. This applies to time spent reading. If you don’t give people a reason to read what you’ve written (and show them how it’ll help them), well...they won’t do it.

Even as I sit here writing this newsletter, I know that only a small group of people will actually take the time to read it all the way through.

So what can we do to get more readers?

1. Make your piece more digestible, bite-sized and reader-friendly

"Jump to" sections: For long articles, not only does this act as a table of contents, but it allows readers to navigate straight to the section they most want to read (rather than scrolling through and hunting it down on their own.)

“What you’ll learn” summary: People want to know what they’ll get out of the time investment required to read your post--so tell them up front. Provide a few bullet points at the top of your article that sum up the most important takeaways/data points. (News sites do this all the time.)

2. Repackage it into different, more consumable formats

Note: These are also great ways to update/expand your top-performing pieces of content, which is good for SEO.

Audio summaries: Turn your article into a short podcast episode for people who don’t have time to sit and read, but that would download and listen to it on the go later while multitasking. This works best when it’s the writer narrating, as the listener gets to hear the voice and inflection as it was intended.

Video summaries/Instagram stories: For people who want the key points delivered via visuals and audio rather than mere text on a screen, a short video summary is a major value-add. Hit on the key points in 60 seconds. It’s the TL;DR of your article delivered in a different format, and if done well, is often quite shareable. Biteable has plans that start at $15/mo and allow you to create short videos without their watermark. If you want a more DIY route, create simple Instagram stories that do the same thing (albeit with lower production value.)

Twitter thread: Yes, you’re limited to a specific amount of characters on Twitter. But that’s where threads come in handy. Create a Twitter thread that highlights the key sections in your article (or the most interesting graphs, data, charts, screenshots, etc.) and puts what you’ve written right in front of a reader. Include a link to read the full post at the end. Again: Much more shareable.

Gifs/animations: Explaining a process can get WORDY. Make it more visual and show what it looks like in action by including a gif or animation of all the steps in a row so the reader can see what the process looks like when completed in sequence.

Make Your Writing More Reader-Friendly

Getting people to read things is HARD. You have to make it easier for them to get the gist of what it is you have to say.

This article originally appeared in my newsletter, A Cup of Copy. Sign up and get these free tips sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.

Common Writing Questions Answered

Last week after I did a live Q&A session, I realized it’d probably be helpful to pull together a FAQ of sorts that puts answers to common writing-related questions all in one place. 

Honestly, I don’t know why I hadn’t done this already. *facepalm*

So, without further ado: Here are my quick, short-form answers to common writing questions and links to longer-form reads that answer these questions more fully. 

Hope you bookmark this page, share it with others, and come back to it over and over.

How do you find out what your audience wants you to write about?

Well...ask them. Do a focus group with your consistent readers, have one-on-one chats with audience members, or send out a survey that asks your audience what they want to read about from you on a regular basis. I try to do this once every six months or so to keep things relevant.

I talked about this topic in depth on the DYEB podcast.

How do I get ideas for posts out of my head and *actually* written down?

1. Ask yourself: Why do I want to write this thing? Define your motivation and let that WHY guide you as you write.

2. Be okay with sharing pieces that aren’t quite perfect. Perfection is the enemy of done.

3. Get past the “Why even bother?” mentality and just hit publish already.

4. Commit to writing consistently--you’ll only get better with practice.

Read more on this topic here.

How do you start writing an article or blog post?

First, you need a solid writing brief that outlines all of the important information you need to build your outline. I use a writing brief template to gather the details in one place so I’m sure I don’t forget anything.

From there, start building out your outline. If what you’re writing is for a client, be sure to have them review your outline before diving into the first draft. It’ll save you both time in the editing phase.

When it’s time to write your first draft, let it be ugly. You can polish it up later. Just get something on the page to work with.

What are your best tips for adding humor into your writing?

Being funny in your writing isn’t easy, but here are a few tricks I deploy to make readers snicker:

1. Use gifs! These can tie in a pop culture reference or illustrate an unfunny topic in a funny way.

2. Tie in funny dialogue. A scenario with dialogue that’s embellished with unspoken cues and feelings is like having an aside with your readers.

3. Use typography to your advantage. Bold, italics, and all caps can help you illustrate emphasis and give the reader cues on how to read what you’ve written a certain way.

4. Reverse engineer copy that makes you laugh and find out how you can do that, too.

Read more on this topic here.

Write Better Right Now

How do I write great headlines/article titles?

I’ve written a lot on this topic! Here are three posts that get into this with actionable tactics:

• How to write click-worthy headlines

• Leslie Knope and the secret to great headlines

• Curiosity and the non-scummy way to write interesting article titles

How can I be a better self-editor?

Once you have a draft that’s ready to be edited, go back through and make these self-edits:

• Punch up your title and headings

• Ask, “But, why?”

• Break down lengthy sentences 

• Look for non-sequiturs

Read more on this topic here.

How can I get better at the technical elements of writing and become more confident as a writer?

• Read Write Better Right Now.

• Freshen up with some easy lessons on writing style and grammar.

• Try a 30-day writing challenge to practice consistently and build a body of work.

• Read more.

• Keep a swipe file of writing you love.

• Get regular (honest) feedback.

Read more on confidence-building here.

What products/courses free or paid would you recommend to someone who wants to get into freelance writing?

Start by soaking up all the free resources out there you can! There’s a lot of great ungated material at sites like Copyhackers and Copyblogger. Be sure to follow experts in your field on social media as well: they’re likely sharing free lessons/content you can sponge up. 

If you need more intensive training, consider reaching out to a writer that’s doing what you want to do (with the clients you want to work with) and see if you can be an apprentice of sorts or have them coach/mentor you one on one. This is great hands-on training and will provide you insights into how they work and what makes them get hired at top rates.

I’ve also put together an extensive list of everything that’s helped me write and freelance over the years.

This article originally appeared in my newsletter, A Cup of Copy. Sign up and get these free tips sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.

How to Make Your Writing Less Boring

Do you ever feel like your writing voice is a little...droning?

As you read back something you've written, maybe you hear something reminiscent of Ben Stein’s nasally voice saying, “Bueller?...Bueller?”

Sometimes when we forget to vary our sentence structure, the end result feels a little stiff and boring. The flow just isn’t there.

As a result, reading what we’ve written feels like hopping from stone to stone rather than skiing seamlessly on the surface of the water.

So how do you fix that without taking a high school English class again and learning about sentence structure variation via prepositions, clauses, em dashes and the like?'

How to Fix Boring Writing

You could start by reading this from author Gary Provost:

Now, I could spend the rest of this post breaking down the technicalities behind syntax, but let’s be honest here: That would be, well, boring.

The example above, however, illustrates the concept in a really easy to understand way. And I’m always up for showing rather than telling.

Quick Ways to Make Your Writing More Interesting

Vary your sentence length.

If all your sentences are short, add a comma and join a few together into one longer sentence. If all your sentences are long, sprinkle in a few short ones. Words are art, and keystrokes are your paintbrushes. Don’t paint with just a few colors when you’ve got a full palette.

Stylize.

You can start sentences with ‘and’ or ‘because’ (even though your English teacher said not to!) If that’s part of your writing style, embrace it.

Reinforce important ideas with single word sentences.

Is there an important word at the end of the sentence you really want to stick with the reader? Reinforce it by stating it again as its own sentence (just as you would while speaking.)

Embrace the em dash.

When speaking, we all use pauses to communicate inflection, drama, etc. Em dashes (—) help you do that on the page. Use them when you want the reader to slow down or when you’re shifting ideas within a single sentence. I think of them as a mental hand on the arm of the reader that communicates, “Okay, but really listen to this part.”

Implementing a few of these small tweaks can do wonders for your writing voice and can get you out of the “drone zone.”

You don’t even have to know what a dependent clause is.

This article originally appeared in my newsletter, A Cup of Copy. Sign up and get these free tips sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.

How to Write a Good Outline

Today I want to get into my outlining process, as I saw a tweet from my pal Kat Boogaard earlier this week about how important a good outline is.

This triggered my memory and reminded me that while I’ve talked about writing more efficiently, I’ve never really shared a deep dive into the nuts and bolts of my outlining process.

But first, let’s address the elephant in the room. Let’s answer the question that might be hovering in your brain: Do I *really* have to put together an outline before I start writing?

Is it entirely necessary?

I say the answer is yes.

Why writing an outline matters

At least for me, outlining has been a tactic that’s helped me manage writing articles and blog posts both large and small in a way that’s both logical and piecemealed so it's more manageable.

Bonus: It helps me get past the blank page with ease.

Now, I wasn’t always an outliner. When I started freelance writing full time about six years ago, I dove into every piece starting at the beginning and just worked my way through as I went. I quickly learned, however, that this approach had some major drawbacks:

• I missed things. Because I didn’t know the main points I was going to cover beforehand, I’d get to the end of a writing project and find major holes or missing elements in what I’d put together. Then I had to go back and restructure everything to accommodate the new additions. (This was also frustrating for my editors who could’ve spotted these flaws if they’d had an outline to approve before I started writing.)

• It took longer. Lack of direction meant I was constantly grabbing at straws as I tried to pull together each individual section for a piece. It also meant I spent more time researching, as I was working one section at a time rather than thinking of the larger, overarching story I was trying to tell and how the dots connected big-picture.  

• It was more daunting. Every new writing assignment felt like a mountain to climb, and the word counts stressed me out. 3,000 words seemed nearly impossible when starting from zero, and it felt like pulling teeth to even get started. It was a huge source of anxiety for me.

Then, I got smart. I started making outlines.

I'm going to talk about my approach from a client work perspective, but keep in mind you can use this for any type of writing.

Getting started with your outline

When I sit down to put together an outline, the process always starts with a writing brief right at the top of the document.

This includes a short summary of the post’s objective, important client notes about tone/style/formatting, internal posts or research they want to be referenced in the post, due dates, post length, and any other important info I might need as I work on the assignment.

From there, I start building out my framework (ahem, my outline.)

Pssst! Want a secret freebie? Click here.

Step one: Skip the intro, start at section one

The first thing I do when building an outline is to skip past the intro section completely and go right into the first section of the article, which most often begins with a zoomed out/big picture view of the topic I’m writing about.

Sometimes this is a basic definition of a key term and some historical context, sometimes it’s a sort of analyst perspective on the idea that gives a high-level view of the article’s theme.

I add some basic bullet points to this section with that info, along with links to any key stats or news articles I want to reference within this section.

Step two: Explore top-ranking articles + Google’s ‘People also ask’ results

The next step I take is to explore some of the sections within the top-ranking organic search results on the topic I’m writing about. From that research, I make a short list of potential sections to cover, and then further sort that based on what I think is most relevant, helpful, or interesting to include in the piece.

I’ve added an additional step to this stage recently as well, which I just learned about from one of my favorite writers and editors, Tracey Wallace. I do a Google search around the article topic and see which questions come up in the ‘People also ask’ section.

Tracey recommended adding in these questions as section headers or sub-heads, as this is good for SEO and tackles some of the most common questions related to the topic (which Google has so nicely aggregated for you.)

This stage of the outlining process helps me determine some basic direction for the rest of the piece and allows me to put in some generic headers for the sections I’ll research and build out next.

Step three: Research and build out sections

Building out the rest of the outline from this point is fairly easy. With the generic headers and sub-heads for direction, I can dive into creating bullet points for each section with basic points to cover, relevant/new research to cite, and examples to spotlight. Sometimes I do a general brain dump of potential things to include in a section and then sort through that info, leaving behind only the good stuff.

I also use this phase to reach out to my network of expert sources for quotes to include in different sections where it’s relevant. It’s good to have a decent amount of lead time for these efforts because people sometimes need a few days to get back to me with a solid quote.

Step four: Intro and closing

Once I know what I’m going to be talking about in the body of the article, I can more accurately put together a summary for the intro and closing of the piece that brings everything together.

Sometimes by this point, I’ve realized an underlying theme, connected some dots to make a new point about the topic, or discovered a super-relevant story/example that serves as a nice backdrop for the article. Other times I’m just reinforcing the key points.

Either way, I add in a few bullet points for the intro and closing based on the main idea of the article. For the closing, I make sure to include a call to action, asking the reader to do something next.

Step five: Title ideas

Now that I have a really good idea of what I’m going to write about, I put together 2-3 potential headline or title ideas that summarize the article and speak to an interesting, often curiosity-producing theme.

When I can, I try to tie in things like:

• Hard numbers tied to results

• Questions

• Recognizable brand names (when relevant)

• Outcome-related teasers (Ex: How X did Y)

Getting approval

Once the outline is done, I send it over to the client for review. This step helps ensure we’re both on the same page before I start writing, gives them a chance to add in any important notes, and offers an opportunity for a SEO expert to step in and make any needed adjustments.

This approach saves us both time in the editing phase, which makes both parties very happy. I’d always rather talk through changes in the outline phase rather than re-work (or worse, have to remove!) a whole section that I’ve spent time researching and writing.

Other notes on outlining

One of the important things to note is that the outlining stage is not about perfection or polishing.

I don’t work on writing compelling headers during this phase.
I don’t include full sentences that will go into the finished piece.
I don’t invest time into figuring out how the writing voice will fit in.

Instead, outlining is all about getting a clear direction on where you’re headed with a story so that you’re not staring at a blank page with a huge task staring back at you.

Once you’re done with an outline, you have a clear roadmap and all of the pieces you need to put together an article quickly, with clarity, and in a logical format. Basically, all you have to do is build and polish. The legwork is done, and the rest is a downhill slope.

I hope this has been helpful and gave you some ideas that help speed up your writing process (or at least make it a little less anxiety-producing.)

Embracing Your Unique Writing Voice

I want you to picture me wearing a black turtleneck for this, k? Channeling all the Sinead O’Connor vibes.

Ugh. Sorry. I’m old. That joke probably landed for about 15% of you.

Whatevs, let’s move on!

Today, I wanna talk about the problem with comparing ourselves to other writers. Because it is, indeed, a problem. And there are things you can do about it.

You’d be surprised at the number of emails I get from people that say:

• “Hey there. I’m not a great writer, but I want to write more like X person. Can you help?”

• “I want to submit a guest post to X site, but I don’t think my writing is good enough. What do I do?”

• “I can write 100 blog posts a month, but the quality of writing sucks on all of them. HALP.”

All valid concerns. All fixable.

Here’s what I’d recommend to any person facing these feelings:

1. Don’t compare yourself to another writer.

You’re you, and that’s all you can be. Sorry ‘bout it. Embrace your you-ness and accept that you can’t magically replicate the writing voice or style of someone else.

Plus: The writers you admire probably have years of experience and practice that have helped them write the way they do. And they’ve worked hard to hone that craft. To get to that level, you have to put in the work.

2. Start doin’ the work.

Good writers practice writing. A LOT. They read a lot. They make notes on what they like in the things they read. They ask for feedback from other writers they respect (and openly accept/act on the edits they’re given.) They never settle on a first draft of anything. They write for the love of writing (even when they’re not getting paid for it.) Just like anything else, diligent focus and a deliberate effort toward improvement are the only ways to get better.

Do you think anyone ever learned to play the piano just by reading sheet music and listening to great piano players? I really doubt it. They had to put fingers to keys and clunk away. The same thing happens when your fingers hit your keyboard and you practice writing. It might be choppy and slow at first, but after a while, your fingers will fly and words will flow more freely, like music.

3. Follow the formula.

Your favorite writers probably have a certain writing cadence or flair that you can recognize anywhere. Reverse engineer that ‘ish. Break down what makes it so signature and what works well about it.

• How do they structure their writing? What makes it reader-friendly?

• What’s their lexicon like? What words do they use that are outside the norm?

• How do they work in personality? Pop culture references? GIFs? Sarcasm?

Really sit down and pick apart the writing that you like best and get to the bottom of what makes it great. Then institute similar practices in your own writing. You can’t BE another writer, but you can certainly emulate the characteristics you admire (without totally ripping another person off.)

Confidence in your writing takes time. It’s not easy. But it’s doable.

Do you still have questions about how to be a better writer (and how to stop comparing yourself to others?) Tweet me @Kaleighf.

This article originally appeared in my newsletter, A Cup of Copy. Sign up and get these free tips sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.

How to Write in the Voice That's in Your Head

During an interview, I was recently asked how I’ve been able to make my writing voice sound so unique.

I’d never really paused to think about that before, but the answer came pretty quickly.

“It’s the voice in my head!” I said.

It sounded a little crazy when it came out of my mouth…but it was true.

The first draft of anything I write (when I’m writing as me, not a client) is pure stream of consciousness onto the page.

And by putting my inner dialogue onto the page (unfiltered), the writing voice is a reflection of my personality, my quirks, and how I sound in my most natural state.

And guess what? You can do that, too.

Your voice needs to shine. Maybe it needs to work in "that's what she said" jokes or say things like "YAS QUEEN!"

If that's how you sound in your head, that's how you should sound on the page.

How to write in the voice that’s in your head

Step One: Remove Filter

The first major obstacle to overcome is getting rid of that pesky lil’ thing that gets in between you and the page: Your internal filter.

If you’re editing your inner voice as you write, you’re essentially diluting yourself. You’re taking out your cute quirks, your speaking cadence, and the language you’d really use.

Stop that. Let it flow. Don’t worry about editing until later. Instead, write like you’d speak. 

Better yet: Write like you were telling a story to a group of friends. Don’t be afraid to give your writing voice a little performance element.

Step Two: Embellish with Humor

You have a sense of humor, right? Of course you do.

Maybe it’s sarcastic, or punny, or pop-culture based. Whatever it is: It should come through in your writing. 

Look back at your first draft and ask yourself: Where would a dash of humor make sense? 

Other questions to consider as you sprinkle in the comedy:

• Is there a joke naturally prompted here?

• Would some humor add to what I’m saying, or be distracting?

• Would people get the joke?

Bottom line: Look for places to punch up what you’ve written with your inner comedian. 

Step Three: Be Brave (and open to feedback)

Sharing your true inner voice can feel scary and exposing. 

Maybe you’re thinking, “If people know the real me, will they still like me?”

I’m sure the answer is yes. In fact, maybe more so for keepin’ it real. 

Anyone can churn out another boring article. But if you can write with a voice that sparkles with charming personality, you’re doing something that truly only YOU can do. 

Does that mean you should never be open to tweaking said voice? Nah. Feedback is a good thing. If you get some constructive feedback on how to make your writing voice better, run with it. It’s only going to help make you better.

Your inner voice is one people should hear. Let it out (and onto the page.)

This article originally appeared in my newsletter, A Cup of Copy. Sign up and get these free tips sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.

How to Become a More Confident Writer

There’s one thing I hear from writers more than anything else.

Know what it is?

It’s that they don’t feel confident in their writing abilities.

When they do write something:

• They second guess every sentence and spend hours on what should take minutes.

• They run it through every writing optimization tool known to man but still aren’t happy with the end result.

• They hover over the ‘Publish’ button but don’t end up sharing what they’ve written.

The reason? “It’s just not good enough,” they say.

I get it. I really do.

In fact, here’s a post I wrote and published over on Medium back on January 14, 2014 (six years ago). I cringe a little when I read this today. It feels...glib. Flowery. Naive.

But you know what? I’m glad I shared it.

It allows me to see how my writing has evolved, and it gives me a benchmark to reference around the improvement of my writing skills. It’s also a snapshot of my internal dialogue at that point in my life--and if it weren’t documented, I’d probably have forgotten that I ever even had this thought by now. Even though it’s not on par with the writing I share today, it was good practice.

It’s easy to become a better writer if you put in the work.

No one gets a permanent “bad writer” stamp on the forehead. I know that if you’ve been told you’re not a great writer (or even that your writing could use some work)--it doesn’t always feel that way.

But the good news is: I’ve seen firsthand how a few new habits can make a world of difference in the writing department.

Growing Your Writing Confidence

What can you do to become a more confident writer (and shirk Imposter Syndrome?)

1. Commit to a 30-day challenge.

Practice makes perfect, so challenging yourself to practice writing every day for 30 days (even if it’s just for five minutes!) can be a good way to introduce a new habit that sticks.

This can be journaling, writing a short story every day, recalling a memory, free writing--just get words onto a page. You don’t even have to share the finished product--just put it on your daily to-do list and commit to making it a priority.

2. Read more: Try a book per month minimum.

In this post, you may have seen that one of the pieces of writing advice from Stephen King was to have a solid reading habit. Reading gets you more familiar with words, different syntax ideas for sentence structure, unique metaphors--you name it.

That’s why having a healthy reading habit (of at least a book per month, I’d say) can help you become a better writer. If you have 15-20 spare minutes a day (you know you do), devote that to reading.

3. Keep a swipe file.

Sometimes you see writing that just really “does it” for you. Maybe the writing voice connects with you on a personal level or there’s a turn of phrase that makes you pause and think, “Wow, what a great way to describe that.”

Make notes on what you like about those pieces of writing and keep a running list of reference material (a swipe file, of sorts) that you can refer back to on days when you need writing inspiration. This will help you better understand what makes certain pieces of writing better than others--and can inform your own writing moving forward.

4. Be open to feedback (and ask for it).

It’s easy to be sensitive about your writing--I know I am. It’s so personal, right?

The thing is: Closing yourself off to constructive criticism only holds you back from improving your writing skills.

I’ve turned in what I thought were excellent first drafts to editors, only to have them sent back with lots of notes and suggestions for edits. My first reaction is to take it personally...but when I get into their comments, I often realize they’ve spotted holes I missed, they have suggestions for better reading comprehension, etc.

We both want the same thing: To produce the best possible piece of writing we can. Being open to that feedback helps us accomplish that goal.

Accepting feedback--and asking for it from writers you trust and respect--is an easy way to get external perspective on where/how/what you can improve in your writing.

Write Better Right Now

Writing Confidence Comes With Practice

Are you going to become a better writer overnight? Nope, definitely not.

There’s a lot of work to be done, but if you can dedicate yourself to improving, I think you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can make strides.

This article originally appeared in my newsletter, A Cup of Copy. Sign up and get these free tips sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.

How to Write for Fidgety Skeptics

The title of today’s writing lesson is inspired by the book 10% Happier, which I’ve been listening to lately on audiobook.

Dan Harris (the author) talks about being a fidgety skeptic in regard to meditation...and that got me thinking:

That’s how I feel about a lot of sales-oriented writing. Fidgety. Skeptical. It just doesn't work for me.

I know, I know: Sales writing is traditionally long-form because it has a lot of work to do.

But can I be honest with you?

Especially online, if you’re selling to me--you’d better do it fast.

I want to understand your core idea as quickly as possible and then move on to the next thing. I don’t want to invest 15 minutes into a never-ending scroll of words.

I can’t be the only person that feels this way, either. Some of your customers/readers/subscribers are in that very same boat.

So how do you write for the fidgety skeptics? How do you convert that tricky demographic without words on words? Here are a few tips.

Use videos

For me, one of the biggest assets isn’t even a writing tactic, per se. It’s a visual resource: An explainer video.

These videos (1-3 minutes max) are one of the fastest ways to communicate your complex value proposition in a simple, visually appealing format.

In fact, some data shows that videos combining audio, visuals, and text can be understood as much as 60,000 times faster than standalone text. Plus, it’s a chance for you to show your product or service in action.

They’re pretty versatile pieces of content, too: Aside from the landing page enivronment, you can also include them in emails, use them in presentations, and share them on social media. You can get lots of mileage out of them.

Spotify has an excellent example that shows you what I’m talking about.

SPOTIFY Promo U.S. Launch from Magnus Östergren on Vimeo.

Leverage bullet points

Bullet points are your friends. The reason: Speed readers aren’t big fans of long sentences for big blocks of text.

Think of them as literal obstacles on the path to conversion. You’re scanning along and then you crash into a big chunk of words. Full stop. Game over.

Bulleted lists help break up these word walls. They can turn important words and data points into easily consumable pieces of information. You may notice that I use them regularly in this very newsletter (for that purpose).

They’re also good for:

• Highlighting individual deliverables

• Spotlighting statistics

• Showcasing results

• Accenting accolades

See this in the wild: Appcues does a nice job of incorporating bullet point lists into their landing pages.

Tie in the *right* words

I’ve written in detail about how you can do some reverse engineering to find the exact language your customers need to hear in the sales environment, but here’s a quick recap:

• Go to the spaces where your target audience spends time and study the language they use

• Drop the jargon and acronyms that can alienate would-be buyers

• Add authenticity via storytelling and experience-sharing

There are a unique set of words and phrases that your niche audience uses to talk about the problem and pain points your offering can solve. The trick is figuring out what they are (and then mirroring them back).

When I see sales copy that triggers the internal dialogue I’ve had around a problem, it instantly becomes more interesting and relevant to me. It grabs my attention and makes me feel like the brand "gets" me.

Based on my own experience, I know that these tips can help you break through with your more dubious audience members.

Dubious. That's a fun word.

Showcase praise from key people

Last, but not least: Tie in praise from respected figures in your niche (when you can).

I always look for testimonials from respected people when someone's trying to sell me something. If I see that someone I know and trust is behind a product or service, it's almost like instant validation.

Think about the go-to people your audience looks to for validation, advice, recommendations, etc.

Example from my very own website:

Can you bring them in? Getting that person(s) stamp of approval can go a long way at convincing the skeptics.

The bottom line: Attention spans are shorter than ever. You need to write accordingly.

This article originally appeared in my newsletter, A Cup of Copy. Sign up and get these free tips sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.

Write when you have something to share

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about quality vs. quantity when it comes to writing.
 
The reason: I did some math recently.
 
If I’ve been averaging 3,600 words per week for almost four years now, that means I’ve written more than 691,000 words.

Um…that’s a lot of words. It’s kind of hard to wrap my mind around.
 
What I found a bit discouraging about this, though, was that only a portion of those words were ones I feel like truly made a difference. That I can look back on and point to as something I created that I’m proud of.
 
See, I’ve written hundreds of helpful blog posts and endless how-to's for my clients—which serve their purposes well, and it’s what they hire me to do—but not all of those posts have aged well.
 
(The good news for you: The topics I write about for here fall into the category “WRITING I’M PROUD OF.” You’re getting the good stuff, guys. In fact, some of my favorites are here, here, and here.)
 
But back to the topic.

This line of thinking brings up important questions for anyone who writes:

• Is what you’re writing going to make a positive impact in some way?

• Will you be proud of what you wrote six months from now?

• Does your writing help other people?

Thinking about writing: Good vs. Great

Pretty much anyone can write and share their words online. Millions of blog posts are published every day—but that doesn’t mean all posts are created equal.
 
It wasn’t until I was hired to write a post for a new client this month that I realized how different some of my writing looks and feels when it has different purposes. (That published piece is right here, by the way.)

This new client’s blog is positioned to take an entirely different approach than most other brands I’ve worked with: What they produce has…more of a soul to it.
 
It’s 100% story-based. They don’t churn out oodles of blog posts each month. Each topic is thoughtful and speaks to a topic that their target audience can relate with on a very personal level. No quick hacks, no 10X growth strategies.
 
So when I sat down to write for them, I was excited. The words flowed right out of me onto the screen. I was able to tell a personal story of my own, and it felt good to be writing about something I learned first-hand that I knew could truly help the reader.

It was different. Good different.

Should you ditch your current writing strategy?

Am I saying there’s no value in those very action-oriented, marketing-focused posts?

No, not at all. There’s still a place for those, for sure. Those types of posts are great for SEO, they educate readers—they accomplish a lot of different important business goals.
 
But it does mean that a different type of writing needs to be worked into the mix.
 
I saw this tweet from Basecamp founder Jason Fried, and it put the thought I’ve been mulling over into words:
 
“We’re asked: What’s your content strategy? Answer: Not calling it content. Not thinking of it as content. We write when we have something to share.”
 
Now, think about that. Who looks forward to reading “content”?
 
NO ONE.
 
Content is a marketing term. It’s aimed at driving business objectives, not resonating with readers.
 
And this is the #1 lesson we all need to remember right now.
 
Writing isn’t just a marketing tactic.

Most interesting writing has soul. It has a person behind it. It connects with the reader on a deeper level.
 
At least some of your writing should be about:

• Telling a personal story.

• Being candid about both the good and bad we all deal with in our daily work.

• Sharing experiences and offering up lessons learned in an authentic, genuine way.

Need an example? Josh Pigford, Founder of Baremetrics, did a nice job of this in his post “Everybody’s winging it.”

It's honest. It's human. It made me pay attention.

So what's the takeaway here?

Write things you can look back at in the future and be proud of. Be more open to sharing both the good and the bad. Tell more real-life stories. 

Your audience wants that.

This article originally appeared in my newsletter, A Cup of Copy. Sign up and get these free tips sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.

Messaging Strategy Document: What It Is and Why You Need One

Writing anything is difficult when you don’t have clear direction.
 
If you don’t know whom you’re writing for (or how the writing voice should sound, what your goals are, etc.) you’re kind of just winging it every time.

But successful writing doesn't ever "wing it." It's strategic, clear, and powerful.
 
That’s where a messaging strategy document comes in handy. I recently put one of these together, which is why it’s fresh in my mind.
 
Messaging Strategy: Client Project
 
A few weeks ago, the founder of a new software company reached out to me looking for some assistance.
 
He wanted to know if I could help him get direction on the messaging for the new resource he’s preparing to launch. He needed help strengthening the value proposition, setting basic guidelines for the writing style and tone—and some outside copywriter perspective to tighten up the overall messaging.
 
I was happy to help—this type of work is one of my favorite things to do.
 
But it also got me thinking. How many brands out there need a document like this and don’t even know it’s a “thing”?
 
It’s a thing, guys. So let’s look at how you can make one, too.
 
What Your Messaging Strategy Document Should Include
 
First things first: What you should include in your messaging strategy document?
 
Your messaging strategy document should outline:

1. A 1-3 sentence definition of what your company does. If you need to, start with 10 sentences and whittle them down to the simplest, most concise form.

2. A strong value proposition. Think about your target audience and what exactly your offering has of value for them. This should answer a potential customer’s “What’s in it for me?” question.

3. An outline of how your offering is different from competitors. If what you’re selling is similar to other offerings on the market, outline specifically how you’re different and why your product is unique.

4. A step-by-step process of how your offering/service works. If you can’t explain this simply in 1-4 steps, you’ll be better able to see how to re-work an overly complex process.

5. A brief style guide, including:

• Target customers and their pain points
• Your broad and specific goals for content and content formats
• Notes on language, tone, and style
• A list of competitors not to reference
• Key stats to leverage

Once you’ve got all of these pieces, put them together in one central document that is shared with anyone who touches content—internal and external.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to be at the beginning of your company history to build a document like this. Putting one together is helpful no matter what stage you’re at in the organization’s timeline.
 
Why This Document Matters
 
Having a document like this one helps everyone who writes for the company quickly and efficiently get up to speed on all of the key information they need to know when writing. Plus, it helps give all written content a more cohesive feeling overall.
 
This is a core asset to a company new or old because it distillsthe most important information into a single place where it can be quickly accessed and understood. It makes onboarding more efficient, and it can help keep all team members focused on the brand’s objectives, customers, and positioning when writing.
 
If you don’t have a document like this, put creating one on your to-do list.

It’s a simple way to boost clarity in any type of writing—and if you’re a new organization, it’ll help guide team members working on important marketing materials like your website, landing pages, etc.

This article originally appeared in my newsletter, A Cup of Copy. Sign up and get these free tips sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.

Writing Email Subject Lines That Stand Out From the Holiday Deluge

Right now, I’m getting about 50% more emails than I usually do.
 
Holiday promo after holiday promo is rolling into my inbox.
 
And honestly, I’ve only actually clicked on 2-3 of these emails to see what’s inside.
 
Know why?
 
The subject lines all look the same.

• Cyber Monday sale starts now!
• XX% Savings Sitewide!
• Black Friday Deal TODAY ONLY

Bleck.

Sure, they’re telling me exactly what’s inside the message, and I appreciate that. But it’s just more marketing noise, in my mind. Not exciting, not interesting—not open-worthy.
 
However, the email subject lines that have got me to click through were the ones that did something unique. They broke the norm. They stepped away from the expected and spent a few extra seconds creating an email subject line that was open-worthy.
 
How’d they do it?
 
Ditching Expected Words
 
Sure, you want your email campaigns to have relevant, honest subject lines that preview what’s inside your message. But that doesn’t mean you have to do so in the same few words as everyone else.
 
In fact, the emails I ended up checking out this year didn’t use a single word like ‘Cyber Monday’ or ‘Limited Time Offer.’
 
Here’s one I found interesting:
 
We’re sorry.
 
Inside the message, the copy opened with: We’re sorry we can’t offer discounts like this year-round…but today’s your lucky day! Get 20% off Sunday only.
 
Clever.  A little sneaky, sure…but it worked.
 
Another one that I opened had a subject line that read:
 
World’s Best Boss?
 
When I opened this up, there was a gif of the one and only Michael Scott winking at me with his beloved mug reading the same message. It included a gift guide with office-appropriate gifts.
 
Again, this subject line didn’t use any phrases like “gift guide” that would’ve made me breeze on by.
 
But I can’t resist a relevant pop culture reference. Especially when it’s a gem like Michael Scott. It worked!
 
Learn from the Examples
 
So what can we glean from these two effective subject lines that got my ever so resistant mind to open some marketing emails?

1. Leave behind the words your audience expects to see. Instead of using words like ‘sale’ or ‘free shipping’ in your subject line—try to write something that creates a curiosity gap for the reader (without being too misleading.)
2. Make ‘em LOL. Or at least snicker. Connect with your readers as human beings through your brand personality. Don’t be afraid to embrace the strange.
3. Personalize, please!  Not one of the emails I got leveraged my first name in the subject line—and that’s almost a surefire way to get me to open your email. It just feels more…customized. And still, not many others are leveraging this feature yet (in my experience.)

I know this works, because I tested this tactic on the subject line of this email that I sent out to my subscribers, too. I titled the message 'Hi, friend' and used preview text that simply said, 'Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!'

The results: The highest ever open rate for both of my lists. We're talking about 12% higher open rate than normal. That, to me, is a testament of this tactic being effective.

Why'd it work? This approach had a much more personal feel than a regular, click-baity subject line. It used a human element, which made sense in the context.

I dare you to try these methods out on your next email and see if it makes your open rate jump. No promises, but I think it’s an important experiment to test with your audience.

This article originally appeared in my newsletter, A Cup of Copy. Sign up and get these free tips sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.

How to Write More Efficiently (And Earn More $$ as a Freelance Writer)

Most weeks, I write anywhere from 8,000-10,000 words for various projects. That’s some pretty serious writing, I think.

Remember in school when a 500-word paper seemed daunting? Yeah. Welcome to my life. I do that 20x a week sometimes.
 
But over time, I’ve learned how to write much more efficiently. Now those 10,000 word weeks ain’t no thang. Which is good news, too, since as a freelancer, time = money. If I’m not writing efficiently, I’m not maximizing my earning potential…and girlfriend has a shopping problem.

So, what can I share with you that will help you speed up your writing process, too? Here’s how I knock out assignment after assignment without burning out.
 
Outline It
 
You know what makes writing happen a lot more quickly? Direction; AKA an outline.
 
Yes, outlining can feel tedious and unnecessary at times, but trust me—if you can put together a solid outline before you dive in, you’ll fly through putting the pieces together when it actually comes time to write.
 
Without an outline, you’re constantly hoping everything makes sense (and mostly winging it.) You’re moving ahead without a clear plan—and that can mean more time-consuming edits later on. Map it out first, and then it’s just a matter of getting some initial words onto the page.
 
Write an Ugly First Draft
 
I wrote over on Medium in greater detail why the ugly first draft is so effective at helping speed up the writing process, but the bottom line is this: The blank page is your biggest enemy. It’s intimidating. It’s so…blank.
 
I consider myself a fairly anxious person, so when I know I need to write a long, well-researched piece and get it in by a deadline…it makes my palms sweaty. But if I can hammer out a hideous first draft, I’ve got something to work with. I can fix it and make it pretty. No problem.
 
Write some garbage based on your outline without editing along the way, and your second pass will be faster and much more bearable.

Write Better Right Now

Eliminate Distractions. Seriously.
 
Writing lengthy pieces of content takes focus. And I can’t maximize efficiency without saying, “BYEEEEEE!” to a million different distractions.
 
Close your email tab. Then close the tab with Twitter. If you don’t trust yourself, use a tool like StayFocusd that doesn’t let you access these distractions during specified time periods.
 
In order to get truly “in the zone” (I hate that phrase, BTW) and to crunch on your word count, you need time and space without interruptions. That means getting rid of those diversions and time sucks that pull at your attention.
 
I use the Pomodoro method (working in 25 minute sprints), but any amount of time will do as long as you’re not stopping every few minutes to tweet back at your Internet pal or falling down a rabbit hole on Reddit. Give yourself time to really find your stride. It works.
 
That’s It!
 
Yep, that’s it. Pretty simple, right? If you use some of the same techniques, I guarantee you’ll squash more assignments and earn more on a monthly/annual basis.

This article originally appeared in my newsletter, A Cup of Copy. Sign up below and get these free tips sent right to your inbox every other Wednesday.