Minerva Blog

It’s often that case that writing an article – or paying for affordable copywriting services to write on your behalf – is just the start of the article marketing journey. After all, once you write the article, your immediate goal is to promote it and put it in front of those who are most likely to be interested. This can be the most challenging part. There are various options that can help you find a target audience for your content, so follow our advice below in order to boost readership and help generate greater success for your business.

Ensure the basics

If you haven’t already, you should create a blog to promote your business. Blogging typically costs nothing and gives you the ability to regularly publish fresh content and get direct feedback from readers. As such, using a blog to attract more visitors to your business site is crucial. This also enables you to encourage users to post comments, thereby engaging with your content in a practical way. However, you should ensure that such comments feature a “no follow” linking attribute. This ensures that you’re not linking to sites that are full of spam, thereby keeping your website’s reputation safe.

Before posting, review your content to ensure that the readability is suitable for your audience. Short paragraphs are less intimidating to readers, and they force you, or your copywriter, to make concrete points succinctly. In fact, there is evidence that shows that online reading allows for more distractions than reading a physical book or magazine, so being brief is essential. 

Finally, make sure that you have a catchy title for your article. The title is the key to capturing readers and you’ll need one that stands out. Try forming a statement or question with the targeted keyword.

Make the most of social media

It’s essential that you and your business use social media to your advantage. Social media accounts can be used to attract lots of new readers. When you publish a new article, post an update on your account to get attention. If your readership and followers like the content, some are likely to share it and that will bring you even more readers.

Optimise for search engines

When you are writing an article, be certain that you are following the best practices for search engine optimisation. This means that your article should feature all the necessary meta information, headers, keywords and links. There should be a connection between everything in your article – links, keywords and content. Search engines need to see connections in writing so they can figure out what it is they are indexing.

In order to be effective with content marketing, you must utilise as many search engine optimisation techniques and other internet marketing strategies as possible. SEO will help pull your website up from obscurity and can help you get your articles read. Simply writing and submitting your articles is not sufficient. You need to approach things directly by having a goal in your mind.

Be interesting – or be useful!

The ability to create interesting, engaging articles is a distinct advantage and should be taken utilised to your benefit. Popular articles seem to be of the “how-to” type and provide graphics and diagrams. Additionally, try to incorporate a poll or two to get the attention from your readers.

When writing an article, use language that stimulates emotions and engages the senses. This way, you can help to establish a bond with your readers. If you come off as robotic or academic in your approach to writing articles, people will leave your site without learning about your product, and you will lose sales.

Bullet lists are great for injecting a large amount of short, clear ideas in your pieces. Having a lot of varying sentence lengths is key to writing well, and having too many short sentences in a row can be perceived as boring by readers. But, using bullet lists gives your article varying length and makes it more interesting. This ensures the reader keeps reading.

Practice with writing quality articles and look for new ways to share your content. Once you learn the best ways to get your content to the readers, it will get much easier for you. Alternatively, get in touch with the team at Minerva Creative today to discuss your content and article marketing requirements.

Finding the perfect copywriting services in 2021 is a minefield, with so many providers offering their services at a range of price points. So which is the right service for you? How much should you be looking to spend? And what are the benefits of outsourcing copywriting to a third party?

Writing the right copy for your business

The cornerstone of any modern marketing strategy should be writing compelling copy. Whether you’re creating a florist’s marketing strategy or launching a startup, having your marketing voice delivered in the best way possible can make all the difference to the success of your business.

Everyone wants to be understood by their audience. Clients, customers, employees and even other businesses are not only looking for good copy, they’re looking for something that communicates effectively and persuasively. As such, it’s no wonder copywriting is so in demand in the business world – content marketing and effective copywriting are the fastest growing marketing channels of the last decade. As content marketing improves, the need for competent, well-written copy increases. 

How copywriting services can help you

Many of us know the benefits of having a solid writing team on hand to put our thoughts into a clear and compelling narrative. The problem is, hiring a great writer – who is experienced in the niche you are targeting – can be prohibitively expensive. That said, more often than not, that price tag is worth paying. Even if a writer is charging around £100 an hour, that’s a fair price to pay to get a professional journalist producing beautiful content to help spread your message. 

What do you need to know before hiring a copywriter?

It is estimated that just 14% of large companies in the UK hire a professional copywriter as part of their marketing team, so it’s not surprising that a growing number of firms are turning to outsourcing copywriting to save on costs. And more and more people are starting to think that they can engage an individual or small team of freelancers or contractors to undertake this task for them. One of the key reasons for this is the falling cost of hiring professional copywriters. 

How to hire a copywriting service

As copywriting is such an essential part of the marketing mix, it is perhaps no surprise that it will always be an essential service. Whether your business is relatively new and wants to be innovative and different to its competitors, or you are a more established business that wants to stand out from the crowd, you cannot afford to do all your own copywriting yourself. But, if you’re going to spend hundreds or even thousands on outsourcing, you want to get the right advice, and a copywriting service is often the best way to source specialist help. After all, if you pay for top-quality content, it should lead to more sales, right? 

Outsourcing copywriting services

So where do you start when you need to outsource copywriting? The experts at the top agencies will offer in-depth insight into the factors that go into creating successful content marketing campaigns and the key elements you need to bear in mind. 

Of course, if you’re looking to make the most of what copywriting services have to offer, the most important thing to remember is that their service is different to that of a brand’s in-house copywriter. While the actual process is very much the same – such as writing concise copy in an engaging way – you can be sure that the copy will have been vetted by people who have a wide range of experience in both the commercial and creative fields.

What role does AI play in copywriting?

One question that seems to arise frequently is the potential role of AI in copywriting. The rise of artificial intelligence has revolutionised the way we do everything from travel and online shopping to cooking and photography. And, while AI-driven bots are replacing human editors in some sectors, its use in copywriting has so far been limited. As such, it’s unlikely we’ll see robots writing effective, original copy anytime soon.

The English language is constantly evolving and changing. Words that were once used as slang have now been added to the Oxford English Dictionary, including ‘chillax,’ ‘easy-breezy,’ ‘simples,’ and … wait for it … ‘whatevs.’ You can even look up Jedi and find a nice little description about the mystical knightly order in the Star Wars films.

It might seem like the world’s gone mad. But actually, it’s important to accept that things in life move on – including language. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine a world where ‘texting’ and ‘LOL’ didn’t even exist. Looking back to English words used in the past, you’ll also get a good idea of language evolution. Here are ten corkers that we should really throw into the odd sentence every now and again.

1. Crapulous – this wonderfully descriptive word means to feel ill from excessive eating and drinking. So, you could say you feel ‘incredibly crapulous’ after a heavy night on the town. Why not try it out the next time you’ve had one too many bevvies? 
2. Grumpish – if someone annoys you, you’ve every right to feel ‘grumpish’ – an alternative word for sullen or grumpy. This dates back to the 18th century and is sadly no longer used anymore. Bring it back, we say!
3. Twattle – no it’s not a word used to describe a loud neighbour during lockdown. Instead, it describes gossiping. ‘Stop twattling and get back to work.’
4. Gorgonize – wouldn’t you just love to gorgonize? This bizarre, yet somewhat endearing word means to have a mesmerising effect on someone. ‘I was gorgonized by his good looks and charm.’ How about trying it out on your next crush?
5. Cockalorum – we’ve all heard of short-man-syndrome, right? Well this is similar. You can call someone a cockalorum if they’re a little man with a high opinion. ‘What a total cockalorum.’ *Rolls eyes*.
6. Lunting – you know when you go for a walk and smoke a pipe post-meal. That’s called lunting. Incredibly popular in the British countryside we hear.
7. Quockerwodger – described as a wooden puppet controlled by strings, this means Pinocchio was technically a quockerwodger. This word was often used in the 1800s to describe people who couldn’t think for themselves.
8. Sluberdegullion – if a lockdown situation occurred in the 1600s, there’s a high chance you’d be labelled a sluberdegullion. This is essentially a slovenly person who lazes around the house with no intention of moving. Sounds pretty awesome if you ask us.
9. Zenzizenzizenzic – try saying that after a few pints. Put simply, this word means ‘to the power of eight.’ When people explained it to each other back in the 16th century, they’d say something like, ‘it doth represent the square of squares quite squarely.’
10. Houppelande – what an amazing word to describe cloak. Imagine your favourite superhero shouting ‘bring me my houppelande.’ Pretty ace.

So yes, as you can see, language has changed quite a lot. And while LOL being in the English Dictionary might make your shudder with despair, we simply can’t expect language to stay the same forever. Let us know any more unusual words you’ve come across, past or present.

We bloody love words here at Minerva Creative, so why not find out more about our copywriting services? Not only that, but we can also help with your SEO and web design needs, all at a price that is affordable for all.