Lauren Jefferson

Lauren Jefferson is the Co-Founder and CEO of FocusCopy – a full-service copywriting agency. She loves everything copy, digital marketing, and coffee!

How To Create Content Pillars

How To Create Content Pillars To Boost Your Authority

Ever wonder what you’re going to write about when it comes to your blogs, emails, and social media? It feels a little more like pulling out teeth. And if you’ve been thinking too long about it, you’re probably falling into writer’s block – the death sentence for writing. 

That’s why we create content pillars – to make the content creation process so much easier. 

Writing is difficult enough. Make the process simpler when you learn how to create content pillars.

What Are Content Pillars?

So what are content pillars? Content pillars are general topics of which you are an expert on, and they support your overall brand. 

For example, I may be an expert in stand-up-paddleboarding or SUP (I’m not, by the way). But does SUP align with FocusCopy? No! In fact, you’d probably be really confused as to why I’m talking about SUP. 

At FocusCopy, our content pillars are:

  • Copywriting and content writing
  • Marketing
  • Entrepreneurship

All of these support what we do as a brand and we can splinter them into many different subtopics. 

When & How To Use Content Pillars

You’ll want to use your content pillars for just about anything product, marketing, sales, and content related. Content pillars are a great test to see that whatever you release into the marketplace aligns with your brand. 

You won’t see FocusCopy releasing any SUP courses, but you may find various copywriting courses. You may also find future workshops that help you grow your revenue. 

See below for an example of what your content pillars could look like. You see how there are multiple topics underneath each pillar that we can tap into. 

How To Create Content Pillars

Steps On How To Create Content Pillars

It’s one thing to show what content pillars are and how to use them, but it’s an entirely different thing to create them for your brand’s success.

Identify Your Target Audience

First, you need to know who your target audience is. 

What are their pain points? What problems do they wish would disappear or resolve themselves? And what do they care about or need to know about? 

Figure out what really drives your target audience to move forward. 

Remind Yourself Of Your Expertise

Then you need to reconnect with yourself. What are you an expert in? What inspires you or interests you? Why do you care about what you’re interested in?

The best content pillars are those that you’re familiar with. You don’t need to do a whole lot of research when writing about those topics. You simply know. 

Reflect Whether Your Expertise Matches Your Branding Statements

Take your newly (re)identified expertise and determine whether those topics align with your branding statements. Your branding statements may include your mission statement, vision statement, unique selling proposition, value proposition, and company description. Does your expertise align with your brand? 

Summarize Your Expertise Into Big Topics

Take the topics that you claim to have expertise in and start to categorize them. For example, my expertise may lie in the following:

  • Email marketing
  • Marketing automation
  • Customer journey
  • Funnel building
  • Conversion copy
  • Website copy
  • Content marketing 
  • Blogging
  • Content creation
  • Female entrepreneurs
  • Personal development
  • Perfectionism

All of that is great, but how can we group them together? It may look like the following:

  • Copywriting
  • Marketing
    • Email marketing
    • Marketing automation
    • Customer journey
    • Funnel building
    • Conversion copy
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Female entrepreneurs
    • Personal development
    • Perfectionism

Test Your Content Pillars

Lastly, test your content pillars. Does your target audience care about them? Can you quickly create content around them? Do these pillars support and enhance your brand?

If the answer is no, then it’s time to go back to the drawing board. 

Ready To Create The Content For Your Content Marketing?

Creating the content pillars is the first big step to creating a strong content marketing strategy. But the execution of the strategy is where most fail to deliver. If you want to release valuable content that resonates with your target audience, let’s start the conversation. Schedule a discovery call with our team today.

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

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KLT Factors

How To Increase Your KLT Factors In Your Business Without Investing Too Much

Ever wonder how some start ups gain traction so quickly, seemingly without much effort? Or see a competitor who offers a slightly lesser quality offer than you and is more successful?

It can be frustrating, but when you look at the root of their success…

…Their success doesn’t stem from having the best product, most innovative delivery method, or even the most affordable price. 

It’s because they show up with clear communications that are authentic, genuine, and human

They’ve effectively built out their KLT factors better than you – for now – and you’re seeing that impact. 

So what are KLT factors and why do you need them to grow your business? 

What Are KLT Factors?

The KLT in KLT factors stands for Know, Like, Trust.

Have you ever heard the phrase, people only do business with people they know, like, and trust? That rings so true, even in today’s digital landscape. If you’re able to persuade a stranger on the Internet that they know you deeply, you are much more likely to get them to like and trust you. 

Where companies go wrong in their marketing is when they take all their personality out of it. There’s nothing human about how they are showing up in the world. Instead, their audience is seeing a blob of technical terms and general communications. They aren’t able to make the connecting point between the solution and why they should invest in that company. 

Why Do You Need To Consider Adding KLT Factors Into Your Marketing

As you look at or build your strategic plans, it’s important to view your marketing from the perspective of your target customer. Do they truly know you from what you’re putting out into the world? Is it easy to like you? Is there even something to like? What about you can they trust in? 

When you don’t strategically add in any KLT factors into your marketing, you’re leaving big money on the table. You’re also not creating a reason for your existing customers to stick around. They are more likely to move to a different brand that resonates with them a lot more. 

If you need a couple of examples of brands we love that display their KLT factors clearly, check these out: 

7 Ways To Increase Your KLT Factors

Want to increase your KLT factors? Try to use at least one of these 7 methods. 

Using Your Customer’s Words

Speak your target audience’s language. A lot of the business owners we come across struggle with their copy. Our question is usually, when was the last time you had a conversation with your audience and actually listened to their pain points? 

Schedule a coffee with your favorite client and/or a prospect, and simply ask questions. Get them to talk about their business, their struggles, and what they wish they could fix in their business. Then use their exact words in your marketing copy. 

We had a much different headline on our hero banner when we first launched our website. Surprise, surprise…The energy we put into it wasn’t working because we hadn’t listened to our target audience. 

Very quickly, we came to the conclusion that almost every client either didn’t have time to write copy or struggled to write it (usually because they don’t like to write). 

So what did we do? 

Use their words in our marketing. 

Hosting An Educational Type Event or Workshop

When you offer up yourself and provide content that your audience wants in an interactive environment, you are able to move much more quickly through the customer journey. That journey is taking a complete stranger and transforming them into an advocate for your business (the very last stage of the journey). 

We’ve been educating on a one-on-one basis since the foundation of FocusCopy. But in 2023, we decided that it was time to break out boldly and teach. 

That’s why we developed the How To Develop Your Workshop Content class in partnership with Go Savvy (February 2023) and are planning on several more workshop events throughout 2023. 

Expressing Some Vulnerability 

Vulnerability appears in many forms. But in its purest form, it’s expressing something that may put you in a weak position. And what can that do for you? Connect with your target audience on a human level. 

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of connection and the path to the feeling of worthiness. If it doesn’t feel vulnerable, the sharing is probably not constructive.”

– Brené Brown

Sharing Your Story

And speaking of vulnerability, one of the best ways to do that is by sharing your story. We all have a story. And the world needs to hear it. 

No, it doesn’t need to be some dramatic story. So avoid comparing your story to others. It’s not a competition. 

But what you do need to be is honest with your story. 

How did you get here? 

What changed that led you down this path?

What were some big or hard lessons you learned? 

Showing Your Face Consistently

Another experiment that’s been conducted – especially on social media – is that when you show your face, you increase your engagement rates significantly. So post or share videos, images, photos, etc. of yourself on your marketing mediums. 

And no, stock photos will not help you increase your KLT factors. 

Knowing Your Values

Know your values and stick with them. A friend recently posted on LinkedIn that he was to announce his support for a few things that conflicted with his values in order to take part in a big event. He made the ultimate decision to pass on that event because he didn’t want to neglect his values. I already knew his value and trusted him as a referral source, but his stepping out like that increased his KLT factors dramatically. 

Know your values and don’t compromise them for any reason. There is always enough business to go around. 

Sharing Your Knowledge

Lastly, share your knowledge. That could be information, insights, strategies, resources, etc. Whatever it is, find how you can educate and inform your audience. 

Ready To Increase Your KLT Factors?   

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Email Marketing Mistakes

Email Marketing Mistakes To Avoid In 2023

Email marketing is one of those marketing topics that seems to be coming back into conversation, and there’s a reason for it. 

Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies for nurturing and converting prospects into clients. And when done well, it can boost your reputation, revenue, and retention of clients. 

But there are a few email marketing mistakes that you want to avoid as you invest more time and money into it. 

What Is Email Marketing? 

First, what is email marketing actually? 

It’s a form of direct marketing that helps you promote your offer. Now, it doesn’t have to be a hard sell. It could be more of a brand awareness tool, follow-up tool, or engagement tool for the in-between purchase phase. 

Regardless of how you utilize your email marketing, it’s a powerful tool to add to your marketing toolkit. 

Why Should Your Business Use Email Marketing?

In our professional opinion, there is a place for email marketing in every business’s marketing strategy. There is so much diversity in what you can use this strategy for. Here are a couple of examples:

  • Consulting → follow-up with referral partners
  • Health and wellness → educational newsletters
  • Marketing → long term nurture
  • Consumer products → awareness of new products and/or offers

8 Email Marketing Mistakes To Avoid

Here are 8 email marketing mistakes to avoid so that each marketing dollar is spent well. 

1. Using Your Personal Email Over A Trusted Email Service Provider

When you can, use a trusted mass mailing service, like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Keap, Hubspot, or whatever email marketing software you prefer. This is your best bet because it establishes your professional reputation. 

A trusted email service provider will make it easier for your subscribers to:

  • Opt-in and/or adjust their email marketing preferences
  • Unsubscribe
  • Receive your emails in their inbox
  • Provide email statistics to base your decisions on

And those are just a few of the technical reasons to use an email service provider over your personal email!

2. Not Spending Enough Time On Subject Lines & Preview Text

Your subject lines and preview text are the 2 things that convince your audience to click on your email (apart from your stellar reputation). 

If you need help coming up with subject lines, take a look at the emails that you open. What about them attracts you? Why do you want to open those emails? 

If you’re really not sure what type of subject lines your target audience likes, then it’s time to test. Here are a couple of the subject line A/B tests we’ve run recently for clients:

  • Dad joke vs. non-joke
  • Question vs. statement
  • Question that includes software name vs. question that avoids software name

3. Sending Bulk Emails To A Cold Audience

This is a biggie, and one that I made in my early email marketing experience. I sent an email to 27,000 people once but a good chunk of those individuals were a cold audience – those that hadn’t actively engaged with our previous efforts. 

And I got blacklisted…

Email service provider locked me down. Domain was flagged. And all my big marketing tools for that company were restricted. 

Let me tell you…It took hours to fix. 

So if you’re going to send an email to a wide audience – especially a cold audience – break that audience down into smaller groups. It will save you a lot of time, stress, and heartache. 

4. Falling Out Of Consistent Emailing

When you’re inconsistent with your emailing, your audience’s inbox isn’t going to treat your emails the same way as if you are consistent. While this may not be an exact science, we have learned from experience that consistency helps with the technical part of email marketing and with the customer engagement. 

When you start to do email marketing, it’s important to find a frequency in which you can consistently email your audience. Whether that’s quarterly, monthly, bimonthly, or weekly…Whatever it is, find a frequency and stick with it.

Need help with consistency? We’ve created a guide that includes 52 email marketing prompts to get you through the rest of the year. Download that guide here.

5. Not Measuring Email Statistics 

When you don’t use an email service provider or neglect to look at the email statistics, you are wasting a big opportunity to improve. We all know that marketing is a big experiment. Anyone that tells you one thing is certain in marketing isn’t someone you want to trust. So take the statistics (i.e. open rate, click through rate, opt-out rate, etc.) into consideration when determining which methods to focus your attention and others that may need to pivot.

6. Keeping Emails Impersonal & Vague

Your emails are a great opportunity to show some personality and build a relationship. Afterall, people do business with people they know, like, and trust. When you’re impersonal and vague in your email messaging, you lose the opportunity for people to know, like, and trust you.

Personalizations

Personalizations, such as their name, company name, and location, are great opportunities to break through the noise and personalize your messages. When people feel seen or heard, they are much more likely to engage. 

Storytelling

Share the horror stories, lessons learned, big wins, and embarrassing moments. Share stories that will grab their attention and engage them. And since this isn’t a public platform like blogging, social media, podcasting, etc., it’s a more intimate environment to get vulnerable. 

7. Sending Emails Without Testing Links

Another one of my email marketing mistakes include sending 25,000 emails with the wrong link. Facepalm. That’s why I’ve made it a professional rule, and even a standard, to always test links in emails. Depending on the software, send yourself a test email and click on every single link. You can also preview the email and do the same thing. 

If you realize a link is bad after sending the mass email, send a quick follow-up email stating that you included a wrong link. This provides you an opportunity to remarket yourself. You don’t want to do this often because then it speaks to your lack of quality control (and you don’t want that).

8. Including Unclear Call To Actions

Lastly, be obvious with your call to actions. Be specific and focused. Avoid including a dozen different call to actions in your emails. Instead, choose one and focus on that one action. 

It’s Time To Focus On The Right Things For Your Email Marketing

The first step to email marketing is demystifying that it’s some complicated marketing strategy. When in reality, it’s simply about having the right conversation at the right time. If you need inspiration about what to write in your email marketing, download these 52 prompts to get started.

Prospects Slipping Through The Cracks Of Your Sales Pipeline?

You may be leaving money on the table if you aren’t following up with them regularly and relationally. 

Website Launch Checklist

The Ultimate Website Checklist For A Successful Launch

Launching your business’s website is an exciting time!

Aside from the time it will save answering the same questions over and over (and over and over) again, your website can be your most effective sales tool. Plus, a good website can also elevate your business’s legitimacy and boost your own confidence as a business owner.

But before you hit the big, shiny launch button, go through our website launch checklist first. 

Your Ultimate Website Launch Checklist

These 18 steps can make the difference between a meh website and a fully functioning site that makes your business stand out from the competition – for all the right reasons. 

Need help writing copy for your web pages? Click here to schedule a discovery call to learn how FocusCopy can help!

1. Proofread All Copy

There’s nothing like a grammar or spelling error to get the wrong kind of attention. For instance, one marketing professional who worked for one of Houston’s biggest public parks to this day can’t publish anything without doing a word search for the word “pubic”. It was a lesson in overly trusting spell check learned the hard way. After all, just because something is spelled correctly, doesn’t mean it’s the right word. But it taught her to ask her most stringent proofreading friends and colleagues to read over everything once (or twice). 

*Side tip – don’t ask people pleasers to proofread. You want the proofreaders who aren’t afraid to point out your mistakes before they’re out there for the world to see. 

2. Test All Forms

Having a website is a great way to capture your audience’s contact information. However, make sure the forms work! Fill out the link yourself and make sure everything comes through. Then, send the link to a few close friends, family, or colleagues to test it further. 

3. Set Up Google Analytics

Learning about your audience is one of the most critical parts of owning a business and website. Not only will it help you write copy that speaks to your target audience, but it will also help you adapt to their needs. For instance, with Google Analytics, you can monitor information about your audience that includes:

  • Their general profiles including age, gender, location, and more
  • The devices they are using
  • What of your pages, posts, and products are the most popular
  • How they are reacting to your marketing campaigns
  • Conversion rates
  • Website loading speed
  • And so, so much more!

Too busy running your business to dedicate time to writing compelling and converting copy? Contact FocusCopy to learn how we can take copy off your plate and help you meet your goals. 

4. Check Each Page On A Desktop, Tablet & Smartphone

The world is literally at our fingertips with smartphones and other handheld devices. Which means, your website needs to be compatible with desktop computers, tablets, mobile phones, and any other devices that become widely used in the future. 

This check box is two-fold. For one, you want your audience to have a great user experience. Otherwise, they’ll just skip on over to your competitor’s website. And secondly, it can help your Google ranking. Check out Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool here.  

5. Run Compatibility Tests

Plugins can elevate a website and this may have you thinking they’re your best friends. The problem is that, as in life, sometimes your friends don’t get along so well together. And the same goes for plugins! 

This compatibility checker is a great tool to double check that all your different plugins will get along and work efficiently together. If it’s not optimizing your website, the plugin may not be worth its hype. 

6. Create 404 Page

Sometimes websites run into an error. What you don’t want to happen is the people looking for your website to run across a “Page Not Found” error message. 

Instead, prepare now for issues that may come up in the future with your very own custom 404 page. This will help you prevent losing a visitor, improving user experience, and track errors. You can even set up email alerts to be notified of 404 errors so you can fix them as quickly as possible. 

7. Index Site On Google Search Console

I’m going to go out on a limb to assume you want people to be able to find your website once it’s live. Properly indexing and rendering your website is key to attracting new visitors (i.e. potential customers) through search engine results.

If you were to forgo indexing your site prior to its launch, you will essentially be putting extra steps in your conversion funnel. Furthermore, it’s important to realize that it can take weeks to get a new website fully indexed. To ensure your website is fully optimized in its “newness” phase, make sure to index sooner than later.

8. Submit Sitemap

The sitemap is the collection of URLs on your website that you want Google to index on the search engine results page (SERP). Most SEO plugins will handle this for you.

However, don’t assume details like this will always be perfect. Instead, triple check that 1) you have a sitemap and 2) it contains the right content and that it works.

9. Test All Links

This is as simple as it sounds – make sure all the links work!

If there is a backlink on your website, click it. Did it direct you to the appropriate web page? Great! If not, address what went wrong to ensure all your links are working properly. 

10. Test All Icons (Especially Social Media)

Linked icons are a great way to grow your social media following. As said above in #9, make sure the links work!

A well-designed marketing plan will point your target audience to your website. Many may find your website through your social media activity, newsletters, and so on. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t want your website visitors to try so hard to keep up with you on LinkedIn, Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, and any other social media platform you’re harnessing!

11. Add SSL Certificate

Are you familiar with SSL certificates? It’s the acronym for “Secure Sockets Layer” and it’s important for your security and reputation.

Without an SSL certificate, your audience may receive alerts that your website is not secure. That’s no good and will quickly send readers to your competitor’s website.

Plus, having an SSL certificate helps to increase Google ranking, essentially driving more traffic to your website. Additionally, SSL certificates indicate that you have taken the proper steps to protect your users’ private information – contributing to your credibility factors. 

12. Include Terms of Service & Privacy Policy

There’s nothing like a legality issue to throw a would-be successful website launch off course.

Speak to your business attorney to ensure that you have the right licenses for images, fonts, plugins, and more. 

Yes, the legal jargon is usually the “boring” part of any project. But it is so incredibly important! 

13. Benchmark Your Previous Website’s Data

If this is a new version of an old website, it’s time for a little side-by-side comparison. Basically, you want to see how your new site compares to the old one. A few things you should look out for include:

  • Gaps that provide data-driven insights to help fine tune your new strategy
  • Confirm testing procedures
  • Ensure all components are working properly
  • Double check that you have a system in place to track bugs and enhancements

14. Check For Brand Consistency

You don’t want to confuse your audience with inconsistent brand messaging. So, make sure that your brand voice and branded images stay on point. Refer back to your core message that speaks directly to your target audience. Moreover, check that any logos or images are the most up to date and have the same filter, colors, etc. 

15. Replace Placeholder Images With Final Images

When building a website, placeholders help keep the momentum going. However, don’t forget to go back through and replace all the placeholders with the final images. This will make your website appear polished, and your business professional and trustworthy.

16. Confirm The Copy Is The Latest Version

Especially when building a website, there are likely several renditions of web pages. If not labeled correctly, it can be easy to import the wrong version. Make sure that you are using the latest (and greatest) version of copy for your website. Don’t forget to have a few trusted friends give it a good proofreading before going live. 

17. Check That Hosting Can Handle Your Bandwidth

The last thing you want when your website goes live is for it to immediately crash because it can’t handle the traffic or amount of content on your site. Talk with your website host or designer to evaluate the amount of bandwidth you need. Here’s a quick guide on why server bandwidth is critical.

18. Send An Email Announcement About Your New Website

Be sure to celebrate your launch and let your audience know that you have a new website! You never know when a cold prospect or even an inactive client will re-engage with you. Take the opportunity to show that you’ve invested in your brand. 

P.S. Need a few prompts to make your website actually mean something to your cold prospects? Download this free guide for to answer the most important questions on your website.

Ready to Launch? 

Launching is an exciting time! But if you’re still struggling with the copy side of your website, let’s chat

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words
Authentic Branding

Salesy Copy Is Out, Authentic Branding Is In

Ever see an ad that makes you raise your eyebrows a bit?

You’re far from alone in that. In fact, today’s consumers are inundated with salesy marketing campaigns in every facet of their lives. You can’t open your email, social media accounts, watch a video, or even drive down the street without some type of marketing coming into your peripheral. 

If something seems suspicious, the facts don’t really matter anymore. That potential customer is already lost and may forever affiliate that brand in a negative connotation.

This is why it’s time to ditch the salesy copy. Instead, focus your marketing efforts on authentic branding that will comfort your audience and help them remember you.

So how do you make your marketing stand out for the right reasons?

You need credibility to show that your brand messaging is authentic. 

Otherwise, you’re just another fish in a pond of baseless sales tactics.

What is Authentic Branding?

Simply put, authentic branding and marketing is when you prioritize building your know/like/trust (KLT) factors with your audience over sales. It feels like you want to develop a relationship rather than a transaction. 

Remember the phrase, people do business with people they know, like, and trust. This mindset is the starting point to create an authentic brand. 

4 Tips To Ditch The Salesy Copy For Authentic Transparency

Getting the right message across isn’t as tricky as it seems. Sometimes all it takes is reevaluating your business’s mission and values. 

Don’t have time or the confidence to write your own brand messaging? Leave it to the pros at FocusCopy. Schedule your discovery call with us today.

1. Keep Your Authentic Voice Consistent In Your Brand Messaging

Have you defined your brand voice?

If not, then it’s time to discover, document, and implement your business’s authentic voice.

Your business’s brand voice speaks to your target market. Furthermore, a consistent brand voice builds credibility and helps your audience feel comfortable with your brand. 

On the other hand, an inconsistent brand voice can wreak havoc on your business’s marketing.

A few questions to ask yourself when honing in on your brand voice include:

  • How do you want people to feel about your brand?
  • What voice, tone, and words do you absolutely want to avoid affiliating with your brand?
  • Who is your ideal customer and audience?

FocusCopy has a whole workshop we go over with new clients. Sometimes, the questions are a little surprising – like which movie characters you relate to, how your friends describe you, and so much more. But I promise, there’s a method to the madness. Each question gets us closer to defining a business’s voice for the most effective brand messaging. 

Once you identify your brand voice, use it genuinely, consistently, and transparently. Moreover, don’t be afraid to show the highs and the lows. People relate to real life problems, it doesn’t need to be all sunshine and daisies. 

Additionally, if you make claims – back them up! Backlinking to reputable sources not only builds your own credibility, but can also improve your SEO efforts. (Psst…backlink to your own blogs and web pages, too!)

2. Show Your People, Products & Services With Authentic Photos – Not Stock

Sure, stock photos are great when you’re in a pinch. However, you may want to keep them in the last resort file.

This case study on Harrington Movers in New Jersey shows just how powerful authentic photos can be. When they decided to do away with the happy couple stock photo and get real, the results spoke for themselves.

In fact, they ran an A/B test with 2 new, yet authentic, photos. The first is a simple photo of their moving truck. The second is a photo of their actual team of movers in front of a moving truck. With both of the newer, authentic photos, Harrington Movers saw over a 45% increase in quote requests than with the stock photo.

Overall, marketing is a science. It’s why we love A/B tests! However, it’s important to not lose the human element. You can chase all the analytics and statistics, but you need to always remember that a real living person full of emotions and personal experiences is on the receiving end. 

On another note, make sure your photos are true! Have you been introduced to a new skincare product complete with before and after pictures? But when you look at the photos, you realize the person in the “before” is raising their eyebrows to create forehead wrinkles. The lighting is different in both photos and you realize that if this is the best they can do – it’s not a worthy investment. 

Investing in a brand photo shoot was one of my favorite marketing projects for FocusCopy. I now have a plethora of images that I own and use for featured images in blogs, newsletters, website copy, and more. Plus, it was fun! The trick is to hire a great photographer that makes you feel comfortable and that you trust (meet our favorite photographer).

3. Keep Your Marketing As Genuine As Can Be

On the same thread of using genuine and honest photos, your copy should follow suit. In other words, practice what you preach.

For instance, there’s been a lot of talk around the lack of regulations in the U.S.’s skincare and cosmetics industries. The facts can be quite shocking. Unsurprisingly, a lot of companies have jumped on the bandwagon to promote non-toxic products. However, are the people pushing these products concerned about all the toxins in their lives? 

If not, how can you be sure they even care and that their products are as safe as they claim?

People in this particular niche industry can show their genuine care and interest by showing that they take the same approach to other parts of their lives. As an example, they may show that they use effective yet non-toxic household cleaners or are making an effort to replace plastic containers with glass. 

The gist here is no matter your industry, your marketing will be most effective when it is genuine. 

Do you know what you want to say but not sure how to say it? Writing is the most cumbersome task in marketing campaigns and FocusCopy will work with you to define your brand voice for the most effective messaging. Schedule a discovery call today to learn more!

4. Grow An Organic Following (AKA Don’t Pay For Followers Or Engagement)

Social media brings us into each other’s lives like never before. Whether you keep a crisp profile that only shows the positives or get into the nitty gritty behind the scenes real life chaos, it’s amazing what people want to see!

It’s called social proof. And if done right, it can tremendously increase your brand’s reach. 

Having trouble getting started? Challenge yourself to show up on social media for a month straight. Yes, every day of an entire calendar month. I promise it’s not hard. Plus, you can have fun with it!

Been wanting to show off your dance or lip syncing skills? There’s no time like the present to pick a trending TikTok audio clip and go for it. 

However, make sure to keep the content focused on your target audience. 

Moreover, ask customers to send you or tag your company’s social media in their own photos using your product or service! There’s nothing like seeing real people enjoying what your business offers to instill social proof.

FocusCopy Writes Authentic Copy For Brands Worth Boosting

While writing comes easy to some, we’ve found the majority of people view it as their most cumbersome task. However, simple and direct communication is also very often the most persuasive and effective marketing tool. 

Whether you simply don’t like to write or don’t have time to write, it still needs to get done. FocusCopy allows business owners like you to focus on running and growing your business while we handle the copy. 

Ready to learn more about what FocusCopy can do for your business (and stress level)? Schedule your discovery call today!

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

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Authentic Branding
Authentic Branding
What Makes A Good Website

Is Your Website Pulling Its Weight In Sales?

Your website could be your best sales tool if you’re doing it right…

In fact, a good website will help you reach a larger audience, convert more paying customers, and provide valuable information that will keep readers coming back. 

On the flip side, a poorly designed or slow website can have the opposite effect. For instance, a global survey conducted by GoodFirms concluded that 38.5% of website visitors judge a business by its website’s appearance alone.

What determines a good, converting website often centers around two things: what the website can do and how the website is maintained.

Furthermore, there are over 1.8 billion websites online. But fewer than 200 million are active at any given time. That’s a whole lot of websites missing the mark. 

Is your website one of them?

Here’s What Your Website Should Be Able To Do

If your website isn’t checking all the boxes, then it’s time to get back to the drawing board and make website management and maintenance a higher priority. 

Need to caffeinate your web copy? Schedule a discovery call today and look forward to an impactful, converting website!

1. Be Simple To Navigate…Because No One Wants Extra Work

This is pretty simple. No one wants to add to their workload. If you are selling a product or service that can make their lives easier, then make sure your website reflects that simplicity.

Above all, a website that’s difficult to navigate won’t just annoy your readers (aka potential paying customers), it will turn them away. Moreover, if they’re already interested in what you offer – they’re going to mosey right on over to your competitor. 

Ouch!

Furthermore, you can help your website contribute toward your business goals by keeping simplicity in mind. Even better, ask a couple of trusted friends, colleagues, or family members to look at your website. This will be most beneficial if they aren’t familiar with your business yet. And, don’t inundate yourself with a full on peanut gallery – really try to keep this to 1-3 people tops.

Then, put it to the test! Ask questions to know if they:

  • Understand what your business sells
  • How to become a client
  • Are able to find answers to their questions
  • Had any issues figuring out what to do next on the customer journey

Next, use feedback to adjust your website into an easy-to-navigate and digest marketing and sales tool for your business!

2. Use SEO To Attract A Larger Audience Of Potential Customers

A well-written website with quality SEO will rank higher in Google searches. In turn, more potential customers will find the website.

But SEO isn’t a one-and-done deal. In fact, keeping up with the algorithm is a science that requires consistent attention. In 2021 alone, Google ran over 700,000 experiments. With that data, they made more than 4,000 improvements.

What does that mean for website owners like you? 

The algorithm changes with each improvement. This means whatever actions website owners previously did successfully may no longer bring the same results. 

It’s a pivot game.

However, if you don’t have the expertise or time to maintain and manage your website, you can outsource those tasks! We love our friends at The Clever Site who help entrepreneurs and small business owners run stellar websites.

3. Provide A Great User Experience Across Computers, Phones, Tablets & All Devices

According to a Zendesk study, a poorly designed and under-optimized website drives away nearly 50% of viewers. Additionally, load speeds also affect your Google ranking.

In fact, Google’s own research states that 53% of mobile website visitors abandon a webpage if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds. Moreover, websites that rank high on Google’s search engine result page (SERP) have an average load speed of 1.65 seconds. 

Once again, it comes back to simplicity and keeping things easy for your audience. So, make sure to optimize your website for a great user experience to keep readers from running to your competitors. 

Put your website on track to be a powerful tool to inform and convert readers. Reach out today and get your discovery call on the books. 

4. Answer The Most Common Questions You Receive

How often do you get the same questions from clients or interested parties? Whether through phone calls, email, or DMs, how much time are you spending answering the same questions?

Free up your time and give the people what they want – easy-to-find answers to your most common questions!

A great way to answer questions is with blogs. Outline content categories to cover all your bases. Each question may potentially be all the inspiration you need for an entire blog post. 

5. Capture Visitor’s Contact Info Through Engagement

People love freebies, especially when it holds value in their eyes. Encourage your target audience to engage with your website by downloading a lead magnet, signing up for your email newsletter, taking a quiz, or claiming a discount.

With each method, a potential client has stepped into the conversion zone by taking their first steps on the customer journey. Meanwhile, you gain the contact information of a person who is worth nurturing to continue moving forward.

All in all, this is a win-win situation! 

6. Give Readers Clear & Direct Calls To Action

If you want someone to want to work with you, then make it easy! (See a theme here?) 

Even the most intelligent, tech-savvy people don’t want to add extra tasks to their plates. So help them along their customer journey and direct them to their next step with calls to action (CTA).

Throughout your website, include buttons that state something along the lines of:

  • Join Today
  • Get Started Now
  • Sign Up
  • Don’t Miss Out

You get the idea, right? The goal is to move them closer to being a paying customer that contributes to your business’s success. 

7. Showcase Your Business’s Credibility In Your Industry

A business’s credibility can make it stand out as a leader and authority in the industry. While some businesses start out with high credibility, others spend years building it. 

Some examples of credibility to include on your website include:

  • High-praising client reviews
  • Certifications
  • Professional affiliations 
  • Relevant memberships
  • Trust seals verified by third parties
  • Social media to show social proof
  • Press highlights
  • Links to credible sources 

However, make sure not to make your credibility the star of your website. Website copy should remain viewer focused, as the goal is to convert new customers – not brag about your accomplishments.

8. Tell Readers How To Reach You With Comments Or Questions

Have you ever attempted to contact a business and could not for the life of you figure out how? Consider that a big ol’ waving red flag!

If you can’t contact a business you’re interested in buying from, then how will you contact them if there are issues down the road? You probably won’t be able to.

Make sure your website has at least one of the following:

  • A phone number 
  • An email address
  • A contact form to request a response

However, make sure the phone number and email address are active and manned! Nothing worse than calling a number that rings and rings with no answer or voicemail.

Caffeinate Your Website With Converting Copy

FocusCopy works with small, women-owned businesses like yours to invigorate copy that will bolster your brand. Whether you need help with blogs, email newsletters, web pages, or anything else copy related, our team has your back. 

What do you say? Ready for a website that checks all the boxes and works as your best sales tool? Schedule a discovery call with me today!

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

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generate blog topics

4 Questions To Ask To Generate 20 Blog Topics In <15 Minutes

Inspiration is a funny thing. It’s everywhere and can leave you dreaming of possibilities for hours, especially if you’re a business owner. 

Your entire business model might come from a streak of inspiration you decided was worth pursuing. However, the not-so-great thing about inspiration is that it doesn’t occur on command…at least not for most people.

When you’re thinking about blog topics for your business, you may feel stuck about what to write. 

You think…Do I simply talk about my business and what I know? Do I need to be creative and go outside of my comfort zone? Is it okay to discuss other things related to my business?

These are good to think about when you sit down to write, but they aren’t particular enough to help with content creation. Strong blog topic ideas should be specific enough to answer a question your audience might have. At the same time, you should make sure the topic is relevant to your brand and can tie into your business offerings. Creating blog topics based on this notion alone can quickly become confusing. So, it’s an even better idea to ask yourself these 4 specific questions, which helps you generate 20 blog topics in less than 15 minutes.

Need to pick up your blogging pace? We can help! Contact FocusCopy to get your blogs written, approved, and published.

Create 20 Blog Topics In 15 Minutes Or Less By Asking 4 Simple Questions

If it sounds too good to be true, all I have to say is give it a try! Even if you spend the next 5 minutes reading AND brainstorming, you’ll get something valuable out of it – you simply have to trust me. Let’s generate blog topics!

1. What Questions Does My Audience Have Right Now?

This should be an easy one! Take a second to think about potential sales calls, meetings, and client feedback you’ve heard. What are the questions you repeat the answers to most?

For example, as copywriters, we often hear…

  • What is SEO and how does it work?
  • What type of content needs to be on my website?
  • How can hiring a copywriter save me time?
  • What’s the problem with me doing my own copywriting?
  • How long does it take for a copywriter to write a website, blog, etc.?

We have answers for all of these commonly asked questions. We also have a knack for turning these questions into conversation pieces, which gives the answers enough oomph to become a relevant blog for our brand.

So, do you have any questions at top of mind? Write them down! You can easily come up with 5 (or more) questions that you can turn into blog topics.

If your audience doesn’t have too many questions up front, here’s another one you should ask.

2. What Problems Does My Audience Encounter?

To answer this question, we’re first going to get into what you do, why you do it, and why your audience cares.

Our own example is…We’re a cost-effective digital copywriting firm supporting small to medium-sized businesses because it saves business owners time, money, and the extra stress of having to write their copy themselves.

Did you see that?

Right there in our own answer are a few problems we can pick out right away, which includes:

  • Small to medium-sized businesses don’t typically have a huge budget for their digital marketing efforts
  • Supporting small businesses is critical to our collective success
  • Business owners don’t have the time to write for themselves
  • Writing stresses most people and business owners out
  • Business owners don’t have time for marketing when they have more important responsibilities to attend to

And just like that, we have 5 new topics of discussion for our blog. We’ll even take it one step further to show you how you can create headlines for these points, turning them into digestible nuggets of information.

  • 10 Beneficial Effects Copywriting Has On Your Small Business
  • Why Digital Marketing Is Important For Small & Medium-Sized Businesses
  • How Hiring A Copywriter Can Save Your Business Time & Money
  • 5 Tips From A Copywriter To Help Relieve Your DIY Writing Stress
  • Why Quality Content Rules Over Quick Copy That Doesn’t Deliver

By now, you should be able to see how fast and easy it is to come up with new blog topics by answering questions about your business – which brings us to our next question to ask to generate blog topics without breaking a sweat.

Still struggling to come up with topics for your business? Hire the experts to hash out the details and come up with an effective copywriting strategy.

3. What Advice Does My Audience Need To Hear? 

This question may seem too general to answer, but try looking at it a different way. When customers or clients call your business after…

  • Attempting to do what you do themselves
  • Hiring someone less qualified
  • Hiring someone whose services are cheaper
  • Letting their problem exist for too long

What happens?

If you focus on what your audience has complained about in the past, you’ll find your advice neatly folded into your answers. We’ll switch it up and use a hypothetical client as an example here.

Texas Plumbing Company (a fictitious company) hears from customers all day, every day. And if they could tell their audience crucial information that could save them time and money, here’s what that could look like…

  • 7 Major Hazards Of DIY Plumbing
  • Why Hiring A Certified Plumbing Professional Matters
  • 5 Reasons Why Expert Routine Pipe Maintenance Matters For Your Home Or Business
  • Top 10 Common Mistakes Homeowners Make With Their Plumbing System
  • Here’s What Can Happen If You Ignore A Leak For Too Long

If you’re a plumbing pro, each of these blogs is full of information you already know about and could probably recite in your sleep. But your audience doesn’t know anything about plumbing, so it helps to offer your expert advice.

4. What Lessons Have I Learned That Would Be Helpful For My Audience To Know?

Have you ever watched Gilmore Girls? Stay with me here because I promise there’s a point.

So, there’s a scene where small town diner owner, Luke, is being yelled at by his ungrateful and reckless teenage nephew, Jess (skip to 1:05). Jess attacks his uncle by throwing Luke’s job and business in his face in an attempt to make Luke feel small and unimportant. 

Sure, Luke only has one other employee. And there isn’t a special parking spot in his name or a mahogany desk for him to sit at. But he doesn’t let Jess get to him for a second and defends himself by saying, “Hey! I own this business. I built it, kid. This is mine!”

The only reason I’m diving into this is to point something out. Entrepreneurs like you have something special that other people will never be able to relate to. You have moxie, my friend! And in case no one has told you lately, you don’t need to downplay your accomplishments or your business. Chances are, you didn’t get to where you are without learning a few hard lessons along the way.

Ask yourself…What have I learned?

The best part about this exercise is that you only need to think of about 5 things you’ve learned. Maybe you learned more about how to value yourself and your services. Perhaps you reached a breaking point when it came to dealing with certain clients. Or maybe you have a story about investing in something that didn’t work out. All of these can be great blog topics for your audience, which should bring your total number of topics to 20.

Find A True Writing Partner With FocusCopy

Don’t have enough time to write for your business (or even generate blog topics)? That’s okay! Many business owners don’t. But that doesn’t mean you should let it affect your digital marketing or brand awareness.

Reach your marketing goals with the team at FocusCopy.

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words
Writing Copy With Empathy

6 Actionable Tips To Writing Copy With Empathy

Are your marketing efforts reaching your ideal customer?

There’s a whole science behind writing for business. Copywriting soft skills are critical to provoking emotion.

And empathy, well, it’s one of the most important and impactful elements.

Copywriters need empathy to infuse our work with humanity and thought-provoking copy. This allows our clients’ ideal audience to relate to the copy on a human level.

If you’re not reaching the right people, it may be because you’re missing the human elements your audience craves.

So how do you practice empathy in 6 actionable tips?

  1. Read books
  2. Create personas
  3. Ask more questions
  4. Engage with the people in your life
  5. Put the reader first
  6. Write conversationally

Don’t worry, we’ll dive into each empathy practice below so that you can strengthen your ability to breathe humanity into your writing. 

What is Empathy & Why Is It Important?

Empathy (/ˈempəTHē/) is the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner. (Merriam-Webster)

Why’s it important?

For starters, psychopaths lack empathy. ?

There’s a lot more reason why it’s held in such high regard – beyond not sounding like a psychopath. 

Empathy helps us see a situation from another person’s perspective. This is incredibly important in all human relationships. 

Infuse your brand messaging with emotion-provoking copy that converts. Schedule a discovery session to learn more. 

Empathy: The Real Power Behind Your Words 

Since we write for businesses, our goal is to empathize with readers’ pain points. But it would be impossible to do this without putting ourselves in their shoes and really thinking about their struggles.

Furthermore, for the features of your products and/or services to stand out, potential customers need to understand how they will improve their lives.

This is best done by using empathy in words to illustrate the benefits that your business offers. 

For instance, does the what’s for dinner question make you cringe on a nightly basis?

What if you came across someone on social media or from scouring Google who offers a variety of services to make dinner time easier?

At the same time, what if they teach you to cook delicious and nutritious meals even your pickiest family members love?

And save money?

And reduce your carbon footprint?

There are a whole lot of life-changing benefits in that package! 

By empathetically connecting with readers, you can hone in on their pain points. Then, they will find the solutions your business offers more impactful to their lives. Next, your readers take the next step on the customer journey and convert!

Conversion can mean different things. It can include:

  • Download your lead magnet
  • Sign up for your email newsletter
  • Follow your social media accounts
  • Purchase your least costly service or product

But here’s the thing – any step on the conversion ladder is a win in a business owner’s book! 

As you continue to nurture your paying (and non-paying) leads with empathy, they will continue to get closer to being your best customer. 

How To Develop Copywriting Soft Skills Like Empathy 

While empathy is a normal human behavior, it comes easier to some than others. 

And no, it doesn’t mean you are a categorial psychopath. 

It just means you haven’t done as much work as the others to practice empathy. But like all things in life, this skill gets stronger with practice.

Explore these methods to develop soft skills for copywriting like empathy, compassion, and sympathy. 

Ready to hand your copy over to the pros? Schedule a discovery call and learn how we can breathe humanity into your business’s copy. 

Read Books 

There’s nothing like a good book to put yourself in another person’s head, even if that other person is a fictional character. Reading is the key to exploring and learning about other cultures and their struggles, challenges, and reasons for celebration across the world. 

Create Personas 

Have you ever had to create a character?

It sounds easier than it is, but also gets easier with practice.

For example, think about a school teacher named Sarah.

Now, consider what era Sarah lives in. What is going on in the world while Sarah is teaching?

Is she single, married, or have kids?

What does she do for fun?

How does she wind down after a busy day?

Does she exercise regularly and cook every night?

Or is she always so busy she can’t find time to workout and hits up the drive-thru after work every day?

Does she frequent the city’s finest restaurants nearly every night?

What products would make her teaching job easier?

Are there any services that would make the rest of her life easier?

These are all prompts to help you see the world from a new perspective. And through this type of practice, you can strengthen your ability to empathize with your audience. 

Ask More Questions 

One of our favorite questions to ask at FocusCopy is simply why?

Why did you start your business?

Why do you offer that service?

And why is success important to you?

Then, we keep asking why. This is because the why behind a need, want, goal, or ambition is so important to understand a person’s perspective. It helps us to empathize with them on a human level, write in their voice and tone, and engage with their audience. 

Practice asking more questions when speaking to friends, family, and colleagues. It will help you improve your relationships and might even inspire you to do something great!

Engage With The People In Your Life 

Introverts like us have got to put our social hats on every once in a while. No matter how cozy we are in our own homes, engaging with the people in our lives is important for so many reasons.

Aside from nurturing relationships, engaging with others helps build empathy. The trick is to listen carefully. 

When you understand what’s going on in other people’s lives, you better understand their challenges. Whether they need moral support or something more tangible, the key to determining their needs is to listen carefully and ask questions. 

Put The Reader First 

This might be a hard pill to swallow, but no one wants to read about you. What they want is to read about what you can do for them. 

You don’t have to totally dismiss your accolades, impressive collaborations, or esteemed colleagues. Their logos, reviews, and other mentions can be used to build credibility. 

However, the goal is to keep your business’s writing focused on the reader, not you. 

Write Conversationally 

Do you write the same way you speak?

If you’re not sure, give it a shot. There are several ways to practice writing conversationally. Here are a few of my favorites.

1. Read what you’ve written out loud. 

Does it sound natural? Would you really engage in an in-person conversation with those words? Or does it sound stuffy, and maybe a little too formal?

2. Try speech-to-text.

Do you ever feel like you know what you want to say, you just can’t write it? Then, try speaking it instead!

Most computers and phones have talk-to-text functions these days. Just hit the button and start talking. Compare your speech-to-text transcription with how you originally typed out the same message. Any glaring differences? Does it read more naturally? 

3. Write like you are talking to a friend. 

You wouldn’t turn a relaxed conversation into a formal business presentation, would you? But you still want to tell your friends about what you’re up to.

Those laid back conversations may be the ticket to writing on a human level. 

FocusCopy Breathes Empathy & Humanity Into Your Copy 

There’s a long list of jargon copywriters keep up with. From SEO and analytics to meta descriptions and content clusters, it’s easy to get caught up in the inner workings of the algorithm. 

However, what’s not ok is to lose the human element in an attempt to hit all the technical marks.

FocusCopy works with women-owned businesses to help them meet their professional goals while maintaining their authentic voice. We do this with continuing education, SEO, and most importantly – staying true to the brand voice.

Want to learn how FocusCopy can elevate your brand’s messaging? Schedule a discovery call with me today!

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words
5 Benefits Of Content Writing For SEO

5 Benefits Of Content Writing For SEO

In marketing, the term SEO gets thrown around A LOT. But hearing it coming from so many different directions doesn’t necessarily define its importance or why it should matter to you. 

Have no fear, FocusCopy is here to explain the benefits of content writing for SEO!

For starters, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In more basic terms, it’s the strategic process of getting your web pages to rank higher in Google’s search results. 

Are you wondering why Google is the SEO ledger board when other search engines are at play? According to Statista, companies that rank on Google are more likely to get the most business than those who rank on Yahoo or Bing.

When you search a topic in Google, do you sift through the results and choose to read an obscure article on the 8th page? 

Okay, so maybe you do. 

But the majority of audiences click on links closer to the top of the first page. It’s easier and safer to assume those results will be most in line with what you’re searching. 

How Content Writing For SEO Helps Your Business

Wondering if keeping SEO a goal in your content writing is worth it? Here are 5 reasons content writing for SEO helps businesses succeed.

FocusCopy can help your business create the right kind of buzz with successful content marketing strategies. Schedule a time to chat here.

1. Increases Your Google Ranking

Where your business ranks on Google can seriously affect your business. After all, you want your ideal audience to be able to find you, right?

If you’re not ranking high enough in search engine results, then you are severely limiting your brand’s reach. Content writing for SEO can help you seriously increase your rank and visibility to a larger audience.

However, it’s important to remember that content writing for SEO is a science. Successful content writers utilize specific elements to write quality content that positively impacts SEO.

Google’s algorithm uses over 200 factors to rank web pages. However, these factors also tend to change. This means copywriters, content writers, and other marketing professionals are responsible for always keeping up with the latest trends and changes.

To save you hours of valuable time, here are a few things to keep in mind for your content writing:

  • Strategic keyword placement
  • Formatting should include elements like H2 and H3 headings
  • Thoughtful use of the meta description and title tag 
  • Backlinks to your website and other credible sources
  • Legal use of personal or public images

However, the real science lies in utilizing these SEO boosting tools while keeping emotion-provoking content as the central element. More simply, don’t forget there are people on the other side of the screen craving a human connection.

2. Builds Your Brand Awareness & Authority

You believe in your business. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have started it in the first place. Give other people a chance to believe in and support your business, too. 

But to do this, you need to let them know it exists.

Content writing for SEO is a great tool for building your brand awareness. Even better, content writing for SEO can also elevate your brand as an industry leader. With more visibility and higher authority, your audience has more confidence in your business. Otherwise, you risk being just another business in a long line of results.

FocusCopy leverages your brand messaging and credibility to write content that helps your business reach and engage with a larger audience.

3. Keeps Your Audience Engaged

Capturing the attention of your target audience is one thing. But keeping that audience engaged requires an entirely different strategy.

If you consistently publish meaningful content that answers your readers’ questions, they are more likely to return to your website. And after finding value in your website, the likelihood of them converting into paying customers also increases. 

However, too many dead ends after clicking on your links will have your audience saying, “Thank you, next.” 

Don’t let your message fall flat. Instead, learn how content writing for SEO can have your audience giddy to see your latest newsletter, read your latest blog, and more.

Celebrate each stage of engagement as it is a stepping stone in your customer journey. Furthermore, nurture each engaging audience member because you would never want to alienate what could be your biggest lead yet!

Need help strategizing how to engage your audience and boost SEO? Connect with me here and let’s start planning!

4. Boosts Your Business’s Conversion Rates

Different from copywriting, the goal of content writing is to engage your audience with information or entertainment. But it’s important to realize that content writing is an effective tool you can use alongside copywriting. 

For context, the goal of copywriting is to persuade readers to take action. Think of content writing as copywriting’s sneaky sister.

Thoughtful content writing keeps your audience engaged. Meanwhile, the goal of both content and copywriting is to market your business’s offerings. 

All this to say, quality content helps increase your business’s conversion rates. This means you can effectively utilize your content to make more sales and grow your business. 

5. Helps Your Ideal Customers Find You

Word-of-mouth marketing can work in certain situations. But the problem is that it severely limits your brand’s reach. 

For your business to be successful, you need to get out of your social circle. Help all of your ideal customers find you by boosting your web presence. Opening up your brand awareness to a larger audience means higher conversions, sales, and, ultimately, revenue.

As marketing professionals, we’ve seen too many small businesses get caught up in the whirlwind of friend and family support. Some small businesses have even made the choice to scale based on their successful first quarter. But the problem is that you can’t count on your friends and family to be your main source of income. 

Instead, you should hold back on scaling until your business is successful among a broader customer base. 

Build Your Brand’s Credibility With Professional SEO Copywriting Services

FocusCopy is the non-agency copywriting firm that specializes in only writing copy. While marketing firms and agencies stack their plates with a plethora of services, I realized that writing is consistently the most grueling task that knocks other projects off balance and behind schedule.

By offering copywriting services, agencies, firms, small businesses, and entrepreneurs can outsource their writing needs. And this means they can focus on their most important tasks.

Whether you need an SEO-boosting blog, an engaging newsletter, converting website, or anything else copy related – the FocusCopy team is here to help. Schedule some time to learn how FocusCopy can help you meet your marketing goals today.

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

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content categories

What Are Content Categories?

Want to publish a diverse amount of valuable content?

Or do you want to make sure that relevant content is published at the right time?

As a business owner, it can feel overwhelming to come up with a content plan. But it doesn’t have to!

In fact, successful marketers create content categories, also known as content buckets, to organize and schedule the right content at the right time.

Everything You Need To Know About Content Categories

Creating a backlog of content is a great way to ensure you always have something to publish, send, or post. This helps to keep your audience engaged. 

Moreover, consistently publishing blogs is a great way to boost your SEO ranking. And here’s the sometimes surprising part…It doesn’t necessarily matter how often you publish, as long as it’s consistent

Choose what schedule you can sustainably do, whether that be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Whatever you choose, simply stick to it. 

However, creating blogs, email newsletters, and social media posts ahead of time can result in a hodge-podge of mixed content. That’s why grouping your content into categories is so helpful. 

For instance, the FocusCopy blog page has a list of tags that describe the various blogs we’ve published. This makes it much easier for our readers to find valuable information quickly rather than sifting through a dozen pages full of blogs.

But this organization starts way before we hit publish. If you’ve been following along, you know we use and love ClickUp. As a versatile task manager, I’m able to create content labels for each of our FocusCopy blogs as I assign them. 

This process allows my copywriters to look through assigned blogs on our editorial calendar and know exactly what category each task falls under. Some of our content categories include:

  • Business
  • Content Marketing
  • Marketing
  • Processes & Procedures
  • Copywriting
  • Lead Generation

With these category labels in place, I’m able to publish blogs easily without reading through the dozens that have been written. Furthermore, this helps to publish blogs in theme with any specific campaigns we’re promoting at the time. 

Want to learn how FocusCopy can build your business’s brand awareness through compelling copy? Find some time to chat here.

How to Create Content Categories For Your Business’s Marketing

When creating tasks in ClickUp, we include the “Category” column. I have the different categories we write about for FocusCopy pre-filled on a drop down menu. This makes it easy to simply select the appropriate category. 

However, being such a versatile task manager, there are several ways to go about this in ClickUp. You can instead opt for tags that appear next to the title of each task. Plus, several other options to view your content categories at a high level. 

Since FocusCopy’s blogs are (mostly) all about copywriting in marketing, our categories branch from our main topic. 

Content Categories Streamline Your Production Calendar

As mentioned above, publishing content consistently is important to keep your audience engaged and to rank higher in Google searches. However, it’s important to remember planning is key to keeping your production calendar on track. 

Need a refresher on creating a system to manage content creation and publication? Check out my previous blog, How To Build An Editorial Calendar With ClickUp That You Can Actually Stick To.

An effective editorial calendar will be your best friend when it comes to publishing your business’s content. However, for it to be successful, make sure to incorporate content categories from the very beginning.

Already have an editorial calendar but missed the content category memo upon construction? That’s okay! Just pencil in some time on your calendar to create your content categories and adjust accordingly. Moving forward, you’ll be able to assign tasks into content categories as they’re created. 

Going through these steps will help streamline your production calendar, save time, and prevent unnecessary stress.

Ready to publish copy that really converts? Get in touch with me here and let’s get to work!

Identify Your Business’s Ideal Content Categories

Now it’s time to make content categories work for you!

First, think about your brand messaging and what it represents. Next, search Google, Reddit, your social media platforms, and other channels to see what exactly your ideal audience is searching for. There are also other helpful websites like DemandJump that will help you choose the best terms and keywords

Knowing what terms your audience searches is important as you define your content categories. Because, in case you haven’t heard me say it before, what you publish needs to be about your audience – not you.

For example, an IT expert may also refer to themselves as a Managed Service Provider (MSP). While the term fits their offerings, a successful marketing campaign would take into account that not all potential customers know the term MSP. 

Keep this in mind when defining your content categories and overall strategy. Because, while many people love an opportunity to learn, even more people will simply move to the next article in their search results if they’re unfamiliar with the terms being used. 

How FocusCopy Utilizes Content Categories

You may not know this about me, but my former mentor and boss unexpectedly passed away several years ago. Because of the aftermath, I make sure my company documents everything. You see, while I have the utmost respect for this person, the order of operations lived in his brain and his brain alone.

Needless to say, content categories are one of FocusCopy’s many standard operating procedures (SOPs). These SOPs are great for several reasons. One being that my team can access specific how-tos in regard to any and every process. The second reason is that if I get hit by a bus (or win the next big lottery and take off to my very own private island), my business can continue without missing a beat.

We utilize content categories to streamline our to-do lists efficiently. For instance, if I want to make sure to publish 3 different types of blogs in one month, I just have to filter through the categories of unpublished blogs. 

By prioritizing planning in our editorial calendar management, I have created a system that saves time and allows me to publish quality copy consistently.

Develop Content Categories & More With The Copywriting Experts

FocusCopy works with small and medium-sized, women-owned businesses to produce concise, focused, and converting copy. Our proven processes allow for timely production schedules so our clients can always count on us to produce quality copy on time. 

Whether you need help with blogging, email campaigns, engaging your audience on social media, building a credible and converting website, or anything else – we’re here and ready to help. We’d love nothing more than to grab a coffee and discuss your business’s copywriting needs. Schedule a time to meet here.

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

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