The 5-Step Process that Solves 3 Painful Writing Problems

By Brian Clark

writing tips - how to write clear, clean content

I once asked the Copyblogger community to name their biggest writing challenges.

From the many responses, a pattern developed:

  • How to get started
  • How to cut the fluff
  • How to finish

These three issues are really symptoms of the same painful problem, which boils down to not clearly understanding what you’re trying to accomplish with your writing. Don’t worry … it’s a fairly common ailment.

There’s a five-step process you can work through that will help clarify your objectives, which leads to greater clarity in your writing.

This method also helps you kick-start any writing project (and finish it) with only the necessary …read more      

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Cornerstone Content Defined in 60 Seconds [Animated Video]

By Demian Farnworth

content marketing glossary - what is cornerstone content?

Cornerstone content is vital for both seasoned bloggers and anyone launching a brand-new website because it can help you accomplish many of your content marketing goals.

Goals like:

  • Getting links to your website
  • Finding new readers
  • Attracting subscribers
  • Ranking in search engines for competitive keywords
  • Highlighting archived material

But what exactly is cornerstone content?

Watch our short video for cornerstone content

With help from our friends at The Draw Shop, we whipped up 12 definitions from our new Content Marketing Glossary into short, fun whiteboard animated videos.

Here’s our video for the definition of cornerstone content:

Animation by …read more      

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The 4 Steps to Keyword Analysis: How to Prioritize Your Resources

By Neil Patel

image02

Don’t you love that feeling that comes with keyword research?

You’re left with hundreds, often thousands, of opportunities you can target to grow your business.

If you do your keyword research well, you can even identify several relatively easy keywords to go after.

I know you’re excited.

But there’s a problem…

Which one do you go after first?

Which one do you go after second?

For the vast majority of blogs and business websites, you’ll be able to create only a few really great pieces of content a month.

That means you’ll never get to every single keyword you dug up in your research.

In …read more      

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How to Write Subheads that Hook (and Re-hook) Your Readers

By Pamela Wilson

lead your readers with smart subheads

Have you heard about RADD?

(I doubt it, because I just invented it.)

RADD refers to a purely made-up syndrome called Reader Attention Deficit Disorder, and almost every adult I know suffers from it.

The symptoms of RADD are:

  • Inability to read one page of a book or magazine without the urge to “look something up real quick” on a digital device
  • Extreme fidgeting whenever several pages of text must be read in one sitting
  • Aversion to fully reading and absorbing any content longer than 500 words

RADD is a result, I believe, of the excessive time we spend reading on screens and devices. Even …read more      

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3 Surprising Stages of Successful Landing Pages

By Aaron Orendorff

cover your bases and make your landing pages work

Landing pages support content marketing.

The tricky thing is … landing pages are not home pages. They’re not blog posts, cornerstone content, white papers, case studies, product description pages, or even sales pages.

And you can’t treat them like they are.

High-converting landing pages consist of three action-driving stages: before, during, and after.

Tragically, when many content marketers build landing pages, they focus on just one stage: during.

But if you don’t invest effort into what happens before and after you present your landing page, it doesn’t stand a chance of achieving the results you want.

1. The “before” of …read more      

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