Writing Better Content -- from Resumes to Blogs!

As a resume writer and as a publisher, I'm always looking for ideas on how to improve my copywriting skills, because words are at the heart of everything I do. Copywriting (defined) is "the art of writing to sell or achieve a specific goal." Whether we're writing to get our clients the interview (resume/cover letter) or to get prospective clients to call us (article writing/blog), we need to be creating good content.

Headlines!
The headline of your article or blog post is vitally important. It motivates people to read your article. The same is true with the resume. A good headline (outlining our client's value proposition) can entice the reader to continue reading. The longer they read the resume (and/or cover letter), the more likely your client is to get an interview. Most resumes get anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds of attention. A good headline can help get the first 15 seconds ... good content in the resume can get it 60 seconds or more!

These techniques work for articles and blogs (starred ones work for resumes and cover letters):
* Ask a question
* Make a promise*
* Offer a benefit*
* Arouse curiosity
* Appeal to emotions
* Use numbers*
* Make an announcement

Call to Action
Once you've motivated someone to read your content, make sure they take action. This ties back to the purpose or goal for your article or blog post. (The purpose of the resume and cover letter is to get an interview; the action we want the hiring manager to take is to call the client!)

If you're writing a blog post and want people to read more about you on your website, then include a few relevant links at the end of your article. Tell them to click on the links to learn more about your niche. Always include some sort of call to action, even if you just want them to leave comments on your blog.

Use Examples
One great way to really get your reader involved in your content is to use examples. In a blog post you can use personal examples. In your article content you may want your examples to be more general. In a resume, it's about CAR (Challenge-Action-Result) examples.

Examples help paint a picture for the reader. Instead of just telling them something, you're showing them too.

Visual Aids
More and more content online is also using visual cues to make it interesting to the reader. Although you can include graphics on resumes and cover letters, you don't need images to create an impact. Your cover letter can incorporate subheadings, bold lettering on words that need to grab attention, and bullet points to draw the eye down. (Take a look at sales letters for examples of how to incorporate these tactics.) In addition to formatting your content for easy online reading, consider using photos (of a key client project for example -- not of your client), graphics (sales achievement graphs or profitability charts), and other images to help inform your reader.

It's not uncommon for a blog to include a photo in every single blog post. Additionally, if you're writing a how-to article, you might include a few demonstration photos. (Or before-and-after resume examples.)  If you're writing a review (of a career-related book, for example), you might include an image of the product you're reviewing (book cover, or photo of the author). And if you're writing an informative article, you might include graphs, charts, infographics, or screenshots.

Using a few handy copywriting tactics for your content can help improve readability and reader response and it can help you achieve better content marketing results. Try implementing a few of these ideas -- for your own projects, or your clients' -- and watch your results soar.

Secrets to Growing a Strong Personal Brand as a Resume Writer

Hey! This is my 600th blog post! So I want to spend this post talking about one of my favorite topics -- personal branding!

This post on my Facebook page yesterday got six "likes":
Potential customers don't want to work with you if you're only so-so at what you do. Wow prospects with case studies of your current clients, with testimonials, and show them EXACTLY what you can potentially do for them. Never be mediocre when you can be great!

As I write this blog post, I'm listening to a teleseminar from Susan Friedmann, author of "Riches in Niches." She's talking about how people like to work with experts. Part of being recognized as an expert is identifying what you're good at -- and then becoming known for your work in that area!

As clients increasingly look to find a careers industry professional online (versus their local Yellow Pages), your personal brand is becoming increasingly more important. You need to stand out from the crowd. People are sharing things about you, videos of you, articles written by you day in and day out. There's no way to really know who's being exposed to you and your work.

We emphasize the need for clients to think of their personal brand as a job seeker, but it's equally important for careers professionals! Think of your personal brand as the most important investment you'll make in your resume writing business. You need to put time, money, and energy into this investment. You might not see payoff right away, either.

Here's how to build your personal brand.

Clarify Your Brand
Before revealing your brand to the world, you first need to get clear on what exactly your brand is to yourself first.

You can begin by answering these questions:

–      What kinds of clients do you most enjoy working with? (New grads? Finance professionals? Engineers?)

–      What training do you have to qualify you to specialize in a specific area? (Are you certified in a special job search technique? Do you have a proprietary method you use with clients?)

–      What life experiences have you had that would be valuable to others? (Were you a stay-at-home mom who successfully transitioned back to corporate America at one point?)

–      What makes you different from other resume writers? (For example, English isn’t your native language or you’re hearing impaired)

–      What do you see as possible for your clients? (find a job in 28 days or less)

–      What role might you play in helping your clients achieve those results? (a guarantee?)

–      Is there an area where you are better than others? (you're an award-winning resume writer?)

–      Is there an opportunity to serve a specific market that no other resume writer is reaching? (professionals in the equine industry)

–      Where could you be the first in the market? (introducing a new job search technique, for example)

Make a list of words and phrases to help you identify one or more areas of specialty for your careers industry practice. Write down whatever comes to mind — the purpose of this exercise is to help you identify areas that will help you stand out from other resume writers.

Ask yourself:

* What unique value do you bring to the table as a resume writer? This should be something that you alone can provide. It can be a unique twist on something already existing, or it could be something completely brand new.

* What problems can you solve better than anyone? Specializing often helps. It's better to specialize in "working with IT professionals in career transition" than to specialize in "white-collar workers."

* What are you deeply passionate about? Pick a topic that you could talk about for hours and hours and hours. Clients and prospects can sense passion or lack of passion in your voice in an instant.

Convey Your Personal Brand

Once your personal brand is established for yourself, the next step is to convey it to the world.

Step one is to express your brand in a clear and concise way. What you do and who you are should all fit into one clear sentence.

For example, "I help stay-at-home moms successfully transition back to full-time employment" is a great pitch. Another example is "I help CFOs identify and target six-figure job opportunities." What you do should fit in a short, easy-to-convey sentence.

This makes it easy to remember who you are. If they know someone who can use your service, it'll pop into mind immediately. If you took two minutes to get to what you actually do, they may not actually remember what you talked about next time it comes up.

Once your branding and messaging is clear, put it on everything. Put your branding on your business cards, on your website, on your stationery, on anything that's associated with you. Make YouTube videos, post articles about the subject, and give talks and speeches if you can get in front of your target audience.

The secret to growing a strong personal brand is to first come up with a crystal clear value proposition, then refine it into an easy-to-convey idea, and finally to push that brand into the world in every conceivable channel.

As Susan Friedmann says, "There is big profit in small markets. The key to success is for you to be an expert, and to become known for that."

Article Marketing as a Way to Get New Resume Clients

As resume writers, we spend all day writing. So it makes sense that it can be difficult to get "psyched" to do more writing. But writing articles about job search topics is a quick and easy way to attract new clients. And, other than your investment of your time and energy, it doesn't cost anything. There are plenty of places to "publish" your articles that will pay off.

How can article writing boost traffic to your website -- and your income?
There are dozens of free article websites out there. The article on the free content site contains a link to your own website. Readers, after reading your articles, may choose to click on the link and pay you an unexpected visit.

Having your articles on the free content sites is also making these articles available to other webmasters who may wish to publish that article on their site. One of my articles (not on a job search topic, but careers topics are hugely republished!!) -- published to GoArticles.com -- has already been picked up by five other blogs. Article writing can increase your Google profile.

How will people know to contact you?
If other websites do pick up your articles, your article will include a link back to your site. (You write a "resource box" for your articles -- a simple 3-4 sentence bio for the end of the article that explains who you are and how they can contact you.) And anyone who reads the article on that site can still click on the link to visit your site.

As the list of your published articles grow larger -- and more and more of them appear on different websites -- the total number of links to your site increases also. Major search engines are placing a lot of significance on incoming links to websites so they can determine the importance of a certain site. The more incoming links the website has, the more importance search engines attaches to it. This will then increase your website's placement in the search results.

The links that your articles have achieved will mean more potential resume clients for you. Even if visitors only browse through, you never know if they might be in need of what you are offering in the future. (Be sure to have a way to capture email addresses of website visitors, and consider offering affiliate products -- like resume distribution services -- on your site as well.)

Article writing establishes credibility
There are also those who know they need a resume writer, but can't decide yet among the many resume writing services online. If they stumble upon one of your articles, they may decide you are just the expert to help them. (But remember this mantra when developing your article content: "Teach, don't preach.")

Search engines do not just index the websites, they also index published articles. They also index any article that is written about your own website's topic. So once someone searches for that same topic, the list of results will have your site or may even show the articles that you have written. Don't forget to rewrite the article a bit (change the headline and opening paragraph at a minimum), and post it on your own website or blog too! (Although those who study Google's search algorithms say that Google doesn't like duplicate content, in my experience, there are few resume writers who would be harmed by syndicating their articles on free article directory sites as well as on their own content platforms.)

Article marketing has an enormous return on investment. Your published articles + the search engines = traffic to your website.

It is no wonder why many resume writers are deciding to take the time to write more articles about their site than doing other means of promotion. Syndicating articles is a strategy that propelled Kevin Donlin to his current stature as a nationally recognized job search expert. Article marketing increases your "know, like, and trust" factor among prospective clients.

Article writing helps you reach a national market (outside your geographic area)
Since many people are now taking their buying needs online -- including working with resume writers outside their geographic area -- having your website rank higher on the search engines through article writing is one way of letting them know about you and your resume writing services. It's especially effective if you concentrate your writing on niche areas -- for example, financial jobs, or technology jobs, or federal resumes. All of these have strong keywords and make great content for associated websites and blogs (in those industries).

The good thing about writing careers-targeted articles is that you can write about things that people would want to know about. People want to know how they can be more effective in their job search, networking, and salary negotiation efforts.

Try writing some articles and you may be surprised in the surge in site traffic, link popularity, and interest that results. And don't forget to recycle those articles on your own website and blog.

"Where's the Beef?"

I noticed Wendy's is running a new campaign based on the classic "Where's the Beef?" ads from 1984.

The new campaign (to introduce Dave's Hot & Juicy Cheeseburgers), is "Here's the Beef."

And that reminded me that, as careers industry professionals, we need to give prospective clients "the beef" -- so they will choose us.

How to Answer "What's in It for Me" in 15 Seconds or Less
The most important question to answer in any kind of marketing has always been: "What's in it for me?" In other words, "Where's the beef?"

If your marketing and your content don't answer this question in 15 seconds or less, chances are you're going to lose your prospective client. If you really hammer the answer home in the first 15 seconds, chances are they'll read the entire article.

Before You Write Anything
Before you write any kind of content, take a look at the design of your website. In particular, look at your header.

Does your overall website convey a benefit to the reader? For example, if your header says "Bob's Website," chances are readers aren't going to get a sense of what they could get from your site.

On the other hand, if your header said, "Resume Writing Services from a Former Hiring Manager" -- people are much more likely to perk up. If that's coupled with good design that builds credibility, you have a strong chance of getting the reader to pay attention. (Good design = Good beef!)

Writing Your Headline
In direct response marketing, the headline is often considered the most important component of any marketing piece. (The same is true for great resumes, you know!)

That's because it's the first thing that people read. It's your first and sometimes only chance to capture the reader's attention. People who read your headline should instantly be able to tell exactly what your content is about. It should hammer home the benefit and get them excited to learn more. (Good headlines = Good beef!)

Using Graphics
Most people's eyes will gravitate to any graphics on the page before they even read any text.

Have you tried Wendy's new burgers yet?

Hungry yet?

Using graphics to convey a benefit can be an incredibly powerful tactic. For example, our goal is to get clients interviews! If you have a picture of a client, dressed in interview attire, with the caption, "Thanks, (your name)! I got the interview...and the job!" -- that can convey the "what's in it for me" answer much more powerfully than a written testimonial in just words ever could.

Make sure you also take advantage of the space right beneath an image. Research has shown that captions underneath images are some of the most read parts of any website. (Good graphics = Good beef!)

Using the Opening Paragraph Wisely
Finally, spend a lot of time on your opening paragraph. If your opening paragraph doesn't quickly convey the benefits of reading your content, you're probably going to lose your reader. Even if you're writing a five-page, 5,000 word article, your time would be well spent if you focused 20 percent of your time on developing your first paragraph.

The first paragraph should start out with a strong "hook" sentence. Then the next 3-4 sentences should explain exactly what they'll get from reading the rest of your article.

If you combine all these techniques, you'll be able to convey to your readers exactly what they'll get from reading your content in 15 seconds or less. This will increase your readership, bring back more returning visitors, and ultimately bring you more sales. (Good structure = Good beef!)

Combine all these elements -- good design, good headlines, good graphics, and good structure, and your prospective clients will easily be able to see "Here's the beef!"

(Can you tell I had a hamburger for lunch today -- and dinner last night? Five Guys little bacon burger last night and a Culver's Butterburger today. Yum!)