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@crestodina
Andy Crestodina
#digimegaphone
Strategic Director | @crestodina
Writing for the Web
7 tips for getting read and shared online

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@crestodina
Weak
Contributor
Amazing
Contributor
Perceived Content PerformanceActual Content Performance

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TOPICS

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Sources of topics
1. Keyword research
2. Q&A websites
3. Listening to your audience

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Google Suggest

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keywordtool.io

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Google Keyword Planner

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Answer the Public

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Answer the Public

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Google Analytics: Queries Report

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Google Analytics: Site Search Report

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quora.com

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Listening
1. Sales team
2. Customer service team
3. Customer stories

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Your Outbox is filled with blog posts

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The Thing About Content

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Perceived Content PerformanceActual Content Performance

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@crestodina
source: Moz, BuzzSumo

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@crestodina
source: Moz, BuzzSumo
Most content gets
no links and few shares

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...if you want to create content that achieves a high level of both
shares and links then you should concentrate on
opinion forming, authoritative content...
or well researched and evidenced content.

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...if you want to create content that achieves a high level of both
shares and links then you should concentrate on
strong opinions
original research

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The Power of Research

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4,066 websites link to CMI’s research

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Three ways to produce research
1. Observation: Pick a data set. Gather data.
2. Aggregation: Combine data from existing sources
3. Survey: Mass outreach and analysis

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@crestodina
Three ways to produce research
1. Observation: Pick a data set. Gather data.
2. Aggregation: Combine data from existing sources
3. Survey: Mass outreach and analysis

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@crestodina
Three ways to produce research
1. Observation: Pick a data set. Gather data.
2. Aggregation: Combine data from existing sources
3. Survey: Mass outreach and analysis

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observation

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aggregation

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survey

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source: 2016 Blogger Survey, Orbit Media
The typical blog post takes 2.5 hours to write

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“What do people in our industry
often say but rarely support?”

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Find the missing stat

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@crestodina
Research & Marketing

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Sonia Simone
CCO, Copyblogger Media
Don’t take shortcuts;
they take too long.

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The Power of Strong Opinion

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The power of strong opinion

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The power of strong opinion

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The power of strong opinion

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The power of strong opinion

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The power of strong opinion

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What do you believe that most people
would disagree with?

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What do you believe will happen in the future
that most people think is unlikely?

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What questions are people in your industry
afraid to answer?

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HEADLINES

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Explicit benefits

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The curiosity gap and sharing

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Popular on Mashable
Viral on Upworthy

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source: What makes online content go viral?
Emotions get shared

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source: OK Dork / Co-Schedule
Average EMV score for headlines based on shares

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User numbers
source: Conductor: 5 Data Insights Into the Headlines Readers Click

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Great headlines... 1. Make a promise
2. Trigger curiosity
3. Use numbers
4. Ask a question
5. Use power words
6. Sizes to fit the purpose
7. Keyword first
source: How to Write a Headline That Won’t Get Ignored: 7-Point Checklist

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Write many. Chose one!

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@crestodina
Ideas from Feldman Creative focus on putting the
power of digital marketing to work to get you
more traffic, leads and sales.

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@crestodina
Ideas from Feldman Creative focus on putting the
power of digital marketing to work to get you
more traffic, leads and sales.

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@crestodina
Put the power of digital marketing to work
to get more traffic, leads and sales.

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FORMATTING

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source: How Little to Users Read? NN Group
Readers don’t read
Users have time to read at
most 28% of the words
during an average visit
20% is more likely.

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source: 5 Easy Tips to Improve Every Blog Design
Format for scanners

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Short paragraphs get read.
Long paragraphs get skimmed.
Very long paragraphs get skipped.
Jason Fried
Basecamp

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Internal links
Use the “site:”
search operator

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Types of formatting
1. Headers, subheads
2. Bullet lists, numbered lists
3. Bolding and Italics
4. Internal links
5. Multiple images

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WORDS

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• More formal
• Longer (polysyllabic)
• Fancy, proper
Examples
acquire, transmit, construct, resist,
deposit, imitate, determined
Latinate words

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Anglo-Saxon words
• Less formal
• Short (often monosyllabic)
• Forceful, direct
Examples
get, send, build, stop, put, mock, set

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Success rates after rewriting a health care site
for an 8th grade level readability…
source: NN Group, Lower-Literacy Users: Writing for a Broad Consumer Audience
Write for 8th graders

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source: LA Times
1 in 10 Americans think that HTML is an STD

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Words that get
clicked in Google
1.How to
2.[List-related numbers]
3.Free
4.You
5.Tips
6.Blog post
7.Why
8.Best
9.Tricks
10.Great
source: 131 Words, Orbit Media

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Words that appear
in viral posts
source: 131 Words, Orbit Media
1.Smart
2.Surprising
3.Science
4.History
5.Hacks (hacking, hackers, etc.)
6.Huge / Big
7.Critical

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Negative words
that get shared
source: 131 Words, Orbit Media
1.Kill
2.Fear
3.Dark
4.Bleeding
5.War

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Top re-tweeted
words
source: 131 Words, Orbit Media
1. You
2. Twitter
3. Please
4. Retweet
5. Post
6. Blog
7. Social
8. Free
9. Media
10. Help

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Words that get
people to open
emails
source: 131 Words, Orbit Media
1. Urgent
2. Breaking
3. Important
4. Alert

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Words that trigger
buyer behavior
source: 131 Words, Orbit Media
1. You
2. Free
3. Because
4. Instantly
5. New

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LENGTH

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source: BuzzSumo dataset: OrbitMedia.com
Long content gets shared more

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Long content gets linked to more
source: HubSpot
Word Count vs Average Linking Domains
> 2500
2250 – 2500
2000 – 2249
1750 – 1999
1500 – 1749
1250 – 1499
1000 – 1249
750 – 999
500 – 749
250 – 499
0 - 249

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source: Moz, Buzzsumo
Article Length Avg Shares Avg Referring Links
< 1,000 2,823 3.47
1 - 2,000 3.456 6.92
2 – 3,000 4,254 8.81
3 – 10,000+ 5,883 11.07
n = 489,128 articles (over 85% had less than 1,000 words)
Long content gets more links and shares

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source: CoSchedule
Long content
ranks higher

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Long content generates more leads
source: Curata

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IMAGES

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source: Social Bakers, March 2014

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source: Twitter Media Blog, March 2014

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Use images that
don’t get you sued.

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source: Flickr Advanced Search

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Google
Image
Search

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Cite the
source

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source: 2015 Blogger Survey

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COLLABORATION

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5 Ways to Collaborate
1. Mention them in your content
2. Ask for a contributor quote
3. Include them in an expert roundup
4. Invite them to guest post
5. Deep dive interview

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Simple quote

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How many people are waiting
for your article to go live?
Make sure it’s not zero.

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Share and
mention

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An ally in creation is an ally in promotion

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Content should be
designed to attract visitors

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Optimized for search...

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Optimized for social...

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If you’re not making friends,
you’re doing it wrong.

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YOUR SITE
OTHER SITES
WHERE to publish

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WHO does the writing
CREATED BY YOU
CO-CREATED WITH
INFLUENCERS

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Content = 2
Links = 0
Friends = 0
Content = 3
Links = 1
Friends = 2
Round One

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Content = 4
Links = 0
Friends = 0
Content = 6
Links = 2
Friends = 4
(better links + real connections)
Round Two

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Nice blog, but… This is what great
content marketing looks like.
Round Four

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Andy Crestodina
Strategic Director | @crestodina
THANK YOU!