First off, you're hunting for an online copywriter. They're the ones who have the requisite experience for writing SEO copy naturally and artfully without compromising the quality of the content. When you're combing through resumes the first thing you want to see is that the candidate has written for the search engines. It's a staple skills these days. While print copywriters can do a decent job, you need the special skill-set of an online writer to take full advantage of the interactive marketplace.

Next you'll be looking for signs of creativity. You know, basic signs of Life - something in their portfolio that tells you, hey, this writer has original ideas and isn't just spinning dead copy over and over again. A good way to scout creativity is to read the headlines and calls-to-action in their portfolio work. Headlines are where copywriters usually get to wax the most bold and creative with their words. Calls-to-action show how well they can write in a tight space. Read them carefully. Does their copy jump off the page? Can they be original without sounding clumsy, awkward, or forced? Can they make you want to read more? And can they do it with brevity? You want your copywriter to have wit AND the killer instinct. It's a fine line. Make them walk it. When you're going through their portfolio, check for a wide array of creative proof including landing pages, banners, splash and squeeze pages, long and short product copy - you know, The Works.

Results come next. You have to know their writing can prove itself through arithmetic. It's not like with other writers. You have to see more than just creativity, spelling, grammar, style and flow. Copywriters have to be able to pump the numbers. So ask for them to share click-through and open rates on some of their creative. Look for consistent above-average performance in those numbers, but also the ability to generate an occasional blockbuster creative. If they have examples of lots of click-throughs around 3%-5%, that's pretty damn sharp. And if they can produce the odd email subject line with a colossal 75% open rate, that's even better and means they've got the potential to write with dynamite.

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Internal Editorial Linking

What is it!

All of us know what a link is, even those of us who have been cryogenically frozen and held in suspended animation since the rotary telephone was a seriously inventive addition to the continuum of human technological innovation...well maybe not you, but everyone else who does not fall into this category, knows that a link, from your favorite news site, is usually going to be an interesting story. Thus Google increases the value for each page based on a sum of the existing page values that links to it. This is called external back-linking, and is one of the more powerful components of Google's ranking algorithm.

That being said, this model of linking can be laborious and time consuming and inevitably is built over time with good content, quality site design, increasing visibility and user community.  So before you throw your hands in the air, settling into the long trek to online success, there is another key technique that you need to do to help develop a site positioned for success: internal editorial linking.

Internal Linking is basically just as it sounds, linking your website's different pages together, not haphazardly, but in a coherent manageable manner. This improves usability of your site, and though it is not as important for your overall score as external back links, it is incredibly important for long term success.

Why do it!

There are a number of discrete and different reasons to care about your internal linking strategy. Happy users are a big part of the reason. If I am reading an article on your blog about how to pick a pet from the SPCA and you had recently written an article on SPCA detachments with 'No Animal Kill Policies' then that would be a great link to slip in there. It is likely that if I am interested in one of those articles then I am interested in the other. This makes the site more useful and easily negotiable. Happy users stay on pages longer and follow your suggested directions, which can make the site a better conduit for whatever end-use actions you want your visitors to engage in.

How to do it!

To maximize your internal links its important to follow a list of techniques to make the task more defined.

- Utilize Sitemaps to create a simple architecture for you site, that users will find easy to navigate and will also make it easier for search engines to browse your pages.

- Never underestimate the value of a good FAQ section. It will give you a chance to reiterate other pieces of information found throughout the site as well as a good reason to link back to the pages that source the information. Create truncated answers and then link back for the rest of the answer. This will reinforce particular search terms increase their visibility to the search engines.

- Use a "Most Popular Posts/Articles" bar that lets you list some of the best content on your site in a convenient location. This will help drive traffic where you want as well as increase the internal strength of your site.

- Pick a good topic that you are interested in and instead of blasting out some somber of voluminous tome, break it up, write a series. Over time build a number of posts on the same topic and then link from each one to the next.

There are plenty of other ways to tweak and develop your internal linking structure, be creative. Remember that if you manage to create a site that is easy to negotiate and works to intuitively build information hubs, then other people will be more likely to link to your site, more likely stay for longer periods on your site, and thus the search engines will give you more and more credit for the work that you have put into your site.

Make sure to ask us about standing requests for blog content or use our writers to build topical articles for a series on your site.

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I’ve been sitting here with “writers block” for the last 30 minutes baking outdoors with my netbook on a remarkably sunny Monday evening in England. Birds are twitter rather loudly around me distracting me from the task in hand - reviewing Constant Content.

Thankfully, I do not have to worry about the infamous writers block as much as I used to since I’ve become a regular customer of Constant Content.

Let me tell you about who I am. I’m a partner of an internet start-up called “Chit Chat” it’s popularly called a Facebook Messenger Download although if like me you’re not well versed in teen internet short hand you’ll be pleased to discover it’s basically an instant messenger application that enables users to connect to Facebook Chat from their desktop, much like a traditional instant messenger except it interacts with Facebook.

Now, like many internet website owners, I require articles – content in order to bring traffic into my Facebook related website, however I’m simply not in the position to employ a full time writer – quite simply, it’s not financially viable.

Constant Content enables me to purchase unique articles from a variety of writers – each of whom has different writing styles. I use the articles from Constant Content in three main ways – link building, promoting my product and to add interesting Facebook articles to my website.

If you, like me own an internet website that you require content for – you should consider outsourcing at least some of your article writing to Constant Content.

Outsourcing article writing to Constant Content has enabled me to dissolve myself from a significant proportion of article writing and to focus my efforts to other aspects of my business that needs my attention. What I particularly like about Constant Content is that I can pre-screen articles prior to purchasing, meaning that I can obtain well written quality articles at an affordable price.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that article outsourcing has always been easy. Initially I tried outsourcing article writing on Elance, Rentacoder and Getafreelancer but the quality of the articles that I obtained were generally poorly written, of little value and quite frankly a waste of my time and money.

With Constant Content, I can browse or search the site, find an article that I think is ideal (in terms of affordability and content) and then purchase it. On occasion Constant Content doesn’t offer anything that is ideal for me to purchase – in which case I can simply post a request. As a result of posting requests I’ve had many articles written for me to choose from just a few days later.

So, let me recap – why use Constant Content?

Quality – Constant Content provides well written articles that you can add to your website for your readers or target market.

Affordable – You don’t need to employ a writer, you simply purchase the articles that you desire.

Focus – Outsourcing article writing will enable you to focus on the aspects of the business that needs your attention.

Pre-Screen – You know what you’re buying with Constant Content because you can pre-screen the articles that have been written prior to payment.

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I run a marketing agency called Web Your Name® which focuses on achieving TOP 10 results in Google. I have a copywriter who I use for many of my websites and my client's websites to produce content. Recently my copywriter has been really busy with some of her other clients, which is great for her, I am glad to see her business finally starting to succeed. I emailed her and told her, “I wish I had two of you!” I did not want to stop using her for her content services, but I didn't want to hire just anyone to compliment the services she was already providing me. I went to Google and started searching for other content writers to see if I might be able to find someone as skilled and reliable as her. I didn't find another copywriter, but I found Constant Content. I was amazed by the business structure and implementation of their company's services. This was exactly what I needed, a place with many copywriters and articles that were for sale exclusively for the use of Web Your Name® and my clients. Within an hour of creating my account, I purchased my first article, sent a request to the author seeing if they would be interested in selling me a second article at a lower price, and found several more articles to purchase for some of my other clients. This website content concept was definitely perfect for my company and I plan to continue to use Constant Content for many many years to come. I couldn't feel more excited about my client's future because of this company.

Thanks Constant Content!!!

Web Your Name®

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As of Saturday one of the largest and most influential purveyors of content on the internet is shutting is doors to international writers. Associated content announced today, though internal messages, that because of changes, or perceived changes to the US tax code, it can no longer pay out its international clients. While it admonishes its writers who live outside of the US to join their Featured Contributor club, the criteria for entry into this special group however, is fairly onerous. Joining this group of elite AC writers is the only way to actually keep receiving monies from them, albeit truncated by with-holdings in anticipation of whatever taxes they anticipate future IRS laws to require of non-US residents being paid by US companies.

In an increasingly global village this will inevitably have a major impact on the community of writers, whose locales are scattered all across the planet. While the debate rages on, with authors crying foul, and AC staying silent, there are other places to turn. Since Constant-Content isn't a buyer or seller of content, simply a hosting place for authors to post their wares and buyers to look at said wares, we are not responsible for tax collection on any level from either party.

We hope all the members we have on our site that also belong to Associated Content, will make sure that international writers, who work at a high level, know about our site and try out our community. We might not be an exact replacement for this industry giant, but in light of the changes coming, and increasing pressures on businesses to make sure that their sites are content rich, we are particularly well positioned to become the home for thousands of now homeless writers.

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