Ahrefs backlink checker
Ahrefs is one of the most comprehensive tools on the market for keyword verification, link building and content. Its main advantage, however, is the link building part, because it has the largest link base on the Internet, and thus the information that we can obtain through it is invaluable. In addition, this link base is updated every now and then so you know when you are losing links or when you are getting them. This is due to bots that, like Google, roam the Internet, but index links instead of pages.

AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is a tool that allows you to find out what users are looking for on forums, blogs and social media. This is a free app for keyword research and creating content ideas. After entering the password, we receive dynamic charts containing the queries that were entered by Internet users into the Google search engine. Thus, we get a list of keywords from the so-called long tail. The website interface is in English, but the tool itself is simple and intuitive.

Check My Links
Check My Links is a Chrome extension that allows you to identify broken links on any website with one click. Broken links negatively affect the user experience and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, so clearing them quickly is in our best interest. After starting Check My Links, the page scanning process begins. The results will be displayed in the form of a readable graph. You can also choose to scan pages automatically. Indexed links will be highlighted in the color corresponding to their status. Broken links are displayed in red.

Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free tool from Google that is used to track website performance and collect information about visitors. It can help companies identify the main sources of user traffic, evaluate marketing efforts and campaigns, discover trends in user engagement that can be used to improve marketing campaigns, drive traffic to the site, and retain visitors for longer. As we can see above, Google Analytics provides statistics that are useful in the context of optimizing the website for search results (SEO) and for marketing purposes. Google Analytics as a free SEO tool is very handy!

Google Data Studio
Google Data Studio is a data reporting tool. It is used to create interactive and responsive dashboards that allow you to build your own panels using templates with a variety of charts, maps and tables. Access to advanced data makes it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of SEO activities, as we can see, among other things, site traffic and how your sites are indexed by search engine bots. Google Data Studio collects metrics and indicators that support decision making and strategy direction, so companies take less risk and increase the chances of achieving their goals.

Google Search Console
Free tool available for any site. Google Search Console, contains tons of data about our site related to organic search results, as well as various error reports. Search Console is constantly evolving as Google adds new features and changes its approach to what is important to users, for example, an emphasis on site speed means that some of the platform’s key error reports are related to speed. You may also see crawl errors for your site or pages that Google tried to add to its index but was not able to do so due to poor coding.

Google Trends
Google Trends is a free tool provided by Google that will allow us to compare the search popularity of different words or phrases. Thanks to this, we know what is the level of searching for a specific keyword in a given time period. This comparison is represented by a graph that shows the search terms from 2004 to the present, which allows us to see changes over time and geographically. Other data that is shared with us is the global heat map that graphically shows the index of the number of searches in different regions of each country, or the list of words related to each search phrase that shows a greater increase. Google Trends also gives us the opportunity to compare up to 5 terms at the same time, and thus see how their popularity has changed over time.

HubSpot Website Grader
Website Grader is a tool that can be used by all websites, not only those related to Hubspot. It is a great tool when we want to check what stage we are at in terms of our website and SEO activities. To use, enter a URL and an email address and Hubspot will crawl your site and present a scoreboard. Our website will be assessed in four broad categories: Performance, SEO, Mobile and Security. Thanks to HubSpot Website Grader, we will discover areas for improvement and find out what to do to make our website more SEO optimized.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a program that captures web links, images, CSS, scripts, and applications. It also downloads key page elements for SEO, presents them in tabs by type, and allows filtering for the most common SEO problems. You can view, analyze and filter information as it is collected. Screaming Frog SEO is especially helpful when analyzing medium to large sites where checking each page manually would be extremely laborious.

SEMrush site audit
SEMrush works well for small to medium sized websites. The site audit option will allow you to analyze a given page (in the free version up to 100 pages) and will check about 140 different parameters related to SEO. It is, among others, o duplicate content, broken links, HTTPS implementation, page indexing. The website audit results show an assessment expressed as a percentage and any errors that need to be corrected. Each item has information on why it matters and how to fix it.

SEOquake
SEOquake is an easy-to-use SEO tool. Just install it on your browser. The main advantage of SEOquake is the ability to view all data and indicators in the same place, which facilitates their interpretation and decision making in the field of website positioning. You can also get more complete information on page or keyword optimization thanks to the audit option. Another advantage is the insight into site metrics that rank in the results for the searched keyword.

Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is a free SEO tool used to support website positioning through content optimization and the appropriate selection of keywords. The SEO Surfer analyzes the current top 50 results in Google Search for potential ranking factors for the searched phrase. It also comes with a built-in keyword research and SERP review tool that gives you the average word count or preferred content length and keyword frequency and page speed estimates.

Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that will improve our site’s search engine ranking by helping to optimize page content and keywords. Once installed on your WordPress site, the Yoast SEO plugin will appear on each of the pages and posts you create, then analyze the page content and make suggestions on how to improve it. Unless we have extensive SEO knowledge, regularly using Yoast SEO when publishing new pages or browsing existing ones is a great training. By using a plugin, we will start publishing content with optimization in mind, more instinctively.

Summary

If you want your website to attract more traffic and provide a better visitor experience, you should analyze it in terms of SEO, and there are hundreds of online tools available to help you with this. We’ve put together these free SEO tools that we find valuable at Paraphrase-Online.com and that are readily available. Within minutes, you can enjoy valuable feedback on your SEO. Free seo tools – or rather the ability to use them, will also increase your value on the labor market!

Discrepancies in the analysis of the number of clicks and user sessions

The first differences between Google Analytics statistics and Facebook statistics can already be seen in the method of counting clicks and user sessions. So let’s start by explaining these concepts.

– A click is a parameter that sums up all users’ reactions to a given ad. So if you click the ad once and then click again, Analytics counts that as two interactions with the ad.
– The session, in turn, shows how many users clicked on the ad. Two or more clicks of the same user will be considered by the system as one session, provided that they occur within a 30-minute time window. Only when the time interval between clicks is greater, will the actions be considered as two separate sessions.

Up to this point, everything is quite simple and it would seem that there is no room for discrepancies in the counts here. And yet. Because when can you start counting users who actually reacted to the ad? Google Analytics claims that only when the user is on the page to which the ad is referring him. After all, he might have clicked the ad by accident and stopped loading or closed the tab in the browser before the landing page was fully loaded, and this is hardly an ad success. Therefore, such “incomplete” transitions are not counted in the Google Analytics system.

Facebook, on the other hand, will record each click, i.e. the user’s interaction with the ad, even if the recipient does not fully see the landing page or does not go beyond the Facebook platform at all. It is true that in the Facebook Ads Manager you can measure not only all clicks, but also clicks on links that lead beyond the platform – to the advertiser’s website. However, the Facebook system will also count those clicks that did not fully load the landing page. What is the conclusion of this? The number of clicks reported in the Facebook Ads Manager may be greater than the one we see in Google Analytics.

Tracking users between devices

Analytics is therefore much more accurate when it comes to counting sessions and clicks on a single device level. What about the situation when the user is using different devices and clicks on the ad, for example, first on the phone and then on the computer? Here, Facebook is much better at counting. This is because in order to use Facebook and thus click any advertisement there, the user must be logged in to his account. Most users use the same account on all devices, so Facebook’s algorithm has no problem distinguishing when it is dealing with the same user and when not.

In Google Analytics, the default data collection is based on cookies, and these are assigned to a specific device. Hence, each change of the device by the user qualifies him as a new person.

What does this mean in practice?

If the recipient first clicks on the ad on their phone and then reacts to it again on their computer, Google Analytics will register the ad as two separate users from different traffic sources. On the other hand, Facebook, if the recipient is logged into the same account on both of these devices, will recognize him as the same person.

Differences in attribution models

Conversion may be preceded by a variety of user actions. This means that before he or she fulfills our goal, e.g. buys an item in an online store, he may deal with the website in various ways. Let’s see it with an example. The user sees an ad for shoes from your Facebook store. He clicks it, looks at the shoes, but decides not to shop. After a few days, he decides that he needs shoes and enters a query to the Google search engine, for which he will receive an advertisement in the search engine with a link to your website. He clicks on the link, looks at the same shoes again, but decides to ask his wife for opinion before buying. In the evening, he will enter the search query again, but will not click the sponsored link, but choose an organic result, and this time he will buy shoes.

So to which interaction with the website can this purchase be attributed? Did the first contact with the offer, i.e. Facebook advertising, decide that the user has performed the assumed conversion? Or maybe the user did not remember it anymore when he searched for shoes in the search engine? So then the sponsored link would make it hit your store and make a purchase there. But after all, he did not buy shoes by entering the site through an advertising link, but through an organic result, so maybe he should be “responsible” for the conversion? On the other hand, there is a chance that the user initially had no plans to buy shoes and it was only advertising on Facebook that awakened this need in him. In this situation, the first ad would do its part to persuade him to buy.

The questions are constantly multiplying and it is not easy to find an unambiguous answer to them. Therefore, individual analytical tools may adopt different methods of calculating ad effectiveness, i.e. they have different attribution models. We will now show you what it looks like in the case of the Facebook Ad Manager and Google Analytics.

Facebook Ads Manager – attribution model

If the user makes a conversion on the page within 7 days from clicking on the ad, Facebook Ads will assign it to his ad (of course, if we have a well-configured FB pixel). The same will happen if the recipient meets the target within one day of being shown the ad. It is true that the user could later have contact with ads in other channels, but Facebook will attribute this success to itself anyway. This is currently the default attribution model for this channel and may be objectionable but legitimate. Facebook is not a strictly sales channel, so the task of advertising on this platform is to arouse the user’s desire to buy. So even if an advertisement did not lead to a purchase, but sowed a seed in the user’s mind, which then germinated and gave fruit, it is also a merit of advertising on Facebook.

For example, the recipient might want to compare prices with competitors before buying, or look for opinions about the presented product in order to finally go directly to the company’s website. However, he found it through an ad on Facebook, so the system rightly recognizes its participation in such a conversion. In addition, the Facebook system is not able to control whether the user was later exposed to ads created by other systems, so the assumption that the Facebook Ads campaign influenced the recipient’s decision is the best way to count conversions.

However, is it reliable? Unfortunately not. For this system, clicking an ad is not synonymous with loading the landing page, as we have already written about above. It’s even more difficult when counting views. Facebook’s algorithms take into account whether the advertisement was displayed to the user, but they do not measure the time that the advertisement was visible on the user’s screen. So it may turn out that yes, it appeared on the page, but it was scrolled so quickly that the user did not have a chance to even notice it, let alone read its content. Nevertheless, if the user subsequently performs a conversion within a certain period of time, Facebook counts the conversion as obtained from its ad.

Google Analytics attribution models

By default, Google Analytics uses a different attribution model – the last indirect input is counted as the one that decided to convert. What is an indirect input? Simply put, it can be any way to enter a website, except for directly typing its address in the browser bar. So if, for example, a user clicks on a Google Ads ad, but does not buy anything, and then enters the page by typing its address into the browser and converts on the page, Google Ads will receive the credit for it. Comparing this counting system with the Facebook system, it is easy to notice that the results of Facebook Ads campaigns in Analytics may be weaker than in Facebook statistics.

However, Google Analytics also offers other attribution models, and changing the default settings can significantly change the results presented by this tool. We can choose models such as:

– Last interaction – then the system assigns all credit for the conversion to the channel that the user used immediately before the conversion. This setting makes sense when your ad is targeting people who are determined to buy, not those at an earlier point in the funnel.
– Last Google Ads Click – All 100% “responsibility” for the conversion is attributed to the last ad displayed by the Google Ads system that the recipient clicked before converting. It is worth using this model only when you want to compare the effectiveness of Google Ads. Does not apply to statistics for Facebook ads.
– First Interaction – In this model, Analytics considers all credit for conversion to go to the channel where the user first encountered our site. It can be used in this case when we want to build brand awareness with advertising.
– Linear – considers 1 conversion = 100% and grants equal percentage of share to all channels through which the user came into contact with the page. So if he first saw an ad on Facebook, then clicked a sponsored Google Ads link and made a purchase, he will attribute 50% of the value of this conversion to Facebook Ads, and the other 50% to Google Ads. It is best to use this model when each user contact with the website is important to us.
– Timing – assigns different conversion shares to channels, depending on how many days before the conversion was done by the user. The closer the contact with a given channel is in time, the more important that channel is.
– Including items – this model also divides the share between channels that are on the purchasing path, but does not take time into account. Most often, in this model, 40% of the conversion value of the first interaction is assigned, 40% of the last interaction, and the remaining 20% ​​is divided equally among the other channels on the purchasing path.

Google Analytics or Facebook Ads – which statistics should be taken into account?

Advertisers often try to unify the results obtained from both tools as much as possible. You can, for example, change the attribution in Facebook Ads so that conversions are counted only within 1 day of clicking on the ad. However, before taking such steps, it is worth analyzing your business and industry or tracking the average length of your audience’s conversion path. Sometimes it’s not necessarily about fixing the discrepancy, but about accepting that both Google Analytics and Facebook are complementary tools that can be used in parallel to better understand your business with web analytics and make better marketing decisions.

What is local SEO?

Local SEO is defined as a series of onsite and offsite activities aimed at increasing the visibility of a selected set of keywords, but only within a specific area, e.g. a city or district. The essence of this solution is based on displaying information to the potential customer about the place where he is currently located.

For example: imagine that at the moment you are in a strange city, but you need to use the service of a hairdresser. In the past, you would ask local people and based on the first or most common answers you would choose the best provider. Nowadays, in a much shorter time, using a search engine, you can find a specialist in a given industry in the closest area and read opinions about it. So, as you can easily guess, an effectively conducted local positioning process combined with a good-quality product or service can bring a number of benefits for regional businesses.

What are the benefits of local SEO?

A well-planned and conducted SEO strategy at the local level brings unquestionable benefits for the business. First of all, it is worth realizing that competing with the competition on the domestic or global market is much more difficult, and also requires spending more time. On the other hand, positioning at the level of a specific region or city is not such a complicated process, and at the same time brings the intended results much faster (both in terms of a higher position in the rankings and financial profits associated with it – potential consumers are located nearby and are usually ready to take advantage of the offer on the same day).

Additionally, a less complex SEO process usually requires less money, especially in areas with low competition. This is also supported by the fact that optimization activities within local websites or catalogs are much cheaper. Local positioning of your website can also bring much better results if you also decide to implement a Google Ads advertising campaign or promote in selected social media.

Who should benefit from local SEO?

As you can easily guess, local website positioning works well for companies that operate in a certain area, e.g. in a given city or province. Very often, this solution is used by gastronomic establishments (restaurants, cafes, etc.) and health and fitness centers (private doctors, gyms, etc.). Local positioning is also used by companies that provide their services at the clients’ homes (e.g. hydraulic emergency, repair crews, locksmiths, etc.), as well as by premises where customers have to drive themselves (e.g. hairdresser, law firm, car service, etc.).

Of course, this method can be used by companies from various industries, so it does not have to be limited to the examples mentioned. However, those who opted for this solution should be aware that most local searches are done via smartphones. Their websites must therefore be responsive, and therefore adapted to users of mobile devices.

Geolocation and the impact on SEO

Geolocation, which allows to determine the geographic location of a given website user, is a very important factor affecting the search results. Previously, the displayed results were also dependent on the national search engine domain. This means that by entering a given phrase via google.com, you were getting exactly the same page ranking, no matter where you checked it. Currently, the results are localized to make it easier to find information from the user’s perspective. Of course, he does not have to fully rely on the search engine and he can specify the area for which he wants to receive information. It is enough to use the so-called Geolocated such request. “New York pizza.” Regardless of whether the user is currently in Boston or another city, Google should present a ranking of this type of restaurant from New York.

It is worth adding, however, that the geolocation performed by the search engine is so precise that in large agglomerations it may show websites of companies located in a specific district. The fact that many Internet users still enter the phrase + area in place of the bar may result from their habituation or earlier planning of their stay in another city. Nevertheless, this type of personalization of results is a very important SEO factor over which the person responsible for positioning a given page does not have much control.

As a website owner, however, it is mandatory to create a Google My Business listing and thus ensure visibility on Google Maps. Additionally, apart from XML sitemaps, you also need to equip yourself with a KML file (so-called geositemapa), which is used, among others, by by the Google Earth app. Thanks to it, you have a guarantee that your company or premises will be properly located in the search results. In addition, you also need to take care of local positioning through other activities: internal (proper website and content optimization), as well as external activities (acquiring links and encouraging customers to add opinions).

How to create a business card in the Google My Business service?

As it was emphasized above: setting up a business card in the Google My Business service is an absolute must if you care about local positioning of your company. Such action not only enables the company to be displayed in standard search results and maps, but also increases the credibility of your business from the point of view of Google.

Setting up a business card is not a complicated process, but it requires verification with a special PIN (in most cases sent via post in order to check the real address). When this stage is successful, you will have your own Google ID, where users will be able to check the address, phone number, opening hours, as well as see available photos and previous customer reviews.

When providing contact details (and therefore all information that can be used by your clients to contact a representative of the company), you must also be consistent. It is worth that the same address, telephone number or e-mail name should appear on the “contact” subpage, in the appendix with the regulations, and in all external sources. Then the algorithms will easily associate contact details with your business, which ultimately has a positive effect on local search results.

Customers opinion

A very important factor influencing the ranking of local search results are opinions about the company. This should not come as a surprise since Google always puts the well-being of the search engine user first. In turn, the opinions of existing consumers about a given service provider provide a lot of valuable information about his offer and customer service, and thus often help an undecided internet user to make a decision. Therefore, positive reviews about your company are read favorably by both Google robots and potential consumers.

For this reason, you need to ensure that your customers share their opinions (especially on the Google My Business listing, but also elsewhere), as their quantity and average are valuable guidelines for robots when determining local ranking. Additionally, it happens that Google displays selected ratings and reviews as part of presenting your business in search results. Thus, unflattering comments may result in your offer being quickly excluded by users.

Correct optimization of the website for local positioning

Of course, if you want to achieve a high position in local rankings, you shouldn’t forget to optimize your website properly. It includes a number of the same actions as in the case of SEO for general phrases, i.e. correct website structure and internal navigation or unique content. Website optimization for local positioning, however, provides for several additional, mandatory actions:

– placing a Google map (indicating the company’s seat) in the “contact” tab,
– company name, address and telephone number in the “contact” tab and in the footer,
– describing contact information using structured data,
– natural placement of the name of a given area in the website content, headers and meta descriptions.

Additionally, you cannot forget about external links to the website, which play a very important role in both general and local positioning. In the second case, it is worth taking care of links from local websites, e.g. regional advertising portals or local newspapers.

Local SEO can bring a number of benefits to your business in a short time. However, it requires the site owner to meet several conditions, including correct website optimization, effective link building or encouraging customers to leave ratings and opinions. There is no doubt, however, that such an action may result in reaching a wide group of customers in the area, and thus quickly monetizing the effects.

1. A negative approach to marketing in social media itself

If you think social media is not suitable for your industry and its associated demographics, then you are probably wrong. Many people still think that social media is only interested in teenagers and technology fans. However, this situation has changed a long time ago. For example, one study found that the fastest-growing Twitter age group is between 55 and 64 years old. In turn, the fastest-growing demographic group on Facebook is in the range of 45-54 years. Social media has penetrated all layers of our society. That’s why you can use them to reach virtually any target groups that are relevant to you.

2. Lack of goals and target group arrangements

Knowing who your audience is can be the biggest challenge you face. When creating a campaign, it is important that you identify your target group and tailor your activities to it:
– Who did I create this product for / I offer the service?
– Do I try to reach adults, adolescents, men or women?

All these questions are important from the point of view of identifying the target group, so you can set your initial campaign goals. Once you have defined your group, you should determine how to measure the success of the campaign. To do this, set parameters and define your goals and KPIs:
– How many customers do you want to reach and with what commitment?
– Is your attention just focused on increasing brand awareness or do you want to direct traffic to the company website?

The more you specify your goals, the better!

3. Lack of measurement of results

Social media marketing is a powerful way to promote your brand. In addition, you can track all your activities and progress in real time. This allows you to make strategic changes to your campaign over time. You can stop inefficient advertising to save your budget until it is re-optimized. Expecting amazing results from the first post or campaign is a bit too optimistic. To succeed, you’ll always need a series of patches and tests to get the results you want.

4. Vague and overly general actions

Should you be on all social platforms? Probably not.
If you want to conquer all platforms, it will be rather difficult for you to create unique and high-quality content on each of them. The mere handling of profiles and interaction with the target group also takes time. You also need to choose your marketing channel accordingly. If you operate on one platform, but your target group is on another, you won’t do much. You can choose to choose only one or combine several. Remember not to overdo it and consistently generate good content for selected platforms.

5. Avoiding, deleting and counterattacking negative comments

Negative comments give you the chance to improve the quality of services and build trust in your brand’s community. When a customer is dissatisfied with the service and makes a sharp negative comment, many brands decide to ignore it, and some even try to remove it or respond with even harsher statements. Look at it from a different perspective.

This situation is an opportunity to turn a complaining customer into a satisfied customer – one who will remember your culture and patience.
Therefore, take negative comments seriously and try to solve the problem the client is facing. Reply directly to the comment, and then move the matter to a private channel.

6. Too many self-promotion

– Buy it.
– Download it.
– We were here.
– Wait for our latest offer.

Imagine you are following a brand that publishes only this type of content. Each individual post is self-promotional – it adds no value to you. Nothing fun, nothing motivating, no interaction with customers.

Would you be honestly interested in such a brand?

Social media is a fantastic place to build and develop your community. This is where you can get feedback and establish long-term customer relationships. Therefore, follow the 20/80 rule, where 20% of your posts are self-promotion, and the remaining 80% is a specific added value for your recipients. This balance will help you subtly promote yourself while not overwhelming with your messages.

7. Not using different content formats

Is your fanpage not like a boring history book?
Large blocks of text without graphics make the content monotonous. The text itself is not engaging enough. If you want to effectively attract attention, in addition to text, place photos, infographics and videos. Facebook users watch over 100 million hours of movies a day. Individual content formats also have different results in terms of engagement. In a survey prepared by Paraphrase-Online, marketers determined which forms of content brought the best results:

– 40% – original graphics (e.g. infographics).
– 23% – movies and presentations.
– 20% – charts and data visualizations.
– 12% – stock photos.
– 5% – gifs and memes.

People love graphic content because they are easier to learn than just reading text. Therefore, try to combine it with photos and videos.

Summary

Promoting your company on social media is an activity that will definitely bring benefits. Therefore, avoid the mistakes listed here, and you’ll see the results you want much faster.

Anyone can theoretically be a copywriter – and most people come out with this assumption, which can often be seen in ongoing assignments. Some think that writing is easy, because what is the difficulty of creating a text based on many source materials. While a dozen or so years ago the group of people writing custom-made texts was quite narrow, now there is a fashion for being a copywriter.

What does this mean for you – as a company commissioning the creation of lyrics? On the one hand, more copywriters mean more competition and the ability to negotiate rates. On the other hand, there is a greater risk that you entrust the text to the wrong person – one who, although he has the most sincere intentions, will not be able to create good quality text.

How not to make a mistake and choose a good copywriter?

Nothing prevents you from reaching a good copywriter. trial and error method. This is a good solution if:
– you have a lot of time and you can wait for good text,
– you have a large budget and are able to pay for texts that you will never use.

However, I assume that you are not going to waste time and want to immediately start working with a copywriter that will meet your expectations. To make this happen, it’s worth checking his skills at the beginning – you will do it in a few simple steps.

A. Read the texts on the website
The copywriter’s website is his business card and it can be a valuable source of information about the quality of the texts offered. However, just as you don’t judge a book by its cover, you shouldn’t just limit yourself to this step. Writing texts for one’s own needs is completely different than commissioned.

B. Review the portfolio
The portfolio is another element thanks to which you can get to know the copywriter’s workshop. You will learn what type of texts he has on his account and what subjects he undertook. However, you must remember that the portfolio includes only selected projects – usually these are the best works. Therefore, it is worth making a correction – especially if the quality leaves much to be desired.

C. Have the sample text written
There is no better way to verify a copywriter than to check your skills in practice. Therefore, write a sample text on the topic you specified. Thanks to this, you will find out whether you expect such style and quality. However, here too, you must bear in mind that the sample text will be written with special care – because who would not like to do the best. So if in this case you have any bigger reservations, it makes no sense to cooperate.

How to check the competences of a copywriting agency?

There are far fewer copywriter agencies than freelance copywriters, but in this case you can’t make blind choices. You can easily check her competences, thanks to which you are likely to establish fruitful cooperation that will not end with a single job.

A. Get to know the website
The copywriter agency will definitely have its own website on which you can make your first selection. Although you can expect a slightly different nature of content, you can easily evaluate texts in terms of quality.

B. Check the implementation
Past implementations can tell a lot about the agency’s competences. Familiarize yourself with the portfolio to assess the quality of texts other than your own. You already know that these are written completely differently. Warning! If you are going to commission the agency to write a highly technical text, see if the company was dealing with this type of implementation. It is also worth verifying whether the agency has already carried out orders for this particular industry.

C. Have the sample text written
Just like in the case of freelancer verification, you can also ask the agency to write a sample text. Warning! If the sample text meets your expectations, make sure that the same copywriter will carry out the correct task. Thanks to this, you will avoid a completely different person creating target texts.

Review the sample text

To find out about the copywriter’s skills, evaluate the sample text you received. It is worth doing in at least three fields.

A. Possible Errors
The resulting text should be error free. While some factual errors can be turned a blind eye (especially in difficult and specific industries), spelling errors are not acceptable. It is good if the content is also free of linguistic or stylistic errors. Remember! Since serious mishaps occur in the trial text (certainly “pimped”), you are likely to expect more faults in target orders.

B. Verification for duplicate
Duplicate content is unacceptable for two reasons: one is duplicate content seen through Google’s eyes, and the other is ethical issues related to the theft of someone else’s work. If at least part of the text is a faithful copy of other content, there is a problem. You are not sure if this will not happen again in the future. However, take into account what results from the duplicate fragment. Perhaps the full name of the act repeats, or are these formulas required for descriptions of dietary supplements, etc.? If so, then the copywriter is somehow justified.

C. SEO Rules
Although the text is intended to be targeted at potential customers, it must also be Google friendly. Therefore, it should meet at least the basic principles of SEO, including contain specific keywords, different headlines, highlights of key fragments, etc.

It’s not just the workshop that counts …

Although the quality of the texts ordered plays the most important role, not only the workshop matters. If you care about long-term contacts, you need to consider several other aspects. They are slightly different when working with a copywriter and different when working with a copywriter agency.

Cooperation with a copywriter – freelancer

If you intend to cooperate with a freeelancer, it is worth paying attention to two main issues.

A. Contact
Note the communication with the copywriter. How fast does it respond to emails? Does he answer the phone? This is very important because it allows you to immediately exchange messages and avoid misunderstandings, etc.

B. Agreement
The agreement protects not only the copywriter’s interests, but also yours. So sign the document, taking into account many key issues, including scope of work, deadline, penalties in the event of non-performance.

Cooperation with a copywriting agency

If you want to work with a copywriting agency, it’s worth:

– ask people from the same industry if they have used this type of service – perhaps they will recommend a specific copywriting agency,
– contact the agency’s client and ask about the assessment of the course of cooperation,
– talk to a company employee from the same industry about cooperation with a copywriting agency, e.g. on the occasion of an industry meeting, conference, etc.

The volume of the order can help in making the decision – if the scope of work is to be large, then it is better to report to the agency. Why? Freelancer may have a problem with the timely implementation of a large job. Regardless of whether you decide to cooperate with a free copywriter or you want to establish cooperation with an agency, ask about the possibility of signing the so-called confidentiality agreement. This is an important issue – especially if you are going to provide sensitive information about your company.

The above tips are just a few of the most important issues that will make finding a copywriter for long-term collaboration easier. The basis is not only limited to the portfolio, but also decide to prepare a sample text – even if it is to be paid.

Why the counting titles are clicking well

Regardless of how the title is formulated, it clicks well because of the expectations it arouses. So the theme of “10 romantic movies that make you love Paris” sounds promising not so much because of any of the words in it. Words are of course important, but someone who clicks will do it because:

• knows what to expect: content divided into related themes,
• counts on the fact that the article will be exhaustive (because it describes 10 films), so the reader will save time that he would have to spend on wandering on many sides,
• quick article scanning proves to be effective, because individual elements of the list will be easy to extract and then select the most interesting ones (the exception are articles in which each element of the calculation is on a separate subpage, they can not be scrolled),
• quick article scanning proves to be effective, because individual elements of the list will be easy to extract and then select the most interesting ones (the exception are articles in which each element of the calculation is on a separate subpage, they can not be scrolled),
• he wants to see which of the ten films he already knows and which are worth watching in the evenings,
• he will be able to “unhit” further points on the list, which will give him a sense of satisfaction.

Probably you could still enumerate, but here I will stop, because too many bullets are not eye-friendly. Articles in the form of a list (films, inspirations, tips) are a response to the human inclination to categorize. They allow us to divide the stream of information reaching us into absorbing particles. Satisfying this need becomes even more pressing when the search engine presents thousands of results in response to our inquiry.

Articles in the form of a list promise the reader already filtered content. And although such selection has fatal consequences (which later), and the counting on the Internet can make nausea, research has invariably shown that articles of this type are gaining the most access, and readers are happy to link to them. Especially the large number of shares, even ten times higher for counties than titles starting with “how”, indicates that, in the opinion of readers, these contents will present them in a good light.

So, we love rhymes or hate them?

Daniel Lugowski, author of the book Think like Mr Gold, claims that the brain loves titling-counting titles because they provide a balance between uncertainty and predictability. First, they draw attention with numbers that stand out against the background of words, and then they tempt with the hope that we will find something significant or fascinating in them. On the other hand, we know what type of content is waiting for us after clicking, which gives us a sense of security.

As it has been proven, the more information we have to choose, the worse we feel. The sooner we decide what to read, the more satisfied we are. The predictability of the counting is accelerated by making a decision. We are able to estimate how long it will take us to read and accept that we will be able to complete the task. Positive experience means that it is more likely to click the title again, even if we are really fed up with it.

And the arguments against? An article divided into the only related subject does not allow to follow the author’s long-term thought. Deepens the tendency to scan and careless reading. It gives you the illusory hope of gaining knowledge in a nutshell.

Such conclusions, though effective, lead to dangerous simplification, thinking in the past-today categories. We used to read carefully, not today. We used to look for depth, today we are content with exterior.

“Nostalgia is just a reversed amnesia,” wrote the poet Daniel Lugowski. There is no need for historical evidence to guess that readers in the past also readily used for texts, shredding knowledge into easy to digest bites. The enthusiasm for counting the numbers was not born along with the internet, although the Internet has certainly made them visible.

The popularity of articles in the form of a list does not necessarily result from the laziness of the reader, but from greed. In order to get as much information as possible in the shortest possible time, the reader chooses a shortcut. For this reason, the counts stand out in the search engine rankings. By placing the counting in the title of SEO, we announce that our text will be more extensive than the others.

What number of elements in the list will satisfy the reader’s greed? The Paraphrase-Online.com team examined one hundred million Internet titles in the context of sharing on Facebook. It turned out that excessive volume on Facebook is not an asset. Titles with the number 10 in the title gained the greatest engagement, just behind them were 5.15 and 7. The largest number, 30, ranked only in 20th place.

How to enrich the scheme of the title-counting

Is it possible to creatively form the title-counting? The previous considerations show that readers value the mix of uncertainty and predictability. However, do not treat the counting as a schematic. When creating such a title, think about what prompted you to write a text, what emotions or discoveries you would like to share with the reader. Let your proposal sound authentically despite the schematic form.

Look at the schematic title, which I will further transform:

4 TED presentations about happiness

Already at this stage the title has a chance to interest the audience, because of the words that attract attention: happiness and TED. In addition, its abbreviation may be an advantage, if in the graphical convention of the page long titles do not look good. I would also leave it in this form in the newsletter topic. Short titles stand out in the mail list in the mailbox. However, if the layout of the site allows it, and the title is not the subject of the newsletter, it is worth expanding it to increase the chance of clicking.

And what can push the reader to action? Emotions. Because our brain is trying to limit energy-consuming conscious thinking, it processes most signals unconsciously. In a second, we absorb all the senses of 11 million bits of information unintentionally, consciously – only 50. Researchers have long ago rejected the thesis that emotionality would be the opposite of rationality. Not only that heart and reason cooperate in making decisions, the emotional reaction is stronger. It triggers an impulse to action, in this case – clicks, before the mind can react. For this reason, words and phrases describing emotions (mainly adjectives) appear so often in blurbach and trailers, eg strong, bold, moving, chilling story.

I will add such an adjective to our title:

4 touching TED presentations about happiness

Time for a story or promise. I will start with the first one. Is it possible to include a story in such a short form as the title? Possible. Think about why you would like to share with the reader reflections on the happiness lecture? Why did you choose these presentations? The article-counting, after all, reflects your choice and taste. Maybe so:

4 touching TED presentations that changed my thinking about happiness

“My thinking about happiness” suggests that on the other side of the link the reader will find a personal story. However, if you do not intend to share your impressions, you can make a promise by asking the reader “you”.

4 touching TED presentations that will change your thinking about happiness

In terms of language, a story or promise usually falls into a subordinate clause that begins with “which“. The words “you” and “your” excel in the rankings of the most popular words in social media, but not every reader likes to be told what will change his thinking. So let’s think about whether such directness will encourage or rather deter readers you know best.

We have spoken to the heart, time for reason. Sometimes, when we enter a query to the search engine, we are accompanied by a specific idea about the type of content, e.g. pdf, chart, infographics, video. When the results fail, we modify the query by adding your expectations. To anticipate these doubts and reduce the number of failed “Back” clicks, it is worth to include the content type in the title.

4 touching TED presentations that changed my thinking about happiness

Remember to not promise too much in internet titles (eg the 4 best TED presentations that will lead you to tears). Facebook can treat such an exaggeration as a click bait and punish a reduction in coverage and visibility.

Counting – for or against

The danger of articles-counts appears when the reader is limited mainly to this type of reading, he lacks distance to them. Then, the reader is threatened with the consequences of which Daniel Lugowski writes, the creator of the mind mapping method and the staunch opponent of the letter. Lugowski claims that the letters break away thoughts, creating a false impression of completeness. They encourage our mind not to go beyond the boundaries of the list and thus hinder the course of associations.

The counting can be useful only if we consider it as a preliminary filter, a starting point to look for more comprehensive and insightful content. And above all, if we treat the list not as a closed whole, but as an open form, ready to be supplemented with new associations at any time.