Do You Hate Writing Your Articles? Try Ghost Writing!
Do You Hate Writing Your Articles? Try Ghost Writing!
It is an obvious fact that your business requires content so that it can compete effectively online. You need to come up with a content strategy and follow it up with lots of content. Unfortunately, the process of writing can be complex, cumbersome, and time-consuming. Luckily, you could use a ghostwriting service to have content ready when you need it, completely hands-free.
What is Ghost Writing?
Ghost Writing is a service where one writes literal works, text, articles, and journalistic pieces, but someone else is credited for the work. Many people across the board use ghostwriting services to get ready-to-use content for their tasks. Common customers for the service include politicians, other writers, business executives, marketing companies, public speakers, and businesses. Few people have the craft or the time to create the amount and quality of content required for various uses. A ghostwriting service gets the budget off your back so that you have time to concentrate on other things.
Do You Really Need a Ghostwriter?
Do You Really Need a Ghostwriter?Do you need to have the content written for you, or can you do it yourself? Below are a few reasons why you need a ghostwriting service
1. You Consume Different Types of Content
If you need more than one type of content at your business, you should consider hiring a ghostwriting service. For example, If you need to have regular press releases, blog posts, and sales copies, you need someone who knows the difference between one and another. Each of these types has a distinct format, tone, and message. If you need your communication to be effective, you have to do it right. A professional in the field is your best bet.
2. You Lack the Skill to Craft an Engaging Copy
There are billions of websites online and millions in your industry fighting for the same audience as you are. You need to outshine the competition and create interest among your target customers. The only way to achieve this is to craft an engaging, compelling copy that offers value to readers. Otherwise, you could lose lucrative business opportunities because you are not putting your message across as it should. With a good content writing service, you can engage different publics at various levels to achieve your goals.
3. The Teams at Workplace are Stressed
Coming up with good content is a painstakingly slow process. You have to determine what you want to write, get the right keywords, and then integrate all of them to deliver the kind of content that brings results The back and forth process may take time to improve other sectors of your business. Get a ghostwriter to do the job while you take care of other areas of the business.
What is the Cost of Professional Ghostwriting?
The ghostwriting service costs largely depend on the service provider, type of work, and the experience level of the service provider. The price can range from a cent to a dollar per hour. A higher price for the service does not mean that the provider is able to produce better quality. On the other hand, you should not just pick the lowest-priced service in the market. If the provider is way below everyone else, it could be that he or she is cutting corners. You should always balance quality with price.
Where Do You Find a Ghostwriter?
Several platforms host ghostwriters where you can find a professional to work on your content. Here are some of the platforms.
1. Freelance Sites
You can pick a ghostwriter from several expensive freelancing sites such as Upwork or Freelance. One Benefit of these platforms is that you have a choice of several ghostwriters. However, you need to be sure of the kind of professional writer you need. Otherwise, you will have a hard time filtering through tons of applications.
2. Content Mills
Content mills take your content and then put it on offer for writers on the platforms to pick and work on them. Unlike freelancing sites, there is no interaction with the writer, which may affect the quality of your work if the instructions were not clear. Otherwise, you may get a cheap copywriter for your task.
3. Ghostwriting Companies
You may seek and hire a ghostwriter who runs a ghostwriting company or does freelancing. The advantage of picking a person is that you get to communicate with the person who will work on your content. The feedback enables them to produce quality work. You can also have a long-term engagement.
Do you hate writing content or lack the skill to do it perfectly? A ghostwriter can help you achieve your content goals at a fee. These professionals have the skill and experience to deliver the right content to engage your audience. Select a reputable service with a record of accomplishment and positive reviews.
4. Us!
We can write articles for you that you can utilize on your website here at Plan442. Give us a try!
Vertical vs Horizontal, Why Social Media Videos Are Important
Vertical vs Horizontal, Why Social Media Videos Are Important
The impact of video marketing cannot be underestimated. The popularity of this type of content has propelled YouTube as type second-most popular search engine. Videos also tend to be more engaging than text, enabling your audience to stay hooked on your social media page for long. This enables you to deliver your message and influence their actions. According to a study dubbed Social Video Marketer Trends by Animoto, over 70% of consumers are influenced by a brand’s use of video production on social media. Videos are now a mainstay on social media and most users look forward to seeing them when they visit pages run by their favorite brands.
When creating social media videos, you have a choice of making vertical or horizontal videos. A while back, it was more common for people to take horizontal videos than vertical videos due to the narrow view window and the black bezels at the sides of the phone. However, in the recent past, vertical videos have taken over the internet, thanks to the new technologies that have eliminated the bezels and created a flowing display. Here is a quick look at each of the video types and the best to use for your social media campaign. And remember, this can help your SEO efforts as well!
Horizontal Videos
Horizontal videos play with the horizontal alignment of your eyes as we all spend our lives on the horizontal plane. TVs and movies are horizontal and look better than the narrow vertical view. This format is far superior to vertical videos as it is common in showing things in our daily lives. Besides, the wide view makes it easy to show more than one character in the video, a wide landscape including motion dynamics and motion. A horizontal video is great at delivering all these than the vertical format.
Vertical Videos
A vertically oriented video looks like a portrait, which makes it taller than wider. Vertical videos may take up the entire screen of your phone, allowing the user to focus his or her attention on the videos. Besides, the smartphone design is best made for vertical videos. In fact, most users hold their phone upright at least 94% of the time. Having a vertical format allows them to use the phone as it is without having to click the rotate feature.
According to a study by Covideo, most mobile holders do not like it when they have to rotate their phones to watch some content. It is estimated that only 13% of the users actually do it when watching videos. Most others just continue scrolling down when they cannot watch the video upright.
Social Media Videos
A survey found that 70% of users set their YouTube videos to horizontal when watching the same on their smartphones. This means that YouTube is an exception to this rule. However, for all other social sites, including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, especially where some text is included, most people will go with an upright video. In fact, social media videos on Snapchat is credited with the popularity of the vertical videos as it allowed users to take videos and pictures on the phone, share them with their friends and disappear immediately. The function would allow users to string together some content before it disappeared.
How to Shoot Your Next Video
As we have agreed earlier in the article, videos are the way to go for any business that needs to grow and keep a following. Over 60 percent of your users will always use their mobile devices to connect with you. It is good that you have the content on various social media sites to increase your brand visibility. However, you may have to shoot videos in both formats to take care of the different viewing styles among users.
If you are looking for videos for your Instagram story, go with vertical videos. The same case applies to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter videos. Most people will use their phones upright on any of these platforms. However, if you are creating YouTube videos, go for a horizontal format. YouTube default screen size works well with the horizontal format. On the other hand, if you wish to cut the cost by shooting one video for use on various platforms, take a larger horizontal video such that it will still look good if cropped and edited to vertical settings.
Besides, be sure to know the dimensions that are allowed on every platform. Unless you are shooting a video using an iPhone, which has inbuilt settings for both types of videos, ensure that your device takes footage that would fit the 4:5 aspect ratio to a maximum of 9:16. If taking footage to edit later from horizontal to vertical, it would help to experiment with a short video and see how it looks when you crop it. This saves you additional costs and time spent reshooting the video.
Social media videos are the way to go.
Why Branding Is the Life Blood of Your Business
Why Branding Is the Life Blood of Your Business
Branding is the process of creating a design, name, message, or symbol that differentiates a product from similar ones in the market. Now, there is little likelihood that there is a product with a similar one or alternative. Therefore, companies that are looking to having a competitive edge need to take branding seriously.
Marketing experts call branding the lifeblood of any business, especially when it comes to content writing. It means that no business can thrive without proper branding. Here are a few points to show the importance of branding your business.
Branding gives the business identity in a saturated market
Branding gives the business identity in a saturated marketThere are markets where there is little differentiation between products. For example, many hand tools look and function similarly. The only way customers can tell that that product is from this manufacturer and the other is by branding. Each manufacturer creates a logo, packaging, or design that makes it possible for customers to pick the product they wish with ease.
Branding gives the business and products some credibility
Part of the reason businesses create brands is to create a perception about their products in the target audience’s minds. Some of the brand messages include quality, reliability, long-lasting, and versatility. If you can push these messages to the market, customers start seeing the message embodied into the product. This gives products credibility where customers buy the products to enjoy the benefit you spoke of in the brand communications.
Branding Helps Cultivate Customer Loyalty
Brands start by enhancing recognition and awareness. When customers find that the product actually delivers as you had promised them in branding, they are likely to keep buying from you and becoming brand ambassadors. With time, the brand gains a solid reputation and attracts more customers. Those customers then come to like the band and buy from it often. Customer loyalty ensures that the products would be flying off shelves at all times.
Branding can Help Increase Sales Volumes
If you make a brand promise to your customers and keep it, they will like the product. They will then spread the good word about the product to others that have not tried your product. Referrals from your customer are more powerful than your marketing efforts as prospects already trust them and their experiences when they used your products.
Branding Helps Maintain Consistency
When you have a solid brand in place, you are always careful in the decisions you make to retain the value of the brand. The consistent elements of the brand become the feature that customers come to know about your brand. Established brands maintain everything from brand symbols to website fonts, making it easier for customers to recognize them from a distance. There is no way you can maintain these small visual identity elements if you do not have a brand in place.
Branding Makes It Easier to Expand Your Product Line
Introducing new products into the market is not a simple task. You have to convince the market that it really needs the product and that you are better than other products serving the same need. However, if you already have an established brand, it is easier for you to break into a market for the new products. You only need to maintain the brand promise in your new product. You may expand horizontally or even vertically and get a softer landing when you hit the market.
Branding Sets the Tone for Your Strategy
Your brand makes it easier for you to develop a strategy and speed up the implementation. The brand already has a promise and a target market. Therefore, your strategy will be formed around delivering more value to the market. Rarely do companies move away from the core solution that they offer with their brand. This makes it easier to align company objectives with the brand promise, whether now or in the future
Branding is a Confidence Builder
Branding helps you to take on other businesses in the market. You can analyze the competitor’s strengths and incorporate them into your offering while retaining your distinct image. Besides, you can capitalize on the failures of your competitor to gain an additional market share. When doing your marketing, you are able to showcase the exact products you offer and what makes them better than those of the competition. This cannot be achieved if you do not have a brand in place.
Branding is indeed the lifeblood of your business. It connects you to the market, defends your market share, and guides your strategies in the market. However, to achieve the above, you have to build a brand around your core strengths and the promise to cater to a particular need in your market.
Of course, you can always change products or include new lines, but the brand message should always remain the same. It will be an important asset for your business growth.
Why You Should Start a Travel Blog
Why You Should Start a Travel Blog
Traveling is a favorite activity for many, just like building websites is one of ours! A good number like to tell stories about their travel and what they encountered. The others are people who are looking for ways to start professional travel blogging. No matter which side you are on, you should consider starting a travel blog.
Here are a few reasons why you would want your travel blog.
1. It is a Way to Remember Your Travels
It may feel like you will never forget that breath-taking tour of the wilderness or the traditional sweet dish at the heart of the Maldives. Unfortunately, as time goes, we tend to forget even things that are dear to us. New experiences will soon overtake your trip, and its memories will fade away.
Fortunately, with a blog in place, you can preserve these incredible moments for decades down the line. So, every time you go through a blog post you made about your travel to the African Savannah, nostalgia takes control, and memories of the trip start to flash, which feels good.
2. Inspire Others to Travel
The world is an incredible place to explore. Unfortunately, those who have never traveled do not know the thrill that comes with new environments. A blog is one way to fire them to consider making plans to travel.
Besides, it brings to light new places that people may not have known are incredible and worth visiting. In essence, you become a travel ambassador that showcases the world around you wherever you visit.
3. Help Others Plan the Travel
Planning a trip is a huge undertaking. Many people are afraid that they will miss essential items for their next trip. To ensure that this does not happen, they go online to get a few tips. You could be one of the people that share these tips. Unlike people who share advice based on their knowledge, sharing advice based on experience is the best information that those planning a trip can get. This is because you share intricate details that are unique to the destination or experience that may influence their plans.
In addition, sharing your mistakes is an opportunity to prevent others from making the same mistake you made on your last trip. This way, you make their experiences better and more enjoyable. On the brighter side, a blog can help your readers discover new places to explore that you did not go to at your destination or develop some interest such as history, cuisine, culture, or nature, making their travel worthwhile.
4. It helps Learn about Yourself
Here is no better way to document your personal growth than with a blog where you write your personal experiences. You will be surprised to discover a change of everything from your attitude, thoughts, attractions, pleasure throughout your writing. Writing is a journey of insight that helps document all the changes that go through your mind. Years down the line, take time to go through your work, and you will notice how much you have changed. You will appreciate that you documented the change in a travel blog.
5. It is Another Learning Experience
Travel blogging is another opportunity to add some new skills to your portfolio. Blogging teaches you content writing, SEO, HTML, WordPress, SEO, and so forth. On the other hand, you enhance your ability to take quality photos, videos and edit them for the blog. As the blog grows, it exposes you to inline marketing, networking and pushes you to learn how to manage your time. There is so much to learn beyond sharing your sweet stories.
If you are stuck in a rut and unsure what other skills you need to acquire, start a travel blog. You will be amazed at how many new skills you pick within a short period.
6. It May Open Opportunities for Free Travel
It may take time for your travel blog to pick the numbers and get lots of travel. The good news is that it will eventually get there. When you have established your brand as an influencer in the travel niche, brands will start to take notice. Those who would want to market to your audience will come through with goodies to get visibility. Such offers may include discounts on air travel, accommodation, and entrance to places of interest. You may also get an occasional free ticket to your destination.
Above all, starting a travel blog will inspire you to travel more. You will actively look for new experiences and destinations to share with your audience. In the meantime, you will get a chance to enjoy travel to new places.
Traveling is fun. Telling the world about your experience during travel packages the memories such that they remain vivid years down the line. Setting up a blog is easy, fast, and you could start free. Tell the world about your last vacation and leap the benefits above.
How to Find an Affordable WordPress Designer
While an affordable WordPress designer has tools that enable users to create a website in a few steps. It is still some hard work to create a perfect, customized website for your business. Certain websites such as eCommerce sites require a meticulous selection of themes, plugs, and arrangement of pages so that users are able to complete their purchases without issues. You need a qualified WordPress designer to do this for you.
Unfortunately, many WordPress designers price their services too high for small business owners. Other designers take the chance to exploit your lack of knowledge in coding to quote prices that are not in line with the effort they will put into designing your website. Luckily, you can find an affordable yet qualified WordPress designer for the job. Affordable websites may save you a ton of cash while ensuring that you get the same quality or better.
Here are few tips to get an affordable WordPress designer.
1. Plan Your Work
The reason why most people are confused when looking for a website developer is that they do not know what he or she is coming to do. You do not need to be an IT professional to plan the site. Determine the objectives of the project (what the site is to do, how the site looks like, and your markets)
2. Ask for Proposals
If your business has an IT team in place or a consultant, they can help you develop an estimate for designing a WordPress. It makes sense to get a consultant to help plan and create a budget. However, if this is not possible, ask for proposals and tell the prospective designers to break down the process. You will look at the recommendations vis-à-vis the work they plan to do on the website. The ideal candidate is the one that strikes a balance between delivering as per your objectives at an affordable price.
3. Search for Talent
There are two ways you can look for a website designer, offline and online. The offline search involves looking for recommendations or developers in your locality. The advantage of an offline search is that you can sit with the person who will do the work for you and agree on the modalities of completing the project. However, it may take time and lots of energy to find a suitable candidate.
The online search is the most common. You may use a freelancing site such as Fiverr (cheap both in price and quality), Upwork (typical affordable WordPress designer but expensive), or specialized IT platforms such WP Hired, WordPress jobs, CodeNinjas, and Smashing Magazine, which remember, they are IT companies. The only problem with these online platforms is that you have to go through many applications to get the right talent.
Here are a few tips to get quality candidates for the task
- Consider asking prospective candidates to provide reference letters and portfolios
- Provide a specific format for responding to the ad so that you will know that they read the entire ad
- Schedule two rounds of interviews for designers that make it to the shortlist. Those who give up earlier may not be the best fit
Things to Remember When Looking for an Affordable WordPress Designer
1. The lowest may not be the most affordable
The lowest-priced service may not be the best. Look at the qualifications of each candidate, experience, and plan of action when making a choice. You do not want to end up with a poor-quality website.
2. Affordable is any two options out of cheap, fast, and high quality
Affordability does not mean that the service is below standards. However, you have to trade something when making a choice. In most cases, it juggles among high quality, fast and cheap. So choose the two priority areas to use when picking a designer. In most cases, a designer who provides a high-quality site fast does not come cheap, while the cheap one who does some quality work is not quite fast.
3. Consider spying on the niche or competition
In any niche, someone is doing a similar thing and has a better website. For example, if you offer landscaping services, there is a business that already does so, and they have a great site. You can find who made the website. This information is usually located at the bottom of the home page. Consider calling the designer and asking them how much it would cost to do a similar website. This is simplistic but can be a deal-breaker when you are unsure whom to pick for the job.
Once you have found an affordable WordPress website designer, agree with them on the milestones and deadlines they should meet. This makes tracking the project less of a hustle. The secret to having an affordable website lies in determining what you need and picking the right person for the task.
Strong WordPress Sites with a Solid UI/UX Design
The evolution of WordPress
over the years is remarkable, to say the least. It has evolved from being a
blogging tool to a featured-packed powerful website builder and an efficient
content management system. As per one of the studies, around 32 percent of
websites on the internet are powered by WordPress. Yes, you heard that right!
WordPress has become a
preferred website builder and CMS for most bloggers, small businesses,
start-ups, entrepreneurs, freelancers, hobbyist bloggers, etc., over the years.
Why? Because WordPress is amongst the easiest website-builder cum CMS out
there, not to forget, one of the most feature-rich, scalable, affordable, and
reliable as well.
If you’re looking to build
a WordPress based blog or website and looking for inspiration, there are
millions of beautiful WP based themes and websites out there. While it is
impossible and even unfair to name a few and say these are the best, we’ve done
a little research ourselves and listing a few great WordPress websites here. We
were really impressed with these WP sites that have a solid and impressive
UI/UX design. Let’s begin –
The Obama Foundation –
Obama.org
The website of the Former
U.S. President Obama’s non-profit organization is an impressive and beautiful
WordPress website. It has a beautiful design and aligns with the organization’s
mission, goals, and vision perfectly. It has highly interactive features,
including its drop-down menu that flies into position when the mouse hovers over
it. The clean and simple UI/UX design is awe-inspiring and tells a lot about
WordPress’s customization possibilities.
Angry Birds –
AngryBirds.com
Everyone having a
smartphone is familiar with the game – Angry Birds. It is one of the most
popular mobile games on the planet, and its website is developed on WordPress.
It features flashy and colorful visual graphics inspired by the game itself.
The design is simple with social sharing features, shop, and other traditional
features. Users can even download the game directly from the website. Even
though the site is fairly simple, its design would definitely color your
mood.
The White House –
WhiteHouse.gov
If you are from this
planet, you must be well-aware of the world’s most famous house – The White
House. It serves as the office and the house of the President of the United
States. This office’s website is developed on WordPress and is one of the prime
examples of the potency of WordPress as a content management system. It is the
go-to place for all news about the United States and its security, budget,
healthcare, national security, education, economy, and more.
The Walt Disney Company –
TheWaltDisneyCompany.com
The Walt Disney Company
needs no introduction as one of the largest media and entertainment conglomerates
on the planet. Surprisingly, it has a website on a WordPress platform with an
extensive UI/UX that is clear and appealing yet feature-rich and easy to
navigate. It represents the brand story of Walt Disney Company over the years
and does so impressively.
TechCrunch – TechCrunch.Com
Anyone even remotely
interested in the latest technology news would’ve heard about TechCrunch. It is
an online-based technology news media site known for exhaustively covering
everything technology, including new start-ups, breaking tech news, tech
reviews, digital products, and more. Its website showcases the caliber of
WordPress as a CMS and the ability to look minimal while being highly powerful
inside.
There are numerous other
WordPress websites out there with great UI/UX other than those mentioned above.
While it is impossible to feature all of them in this post, we’d like to
mention a few more to help you find the inspiration you’re looking for.
- TheNextWeb.Com
- SunTimes.Com
- Vogue.Com
- Qz.Com
- BoingBoing.Net
- Canada.com
- TimeInc.Com
- SkillCrush.Com
- Bata.com
- Vanheusen.Com
- AMC.com
- BBCAmerica.com
- MicrosoftStudios.Com
- Protest.eu
And, many more, the list is
practically endless. If you’re planning to build a website on a reliable
platform with a robust CMS, WordPress is highly recommended. It offers you the
flexibility, reliability, features, and security you need at costs that don’t
give you second thoughts.
