2 Reasons to Avoid Keyword Stuffing in your SEO Copywriting
Keyword stuffing is when you overuse a target keyword. It’s among the more costly errors you can make in content marketing and search engine optimization for two reasons: readers don’t like it and Google’s search engine crawlers don’t abide it.
Let’s look at both.
Read the full article…What you should know about becoming a copywriter
On the last day of most copywriting courses, the program director will put all the students together in a room and tell them what to expect from becoming a copywriter at an ad agency.
If they’re honest, it’ll sound like the most cutthroat, back-stabbing, ego-fuelled mess of a life one could imagine. And if the students are honest, they’re all itching to get out there.
Read the full article…What traits do you need to be a great copywriter?
We recently met the next crop of youngsters at the Humber College Portfolio Show, all hoping to be the next great copywriter. As we flipped through books to find the gems in the limestone, we got to thinking about what “gem” means to us. We came up with five common traits every great copywriter has:
Read the full article…Active Voice and Passive Voice: Differences and Benefits of Each
Grammatically, the difference between the active voice and passive voice is the relationship between verb and subject. In the active voice, the subject is performing the action. In the passive voice, the action is happening to the subject.
Active: The man drives the car.
Read the full article…The 5 Qualities of a Strong Creative Brief
Most brand managers and marketing managers we’ve worked with over the years have told us that the best part of their job is writing the creative brief.
“Sending a creative brief to my agency and getting back a creative reinterpretation of my thoughts is so cool,” says Shauna Pichosky, now the VP Marketing and Communications at ParticipACTION.
Read the full article…Copywriting = learning
“Learn something new” is the fourth most common new year’s resolution (behind exercise more, lose weight and get organized). And it’s one of the hardest to keep because it involves serious effort and dedication. But for a copywriter, it’s an easy one to stick to because copywriting is all about learning.
You are what you post: A social media warning
Social media is the great equalizer of our time. It gives everyone the same opportunity to share their views, thoughts, wisdoms and gripes — and people take full advantage of that on a regular basis. But the power to say what you want when you want about whatever you want comes with consequences, ranging from public shaming to getting fired.
On the more benign end of the spectrum, consider the story of Alex Johnston, a political candidate for office in 2015’s Canadian federal election. She was called out for a ridiculous Facebook post she made seven years prior about Auschwitz. These posts came to light weeks before voters went to the polls. And while she was a long shot to win anyway, this revelation all but guaranteed a loss. While members of her party won surrounding ridings, she only captured 16% of the vote in hers.
Read the full article…Lyrics: Copywriting Set to Music
Like great copywriting, great lyrics will make you pay attention.
Come mothers and fathers throughout the land,
And don’t criticize what you can’t understand.
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command.
Your old road is rapidly aging.
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’
That’s from The Times They Are a Changin’ by Bob Dylan — whose lyrics were and are so powerful that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Interesting conversation starter about that lyric:
He placed mothers ahead of fathers. Keep in mind that this song came out in 1965 when society was still patriarchal. So to put mothers before fathers was a big deal, especially for a generation that had spent the past 20 years protecting an American ideal that was being questioned by a guy with a guitar who couldn’t sing.
Kawhi Leonard’s Shot — Heard Round The World
2.7 million Canadians watched Game 7 between the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers, and all hopefully got to see the Kawhi Leonard shot.
It was magic — one of the great sporting moments in our city, and possibly even the country. Right now, only Sid the Kid’s Golden Goal at the Vancouver Olympics, Joe Carter’s Series-winning blast and Jose Bautista’s bat-flip even come close (the Leafs have had their moments, but it’s been so long that they’re hard to remember).
Read the full article…Anti-Social Media: Writing in Favour of Change to Social Media
The heat-seeking missiles are out and pointed squarely at social media. Writing in Time Magazine, Rachel Simmons likened social media to “a bathroom wall, letting teens sling insults with the recklessness that comes only with anonymity.”
Imperial evidence supports Ms. Simmons’ alarmism. A 2016 paper presented robust cross-cultural evidence linking social media use to body image concerns, dieting, body surveillance, a drive for thinness and self-objectification in adolescents.
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