I’ve been hearing about this book by Ann Handley from what seems like all quarters lately. It was on a list I found of best SEO books to read in 2023. While I swore I would never take book recommendations from the internet after wasting time and money on Adam Clarke’s book, Handley’s book was also recommended to me by real, live people I know and work with, so I figured it was worth a shot.
It is very good. I don’t consider it a book on SEO, even though content is integral to SEO. Handley clearly knows at least a little about SEO, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows more than she covers in this book because SEO is not the focus of this book. The focus is on creating content that will engage and convert the real, live humans who find your website. That’s different from writing for Google’s robots, as I covered in this blog post.
This book covers just about everything when it comes to online content. There are chapters on the various types of website content (including a whole chapter on home pages and a chapter on about pages), email content, headlines, and social media content. I don’t think there’s anything in here about writing a book, a press release, or a flyer, but there are really good tips and guidelines for just good writing in general.
Table of Contents
- Just Start
- Know What Works for You
- Edit, Then Edit Some More
- Write for Your Audience
- Make It Interesting
- Branding Your Content
- Gated Content
- Follow Your Own Rules
- Writing Tools
- Humans vs Machines
1) Just Start
Much like my book was designed to make the idea of content marketing less intimidating, a big part of this book is devoted to making the process of writing less intimidating for those who don’t consider themselves writers.
Handley starts by dispelling the myth that writing is a talent you either have or you don’t. It’s a skill that you practice, and as someone who has done a lot of writing, I can tell you that’s true. I wasn’t born writing like this. I learned to write like this over many years of practice and study and more practice.
2) Know What Works for You
I had heard that Hemingway liked to end his writing sessions in the middle of a sentence so he would have an easier time starting when he came back to it the next day. I’ve never thought that would work for me, so I was surprised to find Handley also likes to stop when she’s in the middle of the flow state. She finds it easier to pick up that momentum the next time she sits down to write.
I’ve always hated the idea of stopping writing just when it’s getting fun, and I haven’t found that doing so makes it any easier to start writing at another time. It just feels jarring and it still takes me a while to get back into the flow.
What I have found works for me is jotting down my ideas of the main points I want to cover. For example, even as I write this review, I’ve found myself remembering things I want to mention, so I jot them down before getting back to the section I’m working on. Not only does that ensure I don’t forget that section, it also makes it easier for me to pick up where I left off if I get interrupted.
3) Edit, Then Edit Some More
I was surprised when Handley mentioned editing is her favorite part of writing, because it’s my least favorite part. It’s the part I always dread, whereas writing the first draft is the part that I find fun and exciting. This is when I get to take all the knowledge in my head and dump it onto the screen. Editing is tedious.
Handley has a different approach. She’s less enthusiastic about the info-dump that is the first draft, and more excited about the fact that the editing phase is when she gets to add personality and story to the content.
I don’t normally consider that phase to be editing, but I guess that’s the difference between editing and proofreading. Editing is when you make sure the content flows well, is engaging, and has a strong call to action. Proofreading is when you check for typos and grammatical errors. I usually do most of my editing before I put the content away for at least 24 hours. Then I come back, do some more editing, and then finally proofread it before either turning it into my client or publishing it on my own website.
That said, Handley points out the need for checking for more than just story and grammatical errors. You need to edit for branding and audience appeal before you can do any proofreading and she is 100% correct in that.
She also mentions the value of having a good editor you trust, and that is invaluable.
4) Write for Your Audience
This is something I say all the time, and it’s a theme Handley brings up repeatedly throughout this book. Know your audience and write content for them. Use the language they use. Write a story that centers their pain points and makes them the hero of the story (by buying your product/service).
In every chapter, Handley finds a different way of saying your content needs to tell your audience that this content is for them. When your ideal client finds your website, they should be left wondering how you managed to create content that speaks directly to them.
5) Make It Interesting
Handley is full of great tips for creating content that’s interesting enough that people will actually want to read it. From headlines that make people want to know more, to incorporating metaphors and similes that bring your writing to life.
While I loved (and absolutely recommend) all the tips Handley provided here, I do wish she had talked about the need to strike a balance between making your content interesting and making sure the keywords are in there. Some headlines sound fun and exciting and have absolutely no SEO value, and vice versa. Just keep that in mind when you’re creating your content (especially your headlines).
The same goes for length. Handley mentions there’s a debate in the world of online marketing over the length of landing pages. She says she’s a fan of shorter over longer, but doesn’t mention the SEO value of longer content. I’m not saying your landing pages need to (or should) be 1,000+ words, but at least 500 words is recommended to get Google’s attention. That said, I do agree that the super-long content should be saved for your blog posts (or even a book).
6) Branding Your Content
Handley includes tips for making sure your content reflects your brand, and she covers the difference between Voice and Tone. I especially appreciated that because I’ve seen a lot of people use those two words interchangeably, even though they refer to different things.
Handley puts it beautifully by saying tone changes, whereas voice does not. For example, think about a card you might send someone. A birthday card will have a very different tone from a condolence card, but you’ll still use your own voice to write both of them.
The same goes for your branded content. The brand’s voice should always remain the same, while the tone should change depending on the type of content you’re creating and when people will encounter this content.
7) Gated Content
If you’re not already familiar with the concept of gated content, it’s when you require someone to hand over their email address before letting them read/watch/listen to something. It’s really annoying, but a lot of marketers swear by the value of gated content for growing your email list and leading (although it feels more like forcing) people through the buyer journey.
In this book, Handley spends a bit of time talking about the pros and cons of gated content, and seems to ultimately decide against using it for her website, Marketing Profs. I found that interesting because I stopped following Marketing Profs years ago because I couldn’t read any of their content without handing over my email address. Maybe they’ve backtracked on that since the last time I checked?
8) Follow Your Own Rules
Speaking of not taking your own advice, I appreciated that Handley included a chapter about a very successful content marketer who wrote a really bad sales email. She breaks down what was bad about his first version, why it didn’t work, how he improved it the second time around, what made the second version better, and then the results he got.
It made me feel better as someone who sometimes feels foolish when I realize I’ve just created a piece of content that doesn’t follow my own guidelines. Sometimes we’re too invested in our own stuff to see it from the outside perspective that helps make the content interesting for our audience.
9) Writing Tools
The last section of the book is devoted to writing tools, and while I’m already familiar with and using several of the tools she includes in this section, I’ll also be checking out some tools she included in her list that I had not heard of. And while I use Answer the Public all the time, I had not realized they had a headline suggestion feature, so I will definitely be looking into that.
Her list also includes SEO tools, although it’s far from a comprehensive list. Most of the tools she mentions focuses on the writing/editing aspect of content marketing.
Some of the tools she listed include
Handley did not mention Serpstat, but I feel the need to mention it because it’s my preferred SEO tool.
A warning about Grammarly: I found it significantly slowed down my computer, to the point where it was inhibiting my productivity. I didn’t have it for long before I deleted it. Your mileage may vary depending on your computer’s capabilities and how fast you type.
10) Humans vs Machines
Handley does spend a little bit of time talking about artificial intelligence (AI) in this book. Like me, she recognizes the value of AI as a tool, but is not afraid that it’s going to replace humans anytime soon. Then again, even the latest edition of this book was published prior to the release of ChatGPT, so maybe it’s time for another update.
Handley does mention that we’ve all been using AI in one form or another for years. It’s included in many of the writing tools she listed in the last section of her book.
I laughed a lot throughout this book, but some of the times when I laughed the hardest were when Handley described her fights with Microsoft Word warning her that her sentence was a fragment and she should revise it. I laughed because I’ve had those same fights with Microsoft Word and I knew exactly what she was talking about (and the frustration she felt.)
She also points out that the Hemingway editor (which I’ve used, but also take with a grain of salt) flagged a section of Hemingway’s own book for having long sentences and too many adverbs.
All this is to say that recommendations like “write short,” “avoid passive phrasing,” and “avoid adverbs,” while well meaning, all have their limitations. Know your voice well enough to know when it makes sense for you to break the rules. Just be sure that every time you break a rule you can back up why you’re doing so with a very good reason. If you don’t have a good reason, do what the robot tells you.
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Even if you’ve invested in your own writing skills, writing takes time and many of us don’t have time to create high-quality content for our businesses. If you need a writer who understands both the SEO and the marketing side of writing, I can help.
