Ray Manley, top freelance writer, content creator and marketer

Content marketing is at a critical inflection point. For it to serve as the fuel and infrastructure for modern marketing departments, some things need to change. Brands are not getting much of a return on that investment. We know this thanks to a survey of 252 marketing leaders at

Why Content Creators Are Using This Simple Article Format to Draw a Bigger Audience

You know this article format. A glance through Content Marketing Institute’s recently published posts, Growthhackers Must Read articles, or BuzzSumo’s most-shared marketing content from the past six months makes it clear – one blog post framework seems to be winning: How (Company You Know) Is Doing (Something) to Achieve

How to Infuse ‘Know,’ ‘Like,’ and ‘Trust’ Into Your Content

You’ve read the research that says people prefer to do business with people they know, like, and trust, right? Me, too. Yet whenever I hear that advice, I think, “that sounds nice,” but what does it really mean to know, like, and trust someone? And what does it take

How Topic Modeling Can Strengthen Your SEO and Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing lies at the intersection of art and technology, so it’s only logical that artificial intelligence comes into play. AI plays a big role in search and it can be useful in creating content, too. While it’s not known exactly how the Google algorithm works, researchers and marketers

16 Visual Storytelling Tips to Give Your Content Marketing a Boost

The numbers are staggering – marketers are investing heavily in visual content: 74% of marketers use visual assets in their social media marketing – Social Media Examiner 93% of senior marketers say photography is either important or critical to their overall marketing strategies – CMO Council Video will account

4 Strategies to Earn Natural, High-Quality Links for Your Content

The process of “building links” has long been touted as the key to ranking in search engines. After all, studies about the relationship between external links and rankings have shown it’s nearly impossible to rank without them. In fact, a Moz study of over 15,000 keywords found that 99.2%

13 Experts Share Their Best Tips on How to Build a Well-Run Content Team

Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing yet produces almost three times as many leads. It’s easy to see why 89% of B2B marketers use content marketing as part of their strategies. However, executing an effective content marketing program is no simple task. It requires a skilled team and

Trades: Why You Should Put Your Accounting on the Cloud

Put your invoicing and accounting on the cloud, so you can spend more time on the job site. In my career as a freelance journalist, I’ve interviewed dozens of contractors, tradespeople and other home services small businesses. And if there’s one thing these industrious folks have in common it’s that

Ghosted: What to Do When a Client Doesn’t Pay Up

Freelancing has its perks—the freedom to work from home, choose your own hours and not brush your hair for days. But of course with running any small business, the good comes with the not-so-good. Besides not having the security of a traditional job, one of the downsides of freelancing is

Freelancers: Should You Use a Business Credit Card?

Credit cards are not designed for most freelancers, who typically spend only a couple hundred bucks a month on business expenses. When you aren’t spending 5-figures on expenses, the rewards won’t add up to huge financial gains. The post Freelancers: Should You Use a Business Credit Card? appeared first on

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