HOTH Blogger Writing Standards

Question 1

There are five sections you’ll need to pay special attention to as a Writer and QC:

Answer 1

Special requests / Specific requests

Intended result

Target Customer

Product or service

Language preference

Question 2

These are requests made by the customer that they want to see in the article. These are important because they tell you exactly what the client wants. If we don’t follow these requests, we aren’t giving the customer the service that they deserve. Our goal is to Hit ‘em Over The Head with awesomeness. The best way to do so is to follow the directions in this section.

Answer 2

Special Requests

Question 3

If there’s ever a question about what the customer wants, this section probably has the answer. This section will let the writer and QC know what goals the customer wants to accomplish and will play a major role in the type of CTA the writer should use in the conclusion.

If they want to sell a particular product, that product should appear in the article with a link to it in the CTA. If they want the reader to subscribe to a newsletter, that should be the CTA.

Answer 3

Intended Result

Question 4

This section will answer any question or debate about the tone of an article. If the _______ _______ is a professional with a solid understanding of the topic, the article will need a professional tone. If the _______ _______ is younger, the article doesn’t need to dive into deep technical details as much.

*note: only one answer fits all spaces

Answer 4

Target Customer

Question 5

The writer should stay away from generic advice, focusing on details and deep dives. Don’t get too playful.

Answer 5

Professional audience

Question 6

The writing doesn’t need to be as technical or advanced for this customer. Most of the time, they’re looking for general advice.

Answer 6

Entry-level or younger audience

Question 7

This section tells you and the writer what the client sells. Keep the focus of the article on this.

Answer 7

Product or Service

Question 8

Is the article written in the correct version of English? American English, Canadian English, Queen’s English, etc have different expressions and spelling. Always follow the language preference. If the client’s website is .uk but the language preference is American English, write the article in American English and vice versa.

Answer 8

Language Preference

Question 9

What is the keyword requirements?

Answer 9

You’ll need to include the Primary Keyword:

• In your Introduction (the first 100 words of the post)
• In at least one Header (any header)
• In the Conclusion of your post

You also need to sprinkle this keyword in your post whenever contextual.

Question 10

How many secondary keywords should each article use?

Answer 10

2-3

Question 11

What do I do about Requested Keywords?

ALL ORDER FORMS now have the Requested Keywords section.

The words Requested Keywords will be highlighted in red. These keywords all need to be used in the article. Treat the first as the Primary Keyword. The rest are mandatory secondaries.

Answer 11

All-Star order

Question 12

What do I do about Requested Keywords?

ALL ORDER FORMS now have the Requested Keywords section.

The words will just be in regular color. The Primary Keyword that the TC has used is to be treated as your typical Primary. You can sprinkle as many others as you can naturally, but they are not mandatory for non-All-Star orders.

Answer 12

When the order is not an all star order

Question 13

Minimum word counts

Answer 13

500 words - minimum word count of 475

1,000 words - minimum word count of 900

1,500 words - minimum word count of 1,400

2,000 words - minimum word count of 1,900

We established a buffer because some articles don’t require 1,000 words and we didn’t want writers stuffing articles with fluff to get there.

The writer should always target the given word count, not the minimum.

Question 14

Blog articles need two types of links:

Answer 14

internal (to the client’s website) and external (to high-quality sources)

Question 15

How Many Internal Links To Include In a Post?

Answer 15

500-word post - a minimum of 2-3 internal links.

1000-word post - a minimum of 2-3 internal links.

1500-word post - a minimum of 3-4 internal links.

2000-word post - a minimum of 4-5 internal links.

3000-word post - a minimum of 5-6 internal links

4000-word post - a minimum of 6-7 internal links

5000-word post - a minimum of 7-8 internal links

Question 16

How Many External Links To Include In a Post?

Answer 16

500-word post - a minimum of 2-3 external links

1000-word post - a minimum of 2-3 external links

1500-word post - a minimum of 3-4 external links

2000-word post - a minimum of 4-5 external links

3000-word post - a minimum of 5-6 external links

4000-word post - a minimum of 6-7 external links

5000-word post - a minimum of 7-8 external links

Question 17

Rules For Links:

Answer 17

Make links informative. No linking to dictionary sites for definitions. This adds nothing to an article

No links to seed articles.

Make sure the links work before sending to clients

No competitors, whether direct or indirect. When in doubt, assume that any website that sells a product is a competitor. If they have information that’s relevant to what the writer needs, there’s a good chance they sell something similar. There are, of course, a few rare exceptions to this rule.

No links to social media sites or homepages. The two exceptions are YouTube (for articles that talk about YouTube only, not for a link in other articles) and LinkedIn blogs (unless the client is a job search firm).

No links to general blog pages, link a specific blog article.

No Statista links, or any other links that are behind a paywall (Forbest, etc) or lengthy PDF files.

No links in headers.

Links should be relevant. Try to use links from the past year if possible

Don’t string links together. We don’t want to see more than one link every two sentences, otherwise, it distracts from the article.

Question 18

Anchor Text Rules

Answer 18

Example: By using online review sites, you can make a more informed purchase.

In this example, “online review sites” is the anchor text.

The anchor text needs to be between 2-5 words. So, don’t link out in this example with just “sites” or “review” or “online.” And don’t link out whole sentences like, “20% of cars were subject to recalls in 2016.”

Question 19

What is the most important part of your post?

Answer 19

The intro

Question 20

What is the biggest problem with intros?

Answer 20

Fluff. Generality. Sentences that don’t mean anything and do nothing to engage the reader.

Question 21

How do we solve the fluff problem with intros?

Answer 21

By using the introduction to grab the reader’s attention, create interest, inspire desire, and take action.

AIDA

Question 22

This is your hook. This is where you dare to be different. You’re generating interest.

Generating interest is NOT accomplished with generalities, common-knowledge, or fluff.

This is where you get to be bold. Don’t be wishy-washy. Make them want to know what comes next.

Answer 22

Attention

Question 23

This section shares some characteristics with attention. You’re still keeping your readers on the hook. But this phase is actually where you connect that initial hook into the blog’s subject.

Answer 23

Interest

Question 24

This is where you’ll let the reader know why this post is so important - how it can change their lives for the better.

Answer 24

Desire

Question 25

This is where you’ll invite the reader to DO something -- in the intro, it will generally be to read the rest of the post.

Answer 25

Action

Question 26

Intros that WORK: Example #1:

Answer 26

**Attention:** You wake up and realize you’ve slept through your alarm again. What do you do? A.) Call your boss and apologize and hope they don’t fire you? B.) Jump out of bed in a panic, toss on whatever is lying about, slap on some deodorant, and speed to work? I do neither. **Interest:** I just sleep another few minutes until my brain wakes up. I also don’t get fired for this because I don’t have a boss. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. Sure, I’m emboldened to particular people. That will never go away until I retire. But my schedule is my own to make as I please. You see, I’ve joined the ranks of a growing sector of the world population. The remote worker. I’m not tied down to a particular location. I can take my laptop and work where I please. It’s the new American Dream. **Desire:** But how do you break away from the 9-5 grind? How do you stick it to “The Man” and say adios to the office and water coolers and crummy coffee in styrofoam cups? It’s absolutely possible to make the jump (don’t look down) and make money online. **Action:** And if you keep reading, I’ll tell you how.

Question 27

Intros that WORK: Example #2

Answer 27

**Attention:** YouTube: it’s the second largest search engine on the planet. **Interest:** Why wouldn’t you want to leverage that kind of audience? But it’s also one of the most competitive ad markets on the planet. And if you fail on YouTube, you fail miserably. **Desire & Action:** I’ve got your back, however. I’m here to present the five worst YouTube marketing failures in the history of advertising. (And I’ll also show you how to avoid them.)

Question 28

Intro Formatting:

Answer 28

**_Intro no longer than 200 words_**, but long enough to draw the reader in. No fluff. The intro is not a place to buffer word count. Why waste time on the appetizer (intro) when there’s a filet mignon (body) waiting? If the intro is 200 words or less (or even 125 words or less) but fluffy, it’s not a good intro. **The primary keyword must appear in the first 100 WORDS**

Question 29

More Attention Tips:

Answer 29

Should lead with something that connects to the intended audience **Obvious statements are useless statements**. “We all wear shoes” doesn’t connect If possible, the article should lead with a stat The article can also pose a question that presents value to the reader: “Can an online business survive if 91% of customers don’t know it exists?” **Correct grammar**: if there’s a grammar mistake in the first few paragraphs, the client will assume we didn’t check our work. Can you blame them for that assumption? The first section should introduce the problem and give the reader a reason to believe that the client has a solution. For example, if the article is on SEO services, the stat about 91% of people not knowing a business exists is the problem. The final part of the opening section should convince the reader that they’ll receive the solution: “Read on to learn how SEO for online businesses can help you reach more customers”. **At no point should the writer copy the SEO description**. The viewer already read it once. It’s fluff.

Question 30

Body of Article Formatting

Answer 30

Headers should have a minimum of two sentences under them Paragraphs should have **at most 3 sentences of text** under them. 2-3 sentences is ideal. We don’t want walls of text. We don’t want excessive instances of one-sentence paragraphs. If it looks like a poem, combine some one-line paragraphs. Bullet points should not have punctuation and should not be multiple sentences No lengthy quotes to pad word count. A keyword should appear in one of the headers. One space between sentences.

Question 31

Hemingway Scores

Answer 31

When writing an article, you should plug it into Hemingway to check a few things out: Grade level - The article should be grade 9 or below. **This includes regular orders, blogger pro, and all-star articles.** Blogger Pro articles can be a grade 12 and below **only** if they are a technical article. Free from grammar mistakes and misspellings.

Question 32

guideline for passive voice is:

Answer 32

500-word articles - 5 passive voice. 1,000-word articles - 10 passive voice 1,500-word articles - 10 passive voice 2,000-word articles - 15 passive voice 3,000-word articles - 20 passive voice 4,000-word articles - 30 passive voice 5,000-word articles - 40 passive voice

Question 33

Tone and Voice

Answer 33

_Make sure the tone matches the client’s brand._ If the client is a professional organization, the tone should match that. Phrases like “That’s right!” or “Let’s jump into it!” might match another organization, but it doesn’t work for the corporate world. If the tone seems overly casual, check out the order information and up top and spend a few minutes looking over a blog post or two from the client to make sure it works. Make sure that the tone resonates with the audience, but remember that this is a blog post, not an academic essay. **_Concise, casual, and approachable -- but still authoritative -- is best._**

Question 34

First Person vs. Second/Third

Answer 34

Unless the client specifies that they want first-person “I’ statements, the writer should stick to second-person voice. The client is more than likely a company and not an individual. The writing should reflect that.

Question 35

Headers

Answer 35

The primary keyword must be in at least one header Headers should be in H2 Format Subheaders should be in H3/H4 Format Sections separated by a header should be no more than 300 words There should be no links in headers The only punctuation in a header should be a question mark or a colon The last header should not be simply “Conclusion”. Make the last header meaningful Don’t bold headers Keep headers as short as possible. They aren’t sentences. Check capitalization. Run headers through https://capitalizemytitle.com/ if you're unsure.

Question 36

Fluff examples

Answer 36

"People are attracted to visuals." (This is the opening sentence to a blog. This means nothing.) "When it comes to cars, there are models for every price range." (Again, this means practically nothing. Everyone knows cars come in different models and prices). “Cats like to sleep a lot.” (This isn’t particularly useful). “Dogs always wait by the door for their owners to come home.” (Okay, and?) I think you get the idea. **Once you’ve written your work, read over it and edit. Better yet, read it out loud.** Your ear will tell you if it’s working or not.

Question 37

The conlcusion

Answer 37

A call to action (CTA) is your friend. Invite the reader to contact us, visit a services page, or leave a comment (only if the site actually has a comment section), etc. This is an easy way to wrap things up - plus, it’s friendly, user comments are good for SEO, and it’s a nice inbound marketing tool. You should not be linking back to the Home Page of the client’s site, link to a Contact Us page, a blog page, etc. Use something actionable.

Question 38

Conclusion Formatting

Answer 38

No more than 100 words. Anything more than that is overkill. The writer shouldn’t introduce more information in the conclusion. That’s what the body is for. **The primary keyword must be in the conclusion.**

Question 39

Call-To-Action

Answer 39

Look at the purpose of an article and the order information at the top of the assignment to determine if the CTA works. * For clients that run blogs, point the reader to another relevant blog post * For clients that want to sell a product, give the reader a benefit of the product and point the reader to a relevant product * For clients that sell a service, give the reader a benefit of the service and point them towards the service, free consultation, etc. * Linking to an about us page does nothing for the client.

Question 40

Tools to use when proofreading

Answer 40

The **Hemingway App** is used to see what grade level your writing is. Blog posts should be a grade 9 or below. **Grammarly** is not perfect, but it works in our backend. It’s an app that checks spelling and grammar that you can download for free. It will automatically check the posts you write in our portal.

Question 41

Plagiarism Warning

Answer 41

Plagiarism is both unprofessional and unethical. Thus, it is something that The HOTH has a zero-tolerance policy towards. This isn’t a three-strike rule or an “oopsie” type of violation. The HOTH will deal with plagiarized content swiftly. If an article rates over 5% in Copyscape, it will be either returned to you or flagged to staff. It could be something innocent, like a definition, which is fine. But if you are copying paragraphs, or headers from other articles, this is not fine. Original content only. **If an article rates over 10% in Copyscape, or over 5% caused by the copying of an entire paragraph, the article is sent to support immediately under “Flag a Writer” and brought to the attention of the in-house staff.**