Hey, ProWriter!

In a few days, most Americans will awkwardly gather ‘round a table with friends and family they haven’t seen in months for Thanksgiving, a national holiday that features some of the blandest food imaginable.

Regardless of this fact, many of us will proceed to fill ourselves up with the stuff until we need a very long nap on the couch, or possibly explode like Mr. Creosote from Meaning of Life.

Let’s make sure we get something done before our carb coma later this week, shall we?

This edition:

• Should you be an SEO expert? Short answer: NO (longer answer 👇)

• BIG shakeup in the AI world as key CEO gets FIRED 😲

• This week’s expert will help you see where you might be going wrong 🤓

• A little push from a guy we look up to so you can kick ass this week 🥋

• A raft of new writing gigs 🖊️

Gobble gobble, folks!

- Dave and Dusten

#ProWriterTips 💡

How much SEO are you supposed to know?

There are no two words in the English language more loaded and ambiguous than “SEO experience”.

If you see SEO experience in a job ad and have no idea what it means, you’re not alone. (In fact, the person who wrote the job ad probably doesn’t know, either).

This tiny little phrase has prompted a number of you to write in to ask us about SEO: What employers expect writers to know, how to stay on top of the latest trends, and how to talk about SEO with your clients.

Today, we want to give just a few quick tips to help you understand what every writer should know about SEO, as well as what you should expect your clients to know, so you don’t end up in situations like this:

No. 1: You should know how to use keywords

You should know A) what keywords are, B) best practices for using them, and C) how to weave them in using natural language so they don’t stick out like sore thumbs.

In fact, you should know this stuff so well that if your client tells you to do something “for SEO” that would actually hurt them, you can correct them and look like a real bigshot.

Clients who really have their sh** together should be able to give you a blog brief with all the keywords they want for each assignment. It might be a Google Doc, or it might be from a company like SurferSEO or Clearscope.

Either way, it’s on the client to give you the keywords they want an article to rank for. If they ask you to identify keywords for them, that’s SEO strategy. Don’t do it unless you get paid extra for it.

No. 2: You should know how to optimize copy for search

Google loves content that real human readers love.

Humans hate, hate, to read poorly-written crap in gigantic blocks of text.

You have to provide a smooth reading experience. Lots of white space. Short sentences. Second-grade reading level. Etc.

If clients ask you for anything beyond that, especially anything that involves coding or template design, you’re getting into technical SEO, and that’s not something a writer does (unless, again, you get paid extra for it).

No. 3: You should be able to write one hell of a headline

You should be able to drop a headline that scores at least a 70 in CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer.

You should also be able to provide a meta title, tag, and description if asked. And, if your client asks for a few different headlines they can choose from, that’s totally fair game.

What’s not fair game?

Asking you for over 100 headlines per content asset so that they can run them through A/B testing and pick the best one over time.

Or, asking you to go into Google Analytics, figure out which pages are performing well, and try to update/fix the titles for ones that aren’t (in hopes that this will help that content rank higher).

Writing 100 headlines isn’t a free value-add, and going through a client’s Google Analytics to suggest or push content optimizations is an SEO strategist’s job. Not a fair ask of someone who was just hired to write blog posts.

If you know how to do those things, go ahead and do it. But, say it with me: make sure you’re getting paid.

If you have any more questions about SEO, please reply to this email and ask! We read every reply, and if we see a challenging question, we’ll answer it in a future newsletter.

Want to check out all of our Writer Tips for free?

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That’s right, ProWriter is our sponsor once again.

ProWriter isn’t just a newsletter. It’s an entire resource for helping freelance writers launch their writing careers.

When you become a ProWriter member, you get:

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Ready to grow your writing career?

Eye on AI 🤖

In this section, we bring you the top stories about AI that affect creatives. Mostly so you can stay informed, but also (hopefully) worry less.

Today’s robopocalypse headlines 🤖💀

• The big news in AI this week is the unexpected ouster of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last Friday. It cannot be stressed enough what a shock this is. Altman is one of the most prominent public figures in AI (a sorta-but-not-quite Steve Jobs-esque figure). Board members say he was tough to work with, and not “candid” in his communications. Maybe he was using ChatGPT to write his emails?

• Over the weekend we saw endless debate about what’s really going on inside OpenAI. Most tech watchers see Altman’s abrupt ouster as, at minimum, a little weird. But not Microsoft, which only saw opportunity. As of Monday morning, Altman is their newest employee, brought in to work on (what else?) AI initiatives.

• Here’s a list that ranks AI tools based on which ones make sh** up the most.

• Google says major algo changes are coming soon, but does the classic Google thing where they tell you “long as you’re doing everything right, you should be okay!” Reassuring.

• Some investors are using AI tools on CEOs to create profiles of their emotional states. Maybe this will create more “candid” communication?

100 content people you should be following 🤝

We made a big list of the most successful and influential voices in marketing.

The main thing they have in common? They post free content advice that will make you a better writer.

This week, here’s who we think you should follow + connect with on LinkedIn: 

#92 Erin Balsa

Erin is a content marketer, and former writer and editor. She has worked for publishers like Providence Media and SaaS brands like The Predictive Index.

She is a serial entrepreneur, having founded several agencies including Haus of Bold, which offers content marketing strategy and execution to tech startups scaling to the enterprise level.

Why you should follow her

• She shares deep marketing insights specifically for freelance writers.

• She’ll teach you how to upgrade from a content writer to a content marketer, (which will make you a better writer!)

• She has a great newsletter about thought leadership for B2B marketers, and a lot of the content in there applies to freelance writers trying to establish your online brand.

She also has a fantastic backlog of interviews with content people, many of whom are previous or future entries of our 100 content people you should be following.

To check those out, track down her Notorious Thought Leader podcast.

👉 Connect with Erin on LinkedIn

Makes you think 🤔

Sometimes a little nudge is all you need to crush your week

I want to include a brief message to end our time together today, and that is: don’t give up.

We all have off weeks, self-doubt, imposter syndrome, you name it. We all think we’re missing out on some key thing, and wonder if we’re spending our time wisely.

And, we have weeks where the world just frankly kicks our ass.

If that’s you this morning, go ahead and take a moment to catch your breath.

Then, get out there kick the world back.

Top Freelance Writing Jobs 💼 

1. Get the Cream LTD is looking for a fintech copywriter who can start, uh, yesterday. Rate is TBD, but go ahead and ask for more than usual, since it’s a rush job. Comment or DM the job poster here.

2. WPTavern is looking for a Wordpress/tech writer. It’ll start at $25/h, but the goal is to find a couple of full-timers. Apply here.

3. Resonance is looking for freelance writers to write about tech, climate, AI, and a bunch of other stuff. Apply here.

4. Cella is looking for a part-time Copywriter/Proofreader for about $40/h. Apply here.

5. 24 Seven Talent is looking for a generalist marketing writer for a variety of projects. $30/h, apply here.

6. If you have some strategy experience, Premier Talent Partners is looking for a part time writer for $60-$90/h. Apply here.

7. Entry-level writers should check out this paid internship with Atmosfy for $35-$30/h. Apply here.

8. Path Mental Health is looking for a freelancer to write blog posts. Few hours a week to start, $50/h. To apply, email Jennifer Lehr.

9. If you’re ready to make the jump to fulltime, WebFX is looking for a digital marketing copywriter. $50k a year, work from anywhere. Apply here.

10. I saw on X that this guy is quietly looking for some freelancers. If you have crypto/fintech experience, try sending him a pitch.

Don’t forget — all the jobs we post here are remote and we privilege gigs with transparent pay.

A handful come from our personal networks and aren’t on any jobs boards… yet. So get on ‘em.

What’s on your 🧠?

Here’s your weekly reminder that if you’re one of our 5,000 subscribers, you can reply directly to this email.

That’s because we want to hear from you!

• We want your feedback, so we can make this newsletter better

• We want your questions, so we can create relevant content for you

• We want to build relationships, so reply with whatever is on your mind

Send us compliments, concerns, complaints, questions, story ideas, memes, whatever you got.

Thanks for reading, ProWriters!

Let’s have a great week.

Dave & Dusten

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Until next week, see you on Twitter and LinkedIn.