Issue #10- Swipe Files + Zero Click Searches

Happy holidays!

I hope you're doing great! Thank you for sticking with me throughout the year. I'm glad I was able to provide you with valuable writing and SEO tips. If there is any topic you'd like me to include in these newsletters, please let me know. I'll do my best to accommodate these requests in 2023.

Before I get into the usual tips, I wanted to announce that I've started a Your Writing Bestie blog on Medium. I never expected to reach thousands of people with my newsletter so I decided to expand into blogging. While I haven't officially launched yet, I've published two blog posts already:

• How to Take Time Off as a Freelance Writer
• SEO 101: A Crash Course on SEO for Beginners

While my newsletter has bite-sized tips, the blogs will be more detailed. Head over to Medium and let me know in the comments what you think.

Now without further ado, here are your writing and SEO tips!

Writing Tip

Let's chat about swipe files. If you don't have one, it's time to make one!

A swipe file can consist of emails, social media copy, landing page examples, and other marketing pieces created by another business. Content creators keep them in an easily accessible place and go through them regularly to make their content. A swipe file is an excellent resource for writers and comes in handy when you're having writer's block.

To create an awesome swipe file, you have to:

• Choose your favorite hosting platform-?You have many options. You can use a simple Excel sheet, Notion, Evernote, Google Docs, and many others. If you're able to use the platform to copy and paste words or links and add screenshots, then it’s a suitable platform. However, you need to choose a platform that is right for you. If you pick a platform you don’t like using, don’t understand, or seldom visit, chances are you won’t utilize your swipe file nearly as much as you should.
• Check out creators in your niche-?You can get awesome content ideas from creators outside your niche, but I recommend starting with creators in your niche. Check out the social media platforms, blogs, emails, and other marketing materials of other writers or creators in your niche. Look at how they structure their posts, copy, headlines, and calls to action. Pay attention to their best-performing posts. You can screenshot these pieces or add the link to your swipe file to save them. Writers in your niche are also a great resource for coming up with topic ideas.
• Organize your swipe file-?You want to keep your swipe file pretty organized, or you’ll waste time trying to go through everything. Make sure you keep headlines, blog topics, emails, social media posts, and other marketing material you swiped in separate sections. For example, if you’re using Excel, you can add a new tab for each section. That way, when you’re ready to create content, you know exactly where to go.

SEO Tip

For the SEO tip this month, we're going to be talking about how to handle zero-click searches. A zero-click search is one where you enter a search term and didn't click on any of the results. In many cases, zero-click searches make sense. For example, if you're searching for someone's age, it's likely written at the top of the page and you won't need to click on any of the websites in the search results.

According to SEMrush's Zero Click study, around 25% of desktop searches and 17% of mobile searches are zero-click searches.

Unfortunately, this can negatively affect the Click Through Rate (CTR) of your SEO ranking. If you opt for a keyword that has instant answers at the top of the SERP, you're likely to get fewer clicks.

SEMrush says there are two options for you. You can either continue targeting keywords that often result in zero-click searches. The purpose of doing that would be more brand visibility and not necessarily traffic. However, they suggest using schema markup, videos, and images to increase your chances of getting seen.

Another option is to just focus on keywords that are more likely to get you clicks.

Resources

• SEMrush's Zero Click study
• I'll create newsletters for your brand, let's chat!
• Your Writing Bestie Blog

See you in 2023!