Why did I become a content writer? I found in my role as Co-founder of High Profile Enterprises I was becoming more attracted to the art of writing and started to seek out blogs where the writing inspired me and I could learn from.
I think most people can string a few words together and I could too, but I wanted something more than that. I wanted to become the very best I could be and my quest for this led me to the highly respected and possibly one of the most advanced courses around, The Copyblogger 2015 Certified Content Marketer.
The course outline was dedicated to making me a more *effective* content marketer and strategist. Being a big advocate of continuing education, I believed that by enrolling in this course I could better serve my clients by using more advanced marketing strategies and tactics.The program would also, if I passed, validate my professionalism. So it seemed exactly what I wanted.
All of a sudden I felt one step closer to becoming a content marketing authority and I was excited.
A company like Copyblogger whose business is built on content marketing lead the way in content marketing. Their information is interesting, aspirational, educational and informative and entertaining and they make learning fun. It was for these reasons I wanted to complete the course.
Here is the course content for accreditation
I was asked to submit three pieces of content, as well as my professional bio or “About” page. The content types were:
- An audience attraction article
- A persuasive email message
- A persuasive landing page
Email Marketing
It’s also amazingly cost-effective. With an ROI of around 4,300% (according to the Direct Marketing Association), email practically pays for itself … and saves a tree or two. It’s what you use when you want to move from “conversation to commerce.”
An audience attraction article
I had in mind a blog post that would not only give value but would also I had just completed a blog post called 100 ideas and topics to make your blog sizzle
Here is the evaluation criteria
- Are your headlines professional and engaging? Will they prompt users to click through? (1-10 points)
- Is the content interesting to read? (1-15 points)
- Is the content useful? Does it solve an audience problem? (1-15 points)
- Does the content stand out? Does it feel like it offers a fresh perspective or approach? (1-15 points)
- Does persuasion content use a clear call to action? (1-10 points)
- Does persuasion content describe the benefits of taking the desired action? (1-10 points)
- Is all content written in reasonably standard English? (Casual language is fine, unintentional errors are not.) (1-20 points)
- Are social sharing buttons featured? (1-5 points) — This criterion is not applied to the persuasive email message.