In some instances, parentheses can be useful, but more often than not, they’re unnecessary and may even act as a distraction, weakening your writing.

In this guide to parentheses, we explain what parentheses are, the difference between parentheses and brackets, when to use parentheses and when to avoid them, basic grammatical rules and finally, alternatives to parentheses.

What are parentheses?

When learning the basics of parentheses, I once had a teacher compare them to cupping your hands around your mouth, poised for a whisper. Your hands look like a pair of parentheses. 

See: ( )

Parentheses work similarly in grammar. They’re a pair of punctuation marks that enclose or set off information.

Parentheses are not to be confused with brackets, less technically called square parentheses, which are often used when altering quotes. See: [ ]

Brackets are also used when you have parentheses within parentheses, which is more common in technical writing. Here’s an example:

(The results [Figure 4] were inconclusive.)

When to use parentheses

The No. 1 rule you need to remember is to use parentheses sparingly.

AP Stylebook puts it best: “Parentheses are jarring to the reader.” Like a whisper, they can become too distracting.

Even so, there are some instances when parentheses will be necessary. Take a look.

1. Use parentheses to set off (typically nonessential) information

Webster’s New World College Dictionary Rules of Punctuation explains parentheses are used “to enclose material that is explanatory, supplementary, or illustrative.”

Even AP Stylebook, which isn’t particularly fond of parentheses, states, “There are occasions, however, when parentheses are the only effective means of inserting necessary background or reference information.”

But “Working With Words: A Handbook for Media Writers and Editors,” one of my favorite writing resources, emphasizes parentheses should be used to set off nonessential information. This is key.

One of my former editors (S/O to Heather van der Hoop) advised me to never put information in parentheses unless I felt comfortable deleting it. Her rule reinforced the fact that this information should be nonessential.

Take a look at the sentence above:

One of my former editors (S/O to Heather van der Hoop) advised me to never put information in parentheses unless I felt comfortable deleting it.

The reader doesn’t really need to know my former editor’s name — it’s just explanatory background information — so I set it off with parentheses. I would be comfortable with that information getting deleted, because it wouldn’t change the meaning of the sentence.

Let’s take a look at one more example, but this one highlights the wrong way to use parentheses:

WRONG: The president agreed to sign the new bill into law (even though he’d been adamantly against it last week).

The fact that the president signed a bill that he denounced just one week prior is important, essential information for your story. In that case, you’d want to take this essential information out of parentheses and rewrite it with a comma or em dash.

RIGHT: The president agreed to sign the new bill into law, even though he’d been adamantly against it last week.

If you’re not sure if the information is essential or nonessential, use this rule from Merriam-Webster: “To test if a clause is indeed nonessential, leave it out and reread the sentence. If the main point of the sentence is not lost or distorted, then, yes, it is nonessential…”

One last thing: You can also use parentheses in quotes to add explanatory information the speaker may not have included:

“My opponent (Sam Smith) wouldn’t let up, and I became absolutely exhausted.”

However, if you find yourself using parentheses in quotes often, you’ll be better off paraphrasing.

Her opponent, Sam Smith, wouldn’t give up, and she became exhausted.

2. Use parentheses in specialized cases

This second rule highlighted in Webster’s Rules of Punctuation is straightforward: Use parentheses around numbers or figures in a list within your text.

Here’s an example:

The game was simple: (1) Draw a card, (2) guess higher or lower and (3) set it down.

Note that AP Stylebook tends to prefer bulleted lists if there are more than four items in the list.

When not to use parentheses

Before launching into our grammar overview on parentheses, let’s outline a few common instances when parentheses are often misused if you’re following the AP Stylebook.

Note: These rules will ultimately depend on the publication’s house style, so it’s always worth checking their site! 

• Abbreviations for organizations: When writing an organization’s full name, you may be tempted to drop the abbreviation in parentheses after the full name, then use the abbreviation throughout the remainder of the article, like such: American Society of News Editors (ASNE).

However, AP Stylebook encourages writers to avoid “alphabet soup” and use the full name of the organization throughout the article, unless it’s a more common abbreviation or universally recognizable.

• Phone numbers: You may be tempted to include the area code of a phone number in parentheses, but AP Stylebook wants writers to use dashes.

WRONG: (555) 555-5555

RIGHT: 555-555-5555

• Time zones: Parentheses are also not necessary when specifying time zones within the U.S.

WRONG: 5 p.m. (EST)

RIGHT: 5 p.m. EST

You may use parentheses if you’re writing the time outside the continental U.S. The parentheses set off this additional, clarifying (though nonessential) information.

They broke into the art gallery at 9 a.m. (3 a.m. EDT) in Paris.

How to use parentheses

Parentheses are always in pairs, and there are two simple ways we can break down the grammatical rules.

1. Using parentheses around complete sentences

If you’re putting a complete sentence (or independent clause) in parentheses, punctuate as if the parentheses aren’t there. That means including the punctuation inside the parentheses and proceeding as normal.

They both knew he was in the wrong, but he refused to admit it. (At only 19, he still had some growing up to do.)

You could also use a question mark or exclamation mark if appropriate.

2. Using parentheses around incomplete sentences

If you’re putting an incomplete sentence (or dependent clause) in parentheses, punctuation goes outside the parentheses, and you don’t capitalize the first word.

The above sentence is an example of an incomplete sentence in parentheses, but here’s  another example (in case you need it).

If you wanted to add an exclamation mark or question mark within the parenthetical, you can. It’d look like this:

The above sentence is an example of an incomplete sentence in parentheses, but here’s  another example (in case you need it!).

Like any punctuation, there are also more intricate rules to consider. For instance, according to Webster’s Rules of Punctuation, when a complete declarative sentence within parentheses is part of another sentence, no period is required. Here’s an example of what that’d look like:

Her 94-year-old grandmother (recall she was born in 1927) was an iPad wiz.

You won’t end an incomplete sentence within parentheses with a comma, semicolon, colon or period.

WRONG: I somehow lost my suitcase (lime green, hot pink and orange,) but the woman who sat next to me on the plane helped me find it.

But you can add a comma, semicolon, colon or period, right after the closing parentheses.

RIGHT: I somehow lost my suitcase (lime green, hot pink and orange), but the woman who sat next to me on the plane helped me find it.

Alternatives to parentheses

Now that you’re armed with this information, we must remind you: Use parentheses sparingly!

“The temptation to use parentheses is a clue that a sentence is becoming contorted,” explains AP Stylebook. “Try to write it another way. If a sentence must contain incidental material, then commas or two dashes are frequently more effective.”

These two easy alternatives that usually work just fine:

1. Em dashes
2. Commas

If you find you have a bad habit of using parentheses as a writing crutch, a grammar checker tool like ProWritingAid will suggest ways to strengthen your writing.

Pro tip: It also has a highly rated Google Doc add-on.

So, sure, sometimes parentheses are necessary — if they are, you’ll now know how to use them correctly — but more often than not, you can go without and make your writing even stronger and more clear with a simple tweak.

This post contains affiliate links. That means if you purchase through our links, you’re supporting The Write Life — and we thank you for that!

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SEO is a great (and free!) way to get traffic to your website or blog. It’s also a great skill to have as a freelance writer working for other clients, as it can help you provide additional expertise which means additional dollars in your pocket.

But from the outside looking in, it all can feel absolutely intimidating.

Don’t worry — this guide will break it all down for you in an easy-to-understand way.

So what is SEO writing, and why is it time to get on board? And how do you even write an SEO post? I’ll start with the basics.

What is SEO Writing?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. SEO writing is the practice of creating content that ranks on Google. (Of course, there are other search engines, but Google is the biggest player these days.)

Here’s the easiest way to think about it: Take a second to Google a term or phrase. Let’s go with “how to write an ebook.” The first few results that pop up are probably paid ads. Skip those, and you’ll start seeing various websites that cover the topic. (You might even spot The Write Life!)

The sites you’re seeing have mastered SEO writing. They’ve made it to the first page of Google. That’s your goal.

So why is page one of Google such a coveted spot? When your content ranks high, it gets more traffic.

The readers visiting your content are also coming in with high intent. They’ve just searched the specific topic of your article, so you’ve got a better chance of influencing them — whether you want them to click a specific link, download an ebook or subscribe to a newsletter or online course.

Ranking on Google is also a great way to boost your brand awareness and establish yourself as an authoritative figure in your niche. Basically, it’s free advertising.

An SEO writing mini-dictionary: The terms you need to know

Want to give this whole SEO thing a shot?

I won’t sugarcoat it: The world of SEO is pretty technical, and there’s a whole dictionary worth of terms and acronyms out there. I’ve been doing SEO writing for about four years now, and I think these are the three most important terms to keep in your back pocket when starting out (no need to overwhelm yourself).

Keyword

The keyword is the word or phrase you’re trying to rank for. This is what people are typing into the Google search bar. “How to start an ebook” is an example of a keyword.

Volume

Search volume refers to the number of searches a keyword gets per month. For instance, at the time of writing this, the keyword “how to write an ebook” had a volume of 2,400, according to Ubersuggest. (More on how to find this info in a minute!)

That means approximately 2,400 people have searched this term in the past month. The higher the volume, the more potential there is for traffic; however, you’ll want to keep the keyword difficulty in mind… 

Keyword difficulty

The keyword difficulty (KD) is a number between zero and 100 that indicates how difficult it’ll be to rank on Google. If a keyword has a high KD, that means there’s a flood of content around the term, so you’ve got a lot of competition. It’ll be more difficult to climb the ranks.

As a general rule of thumb, you have a better chance of ranking with a lower KD.

Going back to our “how to write an ebook” example, its KD is currently 21, which means your content should have a decent chance of ranking if you’ve optimized it. If the KD were 50 or higher, it’d be more difficult.

How to choose your keyword (let Google help!)

Now that you’ve got the lingo down, it’s time to start researching keywords for your SEO article. You’ll want to choose this keyword before you write your content. Everyone’s process looks a little different, but I’ll show you how I do it.

Let’s say I want to write an article about growing lavender. I’ll brainstorm a list of terms and phrases around the topic. I think about what I would search as someone who’s looking to grow lavender. Here’s an example of what this list might look like:

• Growing lavender
• How to grow lavender
• Lavender plant
• Lavender garden

To add to your list, let Google help you out. Open a new browser window and start typing your keyword. When I type “growing lavender,” several suggested searches pop up, including “growing lavender from seed” and “growing lavender indoors.” These might be good article ideas.

You can also take a look at the “People also ask,” “People also search for” and related searches sections on the first page.

Once I’ve got my list, I’ll collect the volume and keyword difficulty of each term. If you’re just starting out, Ubersuggest is a great tool for this.

Choose one or two of your keywords, and check out the volume and keyword difficulty. (Ubersuggest calls this the SEO difficulty, or SD.)

The sweet spot is finding a keyword that has a high search volume and low difficulty. 

That means a lot of people are searching the term, but there won’t be a ton of competition, so you have a better chance of getting up to page one.

I also love the “keyword ideas” section on Ubersuggest. These are just aggregated related terms you might not have thought about.

With my “growing lavender” example, I decided to write for the keyword “growing lavender indoors.” Although there’s a lot of search volume around “lavender plant” and “growing lavender,” I choose the indoors angle because it still has a robust search volume of 2,000, but its keyword difficulty is super low — at an eight. It’s also specific enough that it really caters to that reader searching with a high intent.

A brief note on SEO tools

There are so many SEO tools out there, but as you continue to explore the world of SEO, you’ll find your favorite.

Ubersuggest is great for beginners, but the free version limits you to the number of keywords you can search in a 24-hour period, so choose the keywords wisely! If you want to subscribe, individual accounts start at $29 a month.

If you want to test out a few other tools before you make a commitment, Wordstream is also a great resource, and it comes with a free trial. My personal favorite is Ahrefs, which has a seven-day trial for $7 if you want to take a look. (Editor’s note: We use Ahrefs here at The Write Life.)

5 SEO writing tips for strong content that ranks

Once you’ve got your high-volume, low-difficulty keyword, it’s time to start creating your content.

Full disclosure here: There’s never any guarantee what you create will rank. There are complicated Google algorithms working behind the scenes that ultimately make this call, and lots of other factors go into rankings that we don’t cover here, for example, website speed.

However, there are some best practices for you can implement so you can create the best piece of SEO content possible. These are called on-page SEO optimizations, because they’re changes you can make in the content right on the page.

Here’s what makes for strong SEO writing.

1. Study Google

Outside of your keyword research tools, Google is going to be your No. 1 resource for SEO writing. 

With your keyword in hand, open an incognito window (so your previous search history doesn’t taint your results) and search your keyword. Take a look at the results. You’ll want to focus on five key features on this page:

• The featured snippet: This is the box that appears at the top of your search. Typically, it includes a headline and a numbered list. With our “how to grow lavender indoors” example, the snippet features a list of tips.

• People also ask: Right below the snippet you’ll find this section. These are related questions people have searched. It looks like folks are curious about “How long does it take to grow lavender indoors?” and “How do you care for an indoor lavender plant?” These are questions you’ll want to answer in your article.

• The top three to five results: Because we know Google likes these articles (they’re on the mystical page one, after all), take some time to read the articles and consider their contents and organization. This will help you better understand readers’ search intent.

• People also search and related searches: You’ll find both of these sections at the bottom of the page. These can also help inform what goes into your article. For instance, I might want to include information about “how to grow lavender from seeds” and “benefits of growing lavender indoors.”

I like to take notes on all this information and throw it in a document.

2. Make an outline

Armed with your intel, it’s time to make an outline. Typically, I despise outlining articles, but this is an essential step in SEO land.

In your outline, you’ll want to include the recurring themes, elements and keywords you collected from studying page one. I like to take pieces from each Google element and each top-ranking article and create my own rendition.

While you’re doing this, keep the reader in mind. If you were searching for “how to grow lavender indoors,” what would you want to read about? I leave little notes to myself where I want to address commonly asked questions, related search terms or specific keywords.

To really create the best content, go above and beyond. See if you can pinpoint a missing theme, section or element the other top-ranking articles didn’t cover. For instance, I notice none of the top-ranking articles for growing lavender indoors include ways to harvest and use your lavender (for oil, baking, tea, etc.), so I could include an ideas section at the bottom of my article.

3. Ask the experts

One of the reasons I love working with SEO content is because Google values page quality. It’s looking for content with legitimate information from legitimate sources.

In fact, there’s a popular acronym in the SEO community: EAT. It stands for expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Keep this in mind as you write.

To beef up your SEO article, reach out to an industry expert for an interview. You might also cite credible sources or databases. Adding external links (these are the hyperlinks to other websites) can also help.

4. Use your keywords wisely

There’s a popular phrase out there called “keyword stuffing.” It basically means a piece of content is unnaturally stuffed with keywords; the sentence structure is awkward, and all grammatical rules have gone out the window. Yikes.

You want to avoid keyword stuffing at all costs. Even if “growing lavender in apartment” is a related search, I wouldn’t add it to my content as such — that’s robot speak. It’d be OK to write about “growing lavender in an apartment.”

Write as naturally as possible, and don’t stretch to fit specific keywords or phrases into your content just because Google seems to like them. Keep to your craft, and write in a way that’s clear and concise.

On that note, there are some important places you’ll want to incorporate your primary keyword. (But avoid using it too much, see: keyword stuffing.) Places you’ll want to use it include:

• The headline: Like always, you’ll want your headline to be enticing, but you’ll also want to incorporate the keyword you chose. For example, “Your Guide to Growing Lavender Indoors (Even If You Don’t Get a Ton of Natural Light)” could be a catchy headline.
• The excerpt/description: When you upload your article to your website, write a strong excerpt that features your keyword. It never hurts to spark a little curiosity.
• The URL: It’s important to include your keyword in your URL.
• The article: You want to let Google know you’re actually writing about the topic at hand, so try to incorporate the keyword into your introduction and in a subhead, if you can.
• The featured image description: Google doesn’t just focus on the text — it also looks at the images. Write an image caption and description that includes your keyword, so Google knows it’s relevant.

Above all, always keep the reader in mind. Generally, if you can make them happy, Google will take notice.

5. Don’t overthink it

My biggest piece of advice is don’t overthink this! Don’t worry about hitting a specific word count or implementing any SEO “hacks.” As long as you create a strong outline and write with the reader in mind — meeting their expectation and serving their needs — then you’re doing exactly what you need.

What’s next? Mastering the art of SEO writing

Remember: SEO writing is more of an art than a science. There’s no specific tried-and-true formula, so this will take some tinkering and experimenting on your end.

As you continue to dive into the world of SEO, here are my suggestions:

• • Keep studying: Like I said, the SEO world is ever-changing; Google is constantly updating and putting out new releases. Stay tuned by following some of the top experts and publications. The Freelance Writers Den actually has a great bootcamp that goes super in-depth into SEO writing. It’s definitely worth checking out in their course library. Additionally, check out Neil Patel, SEMrush, and Yoast for more great info. There are also plenty of podcasts, ebooks, Facebook groups, and online courses on SEO if you want to take a deeper dive.
  • Track your SEO performance: Once you’ve published your content, you don’t have to continuously search the keyword to see if you’re ranking. Instead, tap into your SEO toolbox. Head over to Ubersuggest (again, one of many options), and enter your website’s URL. There, you can track your search traffic, your top SEO posts and your top-ranking keywords. Keep tabs on this as you experiment.
  • Optimize: If after a few weeks your article just isn’t doing much, it might be time to optimize it. Conduct an “audit” for your target keyword, and see what else you can do to beef up your content. If some of the top posts include a comparison table, for example, consider creating your own.

Honestly, many people struggle with SEO writing because, well, they don’t know how to write. You’ve already got that down, so now it’s time to show Google what you can do.

Want to give SEO writing a try? What’s the first topic you want to cover? Let us know in the comments below!

This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

Photo via Dean Drobot / Shutterstock 

If you too are a fan, you get it. If not, here’s the quick elevator pitch: Google Docs makes writing, sharing and collaborating easy. It’s also free, and you can access your work anywhere (even without internet — see more on that below).

Even more, Google Docs has some nifty tricks up its sleeve that’ll make your life as a writer easier.

10 Google Docs hacks every writer needs to know

Want to elevate your Google Docs experience? Try these 10 hacks.

1. Tap into your revision history

Ever write something, delete it, then feel your heart sink five minutes later because, Darn it, that actually would have been perfect? Yeah, me too. All the time. But that’s the beauty of Google Docs’ revision history. It keeps a record of (almost) everything you write.

To tap into your revision history, all you have to do is go to: File → Version history → See version history.

Expand detailed versions, and you’ll find minute-by-minute versions of your document. Click through to see your changes and find that pesky paragraph you want to copy and paste back into your story.

If you’re super organized, you can also name versions of your document (e.g. Draft I, Draft II, Edited I, Edited II, etc.) so you can keep better track of them.

2. Work offline

If you’re traveling, Google Docs makes it easy to work offline, meaning you can work in your doc without being connected to the internet. To do this, go to your settings in Google Drive, and select “work offline.”

This has been a lifesaver when I’m stuck in an airport with bad Wi-Fi, on a plane where I have to pay for bad Wi-Fi or even on a road trip. You can also download the Google Docs app to become even more mobile.

Pro tip: If you’re struggling to stay focused and find yourself compulsively clicking through Facebook, checking emails, online shopping and doing everything except writing (me, way too often), then consider turning off your Wi-Fi and working offline. Even if you’re home and have perfectly good internet access, this will allow you to pseudo-unplug and limit your distractions.

3. Self-edit with suggested changes and comments

Sure, suggested changes (also known as track changes in Google Docs) are great for editors working with writers, but have you ever used these tools for self-editing? 

Suggested changes can be particularly helpful when you’re working on a story’s organization. You can move paragraphs around here and there in suggestion mode to see what it “feels” like. If you like it, accept changes!

To turn on suggested changes, select the pencil in the top right corner of your doc, and turn on suggesting mode. When you’re done making suggested changes, go back to editing mode.

Leaving comments can also be handy. If you’re at a loss for words or need to leave a reminder to fact-check a section later on, add a comment for yourself. It’s basically a virtual sticky note. There are a few ways to do this:

• Insert → Comment

• Command+Option+M
• Highlight your sentence and click the blue comment box on the right side of your document. (You can switch to suggestion mode this way, too!)

4. Use Google Docs Add-Ons

Did you know Google Docs has add-ons? Think of these like a Chrome extension — they’re added features that’ll level up your Google Doc.

To explore Google Docs add-ons, select Add-ons → Get add-ons. Or, if you’re not in Google Docs right now, just head to the Google Workspace Marketplace.

There are dozens of add-on options, but here are a few that may be particularly helpful for writers:

• Easy Accents: This add-on makes it easy to insert accent marks into your document without searching through that pesky special characters box or copying and pasting from Google.
• ProWritingAid Grammar and Writing Coach: This highly rated add-on will point out spelling and style inconsistencies, help you eliminate cliches and redundancies, check your spelling and grammar, spot overused words, and more. (Note: The free version runs on the first 500 words of your doc. You’ll have to buy the premium version for more, but the reviews make it sound worth it. Here’s our ProWritingAid review.)
• Doc Tools: Consider this your Google Docs toolbox. You get 13 straightforward tools, including easy font size change, highlight, eraser and alphabetical sorting. (Google Docs offers these features, but they’re a bit tricky to find. These are just an added toolbar!)

5. Compare documents

If you have two pieces of text you’d like to compare, Google Docs makes this easy. Select Tools → Compare Documents. You’ll select another Google Doc to compare your current one with.

For writers, and especially freelancers, this may be particularly helpful to see what changes an editor has made to your published work. What you can do is copy and paste the published text into a Google Doc then compare it with your submitted draft.

This simple hack can help you better understand — and meet! — your editor’s expectations.

6. Cite sources

If you’re in academia, you likely have to cite sources. (As an English major, this was my least favorite thing ever.) There are online tools out there that’ll help you with formatting — or you can just use Google Docs’ free built-in citations tool.

Head to Tools → Citations.

In the sidebar, select APA, MLA or Chicago style. Then, enter the material’s information and save the source. Find where in your text you need to add the citation, and select “Cite.” At the bottom of the citations sidebar, click “Insert bibliography.” Google Docs will keep this updated as you add more citations.

Simple!

7. Let Google type for you

Tired of typing? Or maybe you just want to dictate some general brainstorming ideas into a doc. Give your fingers a break with Google’s voice typing feature. (Tools → Voice typing.)

This opens a little speaker. Just click and start talking. Say “period” when you want to end a sentence or “new line” when you want to insert a paragraph break. Of course, it doesn’t always translate perfectly, but it’s a good tool to have on hand!

8. Keep organized with a table of contents

If you’re working on a big project, making a table of contents at the top of your document can be life-saving. This will make it easy to jump from section to section and also get a clear view of the content’s structure.

If you’re using various headings and subheadings to break up your document (e.g. Heading 2, Heading 3), all you have to do is insert a table of contents (Insert → Table of Contents). Google Docs will automatically generate a table of contents for you, with each section of your document linked.

You can then add more sections and customize it.

9. Easily track your word count

As a writer, word count is often important. Maybe you’re trying to hit a specific count for an assignment or maybe you just need to prove to yourself that you’re actually making progress.

Ever wondered how to see your word count in Google Docs without navigating to Tools → Word Count each time you want an update? 

There’s an easy hack that allows you to see your word count while you’re typing. When you’re viewing word count, simply select the box that says “Display word count while typing.”

This opens a little tab at the bottom of your document that keeps a running update going. You can even highlight sentences or sections to see more granular word counts.

10. Open a new doc and start writing!

Here’s one final, life-changing tip before I send you on your way: To open a new, blank document, rather than going to your Google Drive and creating a new document, simply type docs.new into your address bar, and a new Google Doc will automatically load.

Voila!

This post contains affiliate links. That means if you purchase through our links, you’re supporting The Write Life — and we thank you for that!

Photo by Armin Rimoldi from Pexels

It’s easy to see why: They both offer robust free products.

But which one is better?

If you’re struggling to make the call, this guide breaks down the details of each platform and their strengths and weaknesses so you can determine which one is best for you and your freelance business.

Trello vs. Asana: The basics

We’ve established Trello and Asana are both well-known, solid project management tools, but let’s dig into the details.

What is Trello?

Trello is an online tool that organizes your projects and tasks into Kanban-style boards. 

Kanban is a workflow framework that helps you visualize your tasks. In Trello, you can set up individual boards, and within those boards, you can create tasks, which you can then move to different lists.

Take a look at an example of a Trello board:

I’ve set up several lists within my example “Freelance Tracker” board: To pitch, Assigned, In progress, Submitted and Paid.

Under each list, I’ve added task cards, which I can easily click and drag from board to board. For instance (and not to get too meta here), this article I’m currently drafting would have started on the “To pitch” board. Right now, it’d be sitting “In progress” as I draft the article.

You can add more details to each task card, including a due date, checklist (like subtasks) or attached files.

What is Asana?

Asana is another go-to project management tool that can help you organize and track your freelance assignments.

Asana works similarly to Trello in that you can set up different projects and, within those projects, create tasks, which you can then move from section to section.

Take a look at an example:

Again, you can see I set up my example “Freelance Tracker” project (this could also be the name of a specific client if you’d prefer to organize your tasks more granularly by client). Then I’ve set up sections and, within those sections, are my tasks.

Like Trello, you can add information to these tasks, including assignees, due dates, task descriptions and subtasks.

Trello vs. Asana: Pros and cons for freelancers

So far, you can see these two tools have quite a few similarities, but let’s get into the details and break down the pros and cons when it comes to managing freelance work.

Trello pros and cons

In a world where there are so many apps, tools, websites and “solutions,” the ease of Trello is a huge win. You’ll spend little time wondering, “How do I do that?” or “Where’s that darn button?!” Moving tasks around within sections is as easy (and satisfying) as dragging and dropping them.

With Trello, there’s also a lot of flexibility when it comes to setting up a workflow. You can set up one singular “Freelance” board, like the example above, and track assignments and projects there, or you could easily create boards for each client.

There are many other ways you can get creative and make Trello fit your needs. For instance, freelance writer Adryan Corcione shared how they use Trello to track pitch ideas and target publications.

And if you don’t want to start a board from scratch, Trello has templates. Oh, and don’t forget to customize the board’s background. That’s the best part!

If you’re on the go, the Trello app makes it super easy to check in on tasks or add cards — we all know story ideas hit at the most random times. You can also set up notifications so Trello gives you a nudge when an assignment is 24 hours out from a deadline. (Note: Asana has an app, too, but I found it a little less intuitive.)

Trello also has something called Power-Ups, which allows you to add various integrations to your boards. For instance, you can sync your Google Mail account and create tasks directly from emails. Or, if you bill some of your clients by the hour, you can add time-tracking integrations.

These can be useful, but feel a bit complicated initially. You can also only use one Power-Up per board if you’re using the free version of Trello, so you’ll have to pick what’s most important to you.

Another downside? Trello’s bread and butter is the Kanban-style boards, so you can’t see your assignments in one comprehensive to-do list or calendar view unless you want to pay to upgrade.

Asana pros and cons

Whereas Trello is simple and straightforward, Asana is a bit more sophisticated and may require more patience until you find your stride.

The perk of Asana for freelance writers is clear: You can view your assignments and projects in various formats. It offers Kanban-style boards like Trello, but you can also view your projects as a list (see above for example) or in calendar view — for free.

You can also see all your tasks, no matter which project they’re housed in, and Asana will sort them by Today, Upcoming and Later based on due dates.

If you want to “level up” your Asana skills, you can add 100-plus app integrations to your boards — also for free. And Asana has even made its own app integrations for tools like Slack, Google Calendar, Google Drive and Harvest time tracking, so you can be sure the process is smooth — and secure.

Asana’s free product is also built for team collaboration. You can easily add subtasks and assign them out.

For instance, if you’re working with a graphic designer or photographer on a story, create a subtask, set its due date and assign it by name or email. (Note: Trello is also a great tool for team collaboration, but if you want to get this specific with subtasks, you’ll need to upgrade to the Business Class plan.)

The biggest downside to Asana is it’s a bit overwhelming at first. Be patient as you navigate the platform for the first time. You’ll likely find you don’t need a lot of the features unless you’re working on a team or a multi-faceted project.

Trello pricing vs. Asana pricing

As mentioned, both Trello and Asana offer free versions of their tools, and these free versions should give you access to everything you need as a freelancer.

Under Trello’s free version, features include:

• Unlimited cards
• Unlimited members
• Up to 10 boards
• Unlimited storage
• Unlimited activity log
• Assignee and due date
• iOS and Android mobile apps

If you want additional board views, including timeline, dashboard, team table and calendar, you’ll need to upgrade to the business class plan, which starts at $10 a month. This plan also offers unlimited boards, unlimited Power-Ups, advanced checklists and more.

Under Asana’s free version, features include:

• Unlimited tasks
• Unlimited projects
• Unlimited messages
• Unlimited activity log
• Unlimited file storage
• Collaborate with up to 15 team members
• 100+ app integrations
• iOS and Android mobile apps

You’ll need to upgrade to the premium version of Asana (starting at $10.99 a month) if you want to tap into additional project management tools like start dates, task dependencies, milestones and custom templates. You’ll also get access to advanced reporting tools, unlimited free guests and more.

Which one is better?

Both Trello and Asana can drastically transform the way you manage your freelance business. By using one of these platforms, you likely feel much more in control of your work and be able to more easily stay on top of your deadlines and payments.

Ultimately, Trello is going to be your most simple choice. It’s easy to use and takes no time to get the hang of. Asana, on the other hand, may require some patience, but the free version does offer more capabilities.

At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with either.

Photo by Unsplash on Unsplash

Maybe you just got your first offer to ghostwrite a book and have no idea what to charge. Maybe your characters refuse to do what you want them to do (isn’t that just like them?), and you could use someone to commiserate with. Maybe it’s after midnight and you’re still up trying to wrestle the words into submission, and you find yourself searching for “writing groups near me” just to find a few writer friends.

Whatever the reason, online writing groups can be a fantastic way for writers to connect, trade advice, swap war stories and find new opportunities. Knowing there are other people out there who “get” what it’s like to be a writer can be a huge comfort, and the chance to share experience and tips with people on all stages of the writing journey is invaluable.

These online writing groups are supportive and helpful

We polled writers to find out which online writing groups they personally could not live without — and many of them relied heavily on Facebook groups.

Note: Even if a Facebook group isn’t currently super active with members posting, you can still find a ton of great resources. We suggest searching groups to find topics you’re interested in. For example, search “rate,” “pay” or “compensation” to find topics on money.

So here are some of the best Facebook groups for writers.

1. The Write Life Community

Before we dig in deep about what’s out there, we hope you’ve joined The Write Life Facebook group! Writers of all experience levels share their struggles and wins, ask each other questions, and generally support and encourage one another. Recent topics of discussion include how to beat procrastination and the best ways to find remote writing opportunities.

Size: 28,100 members (as of March 2021)

2. Author Success Collective

This group for aspiring and current authors was created by Self-Publishing School to allow a place for authors to come together, talk about what’s working and not, along with a place to connect with like-minded people with a single goal—to write and publish high-quality books that sell. They also host challenges with unique, themed-based content to help you along your journey.

Size: 4,000 members and growing

3. The Freelance Content Marketing Writer

Created by Jennifer Goforth Gregory, who has a book by the same name as the group, this space is for writers who work in content marketing. Most have a background in digital marketing, journalism or freelance writing, and they discuss topics like how much to charge for specific services, where to look for a virtual assistant, and alternatives to getting paid with PayPal. Plus, each week a jobs thread is created, so you can check out new opportunities.

Size: 6,300 members (as of March 2021)

4. Writers Helping Writers

Whether you’re a newbie looking for advice or an established pro who’d like to pay it forward, this community is a great place to support and learn from other writers, as well as editors, publishers, agents and more. Posts include writers asking for feedback on cover designs, sharing motivational quotes and comics about writing, and sharing writing wins.

Size: 286,000 members (as of March 2021)

5. What’s Your Plan B?

This group is for journalists who have left the industry, are preparing to leave the industry, or fear they might be forced into leaving the industry… and what they’ve gone on to do with their careers. It’s full of ideas from writers and editors who have used their skills to make an income in new ways and requests from journalists who are struggling with the change. It’s a supportive space!

Size: 16,200 members (as of March 2021)

6. Pat’s First Kindle Book (From Start to Finish)

Ever wanted to write a Kindle book or wondered how the process works? Join this group to get a behind-the-scenes look at popular blogger Pat Flynn’s own journey to publish a Kindle book from start to finish. In addition to watching Pat’s journey, readers have a chance to ask questions, share their own advice and experiences and get feedback on similar projects they’re working on.

Size: 16,700 members (as of March 2021)

7. Inner Circle Writers’ Group

Created by Grant Hudson of independent publisher Clarendon House Publications, this group is for new and established writers who are interested in the craft and practice of writing. Many of the posts are writers cheering each other on as submissions are accepted and published, so if that’s something you’re working toward, you’ll be in good company here.

Size: 9,000 members (as of March 2021)

8. Ask a Book Editor

This group is all about asking questions you have about the writing process and getting answers from editors. Admins prefer participants ask specific questions, rather than posting excerpts and asking for feedback. This is a great place to lurk and learn even if you don’t have a reason to participate! There’s also a Help Wanted section for writers looking to hire an editor.

Size: 7,600 members (as of March 2021)

9. 10 Minute Novelists Group

For novelists looking to improve their craft, especially those who are crunched for time to write. As one member told us, “10-Minute Novelists is my all time favorite…the group is so supportive, the admins are very active in discussions and post regularly…It’s helped me so much!” Look for inspiring features like Tuesday #BuddyDay (when you can find critique partners and beta readers) and Wednesday #AuthorHappiness chats (where members celebrate their weekly successes).

Size: 15,900 members (as of March 2020)

10. Beta Readers and Critique Partners

If you’re willing to become a beta reader or critique partner, or you want to find one for your work, this is the place to connect with other writers. You’ll see calls for reads of poetry, action, drama, historical fiction, personal essays, non-fiction…pretty much every type of writing.

Size: 18,700 members (as of March 2021)

11. Word Nerds Unite

Run by Gabriela Pereira at DIY MFA, a do-it-yourself alternative to a master’s in writing, this group focuses on all things writing. Topics have included how to beat writer’s block, call-outs for beta readers and grammar questions. Pereira herself interacts regularly, sharing Word Nerd Wins and hosting weekend writing sprints, which she says are like virtual writing retreats. This is a fun and motivated crowd!

Size: 8,400 members (as of March 2021)

12. Calls for Submissions (Poetry, Fiction Art)

This group collects submission calls for poetry, fiction and art and presents them all in one easy-to-follow place. If you’re looking for publication opportunities, it’s worth checking out.

Size: 66,300 (as of March 2021)

13. Indie Author Group

This group of indie authors and self-publishers focuses mainly on fiction. It’s a great place to get advice, air your grievances and discover new authors.

Size: 12,100 members (as of March 2021)

14. Indie Writers Unite!

Open to indie writers of all kinds, this group allows self-promotion only in admin-created threads, and has a fair but firm panel of moderators who keep spammers and trolls at bay.

Size: 8,200 members (as of March 2021)

15. Journey Feed Blogging Community

Founded by blogger Edwin Covarrubias, this is a place for bloggers to connect and share ideas. You’ll also find opportunities to promote your blog if you’re a new blogger looking to find readers.

Size: 4,900 members (as of March 2021)

16. Blogging Boost

Another group chock full of advice, resources and support for bloggers, this group limits self-promotion to Mondays only, which helps save your feed from over-saturation.

Size: 33,000 members (as of March 2021)

17. Write On! Online

An extension of a live group that started at a Barnes & Noble in California in 2002, this group aims at helping writers set goals, troubleshoot and network. It’s hosted by hosted by Debra Eckerling of The D*E*B Method. As one member told us, “They have a supportive environment…to provide that much needed ‘kick in the pants’ without the guilt.”

Size: 2,500 members (as of March 2021)

18. Writers Write

If you’re looking for less of a participatory experience and more of a compendium of all things writing, this group is a fun news source of recent doings in the writing world. Notable posts include reaction to Bob Dylan’s nomination for (and subsequent radio silence towards) the Nobel Prize for Literature and Kanye West penning a poem on McDonald’s french fries for Frank Ocean’s new art mag. Dare we say it’s a great way to kill a little “writer’s block” time?

Size: 19,800 members (as of March 2021)

19. Writers World

As one of the phrases on this group’s logo image indicates, you need “lizard skin” to be an active member in this critique-only group. You’ll find no pep talks or ego-fluffing here, simply polite, but pull-no-punches assessments of any pieces members offer up for critique. (One of the admins has edited for Disney and NBC, if you wonder how useful those critiques are.) If you want to get serious about your work, and you can handle bold honesty, this group can help you hone your skills.

Size: 7,600 members (as of March 2021)

20. NanoLand

Have you ever participated in National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo)? This group can help you through the challenge by offering support, tips and empathy as you type, type, type your way to 50,000 words in 30 days. It continues to stay active outside of November, too. 

Size: 22,600 members (as of March 2021)

21. Women Writers, Women’s Books

Ladies, this one’s for you. Connect with women writers of all genres and experience levels, from indie scribes to traditionally published and self-published authors. Member Suzanne Brazil said of the group, “They have an active Twitter presence, publish helpful essays, support each other’s blogs and author pages and are generally just a great place for technical questions, writing advice, and encouragement! Can’t recommend them highly enough.”

Size: 19,200 members (as of March 2021)

22. The Aspiring Travel Writer

Run by blogger and podcaster Alexa Williams Meisler of Break Into Travel Writing, this group’s goal is to provide “a page to ask questions, share ideas and support each other in the travel blogging world.” Self-promotion is limited to “Friday Free for Alls” to allow members to focus more on supporting and learning from each other.

Size: 8,300 members (as of March 2021)

23. Writing Bad

Whether you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned author with several published titles to your name, this group welcomes you. The whole concept is they don’t believe in bad writing — just undeveloped writing that needs some TLC. The members of the group are there to offer you support.

Size: 13,700 members (as of March 2021)

Want more Facebook groups for writers to choose from? Writer Elna Cain offers more ideas here.

This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

Photo via sitthiphong/ Shutterstock 

The ellipsis is an important punctuation mark. Sure, those three dots seem so tiny, so straightforward, and yet …

Some editors may view the ellipsis as lazy — a writer’s way out of completing a sentence or connecting two thoughts. They can certainly become an overused crutch and weaken your copy, but in some cases, the ellipsis is quite important, especially when it comes to quoting.

In this guide to the ellipsis, we’ll break down the basics then dive into using ellipses in your writing.

What are ellipses (and addressing ellipsis vs. ellipses)

Sometimes informally referred to as “those three dots,” Merriam-Webster officially defines ellipses as “marks or a mark (such as … ) indicating an omission (as of words) or a pause.”

In Latin and Greek, “ellipsis” means to fall short or leave out — an omission. At its core, that’s exactly how it’s used in grammar, to indicate words have been omitted or left out.

Now, there’s some confusion around ellipsis vs. ellipses, so let’s clear that up: Ellipses is simply the plural of ellipsis.

Example: The paragraph contains too many ellipses, but you do need an ellipsis in that quote.

The ellipsis is made up of three periods. But the way you format these will ultimately depend on the writing style guide or you’re following.

For instance the Associated Press (AP) style is three dots without any spaces ( … ), but The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) and Modern Language Association (MLA) both put spaces between each period ( . . . ). When in doubt, consult the appropriate style guide.

How to use ellipses in quotations correctly

Have you ever wanted to use a quote from an interview, speech or text that’s just entirely too lengthy or rambling? Don’t worry: You’ve got the ellipsis.

With an ellipsis, you can omit words, phrases or sentences when you’re quoting. Note: You never want to omit words, phrases or sentences that will change the context or facts of a quote.

Additionally, as mentioned above, the intricacies of ellipses will vary by style guide and even publication. Here, we’ll be referring to the AP Stylebook.

For the following examples, we’ll refer to this Jane Goodall quote, pulled from her interview with Dax Shepard on a podcast episode of Armchair Expert:

“I know that if we all get together — we’ve got a window of time — we can start slowing down climate change, we can start healing some of the harm we’ve done. Nature is very resilient. We’re coming up with our intellect with, you know, more and more ways for clean, green energy, renewable energy. But the thing is, we don’t have that much time, so how do we get people involved? That’s why I work so hard on Roots & Shoots, and I’m so thrilled because so many children are changing their parents.”

This is a lovely passage from the podcast, but if we were writing an article recapping the interview or a story on Roots & Shoots, we likely wouldn’t want to include this entire quote — it’s a bit long. Instead, we could shorten the quote and indicate omissions with ellipses.

Below are a few examples of what that looks like.

1. Omit unnecessary words

When quoting someone from an interview, it’s rare you’ll encounter quotes without unnecessary words. That’s just how we speak. 

Here, we pulled three sentences from the larger quote, and we indicated an omission with the ellipsis.

“We’re coming up with … more and more ways for clean, green energy, renewable energy,” Goodall says. “But the thing is, we don’t have that much time, so how do we get people involved? That’s why I work so hard on Roots & Shoots, and I’m so thrilled because so many children are changing their parents.”

The words omitted don’t add any context or important information to the sentence, so they’re OK to cut to keep the quote more focused and easier to read.

Note: In many cases, it’s acceptable to go ahead and omit “um,” “like” and other common filler words from quotes without using an ellipsis. This is pretty standard practice.

Per the AP Stylebook’s entry on quotations in the news: “Casual minor tongue slips may be removed by using ellipses but even that should be done with extreme caution.” So, basically, if you’re a journalist, be extra diligent with your quotes.

2. Omit unnecessary sentences

As humans, we have a way of winding around a topic, sometimes completing a thought and sometimes circling back to it. If you’re quoting someone from an interview, it’s likely you’ll run into quotes you want to use but that have some extra, unnecessary phrases or sentences.

So let’s say you want to cut an entire sentence from a quote. As long as you’re not changing the context of the quote or deleting important information, this is perfectly fine to do with an ellipsis. 

Take a look:

“I know that if we all get together — we’ve got a window of time — we can start slowing down climate change, we can start healing some of the harm we’ve done. … But the thing is, we don’t have that much time, so how do we get people involved? That’s why I work so hard on Roots & Shoots, and I’m so thrilled because so many children are changing their parents.”

Note there’s a period at the end of the second sentence, then a space and then the ellipsis. That’s because you’re adding the ellipsis at the end of a grammatically complete sentence, so you must conclude it with a period, then indicate your omission with an ellipsis, per the AP Stylebook.

If the sentence ends with a different punctuation mark, like an exclamation mark, you’d follow the same sequence: exclamation mark, space, ellipsis.

It’s also worth noting the AP Style gods are OK replacing the ellipsis with an attribution, as such:

“I know that if we all get together — we’ve got a window of time — we can start slowing down climate change, we can start healing some of the harm we’ve done,” Goodall said. “But the thing is, we don’t have that much time, so how do we get people involved? That’s why I work so hard on Roots & Shoots, and I’m so thrilled because so many children are changing their parents.”

3. Omit unnecessary words and sentences

Putting the first two instances together, you can use an ellipsis to omit unnecessary words and sentences at the same time. Take a look:

“I know that if we all get together — we’ve got a window of time — we can start slowing down climate change … But the thing is, we don’t have that much time, so how do we get people involved? That’s why I work so hard on Roots & Shoots, and I’m so thrilled because so many children are changing their parents.”

Because the ellipsis doesn’t come at the end of a complete sentence, there’s no need for a period and space after “change.”

If you have more specific questions about using an ellipsis in quotations, remember to consult a style guide or have a conversation with your editor. (They’ll likely love nerding out over this with you.)

So, how many ellipsis are you permitted to use per quote? It depends on what you’re writing and the publication, but we suggest not using more than one. Alternatives to the ellipsis include paraphrasing or using partial quotes.

Other instances to use ellipses

Like we mentioned, it’s easy to fall into the trap of using too many ellipses, so here are a few other instances when using ellipses in writing is appropriate.

To signify an incomplete thought

You can use an ellipsis to signify an incomplete thought, i.e. the writer or speaker trails off or moves to another topic without completing their thought.

Here’s an example:

“Everyone says it’s all about the journey, but these days, I don’t know. It just … Well, I guess my mom did always say everything happens for a reason, so …”

However, per AP style, you should substitute an em dash for this if you’re already using an ellipsis to omit words. In the example above, the speaker is simply trailing off and not completing their thought, so, in this case, the ellipses are appropriate.

To indicate a pause

Similar to the above point, an ellipsis is a great piece of punctuation to indicate a pause. It might look something like this:

“I’m not really sure exactly what I was thinking … It had been a long night, and I just needed some sleep.”

A final recap of the ellipsis

Although using ellipses can become a bad habit, there are many times they’re necessary.

When it comes to using an ellipsis in quotes, we’ll say it again: Never use the ellipsis to cut important information or details that might change the context of a quote.

If you’re using an ellipsis outside of a quote, ask yourself if you’re using it to indicate a pause or incomplete thought. Otherwise, you might be better off using a different piece of punctuation, like a period.

• RELATED: The Punctuation Guide
• RELATED: Why Grammar is Important

Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash

It’s so worth it, too. SEO is a powerful long-term approach writers can utilize to boost (free!) traffic to their websites or blogs.

Sure, you can build an SEO article from the ground up. (Might I suggest this writer’s guide to SEO writing?) But it doesn’t have to be that complicated just yet. You can start by optimizing your existing content.

I’ll walk you through my approach — as a writer myself — to on-page SEO optimizations.

On-page SEO optimizations: What does that mean anyway?

Let’s start with the basics. In the SEO world, there are a ton of technical terms, but don’t let that scare you.

When we talk about on-page SEO optimization, we’re talking about taking an existing article or page and updating it to increase its chances of ranking on Google — aka attracting more eyeballs.

On-page SEO optimizations can be a relatively easy way to step into the SEO world. After all, you already have the content out there. You just need to make some updates so Google will take notice.

How to identify content worth optimizing for SEO

First and foremost: It’s not worth attempting to optimize every single article on your website or blog. You have to remember different pieces of content serve different purposes. Some will work better on social. Others are perfect for your email newsletter audience. And some just might have the potential to rank on Google.

So how do you determine which of your existing articles are worth optimizing?

I suggest starting with the low-hanging fruit. Using a free SEO tool like Ubersuggest, search your website’s URL. You’ll see which pages get the most traffic through Google and with what keywords. You might identify a great opportunity to optimize what’s already working well and climb the (Google) ranks.

If you don’t yet have enough traffic to your site, or you’re not spotting any obvious keyword potential, you can always do a quick DIY survey of your content.

When doing this, I like to think about what folks Google. I look for articles that take the shape of ultimate how-to guides, “best of” lists, product comparisons, recommendations, questions answered… you name it. These posts tend to be more all-encompassing and lengthy in nature. Perfect for Google.

Let’s take a quick assessment of some articles on The Write Life and use them as examples.

I’m seeing articles about the best laptops for writers, how to self-publish a book, how to get paid to write and a guide to Upwork. I suspect people are searching these terms, so these all have the potential to make strong SEO articles. (And in many cases, they do!)

On the other hand, something like “ways writers can recreate the coffee shop experience” probably isn’t something that gets searched a ton, so you probably wouldn’t want to focus your efforts on optimizing it. However, it’s great content for other platforms like social pages, community groups or newsletters.

Once you pluck a few ideas from your site, it’s time to dive in with some keyword research.

A step-by-step guide to the on-page SEO optimization process

This is the fun part of SEO optimizations (at least in my humble opinion). I’ll walk you through each step I take when optimizing an article for SEO.

Step 1: Pinpoint your target keyword

If you don’t already have a selected keyword, you’ll need to do some research. Remember, your keyword is the word or phrase you want to rank for on Google.

Use a keyword research tool for this. We love Ahrefs around these parts, but again Ubersuggest is a great (and free!) alternative.

So let’s say you want to optimize an article about cold brew coffee. Type the core terms into Ubersuggest. In this case, it’d be “cold brew coffee.” Leave out any unnecessary adjectives, prepositions or articles. Here’s another example: If you were optimizing a post about how to self-publish a book, you might simply search “self-publish book.”

Going back to the cold brew coffee example, when you search that term in Ubersuggest, you’ll find there’s a high search volume (49,500 when we looked). That’s great! That means tens of thousands of people are searching the term each month.

However, you’ll see the SEO difficulty (SD) is pretty high. (At the time we checked, it was 58.) The SEO difficulty ranges from zero to 100, and the closer you can get to zero, the better.

If you scroll down, you’ll find more keyword ideas. View all keyword ideas to see what related terms people search. Consider the different angles.

Remember: Your goal is to find a relevant keyword with a high search volume and a low SD.

Also, keep your reader top of mind. The keyword “how to make cold brew coffee” has a lot of potential — 33,100 monthly searches with a 22 SD. But if you want to optimize a review you wrote of the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew from Starbucks, readers are less likely to click because you’re not giving them what they’re looking for.

For the sake of this example, let’s optimize our hypothetical article with the keyword, “how to make cold brew coffee.” It has a high search volume and a relatively low SD.

Step 2: Read Google’s mind

You’re about to read Google’s mind. Think you’re ready? It’s not as difficult as you might think!

In this step, your goal is to better understand what Google considers top-ranking material for this keyword. Really, you’re just surveying your competition.

Here’s what you’ll need to do: Search your target keyword in Google, and take a good look at the first page of results. Start taking notes on:

• The top-ranking articles: Read through the top three to five ranking articles. What content do they cover? What questions do they answer? Take inventory of headlines, formatting, tables and graphics.
• The featured snippet: For some keywords, Google will populate what’s called a “featured snippet.” This is the box of text that populates at the top of your Google search. Note the content it’s highlighting. This is Google saying, “Hey, here’s the best answer!” If you can rank in this top spot, you’ll get more views, but fair warning: It’s pretty tough.
• People also ask: This box contains questions related to your keyword. Consider: Are these relevant questions you could answer in your article? For instance, people also ask, “Can regular coffee be used for cold brew?” You could probably easily answer this somewhere in your article: “You can use regular coffee for cold brew. In fact, you can use any sort of coffee you’d like.”
• Related searches: Finally, scroll down the related searches at the bottom of the first page. See if anything stands out. You might get some good ideas for topics you can add to your existing content like, “how to make cold brew in a mason jar” or “how to strain cold brew coffee.”

Again, the goal here is to simply take inventory and survey your competition. In a way, you’re getting inside Google’s brain to see what it “likes.”

Step 3: Beef up your article

It’s finally time to write!

With on-page optimizations, you’ll work with the existing content you have. There’s rarely a reason to delete everything and start over. You simply want to beef up your article with additional information, reporting, graphics or sections you noted in step two.

Of course, you never want to copy what exactly another top-ranking site is doing. Make this your own! But maybe one article included a neat graphic, and that sparked an idea. Or maybe another article listed several cold brew coffee recipes at the end of their guide. Perhaps you add one or two of your own. Again, use your research as inspiration and guidance — not your rulebook.

As you work, keep your reader in mind. This is one reason I love SEO writing — your goal is to serve the reader and give them all the information they’re seeking. Now, this doesn’t mean you want to jam-pack your article with every single element you noted from the top-ranking articles.

Instead, ask yourself: If I wanted to learn how to make cold brew coffee, what would I want or need to know?

Additionally, maintain your natural writing style and voice. Although SEO writing may feel a bit more prescriptive, you’re not writing for a robot. Avoid keyword-stuffing at all costs. (That means awkwardly wedging keywords into your post.) Again, SEO is all about the reader.

You’ll want to pay close attention to your headline (or title tag), excerpt (or meta description), you subheads (or H2) and your image descriptions. If you can do so naturally, include your keyword in these.

Links also help boost page rankings, so find opportunities to link out to credible sources. Or, once you republish your newly refreshed article, see if you can find other pages to link to it on your site (again, when relevant!).

Step 4: Give it a week and check in

The optimization process is ongoing, and it’ll likely take a good bit of experimenting.

Once you update your content, give it a week or so before checking in on it. Again, you can use Ubersuggest to peep your top pages and keywords.

After a few months, take another look at what’s ranking on Google for your intended keyword, and see if there’s anything else you can do to boost your rankings.

The ultimate key? Patience and persistence. The optimization process is ongoing. Google is constantly shifting its algorithms, and new articles are jumping in to compete for those rankings each day. Just keep your fingers to the pulse, and keep working. I have faith you’ll land on the magical Page One eventually!

Got an article in mind you’d like to optimize? Share your updates in the comments below!

Photo via franz12 / Shutterstock 

Unfortunately, many of us full-time and freelance writers and bloggers don’t have the luxury of hiring a personal fact-checker. Even newsrooms, magazines and digital publications have been forced to cut budgets, squeezing out dedicated fact-checkers and researchers.

That leaves us, the writers, to fact-check our own work. This can be tricky — stepping away from your own work and scrutinizing every detail from a new perspective — but it’s not impossible.

How to fact-check an article you wrote: a 5-step guide

When I was in grad school studying journalism, I spent a good portion of my life fact-checking. Back then, it felt taxing and tedious.

But now I understand the importance of fact-checking, and possessing the skill has pushed me to become a better reporter and writer in not only my full-time role, but also my freelance assignments and side blogging project.

Now, do I do an in-depth fact-check of every single thing I post to the internet? Not necessarily. If I’m writing a listicle for my blog about things I do to sleep better, I won’t go through this entire process. However, if I’m submitting an article for a well-known publication on a fairly divisive or complicated topic, I’ll definitely sink time into fact-checking.

So, in an effort to eliminate misinformation, angry commenters and embarrassing correction notes, here are some steps you can take to fact-check your own work before submitting it to an editor or clicking “publish.”

1. Step away from the keyboard

Fact-checking is a lot like self-editing. When you’re so engrossed in a piece of content, it’s often difficult to step back and spot errors and inconsistencies. You’re too close to the work.

That’s why, if you aren’t working under a tight deadline, it’s ideal to put some time between writing and fact-checking. I’m talking about physically stepping away from your computer.

Go eat lunch, watch an episode of your favorite TV show or, even better, get a good night of sleep. Putting that space between you and your content will help you approach it through the lens of a fact-checker — not a writer.

2. Ctrl+P your article and grab your most colorful pens

If you have access to a printer, print your article before tugging on your fact-checking hat.

This might sound a little old-school (it’s definitely something I learned from newspaper and magazine veterans), but viewing your work through a different medium — AKA not your screen — will help you look at it from a different perspective.

Once you’ve got a hard copy in hand, grab some highlighters and colorful pens because it’s time to get busy. Here’s what I do:

• Highlight each proper noun.
• Underline each fact. If I have facts from multiple sources, I like to use different colors of pens for each. For instance, I’ll use a red pen to underline facts from Source 1, a green pen to underline facts from Source 2 and a blue pen to underline facts from Source 3.
• Circle every number. (Numbers always trip me up, so I like to triple-check these!)

Chances are, your article will quickly become covered in colorful highlights, underlines and circles. That’s perfect. Now it’s time to really dive in.

P.S. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t have a printer. You can still underline and highlight text in a Word or Google doc — you just might have to slightly modify. This is all about finding your own system, so do what works best for you!

3. Verify facts and claims

When fact-checking, it might feel most natural to just start at the top and work your way down. That works just fine. However, if I’ve interviewed or cited multiple sources for an article, sometimes I will fact-check by source. Again, as you do this more and more, you’ll find what works best for you.

To start, I check each proper noun. For a source’s name, I’ll ask them to spell it for me. For other proper nouns I’ll confirm the spelling through reputable online sources. As I confirm the spellings, I put tiny check marks over each letter. This forces me to pay close attention.

Then, I’ll dive into the facts and numbers.

Just a quick sidebar: In the reporting and writing process, you’ll want to make sure you’re citing information from legitimate expert sources. For instance, Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a useful tool, but you might not always find the most qualified or unbiased sources. Really research your sources and cited materials upfront, so you can make sure you don’t have to go back to the drawing board during the fact-checking process.

If you’re fact-checking information from someone you’ve interviewed, follow up with an email or a phone call. To verify their statements, ask them open-ended questions like, “How do you know that?” or “How did you come to that conclusion?” You can also ask them questions to confirm particular details like, “Can you describe the car again?” or “Do you mind explaining the process one more time?” You can also refer back to the interview recording or transcript, if you have it.

If you’re fact-checking information you got online, double-check those sources to ensure what you write is accurate and that the site is reputable. Remember: it’s important to get as close to the original source as possible. If a website cited The New York Times, that’s great, but it’s best to find the original article.

4. Keep a close eye on… 

As you fact-check your work, here are a few things you’ll want to pay close attention to:

• Ages: If you’re including someone’s age, ask if they have a birthday coming up. It could be they’re 32 now, but in two weeks, before your article is published, they’ll turn 33.
• Numbers: Pay close attention to any numbers you cite. Triple-check your math, the database or your sources.
• Superlatives: If someone says something is the “first,” “only” or “top,” that should set off your fact-checking alarm bells. Unless you can absolutely verify this claim, use softer language (e.g. “a well-known restaurant”) or attribute the claim to its source (e.g. “The owner, Earl, says this is the first restaurant of its kind.”).
• Conclusions: If you’re making any sort of conclusion ask yourself: How did I get there? Make sure you didn’t make any jumps. As a writer, when you’re deep in a story, it’s easy to make assumptions, but as a fact-checker, it’s your job to connect all the pieces and ensure they’re accurate.

5. Do a gut check

At the end of the day, if you’re struggling to verify a claim, do a gut check. Does something feel off?

I usually play by the rule, “When in doubt, throw it out.” If you absolutely can’t verify something, it’s better to get rid of it — no matter how enthralling or “clicky” it is — than to risk publishing inaccurate information.

You can also always go back to the drawing board. It’s not ideal, but you can ask your sources who else you should speak with and get second and third opinions. Sure, it’ll take time, but fact-checking your own work will make you a better, more credible writer, freelancer and blogger — and your editors will love you.

Got your own fact-checking strategies? Share them in the comments below!

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