Written by Market My Market’s content team, with contributions from Anastasiya Raynor, Brandi Nicklaus, Hannah Kernal, Isabel Skormin, and Katie McLoughlin
Getting words onto the page is rarely the hard part of content writing. The hard part is turning a blank outline into a piece that ranks, reads well, and moves a visitor toward a call. Whether writing came easily to you in high school English class or you have always struggled to get the words out of your head and onto the page, the writing experience is a different journey for everyone.
Market My Market’s in-house content team has developed a set of repeatable habits that make that journey faster and more consistent, no matter who is holding the pen. Below, our content specialists and writers share the specific tricks they use to turn a research pile into a finished piece that earns clicks, holds attention, and supports the client’s larger marketing goals.
Isabel Skormin — Content Specialist
As a content specialist, I use my certification in StoryBranding to bring something new to each piece I write for our clients by using the power of story. StoryBranding does not mean every piece starts with “once upon a time” and ends with a happily ever after. It uses a framework that streamlines a client’s brand and mission into a narrative a reader can follow.
Positioning a potential client or customer as the hero of each piece, with the business we write for acting as the guide that helps them through each step of their journey toward a goal, helps establish a relationship in the reader’s mind before they even reach the call to action at the bottom of the page. That structure gives even a routine service page a sense of momentum instead of reading like a list of features.
Anastasiya Raynor — Content Writer
One of the easiest ways to make the writing process smoother is to assess the market before writing a single sentence. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the competition is one of the most reliable ways to sharpen a piece of content. Competitive research makes starting easier, because it gives a writer a working outline of what is genuinely useful to a reader and what is filler.
Before writing any piece of content, I look for the ways I can outshine what is already ranking and approach the topic from an angle the competition missed. That angle is usually what helps a client’s page stand out instead of blending in with a dozen similar articles that all say the same thing in the same order.
Brandi Nicklaus — Content Specialist
Writing content on a daily basis can be challenging, especially when the topics are similar in nature from one assignment to the next. On days when writer’s block hits hard and the words will not come, I turn to the same tool everyone reaches for when they need a hand: search.
Scouring the search results pulls up pages and posts for even the most niche topics. When I am struggling to get started, I will skim a handful of competing pages to see how other writers approached the subject. That is usually all I need to get the flow going, because once the introduction is written, the rest tends to follow with less effort. Reviewing what others have written also helps identify points that got overlooked and opportunities to improve on what is already out there.
Building an Outline Before Writing a Single Sentence
The fastest way to stall out on a piece of content is to start typing before deciding what the piece needs to say. Our writers build a short outline first: the core question the reader is asking, the subtopics that answer it, and the order those subtopics should appear in. That outline becomes a map, so the writer is filling in sections instead of staring at a blank page hoping for inspiration.
An outline also makes editing faster. When a section feels off after a first draft, it is much easier to see whether the problem is the writing itself or the placement of that section in the larger structure. Reordering an outline takes minutes; reordering a finished draft takes much longer.
Writing for Readers First, Search Engines Second
According to HubSpot’s guide to content strategy, blog posts generally perform best in the 1,000 to 2,000 word range, though the right length always depends on what the topic and the audience actually need. Our team treats that as a starting benchmark rather than a rule. A page that answers a reader’s question in 900 words and does it clearly beats a page that hits 2,000 words by repeating the same point five different ways.
Writing for the reader first also means matching the reading level and tone to who is actually going to land on the page. A dental patient searching for information about a procedure needs a different voice than a business owner comparing marketing agencies. Once the reader is served well, the technical SEO elements (headers, internal links, and a clear structure) tend to follow naturally rather than feeling forced into the piece after the fact.
Editing With Fresh Eyes
No matter how strong the first draft is, every piece benefits from a second look from someone who was not the one writing it. Our content team relies on peer review to catch gaps, awkward transitions, and claims that need a source before a piece ever reaches a client. Stepping away from a draft for even a short break before editing it yourself also makes a real difference, since it is much easier to spot a weak sentence after some distance from writing it.
Editing is where a good piece becomes a great one. The first draft gets the ideas down. The edit is what makes sure those ideas are organized, supported, and easy for a reader to follow from the first sentence to the last.
Elevate Your Content Marketing With the In-House Team at Market My Market
With endless distractions, writer’s block, and the pressure of getting content to perform, the writing process can be challenging. With the right habits and an in-house content and SEO team that understands how to streamline that process, you can have content built around a strategy instead of a deadline. We are here to save you time and stress by building a content marketing plan tailored to your business, so you can concentrate on running it.
When you work with us, you can feel confident in the content going onto your website. If you want to learn more about Market My Market’s writing process and how our content team can help your business stand out, fill out our contact form.
Frequently Asked Questions About Content Writing
How long should a blog post be for SEO?
Most blog posts perform well somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 words, though the right length depends on the topic and what the reader actually needs to know. A shorter post that fully answers the question is stronger than a longer post padded with repetition. Length should follow the amount of unique, useful content available, not a fixed word count target.
How do writers overcome writer’s block?
Reviewing how other sites cover the same topic is one of the most reliable ways to break through writer’s block. Skimming a handful of competing pages gives a writer a sense of structure and often surfaces an angle nobody else has used yet. Building a short outline before drafting also helps, since it turns a blank page into a series of smaller, more manageable sections.
Why is competitive research important before writing content?
Competitive research shows a writer what a topic already covers well and where the gaps are. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of ranking pages makes it easier to build an outline, avoid repeating information that is already well covered elsewhere, and find an angle that gives the new piece a reason to outrank what came before it.
What is StoryBranding and how does it apply to content marketing?
StoryBranding is a content framework that positions the reader as the hero of the story and the business as the guide helping them reach a goal. Applied to content marketing, it means structuring a page so the reader sees their own problem reflected in the content and sees the business as the resource that solves it, rather than reading a list of services with no clear narrative.
Should content be written for readers or for search engines?
Content should be written for readers first. A page that answers a reader’s question clearly, in a tone that matches the audience, tends to naturally support the technical SEO elements a search engine looks for, including clear headers, logical structure, and useful internal links. Writing to satisfy an algorithm first usually produces content that reads awkwardly and performs worse over time.