Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Content Marketing?

Content refers to a piece of written or recorded material you place on your website or use to promote yourself or your website. It’s usually text – blog posts, news posts, informational articles, etc. – but it may refer to infographics, podcasts, videos, or photos as well.

Content marketing is the act of developing and distributing that content in order to market your website or business. Adding content to your website has several benefits:

It shows search engines that your website is a valuable resource, improving PageRank.
It increases the number of pages on your website in a way that will result in more hits.
It improves the value of your website to the reader, leading to higher conversion rates.

To better understand the value of content marketing, imagine that every piece of content you add has the potential to bring in more visitors, improve your search engine rank, and convert more sales. More high-quality content = better opportunity to compete in today’s marketplace.

What Is Your Turnaround Time?

It depends on the size and scope of the project. For projects of 25 pages or less our standard lead time is 5 business days. Larger projects are always estimated on a per-project basis due to scope, research involved and customer needs. Rush orders are available if necessary. It’s best to contact us directly to get a more accurate idea of when we can complete your content.

Do You Outsource Content Writing?

No. All content writing is completed in house by our staff of writers, all of whom are based in the United States and work directly for Great Leap Studios.

Do You Write Content for Facebook?

Absolutely. We offer social media services to clients that need additional help controlling their online reputation. We can write content that you can post in advance, or consult with you on the best way to control your social media accounts. Whatever you need, we’ll provide.

Do You Offer Ghostwriting Services?

Resounding yes! In fact, the vast majority of our clients hire us as ghostwriters. While we’re happy to post our name and business on any website that wants to have us, we think of ourselves as the content elves working quietly behind the scenes to bring your brand to life.

Do You Offer SEO Services?

Of course! One of the most important things to realize is that content writing is SEO. In the past, SEO was comprised of tricks, including keyword density manipulation, meta tag spam, backlink generation and more. With every search engine update, content is closer to becoming the sole tool of SEO: More content equals a better search engine rank, and while there are many SEO factors that are still relevant, content is the most important tool at your disposal.

We offer comprehensive content marketing plans, distribution of your content, social media management and more – all with the express purpose of getting your website higher in search rankings and converting more prospects to buyers.

Can You Write Guest Posts for Us?

We sure can. We will write guest posts for any website you send us, and we can even find websites for you to guest post on for an additional hourly fee. Incoming links are a cornerstone of SEO, and we’re happy to discuss with you how we can work together and contact companies and websites that are interested in posting your articles.

Can You Write a Guest Post for Our Site?

If your website is in the field of SEO, content marketing, web-based business, Seattle Mariners baseball, or something else equally cool, yes! We love to write – it’s what we do – and we’d be happy to provide our special brand of boundless wit and bullet points for your blog.

Can I Just Talk to You About My Website?

Please! We actually prefer it. Every website is different. While we offer content packages and recommendations, the reality is that every website needs its own unique type of content. There is rarely a one-size-fits-all approach to content marketing. Give us a call today to discuss your website and content marketing needs and let us provide you with recommendations and a free quote.

What Is the Ordering Process?

There are two different ways to order content. The first is through our content packages checkout area, found here. This is for clients that order from us regularly, know what they need, and want to order something right away.

The second way is to contact us directly. If we’ve worked with you before, ordering can be as simple as a short phone call or an email. If we haven’t, contact us to discuss your project needs in greater detail.

What’s the Fastest Way to Contact You?

Our regular phone-business hours are 7am-4pm EST Monday-Friday (though someone is often near the phone later in the evening). We also respond to email within 24 hours – sometimes in as little as an hour during business hours. On the weekends, it’s probably best to contact us by email. Email is everywhere these days, so there’s a good chance we’ll see and respond to your message fast.

Do You Offer Writing Services Outside New York City?

I’m running out of ways to say yes! But yes. In fact, while we have many clients in and around New York, the vast majority of our clients are across the country and even overseas. We’ve been respected content writers for years and in that time, we’ve worked with clients in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Texas, and even Lithuania and Australia. No matter where you’re located, we can work with you.

Can You Write in My Voice?

Yes! We work closely with each and every one of our clients to ensure what we write sounds like you and matches your brand. Whether it’s a ghostwritten blog post for your CEO or an eBook in your name, our first priority in any project is to perform a thorough audit of your existing content and determine how to match your voice and style spot on.

What Is the Difference Between SEO and Content Marketing?

The gap between SEO and content marketing grows smaller every day. SEO originally referred to everything a website needed to improve its search engine rank. That included keyword density optimization, cleaner code, meta tags, keyword domain names, and more. Content writing was an important part of SEO, but not nearly the only part.

Yet with each passing update, Google, Bing, Yahoo, and everyone else have tweaked, updated and, in some cases, overhauled their algorithms to focus as much as possible on content quality, frequency, and diversity. Remember, the goal of search engines is to provide users with the most relevant search results, and programming and behind the scenes work do not necessarily improve the user experience after a certain point.

Once a site is stable and runs fast, the only thing that can drastically improve the user experience is content. Content gives your website depth and a greater presence in search engines, social media sites, and directories. It answers questions for users, generates more natural incoming links, ensures that your website is always updating and changing, and provides search engines with a better idea of what your website is about and who should find it. Content marketing is now the single most important part of SEO, and in many ways is the only SEO technique that matters.

Do I Need Keyword Optimization?

There is no clear “yes” or “no” to this question anymore. Keywords are still a valuable tool in developing website content because they help search engines recognize what your content is about and what it should be ranked for. But keyword density is less important now than it was in the past because it can negatively affect content quality.

Generally what we say now is that you should integrate keywords when possible and natural, but not focus on keywords as the ultimate goal of your content. The goal of content is to provide information to your readers – if you stuff keywords in your content in a way that provides no value, it won’t help your readers, and your website is unlikely to get rewarded for it as much as you’d hoped.

How Much Content Is Enough?

There’s no limit to how much content you can add to your site, and more is always better. We generally advise websites to invest in as many as 50 additional pages beyond their basic landing pages, but the reality is that adding content slowly and consistently over time is genuinely the best way to keep improving your search engine rank.

The best thing you can do is to set a realistic budget and develop a content plan that involves rolling out new content over time. One of our goals when working with a new client is to help create just such a plan. We don’t push large content packages on people – we help generate a long term plan that will help grow your site and increase traffic and conversions.

What Are Guest Posts?

A guest post is content that you post on someone else’s site with a link back to your site. Incoming links are an important part of content marketing and SEO. Guest posts allow websites to create incoming links by showcasing their expertise on a related site and linking back to their website in the bio or main text.

Guest posts are a great SEO tool. It takes a bit of work to find the best websites to post on, but as far as backlinking methods, this is generally considered one of the most effective (when done right).

How Often Should I Post to Twitter/Facebook?

There’s no real answer to questions about social media. Social media is about relationships. It takes a lot of work to build a working and active social media account. Is that work worth it for your field? It may very well be. But many other companies dedicate thousands upon thousands of dollars to social media for the wrong reasons. Contact us to talk about how social media works, what it does for SEO, and what you really need to run an effective social media campaign with a positive return on investment.

How Long Should a Blog Post Be? What About Webpages?

Remember, content is about quality, not necessarily length. A spectacular 250 word article is better than a wordy and otherwise lengthy 2,000 word article about nothing. We generally advise aiming for 400 to 600 words for blog posts, but 300+ words is the norm. For your main website pages, quality is what matters. Don’t worry about length at all. You want to improve conversions, and for that, a 100 word post may be as valuable as a 500 word post.

If the quality is there, more words is usually better. It generates more interest and potentially improves a search engine’s ability to figure out what keywords are relevant for the page. But everything needs to be considered on a case by case basis.

How Many Pages Should a New Site Have?

Again, there’s no set answer. Generally we try to start sites with 5 main landing pages and 20 or so informative pages (either in a blog or in a breakdown of the services and products you offer) so that your website has depth immediately. But realistically you can start a site with one page and prepare content to be posted at a later date to get just as much of a positive impact.

Can Videos Improve My Search Rankings?

They certainly can. All content is useful for marketing. But don’t forget – search engines are not yet equipped to “read” videos. So it’s best to accompany that video with text so search engines can find it. Video and audio content is still rewarded in Google’s rankings, but text based content is important to ensure that Google recognizes what’s in the audio/video files.

How Do I Get People to Share My Content?

Social media is a great place to start. There are also several directories you can post content to, such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon and more. You can also participate in forums or comment on blogs. Often people will look at your site and link back to you naturally if they like it. You should also add social media buttons so those that want to share your content can do so easily.

Starting a Google+ account, Twitter account, and Facebook account are still the best places to begin. Reach out to people in your niche, request that people look at your content and comment on theirs, and traffic will come.

Frequently Asked Questions