Hey friend, 

I hope your week is progressing nicely.

This week, I've enjoyed being in a writing frenzy, whipping up several new pieces for my Forbes.com column and for my clients. 

The work, accompanied by Instrumental Popular Songs 2023 on Spotify, has kept me pretty much in a flow state. I sit down to write and, before I know it, my husband is home. 

Those are my kind of days.

In this edition of Beyond Copy, you'll find:

• My latest article, on Empathy, Editing, and... Paper Cuts?
• An announcement about new openings in my client calendar
• Et Cetera, some of my favorite finds for you

Happy creating!

Renae :) 

Empathy, Editing, & Paper Cuts: Keys to Marketing Content that Sells

What’s standing between your company and more sales?

It could be paper cuts caused by your marketing content.

Yes, I’m talking about those small yet surprisingly painful slices that seem attracted to the most delicate parts of your fingers.

In the 20-plus years I’ve been writing and editing marketing content, I’ve seen many brilliant entrepreneurs, small business owners, and freelancers pour significant resources into content marketing only to run into a sales wall because of common content problems that cause paper cuts.

What causes content paper cuts? The following list will give you an idea, but it’s by no means exhaustive:

• Poor first impression
• Irrelevant graphics
• Unexplained terms
• Lack of social proof
• Strange color scheme
• Unequal value exchange
• No way to contact you
• Broken forms
• Content looks dense
• Unclear differentiation
• No way to close the gap
• Poor text flow
• Heavy negative language
• Unanswered reader questions
• Broken shopping cart
• Content lacks structure
• Lack of thought transitions
• Heavy jargon
• No clear selling proposition
• Lack of evidence
• Preaching
• Aggressive sales language
• Unaddressed reader objections
• Grammar errors and typos

True, none of us is perfect. We all make mistakes.

But it’s that very thinking—we all make mistakes—that leads too many content writers to leave prospects vulnerable to the peril of paper cuts.

The real problem with paper cuts? They add up.

In this Forbes article, I share examples of how paper cuts might play out in a few forms of content. I also provide two ways for making sure that your content does not give readers paper cuts.

Need editing help? 
I'm now accepting new clients.

Are you struggling with a piece of content?

Maybe it's a thought-leadership piece you want to publish on LinkedIn or in a trade publication.

Perhaps you're writing a new email nurture sequence and are unsure about the tone.

It could be that you'd just like another set of eyes on your latest ebook—someone to act as an objective truth-teller and paper-cut eliminator.

I've just finished up with a few projects and am now accepting new clients and projects.

If you need help with something on your plate, contact me. I'm happy to roll my eyes over your content and tell you if and how I can help.

Et Cetera

PDF to ChatGPT — I've been using ChatGPT to help with brainstorming, researching, and summarizing, but recently ran into a wall because ChatGPT doesn't seem to want to read PDFs, even if I share them from my Google Drive. That struggle led me to find a solution. It sounds a bit complicated, but I got it to work quickly, on the first try.  Read.

Bing Image Creator — Did you know Bing has a free Image Creator you can use to whip up AI-generated art? Try it.

Seven readability checkers in one — You may have heard of the Flesch Reading Ease Formula, which is but one way to test the readability of your content. This tool, though, offers seven readability tests with one click. Visit.

Checklist for creating valuable content — Writing content for organic search purposes is one thing. Writing content readers find valuable is another. Use this PDF checklist to make sure the content you create is useful and helpful to readers. It's an instant download, too. No registration or email address required. Learn.

That's all for this week!

I'll be back again in the next two weeks with another issue of Beyond Copy.

Until then,

Write on!