Content Hacks: How to upload content without formatting

Back in my SEO agency days, we delivered content by uploading it directly to the customer's website. That was usually done using RSS, but if a client's website was built using WordPress, we would upload it via their WP admin page instead.

Some of my colleagues would write the page from scratch directly into WordPress, which at the time didn't always save every edit immediately. More than a few times, an internet glitch erased entire articles, with no way to restore the lost content.

This is just one reason why I prefer to write content in Microsoft Word, with my active document backed up to OneDrive in real time. Every edit I make is immediately stored online in the cloud, I can roll back to previous versions if I spot a significant error, and I can access my documents from other computers if I need to.

But of course, MS Word adds all sorts of formatting to the text. In some cases this can be helpful - I have standard Styles set up for H1, H2 and H3 subheadings, which makes it easier to structure my content in the way it will appear on the website.

At times though, this formatting can be a hindrance. My own blog is powered by Blogger, which gives me two ways to paste content from Word:

1. 'Compose' view with full MS Word formatting
2. 'HTML' view with no formatting at all

(There is a 'clear formatting' option hidden away at the far-right of the Blogger toolbar, but this Content Hack is a quick and easy way to achieve the same thing on any PC, for any CMS.)

What's the problem?

The problem with pasting formatted content into a CMS is that you get a lot of unnecessary HTML code, which can do weird things to your page layout. Paragraphs can end up double-spaced, or not spaced at all, fonts may display incorrectly, and you risk losing valuable SEO-friendly HTML tags like H2 and H3 headings.

Conversely, when you paste completely unformatted content into HTML view, many CMS platforms will ignore line breaks (unless each line break is marked with a <br> or <p> tag) and your entire page will post as a single block of text with no paragraphs.

What you need is a middle ground solution, whereby the text posts without font formatting (allowing you to add your CSS styles in place of the MS Word formats) but keeps those line breaks, paragraphs, subheadings and lists.

Blogger's 'Clear formatting' option is hidden on a secondary menu.

On Blogger, the 'clear formatting' button can do this after pasting formatted text into Compose view - but is there an easy way to clear formatting before uploading the content to your CMS?

The easy way to clear MS Word formatting

There is a reliable solution to this problem, and it's one I use often. It can also be useful to copy and paste weirdly formatted text into a Word document, if 'paste unformatted' is giving you strange results.

It's simply this:

1. Copy your content from MS Word
2. Paste your content into Notepad
3. Copy your content from Notepad
4. Paste your content into your CMS
5. Add your HTML/CSS formatting

Notepad can now be configured to display text in the font of your choice, but it essentially still works with plain, unformatted text. You can even still turn off Word Wrap on the View menu, if you only want to see where you have inserted manual line breaks.

Because of this, when you copy content from Notepad and paste it into a CMS in Compose view, you get line breaks where you want them, but plain text apart from that.

But now my text isn't formatted...??

True, but that's actually the desirable outcome. It's much better to paste unformatted text (but with line breaks) and then add minimal formatting using HTML and CSS, than it is to paste formatted text and expect Microsoft Word formatting to look right online.

Of course, if you hire a good freelance writer for website content, they can handle all of this for you - if you want me to upload content directly on to your website (or save it into Drafts so you can check it before publishing) I can do that and apply the relevant HTML formatting and CSS styles throughout the page as needed.

But if you're trying to upload content written in Microsoft Word and struggling to clear fonts and formatting without losing all your paragraph breaks, this is one quick and easy solution to get your text into a more workable format (or not-format, as the case may be...).

And in case you're wondering - yes, I do use this method myself. I also have shortcuts set up to paste into MS Word without keeping any font formatting, so as far as possible, the only styles and formatting in my content are those I've added myself.

Need help with this issue?

Feel free to contact me via email or on my socials if you want any help with this issue, or if you'd like to discuss content for your website or blog. I can either deliver pages in a Microsoft Word document, via Google Docs or directly to your CMS.

I'm familiar with various CMS platforms, including WordPress, and I can add any Custom Fields your website template relies on, as well as SEO meta titles, descriptions and so on. Just ask if you need me to allow time for any of these extras, which I can usually do at no extra cost.

Why to hire a CEO blog ghostwriter

Writing a CEO blog is a great way to show your knowledge as an entrepreneur and set yourself apart as an inspirational business leader, but it can be time consuming and not everyone finds it easy to put words on paper.

As your company grows, you're likely to outsource much of your marketing (or hire an in-house marketing exec to handle it). But your blog needs extra care, because it represents you as an individual, as well as your organisation as a whole.

A business man in a purple suit.

Taking the decision to hire a CEO blog ghostwriter can give you the dedicated talent you need to produce regular, insightful blog posts for your website, written with good spelling and grammar, but still keeping your own tone of voice, figures of speech and any catchphrases you like to use.

In my freelance career I have been hired as a CEO blog ghostwriter several times, working with business leaders across the UK to write first-person pages that accurately reflect their views, while including all the SEO keywords and marketing calls-to-action needed to turn blog visits into sales.

Entrepreneurship can sometimes feel lonely at the top of the ladder, but you're not up there on your own. Reach out at any time and you'll find likeminded, motivated people like me who are ready and willing to help in a freelance capacity.

What is a CEO blog ghostwriter?

OK, so what's the difference between a CEO blog ghostwriter and a general freelance content writer? It all comes down to tone of voice and the ability to write in a style convincingly similar to your own.

We're already in a world where AI is rapidly gaining the ability to do this too, but you'll typically find AI-generated content to be wide of the mark, often in ways that are hard to pin down or correct. It's that 'uncanny valley' feeling of content that just sounds... weird.

By working with a human freelancer like me, you can give me any examples of your own writing, or have me work from a video or podcast. Alternatively, just give me a few bullet points of what you want your blog post to say, and a pointer on tone of voice, and I can come up with a first draft we can hone together.

A good CEO blog ghostwriter will deliver good-quality content while taking all of the following into account:

• Writing to match your tone of voice and phrasing
• Including SEO keywords and CTAs
• Reducing time and effort needed from you
• Editing (if needed) to get wording spot-on
• Adding research and context about your industry

By providing some thoughts of your own and letting your freelance blog ghostwriter add their own research, you'll often end up with an even more insightful finished blog post than if you had written it yourself.

In the end, it's about making your life easier so you can focus on running your business. As a freelancer, I know self-promotion isn't always easy, especially when there are more pressing priorities on a day-to-day basis.

How to start a CEO blog

What if you don't already have a CEO blog, but you want to start one with the help of a ghostwriter?

There are a few things to check first:

1. Does your website template include a blog/news section you can post to?
2. Do you have ideas about what you want to say on your blog?
3. Is your ghostwriter familiar with CSS, SEO and website formatting?
4. Are you planning to upload your content, or do you want your freelancer to do it?
5. How much content (and how regularly delivered) do you want?

A full-time freelance content writer should be able to commit to the schedule you need, without any gaps in delivery. Consider working with a ghostwriter who can create content several weeks in advance, so you always have a stockpile of scheduled blog posts to keep going through any unavoidable absences.

Once you've got a good idea of what you want from your blog, it's time to agree a content schedule with your freelance ghostwriter. You can start with a single page if you want to test the waters, or set out a plan for daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly blog posts over the next 3-6 months.

It's also sensible to set an approximate word count for each page. For the best performance in Google Search results/rankings, this should be at least 1,000-1,500 words, but this is a very general rule of thumb. Your SEO agency (if you have one) can help with this decision, or you can trust your freelancer to write the number of words needed.

The work you put in early on will help to make sure your ghostwriter produces better content even within a matter of days or weeks. Don't be afraid to provide constructive feedback, especially when it comes to your tone of voice.

Remember, authenticity is one of the critical factors in a CEO blog, so make sure your ghostwriter does a good job of 'sounding' like you.

How to organise a CEO blog

As you start to build up a collection of blog posts, it's a good idea to introduce some simple organisation to keep posts on similar topics together.

Most content management systems (CMS - your website's admin page e.g. WordPress) support categories and topic tags. As you add new posts to your blog, you select one or more categories to group posts according to their subject matter.

This helps you to provide an organised archive for visitors to your blog, where they can read more of your insights on each topic just by clicking a category link. It's also a good way to signpost to the search engines that pages are related to each other in some way, which can help to reinforce your search rankings.

Again, if this is something you're not confident about, that doesn't matter. Your freelance writer, SEO agency, web designer or in-house marketing team should all be able to help.

Planning a weekly agenda for scheduled blog posts.

You might even find categories help you when it comes to planning future content. For instance, if your blog has four main categories, you might decide to post one page per week and cycle through those topics, so each section receives one update per month.

Organising your blog should (by definition) help to organise your content creation process too - so ask your ghostwriter if you need an expert opinion on how to do this.

Get a CEO blog ghostwriter today

If you'd like to know more about my services as a CEO blog ghostwriter, please email me or contact me via my socials. My emails come through to my phone, so that's the best way to reach me wherever I am (flag your email as important if you need a reply urgently).

As a full-time career freelancer, I make it my business to be available whenever possible. I'm also very flexible whether you want a single blog post to see how well it performs, or you're ready to dive right into a long-term CEO blog content schedule.

My prices are competitive and I'm open to offers. I write everything from scratch - I don't use AI to generate anything - so there aren't massive economies of scale, but I am open to negotiation for larger orders and long-term commitments.

I've always found ghostwriting CEO blogs to be really rewarding. As a writer, it's both challenging and interesting to mimic another person's way of writing (or speaking) as closely as possible, especially when they have genuine insight and entrepreneurial spirit to share.

Let me know if you have any questions about my services or about anything on this page. I'm available all year round with very few days off, so please get in touch and we can start planning your first blog posts immediately.

Formatting for Readability: How to Make Pages Pop

Good content is the best first step you can take towards improving your search engine rankings. Content is what the search engines look for, it's how they know what your website is about, and publishing new pages regularly is one of the easiest ways to build your search presence over time.

Technical issues, like how fast your pages load and whether they look right on mobile devices, are also important. But they should be a one-and-done fix, and ideally should be designed into your website from the day it's first built.

Content is the long-term strategy to add to your website, keep it looking relevant (and alive) and help to expand your audience reach into new topics and new SEO keywords.

But it's crucial that you make your pages readable to human visitors, with clear structure and plenty of white space. In the end, it's human readers who turn into paying customers - search rankings and traffic alone usually don't make money.

In this guide I'll look at how to format a page for readability and why it's important to get this right when you publish new pages. By formatting for readability, you can make sure good content performs at its best.

Readability and User Experience

User Experience, or UX, is the overall quality of experience visitors receive when they visit your website. It includes practical things like whether your navigation works, whether your links are broken, and whether your page template displays correctly on their device.

Readability plays a big part in UX. A lot of online content is in the form of text, especially on a blog, a marketing landing page, an ecommerce product description, or even on pages like recipes and DIY how-tos.

If a visitor can't read your content easily, they're likely to click off and go to a different website. The time they spend on your page (or on your website overall) is called 'dwell time' and you'll usually find it in your website analytics reports, because it's important.

How does readability help?

Readability is part of UX by definition. Making a page more readable fundamentally improves its UX, and to a large extent this is something you can do using predefined formatting, so that you don't have to spend ages on the readability of individual pages.

There are several different aspects to formatting for readability. It's partly about content and partly about design. Here are some examples:

Design

• Column width
• Padding and margins
• Font size
• Clear contrast colour schemes
• White space

Content

• Clear structure (subheadings, bullet points etc)
• Short sentences and paragraphs
• Well-structured sentences
• Jargon/acronyms explained
• Good SEO keyword inclusion

That last point might sound surprising - how can SEO keywords improve readability? But actually, keywords do the same thing for human readers as they do for the search engine robots: they highlight the main topics and themes of the page and repeat them to help hammer them home.

Good SEO content actually improves readability, instead of harming it. That's why you should always hire an SEO writer who knows how to include keywords in a sensible, natural-sounding way.

Elements of Readability

Let's look at how some of the elements mentioned above help to improve the readability of your page. It's not always necessary to include all of these in every page - your content might naturally favour a slightly different structure or format - but these are a good way to start structuring a typical SEO landing page.

Column Width

Most people are used to reading pages of standard paper sizes like A5, A4 or letter. We have an expectation of how long one line of text will be. Go too far beyond that expectation, and content starts to look strange and becomes much harder to scan.

That's why most websites have a fixed central column width for their main content. Oftentimes, websites have a fixed width overall, and just show white or coloured margins to the left and right of that.

It can feel like a waste of screen space, but it's better for readability. With more people using mobile devices, it also helps to make your desktop page template look similar to the narrower, vertical aspect ratio of a smartphone screen.

White Space

Leaving white space around your text again helps readers to scan it without getting distracted by other page clutter. Your main page content should have plenty of white space in and around it (although obviously there's a sweet spot, to avoid content looking orphaned on the page).

Some simple examples of this include a margin around the main column, padding between paragraphs, and if it feels right, a small gap between lines in the same paragraph. Increasing your line height by even just a few pixels can stop text-heavy pages from feeling cluttered.

(NB 'White' space doesn't have to be white. If your website has a background colour, it's absolutely fine to show that background in the spaces between text. Just make sure the colour scheme overall has enough contrast that it's easy to read - and if possible, allow visitors to override it using their browser's high-contrast colour scheme, if they are visually impaired.)

Page Structure

This is the big one, and it's another reason why you should hire a website content writer if you're not confident about writing long pages of in-depth SEO content yourself.

In terms of your content, page structure is everything from headings and subheadings, bullet points and quotes, down to putting paragraph breaks in sensible places and even keeping sentences short. None of this changes the message of your page - in fact lists and quotes can reinforce the most important points.

Structuring your page can help to make your content more accessible to a less-informed reader. You're not 'dumbing down' your content, you're just displaying it in a way that's easier to follow, allowing readers to take a visual break and look away from their screen, without losing their place.

Jargon and Acronyms

OK, maybe your business is in a technical niche or an expert sector like science, engineering or law. That doesn't mean you can't publish content that includes specialist knowledge - in fact you definitely should be showing that level of expertise, if you have it.

But you can write out acronyms in full the first time you use them (e.g. the way I first mentioned User Experience on this page) or explain what jargon means before you go on to use it elsewhere on the page.

Some people will tell you to avoid jargon altogether. I don't think that's really necessary, as long as it's jargon that a reasonably well-informed audience will understand, and you include a quick definition upfront for anyone who's new to a technical term or niche concept.

SEO Keywords

I've said it once but it's worth repeating. The best SEO content writers can include difficult keywords in natural-sounding ways, multiple times in prominent places on the page. Keywords should ideally be in the heading, subheadings, hyperlink anchor text and so on.

This is at the very heart of on-page SEO, as those keywords help the search engines to understand what your page is about. If Google doesn't know what you're talking about, nothing else matters, no matter how fast or mobile-friendly your website may be.

But keywords also act as signposts for human readers. For example on this page, you can tell that I'm talking about readability and formatting, but also aspects of search engine optimisation and professional content writing - because those topics are signposted throughout the page.

Writing for Readability

Let's assume you've got a website design that lends itself to good readability (modern websites do this using Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, to define design elements like line height, font size, margins and padding across all your pages - speak to your web designer if you want to know more).

Now how can you write content for readability, to make the most of your investment in good page design?

It's all about applying the principles already mentioned above, such as sentence and paragraph length, sensible subheadings and page sections, and highlighting valuable content using bullet points and blockquotes.

Structure your content

Content structure doesn't have to be scary and it doesn't actually need a lot of forward planning. If you have SEO keywords to include, make sure you keep those in mind and try to write subheadings that feature your priority keywords.

Other than that, you can make it up as you go along. If you find it easier to write a full page of text without any subheadings, do that first. Then go back and add in a subheading every 100-150 words or so.

Short sentences can help with this. If you have a paragraph break every 25-30 words, it's a lot easier to find a suitable place to insert a subheading, even if you have to slightly reword the sentence that follows it.

Keep it simple

This is where an experienced content writer can really help. For good readability, you need your content to be simple - that is, short paragraphs, short sentences, shorter words where possible. Sentences should convey a clear point without running on into other issues.

At the same time, you may need to touch on some technical topics and expert-level information about your products, services or business. Striking the best balance between the two is challenging and it's one reason why I, as a freelance website writer with over 25 years' experience, prefer a plain English, conversational tone of voice that explains things as I go along.

You don't want your audience to feel patronised (and I find writing for CEO blogs and high-level law firms challenging because of this) but in general, clarity in your writing will always help your content to perform better.

Remember your audience

Finally, always keep your audience in mind. A good project brief should include at least a one-line description of the target audience. Think about age, educational level, technical expertise, and even factors like how long or short of a time they might have to spare when visiting your website.

Readability is, by definition, about writing for a human audience. Again there's a lot of overlap with making your content accessible to search engine robots, but never forget the human factor too.

If you're not confident, hire a freelance writer to help (I can proofread/edit pages you've written yourself, if you want to keep that authenticity) or use online tools like Grammarly to pick up on any obvious errors in your writing - just don't get TOO bogged down in the minor issues it identifies.

How to Get Started

To get started formatting for readability on your website, speak to your web designer about any concerns you might have with the way your pages look. Some simple steps you can take to improve your formatting include:

• Make fonts larger
• Make colours more contrasting
• Add formats for H1, H2 and H3 headers
• Give hyperlinks a stand-out look
• Add padding and white space

This shouldn't be something you have to do again and again. Once your CSS (your website's template/formatting) is set up properly, it should be applied automatically to all new pages you publish.

After that, it's just about writing content for readability. Use everything we've learned on this page, and make sure you know how to add the formatting to your page to make headings, bullet lists and so on.

If you can't do that - and a lot of people don't know how - hire a freelance writer who can upload content directly to your website for you. It might cost a little more to pay for the extra time it takes, but it should be cheaper overall than hiring a web designer just to upload new content.

To discuss anything mentioned on this page, or to hire me to write readable content for your website, get in touch with me today via email or social media, and let's get to building your website content.

3 Ways to Work with Location SEO Keywords

Location SEO keywords (e.g. 'content writer Manchester') are an important tool in getting your page to rank for searches in your geographic area. Even if your business is fully digital or mail-order, it's good to reach out to your local market and capitalise on the natural sense of 'togetherness' that comes from living and working in the same place.

There's a problem though. When you put the location at the end like that, it's very hard to use the keyword in a sentence that works grammatically. That's because in almost every grammatically correct usage of a phrase like 'content writer Manchester', you need a word like 'in' (which is a preposition - it's indicating that Manchester is where the content writer is located).

Without a preposition, a phrase like 'content writer Manchester' is a massive headache for your writer. I've been writing professionally for nearly 20 years, and this is still one of the biggest challenges I face when writing location SEO landing pages for my clients.

So what are the coping mechanisms when confronted with these kinds of location SEO keywords? There aren't many good options, but I've given my top three below.

1. Use it as-is

This is my least favourite option, as I think it stands out really obviously in the text, but the first solution is to just use the phrase exactly as it is, and almost ignore the location part of it.

On the finished page, this would look something like:

Bobble Bardsley is an experienced content writer Manchester, with clients across the UK and worldwide.

It feels clunky to me, and there ARE better alternatives, but I consider myself to be basically just a talented lackey, and if a customer wants their location SEO keywords included in this way, I'm quite happy to do it.

Pros: Easy to include in almost any sentence

Cons: Clunky, shoehorned, and grammatically incorrect

2. Add a preposition

A preposition is a word like in, on, over, under etc, and is used to indicate the position of something in a sentence. In 'the cat is on the mat', 'on' is the preposition. In a phrase like 'content writer Manchester', the preposition is missing.

The grammatically correct solution is to add the preposition back into the phrase, and this usually will not have a negative effect on the SEO value of your page - search engines like Google are able to see past small connecting words like 'in' as if they weren't even there.

Using our example from above, this would look like:

Bobble Bardsley is an experienced content writer in Manchester, with clients across the UK and worldwide.

It's immediately and completely fixed from a grammar point of view, and it reads well to human visitors, helping to disguise the location SEO keywords shoehorned into your page.

Pros: Quick, easy and grammatically correct

Cons: Changes SEO keyword slightly

3. Reflexive sentence structure

This is MY preferred option, because it strikes the best compromise between leaving the location SEO keyword phrase unchanged, reading well to human visitors AND satisfying the rules of grammar.

What do I mean by a reflexive sentence? It's about pivoting the sentence around the location phrase so that the location itself is associated with the following phrase. This nudges the grammar along slightly so that a preposition isn't needed.

An example of this would be something like:

Bobble Bardsley is the experienced content writer Manchester brands trust to create compelling content for their websites.

If you're expecting 'content writer Manchester' to be a single phrase, reading that sentence might trip you up when you reach it. But for website visitors coming to a page cold, it's one of the best ways I've found to include the phrase as-is, without it feeling really forced.

Pros: Works well without adding a preposition

Cons: Alters the semantics of the location

Which method works best?

Honestly it's completely up to you. I've listed these three options in (for me) reverse order of preference. I think using the original keyword phrase as-is looks really awkward on the page and is likely to be noticeable to most human readers of decent reading ability.

The risk with using SEO keywords in a noticeable way is that some readers may think the page is purely there for Google rankings, and will click off of it if it's too SEO-heavy. Unless you have some very ad-heavy pages, search traffic alone usually doesn't drive revenues, so you should always create content with real people in mind.

Adding a preposition (usually 'in') was problematic in the past, when the search engines would see that as a different phrase. They don't really do that anymore, and I'd say this has become the go-to option as a way to include the desired location without hurting the grammar of the page.

My own favourite option is the 'reflexive' sentence structure described above. It involves a bit of grammatical gymnastics but it flows well when reading a page cold, and it allows you to include the SEO location phrase exactly as-is.

Help with location SEO pages

If you want to create some location-specific SEO pages for your website, I can help. I'm happy to use any of the methods mentioned above - or a combination of 2-3 of them, if that works best on your page.

Location SEO has become one of the most useful ways to reach the top of the search results and taps into the natural rapport your brand already has with customers on your doorstep.

Contact me today to discuss your budget, your location, and how we can combine the two to generate new business for your brand.

How to Turn Off 'Rewrite with Copilot' in Microsoft Edge

AI has its uses, but that doesn't mean you want it to pop up every time you write a sentence. Since a recent update to Microsoft Edge, a 'Rewrite with Copilot' option appears if you select editable text on-screen.

This is annoying at the least, but it's also affected my work in some minor ways, with pages I've used for years (like the Blogger 'new post' editor) suddenly reacting differently depending on whether or not the Rewrite with Copilot pop-up appears.

Generally speaking, I do not want things popping up in front of text editors while I'm working, or to have to make extra keyboard presses or mouse clicks to dismiss them - so how do you turn off 'Rewrite with Copilot' in Microsoft Edge?

'Rewrite with Copilot' in Edge while I was editing this post.

Luckily, it's easy to disable 'Rewrite with Copilot' in MS Edge. Unfortunately, it's in a really weird place in the Edge Settings page.

How to make Microsoft Edge disable 'Rewrite with Copilot'

If you've already tried to make Microsoft Edge disable 'Rewrite with Copilot', you've likely discovered that searching the Settings page for 'Copilot' doesn't help. There are also no results if you search for 'rewrite'.

So, where is the Rewrite with Copilot 'disable' button hiding? Here's what you'll need to do:

Open the Edge Settings page (ways to do this are listed below).

Click on 'Languages' (about 2/3rds down the left-hand menu, on desktop).

Turn off 'Use Compose (AI-writing) on the web'.

As soon as you toggle the setting off, it should disable 'Rewrite with Copilot' in Edge completely, including any existing tabs you have open - you should not need to reopen any open tabs.

Look under 'Writing assistance' on the 'Languages' tab

In this screenshot, you can see 'Use Compose (AI-writing) on the web' just below the 'Writing assistance' heading. Click the blue toggle at the right-hand side to turn this off, and it should disable 'Rewrite with Copilot' pop-ups immediately.

(I use 'dark mode' because it's easier on my eyes after hours of looking at my screen, so your colour scheme might look different, but the option should still be in the same place, subject to any future MS Edge updates.)

How to open Edge Settings

There are a few ways to open the Edge Settings page to disable Rewrite with Copilot:

Click on the ... button at the top-right of Microsoft Edge and click 'Settings' from the dropdown list OR

Press Alt+E or Alt+F on your keyboard to open the Settings and More menu and then click 'Settings' OR

Type edge://settings/languages into your address bar and hit enter

Option 3 above will link you directly to the Languages page, where you can scroll down to 'Writing assistance' to turn off Rewrite with Copilot forever.

Why does it matter?

Generally speaking, I like MS Edge. It's always been more stable on my computer(s) compared with Chrome, which eats more and more memory until it crashes. Your experience might be different - I'm not saying Edge is definitively the better browser, I just like it more.

So it's problematic to see Copilot forced into more and more parts of an otherwise pretty sleek browser. Even though I've found the Rewrite with Copilot disable button, that code is still in the browser, bloating it and slowing it down. And who knows when a future update will turn it back on, perhaps without an 'off' button??

As a professional freelance writer for website content, I sometimes need to work directly into an online text editor, e.g. right now while writing this Blogger post, or when working directly on a client's WordPress blog or ecommerce website.

Maybe I'm a niche example, but I don't want AI popping up every time I select some text on-screen. I don't think this is just because it's new; I can't imagine I would ever find an intrusive pop-up useful.

At least, for now, it's still possible to make MS Edge disable 'Rewrite with Copilot' pop-ups quite easily, even if they've put the button in a daft place.

Thoughts on AI co-writing

Personally I don't use AI to 'help' with my writing for clients. I have found it useful in extremely niche circumstances, to help find obscure source material that just wasn't coming up in a regular Google or Bing search. I think that says more about the present-day state of search engines than it does about the usefulness of AI.

I don't trust AI to be accurate or to cite its sources correctly. I don't like that AI 'tone of voice' and although I'm not saying I could pick an AI-generated page out of a pile every time, I do think there's an uncanny valley thing going on with a lot of AI phrasing.

Totally honestly, it's no faster for me to use AI than to write the content from scratch myself, and what you get from me will be better overall without any AI involved - so for now, I don't use it at all in my paid work unless you absolutely want me to.

Hopefully this page has helped anyone stuck with how to disable 'Rewrite with Copilot' in Edge, so however you feel about AI, you don't have to deal with an annoying pop-up every time you select some text.

(A fun final thought - while getting the screenshots for this post, I turned Rewrite with Copilot back on and then forgot to disable it again, so you can imagine my joy moments later when it popped up yet again as soon as I highlighted some text...)

Better Search Marketing on a Budget

It's not easy to be a small business owner trying to get to the top of Google on a budget, all while actually running your business day-to-day too.

Small business search engine marketing (SEM) is a mixture of art and science. There's the creativity needed to produce good-quality content to add to your website, for the search engines to find, but there's also a lot of data analysis to satisfy the ever-changing search ranking algorithms.

On top of that, search marketing agencies have a vested interest to sell you services you'll need month after month (e.g. Pay Per Click advertising) and not just the methods that deliver long-term lasting gains (e.g. building your website content with well-written in-depth pages).

That's not to say that methods like PPC aren't a good addition to your search engine marketing mix - in fact they can deliver some quick results while you're building your organic search traffic - but if you're on a tight budget, I'd argue in favour of adding some new search-friendly pages to your website for Google to find.

How much does search marketing for small businesses cost?

You don't have to spend a lot on SME search engine marketing to get positive results. Just adding new pages to your website on a regular basis shows Google that your content is updated, which can help to improve your search rankings.

For the best impact, you should publish in-depth, insightful pages. Don't just churn out versions of pages that already exist - original content will perform better. Add your own first-person insight where possible.

If that sounds daunting, it doesn't need to be. Find a writer who's willing to learn about your business, and you can put your trust in them to create content with 'your' authentic voice. Working with a freelancer is a great way to get the same author on all your content, rather than an agency assigning the work to whoever's in the office that day.

As a freelancer, I understand the pressures of running a small business on a tight budget - so if you let me know how much you want to spend, I'll always aim to offer you the most content I can reasonably produce for you at a competitive market rate.

Do I have to manage my own search marketing campaign?

You can have as much or as little direct involvement with your new content as you want. Again, working with a freelancer is an excellent way to get the flexibility you want when it comes to delivering, approving and publishing content.

In my career, I have done everything from getting sign-off at every stage from the first draft onwards, to publishing pages directly to clients' websites (with permission!) without needing prior approval.

A good middle ground is to agree some headlines or topics upfront, and then just approve the final draft, either as an email attachment or uploaded into the Drafts section of your website.

I'm more than happy to upload the content to your site, especially if it's built using WordPress or similar, and you're able to trust me with a login so that I can create and save new pages as needed.

What about small business SEO and keyword research?

I don't claim to be an SEO expert. In fact I write content for some of the most respected SEO agencies in the north of England, the Midlands and London.

Although I don't offer in-depth keyword research and analysis, I can recommend a trusted agency in your area if you want a detailed report preparing.

Alternatively, I do believe that a lot can be achieved just by choosing a few words and phrases that are relevant to the topic of the page, and repeating them in the right places (headings, subheadings, hyperlinks and bullet points).

That might sound old-fashioned if you know much about SEO, but Google have ALWAYS encouraged website owners to publish natural, well-written content, with good keyword placement to help Googlebot decide what the page is about.

Crucially, this is one SEO technique that has never been penalised, whereas many other methods are only effective for a short time before being put on the naughty list by Google (e.g. paying third-party websites to link to you).

It's second nature to write in a search-optimised way, when you've been doing it as long as I have (18 years professionally and about 26 years since building my first website). I've rarely met an SEO keyword I couldn't make work in a grammatically correct sentence, although it's not always easy.

What kind of content to publish?

There are plenty of options when deciding what to publish. Remember, helpful pages will usually rank higher, so try to provide real value to your website's visitors and readers:

How-to and step-by-step guides

'Explainers' about specific subjects

Timely news and industry events

News/opinions from your own business

Comments about your industry/sector

I can suggest some topics and headlines to you upfront if it helps, and you can pick as many as you want or let me know why they're not suitable. I'll work with you to come up with a content plan that includes the products or services you're trying to sell, in pages that should rank well too.

As an experienced freelancer, I have memberships to many industry-specific news and press release services, as well as the knowledge needed to find source material about niche topics.

I have a top 0.5% IQ and an educational background in science as well as the arts, so I'm good at writing about technical subjects using plain English.

When to start publishing new pages?

There's no time like the present. The sooner you start publishing new pages onto your website, the sooner Google will realise you're updating it regularly.

After that, you should see your website 'crawled' more often by Google, with new pages added to the search results faster. If they're in-depth and of good value, they should rank highly too.

Organic SEO (where you build traffic by improving your search rankings, rather than through sponsored methods like PPC ads) generates more ROI the longer it's in place - a PPC ad is gone as soon as somebody clicks on it, but a new page on your website will continue to bring in traffic indefinitely.

With the new tax year underway, it's the perfect time to take a fresh look at your marketing budget. Even if there's very little to spare, I can make you an offer to get at least some fresh content on your website each week or month, without you paying SEO agency overheads.

As a freelancer, I really do understand the pressures - and I'm here to help your small business thrive as we move through the new financial year.

Please feel free to email me or contact me via social media if you'd like to discuss your search marketing. I'm always happy to talk about it, with no obligation to place an order.

Out of Office (Urgent Orders Only)

I'm now fully booked until January 2024 and will be working on existing orders through Christmas and New Year.

Established clients, if you need anything urgent between now and Wednesday, January 3rd, please contact me via email and mark your subject line 'Urgent'.

New customers are very welcome to make enquiries. If it's a genuine emergency I will try to fit you in. All other orders will be dealt with in January.

I will have access to emails throughout the holidays, but might be slow to reply between Wednesday December 20th and Wednesday January 3rd.

Thank You and Merry Christmas

Thank you so much to the clients who have been with me throughout this year despite a challenging economy, and to the new customers who have helped to keep my income sustainable in a cost of living crisis.

Very best wishes to all for happy holidays and a prosperous new year - I'll see you in 2024.