How to Start a Podcast in 2020: No Fluff (Just the Essentials)

The time has come.

You know that idea bouncing around in the back of your mind? That dream, fearlessly waging war against your internal fears?

It’s time to let it out.

It’s time to start your podcast.

The only problem?

You don’t know how to start a podcast. And the thought of wading through a 20,000-word “Ultimate Guide” leaves you with a roaring headache and the overwhelming desire to ditch your podcasting dreams.

Well, no more excuses. This article will teach you everything you need to know about starting a podcast, and it’ll do it without filler, fluff, and long-winded details that don’t really matter.

So let’s dive in, shall we?

Table of Contents

Step 1:

Choose a Topic for Your Podcast

Step 2:

Name Your Podcast

Step 3:

Create Artwork for Your Podcast

Step 4:

Add Music

Step 5:

Get a Microphone (& Other Equipment)

Step 6:

Pick Your Podcast Hosting

Step 7:

Record Your First Episode

Step 8:

Upload Your Podcast Episode

Step 9:

Submit Your Feed to Apple, Spotify, and Google

Step 10:

Promote Your Podcast

• Step 1:

Choose a Topic for Your Podcast

First things first…

Why do you want to start a podcast?

If your answer is “to get rich and famous,” try again. Podcasting can help you generate business leads, elevate your reputation, and yes, even contribute to your bottom line, but it is a commitment. The rewards come only if you persist.

That means you need to start with a topic you are passionate about. One that you’re so obsessed with, your friends sometimes have to kindly ask you to shut up about it.

If you’re reading this article, you probably already have an idea about that topic. So let’s consider the other half of the equation: your listeners.

The key to choosing a topic for your podcast is to search for that magical zone where your obsessions overlap with your audience’s interests.

So before committing to a topic, look for similar podcasts to see how many followers and reviews they have.

If there are already many popular podcasts in your niche, that’s a good sign: The more people producing and consuming podcasts on a topic, the more viable the topic.

Next, try to come up with a list of 50-100 potential episodes on this topic. If it’s easy for you to brainstorm this list, then that’s another good sign.

But be careful.

You don’t want a topic so broad it won’t appeal to your specific audience. As comedian Bill Cosby once said, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

Your core demographic is not “everybody.” Think about your ideal listener and choose a topic that is narrow enough for you to stand out, yet broad enough for you to speak on it for 100+ episodes.

• Step 2:

Name Your Podcast

Now that you’ve chosen your podcast topic, it’s time to name it!

You want a name that is specific and clear, yet unique enough to catch the attention of your audience.

For example, the Smart Blogger podcast, Break Through the Noise with Jon Morrow, has the flexibility to cover a wider range of topics as it grows. It’s not locked into an overly narrow theme.

As you are brainstorming the perfect name for your podcast, here are some best practices to keep in mind:

Be clear

Ideally, listeners should know what your podcast is about just by its name. This is not 100% necessary, since most podcast platforms include a short description, but sometimes people don’t read descriptions, so better safe than sorry.

Examples:

• Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
• Japanese Podcast for Beginners (Nihongo con Teppei)

Try to include your target keyword in the title

Apple podcasts is a search engine, and one of the best ways to help it recommend your podcast to the right listeners is to include your target keyword in the title. Just be careful not to keyword stuff! Make it natural.

Examples:

• American History Tellers
• B2B Writing Success Podcast

Be consistent

If you already have a brand, or a recognizable name, consider using that in your podcast.

Examples:

• The James Altucher Show is named after influencer James Altucher
• Rich Dad Radio Show with Robert Kiyosaki is named after Kiyosaki and his best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad

Combine strategies

Another option is to combine a clear title with your personal, brand, or business name.

Don’t be too long or wordy. You want to make it easy for people to find your podcast. If you still can’t decide on a name, look at other podcast names for inspiration. Check out podcasts inside and outside your niche.

Examples:

• The Portfolio Life with Jeff Goins
• Anthony Metivier’s Magentic Memory Method Podcast

But don’t get stuck on this step. Pick a name and move on!

• Step 3:

Create Artwork for Your Podcast

Your podcast cover art is the first thing people see about your podcast, even before they read your description. So create an image that grabs them.

Your image should communicate the subject of your podcast and hint at your personality. It reinforces your brand, so if you already have a certain look to your site, try to keep it consistent.

Creating an eye-catching cover image

Here are some best practices to keep in mind:

• Use minimal text. The fewer words and characters, the better. Whatever text you use should be readable even at low resolutions, such as 150 x 150 pixels.
• Your cover image should be a minimum of 1400 x 1400 pixels, max 3000 x 3000 pixels for larger screens like the iPad.
• Shoot for 72 DPI (dots per inch) JPG or PNG format, under 500kb size in RGB color space.

How to create your own cover image

If you want to create your own artwork for your podcast, you can use a free service such as Canva. Simply type in “CD covers” (which are 1400 x 1400 pixels) while browsing templates, or create your own design from scratch.

If you want to take it one step further, you can create a vector-based illustration in a program such as Adobe Illustrator. These images remain clear at any size.

Hiring someone to create your cover art

If you prefer outsourcing your artwork, you can hire somebody through Upwork, Fiverr, or 99designs.

Give them the details of your podcast, as well as the podcast image dimension specifications, and any brand colors or images you want to include.

Note: if you are planning to invest time and money in hiring a professional to design your artwork for you, make sure you know what you want and give clear directions.

• Step 4:

Add Music

Music is another powerful element to include in your podcast.

Most podcasters use a few seconds of intro music, which becomes a familiar “theme song” that listeners associate with the show.

But be careful.

The one and only ironclad music rule is: Never ever use someone else’s copyrighted music.

Instead, look for royalty-free music or buy a one-time commercial license from platforms such as:

• Shutterstock: Offers an unlimited music subscription for a monthly fee. You can also license individual tracks for a one-time price.
• Audiojungle: Hundreds of thousands of tracks, sound effects, and jingles for any of your musical needs. You can buy a subscription or purchase individual items as needed.
• Epidemic Sound: Subscribe (monthly or annually) to get access to tens of thousands of tracks and sound effects, with new tracks added weekly.
• Melodyloops: Buy packets of royalty-free melodies for a set price.

If you’re on a budget, you can ask a musical friend to make you something, or check out these platforms:

• Imcompetech: A collection of thousands of Creative Commons tracks (free to use if you properly attribute the artists and the track title) and paid licenses (if you don’t).
• SilvermanSound: Royalty free music with attribution. You can also get a non-attribution license for a fee.
• Free Music Archive: A collection of music from artists around the world. Free to download under the Creative Commons license.
• Purple Planet Music: Offers royalty free music as well as paid high quality commercial license tracks.
• DigCCMixtr: A music discovery site offering free and paid, commercial tracks.
• Zapsplat: Tens of thousands of free and paid sound effects (and counting!) to use throughout your podcasts.

The downside of getting free music is that you won’t have music that is unique to your podcast.

Your listeners might hear snatches of the exact same track on other podcasts, YouTube channels, etc. So if you want exclusive music, buy it or hire someone to create it for you.

And take the time to find a track that you really like, because as your “signature sound,” you don’t want to change your music once you’ve begun.

• Step 5:

Get a Microphone (And Other Podcasting Equipment)

Assuming you already have a computer, you’re going to need 2-3 more things to get your podcast up and running:

1. A microphone
2. Audio editing software
3. Other (optional) recording equipment

Your Microphone

To be a killer podcaster, you need a proper weapon. Ahem. I mean, microphone.

Audio is everything when it comes to podcasting, so if you want to splurge on something, get yourself a good microphone.

And whatever you do, do NOT use your built-in computer microphone. The audio quality is atrocious and there’s not much you can do on the editing end to fix that.

When choosing a microphone, you have a choice between two basic options:

USB vs XLR mics

USB mics are plug-and-play microphones that tend to be cheaper and easier to use, but less customizable than XLRs.

XLR mics require an extra cable and audio interface to work. They tend to be more expensive and higher quality than USB microphones.

An XLR mic + audio interface is the way to go if you have a co-host and need to record more than one person in one room, because plugging in multiple mics into USB ports can mess up your sound quality, and recording more than one person on one mic can make it difficult to edit your audio.

For a microphone that gives you the option of both USB and XLR, check out the Audio-Technica ATR2100x (affiliate link), Blue Yeti (affiliate link), or Samson Q2U (affiliate link) on Amazon.

Your Audio Recording-Editing Software

Audacity is a fantastic audio recording/editing software for beginners.

Audacity works on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers, and can record, playback, edit, and export your audio into a variety of different audio formats (MP3, WAV, FLAC, etc). Plus, unlike Pamela and some of its freemium competitors, Audacity is open-source and free.

If you are a Mac user, Garageband is another free audio software you already have, and if you want to dive deeper into home recording, you can also invest in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).

If you need any pro features that Audacity and Garageband don’t offer, Adobe Audition is $20.99 per month, and it’s available for both Windows and Mac.

Other (Optional) Recording Equipment

A pop filter

If it didn’t come with your microphone, you may want to buy a pop filter, a noise protection screen that helps to reduce or eliminate sibilance (hissing noises) and plosives (popping noises).

A pair of headphones

Headphones protect your microphone from picking up extra sounds from your computer speakers. They also help you hear what you sound like as you speak, so you can adjust your presentation style.

You don’t have to get fancy, a pair of earbuds will do just fine.

Boom arm

Depending on the microphone you buy, a boom arm (affiliate link) could be a worthwhile purchase. Decent ones are available on Amazon for under $20.

Interview Software

If you plan to talk to people long-distance, you’ll want to invest in interview software, such as:

• Squadcast: This platform offers videoconferencing and records on separate tracks for each speaker.
• Zoom: This easy-to-use tool for remote interviews offers above-average audio quality, but doesn’t save audio to separate tracks.
• Callnote: This software records GotoMeeting, WebEx, Facetime, Skype, Google Hangouts, and more.

• Step 6:

Pick Your Podcast Hosting

Although you may listen to your podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, etc., as a podcaster, you don’t actually upload your episodes directly to those directories.

To share your podcast with your adoring fans, you’ll need a podcast host: a place to store and distribute your podcast’s audio recordings.

Hosts charge a monthly service fee to host your audio files and generate the RSS feed you need to submit your podcast to podcasting directories (so listeners can find you).

How to Pick a Podcast Host

Podcast hosts are (almost) as varied as cell phone providers. When choosing a host, consider these factors:

• Longevity & dependability: Will your host stand the test of time?
• Flexibility & adaptability: What is your host’s storage capabilities?
• Website integrations: Does your host integrate with your website or create a site for you?
• Analytics: How in-depth is your host’s analytics?
• Monetization support: Will your host help or hinder your monetization efforts?

Here are a few podcast hosting services to look into:

Libsyn

Libsyn has been around since 2004, and offers plans with unlimited bandwidth and monetization options, WordPress integration (with their Libsyn Publisher Hub plugin) and detailed analytics.

Podbean

Podbean started in 2006, and offers 24/7 support, distribution to all the major apps and podcast directories, and your own podcast site. Their Unlimited Plus Plan, gives you access to a patron program, advertising capabilities, and video support.

Buzzsprout

Buzzsprout offers an easy-to-use analytics dashboard, making it easy to upload, schedule, fill in meta-details, and submit your podcast to multiple podcast directories.

Blubrry

Blubrry podcast hosting plans start at $12 per month. At that introductory price you get 100MB storage each month and unlimited bandwidth. If you need more, $80 per month will give you 1,000MB of storage space.

Free hosting

Some hosts offer free podcasting plans, but these plans come with limits:

• Buzzsprout allows you to upload 2 hours of content which they host for 90 days.
• Podbean allows you to upload 5 hours of content per month at max 100GB of bandwidth and only basic statistics.
• Speaker’s free plan includes advertisements, you’ll need to pay to remove them.
• Anchor is a 100% free platform focused on “democratizing audio.” But they were the center of a terms and conditions controversy in 2018.
• Soundcloud allows you to upload up to 3 hours of audio only.

So be careful with free plans, and know that if you want your podcast to grow and be competitive, it’s worth investing in a good host.

• Step 7:

Record Your First Episode

Okay. You’ve prepared your topic, host, and podcast equipment, and you’re ready to roll!

So in this section, we’re going to go step-by-step through the podcast recording process:

Write Your Script

Podcasting is like giving a speech. It’s best if you plan what you’re going to say before you say it, by writing it out.

You don’t have to write everything word for word, but the more planning you do, the less problems you’ll have later.

You can write out a word-for-word speech, if you like, but remember that when you turn that microphone on, you want to speak as if talking to a friend.

Prepare Your Environment

Before you record your first episode, make sure that you’ve set up the best recording environment.

Remove all distractions (kids, pets, and annoying voice search devices) and choose a room that’s not located near a busy street and doesn’t have many hard reflective surfaces. Use curtains and carpets to absorb noise pollution.

Create Your Intro and Outro

If you plan to create a recurring intro and outro, have that ready to add to your episodes. In your intro, make sure you mention your podcast name, topic, and host name. And your outro is a great place to include your call to action.

Record Your Episode

With your script written and environment set up, you’re ready to start recording!

First, plug in your equipment and open your recording software. Make sure your computer recognizes your mic as the source of audio input, then hit record.

Remember, you don’t have to record a perfect voiceover in one take. Take your time, and feel free to re-record if you make mistakes.

Edit Your Audio (Post-Production)

Editing involves cutting out errors, reducing background noise, balancing sound levels, adding your intro and outro, and making the episode easier for people to hear.

If you used Audacity to record your audio, you can edit your audio file in the programs directly. (To learn how, check out Audacity’s tutorials.)

As always, you can also hire someone to help you with editing, if you prefer.

Save Your Recording

When you’re finished recording your audio, save it as an MP3 file. In Audacity, that means clicking on “File” → “Export” → “Export as MP3”:

Name your audio file using a template, something like “podcast name-episode number-episode name-date.”

If you’re using Audacity, the default standard quality MP3 should be fine. If you’re using a different service, shoot for a bitrate of around 128 kbps and 44.1Mhz (CD quality).

• Step 8:

Upload Your Podcast Episode

Once you’ve finished exporting your episode as an MP3 file, it’s time to upload your file to your host. Each host has their own way of doing things, so follow their instructions:

• How to upload to Libsyn
• How to upload to Podbean
• How to upload to Buzzsprout

When you do, you’ll be prompted to include ID3 metadata that stores information related to an MP3 file.

You can also include this information when exporting your file from Audacity:

Audacity includes a space for you to add the artist name (in your case, podcast host name), track title (episode title), album title (podcast name), track number (episode number), year, genre, and other comments.

For each podcast episode, you’ll want to prepare an episode title so listeners know what your episode is about. You also want to include show notes, which can include a description of the content (including relevant keywords to make your episode easier to find), timestamps, links to your site, etc.

If this is your first time uploading to your host, you will be asked to include your podcast title, artwork, and description.

Then, once you’ve filled out all the necessary information, your host will pass it on to your podcast directories so that your podcast can be found by future fans.

And speaking of those directories…

• Step 9:

Submit Your RSS Feed to Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Spotify, and Google/Android

Once you have your podcast created and hosted, submitting it to a directory is easy.

Some podcast hosts have easy one-click-button methods for uploading. If you chose one of those hosts, use their process.

For everyone else, here’s how you submit your podcast feed to the “Big 3” directories:

Uploading Your Podcast to Apple Podcasts

Step 1. Sign in to iTunes Connect using your Apple ID (if you don’t have one, you can create one for free).

Step 2. Click on the Podcasts Connect button.

Step 3. Enter your podcast RSS feed URL (which you get from your podcast host) and click “validate.” Click Submit to continue.

Step 4. Apple will review your podcast and you’ll be notified via email when it is approved.

Uploading Your Podcast to Spotify

Step 1. Go to Spotify for Podcasters and log in to your account (or create one if you don’t have one yet).

Step 2. Once you are logged in, go to the “Add your podcast” page and click “Get started.”

Step 3. Enter your RSS feed and click Next.

Step 4. Add relevant info to the “Add podcast info” page, review, and submit.

Note: It can take a few hours up to 5 days for your podcast to appear on Spotify, so be patient. Also, Spotify requires audio to be in MP3 audio with bitrates between 96-320 kbps and episodes no more than 200MB (about 83 minutes at 320kbps or 200 minutes at 128kbps).

Uploading Your Podcast to Google/Android

Step 1. Go to the Google Play Music website and click Publish.

Step 2. Sign in using your email, and submit your podcast URL.

Step 3. Once you are approved, your podcast will be listed on Google Podcasts.

Other Podcast Directories

While Apple, Google, and Spotify are most popular podcasting directories, you can also upload your podcast to other platforms, including Stitcher, TuneIn, Overcast, etc. The more places you are, the easier listeners can find you.

• Step 10:

Promote Your Podcast

To compete with 800,000 (and counting!) podcasts worldwide, you’re going to have to do more than cross your fingers for luck to get people to listen.

But good news…

Promoting your podcast is totally doable. Here are some ideas to do just that:

Launch your podcast with a splash!

Before you launch your podcast, generate buzz.

Send an announcement to your friends, family, and followers on your mailing list. Include the announcement in your email signature.

Tell people in real life and on social media about the impending launch of your awesome new podcast.

Create a pre-launch team, like authors do with book launches, to create a snowball effect and enhance anticipation for your podcast.

On Debut Day, launch several episodes at once, ideally 3-5, so that listeners can immediately binge-listen to several episodes without waiting.

Ask everyone you know to subscribe and leave a review, and reward them by reading top reviews or thanking people by name on new episodes of the podcast.

Create audiograms for each episode

An audiogram is a snippet of your podcast episode that you can share on social media to pique the interest of potential listeners.

You can use the Wavve or Headliner app to easily create a visually appealing audiogram to share on your Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media channels. Both have free plans as well as premium options.

Utilize your website

If you don’t already have a self-hosted website, you should consider creating one because you can leverage that site to share your podcast, blogging content, create and sell products and courses, etc.

(Just be sure your podcast website is SEO friendly so Google will give it some love.)

If you already have a website, make sure you promote your podcast on that site. For example, you can repurpose your podcast episodes into blog posts by transcribing and editing your audio.

Feature your podcast on your homepage and About page, link to specific podcast episodes within your blog posts, and embed a podcast player on your site for visitors.

Be a guest (and invite guests onto your show)

To supercharge your promotion, try to be a guest on other, more established podcasts in your niche, and invite podcast hosts/influencers to be a guest on your show. This will introduce your podcast to an audience that is already interested in your topic.

Podcast listeners often find new podcast recommendations while listening to their favorite shows, so the more you network, the better.

Never stop promoting!

The best way to promote your podcast is by word of mouth.

So bring up your podcast whenever it makes sense. Talk about it with your friends, share it in social media groups, and write about it to your email list.

Most of all, produce a remarkable podcast that people will want to share with their friends. If you consistently create valuable content on a regular basis, your audience will come to you.

• Bonus STEP:

Podcast Q&A

What equipment do I need for a podcast?

It doesn’t take much to start a podcast:

At minimum, you will need a computer, microphone, and pair of headphones.

For software, you can download Audacity to record and edit your audio, and use Zoom, Skype, etc., to do long-distance interviews.

How much does it cost to start a podcast?

Technically, you can start a podcast for free, if you already have the hardware you need.

But if you want to reap the long term benefits of podcasting, you’ll want to pay for a good podcast host (recurring fee) and decent microphone (one-time fee).

Ultimately, you get what you put into it: If you just want to test out the waters, you can get started for free and see how it goes. If you’re committed for the long haul, do your research and invest in quality.

How long should podcasts be?

When deciding on your podcast length, consider your content, audience, and podcast format.

Don’t stuff your podcast with fluff just because you’re trying to hit an arbitrary time mark, and don’t lop off interesting material because the podcast is getting “too long.”

But do try to keep your episode lengths uniform.

If you want to make a 30-minute podcast, don’t throw in a 3-hour or 3-minute-long episode. Keep each episode at similar lengths so readers know what to expect.

How often should you publish a podcast?

Podcast episode releases range from daily (NPR’s Here & Now) to once in a blue moon (Hardcore History with Dan Carlin).

A general rule of thumb is to go with a schedule you can stick to. And be consistent. If you post erratically, you risk losing listeners.

What if I hate the sound of my voice?

Check out Sonia Thompson’s 7 Ironclad Reasons to Podcast (Even If You Hate the Sound of Your Own Voice).

Is there any reason I should NOT start a podcast?

Maybe. You’ll have the most success with podcasting if you’re focusing solely on it. So if you’re still trying to master writing, content marketing, or even a YouTube channel, you’re better of mastering it first.

Jon dives into this topic in great detail here: Why You Shouldn’t Start a Podcast or YouTube Channel (Seriously).

Can you make money from podcasts?

The short answer is yes. However, the money doesn’t always come straight from your podcast, but from the awareness and traffic your podcast can create.

That said, with a large audience, you can earn money through sponsorships and affiliate marketing, or by advertising your own products and services to your audience.

Some podcasters also generate income through donations or premium paid audio content.

Go Forth and Podcast!

Most people who think about starting a podcast never get started.

Don’t be one of them.

Just get started, and take it one step at a time.

This article can teach you how to get off the ground, but the passion to spread your message? You already have that.

So what are you waiting for?

We can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

The post How to Start a Podcast in 2020: No Fluff (Just the Essentials) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

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LinkedIn Stories Is Almost Here: Will It Reinvent the B2B Social Media Landscape?

LinkedIn has been testing a new conversational format--LinkedIn Stories--to be released "soon." So, what does the introduction of LinkedIn's own version of Stories mean? Will it "kickstart conversations" and "nurture relationships," as LinkedIn hopes? Read the full article at MarketingProfs

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https://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2020/42911/linkedin-stories-is-almost-here-will-it-reinvent-the-b2b-social-media-landscape

66+ Alliteration Examples to Make Your Message More Memorable

Looking for some alliteration examples to expand your writing repertoire?

This post is going to be your go-to resource.

It’s packed with examples from pop culture, sports, literature, and content marketing that’ll inspire you to infuse alliteration into your own writing.

You’ll also discover:

• How alliteration helped you learn letter sounds and develop memory skills when you were young;
• The differences between alliteration, assonance, and consonance;
• How freelance writers, bloggers, students, marketers, and literary greats use alliteration to touch the hearts and minds of readers.

Ready? We’ll start with a quick alliteration refresher.

What is Alliteration?

Alliteration is a stylistic literary device that refers to the repetition of closely connected series of words that have the same beginning consonant sounds.

For example, here’s an all-too-true story that repeats the beginning “b” sound:

“Barbara baked banana bread, but it burned.”

(Bummer. )

Alliteration has been used for centuries to breathe life into the written (and spoken) word through the effect of the sounds of words.

For example, in the movie “V for Vendetta”, V’s self-introduction takes alliteration to extreme. The effect of the string of “v” words certainly draws attention to his character through emphasis and tone:

The words of his speech tell his background story, but the repeated “v” sounds help viewers get a sense of his persona. The ominous impression of “V” is unforgettable.

This extreme example of alliteration demonstrates the power of verbal alliteration in film, but this technique has similar effects in written form.

Before we dig into the benefits of alliteration, let’s take a look at alliteration’s close cousins: assonance and consonance.

What’s the Difference Between Alliteration, Assonance, and Consonance?

There are two sound-based literary devices that are very similar to, and sometimes confused with, alliteration: assonance and consonance.

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in a sentence, like “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in a sentence, like “All’s well that ends well.”

Repetitive sounds are the common factor between alliteration, assonance and consonance. Alliteration differs from the other two because it refers specifically to the first consonant sounds in words.

What are the Benefits of Alliteration, Assonance, & Consonance?

Due to the repetitive component of alliteration, assonance, and consonance, they are considered phonological mnemonic devices, which help to emphasize concepts and make passages more memorable.

Sound-based literary devices can also help to project a tone or mood with repeated sounds in words.

Alliteration is a multi-purpose literary device and its use can impact us in a variety of ways.

Truth be told, alliteration has benefited us from an early age, even before we could read.

The Evolution of Alliteration (in Our Lives)

Alliteration helps preschoolers learn letter sounds and develop memory skills.

We’re first introduced to alliteration through nursery rhymes and other children’s poetry:

• “Three gray geese in a green field grazing…”
• “Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said, this butter’s bitter; if I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter, but a bit of better butter will make my batter better…”

Children’s poet Shel Silverstein’s alliteratively titled “The Gnome, The Gnat and The Gnu” hints of repeated “n” sounds that are found sprinkled throughout his poem. His stylistic spelling also serves as a fun way to teach children that the letters “gn,” “kn” and “n” all make the same sound:

I saw an ol’ gnome
Take a gknock at a gnat
Who was gnibbling the gnose of his gnu.
I said, “Gnasty gnome,
Gnow, stop doing that.
That gnat ain’t done gnothing to you.”
He gnodded his gnarled ol’ head and said,
“‘Til gnow I gnever gnew
That gknocking a gnat
In the gnoodle like that
Was gnot a gnice thing to do.”

Fun alliterative tongue twisters challenge children’s fast-talking skills:

• “Sally sells seashells at the seashore…”
• “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers…”

But alliterative children’s poetry and stories do more than simply teach phonics or entertain.

While pondering pickled peppers, children’s brains also work on associating meanings and emotional responses to sounds that they hear.

Intrigued? Read on.

Sound Symbolism: Labeling a Sound

Sounds of words actually reinforce their meaning and influence the interpretation of our language. Sound Symbolism is the recognition of the concept that sounds have a certain inherent meanings and enhance effective communication.

So, how are these sound symbolisms developed?

Symbolism of sounds is derived in part from how we create sounds with our mouths and vocal chords. We categorize sounds with an “internal catalog” of facial movements related to certain words combined with our awareness of how we physically form sounds and words with our mouths.

Try this:

Form your mouth like you’re going to say a word that starts with “sn.”

(Go ahead, nobody’s looking.)

You did that nasally pluggy-uppy maneuver with your tongue, didn’t you?

We’ve associated our nose with the vocalization of the “sn” sound. Not coincidentally, many words that are related to the nose and mouth start with “sn,” like snore, snout, sniff, snoop and sneeze.

Skillful use of alliteration emphasizes a tone or mood through rhythmic repetition of sounds, eliciting a response to the “internal sound symbolism catalog” that we all share.

Joni Mitchell wrote the alliterative opening song lyrics to her 1970 hit, “Big Yellow Taxi” to set the tone of her message. Listen to the repeated “p” words that project her “spitting mad” mood about what’s happening in her world:

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot…”

Let’s take a look at some examples of alliteration in our everyday lives that help us remember things.

Pop Culture: What’s in an Alliterative Name?

Plenty of science and thought is put into naming consumer products or brands. Here are some business and brand names that have obvious mnemonic qualities:

• Dunkin’ Donuts
• Krispy Kreme
• Bath & Body Works
• Bed, Bath & Beyond
• LuluLemon
• Coca-Cola
• Best Buy
• American Airlines
• PayPal
• American Apparel

Sports team franchise names that make the all-alliteration team are:

• Los Angeles Lakers
• Buffalo Bills
• Pittsburgh Pirates (and Penguins)
• Seattle Seahawks

We often hear alliteration in music and film artists’ names. These famous television, film, sports and political figures were given a natural edge on popularity with their alliterative names:

• Ronald Reagan
• Mickey Mantle
• Katie Courec
• Jesse Jackson
• Lucy Liu

We can only wonder if Norma Jean Mortenson’s popularity and success was aided by the act of changing her name to Marilyn Monroe. Other celebrity artists that adopted alliterative stage names are:

• Backstreet Boys
• Beastie Boys
• Dr. Dre
• Counting Crows
• Foo Fighters

Many fictitious characters in children’s cartoons, books or movies have alliterative names. To highlight his importance, main character Spongebob Squarepants’ name is alliterative, but his friends’ names are not. Some others:

• Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse
• Big Bird
• Donald Duck
• Peppa Pig
• Bugs Bunny

Marvel Universe superheroes’ real identities and supporting characters were deliberately named alliteratively by creator, Stan Lee. Curiously, he admitted in an interview that he decided to use first and last names with the same beginning sounds to make it easier to keep them straight in his own mind! To name a few:

• Bruce Banner
• Reed Richards
• Sue Storm
• Peter Parker
• J. Jonah Jameson Jr.
• Fin Fang Foom

Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling artfully named supporting characters using various literary devices. Here are a few examples of alliterative names in the series:

• Luna Lovegood
• Severus Snape
• Salazar Slytherin
• Godric Gryffindor
• Helga Hufflepuff

Demonstrated by Ms. Rowling, the use of alliteration in literature helps readers remember characters in a story.

But writers can also use alliteration to emphasize a passage or develop a certain tone by repeating similar sounds. Let’s dive into some creative alliteration examples in literary classics.

Examples of Alliteration in Literature

In poetry and prose, alliteration and other sound devices like rhythm help create a tone or mood, suggest a tempo, and emphasize certain words or phrases.

Alliteration In Poetry

This following stanza of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge demonstrates his poetic use of sound-based literary devices in his work. Alliteration ties the words of the poem together as well as creating rhythmic and pleasant sounds:

“The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.”

Alliteration helps to suggest an eerie rhythm of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “The Raven.” Notice the alliteration pairs in the first three stanzas:

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,…”

William Shakespeare used “f” sounds and “l” sounds to create images of death and life, respectively, in his prologue of “Romeo and Juliet”:

“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes;
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.”

Alliteration In Prose

In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Harper Lee used alliterative descriptions of families and places to emphasize the importance of these entities in her novel. With a heavy emphasis on “s” sounds, the town of Maycomb is described:

“…grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square… a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules… flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square…”

Alliteration In Speeches

Due to its rhetorical nature, alliteration appears in many famous speeches in which sound-based literary devices like alliteration help to set a tone.

For example, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address opens demanding attention with repetitive “f”sounds:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation…”

Another example is Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which emphasized his dream for his children by repeating the hard “c” sound:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

These classic examples demonstrate that alliteration, used with other literary devices, helps readers develop sensory and emotional connections with words. That connection in turn helps to build a stronger understanding of the passages.

Ready to see how contemporary content writers artfully use alliteration to emotionally connect with their readers?

Examples of Alliteration in Content Marketing

We all know that the purpose of content marketing is to make a connection with our readers and inspire them to take action.

To that end, we’ve learned that we can use alliteration, power words, sensory words, and other writing devices and tools to create sensory and emotional connections with our readers. This emotional connection can help persuade our readers to take action.

Alliteration helps call attention to headlines, subheads, and email subject lines, but alliteration can also help to emphasize a point:

“Smart speakers, as well as their speechwriters, sprinkle their speeches with carefully-chosen power words…”
– Jon Morrow

Let’s feel the power of some alliterative subject lines:

Pack a Punch With Alliterative Headlines

Alliterative phrases in these headlines call attention to the message and emphasize their purpose through alliteration:

• 57 Metaphor Examples That’ll Pack Your Prose With Persuasion
• Working From Home? 14 Sanity-Saving Tools (+35 Pro Tips)
• How to Become a Freelance Writer, Starting from Scratch

And, this power words headline gets alliteration bonus points:

• 801+ Power Words That Pack a Punch and Convert like Crazy

The rapid-succession Pack-a-Punch and Convert-like-Crazy plosive alliteration combo exerts an authoritative influence of Power like the old one-two. (Hard beginning consonant sounds create a sense of authority, but more on that later.)

Stop Scanners with Alliterative Subheads

Subheads serve several purposes, primarily to help organize your content for the reader. Alliteration can stop “subhead scanners” in their tracks by eliciting an emotional connection through sound symbolism, like these:

This one demands attention:

Polish Your Post So It’s Smoother Than a Slip ‘n Slide
– from How to Write a Blog Post in 2020: The Ultimate Guide

And this subhead…

Make Money by Creating Collateral for Content-Hungry Business
– from How to Make Money Writing: 5 Ways to Get Paid to Write in 2020

…leads readers into this alliterative text:

“In the last five years, content marketing — this concept of creating valuable content to attract customers and build credibility and trust — has undoubtedly gone mainstream.”

Get Clever With Alliterative Calls to Action

Email subject lines that use alliteration spark a call to action by projecting a certain tone or mood, connecting with the reader on an emotional or sensory level.

Here are some clever alliterative subject lines of email received while sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic:

These alliteration examples show us how we can make a memorable impact by emphasizing a point or projecting a feeling or a mood.

Ready to put alliteration to the test? Let’s start with a little experiment.

Alliteration: Testing the Tone

But how can we use alliteration in content writing to be more persuasive and memorable?

Circling back to the concept of sound symbolism, we learned that sounds have inherent meanings. Let’s see how effective those inherent meanings are when they’re emphasized in alliterative phrases.

If you recall, we recognized the strength of the alliterative beginning word sounds in:

801+ Power Words That Pack a Punch and Convert like Crazy

But not all sounds are created equally.

To demonstrate, we’ve replaced the original alliteration with other alliterative words that express a similar concept:

XX Power Words That’ll Steal the Show and Woo like Wonder

Our revised alliterative headline falls flat because sibilant “s” and airy “w” sounds aren’t as authoritative as the original plosive “p” and hard “c” sounds.

Clearly, we need to pay attention to projected tones of sounds when using alliteration.

Alliteration Effects: How to Use Them

Reverse-engineering successful alliteration begins with understanding the effect of beginning word sounds.

Match the Sound to the Mood

Beginning consonant sounds are associated with a combination of two physical actions when we vocalize the sound:

• Voiced or Voiceless (whether the vocal cords are used to make the sound), and
• Fricatives vs. Stops (whether or not air is pushed from or stopped at the mouth).

Hard consonant sounds that are typically voiceless or stops, and will have a plosive sound that can elicit a sense of authority or abruptness.

Conversely, some soft consonant sounds are typically voiced or fricatives. They can be soft and breathy, eliciting a more soothing tone. Other soft consonant sounds like “s” or “z” are sibilant, suggesting malice or slyness.

Alliteration Tip #1:

A key to successful use of alliteration is to match the effect of beginning sounds of words to project the desired effect of your writing.

Test Out A Tool

Stuck for an alliteration?

Poem Generator has several writing aids to suggest phrases or passages to writers. Among these tools is an Alliteration Generator. Simply key in a word or sentence that you’d like to alliterate, and the generator returns a list of options.

We tested the tool by entering:

“Let the tool do the work.”

Our results included several options including:

“Let the tired, trustworthy tool do the wooden, witty work.”

Obviously, a tool doesn’t possess your creativity and judgement, so use it as an aid instead of an end. Results vary!

Alliteration Tip #2:

Solicit the help of alliteration generators to suggest alliterative words, but remember that your creativity far outweighs any software program.

Give It a Go, But Don’t Go Gaga

Once you get the hang of alliteration, you may be tempted to use it more often than you should. Don’t!

Simply said, sentences with a surplus of similar sounds will sound silly and somewhat stupid!

Alliteration Tip #3:

Don’t go overboard with alliteration in your writing. Like all powerful tools, you need to use alliteration sparingly.

This post is part of Smart Blogger's

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From elevating your writing skills to getting paid to write, learn everything you need to know about freelancing.

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Add Alliteration to Your Toolkit

Ready to make better connections with your readers?

Draw your inspiration from these alliteration examples to help your readers feel the effect of your message.

Remember, alliteration is all about sound. Sound can help you emphasize a key point or convey a tone by deliberately selecting suitable words. Make a sensory impact by selecting beginning word sounds for their symbolism and repeating them to intensify the effect.

Then, take pride in your work’s alliterative transition from:

• dull to dramatic,
• trite to tantalizing or
• boring to badass!

You get the idea!

The post 66+ Alliteration Examples to Make Your Message More Memorable appeared first on Smart Blogger.

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Social Media Staffing: Employee, Agency, or Consultant? The Pros and Cons of Hiring Each.

Today, more than ever before, your customers are online and spending more time on social media platforms. If you need to expand or improve your social media team (internally or externally), you have options. To hire? And whom to hire? Those are the questions. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

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Ghostwriting 101: How to Get Paid Big Bucks As a Ghostwriter

You want to make money as a writer, right?

You’ve told everyone on Facebook (including your weird aunt) that you’re available to write. You’ve been writing guest post after guest post to showcase your talent and get your name out there. Maybe you’ve even landed a few writing jobs already. (Good for you!)

But then a potential client emails you with the question, “Do you offer ghostwriting services?”

And you’re stumped.

Maybe you’ve heard of ghostwriting. Maybe you have some idea what a ghostwriter is. Or maybe you wonder if it involves ouija boards in some way.

You don’t want to look like an idiot by emailing back to say, “Err… what do you mean?”

That sounds like a good way to send your potential client running for the hills.

But don’t worry — I’m about to tell you everything you need to know about ghostwriting, starting with…

Table of Contents

1. What IS Ghostwriting?
2. But Why Would You Let Someone Else Take Credit for YOUR Writing?
3. The Counterpoint: Why You Might NOT Want to Be a Ghostwriter
4. How to Become a Ghostwriter
5. Ghostwriting 101: A Quick Recap
6. Will You Give Ghostwriting a Try?

Download 100+ Writing Resources(free, ginormous bonus)

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What IS Ghostwriting?

You might already have some hazy ideas about ghostwriting. When I first heard of ghostwriting, I thought it was just used for celebrity memoirs.

It turns out memoirs are just the tip of the iceberg. Ghostwriting is everywhere — from independent authors using Amazon’s Kindle book publishing to popular bloggers using WordPress.

So what is it?

When you ghostwrite, you let someone else put their name on your work. That is, you don’t get any credit — at all.

Typically, the person who commissions the work will own the copyright, which also means they can modify or republish the work in any way they see fit.

So why would someone hire a professional ghostwriter? Are they too lazy to write their own book or come up with original work or ideas?

Not necessarily. People hire ghostwriters for many different reasons, but the most common ones are:

• Their business has grown so much that they no longer have time to write (all) their own material.
• They have a wealth of expertise or an exciting story to tell, but they don’t enjoy writing or they’re not very good at it.

It’s nothing new, either: ghostwriting has been around, in one form or another, for centuries.

To give you a better idea what being a ghostwriter may involve, my own ghostwriting has included:

• Taking a rough draft, editing it heavily, and expanding on it where necessary.
• Taking a blogger’s rough notes and transcribing them.
• Putting together short, functional blog posts (e.g., announcing a new writing podcast).
• Taking an assigned topic and very brief outline, then writing a post in the client’s voice and writing style.
• Writing a post based on a title and nothing more.
• Coming up with ideas, getting them approved, then ghostwriting the posts (though this is rare!).

As you can see, ghostwriting has a spectrum from something akin to an editing relationship to writing a piece from scratch.

And it’s growing in popularity.

The demand for high-quality ghostwriters is so high it’s now taught in schools — California State University, Long Beach offers a Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program led by Claudia Suzanne.

Of course, I’ve only ghostwritten for blogs.

Authors like Roz Morris and others have written whole books (nonfiction books, New York Times’ bestsellers, etc.) as ghostwriters, which is a far more involved process that includes extensive interviews with the client.

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But Why Would You Let Someone Else Take Credit for YOUR Writing?

Assuming you want to build up your own brand as a professional writer, why would you want to be a ghostwriter?

After all, you won’t get any of the credit. Your name won’t appear anywhere on the piece, and you probably can’t tell anyone you wrote it.

So why do so many writers ghostwrite, and why do so many love it?

Well, because there are major benefits:

Benefit #1: Being a Ghostwriter Pays Exceptionally Well

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One huge reason to get into the ghostwriting business is money. Ghostwriting tends to pay better than regular freelancing.

After all, having your name attached to your words is valuable for you as a writer. When you have a byline, you can use that piece of work to showcase your talent, build your reputation, and potentially attract new clients.

So it’s appropriate (and standard practice) to increase your hourly rate to compensate for the loss of these advantages.

There’s no exact rule of thumb for how much extra you should charge for ghostwriting over regular freelancing. Personally, I tend to increase my fee by about 15%–20%.

On top of that, once you’ve established a ghostwriting relationship with someone, it often results in ongoing work for you. Most people want their writing to be consistent, so it makes sense to stick with the same writer.

In other words, you have consistent work at a higher rate than usual. That’s quite a plus, isn’t it?

Benefit #2: Ghostwriting Lets You Develop Closer Relationships with Big Names in Your Field

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As a ghostwriter, you’ll normally work quite closely with your client. You may be privy to their rough notes or mind maps, or you might interview them on the phone or in person.

Chances are, you’re also focusing your ghostwriting on a particular area of expertise (especially if you’re writing for a blog).

This means you’ve got a brilliant opportunity to get to know and be affiliated with someone well-established in your field.

You’ll find that you get valuable insights into the “behind the scenes” of a top blog, or you get a clearer idea of how a big-name author works and thinks.

This may be eye-opening! It could give you some ideas for how best to move forward with your own business when you start your own blog.

And as you build up closer relationships, or even friendships, with your client, they might share your other work on social media, bringing you a lot of extra traffic. (Several of the people I ghostwrite for have supported me in that way.)

If you ever need a favor or need some advice, there’s a good chance they’ll be very happy to help.

So much of blogging success depends on getting a helping hand from other bloggers — particularly those with a large audience and a great reputation in their field.

Ghostwriting brings you into close contact with exactly those people.

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The Counterpoint: Why You Might NOT Want to Be a Ghostwriter

There are a couple of big concerns that writers have about ghostwriting:

“But surely that’s not ethical?”

“But why should they benefit from my hard work?”

“But what about building my platform?”

These are real, valid concerns. And for you, they may be deal-breakers.

So let’s dig into them.

Objection #1: “When You’re a Ghostwriter, You’re Helping Someone Fool Their Readers — That’s Unethical”

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When you’re a ghostwriter for someone, they pass your words off as their own.

Which begs the question…

Is ghostwriting ethical?

The authors who hire ghostwriters certainly think it is! But not all writers or readers agree. Many feel that some types of ghostwriting are more ethical than others.

For instance, think about these two scenarios, which are on opposite ends of the ghostwriting spectrum:

1. A big-name blogger hires a ghostwriter to write an e-book on their behalf. The blogger talks to the ghostwriter for an hour and provides a detailed outline. Once the e-book is complete, the big-name blogger reads it, edits it, and puts his or her name on it.
2. A big-name blogger hires a ghostwriter to write an e-book on their behalf. They give the ghostwriter free rein to come up with the topic and outline, and they don’t supply any help. When it’s done, the blogger puts his or her name on it without giving it a second look.

Personally, as a reader, I’d feel comfortable with situation #1. The thoughts in the e-book belong to the blogger, but the ghostwriter has helped shape them.

Situation #2, however, seems a lot thornier. As a reader, I’d feel cheated by that.

I’m buying the e-book because I want the blogger’s expertise — not that of a ghostwriter I don’t know.

If you’re thinking of ghostwriting, you have to make up your own mind about what is — and isn’t — ethical. Where would you personally draw the line as a ghostwriter, if at all?

For more thoughts on the rights and wrongs of ghostwriting, check out Patty Podnar’s post Is Ghostwriting Ethical?

Also, Amanda Montell’s Your Favorite Influencers Aren’t Writing Their Own Content—These Women Are is quite eye-opening about some of the less ethical practices in the ghostwriting world.

Objection #2: “It’s Too Painful Watching Someone Else Get Praised for YOUR Work”

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It may sound silly, but not getting recognition for your writing can be quite painful — unbearable to some.

I have to admit that, as a writer, it can sometimes sting a little to see a blogger receive lots of lovely praise for a post that I wrote every word of. And I’m not alone; many writers find themselves missing the attention and craving the recognition.

It’s no fun watching someone bask in glory that should be yours.

But think of it this way: All that praise is a sign you did a great job. You can be proud of that, and you can feel confident you’ll get hired again!

Also, as ghostwriter Roz Morris points out in an interview with whitefox, it’s not just ghostwriters who go unnoticed by readers:

There are many unsung heroes in the creative industries, and ghostwriters are only one of them. Editors can also make a huge difference to [book writing] and are rarely credited.

So, if you can’t stand watching someone else take the praise, that’s okay. Many writers feel that way. But maybe we should also keep things in perspective.

Objection #3: “Ghostwriting Keeps You from Building Your Platform”

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Even if you’re okay with someone else getting the praise, you may still oppose the idea of letting them take credit.

Some writers feel that, to become a successful freelance writer, you need to take credit for every powerful word you write and create an impressive body of work with your name on it. They believe that ghostwriting is essentially a waste of time.

After all, when you’ve got a bio (or at least your name) on every blog post you write, each of those posts helps raise your profile. You’ll be bringing in new readers and potentially new clients through your work — without any additional marketing.

This is essentially the argument that Demian Farnworth puts forward in The Brutally Honest Truth About Ghostwriting:

The first thing every writer should ask is this: What do you want to accomplish as a writer? Is building a personal and visible platform important to you? Will it help you in the long run? If you have to ghostwrite to make ends meet, fine. But beat a hasty path out of the business as soon as possible. It’s your turn to run the show.

I certainly think it’s worth putting some serious thought into how best to make ghostwriting work for you. It might be that you want to solely focus on your own platform (heck, you might even hire ghostwriters of your own, some day down the line!).

But there’s no shame in taking ghostwriting jobs to generate a steady income while you build your platform. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. You can do both at the same time.

Ghostwriting takes some focus away, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.

By the way: We’ve created a handy visual summarizing this post that you can share and embed on your own site. Check out the image below (click to see a larger view):

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How to Become a Ghostwriter

If you’ve been nodding your head while reading this post, you’re probably wondering…

“Okay, but how do I become a ghostwriter?”

Answer:

The same way you become a freelance writer.

Here are the keys:

#1. Build Your Content Creation Skills

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If you want to be a ghostwriter, you have to learn how to create quality content. What’s this mean? It means:

• Mastering content frameworks
• Learning how to write solid headlines
• Knowing how to support your points with examples
• Keeping your readers emotionally engaged

…and more.

Nothing will impact your ability to earn real, tangible income as a ghostwriter more than your ability to create amazing content.

So, if you don’t know how, learn.

Further Reading: Check out our resource How to Write a Blog Post – The Ultimate Guide. Once you’ve mastered the basics, read Evergreen Content 2.0: Timeless Posts People Will Actually Remember.

#2. Learn the Ins and Outs of SEO

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If you can create content that will rank on Google, clients will pay you.

Happily.

Heck, they’ll throw money at you.

So how can you help your content rank on Google? By learning all you can about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and applying what you learn to the content you create.

Further Reading: Don’t know SEO? Brian Dean has a great guide that will help you learn the basics of SEO fast.

#3. Build an Awesome Portfolio of Sample Content

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Ideally, you’ll have three levels of portfolios:

1. A portfolio that shows you know how to write,
2. a portfolio that shows you’re a subject matter expert of a given topic,
3. and a portfolio that shows documented success for clients.

But when you’re just starting out, you need to focus on the first level:

A writing portfolio that proves you know how to create a decent piece of content.

If you don’t already have your own blog or website, create an account on a free blogging platform like Medium.

Two or three sample posts are enough, and you can get started right away.

#4. Find Your First Paying Client

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In the early days, finding those first few clients will be difficult.

Even with solid content creation and writing skills, SEO know-how, and a great portfolio proving you know how to write, finding paying clients without word of mouth and referrals won’t be easy.

Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Keep checking job agency postings.
2. Pitch to software company blogs like HubSpot, Sumo, and Ahrefs.
3. Do as much self-promotion as you can, including mentioning your ghostwriting service in the byline of your blog or Medium posts.

It’ll be a slow process at first, but once you get those first few clients you’ll be set. Do a great job, make your clients happy, and referrals will happen.

Further Reading: Bookmark this giant list of content marketing agencies. It’ll come in handy.

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Ghostwriting 101: A Quick Recap

We’ve covered a lot, so let’s review:

What Is Ghostwriting?

Ghostwriting is when a writer (“ghostwriter”) is hired to create a piece of content for a company or individual, who will then publish the work as their own.

Do Ghostwriters Get Credit for Their Work?

Ghostwriters are paid to let someone else put their name on their work — they do not receive any credit, and they usually cannot tell anyone they wrote it.

Why Do People Hire Ghostwriters?

There are numerous reasons why someone would want to hire a ghostwriter, but two big reasons are time restraints and a lack of desire (or ability).

Regardless of their reason, parties who choose to hire ghostwriters do so because it’s advantageous. (They’re getting something out of it, in other words!)

What Are the Benefits of Being a Ghostwriter?

There are two huge benefits to ghostwriting:

1. Exceptional pay, and
2. business relationships.

Because they miss out on auxiliary perks like bylines and having their name attached to the content, ghostwriters are usually well compensated.

Also, ghostwriting brings ghostwriters into close contact with bloggers, authors, and influencers with large audiences. These connections can sometimes be worth more than the commission itself.

How Much Do Ghostwriters Make?

It varies from writer to writer, but an increased fee of 15% or more from their standard freelancer rate is reasonable when ghostwriting.

What Are the Typical Objections to Ghostwriting?

Those who throw shade at ghostwriting typically do so for one of three reasons:

1. Ethical concerns,
2. not wanting to see someone else get credit for their work, and
3. the worry ghostwriting will keep the writer from building up his or her own platform.

We’ve covered each of these objections in detail. Whether any of them are deal-breakers is up to you.

How to Become a Ghostwriter

The process is very similar to the one for becoming a regular freelance writer:

1. Build Your Content Creation Skills
2. Learn the Ins and Outs of SEO
3. Build an Awesome Portfolio of Sample Content
4. Find Your First Paying Client

In short:

1. Learn how to create awesome content,
2. learn the ins and outs of SEO so the content you produce can rank on Google,
3. create a portfolio of 2 or 3 posts that prove you’re a good writer, and
4. pound the pavement so you can secure those first few paying clients.

This post is part of Smart Blogger's

Freelance Writing Hub

From elevating your writing skills to getting paid to write, learn everything you need to know about freelancing.

Go to the Hub

Will You Give Ghostwriting a Try?

Ultimately, ghostwriting can be a little divisive.

Some writers feel — passionately — that readers deserve to know exactly who wrote the words they’re reading. Others feel building your platform is too important to let someone else take credit.

But ghostwriting is a good way to make money as a writer — whether you’re working full-time on various ghostwriting projects, or part-time with the occasional ghostwriting client.

And it doesn’t mean your platform is off the table. You can be a ghostwriter and have a writing career under your own name. Many writers, including me, simply use ghostwriting as a way to supplement or support their writing passions.

Personally, I think it’s worth it.

Only you can decide whether it’s right for you.

The post Ghostwriting 101: How to Get Paid Big Bucks As a Ghostwriter appeared first on Smart Blogger.

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How the Humble Analogy Can Give Your Writing More Punch

Analogies are an underused literary device capable of making your words more powerful, popular, and persuasive. In this post, you’ll learn all about them.

Give yourself credit.

You’re a solid writer with good ideas.

But… you feel like you’ve reached a plateau.

People like your writing, but they don’t love it.

They find your content useful, but not essential.

Even your best ideas never seem to catch fire.

And you can’t help wondering why.

Maybe you just have to be patient and wait for your audience to come around.

But then again, maybe it’s not that. Maybe your writing is missing something.

Because when you read the work of your favorite writers, their ideas are so clear, so vivid, so damn easy-to-understand that they light up your brain.

And while you hope your readers feel the same about your writing, you secretly suspect they don’t.

Here’s the difficult truth — you’re probably right. Your writing is missing something.

And it could well be this…

Analogies: The Writing “Power Tool” You’re Too Afraid to Use

Successful writers — whether they’re students acing papers or freelance writers getting paid big bucks to write for clients — have a myriad of tools in their toolbox.

Some of these are like hand tools, like a chisel. Others are like power tools, like an electric drill.

And here’s the thing about power tools. At first, they can be a little scary to use. (You may even have one or two in your garage you’re too afraid to unbox!)

You’re not sure how to hold them properly. You don’t understand what all the attachments do. Sometimes you don’t even know how to switch them on.

But in the right hands, boy, do they get results.

And one of the least used and least understood power tools for writers is the analogy.

Here’s the dictionary definition of analogy:

Coming from the Greek word ‘analogia’, an analogy is a figure of speech comparing one thing to another, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.

Or, more informally:

When talking about Thing X, you also mention (seemingly unconnected) Thing Y because it has useful similarities.

Editor’s Note: Wondering what the difference is between an analogy and a metaphor? Though both are figures of speech, they’re not the same. As explained here:

While a metaphor uses words or phrases to represent an idea, an analogy uses narrative or comparisons to explain the idea.

Forrest Gump’s “life is like a box of chocolates” is an analogy. “Parting is such sweet sorrow” from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a metaphor.

We use analogies a ton on Smart Blogger. Here are just a few analogy examples:

• Tweaking your blog’s topic is like tuning an old-fashioned radio
• Staying in a job you hate is like being a fish that’s suffocating out of water
• Publishing content over the holiday is like teaching a toddler to swim during a hurricane
• Spreading ideas is like assembling an IKEA table

If you’re a regular reader, you probably remember many of these examples of analogies. That’s because striking images like these tend to stick in your mind.

But despite the power of a well-chosen analogy, many writers ignore them.

It’s almost as if they’re too intimidated to take this tool out of its box.

Which is a shame, because they really should.

Why Analogies Do Twice The Work in Half The Time

Analogies are powerful because they use established ideas to do the heavy lifting of introducing new ideas.

Consider the following two descriptions:

1. A four-legged mammal standing about four feet tall at the shoulder, having an elongated head, large ears and distinctive black and white markings.
2. A stripey horse.

We’re talking about a zebra here, right? But can you see how the second description is much more concise? It reuses everything we already know about horses to describe a zebra.

(For the record, a horse is not strictly an analogy for a zebra. However, the process of describing a zebra in relation to a horse is like using an analogy.)

Let’s look at three reasons analogies are so powerful for writers:

1. Analogies Boost Comprehension

Analogies help you explain subtle or complex ideas by reference to concepts the reader already understands.

They allow you to establish such ideas without much of the intellectual scaffolding required to build them from scratch.

To give an example, in physics class, the flow of current through an electrical wire is often explained as being like water flowing through a pipe. A thinner wire can take less current, just like a narrower pipe can take less water. Higher voltage is like higher water pressure.

Are water and electrical current the same? Of course not. (In fact, if you mix the two, you could literally get a nasty shock.)

But in this context, they’re similar enough to be useful.

2. Analogies Make the Unrelatable Relatable

Some concepts are easy for the reader to comprehend, but for one reason or another, they can’t easily relate to them.

As a result, your words have a difficult time sticking in their minds.

Solution? Use analogies.

By helping your reader discover unexpected connections and comparisons, you activate their imagination.

As a result, they’re better able to relate to the story you’re telling.

For example, look at George Orwell’s A Hanging. A short story about an execution, Orwell’s tale is one readers may find to be morbidly interesting, but unless they’ve witnessed an execution themselves, it’s a story they’re unlikely to find relatable.

Enter the analogy:

They crowded very close about him, with their hands always on him in a careful, caressing grip, as though all the while feeling him to make sure he was there. It was like men handling a fish which is still alive and may jump back into the water.
From 'A Hanging' by George Orwell

In short:

The well-executed use of analogies can make unrelatable topics relatable to your readers.

3. Analogies Shift Perspective

Years ago, our CEO, Jon Morrow, wrote the following:

In the beginning, your blog is like an empty classroom. Standing in front and giving a lecture is silly, because sure, it might make you feel important, but there’s nobody listening. You’re all alone, and you can come up with the smartest, most entertaining lecture in the history of mankind, but it won’t matter, because no one else heard it.

Here’s the situation Jon was referring to:

Many beginning bloggers bust their guts to create content for their blogs before they have even a small audience. They just assume it’s an inevitable part of getting started and hope that a few readers will eventually drift along. As a result, every week they get up on the podium, pour their heart and soul into their message, and are greeted by crickets and tumbleweeds.

It’s a powerful image, right? A teacher standing in front of a class delivering a lesson to absolutely nobody. How deluded would you need to be to do that?

And yet thousands of bloggers did (and still do) the equivalent every day.

Jon’s analogy invites them to see their behavior in the light of a similar situation, where they can more easily see that their behavior is completely silly.

So if you can get your reader to buy into your analogy, it can be hugely persuasive. Because they’re practically forced to apply everything they know to be true about one situation to the other.

And that can create a major shift in perspective.

How to Find the Perfect Analogy for Any Situation

Finding good analogies can be tricky.

Often the most interesting and effective analogies are the least obvious, and thus the hardest to find.

Inspiration will sometimes save you, but no writer should rely on their muse too often.

Fortunately, a simple process can make finding the right analogy significantly easier.

1. List the Notable Features of Thing X

What simple statements can you make about the thing you’re trying to describe?

To take an example, let’s imagine you started a blog about finding a career and you’re writing a blog post about that awkward period where you have a job but you’re actively looking for another.

So you’re working on your resume during your lunch break, disappearing to take phone calls from recruiters, and generally struggling to maintain normal appearances in your current job while trying to land the next.

What are the notable features of that situation?

Here are some ideas:

• Secrecy — usually you don’t want your colleagues (and certainly your bosses) to know you’re looking for a new job.
• Clandestine meetings — leaving work early to attend interviews and inventing bogus reasons for your absence.
• Feelings of guilt — you feel bad about not being entirely honest with people but don’t see another option.

2. Do a Mental Search for Other Things Sharing Those Same Features

For each of the features of Thing X, try to think of other things that also have those features by asking simple questions.

In this case:

• What other situations require secrecy?
• When else might you need to lie about where you were and what you were doing?
• In what other situations might you feel guilty about your behavior?

The following ideas spring to mind:

• Being a government spy — you certainly have a need for secrecy; you may need to lie to friends and family about where you were and what you were doing at certain times; feelings of guilt could arise from living a double life.
• Arranging a surprise birthday party — you don’t want the birthday boy or girl to find out; you may have to arrange meetings behind their back with other friends, a restaurant, etc.; you may feel temporarily guilty about your dishonesty (even though you know it’s for a good cause.)
• Having an extramarital affair — you don’t want your spouse to find out; you’ll probably lie about where you were to cover up your liaisons; the guilt normally associated with being unfaithful.

3. Test the Analogy by Looking for Other Similarities and Differences

Once you have some possible analogies for your situation, play Devil’s Advocate. Find ways in which the two things are not alike and decide if the differences detract from the analogy.

Taking the first of the three ideas above, one difference is that being a government spy is not a short-term situation, like looking for a new job. With a job search, you either find a new job and move on, or decide to stay.

Is that a distracting enough discrepancy to rule it out as an analogy? Maybe.

But also the fact that being a spy is a job of sorts is an unhelpful similarity. In this case though your bosses do know your secret — that you’re a spy — so that’s potentially confusing for the reader.

What about the second idea — arranging a surprise birthday party? Similar to looking for a new job, arranging a party is a short-term situation, so that could work. But unlike a job search, party planning is not about finding a replacement for an existing thing.

Finally, what about the extramarital affair? You could argue that an affair is more like moonlighting rather than changing jobs — i.e. trying to get some “extra” work on the side instead of quitting your main job. But some affairs do result in a new long-term relationship so maybe they’re not so different.

Also other interesting similarities exist. For instance, consider the consequences of getting caught sneaking around. In the career scenario you could potentially lose your job. If you’re discovered having an affair you could lose your marriage.

So this seems like the most promising analogy of the three. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty good.

But how do you know when you need to keep looking?

3 Simple Clues That You Haven’t Found the Right Analogy Yet

Choosing from several possible analogies is as much art as science, but here are some clues that you haven’t landed on the right idea just yet:

• The two things are different in more ways than they are similar.
• The two things are similar in most ways, but the most prominent feature doesn’t match.
• The thing you’re drawing an analogy with takes too long to explain or is not widely understood.

The acid test is to ask this question:

Is the writing clearer, more persuasive, or more interesting with the analogy than without it?

3 Ways to Turn Your Analogy Power Tool to MAX

As you become more confident using analogies, consider using one of these methods to get even more power:

1. Bring an Abstract Concept to Life

Some ideas are tough to grasp because they’re naturally abstract.

In fact the whole concept of spreading ideas is quite abstract — there’s usually little to see (or hear, or feel) when an idea transfers from one person to another.

And that’s why my post on writing clearly used the analogy of assembling a flat-pack table.

Building a table piece by piece is a much more tangible process, but it has a number of features in common with “building” an idea in someone’s head.

2. Borrow Powerful Emotions From Another Context

Sometimes the benefit of using an analogy isn’t just the knowledge that comes bundled with that other thing, it’s the emotion.

So, for example, if you write for freelancers and you want to talk about the deep frustration of having first-class skills but no clients, don’t simply describe the feelings – use power words to compare the situation to being a superhero who’s forbidden to use their special powers.

Find the right analogy and you’ll conjure emotions more quickly and intensely than a simple description could ever achieve.

3. Lighten the Tone with Humor

Have you ever heard the term “seagull manager” — first coined in Ken Blanchard’s book Leadership and the One Minute Manager (affiliate link)?

Seagull managers fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everyone, then fly out.

Pretty funny, right?

Sometimes a carefully constructed analogy can bring much-needed humor to a dry topic.

Clever analogies like the seagull manager (and its close cousin the mushroom manager) are tricky to construct, which is why this is an advanced technique for power users only.

But if you find you have a gift for them, people could be quoting you for years to come.

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The Humble Analogy: Plug In, Power Up, and Take Off

Analogies are one of the most powerful tools in the writer’s toolbox.

Yes, they need careful handling, but if you follow the process above, finding the right analogy should be as simple as using a screwdriver or a saw.

Do it right and you’ll communicate — and educate — more elegantly and persuasively than ever before.

Your popularity will pick up, and that annoying plateau will soon become a distant memory.

So go ahead. Don’t be afraid. Open your toolbox.

The post How the Humble Analogy Can Give Your Writing More Punch appeared first on Smart Blogger.

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