Some of the Copyblogger Team’s Favorite Writing and Content Sites

Here at Copyblogger, we’ve always been in love with writers.

So we thought it would be fun to wrap up the year with a collection of some favorite blogs and podcasts that teach writing, showcase writing, or help writers. This is very much a partial list — so if you have a favorite site that you don’t see here, let us all know about it in the comments!

While we love the “big guns” like Seth’s Blog and MarketingProfs, we tried to focus on some sites you may have not necessarily found yet. Some of them are quite popular; others are still hidden gems.

In no particular order, here are some sites we think are dandy.

Copyhackers

Blog

When you need some stone-cold copywriting advice, you need Copyhackers.

They aren’t afraid to dig into the meaty stuff, and they feature a wealth of ultra specific copy and conversion advice, as well as cover pragmatic topics for freelancers like the right way to use (relevant) cold emails to get copywriting clients.

The Creative Penn

Blog and podcast

Joanna Penn knows just about everything about how to write and market a book, and she uses The Creative Penn to teach them to the rest of us. Her content is specific, comprehensive, and insanely useful, including articles looking at whether you should crowdfund your book or how to adapt your novel into a screenplay.

Orbit Media

Blog and podcast

Orbit Media Studios isn’t a content marketing firm, but they use content brilliantly to build a loyal clientele for their Chicago-area design firm.

Led by Andy Crestodina, Orbit is known for great advice on content strategy, analytics, and web design. Every year they run a massive survey of bloggers, and their blog always offers solid tips, often featuring comprehensive original research.

Jane Friedman

Blog

Jane Friedman’s many years of experience in the publishing industry inform her wonderful blog that helps authors with their careers. Her content features topics like how to launch a book if you’re a first-time author with no audience and how to find a literary agent for your book.

B2B Launcher

Blog and podcast

Ed Gandia is on a mission to help freelancers get better clients — and enough of them to make a great living. (We like this mission.) He also has resources including checklists and cheat sheets for freelancers at various levels of experience.

Ed’s podcast covers writer-friendly topics like options for health insurance for U.S. freelancers and thoughts on different ways to think about your niche.

Brain Pickings

Blog

Maria Popova’s blog is a legendary labor of love and always a fascinating read. Writers might particularly enjoy gems like The Daily Routines of Great Writers.

BlackFreelance

Blog and private community

Megan at BlackFreelance knows how to find clients, how to get results for those clients, and how to manage your life and income as a freelancer. The site includes lots of resources of particular interest to black freelancers, including a free workbook and a stream of clear-eyed advice that’s both encouraging and realistic.

Tara Gentile

Blog and podcast

I’ve been a fan of Tara Gentile for a long time, and she’s been creating a lot of terrific text and audio content for small businesses that want a warm, real voice about what it takes to make things work. Her Profit, Power, Pursuit podcast interviews go deep into the critical issues that business owners need to wrestle with.

I also really like Tara’s private community, Co-Commercial. It’s a bit like Facebook, except instead of wasting time arguing with your friends’ racist in-laws, you’re making friendships and connections with other business owners.

The Content Direction Agency

Blog

Lacy Boggs is a terrific writer, and she’s not afraid to ask if your marketing has jumped the shark. I love her voice and style, and she has a lot of sound advice on content marketing strategy for all levels.

Jessica Abel

Blog and podcast

Those of you who listen to the Copyblogger FM podcast may already know that I have a giant brain-crush on Jessica Abel. She has that combination I just can’t resist: pragmatism, compassion, and a great writing voice.

Her book on productivity for creative people, Growing Gills, is genuinely useful, and she also offers lots of solid resources to help you get more work done.

Make a Living Writing

Blog

When Carol Tice says she’s obsessed with helping writers earn what they deserve, she’s not kidding around. Make a Living Writing has been helping freelance writers for years now and offers a wealth of content on nitty-gritty topics like the questions to ask to make your failing blog earn and how to become a freelancer even if you’re living paycheck to paycheck.

SmartBlogger

Blog

SmartBlogger was founded by our friend Jon Morrow. Today it’s expanded to a multi-author blog with plenty of punchy content and writing advice. You’ll learn what dumb mistakes to avoid when you’re writing your first ebook and edits that will make your writing more powerful.

Some more lists!

If you need more to read or listen to, Positive Writer put together his own list of top blog posts for writers. And for podcast lovers, The Write Life and Kindlepreneur both offered podcast roundups featuring some great stuff.

And a great example of content marketing done right

Our Editor-in-Chief, Stefanie Flaxman, wanted us to highlight a site that has nothing to do with writing or content marketing — but that shows how to attract audience attention and build authority, even in an ultra crowded topic.

Here’s what Stefanie had to say about it:

When a video from Pick Up Limes popped up on my YouTube home page in early 2017, I checked it out and noticed the channel had about 500 subscribers.

I enjoyed the video, watched more previously posted ones since Pick Up Limes launched on January 9, 2017, and looked forward to new content each week.

Within a short period of time, the Pick Up Limes YouTube channel had thousands of subscribers.

And now the channel has more than 650,000 subscribers. All of that happened in 2017.

Sadia Badiei is the creator of Pick Up Limes. She’s a warm, professional, and polished on-camera host who is focused on providing value and not wasting her audience’s time.

The growth of her platform is a testament to the power of content when:

• You’re a subject matter expert. (She’s a Dietitian.)
• You have both a high-quality and creative approach to your topic.
• You implement short-term and long-term strategies.

What are some of those strategies?

In each video, Sadia always asks viewers to “Like and Subscribe.” As I previously mentioned, she has a relaxed, friendly vibe, so it never seems pushy.

Also, downloadable checklists, guides, and shopping lists often accompany her videos. Writing notes can take the joy of out watching a video, so Sadia’s PDFs help viewers by providing the most important takeaways in one convenient place.

Perhaps most importantly, Sadia drives viewers to her website. Whenever she mentions a recipe in a video — and she has already written the recipe on her blog (not a coincidence) — she flashes a subtle “recipe alert” note on the screen.

For viewers, this inspires thoughts of “Nice! I can find out more!” When you find a person you resonate with who offers information you find helpful, subscribing to their content is both effortless and satisfying.

If anyone is concerned that “there’s no way to stand out today” and “there are already too many blogs to read,” Pick Up Limes is a great example that those thoughts simply aren’t true.

I don’t know Sadia personally, nor have we ever communicated — not even on social media. I’m just a lover of hard work and outstanding content. 🙂

Final note from Sonia: Thanks to Kelton Reid and Stefanie Flaxman for their help putting this list together!