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Word Wise Blog: Content Writing Made Easy
Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content , with 750K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.
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Aug 28, 2025
Write a 1-page business plan
Writing a business plan is a key step when starting your business or nonprofit. Thereafter, it is also a very helpful annual exercise.
Creating a business plan is different than creating a strategic plan, which outlines your ...
Aug 27, 2025
Do you limit your reach by writing just 1 type of content?
In the video, the doctor placed special headphones on a baby with a hearing deficit — and the baby heard his mother’s voice for the first time. Smiles, giggles, and laughter punctuated the soundtrack. I leaned over and shared the video with my husband. He grinned.
I’d just consumed a piece of inspiration. It’s one of the 4 types of content in a magic mix that transforms strangers into loyal readers (and loyal clients and loyal customers).
Successful writers publish all four...
Continue reading "Do you limit your reach by writing just 1 type of content?"
Aug 26, 2025
How to write an email subject line that gets the open
Email subject lines are a type of headline.
And there are additional headline-writing specifics that go with writing a subject line: keep it short, be specific, write with urgency, and use your name in the “From” line rather than the name of your organization.
But you need to have a bit of fun, too, so that your email subject lines get the “Open” click...
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Aug 25, 2025
Content Writer vs. Copywriter: What's the Difference?
Content writer vs copywriter: the two terms are often used interchangeably.
And to be fair, the two specialties have much in common. Both content writing and copywriting are forms of persuasive writing.
At issue isn’t the persuasive nature that permeates articles, posts, emails, ads, direct mail, eBook, social media, podcasts — nearly all forms of web writing. Both a content writer and a copywriter use ...
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Aug 24, 2025
How to chose your domain name
In Bible times, parents often waited a year or more to name a baby.
Time revealed a child’s temperament. Parents observed a child to gain insights into his nature before choosing what to call him. A child’s name reflected an element of his character or destiny.
A name, in those days, became synonymous with an individual’s reputation.
Just as a child’s main character traits helped to determine his name, your website’s ...
Aug 23, 2025
Don't miss this first crucial step in a successful grant propposal
It was the third year I’d been writing grant proposals to this particular funder – unsuccessfully.
For the past two years, I had prepared a letter of inquiry (LOI), but I had not been invited to submit a full application.
What had I missed in the past two tries that had failed to ...
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Aug 22, 2025
Build your resume
Whether you’re building a resume for the first time or you’re updating yours after years in the marketplace, Your Reusable Resume Builder is THE place to gather and organize your information.
The Resume Builder takes the frustration and stress out of putting together your resume. It guides you through each section of your resume and explains what information to include – no matter what job you’re seeking...
Aug 21, 2025
Use this simple appeal letter template for your next fundraising campaign
Oh, how I wish I had this fundraising letter template when I first started writing for nonprofits and ministries!
I'd just completed a fantastic copywriting course and I’d learned basic skills. But I struggled to modify those tools to the nonprofit and ministry marketplace.
I knew that I needed to use all those yummy persuasive copywriting techniques, but I also knew that ...
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Aug 20, 2025
This article format gets 2X more traffic than others
List + Article = Listicle (pronounced list-ick-KUHL, like “popsicle.”)
It’s a catchall phrase for any article in list form.
Listicles are popular for lots of reasons: they are fun to read, easy to write, offer practical or unusual information, and are sharable – which is especially important online.
And they drive 2x more traffic than other types of content because ...
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Aug 19, 2025
It's easy to start planning NOW for a strong finish in 2025
A simple year-end appeal timeline can help you stay on schedule in communicating with partners and prospects.
It gets busy. Remember?
This is particularly important as the calendar turns over from August to September, and then creeps closer to December, especially if you're a solopreneur, small bix, or nonprofit...
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Aug 18, 2025
Should you write a free eBook? Take the quiz to find out
Should you write a free eBook?
A book is a powerful piece of intellectual property. The idea of investing all that effort in writing a book and then figuring out how to get it digitally published can seem like a monumental task. Offering it for free appears to be counterintuitive at best and foolish at worst.
Yet writing an eBook can be an attractive project to undertake. An eBook can be ...
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Aug 17, 2025
Two words: which of them should you use?
"Utilize" versus "use." Grammarians say that the distinction between the two words has disappeared. Any shade of difference in meaning is inconsequential.
Which begs the question: why does any content writer or copywriter use the word "utilize" when "use" will do?
Content writers are taught to write like ...
Aug 16, 2025
How publish your book without a contract
In Bible times, the “how to publish” question did not involve finding an agent or choosing a publisher.
If you were literate and had something important to say, you could write it down and share it. Your publishing platform was ...
Aug 15, 2025
Busy? Overwhelmed? Start by taking just one step like this ...
It's easy to get busy, distracted, and overwhelmed. You beat yourself up and then focus on what you don’t do.
Just Take A Step points out what you can do. Each of the eight chapters of this ...
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Aug 14, 2025
Don't have a newsletter? Here's why it's a great time to start one NOW
Should you create an email newsletter? Many writers ask if starting a newsletter has benefits for their freelance biz. And if you’re a small business owner, blogger, or solopreneur, you may wonder if the effort is worth your time.
My answer: yes. And not just because everybody’s doing it. You need to be convinced that starting an email newsletter is right for you because ...
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Aug 13, 2025
Busy writer? Here's how to DIY your social media marketing (easy)
I’m not a marketer. But I know the value of having a marketing plan for social media. Social media is free and it’s accessible to everyone. That means I can reach plenty of people in my niche with just a little bit of intentionality.
But social media marketing has fast become a specialty. And I can't compete with the experts who ...
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Aug 12, 2025
3 story writing mistakes to avoid (unless you want to lose yoru reader)
One of the biggest story writing mistakes you can make is to use an example, rather than make your point with a full-blooded story. Stories are the perfect opportunity to show, rather than tell.
But a story needn’t be complicated to make a point...
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Aug 11, 2025
How to write an opening paragraph for your blog post or article
Your blog post has its best chance for success when you write an opening paragraph that pulls in the reader. Notice I didn’t say opening paragraphs (plural.) I said opening paragraph (singular.)
Yep, just one.
And that first paragraph is a bigger.
Because Rachel Reader has plenty of options, thanks to the online information overload. Your opening paragraph can lead her through the rest of the post.
Or not...
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Aug 10, 2025
Writers- it's not the format you choose that gives you authority
What sets an author apart from a mere writer?
Even the word gurus cannot agree on the distinction. Merriam-Webster defines an author as “the writer of a literary work” while The Oxford Dictionary defines an author as “a writer of a book, article, or document.”
Meaning that genre – what she writes – doesn’t define an author.
Digging further, I finally got somewhere when ...
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Aug 09, 2025
How to make your point with a metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech. You use it to describe one thing by comparing it directly to another.
A metaphor equates the two items, as in, “Matt is a couch potato.”
The metaphor paints in your mind an image of a lump on a sofa.
Yet obviously, Matt is not a type of tuber vegetable, but an ...
Aug 08, 2025
Writing Devotionals That Stick: take the online course
Devotionals are a unique genre. And you can write them!
Writing Devotionals That Stick is a full-length, online course that walks with you step-by-step as you learn to write devotionals in a way that stays with today’s busy, distracted readers.
Leaders, entrepreneurs, students, moms, professionals, writers – or those who want to be – have learned to write devotionals by using the principles found in this course...
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Aug 07, 2025
6 tips for writing powerful copy for your book jacket
When I wrote my first book, I needed tips for writing good copy for the book jacket – the blurb on the back of the book.
It’s a step that’s easy to overlook. But it’s uber-important, especially if you’re self-publishing.
Think about how you choose books to read.
You look at the title. Then you flip it over and read the jacket blurb or the “Look Inside” summary on Amazon. After the title, the content on the jacket is the most-read element of your book...
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Aug 06, 2025
6 secrets to writing effective subheads
You see subheads in magazine articles, direct mail, newspaper pieces … but maybe you never knew they had a name.
Subheads (short for subheadings) act like miniature headlines. They introduce a new section of your content.
You use them in articles, blog posts, web pages, copy – and yes, books...
Aug 05, 2025
Use these 3 tips to increae your email open rate
Your email open rate measures the number of people that view (“open”) your electronic message.
It’s expressed as a percentage. The open rate is configured by the number of people who view an email divided by the number you sent (minus bounces.)
The rate is measured through a bit of embedded HTML code that requests a tiny, invisible image from web servers. When the email is opened, the server meets the request (it sends the tiny, invisible image to the reader) and then records that download as an open.
Obviously, the higher the open rate for your email campaign, the better...
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Aug 04, 2025
Swap out these 7 overused words for more powerful writing
Whether you’re a brand-new writer or an old pro, be on the lookout for specific, overused writing words in your content.
These words are vague and nondescript. It’s tempting to use them because they’re an easy “out.”
But they weaken your content. As you re-write, exchange them for different writing words that are vivid, colorful, imaginative, or even graphic.
Weak writing words fall into one of three categories...
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