The Launch Story: Why I’m Launching Content Hacker™

Picture of Julia McCoy

Julia McCoy

Creator and Co-founder

launch story of the content hacker

I’m so excited to reveal the brand I’ve been working hard on, Content Hacker™. 

It’s live, today. And I couldn’t be more thrilled to share this adventure and story with you.

Ready? Let’s chat about it.

The Story Behind The Content Hacker

Online content creation, specifically high-performing website content (web pages, blogs, corresponding emails), has become my “career home” through the past eight years. 

It’s been my favorite realm–a creativity outlet, and a full-time living–ever since I dropped out of college and a nursing degree back in 2011 at 19 years old to seek my passion. And psst…I’m writing a book on my life that will be out soon. Stay tuned for the book launch on my Instagram.

I’m a hard-knocks, bottom-line focused, reality-checking content creator.

My success is mostly driven from the hard work put in. It’s not at all luck. What everyone else is speculating about, I like to sit down, shut up, and do. In content, I’m a creator with zero time or patience for content that doesn’t work, and someone who will stay up well past midnight figuring out how to make it work. I’m a passion-driven content writer, motivated by a love for what I do, an online audience saying “wow, this helped me a ton.” I’m driven by seeing actual results in KPIs (SERP keyword rankings, traffic and shares), and blowing past every ‘average’ benchmark.

It helps that I have a passion for what I do.

Alongside writing, a natural love I’ve always had ever since my first spelling lesson, I’ve also had a natural, intrinsic curiosity in making real money “through the internet” ever since I saw my parents connect to a dialup modem, at seven years old.

Finding an avenue from “making money” to “content” simply delights me. It’s a sheer wonder that I can get online, type my heart out, and make more in a month than my parents did in a year back in the ’90s. 

So, there’s a little backstory about me. 

So, why Content Hacker, and why now? Let me answer those burning questions. 

Why Content Hacker?

The noun content hacker itself is barely five years old. It was first made a ‘thing’ by Garrett Moon of CoSchedule in 2014, who simply defined it as ‘growth-focused content marketer.’ Garrett pulled the term content hacker from Sean Ellis’ term, growth hacking, originally coined in 2010. Sean Ellis is the co-author of Hacking Growth and CEO of GrowthHackers.

As soon as I came across this term a few years ago, I put it in my back pocket, because I identified with it at a deep level. Almost as if I’d found my ideal descriptive. This term simply embodied me. (You might have already noticed I’ve been sliding this term into my social media profiles and author bios.)

Since learning my way around content creation, specifically on-site content (blogs, web pages), I can’t think of a better term than content hacking to describe my day-to-day lifestyle. Ever since I began my journey in content creation in 2011, I’ve worked hard to create and execute content in a lean way that directly relates to bottom-line growth. The clients we’ve written for throughout the years at Express Writers have also seen incredible success with the content we’ve written for them. 

Here’s what I’ve been able to achieve by ideating, managing, and writing over 1,000 blogs for my self-started agency, Express Writers’ Write Blog:

  • Earn and maintain 19,000 organic keyword positions in Google
  • Over 1 million site visitors/year
  • We outrank major competitors by at least 5%
  • We’ve obtained 100% of our agency leads and subsequent revenue (of $4.3M+) through content
  • Within 100,000th most popular website in the world
  • We’ve never spent a single penny on PPC ads
semrush results express writers
alexa rankings express writers
google analytics express writers

Another reason I love this term is that Garrett’s content marketing mission is so on point. Garrett’s company, CoSchedule, and Express Writers, my content agency, are like family in the content marketing field. CoSchedule is the big brother I look up to in content marketing standards, ROI, and quality. I was an early reviewer of Garrett’s book, 10x Marketing Formula, and his team has had me as a guest on both the CoSchedule podcast and webinars. 

Why Launch Content Hacker Now?

After much trial and error, creating and publishing high-caliber online content in a profitable way has become my second nature.

But, here’s the thing.

My content wasn’t always successful.

In fact, not for many years.

If we’re continuing on the honesty track, many of my best life lessons have come from the “Ph.D in Failure” university, a term from one of my favorite entrepreneurs Alex Rodriguez (a.k.a. A-Rod).

But, as I’ve worked in content for the past eight years, I’ve noticed a truth.

There is a serious lack of strategic ‘profitable content,’ or true growth-focused content, in the enormous efforts and investments by marketers and brands in content marketing today.

Backlinko recently did a study that showed 94% of the world’s content gets zero external links.

content gets no links brian dean

This means that 94% of content doesn’t get noticed enough to earn even a single backlink. (Ouch.)

I see a ton of same-old, same-old. Trying a few tricks here and there, hoping to tape-and-glue it — and our content efforts fail, time and time again.

I see content falling flat. Budgets fizzling out. No profits earned. 

And I think all the time, That’s fixable. 

Because it is. 

Content marketing, done right, is magical.

Seriously. 

And that’s why it’s high time for Content Hacker. Because elite, proven, working content marketing methodologies are needed — more than ever.

Ready for Profitable, Magical Content Marketing? (It’s Called Content Hacking)

As I enter my 9th year of full-time content marketing (the sole avenue I’ve used to grow Express Writers, my writing agency), I’m realizing it’s time.

Time to educate. Time to help. 

Time to lead.

Content marketing, and online content in general, needs more practical educators. Partnering with colleges. Agencies. Brands.

After building and teaching two online courses with hundreds of students, writing over 1,000 blogs on our site that have earned a base of 95k organic visitors each month, and serving thousands of businesses with strategic content writing services, I’ve seen firsthand a missing knowledge of how to do online content right that is widespread in our marketing world.

It’s time to put a stop to snooze-worthy or just plain bad content practices.

We need pioneers that aren’t afraid to stand up. There are many areas that need help. It’s not easy to sum up all the areas.

In a world where 3.2 billion people are using the internet, 99% of millennials are tuning out ads, and 40,000 users search Google every second, we cannot be unsure of or still forgetting the strategic foundation of what it takes to jumpstart greatness in content marketing. 

We cannot blatantly be ignoring or forgetting our target audience’s needs and wants. Or not doing the work of implementing a strategy.

Or, worse, are we sticking to boring practices, because they’re “safe” or “what we’ve always done”?

Let’s go a tad deeper–what about what we’re teaching in school? Do our young people graduate with internet-ready writing skills? The teaching in college ed on writing is still stuck in too much essay and fluff, and not enough practical guidance. There’s a gap in training on actual online writing skills that translate to “high-priority” in marketing jobs (writing good email, ad, blog, web page copy).

Frankly, our standards in marketing, both as practitioners and in the education arena, needs to be guided to a new level. 

I’m thankful and honored to know more than a few brands, marketers, and agencies that are breaking the mold.

But there are far too many today that still aren’t. 

And that’s why Content Hacker™ is here. 

My new brand serves several purposes:

First, Content Hacker is a resource for elite content marketing education, practices, systems and training. From our graduates in high school considering a marketing degree, to the marketer, agency, or freelancer that desperately needs this kind of help, to the solopreneur growing their brand from scratch.

Secondly, Content Hacker is the community I never had when I was a hard-knocks content creator, learning to build strong content the hard way. I want to inspire and bring in others besides myself who will help shine the light on the way forward.

And that’s why I’ve invited over 20 leading marketers to be interviewed in a special blog category we’re showcasing, Content Hacker Spotlights, telling the stories of those truly making a difference in marketing.

I cannot wait to unveil and share the INCREDIBLE experts who have given us an emphatic “yes” to these upcoming blog interviews.

Prepare to have your mind blown. 🤯

Thirdly, Content Hacker is my new “personal brand.” This will be a resource-heavy, inspiration-heavy site, first and foremost: never built to simply spam or sell you. But, alongside a schedule that includes over 50 amazing content pieces launching in the first six months (!), I’ve put together some great offerings with this brand, bringing you the best of my training, offerings, mentoring, consulting, and books within fingertips’ reach.  

serious business owner map

The Content Hacker’s Mission Statement

Crappy, same-old, ugly content is exactly what we rail against.

We will not, do not, create useless content. We will not push out mediocre content because it’s the “thing to do.”

Instead, our audience comes first, and we’re hell-bent on producing content that our tribe, our people will gobble up.

We’re constantly researching our audience, researching topics and keywords, testing new ideas, updating our knowledge, and trying new content marketing tools and methods that work.

Metrics mean nothing if they don’t correlate to real growth.

We are the future of content marketing because, in the end, we are the ones working to make the internet better.

We’re on a mission to create content that matters, content that builds trust and connection between audiences and brands.

Download the Content Hacker’s Motto in my Content Hacker’s Starter Kit.

content hacker starter kit CTA

Want to Guide the Future of Content Hacker?

The magic of content hacking is real. And today, with Content Hacker™, you can dive head-deep into my groundbreaking formulas for turning wishful-thinking content dreams into hard-and-fast profitable content reality. 

If you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and shift your content paradigm by learning the exact content marketing strategies I employ to get amazing results, I’d like to welcome you to the Content Hacker™ family. It’s great to have you here.

Apply today for your seat in my Content Transformation System — which includes ALL the methodologies, strategies, systems, and more I used to build sustainable, content-based businesses that reached six- and seven-figures, PLUS 1:1 guidance from yours truly + a team of hand-selected, expert coaches. (Whew!)

I’m beyond excited to see you inside the program! ❤

Become a Content Hacker

Collaborate with other growth-minded, savvy Content Hackers – plus a host of experts. The price of two coffees/month gets you in.