Rob Bhatt
writer, editor, consultant
Writing Samples
Please click on any headline to open a pdf of the article it identifies. As you scroll down the page, you'll see examples of the different types of articles I've produced over the years. This is just a small sample size of what I've done, and my best work is yet to come.
I currently work as a content writer for LendingTree. I have mostly been focusing on home and auto insurance since joining the company in August 2021. I earned an insurance license during the pandemic and briefly sold policies. Thanks to these experiences, our PR department has also tapped me to be one of our internal subject matter experts for media inquiries on various insurance topics.
Feature Writing
During my time as editor of AAA Washington's Journey magazine, I was in charge of developing engaging content on brand-centric topics. Although the travel and automotive articles were usually the most fun to work on, this ride-along with the highway patrol inspired a deeper look into the evolving nature of impaired driving. This article earned a Maggie Award nomination for best feature writing.
It's hard to take safety for granted when you're racing around a track at more than 100 mph. This article required me to head out to a local auto racing facility to get safe-driving tips directly from a uniquely qualified expert.
As a sports fan growing up in SoCal, I developed a fascination for emerging stars from up and down the entire West Coast. The interest I developed in Washington wine after moving to Seattle led to fun opportunities to meet two particularly notable athletic standouts. This led to my fun spin on the Apple Cup rivalry, which appeared in 425 Magazine.
News
Bidding Wars on Seattle Home Purchases Continue to Soar
Before joining the team at LendingTree in 2021, I had an opportunity to contribute to Seattle Agent Magazine, a digital publication for real estate agents. The company provided a mix of news and feature articles on various real estate topics.
Homes Listed on Thursdays Before Labor Day Perform Best
Here's another quick-hit news item I wrote for Seatte Agent Magazine. In one of my previous lives, I was the courts-and-crime beat newspaper for a daily newspaper. This helped me develop the ability to produce news articles rather quickly.
New Owners Breathe Life into the Historic Captain Whidbey Inn
Here's a piece that injects elements of feature writing into a news story. The team that renovated this tired old inn injected a fresh shot of energy into a historic site, without taking away from the character of the property or its surroundings.
Maryhill Takes Center Stage in Woodinville
Here's another piece that brings the elements of feature writing into a newsy topic. Needless to say, this was fun to research and write.
Travel
It's pretty amazing to think about what travel was like before the pandemic. Even though this piece is a bit old, it's still an accurate reflection of my approach to travel narratives. There's a little bit of a newswriter's tone in some of the passages, but overall, I believe it engages readers on emotional and intellectual levels.
Even in travel writing, less can be more. During my time at Journey magazine, we regularly ran two-page destination profiles that provided readers with a convenient guide to cool places, including those that were not getting a lot of attention from other media outlets in our market.
As a writer, I prefer long-form narrative features to roundups. But as a reader, I find myself drawn equally to both. When the opportunity arose to put together a roundup of cool Washington state hotels for 425 Magazine, I jumped at the chance. I tried to emphasize what makes each property unique, while keeping the content fresh and easy-to-scan.
10 Cool Things to Do in Phoenix
Speaking of travel roundups, here's an item that looks at spring fun in the Valley of the Sun. The article was scheduled to coincide with the time of year when baseball fans head to the Phoenix area to catch spring training baseball. This article helps guide people some of the cool lesser-known experiences they could enjoy when they were not at one of the local ballparks.
Content Marketing
I see this article is a short, sweet example of my approach to content marketing. This is a print article I wrote for AAA's Journey magazine in 2018. AAA is a national authority on traffic safety issues. In this case, I shared findings from AAA sponsored research on the dangers of using hands-free in-car technology while driving.
Regular unleaded? Plus? Or Premium? These are the questions that everyone has probably asked themselves at least once at the gas pump. It was fun to share findings from this informative study from AAA's national automotive-engineering team. We didn't have very much space for the article, so I focused on the key takeaways, while trying to keep it engaging.
I caught the insurance bug while researching insurance topics for Journey magazine. While AAA has a clear interest in selling insurance, I tried to keep our articles informative rather than sales-y. Our readers seemed to prefer this approach, and the article still had conversion potential.
An Extra Layer of Protection From Life's Uncertainties
There is a tendency to attract insurance customers by scaring them with horror stories of financial ruin. In this article for AAA, I flipped the script. In the process of sharing a story of insurance gone right, this article also reinforces AAA's reputation as an insurance company you can trust. This approach also has the potential to attract clients.
Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners
Here's an article that still shows up when you Google me. I wrote this for a digital marketing company that was generating leads for colleges and other schools. The one was designed to attract prospective students to the site. It's an early example of my approach to SEO writing.