The main principles of content development are familiar to every online writer: uniqueness, quality, value, and focus. You know you have to provide top-notch content that will awaken the interest of your target audience, and you need to commit to a publication schedule to make your loyal readers happy. The only question is: how exactly do you achieve that?
Content marketing is an evolving category, so you need to update your approach towards writing as you follow the trends. Although you won’t have to make radical changes in style and form, you’ll still need to use some tricks to attract more readers and convince them to take a particular action.
The following 10 tips will help you create more attractive, shareable content that will help you achieve the results you aim for.
1. Make it Readable
You may choose the perfect subject, strategize your approach and provide really valuable information, but the piece will be completely useless if you don’t make it readable. The reader should stay focused when he goes through the text. Do not distract him with any digressions and make the paragraphs and sentences short.
Don’t leave huge blocks of text on the page. When you break them up with headings, sub-headings and lists, the format itself will contribute towards greater readability.
2. Don’t Be Afraid of Long, Elaborate Articles
The principles of clarity and simplicity do not collide with length. As long as you don’t use fillers for the sake of publishing more content, a longer post will attract diligent readers who want to get into details. Short posts are fun and effective, but the elaborate publications are valuable in the long term.
Do your research and use the information you find to construct a longer, high-quality article that will add value to the base of online content. Aim above 800 words if you want to attract serious readers, who will be eager to comment on the post.
3. Make it Fun
Humor is a huge factor of appeal. Go through the most successful blogs from different niches. Fun is the main thing they have in common. People respond well to writers with a natural sense of humor, which humanizes the website. If you make a reader laugh, you’ll know you’re a successful content writer.
Fun, relaxed content is also more readable. Don’t be afraid to add a hint of sarcasm, but do not get offensive under any circumstances.
4. Find The Right Questions And Answer Them
Great writers have a peculiar talent: they know how to ask questions. You have completed a nice piece of content? That’s awesome! During the editing stage, you need to place yourself in the position of a reader. What questions would you ask? Are there any gaps in the information? You need to serve everything, so your reader won’t need to hit Google in order to find the answers.
This strategy will help you gain more readers. They will ask their questions and Google will lead them to the place with answers – your site.
5. Write Evergreen Content
It doesn’t matter what niche you are focused on; you can always discover topics with universal value. Cover them! If you have a great team of content writers, you can afford multiple daily publications with short-term value. If that’s not your case, you have to get the most out of your current efforts by publishing content for continued use.
For example, you can write a long how-to post or a listicle that will be relevant years from now. Think about the posts you’ve already published. Can you adjust them to make them relevant again? Remind the audience to read some old posts by mentioning them in your tweets and Facebook updates. This approach will help you benefit from a single piece for a long period of time.
6. Don’t Write For Google. Your Readers Are Human!
Keywords are awesome. You should certainly infuse the right words and phrases that help Google locate your content and recommend it to its users. However, you should not go overboard with this practice. If you use too many keywords, the text will seem like it was written by a robot. Your readers won’t interact with such content.
With all those tools you use to gain greater visibility, it’s easy to forget about the human component that connects the writer with the reader. Talk to your audience! Ask questions and listen to their feedback. Communicate with them in the comments section, and don’t forget to connect via social media platforms. They should perceive your personality through the content you write.
7. Tell Stories
Great writers sure know how to tell a story. They grab your attention and you’re not interested in anything else until you find out where the plot will get you. That’s the effect you want to achieve through your online content. Storytelling is a useful strategy for blogging and article writing. Of course, that doesn’t mean you’ll publish short stories. You’ll only implement the principles of this type of writing into your own form and style.
When you write with sheer facts, data and information that’s easily available online, your content won’t be captivating. Use examples from real life to tell a story related to the topic. Such a tone will instantly make you a more appealing writer.
8. Always Choose Quality Over Quantity
Your readers loved your previous posts and kept asking for more? That might tempt you to change your publication schedule. Think very carefully before you take that step: will you be able to achieve the same level of quality if you force yourself to write more?
If you can delegate some of the tasks to a team, then you can easily increase the volume of content you publish. For example, services like Australian Writings provide assistance by talented writers and editors. You can simply give the instructions and wait for your custom-tailored content to be ready on time. However, If you carry everything on your own back, it would be best to stick within the routine you’ve already established.
9. Measure The Results
Although technology can add complexity to your content marketing approach, it’s necessary for you to use some tools to track the performance of your pieces. Google Analytics, Scoop.it, Quintly, Buffer, and Addvocate are only a few of the tools that enable you to get insights of the results your online publications achieve.
The quantitative data you get will help you optimize your strategy, so you’ll produce better results with less effort.
10. Write For Your Target Audience
This is the ultimate tip that every content writer should keep in mind. Who is your target reader? What would he want to read at this very moment? Remember: you are writing for an audience; not for customers. Even when you’re trying to convince the readers to take a particular action, you should still make them feel good about spending time reading the article you served. They want to learn something new with each post they encounter.
Evolve!
You can’t achieve your highest point as a content writer. There is always room for improvement, so you need to learn, practice, and experiment with new approaches that attract more readers. The ten tips above can serve as a starting point in your journey, but remember that there are always new heights to explore.
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