How to Write Superior Content That Sells
The nice thing about blogs is that it’s like you’re having a nice little chat with someone. Granted, it’s a bit one sided but the main purpose is to solve a pressing need or problem for your reader.
With over 400 million blogs out there how does one capture the attention of their target audience?
Not only capture it, but hold it?
If your reader is scanning your material (and you betcha, they are), it’s got to be easy to read and able to able to hold a short attention span.
Readability should be your objective. It took me a while to get this as my ‘readability’ plug in keeps reminding me:/
Your audience has to be able to find what they’re looking for and quick!
Of course you gain points if you can also be captivating, controversial, thought provoking, meaningful, engaging and perhaps even stick some meaningful verses in there!
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Write Superior Content Faster? Heck Yes!
If you want to gain people’s attention you need to master certain skills.
These are:
- Define the purpose of your content
- Build trust and credibility in your relationship
- Learn how to inspire others
- Define your intentions
- Become a mind reader – get into people’s heads and solve their most urgent problems
- Be controversial and/or amuse your audience
Make sure your content is delivering the message right by using these 10 tips to write superior content.
1. Talk to Your Readers As If They Were Your Best Friend
You care about your best friend and what’s going on in their world.
Ask your reader questions.
Get to know them. Inquire about their lives and what struggles they’re having.
Use words your friend is familiar with. Remember the Billy Joel song “Just The Way You Are”…
‘I don’t want clever conversation, I never want to work that hard’
Well, neither does your audience. They want a simple, straight forward message that isn’t hard to decipher.
Sure, you need to hold attention but that doesn’t mean you need to be crude, necessarily.
I will admit I love Mark Manson’s messages but for me personally sometimes too many F words thrown around can be somewhat be distracting.
He’s an effing awesome writer without them;)
This seems to be a trend with a lot of writers nowadays. And some of them are majorly successful!
I know there’s all sorts of studies that people who curse are deemed to be more trustworthy blah, blah but overall I don’t recommend tossing in the F bomb in every other sentence.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just old fashioned.
Case in point:
2. Transitions should be smooth and logical
Arrange your content in an order which is logical.
This helps with flow and speed. Otherwise everything has a chopped kitchen salad feeling.
226 Transitional Words Every Writer Should Know
3. Emulate the Best Writers
Develop a reading habit that soaks up the best writers in the field you are writing within.
i.e. Copyblogger, Smart Blogger, Ryan Biddulph, Ash Ambirge
Learn their language to build your own way of writing in a way that is natural for your audience.
4. The Most Thought Should Be Given To Your Title
Headlines are the most critical hurdle. If no one clicks on your headline say “buh bye!”
How many crappy articles have you clicked on that had such an intriguing headline that you just had to click on out of insatiable curiosity?
Headlines are the reader’s first impression of your content.
Use a tool from the pros; (i.e. Smart Blogger Headline Hacks) for some winning strategies.
How to Write Magnetic Headlines That Sell Anything
Here are 6 ways to write marketing content that sells and tells your story:
1. Offer relevant information. Your readers are most likely looking for information that will help them solve a challenge or a need. Write content that clearly explains why your products and services will help them achieve their goals.
2. Guide them. When creating relevant and engaging content, avoid industry jargon and use plain language that your audience would use so that they can easily understand your offer. The same thought process applies when selecting keywords for online content that would be worded in a way that readers would actually use for search.
3. Use Citations. Use facts and figures from trustworthy sources to back up statements that you make. It’s okay to use customer reviews to support your claims, but it is not okay to self-proclaim your business the best in your town or city. When citing research or supportive data, always cite the source.
4. Be Mindful of SEO. If you produce content online, it needs to be able to be found on search engines. Search engines have a set of rules (known as an algorithm) to find and serve content based on the keywords or search phrases you enter in your search box on Google or Bing. To meet their algorithm requirements, your content should be a minimum of 300 words and be centered around a focus keyword your readers will use to search for it.
5. What should people do? A clear, relevant call-to-action should be included in the content you create. Your story may be compelling but your prospects want to know what the next steps are in doing business with you.
A call-to-action invites your prospects to take these next steps and guides them to a landing page for an offer or other information that is relevant to your product or service. Including a call-to-action in your content is an important step in your overall inbound marketing strategy.
6. Change it up. One piece of content can be repurposed several ways.
For example, if you’ve created an infographic, you can write a blog post about it.
Older content can be refreshed with newer information. Even sharing pieces of longer content on your social media profiles counts as repurposing. Different audiences consume media differently and your content marketing strategy should accommodate this.
More Ways to Write Superior Content
5. Subheadings Keep You Organized
Subheadings can give you a great guide to get started with ideas.
You won’t necessarily follow the exact path but they can give you a range of ideas to reference.
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6. Write Eye-Catching Quotes, Images & Giphs
Video killed the radio star. Most viral content these days is video.
Get on board with it and you’ll get more engagement.
Should you be on You Tube? In a word. Yes.
Animoto – The Simple Way to Create Marketing Videos
7. Write Shorter Paragraphs & Sentences
This will improve readability scores.
Long blocks of text will make your audience drift off…zzzz
“Brevity is the soul of wit”. – Hamlet
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8. Pick up Your Phone to Record Ideas
Along with reminding yourself to pick up that Keto cheesecake you’ve been hankering for for dinner, talk into it to record your ideas before distraction occurs.
No more excuses that you forgot that idea or lost that scrappy note.
“The biggest lie I ever tell myself is that I’ll remember it later”.
9. Write First, Then Edit
If you find yourself blessed to be in the writer’s zone take advantage of those opportune moments.
Who cares about how it looks, you can always edit later.
10. Use Tools to Edit the Content
Grammarly and Hemingway are by far the best editing tools for professional writers.
25 Best Writing Tools for Writers
Perfect Your Skills Over Time
Keep honing your skills. Writing is an art and takes as much practice as playing Rachmaninoff.
Don’t sweat over every word.
Read everything out loud. If it sounds forced or fake change it. Writing should have a natural flow to it.
Don’t be afraid to add your personality into the mix.
Unless you’re writing technical manuals for submarine parts you don’t want your writing to be as dry as my flaky elbows.
In the end it should all come together like a neat little puzzle and make sense as well as be somewhat ticklish to your reader.
Contact the expert writers at Fat Joe to add regular blog posts to your site for 3.5x more business –
More Resources:
- 9 Blog Posts That Will Always Make Money
- 10 Secrets to Becoming a Successful Full Time Freelancer
- How to Create an Epic Social Media Strategy
- How to Keep Your Blog Running While You’re Away
- 7 Marketing Tips for The New Age of Social Media
- 13 Ways Social Media Will SkyRocket Your Business in 2020
- 7 Tips to Make Passive Income on Etsy
- How to Start Your Epic Career as a Freelance Writer
- Copywriter vs. Content Writer – Which Do You Need?
Hey there! Thanks for writing such a helpful post. All the necessary stuff has been covered.
Might I add though that website design and accessibility also contribute to the effectiveness of a blog post. A good website design makes the reader stick around for much longer, and help you improve bounce rates.
If you’ve seen a website with a stunning design, you know what I mean!
Keep up the great work 🙂
Hi Mia, thank you for your comment! I definitely agree that a stunning website design is paramount in converting readers into customers. This post was more focused on the copywriting aspect and how to grab a readers attention through various writing techniques. This post here goes more into aspects that everyone needs for a website in general:) THanks again for taking the time to post! https://socialbuzzhive.com/blog/2018/05/02/your-website-blogsite-must-haves