Your followers trust what you write, despite being told not to believe everything they read on the internet. Content writing – whether good or bad – is one of the major deciding factors in how a consumer views your brand. Not your employees, not your prices.
You don’t want your precious time and research wasted, so make sure the content you provide is top notch. If your article were a recipe, then the following would be a few key ingredients for awesome content writing.
Use a Captivating Headline for your Content
The headline is the attention grabber. If you are scrolling through a search engine, you don’t have pattern interrupt images, gorgeous photos or interesting video to capture attention – you only have your headline and a snippet. A well crafted headline can be as captivating as a video of an import race car skating underneath a semi truck. Well… almost.
Use Subheadings for Organization
Subheadings are great. They allow the user to easily navigate your article and provide a more professional layout. Have you ever read an article where everything runs together and you can’t tell when the topics change? You don’t want that article to be yours. Use subheadings. Also, subheadings can contain SEO keywords, which will benefit you in search engine rankings.
Use keywords for Better SEO
Speaking of SEO, you want to make sure that your content is keyword rich. What good is the best article if nobody can find it? You want to make sure everyone who even thinks about searching for your topic can find your article, so make sure you use plenty of keywords. Be aware that you can overdo it, however and then your article will come off as spammy. (Wait, is “spammy” a word?)
Focus on a Single Purpose
Don’t get so caught up in the length of the article or in the intent to share so much information that you begin straying from the topic. Stay true to your Headline. The paragraphs within your masterpiece should all relate directly to said headline. Any sidebar topics should be noted and save for future blog posts. The goal here is to not confuse your reader. If they are reading your article about boxing training, don’t mention training for a 5k. Yes, boxers run, but the 5k has nothing to do with your article.
Know your Audience
This is important. You have to know who you are talking to. You wouldn’t talk to a room full of teens the same way that you would a room full of senior citizens. There is a different tone, different slang, different analogies used, etc. If I told my grandmother that I was big mad because my day one was beefing with some of the homies, she’d think I was crazy.
Write in Active Voice with Strong verbs
I don’t want to turn this into an English class, so I will only briefly explain active voice: Active voice is a sentence in which the subject is identified and performs an action via a representative verb. Active voice plays an important role in creative and business writing because it is clear and to the point. Active voice is more interesting and attention grabbing. Active voice gives energy and life to a sentence and does so with fewer words.
There are other key ingredients for awesome content writing, but this should serve as a good starting point. Use these ingredients and prepare to go viral!
Author: Donnell Peavy