Content writing can be a challenge. Research shows that marketers believe that it is the most effective form of outreach, yet many of them admit that their copy falls well short of the market.
For entrepreneurs, this isn’t acceptable. If you want your business to have a brand voice and stand out from the crowd, the writing has to be on point, according to Forbes.com.
The issue isn’t so much a lack of skill as it is a lack of know-how. Most people understand how to write intrinsically. But doing it in a way that actually engages audiences is less obvious. Entrepreneurs often wind up creating something that sounds great to them (and is grammatically correct), but doesn’t push their audience’s buttons.
The aim of this article is to show you how you can create better business content. It’s not as complicated as you might think. Much of it involves following simple rules that you can apply easily across the board.
Keep Your Headline to Around 60 To 70 Characters
Here’s a super simple way to start: keep your headline short.
Research from Facebook and Twitter shows that headline length strongly correlates with engagement. As the length increases from zero to around sixty characters, it rises. Then, after 70 it begins to trail off again. Once headlines reach 200 characters, they get virtually no engagement at all.
It seems like such a simple thing, but it makes a big difference. Aim for the sweet spot of 60 to 70 characters and watch how you immediately start getting more clicks.
Keep The Intro Interesting
Even if a user clicks on your content, they may not read on. If you immediately launch into dry prose, then it won’t matter how compelling your title is. Your audience will quickly get bored and start looking for more interesting content elsewhere.
The trick here is to write an interesting introduction. You want to say something that creates immediate rapport with your audience and gives them confidence that if they continue reading, it will all be worthwhile.
A good place to start is with a promise. Just tell your audience what they’ll get out of the post if they read it to the end.
Another option is to use humor that makes it clear you understand your audience’s problems. When you empathize like this and make it funny at the same time, it’s rewarding for the reader.
Make Your Tips Actionable
If you do a search like “SEO tips,” you’ll see a bunch of articles come up that have the word “actionable” in the headline. But why?
It all comes down to what audiences want. Reading for the sake of it can be fun sometimes, but the main purpose of consuming business content is to get useful information from it. If tips are actionable, it means that the reader can apply them in their own lives and improve their situation.
Provide An Outline Of The Article
If you’re writing a long article – say more than 1,500 words – it helps to write an outline at the start that explains what your audience can expect to get out of the article. Most brands, for instance, include a contents table at the start with links to the various sections. Users can then click on those links and read passages most relevant to them.
Be Knowledgeable
At the core of business content writing is your knowledge. The more you know and understand the issues your audience faces, the better position you’re in to help them.
However, many businesses don’t do this. Instead, they create fluffy, irrelevant content that doesn’t really help anyone. At best, it is mildly entertaining.
Imagine, for example, if all this article talked about was the importance of great content, but never actually shows you what to do to create it. You would read through the entire thing and at the end of it, you wouldn’t be in a better position to go out and create content yourself. That’s not helpful.
Write In A Brand Voice
Writing in a unique brand voice is helpful because it helps to make your company appear more consistent. Imagine, for instance, if you ran a luxury watch business but your brand voice was rough, ready, informal and rude. It wouldn’t make much sense. And it would confuse customers endlessly. They would wonder why you wrote in such an appalling way when you are trying to sell high-end items.
Write Engagingly
As your audience gets deeper into the articles that you write, they will continue to demand value from them. Having a good headline and introduction isn’t enough. You have to grab their attention throughout.
Don’t write articles as though they are dry Wikipedia entries. If you reject all playfulness and adventure in your writing, then it will be dull and boring, and people won’t read it.
Instead, write engagingly, even if your brand is serious. The more helpful and enticing you can make your content, the more likely people will be to get to the end.
Keep It On Point
Waffling on and drifting all over the place with your ideas can cause your audience to switch off, so don’t do it. Instead, always answer their questions immediately and head-on, particularly if your subheadings are questions.
This strategy helps in Google too. The search giant will usually scour the internet and then highlight answers to user questions in search results. This feature draws attention to your site and could increase your volumes.
Wrapping Up
Writing well is both a skill and a formula, so the good news is that most companies can improve their content creation, simply by following some basic rules.
Other skills, such as writing engagingly, take longer to develop. However, with enough practice, you will soon get the hang of it.
