Effective writing content plays an extremely important role in climbing the marketing success ladder. Research conducted at PointVisible shows that 60% of B2B marketers are committed to content marketing, while 37% of them have a documented marketing strategy. If you don’t want to be left out of the game, here are some important content writing tips you’ll want to check out.
Write short, simple sentences
Writing short, clear sentences is a must-do if you want to keep your content effective. Long sentences will do nothing but distract the reader from the main idea presented, which is why you should avoid using them. Short sentences are effective because they powerfully deliver explicit ideas, especially nowadays, when people want quick solutions to complicated problems.
Here is some quick advice on how you can write clearer, shorter sentences and how to be a content writer better than anyone else.
- Don’t over bloat your sentences with useless words. For example, using there is/are/were is not always required, but people might sometimes do it without realizing it; “there are useless words that can over bloat your quality content.” Extract “there are” and “that” and you got a whole new sentence which makes much more sense!
- Ask for help but don’t forget to help yourself. The first rule to writing better sentences is admitting to your mistakes and self-editing your work correspondingly. If that’s not enough, getting a professional to check on your work is something you should be considering. One of the best writing services out there, edubirdie, specializes in this field, making writers’ work easier and faster.
- You can start by splitting your sentences into two or three pieces and see which piece should come first. Then, eliminate the others and stick with only one. That should be the main focus of your sentence, and that’s definitely the most important argument you came up with within that paragraph.
- Avoid redundancy, the use of repetitive words within one sentence. Some of them can be quite obvious, but there are others that you might not even notice. For example, “Kayla will briefly summarize tonight’s announcement.” Can you see what I did there? Avoid that.
Use Word Processors
Organizing your data with a word processor is a very smart move. The software will be of great help for (obviously) word processing, formatting, and pagination. According to David Nield, using a word processor will help you quickly change the font size and style of your content, create headings and subheadings, and adjust your text for alignment. You will also be able to control how your document appears both on screen and on printed page. Here are three examples of some of the best word processors that you might want to look into:
- Microsoft Word – as you might already know, Word is one of the best writing programs ever created. It allows for word-count, pagination, autocorrect editing, and image-inserting. More than that, it helps you structure content and organize it efficiently.
- Google Docs – if you want to use the same features online, consider Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word. It works on the same principle, but it also automatically saves and updates your work online. Fear nothing by stocking your content in a safe place and access it wherever you go, whichever computer you are using.
- TextEdit – to edit text and process words, you can use TextEdit, now available not only for Mac but for Windows too. Using this program, you can not only take quick notes, but you are also able to make your words clearer or simply enrich your vocabulary.
Know Your Audience
With so many marketing campaigns and promotional advertisements out there, not knowing your audience well enough could destroy your reputation. How could any respectable company be able to satisfy its customers’ needs without being informed of what they want in the first place? The answer is, it couldn’t. That’s why you must know your audience so well that choosing the right written content is never a problem. Editing or proofreading skills can be learned, but knowledge of what your clientele wants can only be acquired through a careful study of their needs.
- Start by researching your audience in advance – see where they stand, what their preferences are, run the demographics, and then pick a niche. If you already picked one, make sure it’s the right one. If it’s not, wait no more: change it. Your niche is crucial when it comes to boosting your webpage traffic.
- Check out your competition – compare and contrast your marketing strategies with those of your competitors and see where you stand. What could you improve? What are they doing wrong? What can you ultimately learn from them?
- Create a customer persona, writes Marketing Land. That means, take a fictional character (your usual customer) and attribute various characteristics to it. Include info on their career, education level, family, and personality traits, and treat it as a client. Then, learn how you’d talk to your target clientele and track your progress. It’s a great “mock trial” to see how you’re doing in real life, with real customers.
- Learn more about your customers – it’s not only the one-way romantic relationships that don’t work out; one-way business relationships aren’t productive either. Make sure you get to know your clientele. That way, you will be able to understand them better and figure out what they want in a hot minute.
- Check on your readers’ comments at least every other day – this will help you monitor their reactions (output) to your content (input). By learning how to change the input, you can easily influence the output.
- Run surveys to learn even more about your clientele – ask them what they want & be open to feedback. In the end, this business is about them, not about you – if they’re not happy, you’re not happy. So, see where their happiness currently resides.
Make the reader feel something
Now, the most important thing in the history of content writing has always been appealing to the readers’ emotions. That’s because emotions never lie, so they’re always a win. If you can make your readers laugh, cry, or get mad, you can make them do anything. There are three crucial things you need to start making this change: originality, clarity, and triggers. If you have these, you have everything.
- Originality – keep your writing authentic and well-written. Attract them with a cool introduction and an even better body-paragraph. Be honest and show them the real story behind your company’s logo. Show them the less-known part of your world to increase trust in your brand. Show them how much more there is to it.
- Clarity – being specific is vital because the power is always in the small details. As long as you’ll be able to come up with detailed content, you’ll never lose them.
- Triggers – here I mean emotions that can trigger deep memories that will affect your customers’ behavior in the long-run. Choose stories that appeal to your readers’ sympathy.
Optimize Digital Content
Optimizing digital content is another method of building trust in your brand. Start by:
- Using the right keywords – words build trust, so make sure you are using the right ones.
- Being objective – if you only support your products and have no “big” friends on the market, how will you show objectivity when selling your products? Avoiding biased reviews is super-important.
- Matching user intent – as I mentioned before, create the right content for your clients, not the content you-think-they-might-be-attracted-to.
- Creating high quality content – use proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, and formatting. Keep your articles at a decent length and make your paragraphs short and clear.
- Establishing authority within your readers – create deep articles to help your customers with their problems, not only to bring traffic to your page. Include many details.
- Producing CTAs (Calls-to-Action) – include them in your content, on your blog, use pop-ups, and use header CTAs to open up conversations.
- Optimizing customer engagement using visuals, such as videos and images – engage them in your work! Show them what they’d miss if they won’t buy from you.
Focus on One Thing at A Time
Multitasking is long outdated, so you should know by now that focusing on a single purpose is a winning strategy. Identify the key message and then work on making it as strong as you can. Always tie your content back to the main idea and strengthen it by using proper arguments. Learn how to do content writing the right way.
Don’t give up
Last but not least, never give up on your clients, or on your company. If you believe in what you’re selling, then go for it, boost those profits, help those people get what they need. Your strategy might not work at first – and that’s totally fine. No great entrepreneur has even won her first battles. You’ll need time to get used to the process, which is why you always need to learn from your mistakes. You will never fail if you continue to grow. So, don’t give up, keep going, climb that success ladder!
Conclusion
The best way of turning visitors into long-time customers is effective content writing, so make sure you are doing it right. I hope this advice helped! Let us know if you have any questions. Good luck winning those battles!
