How To Write Good Content For Your Website
I often have clients come to me and ask “what type of content should I be writing?” OR “how do I write good content for my website when I work in an industry that is very boring?” Whilst the concept of writing good content can be overwhelming, it’s definitely not impossible. In this article I go over the tips and tricks I typically apply to create great content!
What Is Content Writing?
Content writing is a form of online writing with the intent to market your company. Meaning you are creating/implementing writing which appears on your brand’s website, social media, blog etc with the intention to sell or promote your product and/or service.
Establish The Goal Of Your Content
When creating any form of content for your brand, it is important to have an objective in mind.
- Are you looking to influence users to carry out a specific action? I.e subscribe to a newsletter, purchase a product or download a pdf.
- Would you like to build brand awareness?
- Are you trying to improve the SEO on your site?
Identifying the above can allow you to streamline your content. Not only does this lessen the stress of content creation, it also enables you to set clear targets in mind, increasing the likelihood of achieving success.
Find Your Website's Voice & Tone
Establishing the tone of your website is an incredibly important aspect in developing brand awareness and reaching your ideal demographic. Distinguishing your companies voice and personality makes your content more memorable and recognizable.
Before deciding on the tone of your content, it is important to consider the following:
- Who is your target audience?
- How do you want users to feel after seeing your content?
- Will it be easy to continue this tone for content going forwards?
Cater To Your Audience
Understanding your key target audience and catering your content around them can help build a good relationship with your business and the user. This is because you have actively made the effort to be more relatable and connect with them on a personal level. Doing the above can take many forms, whether that be via the language you use, imagery or the time of day you post etc.
An example of this would be to feature industry known language in your content. This will show the user your level of knowledge and legitimize your products and/or services.
Make Your Content More Engaging
Cater To Those In A Rush
In our current fast paced society, we typically find ourselves very strapped for time! This means people often find themselves skim reading articles for key information as opposed to reading line by line. It is important to consider these users when writing your content to increase the likelihood of them returning in the future. Implementing the following in your content can certainly help in catering to these busy bees:
- Use short paragraphs to break up text
- Use shorter sentences & vary sentence length to keep it interesting
- Use bullet points where possible to structure content and improve readability
- Use headers to break up text, allowing users to fish out key information
Speak Directly To Your Audience
When trying to engage your visitors, your content being interesting to read is definitely a key factor to consider in regards to keeping them on your page. Users on your site should feel like they are being spoken to on a personal level and therefore writing should be both informative and read naturally.
Remember that you are not writing an A level English Literature essay, you are writing to those who take interest in your business.
Using personal pronouns is a great way to address your audience and really make them feel involved. As well as asking them questions which give them a chance to reflect on what it is they are looking for. It’s also a great way to be more persuasive with your content, reassuring them that you have the solution to their queries.
Tell A Story
In many instances, telling a story through your content is more likely to engage the viewers interest and encourage an emotional reaction. This can not only improve engagement on said content, it can also improve readability and makes your content more memorable. When a story in an article is more memorable the viewer is more likely to repeat it, whether that to a colleague, friend or family member, organically building a brand awareness through word of mouth.
Incorporate Emotion Into Your Content
When you convey emotions through your content, you are impacting the user in a unique way. This not only emphasizes a more human element of your business, it can also make a post more engaging and memorable. By allowing the user to associate your post with a certain emotion, you are more likely to gain a response than you would from a basic piece of content.
Improve User Experience
It’s difficult for some to just read an article of text, most people respond better when there are elements within said text that bring the article to life and improve their experience on the page. This is known as “user experience,” user experience is defined by:
The overall experience of a person using a product such as a website or computer application, especially in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use.
Content that is more pleasing to the eye can improve your visitor’s experience on the site and reduce bounce rate, next time you are reviewing your previous work-ask yourself the following:
- Could I incorporate more imagery on this page?
- Are my images relevant?
- Would a sound file be beneficial?
- Would the page benefit from a video tutorial?
Ensure That The Technical Side Of Your Website Is Working
When it comes to writing good content, it’s not just about making it look pretty, it needs to be easy to access and navigate.
- Ensure your pages load quickly- This not only helps your website from an SEO perspective, it will also prevent users from leaving the page before reading the content you worked so hard on! You can test your site speed within Google’s Page Speed insights
- Is your site optimised for mobile phones? If not…It should be! With a large majority of users navigating the web via mobile more now than ever, it is absolutely Vital that you are catering to these users. If you want to learn more about how to optimise your page for mobile devices, visit my previous post about how to make PPC friendly landing pages!
Guide & Influence Your Audience
When using the term “influence,” it is vital to understand that you are not trying to be forceful or deceptive to your audience. You are more so allowing the user to meet their own conclusion whilst implementing persuasive content that highlights your brand’s key USPs (unique selling points).
Clear Call-To-Action (CTA)
Directing the user on where to go, what they need to do next or how to find out more, can not only improve the navigation of your content, it can improve the likelihood of meeting your end goal.
Let’s say your goal is to generate phone calls for a free consultation, incorporating within your article “if you would like to learn more about what we can do for you, or to book a free consultation, give us a call today,” will not only be encouraging to the viewer, it will also give them a clear indication on the next steps they can take if they are interested in gaining further insight.
Persuasive Copy
Does your content set you apart from your competitors? Are you fully portraying the positive attributes of your brand to your audience? Copy that truly appeals to the user is more likely to give you an edge over your competition, positioning your brand in a more positive light in the eyes of potential prospects.
However it is absolutely VITAL that you are not deceiving your audience and your copy honestly reflects your product(s).
Final Checklist
Think you’ve gauged an idea on how to write good content for your brand? Great! Here is your content checklist to round up the above:
- Establish the goal of your content
- Find a tone that represents your brand
- Cater to your audience
- Work on improving user experience
- Make your content more engaging
- Guide/Influence your audience
