Thankfully one of the things that I have learned over time, is that copywriting is something that you can continually get better at as you practice.
So join me as we cover the following 10 things that must be to write great content.
1. The Headline Must Grab Attention and Peak Curiosity
First and foremost, you must grab their attention and make them ask a question in their mind. Our subconscious can be a pain sometimes, but it can also be a huge asset in business. You see, a question in the mind cannot be left unanswered. There are only three ways to solve that problem. Give them the answer, let someone else give them the answer, or they will make one up based on their current understanding.
2. The Headline Hook Their Attention
Now that we got their attention we must hold it.
"20 Pounds In 1 Week!"
That will get someone's attention but will not hold it. Now try this...
"Lose 20 Pounds In 4 Weeks Without the Medieval Torture of Fad Diets, Endless Hours of Grueling Cardio, And Embarrassing Trips To The Gym That Make You Want To Hide In Your Gym Locker"
A sharp intro may get their attention, yet you are not there yet. When you write, write as though your were speaking to a specific member of your audience across the table.
4. Keep Your Writing Focus Tight
- Bad: How to improve your sales
- Better: How to do better selling in your small business
- Best: How to use social media to increase sales in your affiliate marketing business
Let's face it, if you are not giving them what they need, they are simply not going to keep reading! If they don't keep reading you will never be able to build rapport, trust, or connection and therefore make no sales.
6. You Have A Unique Brand Voice - Write Like It!
Imagine that you get 200 people to show up and read your content, and you get 80% of them to read your headline. Now I know that sounds like it's pretty good but let's go a little bit deeper.
Of those that actually went ahead and read the headline you might only get 25% of those people to read the content that you wrote.
Now you know the importance of making sure that your headline grabs the attention of his many people as possible.
Now you know the importance of making sure that your headline grabs the attention of his many people as possible.
If you want to create a strong headline, you have to be very specific about what you're talking about but offer very few details as to how to implement it.
Great job your headline got people to click on your content! Now you have only one specific goal and that's convinced them to keep reading.
Great job your headline got people to click on your content! Now you have only one specific goal and that's convinced them to keep reading.
This isn't as easy as you might think!
The Nielsen Norman Group says, approximately 57 % of time viewing a page is spent above the fold. This is that area that can be seen before readers need to scroll. If they happen to scroll and fill the screen again, it drops to 17%. As you can imagine, only the hardcore reader will go further than that.
If your headline doesn't grab 'em, don’t expect them to stick around.
You want to keep your audience reading, so the best practice is to jump straight into the content promised in your headline.
You want to keep your audience reading, so the best practice is to jump straight into the content promised in your headline.
Like this article, I am pretty confident you want to write better content. So, at the very beginning, I mentioned your struggle and explained this article will guide you to the solution you are looking for.
Since you are still reading, I know it worked!
If you write to everyone, you will connect with no one.
If you keep one congruent thought from the title to the end of your writing, you will find that your readers will consume a greater portion of your articles.
Write with a tight focus, yet do it conversationally. Ultimately, they should be able to easily answer, "What was your key take-away from the article?"
Think about your focus being an arrow that points your readers to a specific point
For instance:
However enticing your headline may be, if your content doesn’t quickly engage your audience once they land on your page, they’re going to bounce.
As a marketer, I bet you’ve been told excellent content writing is about using simple language.
However, that same BuzzSumo study suggests content with high readability scores (shorter sentences and words) do not generally perform any better than those with lower readability scores.
To keep it simple, the best practice for writing is to use language that your audience will easily understand. The best way to do this is spend time hanging out on forums or groups where you audience hangs a out and read/listen to how they communicate with one another.
Ever wonder why some brands stand out while others do not?
Ever wonder why some brands stand out while others do not?
Figuring out who you’re writing for and what engages them is key. When you get it sorted, keep doing it.
Find out what works and just do more of it. It’s all about consistency.
7. Give Your Readers The Info They Want
Can you imagine searching google for car insurance quotes and then having them offer a link to this article? Disappointing for sure!
Or what if you got here and I told you that you should just write really good content and make your readers happy. I am pretty sure that would just upset you, right
I would have certainly lost a reader that day.
Make sure you spend some time setting up an "Ask Campaign" to get the info you need.
8. Outlines Give Structure
Knowing what your audience wants is not enough. You now have to create an outline that will strategically oder that data so that it is easily consumed. More importantly is so that it can be easily implemented!
Adding structure will also help you in researching and identifying supporting content and resources.
Finally, search for supportive third-party sources with existing content on your site.
9. Actionable Tips Or Steps Will Place Your A Step Ahead Of Your Competition
If you prioritize your writing to give value to your readers they are more likely to share and return to you in the future. When you do it right, you also greatly increase the chances that they will join your email list as well.
You need to become an expert in your field. Not just someone who is well read. You need to actually be out there doing what you are teaching other people to do. I teach people to utilize blogs for traffic, here is my blog. I teach them how to use Facebook, here is my account.
Want to see how we use groups on social media? Take a look!
I think you get the idea.
Simply stated, write about what you know - not about what you read.
Simply stated, write about what you know - not about what you read.
10. Let Them Trust You
There's is no shortage of content online today. Even if you are working in a little known niche, there are likely thousands of options for people to choose from. Why should they choose you?
Why should readers choose your content over anyone else's?
Make your content trustworthy to stand out from the crowd. When people know that you take the time to do your research and plan out your content, they will most likely search it out and click on it.
Having a name that is known in your field will definitely help you in business and that is not as hard as you may think. It just takes some strategic planning and some foresight. Come back because I will be going over a couple ways to do this in upcoming posts.
We all have to start somewhere just like you. So make sure that when you use resources, you link back to them. These are called backlinks. They have multiple purposes.
1. They let the readers know you care enough to do thorough research, hence the trust.
2. It lets the search engines know that you are connected with other large content sites that are popular - thus you must be as well.
3. People do check for backlinks to their sites and they are likely to return the favor an link back to you as you write valuable content. This will benefit you both in many ways.