Seattle Content Writing

Content Writing Tips

1. Choose a Topic and Target Your Audience

Choosing a topic will either come quickly, like a spark or take a lot of effort and brainstorming. Whatever the process, it’s critical that your topic interests you, first and foremost. It’s only natural that your content’s quality will suffer if you write it with little to no good. Once you have your topic, start by thinking about your audience.

You want your content to resonate with the reader even after they have moved on from your page. To do that, you will need to learn to use language your audience can identify. Being relatable will build both interest and trust in your content. Fashioning your content around your audience is more likely to drive results.

2. Do Your Research before writing content

There is so much content available online. Millions of people create and share articles, blogs, vlogs, and social media posts daily. Hence, it makes sense to do your research! Many SEO tools can help you with keywords and topics.

Remember to FACT CHECK: When writing content that relies on outside sources to convey pertinent and convincing information, you need to be fact-checking. It’s an essential step in the process regardless of your experience level with creating Web content. However, it’s even more critical early on in your pursuits because being labeled as an untrusted source can be a formidable reputation to fix. When writing content, you will need to evaluate an online source properly.

Another important aspect is the correct citing of the source material. For example, when citing statistics, you should look for that data source rather than citing a 3rd party website providing a recap or citing the source. This issue can easily be overlooked if close attention is not paid, as there are many stat round-up pages such as this one. While there is an abundance of valuable stats on this page, it is evident that it is not the source. There is nothing wrong with using these websites. They are pretty helpful and convenient. Just don’t forget to include the source.

3. Captivating Headline and Introduction

The headline is the first thing your reader will see; naturally, you want it to pull them in—there are many ways to write a terrible headline; too long, too short, too outrageous. To put the importance of a quality headline in perspective, consider your interaction when meeting someone. First impressions go a very long way; as such, the headline is your opportunity at that first impression. You don’t want to squander it. Let’s look at some headline examples I categorize as The Good, The Bad, and The Clickbait-y.

Good Content Writing Practices:

• 7 Ways to Make Money While Waiting for Disability Benefits.
• This approach targets a specific audience and offers several solutions for their current circumstance.
•  Lose 8 Pounds in 2 Weeks.
• A headline that targets a specific audience but does not over-promise. You will want to ensure you can deliver on your headline’s promise.

Bad Content Writing Practices:

• Health Insurance Companies HATE This New Trick.
• These types of headlines are insulting to the reader. They are abundant and under-deliver, which breeds frustration in your reader.
• Don’t copy. It’s always a good idea to check for plagiarism.

5 Reasons To Date A Girl With An Eating Disorder

Offensive headlines won’t do you much good in the long run. You will end up dividing your audience base rather than it expanding it.

The Clickbaity:

• Make One Million Dollars in One Day.
• An over-promise under-deliver type of article is where you may get many curious initial clicks but don’t expect readers to return to your content again.

A Nightmare About To Happen.

• Relying on scare tactics is not even the most prominent crime with this headline. It’s the fact that the claim is entirely factual.
• Data shows that the readers are drawn to headlines that include numbers more than those that don’t.

Your introduction will keep their attention once you have your headline to draw your audience in. You will find plenty of web content that “saves the best for last” when constructing a blog. The idea is that if there is a “build-up” to the main point of the blog/article, it will keep the reader engaged the whole time. Unfortunately for both parties, the opposite tends to occur.

The average reader spends 37 seconds on an article.

That is why providing all of your best information during your introduction is good practice. That way, you hook the reader from the beginning, keep them engaged, and hopefully, your content keeps them coming back for more.

4. How Long Should My Blog/Content Be?

Writing the right amount of content is another critical step in the process. We will break this up into two categories.

1. Total word count
2. Length of paragraphs and sentences.

Regarding your content’s total length, you might think the long form may be daunting to readers. Depending on your topic and your ability to convey your content interestingly will be enough to keep your reader engaged. Many readers prefer a thorough read, depending on the content. If you are content writing about something that requires a detailed explanation, you shouldn’t shy away from long forms.

However, it’s good to remember that some studies show that 74% of blogs are read in under 3 minutes. That’s about  >1,600 words. Simultaneously, studies from Buffer shows that the content with the most shares is very audience-dependent. Some of their most popular posts are >2,500 words.

Your topic, humor, or images alone are not enough to keep the reader engaged. Your sentences and paragraphs determine how you convey your thoughts, and they can lose the reader’s attention if they run on and on. Equally, if not more importantly, the length of your sentences and paragraphs will be the glue that holds everything together. According to Grammarly, your paragraphs should not be more than five or six sentences. While these guidelines are essential to creating a good flow to your content, your ideas are ultimately paramount.

5. Put Pen to Paper and start Content Writing

You have your topic, you’ve done your research, and you have some idea of who your target audience is. It’s finally time to start the content-writing process! Whether writing a rough draft in one sitting or piece by piece over time, do what feels best. There is no right or wrong method if it allows your creative juices to flow and materialize.

It’s important to realize that the more you write, the more comfortable and accessible it gets, as with most things. There are no shortcuts to quality content. It takes effort, focuses, and, as mentioned above, great interest in the topic. There are, however, things you can include that enhance your content and the user’s overall experience with it. One such thing is utilizing images! Use them to liven up your blog with humor by complimenting a punch line or helping visualize a statistic.

6. Lastly, Don’t Forget to Edit Your Content!

Have you finished writing your content? Not until you’ve made sure to edit, proofread, and even have someone else proofread for you! You’ll want to ensure you have worked out any grammatical errors before your post goes online. Reading a blog riddled with grammatical errors and content that does not flow is off-putting. People will not have complete faith in the writer if their content has many apparent errors, regardless of whether the site has the best user interface possible! It takes effort and time to edit, but that time is well-invested as it adds to your content’s credibility.

Using tools like Grammarly for grammatical errors is an excellent place to start. Whereas INK is a platform you can write/edit your content. It will also help optimize the content with SEO (search engine optimization) techniques. For example, on-page and off-page SEO will help your article rank higher!

Whether you’re looking to blog or start a new website project, connect with one of our experts and let our Seattle content writers help create unique content for your business!

Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” I have found that it rings true for a lot of people. It certainly does for me. Many of us tend to be perfectionists when it comes to our work.

Eventually, you may need to learn to let go, learn from the experience, and move on to brighter and better work.

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