8 Tips For Writing Great Content

This is a question that I get asked over and over again from people that are new to content writing for blogs  – how on earth do you write content – how do you plan your content and what tips do you have for writing content that not only ranks but that gets your readers engaged and interested in what you have to say.

Firstly it is important to remember that content writing is a skill that is learned and that gets better with practice and time. My first blog posts were not great but in order to learn it is important to get started in the first place.

Writing an article and putting it out there online for all the world to see can be a daunting task for a new blogger – but if you don’t take that first leap of faith you will never get there.

The next thing that you need to keep in mind is that in most cases people that “read” online don’t really read. They scan. They are not interested in every single word that you write. They have a question and they want it answered. The question may be answered in your blog post but you need to make it easy for your reader to find it otherwise they will find and leave your article in the blink of an eye.

Whether you plan on writing your own content or using a content writing service you still need to know what it means to write great content.

With that in mind, here’s how I personally go about writing my content:

1. Table of Contents

   Keep It Simple

You don’t have to try and be clever and impress anyone. Use simple words that are easy to understand. If anyone has to look up the meaning of a word chances are that you will have lost that reader.

2. Use Short Sentences and Paragraphs

Keep your sentences short and your paragraphs short. It makes it so much easier o read and to scan your content than long paragraphs of text clumped together.

3. Use Lots of Headings

Using lots of headings breaks up your writing. This makes it easy to scan and easy to read too.

4. Plan Your Content

Research your topic and when you know what you want to write about break it up into points that you want to bring across. Each point then becomes a heading.

You will want to bring across some important information in your introduction which will bring across to your reader why it is essential to read your article and what they can expect to get from your article.

5. Use Bullet Points

Bullet points are great to use in your content because:

• Bullet points make content more readable.
• They save you time.
• They save the reader time.
• They get your point across fast.
• They reduce waffle and get to the point.

6. Be Yourself and Talk To Your Readers

When I write articles I like to share how I do things or how I feel about products and services and I talk to YOU my reader. I try to build a personal relationship between myself and my readers.

I use the words “me, I, my, you, we and us” when I write since I am speaking about us as bloggers and my experiences that I hope can help you in your blogging efforts.

It is also important to be genuine and let your own personality shine through. Remember that when people start following you it will be because you share great information, but also because of the connection you build with your readers.

7. Remember That Visitors Can Arrive Anywhere On Your Website!

When people read a book they will start at the beginning and read each chapter in sequence until the end.

This is not true of your website. Your visitors can arrive anywhere on your website. This means that each page and post should be easy to scan and read. You should make sure that when someone arrives on a page they can easily tell what your website is about and know where they are.

I have come across so many bloggers that think that readers only arrive from their home page. They also think that readers will always check their About Me page to get more information about your website.

I do agree that lots of readers will check your About Me page, however don’t make the assumption that every reader will. Make sure that you bring across what your site is about you create new content.

It is also of vital importance that each page has a clear call to action (CTA) that tells your reader what to do next. That can be to sign up to your newsletter, read another blog post or buy a product.

8. Answer Questions Your Readers May Have

Each article you write should be around one key topic or question that your readers may have. This is how your readers will find you. They want to know something and they type the question into search engines to find an answer.

This is basic SEO (search engine optimization) and keyword research comes in handy here so you can see how many people are searching for a specific search term and how much competition there is.

Make sure that with each article you write you are providing value and helping your readers.

If you are blogger then your main activity will be creating awesome content on a regular basis so I hope you have found this article helpful.

Along with writing great content you will need to look at ways to rank your content and gaining quality backlinks to your website. You will be able to gain a good few natural backlinks through publishing quality content that other writers will want to reference. You can also consider making use of a blogger outreach service to gain some really good backlinks.