16 Effective Content Writing Tips That you Should Embrace Today!
Content writing is an ever-evolving industry that keeps changing its colors all the way around. Whether you are a beginner or you are a pro writer- embracing advanced content writing tips is always a plus point. Conceiving the importance of these content writing tips, I have clubbed together with the best practices to writing impactful, high-quality content.
Are you as excited as I am to share these content writing tips; I hope you are!
Wait a sec! There is one thing that I want to share before talking about these content writing tips. It also counts as one of the best content writing tips, but honestly, I couldn’t wait to put it in the later section. So, here’s what I am talking about- emotional connect. People can overlook your minor errors (though they shouldn’t reflect in the first place) if you have the strong ability to make them feel connected with your content. True to its essence, people are far more interested in reading and trusting the content which touches the core of their heart at once!
Now that’s a long haul to achieve. As easy as it sounds, it’s not as simple as that to accomplish. Elaborating on why, because to fan the flames of connection, you need to step into the mind of the target audience-what they seek? What is their perspective? How will they process the information and more of that sort?
I will unravel the mystery behind developing this emotional connection in a while. Now, this is what happens when you pick up something important- the brunt of leaving it in between is heavy!
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Here we go:
16 Effective Content Writing Tips to get you on the Roll
1. Comprehensive Research
Not the writing, but keyword research is the first and foremost step to existential content. Without keyword and background research, your content is merely lifeless. It doesn’t matter how good your content is if it hasn’t got a search volume.
If no one is looking for the topic you are writing on, it will remain in a constant state of denial. Hence, the primary content writing tip is to do thorough research about the keyword and things people want to know about. Yes, that’s the key to your content and SEO practices.
Once you have crossed that path, the next junction is research on the chosen keyword. Then, garner facts and figures, statistics to support, and other relevant information from credible resources.
Remember, the better the research, the better the quality of content. Consequently, since by and large, put your time into far-reaching research.
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2. Get Familiar with your Target Audience
Any content that you are writing- is meant to be read by someone? True? Align on that point? With that being said, if you don’t know the target audience- how can you work your magic on them?
This question enamor your accessibility and answerability to the target audience. The moment you know who will benefit from your content, you can determine the vocabulary, structure, format, and more wrapped around people’s perceptions.
Understand- you have to sell your content (even though not monetarily), but in terms of time and relevance. You have to captivate the reader to your content, and the technique is as simple as it is; sneak-peak into their mind!
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3. Create a Captivating Headline
While it is a cliche concept that doesn’t judge a book by its cover, yet with manifold content available at Google- people are compelled to arbiter and resort to that concept. With the pool of content, I would see eye to eye with the readers on this point.
What is the first thing that you look up in the book, its cover, right? Likewise, in online content, what grabs your attention- the headline, isn’t it? Now, you see, where am I leading you to?
The headline has to play its charm on the reader and arouses a spark within him to delve deeper into the blog. Sorry to say, but showing you the mirror- the truth is that if a reader doesn’t find your headline alluring, he may just leave it right away and scroll down some other website.
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4. Form a Hook Through the Introduction
Have you visited an ice cream parlor where you have the option to taste and try before you make a choice? Whatever doesn’t suit your taste bud at once, you simply discard it? The same rule applies in the case of content. How?
Any reader skims, scan or read the introduction as a trial process if it captures the reader’s attention-well and good- otherwise, that person will switch to another website. Consequently, put your creative juices to work, most specifically, while writing the introduction.
If an introduction works its magic on readers, you have sold your content. It’s as simple as that. Therefore, show much of your ingenuity in establishing the introductory part. An additional tip would be to write the introduction after writing the content. When you know what’s lies beyond, opening the initiatory window becomes easier.
5. Use a Unique Voice
Every brand, company, blog, or organization has a unique voice that replicates the brand personality. This voice acts as the unique selling proposition (USP) that draws a line between your content and your competitor’s content.
The voice should flow like a breeze through your content, and the target audience should feel connected with it. For example, if your brand is a baby product, the brand voice and tone should be reminiscent of flowery language. It should appeal to the concerned mothers that your brand cares for adorable newborns. That’s the beauty of content.
6. Emotional Connect
Circling back to the most imperative content writing tips of all, people should feel connected with your brand or blog. Your content should be relevant, credible, and beneficial for your target audience.
Emotions are the fundamental instincts that distinguish humans from animals and robots. Brands leverage emotional connect to allure new audiences and develop brand loyalty.
This brings us to the question, how to weave that emotional connection? Honestly, it’s no rocket science. Add an ingredient of the humanizing factor, and you are good to go. Elaborating on that, the content which touches the heart of the reader appeals to the audience.
Do you know, people tend to trust human and customized responses in comparison to automated responses?
For example, “if a food brand says dear customer, try our latest biryani recipe,” you may overlook it. However, if a food brand message reads somewhat like “dear (your name), it’s a Sunday, and we know you want to rest, so here is a combo meal offer from our side to enrich your day and make it a happy Sunday.” Post-reading, you would click and feel compelled to check out the offer; and may even place an order. That’s how it works!!!
7. Paint a Picture
The mind works through pictures, which gives you another opportunity to lift your content. There are two ways to embed images in your content. The first is simple- add visuals and graphics to your content. Secondly, you can paint the canvas for your readers through potential words.
While it’s simple to make use of the first technique, you could go the off-beaten track of the second technique. Embellishing the content with exquisite wordy pictures, you can make people fall head over heels with your content.
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8. Optimize Your Content
No matter how great your content is- if it doesn’t show up on Page 1 of Google-nobody reads it. So, how to ace the search engine charts? Among the overflowing content on search engines, to be visible and accessible to the audience- Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is the key.
Here, repeating the targeted keyword number of times isn’t enough. Instead, the keyword along should show up in the title, H2 heading, meta tags, alt images, and throughout your content. But remember- not to overoptimize your keyword as that would coerce the search engine to flag your content.
The highest among the content writing tips, this tip is pivotal. For if you are a WordPress user, then the Yoast SEO plugin will facilitate you for SEO.
Once you finish writing, let Yoast SEO guide you with the aspects- you need to optimize for the digital platform. Not only does Yoast nail huge problems such as missing keywords, but it can also highlight granular obstacles such as keyword density.
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9. Include Prominent CTA’s
CTA or Call to Action is one among the all-embracing content writing tips, which directs that further course of action for the audience. It guides the path of the target audience. Here’s how?
Some of the Most Common and Popular CTA’s Include:
- Subscribe to the channel
- Buy now
- Get a demo
- Download now
- Share content on social media
Putting yourself in the reader’s shoes makes it worthwhile to choose an apt CTA. What would it take a distinct company to convince you to do a certain thing?
Amalgamate it with your content goals and think- how can you design your content-specific CTA that resonates with your company’s marketing and KPIs to persuade the reader to take action.
As a thumb rule, incorporate a suitable CTA to your content and direct the target audience to plunge into action forthright.
10. Link the Sources
Linking is a win-win situation for web content developers- want to know how? By linking to high domain authoritative (DA) sites, you get backlinks, and that site gets some traffic that diverged from your website.
It goes without saying that the more you develop links, the more trusted your content Becomes. Moreover, these hyperlinks embrace search engines to assort content into categories. For example, if you link to educational websites, search engines know about your website and how to categorize it.
More than that, moral and integral ethics affirm that you should give a little credit to the website from which you took reference. You don’t have to pay through your pocket, but linking to that site can make them feel cherished. It’s not that hard, isn’t it?
11. Create Skimmable and Scannable Content
I don’t know if you have taken a note of it or not, but people don’t usually and necessarily read the content. Stumbling and floundering in a hurry, they skim and scan the content to seek the answer they sought.
Think of yourself in a rush hour; do you often read the whole content? Or do you simply do a quick scan to find the answer to your query? The latter one. Am I right, or am I right? The same applies to most of our readers; they meticulously peep-through articles to reach out to solutions.
Bearing That in Mind, It’s Always Best to Format Your Article as Per the User Interface. A Few Easy-to-follow Techniques Are as Follows:
- Leave ample white spaces in between the paragraphs.
- Write short paragraphs of not more than 4-5 lines.
- Mark and highlight the pivotal text in Bold
- Use bullet points (the way I have used them here) as and when possible.
- Include headings and sub-headings to divide the text
12. Tools Are Your Pals
Content writing is an overhauling process, with a lot of boxes to tick before hitting the final publish button. To ease the pain, there is a slew of online tools available at your disposal. Use them without a doubt and make your writing more precise (without scratching your head to remove every glitch).
The most important thing to consider about any content is grammatical glitches and sentence formations. Narrowing down your problems, you can leverage tools such as Grammarly, Ginger, Scribens, or more of that sort!
Other than that, you can use Google Ads keyword planner, UberSuggest, ahrefs, keyword surfer- to search for trending and ranking keywords.
You can find out the must-have content writing tools here.
13. Check for Readability
Not everyone around the globe has the same readability level. And remember, readers, are the central figures. They are the ones who have to read and benefit from your content. Now, if your content goes above their head, they won’t wait for a second to switch to another website.
As a result, the low the readability score is, the better it plays its game. Always check Flesch’s reading score for your content, which gives you a clear-cut insight into readability. Additionally, you can also use free tools to probe this readability score, such as Grammarly.
The ideal readability score should stick around the middle reading level or lower. However, for technical or specified niches, you can cut yourself some slack.
Checking readability is one thing; what to do if the readability score is not up to the mark? Don’t let your mind wobble. All you have to do is to shorten complex sentences and replace difficult words with simpler ones.
It will ensure that readers of varying levels will be able to comprehend your content. For people with English as a second language can highly benefit from low readability.
14. Bestow Added Value for Readers to Bag You Repeat Traffic
Any content that you indite should hold value and relevance- dressed in insightful ideas and actionable steps. While answering readers’ doubts would get readers to your site once, providing added value will drive repeat traffic to your site.
Do you want repeat traffic to your content?
More than content, give them a return gift in terms of takeaway. Most specifically, it could be as simple as a free ebook, free webinar, a Google Drive template, or something of that sort.
Everyone loves return gifts, so give one to your readers, and they won’t just adore your content, but they would also share it with their friends and relatives. Doesn’t it feel like painting the town red with your content and readers? So, this was another prevalent tip among the content writing tips.
15. Always Edit Content
Yeah, editing an article may seem an overhauling task, but they are second to none to embellish your content. Your content is going to be read by so many people for which you can’t take your responsibility for granted.
Being vital among the content writing tips, editing has to be done, but not right away. Once you finish your write-up or draft, leave it untouched for a while (if possible, for several hours or a day). The point behind this is that, since you have already written the content, there are high chances of gaps in your content that you may overlook.
Let your brain gain its prominence and then later come back to the article with a fresh mind. Look out for any corrections, amendments, or tweaks, and replace or refurbish them accordingly.
16. Don’t Forget to Proofread
Last but not least among the content writing tips, proofreading is a must! After you have done each and everything, with a magnifying glass- scrutinize for any typos or mistakes.
Using tools and software is hunky-dory, yet nothing compares to the human-mind-touch. As far as proofreading is concerned, the reckoning of the human brain is inevitable.
For proofreading, there are two ways you can follow. One of which is to get another person to look out for mistakes that may have slipped through your eyes. For another thing, you can yourself for typos with a fine-toothed comb. Whichever suits you best- go for it.
Final Thought:
Content writing is a quintessential artwork that requires utmost thought, perception, and ingenuity on your part. That is to say, making your artifice readable, captivating, and relevant depends on the way you array it and serve your audience. With these actionable content writing tips, you can make things more than purposeful for your audience.
I expect this article helps you out to write ethereal content and extend your web traffic exponentially. Happy Writing!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q1. Are communication skills very important for content writing?
Yes, having decent communication skills is the basics of content writing. To be a good content writer one must definitely have good communication skills in writing and speaking. Along with communication skills one must also have a basic understanding of technology.
Q2. Is English compulsory?
Not really but since English is a language used globally, knowing to speak and write in English fluently will help in reaching your content to the maximum. Also, language depends on what kind of customers you target. If you wish to target local customers a good communication skill in any local language should also be fine.
Q3. Can I start my own business as a content writer?
Yes, ofcourse. You can start your own business if you do not wish to work as an employee.
