Now that you understand why your content needs to be effective,
how can you attract and engage people with your content?
Effective writing has ten core attributes. Let's review each
in more detail right now. First, your writing needs an
attention-grabbing headline. According to Copyblogger, 80% of
people will read your headline, but only 20% will read the
entire article. So learning how to create compelling headlines
is one of the most important things you can do to improve the
performance of your content efforts. Headlines should be
specific, make a promise to the reader of how it will benefit
them, and if possible, prompt the viewer to read the piece
right now. Begin your writing by coming up with a working title,
something that will guide the structure and focus the subject
of the content. This could be something like, "How to Get
Past Your First Bad Idea." Once you finish the piece, you
will come back to this title and refine it to be more aligned
with the direction you ended up taking in the post. I ended up
coming up with a long list of titles that I ran by a colleague
to see what she thought was the best. It's always a good idea
to get another opinion. We decided on "Why Your First
Idea Might Be Your Worst Idea" for the final title. For almost
every piece of content, come up with at least 5-10 different
headlines. Make it a rule that you spend at minimum five
minutes brainstorming titles. It will pay off in traffic and
engagement. You can also rely on formats for headlines and
titles. Let's take a look at the most commonly used formats.
There's the "How-To" format, which teaches the viewer
how to do something; the "List" format, which usually
follows the format of X ways to or examples or tips; the
"Question" format, which piques the interest of a reader,
promising to answer a compelling question; the "Negative"
angle format, which accuses the reader of doing something
incorrectly or failing to do something, but remember that the
copy should always provide a solution or the answer to your
question; the "Secret of" format, which provokes the
curiosity of readers; the "Little Known" advice, tips,
or tricks format, which tells the reader that this advice is
unique and different from what's already been published
online; the "You Should Know This" format, which reminds
the reader that there is still information they don't know;
the "Interesting Data" format, which uses a stat to
prove the value of the article; and the "Quick Tip" format,
which signals that it's something the reader can learn
with a small time commitment. Next, the tone needs to be
relevant to your readers. When writing for your audience, you
want to match the attitude of your readers and the subject
matter. Consider if your writing should be serious, fun and
personable, uplifting, quirky and humorous, or authoritative.
Readers might not be able to point out that the tone is what
is off-putting about your content and therefore your
brand, but it's the little things that can leave a big
impression. Here's an example of why tone matters so much:
Simple, a company reinventing online banking, has a blog on
finance and money. But the writing is anything but what
you'd expect from a bank. They publish real stories from people
who use money to live their lives the way they want. The
writing is human, inspiring, and warm, which perfectly aligns
with its goal of taking the frustration and difficulty out
of dealing with a bank. Next, the content should help the
reader do something or better understand a topic. It's
helpful. Your blog posts, ebooks, whitepapers, and other
content formats should be made with the purpose of teaching
your audience how to do something or do something
better. It should be useful. This is what increases your
authority with your readers. To write from a helpful
perspective, you need to first understand who your ideal reader
is, which is also known as your buyer persona. By creating a
detailed buyer persona, you'll better understand the key
challenges your ideal reader faces, their pain points, how
they learn new information and skills, and their goals. You can
then use this information about your ideal reader to spur new
content ideas or show that you understand the reader's needs
in your writing. Next, it should add to the conversation, rather
than rehash what's already out there. With so much content
being produced, shared, and sent each day, your content
shouldn't simply restate what's already been published.
It needs to add something new to the conversation, be of higher
quality or more comprehensive than what already exists, answer
any and all questions about the subject the reader might have,
and include the most recent and relevant data for support.
Before you start writing, take a few minutes to research what
already exists on the subject. Analyze the content that is
already out there. Take into consideration the depth of
material, the expertise of the reader, and the perspective and
stance of other writers. Ask yourself, "What's missing?
What questions do I still have? How can I expand upon this topic
and provide more context, detail, or even
entertainment?" Spend more time creating in-depth quality
content rather than producing work that is easily ignored.
Next, write for the way people search. This does not mean that
you should consider Google your reader, but you should research
the words people actually use to search and communicate. If your
target reader searches for "financial planning" rather
than "wealth management", you'll naturally want to use
"financial planning" in your headline and content. Use
keyword research to guide you, but always default to what
sounds natural and would interest your audience. Next,
there is a solid structure. Effective writing makes it easy
for people to follow your narrative. This all starts with
having a solid structure for your post that readers recognize
and therefore know what to expect. And for many people who
skim your posts, make sure to include interesting subheadings
help to draw them into a deeper reading experience. One easy
structure to use is the List Formula. Start with an intro,
and list out the main points of the article, and then wrap it
all up with a strong conclusion. The How-To Formula is another
easy-to-use and logical format. It begins with an introduction,
there‚Äôs a section on why this matters to the reader that
provides more context, and then you provide details on how to do
something in a list format. If you start with a formula for the
backbone of your article, it‚Äôs easier to get started. It will
be overwhelming to write an introduction without knowing
where the piece is going to go. Start by filling in the main
points and save writing the introduction and conclusion for
after you‚Äôve written the piece or created a solid architecture
for the post. Next, It has one core idea. A clear piece of
writing should have one main idea, and everything else should
tie back to this. But it can be easy to lose sight of this
objective once you start typing away on your keyboard. Try
identifying the main objective and how the reader will benefit,
and add it to the top of your draft. This should serve as a
reminder to focus your content on one main idea, and it will
ensure that you are keeping the reader‚Äôs benefit in mind as
you construct your article or ebook. This also helps if you
have an editor or a colleague editing your work before it goes
live. They‚Äôll know exactly what point you‚Äôre trying to
get across. Next, it supports your brand messaging, values,
and strategy. Every piece of content you create and
distribute should support your brand messaging‚Äîits vision,
values, and the promise you‚Äôre making to your audience. The
words you use, the tone of the writing, the subject matter, and
details included in the content should all reinforce the
reader‚Äôs view of who your brand is and why the reader
should want to know you better. To make sure you‚Äôre creating
content with your buyer personas in mind, ask yourself how and if
this content supports their journey. If it doesn‚Äôt, then
you should question why you‚Äôre writing the content in the first
place. Next, it has a relevant call-to-action. Once you‚Äôve
gotten the attention of your reader and impressed them with
your inspiring and educational content, you need to tell them
what you want them to do next. This can be as simple as asking
the reader to share the content or write a comment in response
to the post. Or it could be more direct, such as asking the
audience to call a number, subscribe to your newsletter, or
download a checklist. This is your opportunity to encourage
people to continue to interact with your company, so ask for it
directly, and be sure to reward and delight them with the next
step. And finally, it‚Äôs free of errors and poor grammar.
Effective writing is the result of a process, which usually
looks like this: You have an initial idea and a working
title. You research and collect information, data points, and
quotes. You perform a brain dump, writing out your ideas and
howtos. You then start to formulate all that information
into a piece of content, beginning to structure the
article and removing extra or uninteresting information, which
further strengthens your main objective. Finally, it goes
through an editing process. This final stage is often rushed
through. However, this time for refinement and polishing can be
the difference between making and breaking trust. Sloppy and
wordy articles will only leave readers frustrated and feeling
like they wasted their time-no matter how good the core ideas
and advice are. Errors distract from your ideas and what you
want to communicate to the reader. And that's what
we'll be covering in the next video: How you can create
effective content by improving the quality of your writing.