You’ve got your website up and running and you’ve been told that you need to start creating better content in order to increase traffic to your site. Whether it’s one of your services pages or ablog article, you need remarkable content to attract people, the right people.
If you haven’t done so already, make sure that you know who your target audience is. Create a buyer persona and identify your customer’s buying journey.
The anatomy of great content.
So first of all, what makes a great piece of content? Here’s a quick checklist:
SHAREABLE
Will your target audience want to read it? Will they share it with their friends? Is it something worth mentioning? Before you start planning your content, think of a topic the readers will find interesting. A lot of the great content out there is about solving a problem. Think about what problem your audience might be facing and come up with solutions that may help them.
UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE
Does your content make the reader think? Is it impactful and does it challenge their perspective? People like learning new things and reading topics that challenge their point of view. It gives them a chance to talk about it and share it. You don’t have to be the first to write on a topic, but you can put a new spin on old ideas.
INCORPORATE DATA
Data and statistics help to support the credibility of your content and makes you an authority on a topic. It’s great if you can incorporate your own data, but referencing other sources also shows that you have supporting data to back up your position or idea.
VISUALLY APPEALING & HIGH-QUALITY STANDARD
Does your content stand out? Are you utilising illustrations or videos? Make sure that your page portrays quality and professionalism. Check for those grammatical errors and typos.
CURRENT & RELEVANT
Try to stay away from topics that will be easily outdated. Create content that could be relevant at any given time. You can keep track of industry news for content opportunities. If you’re one of the first to bring that news to your target audience, the information will be appealing to them. Make sure that you write about what your reader cares about.
EASY TO DIGEST
Less is more. You may have a great content, but if it’s not easy for the reader to understand then it’s not going to do much for you. Make sure that your content is clear and organised. You want your content to be easy to consume.
How to create a content plan.
All right, now that you know the anatomy of a great page or article, let’s see how you can get started. After all, one of the most common problems writers face is writer’s block so start by building a plan for your content creation. Answer the following questions:
What’s their job role or daily role? What are they interested in? What are their shopping preferences?
WHAT are you writing about?
What topics will these people be interested in? Are there any particular websites and forums they would visit? Will they want to know about sales/support questions?
Is it awareness, consideration or decision?
Awareness: What is the problem?
Consideration: What are the options?
Decision: Let’s pick a solution!
HOW will the article help this buyer persona?
What are their challenges? What do they want to achieve?
WHAT format best suits the reader and topic?
Is it a checklist, case study, worksheet?
WHICH content structure will fit best?
Is it a list, a “how-to”, frequently asked questions, a “best of”, etc?
WHAT title will attract the reader?
Think about what terms the audience will type into a search engine in order to land to your article. Use common phrases that would appeal to the reader.
Understanding what you’re going to write about before you put pen to paper will help you stay consistent.
Pick the right platform to distribute content.
Once you’ve planned your content and have created your piece start thinking about how will you distribute this piece of information. The right distribution technique gets the right content in front of the right person at the right time. Some options include:
- Social Media
- Email Newsletters
- Blog Pages
- Forums
- Business Listing
- Landing Pages
Analyse your content data.
Lastly, once you’ve launched a page or article online it’s important to analyse how it’s performing. Have a look the number of page visit, how many leads or sales has it generated, how many people have shared it, etc. This will help you on improving the article and come up with your next piece of material.
There you have it. Hopefully our tips will help you get started on writing great content.
