You’ve heard it time and time again; content is great. Content is good. Content is King. Well, I agrees that content needs to be good if it’s to be read certainly. It just makes sense. It’s a fact of the internet. It’s the way it has to be.
Good content = gets read.
Bad content = gets passed over.
That’s pretty much the basic tenet. And the sad truth is that the sea of the world wide web is getting bigger and bigger. It’s growing at an exponentially rate every passing year. Where 20 years ago there might have been only around 300,000 pages, today there’s almost 10 billion.
And a good chunk of these contain horrendous content. Poorly written, poorly researched, poor subject matter. All of the above sometimes.
Pictured: Bad content. Possibly drunk content as well.
Getting yourself noticed online is much more difficult these days. Which is why writing content for the net is under the microscope much more. Google knows it. Big brands know it. Marketing agencies know it. Content marketing is something you need to care about if you either write or need content online.
When it comes to marketing, the industry is starting to step up a gear on this front. Over 80% of Business to Consumer (B2C) companies are planning to increase content marketing spend over the next 12 months. Over half of Business to Business (B2B) companies are doing the same.
So it’s well and good knowing that you should be creating excellent value content. But it’s down to that unsung hero of marketing to make it happen.
The copywriter.
This creative pocket of genius is responsible for ensuring that the content of your business or your client is unique, informative and relevant. They work hard plucking interesting and innovative ideas from the deep recesses of their minds.
And once you go in there, all bets are off. So be nice and bring them a brew when they ask for one.
I said NO cream!! Screw it, you can write this yourself.Before even touching the keyboard
For those of you new to writing or simply want to aid your copywriting skills, then here are a few things to consider beforehand. I hope you find it useful.
Research.
Like breathing, it’s something I recommend doings. Otherwise, you may miss work tomorrow. Researching the thing you are writing about might take ten minutes. It might take 2 hours. But without this information, you are not creating content that is authoritative and relevant.
Like Ben Franklin says….
Listen to the man. Christ, he invented the lightning rod. Because he could.Remember, don’t just research a topic. Know the clients you are writing for. Know their clients. Know as much as you can about everything related to what you are writing about. It will help you be a voice that people trust when it comes to the topic at hand.
Also, be clear.
What exactly will this piece of content be doing?
Writing for writing’s sake just to make content isn’t going to cut it anymore. It needs purpose. It needs cohesion. It needs to have a clear message throughout. It needs to provide something fundamentally useful to people.
Remember however, that it needs to be done in a simple way that doesn’t alienate the reader, because they are generally pretty lazy. With a 5 second attention span you need to catch them with the title and not let go.
That means:
Links to resources…
Images…
Video…
Infographics…
Among other things, but a combination of these elements are recommended, because visual stimulus is just as important as the written word.
Essentially, most writing-led pieces of content should apply the following structure:
Tell them what you are going to be talking about.
Talk about it.
Conclude by wrapping up concisely what you just talked about.
Also, one of the most important things I can tell you is this:
Great content. Really great content. It’s shareable.
Which is kind of obvious really isn’t it.
Look at how many people have viewed this page. Have tweeted about it. Have shared it.
A great title, along with a combination of copy, images and a clear idea about what it wants to say. Sure it’s tugging on the heartstrings a little, but it’s working.
Next…
Promote your content. Of course, there are the logical ways of promoting your content. Which is all well and good. But you’ll be surprised how many people just stop there.
This is a mistake.
You next plan of action is this; Get in touch with the right people.
Not just through friends and family. No, target influential people within the industry you are writing about.
If it’s a comedy article, try to message comedians or comedy writers. Think carefully about the leading voices. If it’s a cutting and insightful piece on sexual dysfunction, then Sean Connery probably isn’t the best person to tweet at.
Dammit, you’d get pregnant just by looking at him.Get them to notice and you get the people who follow them to notice. There’s nothing wrong with sending a tweet to a leading influencer and saying “Hi, how are you. I wrote this and I think it’s really interesting. I think you’d find it interesting and of value too. Thanks.”
Of course, you’d have to condense that into 140 characters for twitter. But you are a writer. Work something out.
And remember….
You should be engaging the audience and know enough about them to say something that has the potential of making them react. They should want to comment on your content. This is a great example of toying with people’s emotions to provoke a response. Over 1100 of them to be exact.
Finally, have a call to action. No, really, please do. Placing a final sentence or paragraph that asks for feedback or directs your readers into taking a course of action is highly recommended. Sometimes, you need to direct them to the right exit.
Here’s a presentation where I make a lot of these points, and include a few I’ve missed off. Please have a look.
These are just a few things to consider. But making your content shareable and easy to read are the fundamental points I’m getting at here. It doesn’t even have to be original. I’m not saying you should rip off other people’s work, but you can certainly use it for inspiration for your own.
I’d appreciate any feedback about this. I hope a lot of it makes sense? If not, I’m just a comment away.
Thanks for reading.
Consider this a gift. Thanks again.