Tips to Attract and Engage With Effective Content

Now that you understand why your content needs to be effective, how can you attract and engage people with your content? Effective writing has 10 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 five to 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 or failing to do something. But remember, 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, white papers, 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 this helpful perspective, you first need to 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 the 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 posts that readers recognize and therefore know what to expect. And for many people who skim your posts, make sure to include interesting subheadings to help 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's 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's 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 the conclusion for after you've 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's benefit in mind as you construct your article or ebook. This also helps you if you have an editor or a colleague editing your work before it goes live, they'll know exactly what point you're 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, its vision, values, and the promise you're making to your audience. The words you use, the tone of the writing, the the subject matter and details included in the content should all reinforce the reader's view of who your brand is and why the reader should want to know you better. To make sure you're creating content with your buyer Personas in mind, ask yourself how and if this content supports their journey. If it doesn't, then you should consider questioning why you're writing the content in the first place. Next, it has a relevant call to action. Once you've 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's 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 all your ideas and how tos. You then start to formulate all that information into a piece of content, beginning to structure the article and removing extra or interesting 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've 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.