No matter how good you are at marketing and how well you understand the marketing trends, if you write content that isn’t captivating, you’re not going to get very far. The pressure online for people’s attention is just too great for that. Everybody has ten windows and twenty things calling for their attention. You’ve got to beat all of that if you want people to read your content and keep coming back for more.
The big question, of course, is how do you do that? I mean, we all understand that we’ve got to write captivating content, but most of don’t know what to do to make it so.
Well, here are some of the absolute must do that you need to follow in order to make your content captivate and carry away your readers.
The most important words
The very first thing that you need to focus on is the headline. You’ve got to make sure that this absolutely rocks, for if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t matter what else you’ve written as nobody is going to click through to it.
Here are the things to pay attention to:
Your headline must be concrete. People don’t click on links they don’t understand. They need to get straight away from your headline what they’re going to read about. No, that doesn’t mean that you can’t intrigue them. That’s what stuff like ‘you won’t believe happened next’ is all about. Still, before you do that, you need to make the topic of your content clear.
You need to master the science of headline writing. You see, a lot of people think that writing a headline is an art. It isn’t. It’s a science that has been well researched. So make use of that research! Just type ‘how to write headlines’ into google and follow the advice. Also, use something like co schedule’s headline analyzer.
Work in the right keywords. This isn’t actually for readability and engagement, but it’s still important as when Google doesn’t understand what your article is about, you’ll never get any organic traffic coming in from their website. And that’s a real loss!
Keep It Short And Simple
This is something that’s come to us from the marketing and advertising world, where sales are aided by you keeping your message simple to understand and not making it far too lengthy. That isn’t something that’s only important in the sales industry, however.
You see, most people have an incredibly short attention span. That means that if you make your thoughts too difficult and yours sentences too long, they’re really going to struggle to understand what you’re talking about. And as they’ve got a lot more options than just your page, that means they’re probably going to abandon the effort.
For that reason, always work at simplifying your language, by using such programs as the Hemingway App. This will point out sentences that run too long, are too complicated and use the passive voice too often.
Now, to be clear, simplifying your sentences does not mean that your ideas have to be simple. You can still deal with complicated ideas without dumbing them down. You just have to write about them in a way that is accessible. Then you’ll have the best of both worlds.
The first draft is never good enough
If you’re not editing your work, you’ll never write great content. I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true. Editing is where most of the magic happens and where the average writers get separated from the great ones. Only here, will you be able to hone your ideas, get rid of the unnecessary fluff and in other ways boost the understandability and how engaging what you’ve written down is.
Even better, editing makes you a better writer as it lets you think about problems that you’ve got and learn how to fix them. Do this often enough and you’ll stop making the mistake in your first draft!
Feedback is vital
In fact, if you want to supercharge your learning, then you’ve got to get other people involved. You want feedback from people so that you can recognize problems and understand what you need to work on.
Don’t just ask your mom to look at your work, either. For unless they’re professional writers, all they’re going to be able to tell you is their own opinion. That’s just not going to get you very far. Instead, get some professional writers involved. Go look at the boards, groups and writing services for somebody to take a look at your work and give you real feedback.
Only then will you know how you can lift yourself up and become somebody that people pay attention to.
Use short paragraphs too
While you’re at it, don’t just simplify your sentences, but simplify your paragraphs as well. After all, the long paragraphs of yesteryear only existed because the paper was expensive and having too much white space cost you money. That problem doesn’t exist anymore. Most of the stuff you write is never going to be printed.
So stop letting yourself be held back by that barrier!
The moment you start using shorter paragraphs, you can create a far more engaging text, by using white space to communicate ideas well. If you can cover one idea per paragraph, then the gaps between the paragraphs will come to announce ‘new idea’ to your readers. This will allow them to reset and think you’re an even better writer than you are.
Even better, you can take important thoughts and leave them on their own, surrounded by white space. This will naturally emphasize the point, acting like a super-charged exclamation mark that will really drive your point home.
Headlines aren’t just for the title
Most of us don’t read an entire article. Instead, we’ll skim through sections. Sure, you can get angry at people for doing that. You can scream that they’re not taking your writing seriously, but that won’t get you very far.
Far better is it to swallow your pride and use sub-headlines throughout your articles. In this way, even the skimmers will get the gist of what you’re trying to say. Even better, if they find a headline particularly engaging, then you’ll be able to draw them into reading your article for real. And that has to be better than yelling at them, don’t you think?
Last words
The truth is that writing isn’t a talent but a skill. That means you’re going to have to work at it to get better. At the same time, you don’t have to do it by trial and error. Instead, with these instructions, you’ll know what to do and where.
In that way, you’ll advance in leaps and bounds and before you know it creates a text so engaging not even blind people will be able to look away.