How to Write Great Content

In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, content writing plays an essential role in driving website traffic.

Written content is one of the most common types you’ll find on many different platforms.

It should be easily understandable both for the readers and search engines.

If you want to write great content, there are several rules you have to follow.

Continue reading to discover the tips and tricks behind writing great content and its benefits!

How to Write Great Content

Here’s what you need to do to write great content:

1. Research to provide knowledgeable content
2. Create an outline
3. Write compelling headlines
4. Hook the reader with an interesting intro
5. Write for your target audience
6. Use a unique brand voice
7. Optimize your content for search engines
8. Use CTAs
9. Focus on link-building

First off, researching before writing is essential. Discover suitable sources and inform yourself on the subject. Remember that you should be the expert on the topic you're writing about.

Furthermore, take the time to do keyword research. Discover trending topics and what the users are searching for.

Use the keyword as many times as needed but don’t stuff it. This will only make your content hard to read, doing more harm than good.

Once you've gathered all the needed information, you should create a structure.

The article should be easily understandable and contain the answer readers are searching for.

Next, you have to grab the reader's attention with a compelling headline and introduction part. Dive straight into the question that interests them. Avoid fluff and filler at any cost.

Don't forget that it's your job to keep that attention during the whole article.

Discover your target audience and write for them. Know the writing style suitable for the occasion and topic. Make sure it also represents your business with a unique brand voice.

Encourage the reader to interact by using calls-to-actions. Use an active voice and relate to them. Tell them to engage with you, fill out a form, or buy your product.

Give the article value by providing credible sources. Include as many links from sources as you can. Nobody wants made-up information that doesn't solve the problem.

Lastly, ensure the content is optimized by following SEO regulations. Focus on interlinking, meta descriptions, structure, and keywords. Double-check the URL, media optimization, and mobile-friendliness.

Overview - Writing Great Content

Doing research

Before you start writing great content, you have to know what you’ll write about.

That’s why doing good research is the first step behind quality content.

You have to focus on two things during this stage:

• Keyword research
• Attaining relevant and trustworthy information about the topic

Keyword research

Keyword research is used to discover the most relevant topics people search for.

Using the right keywords will also help you to perform well in search queries.

Multiple online tools can help your search, including Ubersuggest, Surfer’s Keyword Research, and Moz’s Keyword Explorer.

During this research, you should focus on:

• Search volume - the number of searches in a particular time frame
• Search intent - the users’ purpose for typing a particular query into the search engine
• Keyword difficulty - a competition metric that shows how difficult it is to rank organically for a specific term
• Keyword authority - part of the keyword difficulty; it shows the overall domain and page authority, as well as content quality

Once you’ve decided on the most suitable keywords, you should base your further research on them.

Topic research

Researching a topic should be done from the reader's perspective.

Find out what the users are interested in. Do they have a problem? How can you help them? What is trending at the moment?

Discover all the related and relevant questions surrounding the subject.

You have to sound like an expert on the topic you’re writing about.

To establish credibility, use statistics, data, and metrics to prove your point.

Never forget that you’re writing for real-life people. Make the content comprehensive. Its quality should be your number one priority.

Creating an outline

Creating a quality outline brings structure to your content and holds the reader's attention.

It should be easily skimmable and reader-friendly.

A proper outline will help you with:

• Keyword placement
• Detecting knowledge gaps
• Backlinking to valuable sources
• Writing content faster
• Overcoming writer’s block

The first step is to narrow down a specific title. Give a clear understanding of what the content is about.

Next, organize clear and consistent subheadings with the H2, H3, and H4 tags.

Create subsections when elaborating on an important topic to provide more value.

Lastly, tighten up the outline. Is there repeating information? Will rearranging a section tell the story better?

Remove anything that isn’t necessary or related to the topic.

Writing compelling headlines

Headlines are the first words that catch a reader’s attention.

It’s best to keep them short, catchy, and valuable.

BuzzSumo’s analysis shows that 11-word headlines performed best on Facebook and Twitter. So stick to the approximate 65-character length.

Furthermore, emotional, click-bait, and quiz headlines are outdated. They have to be snappy and impactful.

Choose powerful words that encourage taking action. Don’t forget that people read an article because they want to gain information. And you’re there to teach the audience a lesson and help them get the answers they’re looking for.

Online tools, such as CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer, will give you insight into your headline rating.

Hooking the reader

Once you’ve caught the reader’s attention, you have to keep it.

They’ve clicked on your article because of the headline. Now you have to deliver what they came here for. So it’s best to get straight to the point.

The intro should relate to the reader on a personal level. In simple terms, explain what the article is about. Persuade them to keep reading by reassuring them that it’ll help solve their problem.

The first sentence should smoothly guide the reader to the first point.

The average bounce rate for blogs is 65% to 90%. You only have several seconds to make an impression.

So keep the intro short. Don’t use fluff or filler.

You can ask a question that will intrigue them to continue reading. Or use a cliffhanger instead.

Writing for your target audience

Once you have the attention, you have to know who you’re writing for.

Defining your target audience will help set your tone of voice.

Keep a small group of people in mind who are most likely interested in the product or topic.

Visualize their age, gender, career, and interests. Tailor your content around them.

Learn their behavior, mark specific patterns, and see what works best for them through trial and error.

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t hit the mark on the first try. Just keep a keen eye for detail and observe.

Using a unique brand voice

After defining your target audience, discover the tone of voice suitable for that group of people.

The tone of voice can be adapted based on the topic you’re writing about. A unique brand voice is what sets you apart from the competition.

Focus on the brand persona, target audience, and business goals to create a unique voice that shapes the way people see your business.

Pick a communication style. Set an emotional tone. Focus on word choice.

Its sole purpose is engaging and communicating with the readers.

If you’re writing for a company, follow a style guide that represents the brand.

A great example is the study by Nielsen Norman Group. The 4 primary tone-of-voice dimensions they focus on are:

• Funny versus serious
• Formal versus casual
• Respectful versus irreverent
• Enthusiastic versus matter-of-fact

Optimizing content

Even though the content is meant for the readers, you first have to deliver it to them by satisfying the search engines.

Optimizing your content has several benefits. It increases your organic visibility, builds site authority, and establishes credibility.

These are the crucial SEO practices that will boost your written content:

• Page title
• Meta Description
• URL
• Mobile-friendliness
• Optimized media
• Internal linking

Page title

A title tag is an HTML code that identifies the title which appears on the SERP (search engine results page).

Keep them short, unique, and accurate.

They should be from 50 to 60 characters in length. It helps with ranking, CTR, and improving user experience.

Meta Description

A meta description is a text that appears below the title in SERP.

Use your main keyword since it’s also related to your click-through rate.

The standard length is from 150 to 160 characters or two sentences.

Be mindful of the first sentence. Google often rewrites the meta description to closely match the user's search. They mostly use the first sentences of the relevant section.

URL

The URL by itself should tell the reader what the page is about.

It’s made of the protocol, domain name, top-level domain, and path.

Your focus should be on the path section. It indicates the user’s specific location on the website.

Try to include the keyword if possible.

Mobile-friendliness

Most people browse the internet through their phones.

Google prioritizes the mobile version over the desktop one. This goes for ranking and indexing as well.

Here’s what to focus on:

• Using a responsive design
• Avoiding large chunks of text
• Structuring the content with headings
• Using a reader-friendly text and font

You can use the Google mobile-friendly test tool to determine issues and fixes.

Optimized media

You can use different types of media in your article.

Images can be used to section off chunks of text. This makes the written content easily readable. Include alt text for SEO and accessibility.

Videos grab the attention of users. They’ll stay on your page longer if they find this content interesting.

You can either embed someone else’s video or create your own. Try adding interviews, tutorials, and online lessons depending on your topic.

Internal linking

Internal linking is the best practice to keep readers on your site.

Make sure your written content includes links to your other blog posts.

This increases both user experience and helps engines find relevant authority pages on your website.

Choose the right anchor text. It shouldn’t have more than five words. Provide context of what the reader will be redirected to.

Don’t just use internal linking for the sake of it. Make sure it supports your article as well as adds additional value and relevance.

Using call-to-actions

Call-to-actions are phrases used to encourage users to do something they want.

They can be mentioned at the beginning, middle, and end of the content.

Most CTAs are used for conversions.

Drive traffic to your other pages. Encourage people to leave a comment or contact you. Include icons to follow you on social media. Get more newsletter subscribers.

There are several benefits to using CTAs:

• Building brand awareness
• Increasing leads
• Increasing sales
• Growing subscriber and email list

When writing call-to-actions, you should always be direct and informative.

Make it personal while using action-oriented language.

Build trust with the audience by encouraging them to reach out.

Create an act of urgency. Tell the readers to do something “NOW”.

Importance of link-building

To build brand awareness, you should appear credibly before the readers.

Well-researched and authoritative content should always be a trustworthy source of information.

Support your claims by backlinking to authoritative sources, such as:

• High-profile brands
• Mainstream media
• Government sites
• Universities and educational platforms

Try getting high-authority sites to link back to your content as well. You’ll rank better in organic search and appear more trustworthy.

Writing Tips

Writing great content requires engaging and readable material.

You have to be reader-friendly and clear about the message you want to deliver.

Here are the key focus points:

• Say more with less
• Use an active voice
• Avoid plagiarism
• Avoid keyword stuffing
• Have good grammar

Say more with less

The length of your text and sentences highly impacts the overall readability.

Write concise sentences with less than 20 words.

Enrich them with as much information and value as you can.

Keep your paragraphs short as well. Use subheadings, bulleted lists, and bolded text to make sections and emphasize key points.

You can evaluate your readability with the Readability Test Tool or the Hemingway App.

Use an active voice

Writing for an audience means encouraging them to take action. Using an active voice and powerful words is a way to inspire them to do so.

When writing in a passive voice, your readers feel detached, and the point is more subtle.

By using a more direct and clearer voice, the audience can relate to the subject better.

Use the online tool Grammarly to determine clarity and get alerts when using a passive voice.

Avoid plagiarism

When writing content, avoid plagiarism at all costs.

Using someone else's content is both morally wrong and has technical setbacks.

When there are two identical pages, the search engine can de-index the plagiarized one.

The owner of the website you stole the text from can also take legal action against you.

Use online tools like CopyScape and SmallSEOTools to check if there is unintentional plagiarism.

Avoid keyword stuffing

Don’t rush and use the keyword in an illogical and unnatural way. Instead of ranking better, Google may de-index your page due to low quality.

The content you’re creating should focus on the users and readability.

When a keyword is overused, it sounds repetitive and robotic.

Take the time and determine when and where it's suitable to use it.

Have good grammar

No one wants to waste time reading content full of grammar mistakes.

So make sure to check the text for typos and misspellings.

There are several online tools to help with grammar, quality, and readability.

Try out Grammarly or ProWritingAid if you’re editing the final draft by yourself.

Benefits of Writing Great Content

There are several benefits to writing great content:

1. Improves search engine ranking
2. Moving leads down the sales funnel
3. Boosting conversion rates
4. Building brand awareness and identity
5. Establishing rapport with the readers

Conclusion

Writing great content takes time and experience. However, there are several key factors you should focus on.

Optimize your content, focus on its readability, take time to do the research, and focus on the readers. Furthermore, don’t forget the importance of link-building, CTAs, and creative headlines.

Hope this article gives you the needed information to write great content and good luck on your creative journey!