By Nick Brown
While it goes without saying that content writing might just be one of the most important and the most effective tools for boosting your website’s conversions, for a lot of marketers it doesn’t seem to give desired results. Why is that? Well, mostly because they’re not doing it right. Any marketing method depends on two crucial stages – planning and execution. Needless to say, it’s the latter that often falters. So, what you need to do first is to find a way to give your content writing a boost when it comes to improving website conversions. Here are five things you need to know to make this happen.
Readability is crucial
When you start writing content, the majority of guides will suggest that you stick to the point, that you support your writing with facts and that you keep it all organic. Also, when presenting data, you need to check out the validity of information at the current date and the credibility of the source. Sadly, what the majority of these guides skip is the fact that readability is crucial when writing text-based content. Sure, having a lot of interesting facts and stats is great; however, all of this can look just as good on the infographic and have an even greater effect (conversion-wise). Fortunately for you, there are a lot of great readability score checkers online that you can use after you’ve finished writing.
Make all your links organic
The next thing you need to keep in mind is the linking within the content itself. We’re not just talking about the anchor text linking but ads and banners, as well. To make all of this feel natural, you need to ensure that it’s relevant to the topic in question. For instance, when you’re writing a post about gardening, it’s completely fine to insert a link to a guide on how to make your compost or an ad for a retailer of landscaping tools. What you need to focus on is the idea that both your links and your posts have the same target audience. This way, it will all seem organic and you won’t scare anyone away by abusing the dreaded black-hat-hard-sell methods. This is also something that might help you personalize your advertising in a positive way.
See it as a piece of a puzzle
Perhaps the hardest thing to do while writing a piece of content is the idea that it’s just one of the many pieces that need to come together in your overall marketing campaign. Remember, it’s your goal to make this piece of content into something great even when standalone; however, for it to live up to its full potential, it needs to be a perfect fit with the rest of the campaign. This alone is the reason why you need to communicate with all the other parties involved in this project, as well.
For instance, if you’re outsourcing a part of your digital marketing to an agency specializing in web development in Sydney, you might want to consult them about various aspects of your content. In some scenarios, they alone are responsible for a major part of your SEO-based content generation. In other words, for all of this to work in your favor, you need to ensure that all parties responsible for your digital marketing are moving at the same pace.
Be genuine
One of the reasons why user-generated content (UGC) is so popular is due to the fact that it’s seen as more immersive. Why? Well, first of all, it’s written by someone who is (demographically) a lot closer to the reader. Due to the fact that the majority of millennials and Gen Z spend most of their lives online, they’ve developed a sixth sense for the so-called marketing jargon; they can spot a piece of content made by a professional marketer from a mile away. So, how do you avoid this? Well, first, try being colloquial. Second, be conversational. Third, don’t be afraid to state your own opinion (even at the expense of sparking a controversy).
Quantity matters, as well
When it comes to general writing tips, the majority of guides will suggest that you focus on quality, exclusively. This means that even though the average time that it takes to produce a blog post in 2019 is about 3 hours and 57 minutes, you might want to take 6+ hours to produce your own piece of content. Still, what happens if they come to your blog looking for more, only to find that it’s quite empty (other than the post that they’ve just read and liked)? To make it all appear more reputable, you need to fill your blog with quality content without compromising the quality of the given content. How do you do that? The answer to this question is quite simple, as well – not alone.
In conclusion
As you can see, it all comes down to altering your mindset to see your content for what it truly is. Sure, some people are just more talented writers than others and there are those who have a hard time writing immersive, readable content. Still, content writing is a skill and, like any skill, there’s always room for improvement. They say that it takes one 10,000 hours to master a skill. Well, the sooner you start, the sooner you get there. The benefits of this for your overall marketing strategy are bound to follow.
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Nick Brown is a blogger and a marketing expert currently engaged in projects for Media Gurus, an Australian business, and marketing resource. He is an aspiring street artist and does Audio/Video editing as a hobby.
