Do you ever feel like a small fish in the big sea on the internet? The truth is that we really are small, taking just a piece of this digital world. It could be challenging, triggering to enter in this game but once we’re in, we need to fight to survive. Google alone receives more than 5.6 billion searches per day and that’s a massive number of people reading something every day.
The quality content always finds its place upper in the list. It’s the key to success, indeed. Now it’s time to create better content to meet the business goals or to attract new audiences.
If you’re thinking about following a certain formula in order to write an article, good luck with that, because there isn’t. Remember that with your article you need to give the most out of the user aspect and make the reader come back again. Pull out your maximum to leave them wanting more.
There isn’t a formula but there are tips you can use when writing an article. These tips are proven and they’re essential for success.
Follow these 10 simple tips to create articles that step out of the crowd:
- Always, always include the three parts an article is composed of
Intro – You can probably differ a lot in this section. You can give it freestyle and informally say something. That’s how you could build a strong connection with your reader. In this part, you need to be stepping in, to open the article’s topic with a statement. After this, you need to go more specific as you can, because that’s why you do write on a specific theme. Also, don’t forget to convince the readers that you’re going to tell them exactly what they want to hear.
Main Part – As you successfully developed the connection, you need to hold them in your hand. But how’s that even possible? It is, when you present a research-based argument. Everyone believes in science, it’s the truth! Please don’t save your words to tell a story that has worked for someone. If someone has experienced a similar thing like you, it’s likely for you to create a neutral connection in your brain. This part would be ideal if you include a bulleted or numerical list so it would be clearer for the reader to understand your key points.
Conclusion– This is a moment when you need to finish what you have started. Finish your story. Leave your readers inspired. Define a conclusion sentences that will impact them to gain more confidence in you. Don’t spend much time here, you should’ve already said everything you wanted before. Remember that readers can be impatient to come to the end.
- The Basics: Write short sentences
Website content that is easy to read will always catch a wider audience. Sentence length is so important and please don’t forget to pay attention to this thing. You should be focused on choosing the words wisely because the “confusing” words just won’t make the things right. Today you have the opportunity to check your readability score on many apps:
Personally, the one that works for me is Grammarly. You can use it for free or the premium version which costs $29.95 per month (or down to $11.66 per month, if payed annually).
I understand that sometimes you need to write a longer sentence to capture the meaning but don’t make it too often.
Find your rhythm in short sentences! Don’t be boring!
- Include headings and bulleted or numerical lists
Make sure that the text is easy to be scanned. People love going to the main points which usually are made of headings or lists. Often they look through the page and aim to find the specific information they’re searching for. They will be promptly gone if they don’t find it easily. The heading is important to give the reader the information of the topic that will be displayed below. If you choose to write lists then you should be consistent and find your way of doing it.
You should make it clear. Simpler. Not crowded.
- Make it remarkable, Include Media
Texts can never say as much as a picture. Or a video. Or an infographic. They are really worth it, believe me. If you include media in your web content, you definitely have better chances to make it more interesting. You will do a great job by following this tip. Just try and see the boosts! Anyways there are some apps you can use to edit your graphics. My top choice is Canva but sometimes I use Piktochart too!
Give your reader a break from the text, including at least one photo!
- Choose your words mix wisely
Hey, can’t we always use our favorite words? But it wouldn’t be much striking for the readers. They want to see variety and passion. Keep in mind that the article looks more appealing when it’s consisted of positive words. Don’t get drown in negativity. No one wants to be disappointed (or feel it seemingly impossible). Bring your reader into life, made it clear for him/her that everything is possible.
When you think about using this or some other word, some tools can help you choose it right. You can use a free word cloud tool to generate your cloud. It can help you manage not to use the same word over and over. Also, thesaurus can find new word synonyms to improve the quality of the text.
- SEO for copywriters
This is a must when we think about keyword factors to watch out for. Keywords have always been and are an important element for Google to correctly recognize the topic and relevance of your content. It’s more complicated than ever. But how can Google tell the difference between good and bad content?
To your advantage, you can put your plan to action using these tips to help you manage a good SEO.
Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) is an indicator to tell you how much you use certain words comparing how often those words, in general, are used. Your SEO practice: Include some keywords in your content, this way you could rank for them. Just try not to overdose them.
Novel Content – Google compares articles with its engineer part to decide which content is more characteristic. Don’t write a hackneyed text. It won’t work with Google. Your SEO practice: Create content that will stand out from the rest.
Phrasing, Context, and Co-occurrence – Google can analyze the structure of your words to decide if your context goes well with the words and phrases you use. Co-occurrence is a method through which Google takes apart the text of a given document and finds it similar to the parts from other documents. Your SEO practice: Include, as much as you can, words and phrases relevant to the subject of your content.
Try to be natural – Don’t forget that Google has more than 200 ranking factors in its search algorithm. Your SEO practice: Form a style that is clear and easy to be understood by the readers. Believe me, Google can recognize that.
- The Art of Microcopy
User experience (UX) microcopy, also known simply as microcopy, is the catch-all term for the pint-sized bits of content on a website or application, on your sales pages and product pages. Mostly it includes: Error messages, buttons, captions, processing screens, the small print at the bottom of a sale page, tooltips, thank you page and other effects on your site.
Why Microcopy is good for copywriting?
Microcopy enhances UX– The user experience design plays an important role in your app or platform. It will enhance usability. For example, if a user goes over a button, it should tell him what will happen when he presses it.
Sensitivity is important – You should provide an answer the user is asking for. Take a moment to see if your text corresponds with the readers’ requirements.
Error messages shouldn’t blame users – What are error messages? Error messages are the first line of customer support and if written poorly they can increase technical support costs, frustrate users, lose sales, and reflect badly on the app or service. It should always include enough information to tell the user how the problem could be solved.
- Good Spelling and Grammar
Never publish something before making a detailed review. No one will save you if you have inappropriate words, common grammar mistakes or bad spelling.
Check out these tools that could help you improve your spelling and grammar:
Or, do you have your way of checking it? Enlighten us in the comments!
- Always hyperlink to your sources
Usually, before we publish a text, we do some research on other website’s texts. We could use some, get an idea, or just be inspired. Some topics are the same information, just said differently. If you make a reference to another site, make sure that you include an external link to the site. There is the option to “open in a new tab” and not to lose your reader while reading the article on your site.
There is also a possibility that you get backlinks in case you link to your sources. Some sites reply with a “thank you with a reciprocal link” or could get you a quote.
- Make them “crave” for more
How about you finish your dinner without a dessert? No way, right? Then make your strong CTA (Call-To-Action) their dessert. Don’t make them leave before having one.
Remember that with your CTA you’re inviting them to do something. That could be a verb like “Download,” “Share,” “Join,” “Sign Up,” “Learn More” or “Watch.” Ensure that you include a link so they could fulfill the action you want them to take.
And voilà! I guess you’re finally prepared to take your writing to the next level. Don’t waste your time and start converting it into beautiful texts. As soon as you publish your text you can do a monthly website checks to monitor and optimize its performance.
Follow these tips and get the reader’s attention by creating some creative content.
Good luck!
Tell us what worked and didn’t work for you in the comments section.
Resources:
Web Content Writing Tips (contentfac.com)
11 Golden Rules Of Writing Website Content (jimdo.com)
How To Write A Web Article (viget.com)
Writing For The Web (gathercontent.com)
The 5 Best Grammar Checkers (makeuseof.com)
