When it comes to creating revolutionary, fresh content, there’s debate from all sides as to what constitutes great content writing. Some writers are in favor of short, straightforward blog posts, while other writers believe your content’s length should be longer than 1,000 words. Regardless of how long you believe your published content should be, the most important thing to keep in mind is that you want to create user-oriented content. Excellent content can answer a search engine user’s questions, clarify specific details, and nurture new ideas in the long term.
However, sometimes writing new content can seem intimidating, if not impossible. How do you write excellent content? What are some tools and tips for creating content that is not only novel but also has a long life span? In this easy content writing guide, we give you the tips for seamlessly producing your well-written content.
Tip #1: Think About Your Client’s Needs
The first question you need to ask yourself before hitting the keyboard is: what does the client need? What are they looking for when they chance upon your website? Search engine users just aren’t wantonly looking up random facts or questions for fun—they want answers and solutions to the problems specific to their unique situations. Before you make your outline, try to put yourself in the shoes of the customers and consider the following questions:
- Does my webpage address relevant questions related to my business’s industry/services?
- Does the content of my webpage explain my services adequately so anyone of any background can understand?
- Does my webpage make it easy for potential as well as current clients to contact me with their requests/concerns?
Tip #2: The Longer, the Better
When it comes to well-written content, there’s no such thing as skimping on the word count. This doesn’t mean every piece of digital content you produce should be over 1,500 words; producing words for the sake of producing words will only hurt you in the long run. However, you shouldn’t have to limit your content by word count. In fact, with longer word counts, you can often go more in detail about your services, products, and business. Longer word counts also allow for more backlinks, which helps in improving the flow of traffic to your website.
Tip #3 Think About Demographics
Whether it’s advertising or marketing, your audience is an essential factor in any type of content. Is your digital content for clients of all ages? Or are you working off of a B2B platform? If the former, you might want to curb the industry jargon and stick to a more straightforward writing style. If you’re on a B2B platform, you should consider bringing on an expert to write deeply about a topic relevant to your business’s industry.
Insert Free Quote Button Here
Easy Content Outline
Tip #4 Aging Counts
Another thing to consider when creating new digital content is how the content will age over time. Content that ages well over time and can be accessed repeatedly is the best type of content. Not only do you not have to worry about upkeep, but such content has time to gradually attract more web traffic over time. Examples of content that age well are:
- How-to guides such as recipes, DIY projects, or anything detailing a process
- Thought pieces on specific stances in your industry
- Resource lists such as lists defining terminology special to your industry, especially for non-industry members
- FAQs
Content that does not age well include:
- News articles
- Anything including statistics and their analysis (while statistics can technically be updated, you would have to keep track and edit such content every several years or so)
- Content on anything season/holiday-related
- Content related to currently trending items
As a website grows, so does the diversity of its content. While it’s not completely possible to avoid content that doesn’t age well, keeping in mind the type of content you’re circulating on your platform.
Tip #5: Outline
While outlining sounds like advice for a high school essay, there are reasons why it’s widely taught in schools. Outlining allows the writer to neatly compartmentalize their ideas and to see the bigger picture of a piece of content. There are many different ways to outline, but for digital content, we suggest the following method. For this writing guide’s examples, we’ll pretend we’re a business specializing in furnace repairs.
- Title: Get Your Furnace Repaired Today
- Sub-Header 1: Our Services (500 words total)
- Sub-Header 2: Ignition Problems (100 words total)
- Sub-Header 1: Other Benefits (200 words total)
- Sub-Header 1: Our Services (500 words total)
To get started with outlining, it’s best to figure out how many sections you will need for your digital content and to appropriately title them. From there, it’s easier to organize the webpage and decide how many words should go into each part. Especially for those who shy away from longer pieces of digital content, an article that is meant to be written in 2,000 words will look less intimidating when it’s broken up.
Tip #6: Shift the Language’s Perspective
Especially if you’re writing content for a service-providing business, it’s important to focus on the client’s perspective. Consider the pronouns you use on your website. Instead of using “we,” “us,” and “our,” switch them out for. For example:
We serve all of Houston with fast furnace repairs.
versus
Get prompt and reliable furnace repairs in Houston and the surrounding cities.
The first sentence does the same job as the second one in the sense that it communicates what the business does. However, the second sentence is more imperative and speaking towards the client’s needs. It also expands the area of labor involved with the phrase the surrounding cities, as the geographic location is an important factor clients consider when deciding between two businesses.
Tip #7 Use a Variety of Formats
To make the information easy to find and digestible for the visitor, break it up into not only small sections but also bullet points. In most websites, there isn’t just only text—graphics, call-to-actions, and bullet lists can also make up important parts of a post’s structure. Visual cues are especially important communication points for those who process information visually, and sometimes all it takes is a well-formatted article to provide a call-to-action and convert a website visitor to a customer.
The reason a variety in formatting can help with conversions is because a reader can skim a page more easily, meaning they can find what they want faster. Bulleted lists especially are great at capturing a reader’s attention, particularly if they have items that could be buried by long text. Last but not least, calls to action placed after smaller sections of text keep the visitor focused and encourages them to take action instead of getting lost in long pieces of information. For example, if we were to summarize the services for our example’s furnace repair company in one neat bullet-point list:
Each furnace repair includes the following:
- A one-year warranty on all parts and labor
- A FREE quote before any work is done
- Background checked, drug-free technicians
- A fully licensed and insured HVAC company with guaranteed service
However, only placing in a few bullet-point lists isn’t what will necessarily help with conversions. You need a call-to-action, and call-to-actions can come in many forms. They may be a sentence that draws customers in, an email form, or contact information. For this specific example, following up this list with a button for a free quote would work well in raising the number of conversions.
Tip #8 Proofread
At the bare minimum, your content must be grammatically correct and have no spelling errors. Nowadays, there are tons of different tools to help with grammar and spelling, yet time and time again common grammar and spelling mistakes are prevalent in many content posts.
Though it might seem like more work, take the time to proofread your written content. If possible, have another member of your business or team proofread it. Proofreading not only points out grammar/spelling mistakes, but it helps to show if there are any in-cohesive parts to your content.
Bonus Pro Tip: It’s not uncommon for two web pages with duplicate content to exist on the same website or online. Set a canonical URL for your pages. Setting a canonical URL tells Google and other search engines which URL is the ORIGINAL source and/or preferred version for Google to rank.
Putting It All Together
Keeping in mind the tips above, we recommend following this easy content layout for your website pages. Breaking up content into sections similar to this makes it easier to write about your services or goods. Again, you will be surprised by how much you have to say about your business when it is broken down in this manner. For this template, we’ll be using the furnace repair business again:
Introduction (150 words) – This is your hook, or how you will convince a website visitor to keep reading. The introduction should be user-benefit focused. Tell them quickly what your service or product is and what they will be getting—avoid going into your company’s history. This will help keep them on the page to read further and take action.
Services/Products – In this section, you’ll want to break your services or products into more detailed, smaller parts.
Section 1 (200-300 words) – Describe the service in detail and take care to reveal the benefits. If you have a furnace repair company, you can relay to your audience what types of furnaces your company can fix, the type of issues or problems you have solutions for, and the type of equipment you provide for your services. Break down your services into as many sections as you need.
Section 2 (200-300 words) – If your company offers more than one service, you can keep continuing in a second section. If not, show or list specific benefits that the client will experience if they use your company’s services. For example, 24-hour service guarantees on repair work, quick furnace installation, warranty on labor, etc.
Section 3 (200-300 words) – Add another service or get into more detail about one service. This is a great spot to show your insider knowledge of your company’s services. For example: “Let’s troubleshoot your furnace problems. Here are the most common furnace issues that homeowner’s experience, and our ways to solve them.” You can summarize a list of issues from here, each with a one-sentence explanation, and develop user-focused content.
Testimonials (100-500 words) – Before you finish off the webpage, consider inserting a service or product-specific testimonial. Testimonials are a powerful way to ground the reliability and credibility of your company—if you have a video testimonial, even better.
Conclusion (200 words) – Now that you have the thorough attention of the reader, here is the place to talk more in-depth about your company and how it benefits them. In short, the conclusion is a “Why Choose Us” section. List out the things that your company can provide and be of benefit to them. While this is an excellent section to speak about your company, avoid diving too deeply into your company’s history and your work background. If website visitors want to learn more about how your company came to be, they can simply access the “About Us section.” Here’s an example of how to integrate your company’s voice without losing your audience’s interest:
Our company has been serving the Houston area for 37 years. We are a locally owned and operated business. We promise our customers:
- Fully licensed and insured service
- 100% satisfaction guarantee
- 10-year parts and labor warranty on new equipment
- 2-year parts and labor warranty on repairs
- Guaranteed service within a 2-hour window
After summing up the benefits you can provide to clients, it’s best to end your webpage with a call-to-action such as an email form, contact information, or business hours.
Conclusion
Half the battle to writing good content is bringing in a well-experienced writer or industry professional, but the other half is all about formatting, how you structure information, and how you keep clients engaged. With this guide, you will be able to provide seamless information about your products and services. Now you can simply send your content to us, and we will combine it with custom design as well as calls to action to create a high-conversion website page!
Mission Accomplished!
In no time you have a 1000 word website page that provides your user with great information and showcases your product and business. Now you can send it to us and we will combine it with custom design and calls to action to have a great website page!
