Content Writing

What Kind of Content Should I Be Posting on My Website?

It’s no secret that search engines love content that’s optimized, engaging, and relevant to your industry. But remember — robots aren’t the only ones reviewing the information on your website. Creative, credible content can also help set you apart from your competitors, gaining you loyal customers and brand followers. Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or a lean start-up, strong content can help you generate leads, convert browsers into buyers, and encourage referrals following the sale.

The trick is knowing what kind of content you need to produce in order to initiate and nurture client relationships.

Build trust with better content

According to a recent study by Focus Research, companies should use a mix of content types to attract customers, depending on the type of business they operate. Blog posts, white papers, research papers, and infographics all offer unique opportunities to engage and build trust with your audience.

But what if you want to shake things up a little bit? Here are three unconventional ways to create content that attracts attention to your company.

1. Create a competitive analysis

You heard that right. Publish a downloadable document to your website that compares your product or service to a competitors’. Today, most consumers begin the buying process by Googling information on products or asking advice from friends on Facebook and Twitter. Publishing content that clearly explains how your product measures up (and outperforms) your competition will make it easier for potential clients to appreciate what your company has to offer.

Industry insider tip: According to TechTarget’s 2009 Media Consumption Benchmark Report, technology consumers are especially receptive to competitive comparisons. This report found that technology companies seek out content comparing a vendor’s offering to the competition as they get further along in the decision-making process.

2. Don’t shy away from controversy

A little controversy can give your company’s blog a big boost in readership, but only when the topic is well executed and properly researched. This means quoting reputable sources that support your argument and lend validity to your stance. When done properly, controversial content can increase engagement and brand awareness, as well as drive traffic, comments, and inbound links to your website.

3. Use your FAQ page properly

Never underestimate the value of the frequently asked questions (FAQ) page on your website. When executed properly, your FAQ page can help enhance your customer service and communicate your brand value.

Unfortunately, many companies seem to go out of their way to avoid answering questions that could open their product or brand up to criticism. Of course, these are exactly the questions every company should address. Publishing this kind of content to your website is your first line of defense against negativity and skepticism. Be transparent and address any uncomfortable issues up front. Your customers will appreciate your honesty.

4. Interview an expert

Running out of interesting content ideas to incorporate into your blog or website? Then why not ask an expert for their opinion? Interviews are a great way to provide your readers with a fresh perspective on a popular topic. If you’re lucky, you might even learn a thing or two yourself!

At the end of the day, the goal is to develop content that your audience finds useful. Quality content can position your company as an industry leader and a reliable source of consistent, credible information.

Catch Me If You Can: 10 Ways to Hold Attention by Producing Engaging Content

Producing engaging content is one thing, but holding a reader’s attention? That’s another. We all know how much content there is on the web, but we also know how easy it is to not read it. Okay, okay, so maybe we do read some articles and blog posts, but let’s be real—most of us tend to skim them rather than read through them in their entirety. We’re busy, and we’ve got things to do! So in today’s hustling and bustling world, how do you write engaging content (articles, blog posts, ebooks, etc.) while keeping your readers interested? Read, skim, or scan the top 10 list below to find out.

1. Make your offer.

Offer information that is original and relatable.

By providing your readers with information that is new, original, and relatable, you will be giving them something that no one else is—engaging content that holds their attention. A lot of the news and information that can be found online is the same from one source to the next, but by offering readers something new that they can’t find anywhere else, you are bound to capture—and hold—their attention.

2. Tell a story.

Present your information as a story to really connect with your reader.

If you present your information as a story, readers will be much more inclined to keep reading—to find out what happens, to learn more about your product, or to find a meaningful connection that they can relate to. In addition, if you have a consistent voice and make your story emotionally relevant, you will be that much more likely to connect with your readers and hold their attention.

3. Be a space maker.

Make your content reader-friendly by optimizing your use of white space.

By formatting your content in a way that is visually appealing and uses the right balance of white space and text, you will already have readers wanting to read your article or blog post. The right amount of white space draws the eye to certain areas and prevents the page from becoming cluttered or disorganized, making skimming much easier.

4. Don’t be afraid to be bold.

Make your headings and subheadings stand out so they can be scanned by the reader.

Just as with white space, you want to make sure you’re using headings and subheadings that draw the eye, offer relevant information, and provide enough knowledge to give even skimmers and scanners a general idea of your article or blog post. Although your ultimate goal is to have them read the whole thing, if they can get what they need just by skimming, then you’ve still done your job well.

5. Make magic with bullets.

Use bullet points to provide a visual break while presenting your information in a way that is easily skimmable.

Bullet points break information up to make it easily digestible, concise, and generally easier to skim. They also contribute to the balance of white space and lend themselves to the visually appealing layout of your content.

6. Get the gist.

Scan only the points that you have highlighted to see if the reader will be able to get the gist of your article or blog post simply by skimming or scanning.

This is probably one of the most important points in this article. While you want your readers to actually read your entire article, you know that many of them won’t. However, you still want to get your information across, and you want your readers to come away with more knowledge than they had before they stumbled upon your article. By making the content of your main headings and points informationally efficient, you will be able to give your readers what they need even when they don’t read every word. This will keep them coming back for more because it will be concise, compelling, and engaging. If you ask me, it’s a win–win!

7. Include links.

Include internal links back to your own content.

Not only will these links give readers the opportunity to engage with more of your content via other areas of your site, but they will also allow you to keep the article or blog post concise. By including internal links, you won’t feel compelled to cram all the information into one article, which your readers will appreciate. This is also an easy way to boost your site’s search engine optimization (SEO), as the keywords you use will be more concise and the internal links will show the relevance of the content to the rest of your site.

8. Prettify your format.

Draw the reader’s eye by formatting your posts in a way that is visually appealing.

Whether this means using interesting font styles, unique images, or SlideShares instead of standard articles, format your articles so that they appeal to your readers. Readers are much more inclined to read visually appealing articles. And, once they realize that your content is engaging, too, they’ll be hooked!

9. Use numbers.

Numbers catch the eye and make information stand out.

Have you ever noticed that you’re much more interested in reading a headline if there’s a number in it? Numbers automatically give you some context, which keeps you wanting more. “The Top 5 Ways to Earn More and Do Less.” What does your brain automatically think? “What are the top five ways? I must know—now!” Including numbers, especially in your headings, makes your readers think they are privy to something, something that no one else knows . . . which keeps them engaged and glued to the page. It can also let readers know that an article is a quick read, because lists are easy to skim (see point 6!).

10. Avoid errors.

Edit, proofread, and be error-free.

Without proper editing and proofreading, none of the tips above will matter. If your content is great but riddled with spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, there’s no way your readers are going to stick around. If your content is engaging but lacks the professionalism of grammatical accuracy, your readers will become disengaged with each typo they see. Having error-free content is the ultimate key to holding your readers’ attention, so it’s imperative that you avoid making mistakes. To ensure that your content is error-free and awesome, have your articles and blog posts edited by experts. If you’re serious about producing engaging content that holds your readers’ attention, there’s no better way to get the results you want than by using a professional editing service (and following these 10 tips).

English Writing Style and Usage Reference Page Links

English Writing Style and Usage Links
For many years, my writing help websites focused primarily on providing direct “how to” information in the form of actual real-life sample documents and templates. My belief has always been that the very best way to write any type of document is to use an actual sample of a similar document as a starting point. My view on that has not changed at all.

That’s why this Writing Help Central website contains more than 250 actual real-life sample templates of letters, reports, proposals, essays, business forms, and other documents. In addition, I have supplemented those examples with more than 100 pages of practical writing tips for the writing of each type of document.

Accordingly, my approach to providing writing help to people has always been to focus on the practical approach to day-to-day home and business writing, through actual examples. I have always steered clear of getting into the technical vagueness of formal English grammar terminology and definitions. In my opinion, by far the best way to understand how English is written is to actually see, visually, through real-life examples, how it is really done. This is much more effective than learning the definitions of such esoteric terms as “gerund”, or the difference between the “transitive” and “intransitive” forms of the verb. Rather, I would prefer to demonstrate how “… most indefinite pronouns should be treated as singular”, rather than trying to explain what that means!

Nevertheless, over the years I have received many questions from my website and blog subscribers asking me about “writing style” in the sense of how to properly phrase something in English. In fact, when I posted a series of articles on my writing help blog, The Write Place, on the subject of “commonly confused words and terms”, the positive reaction from my blog readers was instant and strong. It turns out that, in addition to sample templates, people are also looking for practical “writing style tips” to help them with their day-to-day writing tasks, at work, at home, and in school.

Below are links to a number of pages I have put together to help you with the “style” side of writing; without getting into the technical details of English grammar. The subjects I have chosen to cover are what I consider to be the most common stumbling blocks encountered by people when trying to improve their written English for day-to-day usage.

Redundant Words and Phrases
These are words and phrases that tend to make the language more complicated and cumbersome than necessary.

Transition Words and Phrases
There are many words, terms and phrases that can be used to help your writing flow more logically and smoothly.

Proper Use of Prepositions
Prepositions are those little connector words that join words and/or phrases to other words and/or phrases.

Homonyms and Similar Sounding Words
Words of the same (or similar) spelling or sound can be easily confused and unintentionally change the meaning of something.

Plural Forms of Common Nouns
The plural form of some common nouns is non-standard and not obvious.

Frequently Misspelled Words
Some words cannot be spelled correctly by sounding them out phonetically.

Gender-Neutral Words and Phrases
The use of gender-specific language has (is becoming) a thing of the past.

I have tried to keep the above lists reasonably short by limiting them to what I consider to be the “essential” items for practical writing usage in most daily writing activities for home, school, and business.

If you ever want to go into further details than these usage lists, there are any number of English usage style guides available, both online and offline.