Rachel
Content marketing is how you propel your brand to the forefront. This type of marketing focusses on distributing valuable and relevant content to attract and retain customers.
In order to create a well-rounded website or blog you must create content pieces that are related to your brand and provide interesting information to your audience.
To write a great content piece, you need to do a little groundwork. How is the content piece going to look? What is my audience? What is my ultimate goal in writing the piece? How does this relate to my brand?
These are a few questions you need to answer before you get started. While the questions are simple, the answers can have an effective impact on the success of your content piece.
Decide the Layout of the Content Piece
You need to envision the way you want the content piece to look, from the use of headings all the way down to the visuals you want to include. To create a great content piece, you should incorporate some of these features into the layout:
1. Use Headings
Headings will help your readers easily navigate the areas of content in the piece. Headings and subheadings allow readers to find the exact area of what they are looking for. Headings help break up large quantities of information into an easy-to-read layout.
2. Format the Text within the Piece
Visuals draw readers’ attention, and using bold, italicized, or underlined text will emphasize certain text to readers. You will only want to format text of information that is more important or significant than the rest.
3. Add Images, Graphics, and Visuals
Visual content is a must have for any online post. There is nothing more captivating for text content than a visual. A reader can use a visual to gain a better understanding of the content they are reading. Additionally, visuals make great shareable content, especially on visual-driven websites like Pinterest.
Infographics and other visual content may draw more traffic in through image search engines. Make sure that your images are formatted correctly for the best results. Photographs are better in JPEG format, while graphics are better in PNG.
4. Use Bulleted or Numbered Lists
Depending on what you are writing about, you may be able to add a bulleted or numbered list to your content piece. Bullets and numbering help organize your content for readers to better understand.
5. Limit the Length of Paragraphs
When it comes to website content, short paragraphs of just two or three sentences are easier to read than long paragraphs. Readers do not want to find the information they are looking for by having to read long paragraphs. Write short paragraphs to keep readers attentive and happy.
Strategize the Content
Now that you know the basic look that you want the content to follow, you need to decide what you are going to include in your content. Use these content strategies to plan what you want to write about and how you want to write it.
1. Know Your Audience
Do you know the audience you are going to be targeting? Knowing your target audience will determine the criteria you want your content to follow. If you have already created a website, use an analytic website, such as Google Analytics, to analyze your audience visiting your website. If you are just creating your website, think of the audience you will target and strategize your content around this demographic.
2. List the Criteria of the Content
This step is important when strategizing the content you want to include on your website. Your content’s criteria may include:
- Tone – will your content be funny, professional, or both?
- Length – will your content be short, long, or offer a combination?
- Topic – will your content be relevant to the website niche you have created?
These are a few of the criteria you need to inventory before creating a great content piece.
3. Use Keywords for SEO
Your content piece will need to include keywords related to your website niche. These keywords will help rank your website on search engine results pages, so they need to be included in your content for search engine bots to find.
Other Tips to Creating a Great Content Piece
In addition to these tips for layout and strategies, there are a few other key tips to remember.
1. Spelling and Grammar
Spelling and grammar is essential if you want your content piece to be worth anything. If a reader comes across a misspelled word, your credibility can be instantly lowered. What’s worse is that the reader can leave your website. This is the exact opposite effect you are working towards. Create content that is both spelled and punctuated correctly.
Need a helping hand? Check out Grammarly–they offer both a free and a premium version.
2. Easy to Read
This includes both the layout as well as the content within the piece. The layout should be easy for readers to navigate, but the content should be easy to understand, as well. Use words that readers will understand, especially the audience you are trying to captivate.
3. Use a Combination of Long and Short Posts
There is a place for both long and short blog posts on your website, and it is important to know when to use which one.
If you want to create a content piece on your website that will create reader engagement through comments and discussion, you should write a short blog post of 500 words or less.
If you want to see your post shared throughout social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, you should create a post around 1,000 words. This length of content is the best for social media shares.
Lastly, if you are looking to create a content piece that is heavy with search engine keywords, you should create a post with a minimum of 1,500 words. The more words, the better, when it comes to search engine optimization content. Just remember to place these keywords naturally throughout the content and do not overstuff the content with keywords. (Google will penalize you if they discover you are including keywords in an unnatural, overstuffing way.)
Remember
A great content piece is determined by what you write and how it looks, so it is important to spend some time strategizing your content before you begin. Come up with ideas for design elements and for content creation prior to developing your post.
Consider the audience, tone, length, and topic when deciding the content piece you want to write.
“If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.” Don’t plan for failure by skipping this step. It can easily make your content piece go from good to great!