I discovered information on the web that may shock you, like any good truth. ????
Visitors take on average 50 milliseconds to form an opinion on your site and your content. Content that sometimes takes more than a day to write!
To understand why sites are subject to such extreme spontaneous judgment, we will borrow a theory from our economist friends: supply and demand. ????
In fact, a search term generates millions of results instantly on all search engines.
That said, Internet users have at their disposal several options for good answers for each of their queries. As a result, they are ruthless with sites that look bad to them.
In this condition, the biggest challenge for writers is to provide fresh, clean, clear, simple and readable content.
Yes, it’s a lot, but I’m going to guide you step by step to face this challenge with flying colors. ????
Through this article, I have gathered some resources, tips and simple practical examples to help you create high-quality content that attracts and retains visitors.
20 examples, tips and resources for writing web content
Our advice covers all aspects of writing, from coming up with ideas through the writing stage itself to editing your content.
1. Be clear
Clarity remains one of the key characteristics of well-written content and your ability to write a clear and concise introductory message that can help readers understand the purpose of the content.
Source : squarespace
This is the magic of advertising texts, because from a few words, they manage to deliver messages and arouse feelings.
Content marketing is not totally different and you must learn to communicate a lot with a few words in order to make people want to read you.
Online, no one is willing to consume extremely long content when it could otherwise be summarized in a paragraph.
This is what the editors of Digital Insiders understood, who, to compare personalized content to targeted content, settled for a text of 800 words while the other articles contain thousands of words.
The advantage of writing clear content is that it allows you to present the most important points and bring readers to the heart of the matter as quickly as possible.
2. Get your title right
When you launch a search on Google, it is undoubtedly the title of a site that encourages you to read its content. In the same way, you need to write a compelling title so that others can choose your content on the SERPs.
But writing compelling headlines is anything but child’s play. It involves many challenges such as choice of terms, length, tone, etc.
This headline from our blog is an example of a compelling headline because it contains a number and makes a reasonable promise (isn’t that a put a clic????).
If you want to refine your titles, there are online tools that can help you such as Coschedule, Capitalize My Title…
3. Know your audience
A successful text addresses its audience in the same language style as the latter. You are still not going to address adults with the same language level as in kindergarten and vice versa.
The same reasoning holds true when targeting different social groups. So, to sell a luxury product, you are not going to express yourself in the same terms as Discount, but probably like Louis Vuitton.
However, it is not a question of being satisfied with the jargon of your audience, it can be interesting to make your text as conversational as possible.
Source : launchwithrika
Another approach is to use the first person or second person so as not to start your sentences with vague terms.
4. Convince your readers
Readers must have a reason to start reading you and read you to the end. This will determine whether they will come back to view your content afterwards or not. This is the point of making your content inspiring and convincing for your readers.
And as you know, there is no magic formula for creating super compelling content. However, I will reveal to you some strategies for creating these content people.
- Provide actionable content that your readers can use immediately.
- Don’t make promises, bets or challenges that your content is unable to meet;
- Fill gaps in your content by linking to other websites, newsletters and blogs. Additionally, making relevant links to quality resources helps your content establish credibility.
5. Encourage visitors to take action
Let’s agree that there is no specific word to encourage people to act, otherwise we would all already be millionaires. ????
However, just adding a word or phrase can move someone into action. But how do you find these kinds of words or sentences?
As Jean de La Fontaine said, “I don’t know the place; but a little courage will make you find it (…) Dig, search, dig ». ????
Fortunately, Buffer has made a list of 189 powerful words that convert and you just have to use these words to write texts that attract attention every time.
6. Length depends on context
The length of a text depends on the context and varies from one platform to another. Generally, some platforms have character limits that you can stick to.
For example, for Google ads you have a total of 35 characters available whereas on social media it is quite different.
As for the pages, it becomes more complicated because you have almost no limit. The ideal is to stay within the margin of 2100-2500 words for articles and blog posts.
Source : netoffensive
Indeed, these articles tend to rank higher on Google SERPs. But in reality, everything will depend on your needs, because someone who writes a guide will tend to write a longer text unlike someone who just wants to give a definition.
You just need to stick to the rule of clarity so as not to give superfluous details and also not to withhold useful information for the reader.
7. Make sure your content is skimmable
In many cases, readers do not read everything on a web page and prefer to scan the content. You must play this game and allow visitors to easily discover your key points by using:
- Short paragraphs;
- Subtitles;
- Bulleted lists;
- Parts in bold;
- Links ;
- Etc.
Source mozilla
Furthermore, use short sentences to get your message across. This makes your text readable to readers. With numerous text correction tools like Antidote, you can improve the readability of your entire text.
8. Use a topic tool for inspiration
If you lack inspiration, content generators are also a source to stimulate your creativity in terms of writing.
For example, Answer The public shows you, based on a keyword, the questions that Internet users are searching for online. These phrases can be used as keywords or subtitles.
9. Know SEO Responsibilities
It’s true that writers create content for multiple mediums and for multiple reasons. However, you also have the responsibility to adapt your content for SEO.
That said, you need to find keywords that are relevant to your content. Without keyword research, it’s like locking yourself in your room to bake cake and then asking your neighbors to buy it.
The ideal approach would be to first see if your neighbors want cake before you start producing it. Otherwise, no one will buy your cake.
Keywords work the same way and are sort of the needs of your target audience, and then your role is to help them satisfy those needs.
Today, there are an incredible number of tools that make keyword research easier. These include, among other things:
- Moz ;
- Semrush ;
- Ubersuggest ;
- Etc.
10. Eliminate all mistakes
It is common to see small errors slipped into online content. The truth is that these errors, whether they are grammatical, typing or spelling, harm the credibility of your business as well as its reputation.
Imagine you are in a clothing store and you find a very nice white shirt, but it has two small, barely visible stains.
This simple fact is enough for you to find this shirt less beautiful than it initially seemed. Mistakes are the same in high-quality content.
They are obvious and damage your reputation, regardless of the beauty of your page and the quality of your content.
So, you must make sure to eliminate all these mistakes from your content. This is possible when you use powerful software like Antidote. Other online tools like Reverso and Language Tools can also help you make your content perfect. ????
Beyond typos, most of these tools polish your content by showing you long, complex sentences, agreement issues, and more.
Note, however, that sometimes it is better to choose conversational sentence structures than grammatically correct sentences.
11. Don’t be too strict
Unless you are writing a doctoral thesis, your content should be easy to read. Leave the big words to the academics and focus on words that your audience can digest and remember your brand.
In fact, strict texts distance you from your audience. According to Robert Cliadini, people are more likely to trust others or something familiar to them.
Therefore, make your text super familiar to your readers so that they can relate to your content.
The trick to achieving this is to use tools to find synonymous terms. Antidote software also offers a synonym search tool that not only shows synonyms, but also the contexts in which you can use them.
12. Don’t overuse keywords
The best way to bore your readers and drive them away is to use the same words frequently.
Source : getseenonline
Repetition of words gives your readers the impression that you are repeating the same ideas, which makes your text uninteresting.
13. Use active voice rather than passive voice
Adopting the active voice is much more practical for getting readers to take action.
Indeed, the active voice emphasizes the action to be taken while the passive voice always highlights something or someone.
Let’s take the following two sentences as an example:
- The national team won the match with two goals.
- The match was won by the national team with two goals.
As writers, your goal is to get your reader to take the next step in your process, hence the importance of preferring the active voice.
14. Write for a target audience
The goal of writing is to satisfy the information needs of a target audience. It is therefore essential to keep your target audience in mind when you start writing.
Indeed, you are not writing for “everyone” and the reader must feel through your content that you are addressing them specifically.
Most of the time, editors define the profile of their Buy Persona, that is to say the typical profile for which your content or offer is intended.
Source : medium
You can find more tips on creating your Buy Persona in my guide to web writing.
In short, writing for a target audience is one of the best content writing methods that can add value to your content.
15. Grab readers’ attention with your introduction
To attract the attention of your readers, you need to write a catchy introduction. You know the adage that says “speak and I will tell you who you ares”, it is also valid for online content.
When you meet someone who seems so beautiful to you and you’re dying to get to know them, all you have to do is start talking to them to discover their personality.
Simply put, words reveal who we are. And the same thing happens with online content. If your title entices people to click through to your page, the introduction is the teaser to your content.
The introduction is like you’ve been given the floor, it’s up to you to give people a reason to follow you until the end. So get straight to the point and show readers that their problem is very painful and that you have a solution.
16. Write engaging content
You need to create good content that follows the same rhythm from the title to the conclusion. It would be unpleasant to start with an attractive title, a catchy introduction and end with dull content.
Keep in mind that Internet users do not hesitate to leave one content for another when they believe that it no longer brings them value.
Furthermore, you must put the previous tips into practice to provide content that is easy to read and makes you want to take action.
17. Have a distinctive brand voice
If you’re writing for a brand, you need to speak with your brand voice to stand out. It’s about expressing yourself with a tone that is specific to your brand and which expresses its personality.
Source : nstpr
This is what can distinguish an item offered by Louis Vuitton from another offered by Hermès.
18. Always start with a plan
In order to write faster, it is recommended to outline what you plan to write after carrying out your research. Creating a plan also allows you to produce perfectly structured content.
Remember tip number 7 where I recommend helping readers skim your content. It remains easy when you have well-structured content.
19. Use plagiarism checkers
When you finish the writing stage, it is important to always check the originality of your work. Plagiarism checking allows you to offer your readers unique content as Google wants.
It also saves you from legal action since plagiarism is a crime. The verification is done using tools such as Quetext And Plagiarism Detectorgives.
20. Read aloud
Reading your content out loud helps detect parts that aren’t flowing smoothly. You will also be able to find complex sentences, parts that require a comma…
If you’re too lazy to read, Microsoft Word software has a reader feature that can help you.
In summary
You understand that only high quality articles can survive the mega competition that sites engage in in the SERPs.
The techniques we’ve covered in this resource will help you improve the quality of your content to stand out enough in results pages to grab visitors’ attention.
And if you don’t have the time to put all of these tips into practice, what could be simpler than outsourcing content creation to a team of professional writers.
Contact us now to produce well-documented content that respects all SEO rules.
We will help you avoid editorial errors that cost a lot of money to other companies who had downplayed the importance of producing good content.
