ultimate guide - Express Writers

Writing Great Web Content: Your Ultimate Guide

June 19, 2024July 3, 2018 by Adam Oakley

Fact: There’s too much bad content on the web. In fact, there’s so much crap, people are having a hard time discerning which sources are legitimate, which facts are actually facts, and who can be trusted. People’s trust in the mass media has largely eroded, as a Gallup poll has shown. This distrust isn’t random – the internet has largely helped sow these seeds. So, what happens when you swoop in with accurate, valuable web content? It’s a light in the dark. Great web content is a torch that leads the way, setting an example for other content creators. Best of all, you give readers exactly what they want, need, and crave. That’s why we’re here with this extensive guide on how to write great web content. Learn how to build this type of lasting, strong web content, right now in today’s “ultimate guide.” The Ultimate Guide: How to Write Great Web Content 7 Ways to Write Great Web Content for Blockbuster Blogs 1. Make the Headline Sing Appeal to the Human Brain Keep It Clear, but Don’t Insult Their Intelligence Use Better Wording 2. Give Away Your Best Information in the Intro Start with the Hook Tell Them WHY They Should Care 3. Organize Your Points Explaining a Concept? Go from Basic to Complicated Writing a Tipsheet? Go from Most-Important to Least-Important Writing a Guide? Go Step-by-Step 4. Reference and Link to High-Quality Sources 5. Check Your Research 6. Write the Right Blog Post Length 7. Illustrate Your Points with Images 4 Ways to Write Great Web Content for Landing Pages and Web Pages 1. Write an Actionable Headline 2. Make the Body Copy Skimmable 3. Stay Benefit-Focused 4. Write a CTA That Shouts at the Reader Take Cues from the Headline Encourage, Inspire, and Motivate the Reader to Act 5 Examples of How to Write Great Web Content (the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), Plus: THIS Is How to Write Great Web Content Examples of Lackluster Web Content – Don’t Make These Mistakes! [bctt tweet=”When you create great web content, you help set the standard for publishing useful, accurate information online. More in today’s guide by @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] [bctt tweet=”Learn how to build lasting, strong web content in our ultimate guide on the topic via @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] What’s the Anatomy of Great Web Content? Writing good web content calls for hitting a series of bullseyes. All of them have to do with satisfying your audience. (No surprise, there.) No matter which industry you’re writing for, no matter what topic you’re covering, greatness always follows this anatomical structure: The Brain: Is it educational, informative, or practical? The Skeleton: Is it well-organized? Does it make sense as a whole? The Muscle: Does it pull you in? Does it make you want/need to keep reading? The Heart: Does it entertain you? Does it resonate? To make sure your web content hits home, include each of these vital parts. Here’s how. 7 Ways to Write Great Web Content for Blockbuster Blogs Web content like blogs requires a fair bit of finessing and fiddling to make them truly great. Take the time to check off each of these boxes, and you’ll be well on your way to web content greatness. 1. Make the Headline Sing A great piece of web content worth its weight in gold starts with an amazing headline. We’ve written plenty about how to optimize your headline for SEO, but how do you craft a headline that appeals to readers? How do you create one that’s just plain good? 3 Ways to Write Better Headlines 1. Appeal to the Human Brain Humans are really predictable. Luckily, when you’re sitting down to write your headlines, you can bank on this predictability. There are a few things we love to see in headlines, stuff that makes us far more likely to click them or keep scrolling to read the content underneath. Here’s what we know. Take these points into consideration when you write your headlines. Try to incorporate one (or a few) into your phrase/sentence: The human brain is attracted to numbers. In fact, a portion of our brain cells is dedicated solely to recognizing and interpreting numerals. When you include them in your headlines, you tap into the human desire to quantify value. Examples: “5 Easy Ways to Save Money,” “10 Tips for Baking a Delicious Cake,” “3 Great Reasons to Start a Savings Account” Humans hate feeling uncertain. Let’s put it this way: uncertainty = anxiety = stress. If you leave your headlines too ambiguous, you’ll stir up that unwanted uncertainty and drive people away. According to a well-known study by Conductor, most people prefer explicit headlines that help them understand what they’re in for if they read your blog or article. [bctt tweet=”A portion of our brain cells is dedicated solely to recognizing and interpreting numerals. When you include them in your headlines, you tap into the human desire to quantify value. @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] People are asking questions in search. In particular, more and more people are using voice search to get information, and asking questions in full sentences. Answer them in your headlines! Framing your headlines as answers will also help you rank for popular voice search queries. Examples: “How to Jump-Start a Car” “How to Bake a Birthday Cake “Here’s Why You Should Start a Savings Account” 2. Keep It Clear, But Don’t Insult Their Intelligence When writing headlines, many people forget about a key ingredient: clarity. Without clarity, your headline will be too confusing to appeal to readers. Plus, it will stir up the uncertainty we mentioned above, which is never a good idea. Of course, it’s just as easy to go the other direction and come up with a headline that’s way too simplistic and obvious. Case in point: Instead of stating the obvious, focus on readability. To help you keep it clear and understandable, consider using a tool that will score the readability of your text, like Readable.io. Just paste your headline … Read more

The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Blog & a Regular Posting Schedule

June 19, 2024May 10, 2017 by Adam Oakley

Writing a blog can be difficult, especially for busy, nonstop marketers and agency owners. We know it – trust me! With blogging as a #1 means of earning our traffic and revenue, we sympathize. It’s never been easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding to maintain a business blog and write consistently. To do it consistently, and to do it well, you need a process. Your process serves as your guidepost for making sure you never just sit stuck, wondering what to do next. The goal of this guide is to show you that process and give you a in-depth bird’s eye view of everything you need to write a blog and do it consistently. Then, we’ll dive into the nitty-gritty of how, when, where and what when it comes to impactful blog writing. Ready? [bctt tweet=”Get a bird’s eye view of everything you need to write a blog for your business, and do it consistently. ??” username=”ExpWriters”] The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Blog & a Regular Posting Schedule: 7 Step-List Know the Foundations of Writing a Blog that Matters The Golden Rule in Writing Blogs How Long Should Your Content Be? 4 Steps for Creating Compelling Headlines That Click With Your Audience 6 Steps for Writing a Blog and Doing it Consistently Self Editing Like a Pro, Even If You Aren’t One (Infographic) How to Come Up with Blog Ideas (Infographic) Let’s dive in! Know Your Foundations: Writing a Blog Post That Matters Here’s a quote to inspire you (Chuck Close): Just like anything else, the blog writing process starts with a foundation. Without this foundation, everything else becomes confusing and inefficient. With it, you can regularly create great content that your readers will love. The foundation involves three things: The “Golden Rule.” Write for ONE reader. Determine Content Length. Focus on creating the right content. Create a Strong Headline. Intrigue your ONE reader. [bctt tweet=”The foundation of #writing a great blog post: write for 1 reader, determine length, create a strong headline. @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] Let’s dive into these a little deeper. 1. Foundation: The “Golden Rule” The “Golden Rule” of writing a blog is simple; write for ONE reader. The hope would be that you already have a good idea of who your ONE reader is. Hopefully you also have a good idea of where they are, what problems they’re having, and how they communicate. Entire books and long form guides have been written on defining, finding, and targeting your ONE reader (also called target audience, target market, etc.) You should read them. If you don’t have time for that, Forbes has a great evergreen piece on decoding your target audience. Don’t fall into the trap of attempting to write for a viral audience. As Forbes contributor AJ Agrawal points out, ‘Go Viral’ is not a smart marketing strategy. Since most viral content is based on trends, it’s not evergreen and therefore has an exceptionally short shelf-life. That makes it a bad investment. Avoid the masses and follow the “Golden Rule” by writing for ONE reader. It’s the only strategy that has long term value for your blog. 2. Foundation: How Long Should Your Content Be? Google the above question and you’ll find that there are over 179 million answers telling you how long your content should be. Everyone who’s anyone has tried their hand at answering this question – it’s clearly one of the biggest debates among content marketers across the web. I’ll say that long-form has tremendous benefits. I’ve created an argument for long-form content here: in all reality, it does the best for SEO purposes. That’s also why I launched authority content at Express Writers last year. But along with realizing the benefits of long, authoritative content, you want to think most about how to do the right content. Less of the wrong, high-volume, no return content: more of the right content. Rand Fishkin, the founder of Moz, has a great statement on this point. He says: to focus on creating more of the right content. What does the right content accomplish? Fishkin outlines four things: The right content serves visitor’s intent by answering their questions and helping them complete their goals. The right content delivers an easy, pleasurable, accessible experience on every device and every browser. The right content gets the right information and experience to visitors FAST. The right content does all of the above better than any of the competitors in the space. But that’s all well and nice to hear what you need to do. How do you actually go about creating the right content when writing a blog? You create your content with these things in mind and use your editing efforts to ensure that they’re followed. 4 Steps for Creating Compelling Headlines That Click With Your Audience While I’m sure you’ve heard it more times than you can count, compelling headlines are crucial if you want readers to actually read your blog. Copywriting legend David Ogilvy is famous for saying: But you know the headline is important. How do you create one that works? Do you use a template that so many others have already used? That’s certainly the easiest option. Do you list a dozen different options and narrow them down one by one until you find a winner? That can work too. Do you include a number or ask a question? Sure, go for it. The truth is, there isn’t a stand-alone strategy that works best for creating compelling headlines when writing a blog. What is a given, however, is that you must identify who your one reader is and you build your headline around what would intrigue them to read on. How to Actually Create the Headline While your headline will differ depending on your ONE reader, there is a simple formula that you can use to short-line the process. After all, writing a blog is hard enough. You don’t want to spend five hours coming up with an intriguing headline. Jeff Goins, founder and owner of the popular … Read more