You already know how important content is for communicating your message, getting traffic and making sales. But you might be overlooking a few things that make your content truly great so here are 6 tips for writing great content.
1. Write for your readers, NOT for the search engines. Sometimes we get so caught up in optimizing our content for SEO that we forget we’re really writing for our readers and not Google. Create content that is useful for people, that helps them, educates them and entertains them. Make SEO your second priority in writing your content, not your first. Otherwise, your traffic isn’t going to get past your second paragraph before they’re closing your site and moving on to someone else’s.
2. Write for your readers, NOT for a certain platform. Today all we hear about is social media and everyone wants to know what to put on Facebook, or what to Tweet and so forth to make money. Again, this is the wrong approach and if taken it will cost you. Instead, identify what your users want, and THEN consider which platforms are best for delivering your content. It’s not about Facebook, YouTube, your blog and etc., it’s about giving people what they want.
3. Don’t be a control freak. It’s easy to fall into the mindset that all of your content must be published on your website so you can stay in control of it, but that thinking will only limit the number of people you reach. Instead, build your content to travel so that it can be downloaded, embedded or shared – thus capturing many more eyeballs and driving those eyeballs back to your site. Think of your content as ambassadors travelling the world to tell others about you, and sending those people to your site. The more your content travels, the more people it will reach, and the more traffic it can then send back to you.
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4. Be fruitful. Are you writing one article or one blog post a week? Try stepping it up to one a day, or even more. Release as much great content as you can, and don’t get stuck in one rigid rut, either. Develop a range of different content and see what garners both the most eyeballs and the most response. Pay attention to user feedback – they’ll tell you what’s working, what they love, and what they want more of.
5. Be open. So you planned a series of videos on topic A, and during the second video you mentioned topic B, and people went nuts asking for more information. What to do? Simple – give them what they want. You can finish your series later if you like, but right now you’ve struck gold and you need to mine it for all it’s worth. Give them great content on Topic B, interview an expert or two on that topic, offer them affiliate products on that topic, and so forth. Sometimes we hit pay dirt when we least expect it, and the most foolish thing you can do is NOT jump on it immediately. Money loves speed, and customers love to have their desires satisfied NOW.
For example, let’s say you’re doing a blog series on working with the media. In it, you mention that you think Charlie Sheen hasn’t gone off the deep end and what he’s really doing is getting a huge share of free publicity. Your readers go nuts over this topic, wanting to know more, how this can be used in their business to get free publicity, etc. You’ve hit a hot button, so run with it. Interview Sheen or someone close to him if you can. If you can’t, interview experts with opinions on it.
Develop a webinar on crazy stunts that garner free publicity, or a course on how to sleep around and make $2 million dollars per ebook (instead of an episode.) Whatever. Sure, I’m being a little bit over the top with this example, but you get the point. Stay open to what your readers are telling you they want to know and be flexible enough to roll with it.
6. Last, don’t create your content and run. When you make a blog post, go back and ANSWER the replies you get. When you Tweet, stay on Twitter to respond to the responses you get, and so forth. Your follow-up interaction says as much about you as your content, and if you do it right, it says that you’re not just looking to make a fast buck and you DO care about your readers. Which is not only the classy thing to do – it’s also the most profitable in the end.
I hope these 6 tips for writing great content have been useful.
