Andrea Durrheim

Shout-out to all those content writers out there! If you’re relatively new to the business, or are hoping to craft good content for your own business’s website, what should you be looking out for? How can you engage and inform your readers? Here’s what you need to know!

1. Grab Them From the Get-Go

Introductions are incredibly important. If you don’t grab your readers’ attention within the first three sentences, you just lost them. That doesn’t mean that you have to demonstrate brilliance, but it does mean that you need to exercise empathy. Why are people reading your post? What do they want to know? What, in short, is bugging them right now?

The best way to craft an introduction is to state a problem and offer a solution. After all, whatever you’re selling, even if that’s just your personal brand, nobody is interested in you. Instead, they’re interested in how you can help them. Tell them!

2. Keep Your Sentences Punchy

There are tons of reasons why short sentences work well. In the first place, they’re easy for readers to follow. Next up, it’s way easier to get tangled in your own rhetoric if you make sentences too long. You can lose the thread of logic more easily if you’re writing long sentences, and grammatical errors are far more likely to creep in.

At the same time, you have to be careful of being too choppy. Some ideas link to one another, and your work needs to have some kind of flow. You want to offer a smooth read rather than one that calls on your reader to change mental gears too often. Balance is everything.

However, if your sentence occupies more than two lines of text, it’s getting questionable. Consider whether its necessary. There are times when a three-line sentence, or even a four-line one, is OK. For example. you’re contrasting this with that, or are making and then modifying a statement. But do think it through. You don’t want your content to make folks’ head spin, after all!

3. Use Easy Vocabulary But DON’T “Dumb Down”

Empathy: it’s a must for writers who actually want to be read. Readability matters. Cramming in tons of jargon or using long words when short ones will do are mistakes. If you want to engage your audience, make it easy for them.

However, this tip comes with a warning. Some writers think they have to “dumb down” to achieve easy readability. If you patronize your audience, they’ll pick up on it. Never underestimate the intelligence of your readers! They may want an easy read, and you may want to begin with basics, but never, ever, assume that they’re stupid.

4. SEO Keywords Should Look Natural

Fitting in SEO keywords can be a bit of a headache, especially when they don’t look grammatically correct. For example, if you have to fit in “handmade woolens UK,” that’s going to look awful in whatever sentence you choose to use.

But just as you shouldn’t underestimate readers, you shouldn’t underestimate search engines either. They can pick up synonyms, overlook conjunctions and punctuation, notice related words, and so on. Despite this, you might still find yourself struggling with keywords given to you by an SEO expert. If they just don’t fit, don’t use them. Search engines will be able to see what your copy is about without them.

Of course, if you’re dealing with one of those clients who absolutely insist that you have to use every keyword they’ve listed, you shoehorn them in. Customers are always right, even when they’re wrong.

5. “Fluff” Is (Usually) a Bad Thing

“Fluff” is anything that doesn’t really contribute to the topic. Nine times out of ten, you’ll want to avoid it. But there are always exceptions to the rule. Once in a blue moon, you’ll encounter a situation in which a bit of chit-chat doesn’t hurt and may even contribute to the reader’s experience.

In general, however, it’s best to avoid wasting words. If your client asked you for 1.5K words on a topic and there isn’t enough meat in it to reach that total, don’t just cram in fluff to top up your word count. Struggling to reach the total word count even though you’ve done your research well? Ask your client if there is any information they think you can add.

6. Always Use Subheadings in Articles and Blogs

Humbling though it may be, accept that your readers won’t necessarily read your article or blog with rapt attention. Chances are, they won’t. People skim and scan. They’re looking for something that resonates, and they want to evaluate your article at a glance. If they think it’s relevant, they may go back and read your article more carefully.

Apart from the fact that subheadings are great SEO real estate, use them to help readers grasp what you’re discussing and decide whether they want to read it.

7. Never Trust Grammarly or Spell Checkers 100 Percent

Are spelling and grammar checkers always right? Definitely not! In a world where we’re crediting AI with all kinds of wonders and dangers, I have yet to encounter an infallible spelling and grammar checker. Homonyms still get overlooked at times, grammar checkers aren’t always able to link clauses within a sentence logically, and punctuation suggestions are sometimes just plain wrong.

No spelling or grammar checker is going to turn you into a good writer if you aren’t already one. If you’re really unsure whether you’re right or wrong, try rephrasing. Editing software is a tool, and not a very precise one at that. Sometimes it’s right, and sometimes it isn’t. Know your stuff.

8. To Edit Yourself Well, You Need Distance

Have you ever written something you were quite happy with only to return a few days later and spot repetitions, style errors, or things you’d prefer to change? Editing your own errors is extremely difficult when you’ve just written a piece. Although time constraints don’t always allow it, do try to place at least a day’s distance between writing and final editing.

9. Remember: Content Writing Isn’t as Easy as Most People Think It Is

On the surface, content writing seems easy, but it isn’t. There are many pitfalls you may fall victim to, and avoiding them requires experience. If you’re already a good content writer, you might think that anyone can do what you do. They can’t. Anything is easy once you know how, but commercial writing isn’t just a matter of literacy.

How do I know this? There was a time when I was landing way more work than I could cope with and decided to share the opportunity with a few friends. I ended up spending an hour editing articles I could have written from scratch in the same amount of time.

In a sense, we are bottom of the online content food chain. We sometimes write things that few people will ever read. We struggle to get our clients to accept our rates even when they’re relatively low, and sometimes, we have to deal with non-payment after pouring hours or days into a task. But there are few people who can do what we do. So, my final tip is to value yourself while retaining some humility.

You won’t always be right. At times, you may make mistakes. But ultimately, there aren’t many people who can become good, or even fairly good, content writers. If you’re one of these people, know your worth. If you aren’t, be willing to learn.

10. End With a Call to Action (CTA)

Once you’ve soldiered through a piece of content, it’s time for the conclusions and the CTA. A call to action tells people what you want them to do after reading your article. Do you want them to visit your store? Do you want them to hire you? Perhaps you want them to give you a call. Tell them so!

So, with that in mind, here’s mine. If you’re thinking of crafting your content and want help, or if you simply don’t have time and want to work with a freelance writer who will do it for you, drop me a line. Getting custom-crafted content for your blog or website could be as easy as that.