10 Best Practices for Effective Content Writing

With the rise in demand for high-quality content, I wanted to give my fellow content marketers a handy piece of information that will help them write the right content.

Before I get into the content writing basics, it’s important to know that good content marketing is more than just writing – it’s about strategy, marketing, and most importantly, the audience. You must create high-quality content that provides value to your audience so they seek out more of your content.

There is no magic recipe for creating high-quality content, but the following advice will help you write more effectively and more frequently:

1. Know Your Audience

The first step to writing content that works is knowing who your audience is. You need to know what they want and what language they use. You must spend time getting to know your readers and their habits. To do this, you should ask yourself questions about them.

What kind of information would they find interesting? What types of articles have worked well for them before? How much detail do they require? Once you’ve gained knowledge of these things, you can start producing content matching their personality.

2. Write what people want to read about

Writing content that provides information and answers questions is key to having successful SEO and good engagement on social media platforms. Your content should be written to answer the question that’s being asked about your business or product.

If you have a lot of different products and services, write content for each one of them. You may not know everything about your product; however, if your audience does, they’ll appreciate it and will be more likely to buy it.

3. Highlight Benefits

Benefits will always be the most powerful way to get people interested in what you’re offering. What would you think they were looking for if someone searched online for something? Would you just go straight to your website and list off features?

Of course not! People are interested in the benefits of whatever product or service you provide. When you write content, make sure to highlight those benefits and how they relate to your customers or clients.

4. Be Specific

Specificity is key. While you may want to offer people a broad overview of what your company does, you never want to leave out important details. They won’t trust you if you don’t give people enough information.

So, even if you’re only giving general information, you still need to include specific examples. Don’t simply say “we help you save money.” Instead, say “We help you save $100 per month on groceries.” Or, if you’re talking about a physical product, mention exactly what that product is.

5. Use Numbers

Numbers are extremely powerful when it comes to content. Many people are visual learners, and if you can show them numbers, they’ll remember them longer than anything else.

That being said, people aren’t going to read long paragraphs of text; they’re going to skim over it and move on to the next thing. So, instead of having a ton of words, sprinkle some numbers throughout.

6. Make Sure Your Content Is Relevant

You might think you’re doing your best to write relevant content, but if no one wants to read it, you’ve failed. To avoid that, make sure that your content is relevant. If you’re selling clothing, don’t post a blog entry about your dog.

And, if you’ve got a business that sells cars, don’t talk about your personal experiences driving a car. Instead, focus on the products you sell and the services you offer.

7. Keep it Short & Sweet

People are busy. Whether we like it or not, our lives are filled with work. There’s no doubt about it—the world is full of distractions. So, when someone goes to read a blog post, they’re going there to learn something.

But, if they have to scroll down a page to find that information, chances are they’ll stop reading. So, keep your posts short and sweet.

8. Use keywords throughout your writing

The title tag should always contain the keyword or phrase that best describes the article, page, or post. Also, use the keyword at least once in the 1st paragraph. The first 100 words of any piece of content matter a great deal.

Google uses these words to determine how relevant a particular piece of content is to search queries. The more times your keyword appears in the beginning, the higher your article ranks.

9. Include images

Images help readers engage with your content and make it easier for them to understand what you’re trying to say. Images are perfect for infographics, explainer videos, blog posts, and many other types of content.

When choosing an image for your website, remember that bigger isn’t necessarily better. Ensure your images are high-quality, clear, attention-grabbing, and useful. This is recommended in our Best Practices for Effective Content Writing Tips.

10. Create unique content

Content is king when it comes to online marketing, and while there are many ways to create content, one of the most effective is to create unique content. Creating value for users is essential if your website ranks higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), and unique content is one of the best ways to do that. Unique content can also help you stand out from the competition and attract more visitors to your website.