Almost all writers, whom we know, work alone, hours after hours, trying to create a unique and informative piece of content for their readers. Writing can be solitary work. But, if you are in the content marketing business, you would know that publishing content is a group work, a collaborative effort. You have to wow your editors, clients, bosses, apart from your regular readers to get to the top. Writing is a tough job that people from other industry do not understand or relate to.
If you aspire to become a writer or have just begun your career as a content writer, you might want to be acquainted with the following practices to engage your editors, clients, as well as bosses with great writing. The practices are also applicable in building relationships with influencers, selling article ideas, writing blogs and articles, editing your work, and establishing marketing content.
Create Value and Provide the Same
You must provide value as quickly as possible to grab brownie points from your readers and editors. For example, would you like to stick around a ‘Semonila Cake’ video if the vlogger talks about something else during the first five minutes and then shows you the recipe? If readers aren’t sure if the content is going to pay them off what they are looking for, they will not read after the second paragraph. Therefore, provide the value of your work upfront, be it content or idea, to show your effective contribution.
Create Driven Headlines
Headlines can be the deal-breaker, literally. They are your content’s first impression, which shows up on the SERP and emails. If your headline is poor, your content can be heavily criticized. Some points you must remember while writing a ‘wow’ headline are:
- Use numbers as much as possible (Example: 9 tips for writing good headline).
- Add SEO friendly keywords at the beginning of the headline.
- Provide value in your headline (solve the problem of the reader and editors).
- Use rationale words, such as Tips, Ideas, Interesting, Secret, Best, etc.
- Think about the target audience when writing it.
- Make it below 70 characters.
- Provide alternative choices for editors and bosses.
Make your Paragraphs Short
It is found that a reader’s attention span is just about the first four sentences of a paragraph. After that, they just skim through, skip, and read something that their eyes catch. Therefore, you must use the approach of writing short paragraphs having not more than 5 lines each, making your sentences short and active voice, and highlighting important information, such as quotations and stats.
Add Links
Hyperlinks are an effective way to add value and validate your content. You must add hyperlinks when you are trying to prove a point through statistics, survey, study, results, and past references. It will make you seem like a well-researched writer and impress your reader as well as your editors and bosses.
However, make sure you do not add too many links for it may confuse the reader or may lead to unfocused writing. You must bring about a balance and add the right hyperlink at the right time.
Write Longer Articles to Demonstrate Quality
You can’t establish rapport with the audience with just 500 words. Introduction utilizes 10% and a conclusion another 10%. So what remains? 400 words. What information can you porvide in just 400 words? Serpiq.com conducted a study on pages that ranked first in Google SERP. They noticed that longer content, between 1500 and 2000 words, had more potential to go viral. So, aim for longer content with as many sub-headings, facts, and media as possible.
Don’t Forget to Check the Facts Before you Publish
When you are proposing an idea to a collaborator, such as an editor or digital marketing manager, make sure you have researched the facts and details from recent articles. Your editors will for sure verify your submitted content before publishing and you don’t want them to be correcting your English or replacing a broken link, or worse, asking you to rewrite because a portion of your content was inaccurate. We have lovely tools like Grammarly and CopyScape that can help you edit and proofread articles, and check for plagiarism effectively.
While grammar, love, and passion for writing are important, knowing what to write and what to omit is also critically essential. Follow these 6 practices to impress your bosses. Also, know that finishing a draft a few days early is a sign of hero. So, prioritize your time and stick to your words.
About The Author:
Aarif Habeeb is a content writer at https://grammarlove.com/ and an SEO expert. He is responsible for brand-building via content and social media for GrammarLove. His success lies within his originality and hands on experience in editing and writing. Aarif lives in Jaipur and loves his early morning filter coffee, dessert gazing and reading newspapers. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.