In the digital age, one of the smartest investments a business can make is to invest in a website. When done right, the site can easily turn into your top sales rep. It works 24/7, generates traffic, and converts visitors to customers. However, many fail to take advantage, focusing mainly on tactics to generate traffic without properly capturing visitors through relevant, informative content.
Therefore, we have some tips for you as you work on a new content strategy or revamp your old one. Tips that will take your ordinary content and make it extraordinary. Not just driving traffic to your website but converting it too.
Capture them with a headline
People visiting a site typically skim through the content. The first thing they read is the headline. If it doesn’t interest them 80% won’t bother to read the rest. So, the headline needs to be captivating.
The headline should be specific and draw interest without giving away the whole story. After all, you only have around 65-70 characters to play with. Headlines that are instructional using phrases such as “why you should” or “you need to know” tend to grab more attention than those that are guides or use hyperbole. Play around with different headlines for different content, but make it interesting.
Make the introduction engaging
A captivating headline is just the appetizer, you need to hook the reader with an interesting introduction. It essentially gives them a reason to read on.
The best way to do that is to get right into the content. Don’t beat around the bush, let the reader know exactly what they want and the information they will get if they continue reading the article. Take this article, for example, we highlighted a challenge many website owners face and promised solutions in the form of tips.
The intro obviously worked, since you are still reading the article.
Make the content relevant
Content is always for a specific audience. You can’t write for everyone, it just gets too complicated.
Most businesses have a target audience identified, so write for them. For example, this article caters to marketers directly. It gives you tips on writing content for a website. If instead, it was just about writing tips, it would have appealed to a wider audience such as novelists, students, and so on.
By making content relevant to your audience, you provide them with the exact information they want. This makes your content specific and interesting to them.
Content should add knowledge to the reader
Imagine, clicking through to this article only to learn about the importance of content writing and zero tips on how to do it. You’d probably think you wasted your time and would likely avoid the site in the future.
Therefore, you need to make sure that the content adds knowledge and is catered to the audience. The simplest way to do that is by figuring out common questions on the topic you write about. Tools like Ubersuggest let you search for specific questions people ask about a given keyword. So, enter your target keyword before you write content based on it and the tool will help you devise the perfect outline. This way, your content covers information that people are curious about and want to learn.
Tips should be actionable
A great way to make your content valuable is to add actionable tips. Tips readers can actually do on their own and will see results. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a step-by-step guide, but enough to give them some things to take action on.
Actionable tips are more meaningful for readers than just general tips. Once they realise that your tips actually get results, they will be back for more.
In order to provide actionable tips, you will need to be an expert on the topic. So, be sure you know everything about it before you write the content.
Build trust by linking to sources
There are millions of sites online, all claim to provide authentic information. Why should readers trust yours over others? Well, because the information you provide is backed by studies and or statistics. It is important to link through to authoritative sources that back up the claims you make in the content. It adds a layer of trust and shows readers that you did your homework when writing the content.
Final thought
Know your audience before you write content. That is the only way you know what to write and how to go about it. Once you do, you will see a rise in traffic and conversion.
So, always keep your audience in mind when you write and your content will automatically be relevant, knowledgeable, and interesting. If you still have trouble, Cactimedia’s content experts can help write captivating SEO content for your website.
