Content writing provides websites with a steady stream of informative articles and material. The effect of which is twofold – more material means more ways to attract readers, but more content also means more opportunities to boost your ranking on Google’s search results. However, keeping up with a consistent publishing schedule is difficult. Even for the most gifted writers, there comes a point where you either burnout from the grind or hit the creative wall and lose sight of what to write next.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re losing motivation to write or your creativity is running on fumes, then perhaps Wordsmith has the solution for you!
Strategising your material
When you have a good topic at hand, it’s very tempting to do a deep dive about every element of the topic – especially in one long and thorough article.
This is a mistake more often than not.
Most content writing article are around 500 to 1000 words and for good reason. Given that content writing is about being informative, short posts ensure that your material is quick to read and quick to digest.
Furthermore, if you can divide a lengthy topic into 5 respective parts, that’s five articles you have lined up already. It’s much easier to work when you don’t have to spend each morning thinking about what to write about.
However, don’t get carried away when thinking about how to divide up content. Not everything should be divided, nor should you attempt to milk a small matter for a thousand words. For example, case studies should always be structured as one conclusive article, regardless if the word count goes over 1000. To divide it into several articles is to deliver a news report in bits and pieces across several days. No one wants that!
To divide a topic, try the content hub approach. This involves having a main theme (or subject) followed by a number of sub-articles pertaining to said topic.
For example, a main theme could be cooking. Subheads could then be different cooking techniques, kitchen gadgets, ingredients, notable cooking influencers to follow and so on. Or if we want to be more specific, we can use cooking techniques as a main topic followed by articles on French, Italian, Chinese and other cooking techniques. To be even more specific, French cooking techniques as a theme can include articles on poele, flambe, braising and so on. The broader your main topic, the easier it is to divide into sub-articles!
Swiper says yes to swiping
Kristen Hicks of Austin Copywriter recommends keeping a “swipe file”, which is essentially a handy list of subjects and topics that you add to regularly… or in other words, ideas that you “swipe” for later use.
“Any time you’re doing research, browsing the web, shopping or just going about your life and you see something you like, save it,” describes Hicks. “Over time, you’ll have a file full of links, screenshots and hastily scribbled notes that you can turn to for inspiration.”
The more you are able to add to this file, the more your future self has to play around with when you inevitably run into a creative impasse. Even if it’s about tech or subjects that fall out of date quickly, having a record on how trends progress can be very handy as references later on.
Bringing in user feedback
Although you should have a clear idea of who you are writing for, it can sometimes be beneficial to integrate user feedback into your content. SEO and content wizard Neil Patel is an advocate. “One of the most important characteristics of compelling and persuasive content is relevance. Is your content relevant to the right group of people?” challenges Patel. “User feedback shows your audience’s reactions, suggestions and worldviews.”
What are worldviews? They are essentially how a person perceives society, their personal choices, opinions and how these come together to influence their decisions.
From surveys and feedback boxes to phone calls and emails, Patel recommends you take the effort to hear out your audience. You don’t have to go too in-depth and ask about every aspect of their life, but remember that open-ended questions usually yield more insightful results than yes-no questions.
Instead of “do you find our content useful?”, ask “why do you like or dislike our content?” Once you know more about what your audience thinks and how they think, you’ll be able to create more tailored content that resonates with them.
In addition to direct audience feedback, you can also check out Google Analytics (if enabled). From there, you can find out what landing pages are the most popular amongst your visitors. “Those landing pages are the ones perceived as engaging, valuable and easy to navigate,” explains Patel. “That’s why users entered there and then decided to explore your site.”
Once you know what’s popular, generating more content around these subjects will give your site even more traffic.
Also consider exploring heat maps of various pages on your site while you’re at it – if you see places with information that you think are important, but visitors don’t look at it much, it might be remedied by better page formatting.
Is “write what you know” always the best option?
A common writing tip that gets tossed around all too often is “write what you know”. It’s easy to write material that you are comfortable with, but Patel believes there is merit in exploring the more difficult and the controversial.
For example, we previously mentioned cooking as a theme. A controversial subject could therefore be “Gordon Ramsay is overrated”.
From a headline like that alone, you’d have people flocking in to voice their opinions and argue with or alongside you. Although you will likely get some disagreeable comments, audience engagement is a good thing in the world of content marketing.
However, with a bold statement like that, you want to back up your opinion with some valid points – otherwise you can expect your audience feedback to quickly tilt from a 50-50 balance to a majority negative.
As much as we love the G-man and respect his talents, some potential avenues of criticism could be:
· He overreacts for the sake of overreacting on television
· Not all of his international restaurants might hold to his high standards (photos or testimonials would be a must for this)
· He seasons his burger mix with salt, pepper, spices and an egg yolk (whereas most burger gourmands would recommend keeping seasoning simple and only right before you grill to prevent drying out the burger)
“If you do a great job, you’ll gain fans for life. If you fail at delivering value, you’ll likely lose your online credibility,” warns Patel – so do be sure your opinion doesn’t fall apart from a light breeze!
It’s ok to order out
If all else fails, don’t pass up on outsourcing your articles to professional content writers or agencies.
By letting someone else do the work for you, you free up your schedule to work on something else (like working on more article ideas or a project proposal). Additionally, more time to work with offers you the opportunity to seek out knowledge and expand your expertise. Did we also mention that content writing agencies are all about consistent deliveries and SEO optimisation? There’s no better way to boost your web presence and Google rankings than by leaving it in the hands of a pro!
Consistent content creation is no easy feat, especially when it comes to content that carries substance and value. We hope these tips can help you get through those dreaded slumps, but if those walls still feel too high to climb, don’t hesitate to give Wordsmith a call – quality and consistency are what we’re all about.