10 Tips to Get More Readers to Your Content (Part 2)

January 5, 2011 - Since you've stuck with us from yesterday, you must really want to improve your content development skills. Here are the final 5 tips-as inspired by this great blog - to making easily-consumed content for your readers.

The final 5 tips!

Tip #6 - Lead your readers along the path to conversion.

While writing you should entice your readers to continue by creating a "breadcrumb trail" for them to follow. If you are writing a multi-part article you should end each section with a teaser sentence or two to hint at what the next section holds for them. In the case of a conversion article you'll want to pepper it with links to related articles or blogs on your website, as well as contact forms to convert them to clients.

Tip #7 - Format for skimming and scanning.

Most readers don't really READ everything through. They skim for the most important parts and just pay attention to those highlights. To increase the chances that a reader will grasp your key points use formatting tools. Bold is your friend. It draws attention to your critical details, as do italics. Then, if they're interested enough, they'll go back for a full read.

Tip #8 - Don't fear white space (but use it wisely.)

There's merit to using white space to emphasize an important piece of information. If your readers see a single sentence nested between white space and surrounded by fuller paragraphs they'll pay more attention.

If this sentence is all alone, it must be important, right?

If a point is that important, feel free to give it its own little nest of white space. White space can also be used to create appropriate breaks when you switch from one point to the next.

Tip #9 - Send/produce/share copy that is clean.

Hey, we all make mistakes from time to time, but there's nothing worse than hitting send on an email and realizing you made a huge typo, sent to the wrong person(s) or had horrible formatting errors. You luckily have more recourse with blogs and articles as you can normally go back in and fix whatever went wrong. Regardless, the instant something hits the Internet, it's a public goof that could linger for a while.

Tip #10 - Be format-appropriate.

Some topics lend themselves to certain formats better than others. Long topics that are informative about a certain subject of your business are best written as articles with sub-headers to break up the information. More casual, chatty topics and frequently asked questions are best as short blog entries. Topics that lend themselves to open discussion are great for social media posts. And of course, if it's a personal response, use email.

Bonus Tip! - Watch the length of your content.

Typical article length is 400 words per section while blogs are generally shorter at 250-300 words. Any longer and you risk losing reader attention and can miss out on that client conversion. Keep this in mind for writing paragraphs, too. We generally try to keep each one under 70 words for a nicely sized text block.

And there you have it; 10 tips (and a bonus!) to start your new year of content off on the right foot. Of course, when you have a company like We Do Web Content handling your content development and marketing for you, there's nothing to worry about!

When your business is looking for quality, custom content for your website, newsletters, and social media look no further than We Do Web Content. Having unique content on your website is a great way to increase search engine rankings and boost your Internet marketing. For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today. 1-888-521-3880.