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Effective Content

Writing content is a tough task. Not only do you need to be knowledgeable about the subject, but then you have to have the skill to transform that information into an interesting and readable piece (which requires both literary skills and a command of the language). However, the toughest thing to do is to create an attractive hook at the beginning in order for your reader to stick with the article and finish it through. Oh, and what if we told you that you only have 15 seconds to do all that?

That’s the average attention span of your reader- 15 seconds. It is during these precious moments that your reader decides whether your content is meaningful for them or if they should move on to something else. If a rodeo cowboy gets eight seconds to become a champion, what can a content marketer do with nearly twice that amount of time? Well, there is a series of subconscious questions everyone contemplates as they are reading an article. And as a writer, your articles must quickly answer these following questions as they pop up in a reader’s mind:

“Are you talking to me?”

If your reader cannot straight away tell if they are your intended audience, they are going to leave your page. Nobody wants to waste their time reading an entire article just to find out that the information was irrelevant to them. So it is essential for the writer to make it absolutely clear who their content is meant for, right from the beginning.

“What’s in it for me?”

Look at the way people use search engines. On the results page, users often simply skim through the first few hits and assess their relevance by reading the short description that is usually found under each link. Similarly, you have to construct your introduction in such a way that just by glancing at it, a reader can quickly and explicitly see if the article is for them.

“Says who?”

Readers like knowing who wrote the article and where the source of information came from. If someone won’t even take credit for the content, how trustworthy can it be? Based on the information your reader gets within those first 15 seconds, they will decide whether or not to trust you. Make sure your content has an author’s name, photo, and a link to their bio right up top.

“How hard will this be to read?”

Make sure your content is optimized for web readability. Short paragraphs and headers along with appropriate and well-placed images can create visual interest. A content with messy formatting and laced with typos and grammatical errors is sure to scare off your readers and look bad on you.

So, before you post your next piece of content, take off your marketing hat for a moment and put yourself in your reader's’ shoes. If you can satisfactorily answers these four questions, then you’re on the right track.

HOW YOUR BUSINESS CAN HELP THE LOCAL COMMUNITY?

02 Mar, 2021
Do you want to give back to your community but not sure how to do it? Here are a few ways to do it… Community Collaboration Business owners are a vital part of the communities in which they live and their work thrive. Thus, their decisions impact others in the community. A local business owner can be involved in the community. For instance, they may sponsor local little league teams, donate to cities homeless shelters, take part in community charity events or contribute to a local non-profit organization, so on and so forth. Innovation and Competition Businesses need to stand out from the crowd in order to survive and serving the community is one of the ways to do it. They must serve the needs in the community and do it better than their rivals. Having multiple small businesses all striving to be unique and better can result in a healthy maker place and well-served customer. Create Local Jobs Businesses play a very important role in creating local jobs. The benefit of local jobs is that the employees can work closer to where they live and won’t need to travel to another city or place. Businesses can also partner with and help small local businesses that can be beneficial for fellow community members who work at them. When a community has an operational commercial center, it also creates great opportunities for local people to shop at other local small businesses. They buy lunch or dinner from local restaurants, run errands on their break, and grab drinks from local bars. This keeps money rolling local and further creates a tight-knit community vibe. There are numerous ways in which brands can contribute for the wellbeing of the community. In a nutshell, our community can help our company to grow as much as a business helps the community to become stronger. All in all, we should always remember, no matter how you do it, giving back can ignite change and positive impact, and will make your company as well as your community better, smarter and stronger.

Research is The Key

By Ayesha Ahmed • 06 Mar, 2017
Writing content is a task in it self, and keeping it fresh and up to the mark is something that the content writers struggle from time to time. In this situation, you need to sit down and review some key points about your content and analyze where you can improve to get going again. Here, we will give you some tips on how to do that. Your content normally revolves around sales enablement, eBooks, white papers, and blog posts. With so many things to cover it sure does meant to get overwhelming at times. With the deadlines fast approaching, it gets even difficult to be more creative with your work since you have to get the job done quick. Bland content is not only hard for your readers to digest but also not really inspiring for you either. Research is the key. Stay updated. Keep checking out new trends and embed them in your content. That way your content stays fresh and contemporary. It’s important to keep evaluating, optimizing, and adjusting. One other problem content curators face is the monotony. Your readers get bored since you’re either repeating your content or following a certain unattractive pattern. Worry not. Alter your strategy. Look closely at your content. You might realize that it’s actually not the content but the way you structure it. Try restructuring it. Try changing the format. If you think that your content is flat, try to add some flare to it by adding infographics. That will spice it up. If your podcast is not doing as well as it should, try transcribing it into a blog or even better try adding some visual element to it to spice it up. That will surely catch the attention of your customers. Add some fun images to your blog. Make it livelier. Make it stand out and be more attractive. Add some interaction to your content. Give your audience creative content forms. That way you will keep your audience engaged. You need to keep shifting and adjusting your content strategy in order to keep it fresh and engaging for your audience. Sticking to this formula and your readers will never get bored.

Onsite Content Optimization

By Ayesha Ahmed • 15 Dec, 2016
You put in hours in putting up your website online. Your sole purpose to put it up in the digital realm is to attract visitors to it and eventually make it a hot source for lead generation. But what good is your website if the search engine doesn’t even know what it’s about and it fails to appear in the results that you would want to see it? Content optimization is the answer to this debacle. Optimize is the keyword. You’ve got to ensure that your web presence is fully optimize to leverage the best internet has on offer. But wait. Optimization just in the name of beefing up the pages in order to be more visible to that bot? Is that the real motive behind optimizing your website? If that’s the case then you must read on, this is for you. Optimization is not merely about getting it right with meta data and the web crawlers. Today, search engine bots are smarter than we think. You can’t just go about cramming X number of keywords umpteen times in a single paragraph. You content’s meta should be legible i.e. it should make sense when your website’s visitor hovers their pointer on it. The text that reads when your website’s visitor hovers their mouse over it matters, matters a lot. It matters because search engine’s web crawler is comparing it with what your competitor is putting in in their website. It orders it according to the relevancy of the content when it displays the search results. Hence, it’s imperative that you ensure your website is being handled by a professional outfit that knows the intricacies and pros and cons of the digital world. When going through the meta tags and page content for the various pages, ask yourself over and over: Does that make sense? Does the keyword belong there, or am I going out of my way to put it in there? Does this accurately describe, in an artful way, what my page or site is about? For the content modules on each page: Do they give the reader the information they need? Also, is the information clear and concise? Finally, is the content correct? So, here you go, we’ve laid down the essential basics for you to get it right when it comes to creating meaningful content on your website. Content that not only gives you more visibility on line but also ensures that authentic traffic is diverted to you digital abode.
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