15 ways to improve your content writing - tereza litsa for summit on content marketing
TRANSCRIPT
TEREZA LITSAContent Marketing Manager
at Hubbub Fundraising
15 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR CONTENT WRITING
Effective content
It’s a content-driven world
Image: iphonewalls.net
1. WRITING PROCESS
2. CREATIVITY
There’s no perfect
topic
Image: teepublic
3. ATTENTION SPAN
The average human attention span is just…
8 seconds
A goldfish has an
attention span of
9 seconds
4. TYPES OF CONTENT
IMAGES
65% of people are visual learners
INFOGRAPHICS
Infographics are shared 3x times
more than any other
visual content
I
VIDEOS
Image: Loozrboy, CC BY-SA 2.0
Videos will account
for 80% of all internet traffic
by 2019
GIFs
There are more than
150 million original GIFs
Making a blog post visual
5. LENGTH OF CONTENT
Is long-form
content dead?
(not yet)
The average blog post in 2016 was
1054 words
6. STRUCTURE
Allow your text to breathe
Test content on all
devices
Bullet points
Not all bullet points
improve structure
7. FORMATTING
Images relax the readers’
eyes
Headings help you organise your content
There’s no right
and wrong way of
using them
H1 to H6
Headings can also improve
your search rankings
8. CONTENT GOALS
What do you want to achieve with your content?
thought leadership
awareness promotion engagement conversion
Call-to-action
9. HEADLINE
It’s the first impression that counts
What makes a great headline?
clarity brevity relevance emotional appeal
Don’t try too hard
CoSchedule’s Headline Analyser
10. LANGUAGE
Simplicity
Avoid passive voice
Avoid using unnecessary adverbs
No more buzzwords
Image Credit: Gavin Llewellyn
Be consistent with the verb tense
It’s easier to be confused in longer sentences
Stay away from common mistakes
Image Credit: Someecards
11. SEO
SEO?!
It’s useful to create
“SEO-friendly” content
Increase the chances for an image to be discovered
file13435.jpg optimisation-seo.jpg
TitleAim for relevance and brevity
HeadingsHelp search
engines discover
your focus keywords
Keywords
Use them in the right context.
Meta-descriptionHow do you
describe your content to
your readers?
12. READABILITY
Image: Found Animals Foundation, CC BY-SA 2.0
Factors affecting readability: - reading ease - writing style - comprehension - language
Pick the right font
Allow enough space
Use simple writing
Image: Jegi, CC BY 2.0
Avoid long sentences
13. SOCIAL OPTIMISATION
Think of the headline
No more stock photos
Adjust the description
Add sharing buttons
Encourage likes and shares
How Medium encourages shares
14. THINK LIKE A USER
Stop thinking like a writer
Use Google Analytics to learn your audience
Bad user experience can kill good content
Mobile optimisation- structure - buttons - images - forms
Responsiveness- usability - accessibility - performance
Conversion rate
The user experience honeycomb by Peter Morville
15. TOOLS
Hemingway
Grammarly
Buzzsumo
Readable
CoSchedule’s Headline Analyser
Writefull
StayFocusd
TAKEAWAY
Checklist to improve contentWriting process
Content types
Length
Structure
Creativity Headline Language
Readability
SEO
Social optimisation UX
Formatting
Unlock new opportunities
ENJOY the writing process
Follow: @terezalitsa
Message: [email protected]
Read: www.terezalitsa.com
Thank you!