How to write great content for your website
So you have a shiny, brand new website, but it seems like there’s something missing. The pictures are great, the banners look amazing, and the website is super responsive… but again, something seems to be out of place. Ahh yes, the lack of great content.
But how exactly do you write good content and great blogs for your website? Something that people who actually engage with end up reading. It’s 2020, everyone is busy, and not too many people have free time – especially to read a random blog post on a website. Even if your content is good, the blog post has to look great – images, engaging title, engaging subtitles, a good layout, etc.
Once you have those under control, we need to focus on the actual content of the blog or the post. Here are a few aspects to keep in mind when writing content for your website:
1) Planning!
Ah yes, the good old planning. It is one of the most, if not the most important aspects of any blog post. You need to plan ahead and you need to do a lot of research (like we did when writing this. Yep, even this blog post required a lot of research).
Great web content requires exceptional planning. First, determine what type of reader response you are hoping to create. Why are you writing? Are you hoping to convert readers into customers? And if you are, do you have a clear idea of what information your users are looking for online? By providing that information or those solutions, you create lasting impressions and gain loyal customers.
Before drafting content, ask yourself these questions: Who is my primary audience? What about a secondary audience who can influence and inform my primary audience? How will they find my site online?
2) Write clear, short sentences
Long sentences can be extremely annoying sometimes, mostly because they are very difficult to follow and keep track of, since people have a short attention span, they tend to forget what the sentence even was about, and if you blab on for ages and your sentence contains almost 50 words, you can be sure that nobody understood the message that you were trying to get across. There, that’s an annoying sentence.
The jist of it is that it is much easier to get the message across in short sentences. People don’t want to focus in order to understand what you’re trying to say. Now that you understand why we recommend using short, clear sentences, let’s move on.
3) Try to stick to active voice, and try to avoid passive voice whenever possible
Use active rather than passive verbs, and specify the subject of the sentence. For example, rather than writing “A burger was ordered,” write “The man ordered a burger.” And instead of saying “Products can be ordered on our website,” say “You can order products on our website.”
Active voice helps create succinct, reader-friendly sentences. And it’s also more direct. When you speak directly to the audience (“You can do this”) it’s more engaging than saying “It could be done.”
4) Stay away from jargon!
Seriously, the web is for everyone, not just experts in a given field. So make sure information is understandable for the educated non-specialist. Spell out acronyms on first reference. Definitely try to avoid insider language. Explain complex or niche terms.
Think about this: “AI is becoming much more powerful, as it can be used in WMS and especially in modern UI designs.”
What…?
Just make sure everyone who reads your post will understand the message you’re trying to get across. So in this case it’d be: “Artificial intelligence is becoming much more powerful, as it can be used in warehouse management systems and in modern user interface designs.” In other words, artificial intelligence is good for warehouse software and for creating modern looking webpages.
5) Incorporate multimedia and images
Images make the page look so much better, and they can be very engaging. Nobody, and I mean nobody wants to read a “wall of text”, literally three pages of text, like a newspaper with no images. The web is at your disposal, use some images, drawings, insert a video here and there. Use headings, use subtitles. Make it look modern! Make it unique.
6) Create Grab-and-Go Content
Readers who scan content (the vast majority) are looking for quick answers – so make it easy on them. Present each idea in a separate section with a clear, short, descriptive heading. Also, make your key messages easy to find, don’t bury them in long paragraphs.
To sum up
Writing web content such as blogs usually requires much more than the ability to put together a well-constructed sentence. It requires a lot of research, planning and knowledge. Oh, and never forget proofreading. Always read your post three, four times before actually posting it. I usually tend to ask a friend to read my blogs before I post them, as a fresh pair of eyes is always more than welcome.
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