Writing quality content for your business can seem like a daunting, scary task, but once you have all the tools you need, you will be amazed at how easy it can be!
The first step to write good content is determining your audience. Who is going to be reading your content? What kind of consumers are they? If you sell sports paraphernalia, you will most likely be writing to sports fans, men, or women shopping for men. Write for your specific audience.
Next determine your purpose for writing. Why are you writing? Once you have a purpose, create an outline that will fulfill your purpose. If you want to inspire people to use your company, tell them how successful your company is at what you do (make sure not to exaggerate or fabricate). If you want people to know more about your family owned company, tell the story of how your company was founded.
Once you know who you are writing to and you have an outline of what you are planning on writing, you can move on to the next step: creating content.
When I write, I try and make my content RAD: Relevant, Accurate and Delightful.
Relevant: Relevant content stays on topic throughout the entire post. If you are a company that sells office furniture, don’t talk about cooking supplies. It is natural for your writing to wander or to go on tangents, which is why it is important to create an outline before you start writing. With an outline to guide you, you can easily eliminate excess and unnecessary content.
Accurate: I make sure that all of my facts are accurate because the last thing I want to do is misrepresent someone or something. Double check your facts before publishing. Do not inflate your products or services. If you are not going to update your content frequently, stay away from phrases such as “In business for 35 years” and instead, write “In business since 1990.” Steer clear from advertising coupons or specials to your site that have expiration dates. Inaccurate data is an easy way to lose customers.
Delightful: Finally, a delightful blog is key to captivating an audience. You want people to be interested in what you are writing. If your post is not informational or entertaining, why would anyone want to read it?
If you are not confident in your writing skills, write like you would talk to a co-worker or superior. The best way to communicate effectively is to write clear, concise sentences with intellectual yet understandable words. Do not overwhelm your audience with jargon or terminology they won’t understand, because you will quickly lose their attention.
Once you have completed writing, read what you have written out loud. Is your writing communicating what you want it to? If you were an outsider and knew nothing about your business, would the writing still make sense? Does your writing fulfill your original purpose?
Check for spelling and grammatical errors. Whether you are writing content on your website or a blog for your company, make sure to double and triple check not only spelling but grammar as well. Don’t hesitate to give your content to a few different people in your company to ensure good grammar. The only thing worse than having grammar and spelling errors in your content is having no content at all. If a potential customer visits your website and reads errors in your content, the chances they will become an actual customer are slim to none. A professional website has professional, error-free writing. Your company will definitely not be taken seriously if your website has misspelled words or misrepresented products.
Remember, there is a balance between writing a doctoral thesis and having a conversation with your friend and that is the kind of content you will be writing. You want your writing to be accessible to all of your readers, but still written intelligently.
Good luck and remember to stay RAD!
