Does writing for your website feel like a black art?

Do you struggle to find the right

content? You're going back and forth in your room, beating your brains out, you don't
know where to start? Well, that's normal. Don't panic. We got your back.

Start with setting your content structure:

Before getting started with a website content you need to first think of the content
structure, you need a solid structure, like every simple story your content needs to
have a beginning, middle and an end, each part should always have a clear purpose,
you don't want your content to collapse into a big messy blob:

 Use an introduction to give a clear image of your content

 If your topic is pretty general, you need to expand it off into sub-headings
 Add a call to action in your conclusion/end

This is the classic structure your content need

How to write your introduction:

You may be wondering, what should I start with? What to keep at the end? Well,
never start with the introduction, if you started with it you'll get blocked. you can't
write an introduction about a topic you don't know where it's going to go, introduction
summarizes the points you discussed in the body. So, start by the body and save the
introduction and the conclusion for after you're finished with the body of the post.

Your number one priority is to make your introduction captivating, you don't want the
reader to read a few paragraphs and feel bored. So, keep your first sentences short,
make it interesting and give your readers a reason to continue; try using humor,
sharing fun facts or may be by telling an interesting story or saying something
unusual.

Your readers want to feel special, to feel that you wrote the post specially for them,
try to give them this feeling by using the word "you" at least once. This will grow the
relationship between you and your audience.

Focus on something your audience desire, and if they really want it, they will keep
reading, and if they don't, don't worry, you just filtered out a reader who wasn’t a
good fit for your content. Also, refer to a problem your audience may have, show
them that you have the answer.
Organize your text:

Now the body of the post, where you discuss every point in detail. in order to keep it
well organized you need to use:

 White spaces
 Sub-headers
 Bullet and numbered lists
 Multi media

Whitespace:

Whitespace is your best friend; it is the empty space in your page. it helps the
reader to focus on the content and never feel wasted, "the more whitespace around
on object, the more the eye is drawn to it". Any type of space will do the purpose; it
doesn't actually need to be colored white. that's why we can call it "negative space"
instead. here's an example showing the power of whitespace:

Sub headers:

If you're asking why sub headers are important here I am telling you why, According
to Slate.com, most visitors read only about 60% of content before bouncing off a
page. 10% of people never even scroll at all! People scroll your web page more than
they read it. That's why you need to provide them a hint about what's next and how
could it help them.

sub-headers should be written with H2 or H3 tags, save H1 tags for the title.
Lists:

People won't read your content word by word, it's not a book, that's why bullet and
numbered lists are critical. Use them to highlight important points since they have the
higher chance to be read.

Multimedia:

Once you’ve finished the text portion of your content, don’t forget to make it stand out
with the use of visuals and multimedia elements wherever it's possible to break up
your text. Use relevant pictures, videos or even GIFs. People want a visual
experience; they want to see not to read. DO you know that having a video on your
landing page can increase your conversion rate by 80% ?

There are 12 types of videos you can use:

1. Demo videos: it explains to your viewers how your products work

2. Brand videos: Brand videos are typically created as a part of a
larger advertising campaign, showcasing the company's high-level vision,
mission, or products and services
3. Event videos: if your company is having an event, insert a video showing the
gathering
4. Expert interviews: find influencers or experts in your industry and make
interviews with them, capture it and show it to your audience
5. How-to videos or educational videos: can be used to teach you your audience
how to do something, it's the most important type of videos, people love to
see it more often.
6. Explainer videos: This type of video is used to help your audience better
understand why they need your product or service.
7. Animated videos
8. Case study: find your satisfied customers and put them on camera to tell how
your product helped them, this is how you'll attract new customer and make
them trust you and your product.
9. Live videos: Do you know that viewers spend up to 8.1x longer with live video
than with video-on-demand? go live to help your viewers comment with their
question this will build a connection between you and it will give them the
impression that you're always there to help them and solve their problems.
10. 360 and virtual reality videos: this videos give viewers the ability to scroll
around to see the content from every angle.
 11. Augmented reality videos: In this style video, a digital layer is added to what
you are currently viewing in the world. For example, you can point your
phone's camera at your living room and AR would allow you to see how a
couch would look in the space. The IKEA Place app is a great example of
this.
12. Personalized messages: these kind of videos are used to respond to
someone, answer their questions or make recommendations. This type of
videos delights your viewers.

Make your website mobile friendly:

mobile phone users spend more time online than desktop users, people spend a lot
of time online on their couch eating potato chips, keep that in mind while structuring
your content and make it mobile friendly.

Test your website by viewing it from a different type of devices to know what needs to
be modified. Also, Google provides a website called How to Go Mo which helps
you test your mobile website for mobile compatibility. go to the Mobile Meter page, enter
in your website address and click Test Your Site.
Google will show you how your website looks on a mobile device and then ask you a
couple of questions related to what your website is used for, if the content displayed is
readable and so on.

Based on your answers, Google will display a summary of results and give you an
option to download a PDF document that will give you more detailed recommendations.
Here's a tip for you, before getting started and make your website mobile-friendly,
check your analytics to find how many mobile users visit your website. Use google
analytics for example.

And here you go, you structured the ideal content which is going to educate, help and
delight your audience.

After setting your structure you have to pick:

 Topic
 Title
 URL

pick a topic that can attract readers to your website, in order to do this:

 Put all your efforts into getting to know your buyer persona, their interests,
what are they going to search about and what do they need to know about.
 Come up with an educational and useful content, a content with answers and
information your potential readers may be looking for
 Do keyword research to know which words your buyer persona uses and how
often are those terms searched, be careful not to use keywords in a way that
feels forced or unnatural as it doesn't make for a good user experience it also
hurts your search engine optimization

Don't wait for inspiration to strike, the ideation process will help you:

When it actually comes to "picking the topic" it's not that easy, I know, you may feel
run out of good ideas, you're waiting for inspiration to strike, but how long have you
wait for? James Webb Young said: “an idea is nothing more nor less than a new
combination of old elements.” So, you don't need to wait. Just start with "the ideation
process", it has 4 steps:

1. gathering new material: Develop an appetite for content, read about

everything and anything, be curious, read about poetry, film making, industry,
history or even cooking
2. digesting the material: you’re going to be digesting the material. The goal is to
bring those disparate ideas together and see how they fit. You’re looking for
relationships, connections, and combinations. The goal is to synthesize those
ideas in interesting and compelling ways.
3. unconscious processing: this is the stage when you need to relax, go to the
movies, listen to some good music, run, cook. Your mind needs to rest.
4. and the eureka moment: it's the moment when the idea will pop into your
head unexpectedly, when you're brushing your teeth or may be when you're
watching your favorite TV show, the most important thing to do then is to write
it down. Millions of ideas have been lost by people who thought they would
remember them.

Some effective writing tips:

Now you've chosen your topic, you may be wondering how to write about it:
 first of all, make sure you're writing about your audience not your
company, remember that readers don't care that much about you, they
care about your products and how your services make their lives easier,
to achieve that use second person pronouns more often than first
pronouns.
 Don't tell people how awesome your products are, instead tell them why
they need it
 use a friendly language like if you're having a conversation with a
respected friend and avoid sounding like you're writing an instruction
manual. that's how you build trust and a good relationship with your
audience.

 use contractions, don’t say "should not" while you can say "shouldn't" your
readers want to communicate with a human not a robot.
 Avoid using fluffy words like "very", "actually", "just" and words ending
with ly describing an action, these words make your content weak. you
don't want your content to be stuffed with these words, edit them out
 Variety is key! Don't overuse a certain word. Use a word cloud tool to
know how much you overused the word. And If that happened, you can
use thesaurus.com, just type the word into it to find new synonyms to
enhance your text. But if the word you overused is your keyword that
describes your company then no problem. but It would be better to first
make a list and pick your top choice to stick with it and use it everywhere
on your website.
 Focus on using easy words, complicated words are for Shakespeare.
 Use active voice, never passive. For example, say: "you can order
products on our website" instead of saying "products can be ordered".
 Catching Readers' attention these days can be immensely challenging as
nowadays readers have a short attention span, you don't want to lose
them. Here are some ideas to grab their attention:
1. Tell a story
2. Use some eye-catching statistics
3. Use an interesting quote: using quotes doesn't only you’re your
viewers' attention, it also makes your content more credible
4. Ask a question that provokes thought in the reader
Next, you need to edit your post. Most of your readers don't expect perfect spelling or
amazing punctuation, the main goal here is to educate them, but you need to do
effort, people expect effort from you. Work on your text and give editing enough time.
You can use a grammar or spelling checker like grammaly for example.

If you're working on a topic with professional terms, create a glossary page and
link to it. Don't confuse your readers, your aim is to educate them not to show off.

Now, what if your content is too long? Sure it's, since your goal is to educate, you
provide as much information as possible. use charts and tables to break up your
text. Themeisle.com is a great tool you can use.

At last, have a final look at your blog, ask yourself; what does it need? What
needs to be edited out? Have I covered all the points? Have I explained every
idea in a simple way? Try your best to get a yes for the questions.

The most important goal about editing is to make sure that your content gives a
clear explanation of the topic.

Now you need a title for your blog post, to come up with the perfect title take at
least five minutes brainstorming titles, your title should reveal what your post is
about it also set expectations so make sure it covers the ideas in your blog.

Remember that:

 ideal blog post title length is 60 character

 titles with bracketed clarification are preferred
here comes URL, The URL doesn’t have to match the title of the blog exactly.
Instead, shorten the URL, you may be asking why, well, good question, in this case
you can update the content over and over without updating the URL. Also, Don’t
include numbers in your URL for the same reason.

Help search engines to find your website:

You've structured your content, chosen a topic, your text is well-written and
informative. But till now it's not optimized for search engines, chances are few people
will find you. you need a strong plan to help search engines recognize you and
readers to reach you, in order to do that you need to use:

 alt-text: search engines can't see but they can read. So, they don't look for
images, they look for images with alt-text
 meta description: Your meta description is meant to give search engines and
readers information about your blog post's content. The maximum suggested
length of a meta description is 150–160 characters. Anything longer than that
will most likely be cut off.
 Insert links:
1. link to external content when it’s helpful or supports your content. As
mentioned before, your goal is to attract people so the last thing you
want is to lose them by sending them off your site, but don't worry if
the link supports your content and gives value, it's totally OKAY. But
you need to consider having that content open in a new window, this
way you won't lose your visitor.
2. link to other helpful blog posts on your site.
3. Insert CTAs.
You may be wondering; where should I insert CTAs? What are the types of CTAs?
And how to use them properly? Here you go...

Your goal with CTAs is to support conversions not to look too pushy, to avoid it try
including a passive CTA through hyperlinked text as opposed to using an image and
include it near the top as CTAs near the top of blog posts produce the highest click
through rates.

Find the most relevant content in your post and include a text/image CTA near it, the
best conversion you'll get is after educating someone.

At the end of each post include an image CTA as a helpful next step for those who
read your blog till the end. You should reward them.

Pop-up CTA helps you get the conversion you seek, so the reader won't ignore and
scroll past it.

Using too many options can confuse your readers, you don't want that, your goal is to
be helpful as possible.

After reading this article, does it look easy to write a content for your website? We
hope so. Just start! You've got a great tips and great ideas which will guide you
through your journey, and whenever you feel lost, just get back to this article, it will
help you.