Writing web copy is easy. Everyone does. 2 million blog posts are published every day, but most are ignored because they don't know how to write persuasive content. Few will capture the attention of the audience or persuade them to become customers. Fortunately, truly effective content has a few key elements that help it stand out from the rest. If you want to start writing more persuasive content for your audience, here are 7 tips for success.
Simplify the User Experience
Few marketers realize that one of the most important aspects of effective content is the website user experience. Content should be easy to find and consume. You can create the most persuasive content and it doesn't matter if site visitors can access it easily.
No matter where someone lands on your website, they want to navigate easily and find the content they need. If your user experience offers too many confusing options, it will easily leave and find another website.
User experience optimization is a work in progress. But in general, think of any page of your website through the eyes of a new visitor. Can they easily see what they are looking for? If not, can they find it easily?
Use Mass Pain Points
One of the most important aspects of content is context. Place your content to show your audience that you understand their challenges and needs. They are much more likely to be busy then. Dynamic content makes it even easier to appeal directly to multiple audiences with different needs.
Persuasive content hits the pain points, while products and services appeal to them. Here's a great example of content that does this well:
Every yoga instructor has made mistakes along the way. This content confirms and addresses this. Yoga Journal helps viewers feel understood and engages them by discussing their pain points. Notice that the post got 600 facebook likes.
Creating content that captures audience pain points is all about choosing the right topic. Ask yourself:
What problems do my viewers regularly experience?
What keeps them up at night?
How may I help you?
Answer Important Questions First
When users successfully find your content, it's equally important to quickly provide the information they're looking for. 79% of people who don't like what they find on one site will return and look for another site.
At school, most people learned to write different compositions:
Introductory paragraph: Explain what you will be discussing
Body content: Discuss the topic and supporting information
Conclusion: Specify your endpoint
With web copy, the point needs to be front and centre. That's why the title and first paragraphs of any blog content or landing page are so important. They need to provide what people are looking for; then you can get more detailed information along with the rest of your content.
Write For The Average Reader
Using jargon or fancy phrases is a common mistake marketers make when creating content. They think embellishing their messages will make them sound more credible. Instead it just alienates many readers.
Everyone appreciates easy-to-use, simply worded content. Use the language people use in their daily lives to convey your message.
There are many free tools you can use to keep your writing under control. The Hemingway Editor offers advice on how to improve your writing and assigns a readability score, for example:
Use Data and Statistics
Convincing your audience to believe your message is pretty hard if you don't have any data to back you up. Yet somehow people are constantly trying to do this with their content.
It's easy to find data and statistics to support your arguments. There are research reports and case studies in almost every field. Better still, you can analyze your own data and generate authoritative reports. This is a great persuasive content type.
Using quotes or even using another authoritative source is a great option when hard data isn't available. Avoid arguing about a topic without third-party audio or internal data to back it up.
Include Social Rehearsal
No matter how informative or relevant your message is, readers have no reason to take that value for real. They need proof that they can trust you. The best proof you can provide is social proof.
Social proof is like an endorsement that adds credibility to your content. The most common social proof proofs used in businesses are testimonials. But there are many ways to show that people love your brand. Let's say you have an influencer social following on Twitter. Use a plugin to use this on your blog.
Use Images
Writing is only part of creating content. Visual elements are important if you want to capture and retain your audience's attention. Did you know that video helps to persuade? 73% of people buy a product or service? Support for images, screenshots and infographics also makes the content more visually appealing.
You can also use other visual cues to add more visual appeal to your content. Subheadings, bullet points, bold text, and italics can help. Whatever you do, don't let your content become a block of text. Make it easy to browse and support visualizations with visualizations to help your readers get more value.
Keep Writing and Refinement
These are the best practices you can follow to make your content more effective. But in the end, your audience will decide whether your content is persuasive or not. So listen to their feedback. Pay attention to how much time they spend consuming your content and what actions they take next. This will help you discover what types of content and content items are more persuasive for your unique audience.