This article, written by Dustin McKesson, mentions the great experiences that Dustin has gained in content creation. Dustin has very clearly and simply shared his experiences on the inc site with his contacts.
I started publishing content on LinkedIn in mid-2014. When I started writing, unlike others who follow a specific strategy and path, there was no goal of growing my following or creating a following. I did not have a career path.
Actually, I didn’t have Twitter and I had no intention of publishing content through social media. I had no idea what “influencer marketing” was and I had absolutely no idea what it meant.
I started writing just for the sake of writing.
In about two years since then, I have done the following:
- I changed my career path and started my own business.
- Widely expanded my professional network.
- I have gained first-hand knowledge of what it takes to produce content that must be read.
Here’s a little of what I’ve learned along the way:
1- Write for the only audience you know: yourself!
After I had some initial success on LinkedIn I looked around to see what types of content (posts) were being read and viewed the most and tried to write more about those topics.
I tried to write something that other people would like to hear.
I can say that it was my worst writing. I had to learn that if my writing didn’t make me laugh, didn’t make me move, or wasn’t my favorite, it certainly wouldn’t have these effects on others.
2. Content should be designed to educate, motivate, or entertain first, then to sell.
Your blog, newsletter, e-book, or any other type of written content should first be pitched to a valuable reader, whether or not they decide to buy it.
Think about it: How many times have you gone online with the intention of buying something online without thinking about who you want to buy it from?
If you are like most people, the answer is “never.”
I mostly go online to watch movies on Netflix or to learn something new or just because I’m bored.
Sometimes I go online to buy something but usually, by this time, I have a good idea of how to buy and where to buy it.
Most of the content on the sites is produced to sell a product and most of the time, online content is focused on the idea of attracting the buyers in the purchase decision stage! The smart thing is that your content attracts users when bored or entertained.
Write your text in a way that will attract people when they are just looking to be entertained and if you do it well then you will convert them into buyers.
3. Pay attention to the titles
I have come across many writers who have lost the value of a good title by focusing on the quality of the content and original text.
Here’s a fact that few of us will admit: Books are usually judged by their covers, and internet content is judged by its headlines.
Titles are increasingly important to blog posts, and here are a few pointers:
Put yourself in the shoes of your readers, who are looking for a topic in the text of your article. This is when you need to hook the reader.
Do not write the title of the article too abstract and direct. Let the reader know what they can expect to learn without going through the whole story.
Add a margin next to shorter titles, but don’t make the title so short that it doesn’t tell the reader what to expect.
4. Have a beginning, a main text in the middle, and an end at the end.
Most of the time in business texts, in any form, the text is longer than it should be. The text of the articles can be long as long as they are connected and written in a clear and structured way. This means that a hundred-page book can be very long if the last 80 pages only emphasize and repeat the first twenty pages.
A book can be 800 pages and it is completely appropriate if each 800 pages have an independent value.
Review the content of your text so that there is no unnecessary repetition of words in it. Be economical in using words.
Use your imagination and finally don’t forget that all writing should have a beginning, a middle text, and an end.