Are you sick of spending hours on a blog post or email only to have people ignore you? Or worst get no traffic for that damn post?
Want to see how you can keep your readers engaged, entertained and drooling over your words?
In this article, you will discover how to NOT bore your readers to death and make them take action.
1. Don’t Edit Your First Draft ?♀️
Bill Harper of Sharper Copy discourages the idea of writing and editing at the same time. He believes that you can successfully do either task but not both.
So to start your creative juice flowing, just write. No erasing, no over-thinking. Just write or type the first words that come to mind.
To be honest, it’s hard to turn off that internal editor, shouting at you to start a new draft all over again. But with a little bit of practice and self-discipline, you can write any topic you like without any mental restrictions.
2. Write Like You Talk ?
As you write, pretend that you are talking to the reader. This will take getting used to but it can create empathy between you and the people reading your content.
If you want to make a connection with your readers, “talk” to them.
“Benjie, how the heck can I talk to my readers?”
It’s easy son.
There are a lot of ways but here’s one guide that could help you. Imagine asking your audience a question. For example:
“How can I keep readers interested in my boring topic?”
You then proceed and explain to your readers how or what steps you’re taking to tackle this problem. For this question, you can say:
According to English Philosopher G.K. Chesterton, “There are no boring topics, only disinterested mind”. As a content writer, there’s no such thing as a dull topic. What you should do is present it in a way that will arouse your reader’s interest.
And gosh darn it, use some personality.
3. Show Personality ?
Most kids have to memorize stuff they read in the textbooks. Yet, they still have problems recalling the content even after reading the books for the millionth time.
But…
Put a comic book in front of them….
They can tell you what Wonder Woman likes for breakfast or that Superman is recently dealing with a weird rash.
That’s because it’s more fun and entertaining to read the latter. To sell your content, you need to write it like a comic book. Entertain your readers while giving them the information.
I know what you’re thinking…
You want to inform your readers about the benefits of what you’re selling. But you also need to get their attention.
You can start by presenting a headline that will get their attention like, “9 Ways to Keep Your Readers From Falling Asleep.”
Next, you can keep them interested by injecting humor into your piece – use some GIFs to accentuate a topic… Remember, your main goal as a writer is to keep the reader’s attention to your content.
4. Build Intrigue ?
Good novels sustain their reader’s interest by building mystery and ending in each chapter, making you want to turn the page. You should do the same in your writing.
Each paragraph, each sentence should leave the reader asking what’s next.
Use your subtitles to build even more intrigue and suspense.
To quote the late English Director Alfred Hitchcock, “Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” Your job is to make your readers entertained but NEVER bored. Every succeeding paragraph should keep their attention until they reach the end.
5. Use Stats ?
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
– American author Mark Twain
It’s easy for people to dispute your opinions, but if you have some official figures to back you up, then you can tell them to “eat it”.
For example, HubSpot reported that many US companies now consider writing blogs as part of their advertising campaign. This means that people with writing skills can expect a steady supply of jobs in the foreseeable future.
Here’s another interesting stat about your readers. Did you know that 85% of them prefer reading articles that have at least 2 GIFs?
Another one…
It’s also likely that you have glossophobia (afraid of speaking in public). According to BrandonGaille, around 3 out of 4 people have this condition.
By using statistics in your article, you make it more authoritative and legitimate in the eyes of the readers.
6. Quality Over Quantity ?
Writing content is not easy especially if you need to finish a bunch of them and you’re in danger of missing the deadline. There’s that constant temptation to submit and post articles that are not up to standard. In some instances, you could get away with it.
But…
Readers may simply stop reading your posts and visit other sites with better articles. Since they are not satisfied with your article, it’s also doubtful that they will share it with their friends.
The solution…
It’s okay to throw away blog posts that aren’t up to par rather than risk losing your readers. You can always write new blogs but it’s hard to bring readers back to your blog after a ? article.
You should stop thinking about word counts and start making each word count.
7. Get to the Point?
It’s embarrassing but a Microsoft study revealed that the lowly goldfish has an attention span 1 second longer than the average human.
What’s the significance?
The point is you now have to work harder to keep your reader’s attention.
A Jakob Nielsen study also revealed that you need to get your point across in the first two paragraphs. After that, the readers can start to lose interest.
With this in mind, you should avoid adding fluff to your content and get your message across as quickly as possible. If you don’t the reader will simply skim the article and miss the important stuff.
8. Read it Out Aloud ?
After you have written the first draft you’re now ready to edit. And the best way to do that is by reading your piece aloud.
Through the human voice – your voice, you can find out if the content has established a personal connection to your readers.
I have to admit that it was uncomfortable when I first tried it. But reading aloud made editing easier and also made me confident of my work.
9. Don’t Be a Smarty Pants ?
You want to impress your readers with what you know by listing all the facts to the tiniest details.
The only problem is…
They have no idea what you’re talking about.
Yes, you can use the word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (whew!) in your article. But will your readers care?
It’s doubtful that they would have the patience to read that word.
(FYI: It’s a lung disease caused by inhalation of fine silica particles spewed out by a volcano. Its shorter medical term is silicosis.)
I’m not saying you have to “dumb down” your article. Just write your content to a reading level that most of your target readers will understand.
For some, this is easier said than done.
The good news is you now have a tool that can measure the readability of your article.
It’s called the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test.
Under this test, most readers would have no problem reading content that a ninth grader would understand. You could use software or online tools to measure the readability of your article.
For Windows Word users, this test is included in the software. You can find it on the Review Tab under Spelling & Grammar.
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