Web content is more than just words on a screen. It's a way to communicate your message, engage your audience, and persuade them to take action. But how can you make sure your web content stands out from the crowd and leaves a lasting impression? Here are some techniques you can use to create web content that captivates, educates, and motivates your readers.
AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. It's a classic copywriting formula that helps you structure your web content in a way that grabs your reader's attention, sparks their interest, creates a desire for your offer, and prompts them to take action. You can use the AIDA formula to write headlines, subheadings, introductions, body paragraphs, and calls to action that follow a logical and persuasive flow.
Lasting impressions happen when you tell stories. Ask your client: -Who they are? -Why they do what they do? -What made them do it? -What's their unique way of looking at the problem? -How do they go the extra mile? -How do they share the problem with their reader? -How did they find the solution? Use these questions to create a story. Use a formula: -Build Rapport (introduce the character) -Share the stakes (problem) -The ordeal (nemesis/the hard journey to solution) -The support (mentor/support) -The victory
Creating web content that sticks with people is all about getting into the heads and hearts of your audience. For me, it starts with really tuning into who my readers are. I think about what keeps them up at night, what they're eager to find out, and how they want to feel when they click on my article. This isn't just about writing; it's about connecting. My go-to strategy is the PAS technique — Problem, Agitation, Solution. It's like having a heart-to-heart where I acknowledge the struggle (the Problem), stir up a little emotion (Agitation), and then step in with a comforting solution. It works wonders because it shows I genuinely get what they're going through and I'm here with the help they need. And they tend to stick to the end
Here's an example of the AIDA formula at work in a blog post introduction. Blog Post Title: "5 Effective Ways to Remove Fleas from Your Dog" Attention: Dealing with fleas on your dog can be a real challenge for any dog owner. Interest: Surprisingly, 7 out of 10 dog owners use expensive but ineffective flea removal methods. Desire: Drawing from over 12 years of experience as a pet clinic, we've gathered a list of five affordable and proven flea removal techniques that work almost every time. Action: Discover which technique can rescue your dog from these troublesome fleas by reading more.
Be clear on what you are offering when someone lands on your page. People will look at the page for about 2 seconds before they decide to move on or dig deeper. Don't get cutesy up front. Be bold, be clear, be inspiring.
La fórmula de redacción publicitaria de AIDA debe ser completada con lo que se denomina paradigma de Lasswell. Hay que introducir la persuasión informativa para que el contenido sea más atractivo. En pocas palabras la redacción debe permitir definir las 5 preguntas claves que se plantea el lector: quién, cómo, cuándo, dónde y por qué. Además de ser atractivo, inteligente, directo…el texto debe contener un relato claro y sencillo. Dirigido al lector que se busca. Con coyuntura. La persuasión es fundamental.
One of the most important aspects of web content writing is knowing your audience. You need to understand who they are, what they want, what they need, and what they expect from you. You need to use the language, tone, and style that resonate with them and match their level of knowledge and interest. You need to address their pain points, goals, and objections and show them how you can solve their problems or fulfill their desires. You need to write for your audience, not for yourself or for search engines.
Don’t assume that standard best practices apply to your readers - some of my most successful social posts and blogs have been posted on a Friday afternoon with a long character count and unbranded imagery. Understanding your audience will help you create a voice that doesn’t scream marketing at them. I constantly experiment with different mediums, topics, hashtags, images, and more to see what they like most. And then I use that data to build a voice that sounds like a trusted friend or colleague speaking to them - not a company.
Use-case scenario pages by industry, job role or audience type can be a great way to show specific examples of how people can leverage your product or service to resolve their pain points. For example, a photo editing software may be used by students and professional photographers and you could have a page that's geared specifically toward each audience and how they might use your product.
Too often web content writing is driven by what the organization or its leadership want to say rather than what the audience needs or is looking for. This approach leads to a catastrophic missed opportunity. Start with understanding what will motivate your audience to come to you. Once you know what they want, you have to develop a narrative that addresses their concerns and works backward into what you bring to the table. And use plain language. If you are prone to writing about synergies, leveraging solutions, streamlining or optimizing operations ... just don't. Use language you would use with your kid's babysitter or the person cutting your hair. Adding jargon, complexity or over explaining is a content buzzkill.
Always think of the customer first! It's not about what you want to say; it's about what they want to hear. This should be your approach when crafting your copy. The greatest factor when it comes to SEO nowadays is not so much using the right keywords as focusing on writing meaningful content that your target audience is looking for and wants to read. Remember, understanding your audience happens through market research, competitor research, and constantly refining your persona.
This - writing for YOUR audience - is so hard to master, but once you get it right, you get it right. Patience. Practice. One of the basic basic basics of writing for an audience is to get comfortable writing in the FIRST person. Yes, the word "I" needs to find its way back into your writing. Second, and equally as important, your target customer, the king or queen of your audience aka your ideal client persona, is literally everything. You are creating content for them. And when you begin to understand this, you'll begin to include the word "you" into your writing. "You" aka your target reader. "I" and "You": two small but powerful words that really attract the right audience, make a message stick and inspire engagement.
Your web content should not only inform your audience, but also provide them with value and credibility. You can do this by offering useful tips, insights, examples, stories, or case studies that demonstrate your expertise and authority. You can also use social proof, testimonials, reviews, or statistics to back up your claims and build trust. You can also add value and credibility by linking to relevant and reputable sources, providing references, or citing your sources.
Value and credibility are subjective characteristics so it’s important to understand your audience and clearly define what your message to them is. Once these things are identified, you can begin to identify the best methods to establish them. Value is described, make a promise then deliver on it, while credibility is hard-earned. Demonstrating value lies, mostly, in clear, descriptive and developed thoughts. Ex. 1 - Buy this widget, it does a thing and it’s awesome, believe me. ?? Ex. 2 - The New Bug Buster 3000 delivers turbo power to blast away bugs for good. Love it or your money back! ?? Credibility, usually, has to be demonstrated through: - well supported expert opinions - credible examples - 3rd party testimonials etc.
To provide value and credibility, I would also add: - Encourage user engagement through comments, polls, or interactive elements to create a sense of involvement and connection with your content; - Integrate multimedia elements such as images, infographics, and videos to complement your textual content. Visual content is often more memorable and can enhance the overall impact of the message.
Being perceived as a valuable and (arguably) more importantly a credible brand shouldn’t be about you. Offerings that are truly valuable should place your audience’s needs first. A great way of doing this can be to break down clear and concise advise with direct actions, instead of gatekeeping content to simply sell a service. Give people what they need, let them see that your advise is effective and that will in turn build your credibility. Give value. Earn credibility. As above giving value doesn’t have to be your own insights it can be providing genuinely useful referrals and or links to great resources. In short be generous with your knowledge.
Always make sure that your copy meets WIIFM standard. WIIFM stands for 'What's In It For Me?' If your copy is all about the promotion, nobody would read it as soon as they find it pushing them to do something. But, if you write it keeping the reader in mind, making it more relatable to them, and making them feel your copy has something they can take away, your effort will be worth it. The best copy aren't sales pitches. Instead, they make the reader understand that they have a problem or need and your product or service can help them solve/ achieve that. I'll end with a quote. " The headlines which work best are those which promise the reader a benefit. " ~ David Ogilvy
In my experience, adding value has got to be the difference between ordinary & extraordinary! When you write a piece of content, you help your audience’s live become better by adding value to them within the context of that content- for example, by providing links to extra resources, ingredients, recipes, etc. Your audience is better for it. On the side of credibility, you want to always get them to feel more confident in consuming & referring your work, so the onus is on you to show why you can make certain claims.
Your web content should be easy to read and understand. You can optimize your web content for readability by using clear and concise sentences, avoiding jargon and fluff, breaking up your text into short paragraphs and sections, using headings and subheadings to guide your reader, using bullet points and lists to highlight key points, using images and videos to illustrate your points, and using white space and contrast to create visual appeal. You can also use tools like Hemingway or Grammarly to check your readability score and improve your writing.
Use short paragraphs, simple language, and subheadings to break up text. Incorporate bullet points and visuals for a more engaging and skimmable experience.
My Top 5 Tips for Readability: ?? Clarity is Key: Simplify language for a wider audience. Clear, concise sentences ensure the message is easily understood, enhancing readability. ?? Bite-Sized Content: Break down content into short paragraphs. These bite-sized pieces make it easy for readers to navigate, maintaining engagement. ?? Signpost with Headings: Craft catchy headings. They act as signposts, guiding readers through your content, encouraging deeper exploration. ?? Emphasise with Lists: Highlight key points using bullet points & lists. This aids readability & ensures crucial information stands out. ?? Visual Appeal: Enhance content with visual elements. These break monotony & cater to diverse learning styles, boosting engagement.
Optimize readability - Here are my couple cents, Use easy language or your prospect will deter from the sale and rush to pick up a dictionary. Use simple sentences with spaces. Use the big four emotions - New Big Easy Safe Make sure you spell things right, check with AI tools. Get your copywriter friends to review for you. Fresh perspective never hurts.
- Use active sentences, muscular verbs - Don't overdo the adjectives, and definitely keep adverbs to a minimum - Try an add an element of surprise in the ending/kicker
You can use Semrush writing assistant or Hemingway editor to check for readability. You can get your score based on sentence length and word complexity. Know the language proficiency of your audience if you're writing for a particular niche. Otherwise, aim for a score that corresponds to an 8th to 10th-grade reading level.
Your web content should not only appeal to your reader's logic, but also to their emotions. You can use emotional triggers to connect with your reader on a deeper level and influence their behavior. Some of the most common emotional triggers are fear, curiosity, urgency, surprise, anger, joy, sadness, and pride. You can use emotional triggers to craft powerful headlines, stories, questions, or statements that evoke a specific emotion in your reader and make them want to read more or take action.
Attracting attention is not the same thing as making an impression. Web content rarely leaves a lasting impression. Somehow the ephemeral nature of the medium just isn't conducive to it. Your best show of creating one is somehow stir emotions in your audience. Feelings give us more internal motivation to remember things than facts alone can provide.
There's nothing like a story that resonates with people. Like Maya Angelou once said, "people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Include scenarios or examples that your audience can relate to. When people see themselves in your content, they’re more likely to form an emotional connection. Use descriptive, sensory language to paint vivid pictures and engage emotions.
Emotional triggers can be useful in enticing the prospects to take actions. These emotional triggers can be; -Using curiosity to hook attention -Urgency will make your audience act now -Scarcity and exclusivity are the emotional triggers that increase click through rates. Using emotions in your web pages like case studies and stories will make your content live long in the web of millions of websites.
Emotion is overrated. That statement alone may have just drawn enough emotion from a reader, who disagrees, to have just hooked them into reading my content. Emotional triggers: - call out for attention - retain a reader’s interest - allow readers to relate - communicate that we’re human and not AI Emotion connects a critical pathway between the writer and the reader and establishes a commonality which establishes trust. It allows the writer an opportunity to suggest. Whatever your call to action, it won’t be completed by a reader that doesn’t trust or isn’t curious. Emotion is the trigger that can create trust and inspire curiosity. To that end, if you want to convince a reader to believe or to buy, use emotional triggers.
Même pour des posts professionnels, il est important de déclencher une émotion pour être mémorable. Cela peut être en racontant des anecdotes par exemple. Le fait d’incarner son propos, de dire Je plut?t que Nous ou On est très efficace.
Your web content is not a one-time project. It's an ongoing process that requires testing and refining. You can use analytics tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar to measure your web content performance and identify areas for improvement. You can also use feedback tools like surveys or polls to ask your audience what they think of your web content and how you can make it better. You can also use A/B testing tools like Optimizely or VWO to compare different versions of your web content and see which one performs better. You can test and refine your web content based on various factors like headlines, layout, length, tone, images, calls to action, and more.
O conteúdo digital é um grande teste contínuo. Um meme engra?ado hoje, pode ser ultrapassado amanh?. O que garante que o seu conteúdo web será uma fórmula de bolo todos os dias? Use ferramentas e analise cada um deles. Encontre pontos de melhorias. O que deu certo? O que n?o funciona mais? E o principal: escute o que o seu público está precisando. Vai por mim, isso ajuda muito!
To test and refine copies effectively, conduct A/B testing by creating variations of the copy and measuring their impact on key metrics. Gather feedback from target audiences, analyze performance data, and iteratively refine copies based on insights gained from testing to optimize messaging for maximum effectiveness.
Once we have created the base content or a draft, the 5Ws and 1H method always helps us find ground. It's great to source the right brief, it's great when we are lost and need directional support to edit or add to the content. When, what, where, why, who and how. No matter the topic, or the audience or medium, these help us navigate through and optimize. Especially for A/B testing or to simplify complex concepts in plain language.
Numbers and analytics don’t lie. By refining what works for the consumer, even if you might have an emotional attachment to a campaign or any elements involved. A certain amount of detachment and flexibility is always preferred because whereas you can certainly be passionate, you must be able to analyze and modify accordingly to best serve your target audience.
Your web content isn't a one-off draft, it's a living masterpiece! Continuously test and refine it using analytics (track beyond visits!), feedback tools (surveys, polls, social interactions), and A/B testing ( headlines, CTAs, even video lengths!). Set clear goals, prioritize impactful elements, and personalize the experience. Remember, data is your brush, your audience the canvas – paint a web masterpiece that delivers maximum value, always evolving to resonate with their needs!
Very few clients enjoy hearing this, but it's not about how great their products and services are. Many readers are jaded and somewhat immune to this type of puffy language. It should be about the customers, their needs, and how their problems can be solved or desired goals achieved. Shift the focus.
Join the conversation in their heads. You already know their pain points and desires. Use the information to bridge the gap between you, them, and their desired outcome. If you explain their challenges to them in a way they'll understand and relate with, it'll increase your chances of getting them to drop their guard and listen to you.
Don't be afraid to use AI tools. You don't have to avoid them to prove you're naturally good at writing. Tools like Chat GPT, QuilBot, Hemingway, and Answer the Public are a great addition to your arsenal. They can help you research, write, and analyze your content before it goes online. Take advantage of AI! If you don't, you might be putting yourself at a disadvantage.
No Brasil, quando perguntamos para a maioria das pessoas qual é o objetivo da copy, elas v?o nos responder: Vender! Isso limita muito a escrita delas. Na verdade, a copy tem como objetivo persuadir. Ela tem como objetivo fazer as pessoas tomarem uma a??o. N?o necessariamente é fazer ela comprar alguma coisa.
Understand that when you write content online, you must be brief, concise, and get to right out the point. Begin your narrative with your strongest statement. Online readership will skim digital content and bounce out . Use online tools, such as GIFs and sliders to grab your audience’s attention.