Standing out with your content has never been so challenging. While more and more brands invest in top-notch content creation, you need an ultimate content marketing strategy, creativity, and high-end writing skills to deliver value to your users.
But let’s get started from simpler things, getting back to the content you already have and refreshing it to make your articles more engaging. Here is how.
1. Reconsider an Intent
Every content piece you create should match the user’s intent and the sales funnel stage. So, the first step towards making it more engaging and valuable for the user is making sure the article corresponds to the user’s goal and expectation.
For example, when the user is searching for a “how-to” article, they expect to get step by step guidance, preferably with visuals, videos, or at least a clear explanation. When the users search for “buy something”, their intent is even clearer. When the users ask google “what is smth”, they would like to find out more about the issue.
So, get back to the content pieces you have and make sure each of them is perfectly tailored to the users’ intent. This step is equally important for both the value your content delivers and the ways the search engine ranks them. That’s why you should also add some relevant keywords to make your content not only more engaging but better discoverable.
2. Tell a Story
Storytelling is a powerful marketing approach. Telling a story is a good way to engage your readers immediately from the first lines of your text. Consider this approach for the articles that have room for it. For example, something like case studies or promotional articles with user testimonials are logical places to incorporate stories and let the users recognize themselves among the lines.
So, get back to your articles and find those you can strengthen with the help of this tactic. What’s more, there is nothing complicated about story writing – being yourself is the best strategy to write sincerely and engagingly.
3. Make It Actionable
The modern users’ requirements towards the content they would like to consume are growing. Most of them aren’t satisfied with the suggestions only – they need a clear and actionable piece of advice instead. This is especially relevant for how-to articles. Being the most searchable and engaging content, its actionability is what makes how-tos so popular.
So, the next step is revising your how-to guides and tutorials. Get back to them and add more clarity, more guidance, and more explanations. As an option, consider adding screenshots, images, and videos to let the users solve their problem step by step, following your example.
As an even simpler tactic, add some bullet points and checklists. For example, if you tell your readers how to get prepared for traveling during a pandemic, you can come up with something like:
- Check the entrance requirements on the governmental website of the country you plan to visit.
- Consider getting travel health insurance. For this, visit site and compare the insurance packages.
- Search for the flight with additional health safety measures.
And so on. Such a simple tactic instantly makes your content more engaging and actionable at once.
4. Revise the Structure
As the next step, revise the structure of your content. Make sure there is no plain text but there are logical headings and subheadings instead. They make your article better scannable and more engaging at the same time since the visitors can instantly switch to the section they are interested in and read it more attentively, thereby improving the behavior factors on your website.
When revising your headings and subheadings, consider also adding relevant key queries to them so that search engines can better understand the text and tailor it to the users’ requests and the corresponding intent.
5. Strive for Simplicity
As one more tactic to make your content engage better, try to make it simpler and better understandable. But make sure to keep the wise balance and your target audience specifics in mind. For example, if you write about artificial intelligence’s role in business but use 5th-grade school language for it, you will sound at least weird.
So, revise your articles one more time and make sure there are no too complex and long sentences, as well as the terms and concepts your users find difficult to understand. For example, you can use the Hemingway app to get rid of complex and long sentences, change passive voice into active, and generally make your text better digestible.
6. Add a Video
This is an evergreen piece of advice that instantly boosts engagement. The matter is that modern users love videos – they prefer watching and listening instead of reading, so use this feature of their perception to add value to your content and improve the behavioral factors on your website. However, make sure to add a relevant video that will strengthen the topic and help users with solving their problems. The best tactic, in this case, is to create a custom video dedicated to a specific topic and add it to your blog post. Depending on the topic and video idea, you can both create a video on your own following a DIY approach or hire a professional video production studio.
7. Add Visuals
As an even simpler option to make your content more engaging, just add some visual elements. Custom images are always better than the ones downloaded from free collections, so consider creating visuals on your own. For example, with the help of Canva and Pictochart, you can create stunning images, banners, infographics, and other promo materials for your website.
8. Add Recent Research Insights
The users like fresh, updated, and insightful content. It delivers more value and engages them better, giving them an opportunity to reflect and analyze. So, make your content deeper and better researched by powering it with scientific data, statistical research, facts, and numbers.
If possible, come up with unique research on your own and share the results with your users. This is also a win-win option for generating moree backlinks for your website.
9. Incorporate the “Related Posts” Section
Making your content engaging is important. Making your website engaging is even more essential. So, here is the simple tip – interlink the blog posts with each other but make sure there is a clear logic between each of the posts. You can either interlink the posts by placing the links in the text or add the Related Posts section with a reference to the articles that may be interesting for the readers.
Conclusion
Making your articles more engaging isn’t very difficult – you just have to follow the best practices for content creating from the very beginning. Write clearly, follow the structure and logic, add visuals, share actionable tips, and don’t make vague statements to build trust among your audience and engage them with every piece you create.
Isabelle Jordan is a business and marketing journalist at EKTA TRAVEL insurance company. She writes for different news portals and thematic blogs that help her stay at the heart of the travel and insurance news. Isabelle knows everything and more about travel guard insurance.
