I don’t know if you’ve heard, but in this day and age, content is everything. Sure, you can spend money on pay per click advertising and building your customer base. But, what keeps your customers, leads, prospects and clients interested? What keeps them engaged and wanting to spend even more money with you? How can you recommend a product and have almost all of them rushing to click the Buy button?
There’s just one secret: Awesome, mind blowing, incredibly juicy and actionable content.
Nothing more! So, it makes sense that you should create compelling content that your audience will gobble up like hungry jackals. It’s easy for anyone to bang out 500 word articles that are mediocre at best. What isn’t easy is creating powerful content that will turn your audience into loyal and raving brand evangelists.
That said, all compelling content often have a few crucial elements. If these elements are combined together, they can do awesome wonders for your content. This is what we’ll attempt to show you in this article.
Use Powerful Headlines
Or quirky headlines… those work too. Doubt it? Here’s a quick example: if you were to encounter a headline like “Man’s Head Explodes in a Barber Shop”, would you click the link to read? I’m betting you would. Know why? Because it contains an element of curiosity and mystery and also sounds farfetched.
Truth is your headline is the first thing your readers will see. Make it count. It has to be compelling, powerful, strong, benefit-driven, trigger some curiosity or simply sound too good to be true. They don’t have to contain all those elements at the same time though. Just know how to combine the right components to deliver the perfect punch.
Actionable Steps
Most people don’t have that much time to spare. So, do yourself a favour and start creating actionable content that your audience can use starting today. It doesn’t have to be extraordinary, just make sure that it works. There’s a reason how-tos are popular: people learn from and solve a problem following those steps.
So, create more actionable, problem-specific and solution driven content. For instance, if you run a gardening blog, you could put up a video or blog post that specifically addresses and teaches how to grow organic tomatoes, just like we did for a web design services.
Storytelling and Suspense
“It was 2 a.m., John had just woken up to use the toilet when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He doubled over, gasping for air and grasping at the arm of the rocking chair in the bedroom. His wife and baby girl lay asleep in the bed. John looked at them and was struck by how beautiful they both looked in the gentle light that seemed to hover above them. He couldn’t help but think that if this was going to be his last waking moments, he would want this to be the last thing he sees. Then… something moved in the corner. At first he couldn’t make out what it was, but he could hear the growl. That was when he became increasingly aware of razor sharp talons grabbing him from behind. He screamed, at least he thought he did, but the only sound that came out of his throat was a gurgling, harsh sound. As he struggled to get free, he looked closely and saw long, bloody, curved talons reaching for his beautiful daughter. Then…” …
Nope, you aren’t getting the rest ;-). Got you wanting more, didn’t I? That was just an example of what you can do with good storytelling. Learn how to spin a good yarn and you’ll be surprised how engaging your content will be.
Content, whether it’s in the form of text (blog posts, case studies and articles) or multimedia (videos, infographics and podcasts) can turn your business around, and increase your traffic, sales, revenue and profits. But, you have to do it right. If you need any help with creating high value, audience driven and sales boosting content, get in touch with us.