What are the challenges facing content marketers?
Consuming content on-the-go, readers are increasingly mobile-first. Distracted and time-poor, they’re unlikely to persevere with content that isn’t super-engaging and that hasn’t been optimized for mobile.
And so content creators need to learn two key skills:
- How to consistently produce valuable – and shareable – content, often in a short amount of time.
- How to present that content in a way that will hold audience attention.
It also helps to know which digital marketing tools to use!
Generating content ideas
There’s no right or wrong way to generate ideas for content, whether you come up with ideas on your own or brainstorm with a group of people. The most important thing is to capture every idea – the most random one could become the seed from which an awesome piece of content grows!
If you need inspiration though, there’s an excellent guide on how to generate effective content ideas here.
7 content writing tips to make your online publications stand out
#1 Break up your text
Use bullet points or lists to break up text-heavy sections. Lists allow our brains to quickly scan text for pieces of information they find valuable, to summarize and categorize information and to more easily remember key facts.
#2 Highlight
Key words and sentences – statistics, for example, or quotations – can be highlighted using bold text, larger fonts or text boxes. Be careful, though. Too many highlights can start to feel a bit shouty!
#3 Make the most of white space
Used correctly, white space – the blank areas on a page – can enhance the reader’s experience. White space can help to avoid clutter, improve flow and focus attention towards particular areas on a page.
#4 Subheadings
Subheadings give your audience a taste of the text that follows. Busy readers can use them to quickly pick out the sections that are most relevant for them so be sure to keep subheadings appealing and on topic.
#5 Add hyperlinks
By linking your text to related websites, you can support the ideas and arguments in your content with third-party back-up. Well-researched links help demonstrate a broad understanding of the topic that you’re writing about. Linking to your own content – on similar themes – will help to keep people on your website and reading your material, too
#6 Choose the right font
Selecting the correct font plays a key role in the readability of your text. Font sets the tone for your content too so choose wisely. Some digital publishing platforms automatically optimize text for the screen’s resolution – whether desktop, tablet or mobile – but it’s important to check.
#7 Make your storytelling interactive
Interactive storytelling uses elements – like video, audio, images and animation – to enhance content and make it more engaging. Why not check out our interactive storytelling guide for inspiration?
