“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” — William Wordsworth
Trust me, I personally know a lot of people who know way more vocabulary than me, read a lot, and are considered masters in the English Language. If you ask them to write something professionally, they can type it out in minutes.
But if you were to read their content, you would probably yawn and look for something else more interesting to read.
I was one of them.
Ever since I learned these tips, I have seen considerable improvement in both my writing and reader engagement levels.
Without further ado, let’s dive right in.
Pre-writing
- Choose a topic that you are passionate about writing
You see when you are passionate about a topic, you are ready to go the extra mile to invest your time and effort in researching the topic. That will indirectly make your writing stand out from the rest cause it will be a high-quality well-researched content piece.
If you are not personally passionate about the topic, or let’s say, it has been assigned to you, then you can always train your brain to find something interesting about the issue. Practice being curious at all times. Curiosity breeds passion.
Ever since I cultivated curiosity in me, “boring” topics became interesting to me while interesting topics became super-interesting to me.
2. Imagine from the perspective of your audience
Who is your audience? Are you aiming to write for the young or the old? Male or female? What are their demographics?
Ask plenty of essential questions before you sit down to write. Answering these questions will clarify exactly for whom are you writing it.
Remember, view your audience as a single person. It narrows down your focus to answer the most important questions your reader has and you will be able to dig deeper inside his/her mind to understand the problems he/she faces.
This ties to my next point.
3. Think about how you can provide value and benefit to your readers
Let’s be honest. People did not click to listen to your sob stories or how accomplished you are. No one cares.
They are here for solutions. If you fail to provide that, they will mercilessly move on to something else leaving your days worth of writing to waste.
So, if you want them to stick around, be a giver. Try not to beat around the bush. List as many comprehensive benefits or values as you can provide to your readers. When you give, you will also receive. Simple equation.
4. Imagine you are talking to a friend
I have noticed a paradigm shift in my writing when I approach it as more of a conversation with someone rather than penning down a bunch of soulless words, trying to be pretentious as a writer.
We are trying to connect here. So, let’s connect as human beings. Unless you wish to be a bot, of course.
I understand how the school system has brainwashed us into teaching that the art of writing should be detached and always written from an objective outlook.
Wrong.
Detached writing is only good in academic publications or books where the object matters more than the subject. In real life, you are writing or reaching out to real people with flesh and bones. If you write in a detached manner, it does not matter how well-versed you are, they will refuse to engage with your content.
5. Get inspiration from the experts
Quite frankly, I have seen this point floating across the web and even heard from many famous YouTubers as well but I never knew how significant this point actually was until I tried it myself.
I started seeing content writing from experts through the lens of a creator, not a consumer. I noticed how they wrote, when and where they added images or videos, format, font, etc.
It made a huge difference in my writing as a result and 10x my productivity levels.
So, there are two methods of learning from the experts. One, you get under the wings of an expert author or mentor via an online course that will guide you from head to toe — yes, you gotta pay for it. Two, you keep your eyes peeled and start analyzing written content from other published blogs or articles from experts — the free version. The second method takes more time and effort as you self-educate in the process.
6. Use Content Creation Tools
If sit there with a blank document for hours and your mind is not helping you come up with amazing content ideas. Fret not, use the help of content creation tools such as Portent’s Content Idea Generator, Hubspot’s Blog Generator, and Google Trends to receive some inspiration.
As long as you are not copy-pasting an entire ChatGPT-generated content or using Quillbot to rephrase other people’s original pieces, you are most welcome to use the latest tech tools.
7. Prepare the outline of your content
If you want your writing to be organized, neat, chronological and worth reading, carve out some time to make sure you added proper H1, H2, Intro, Body Content, and Conclusion in your piece.
This will also allow quick readers, also called “skimmers”, to skim through the content to find what they are looking for pretty easily. Who knows, if they like your point, they might even read the whole stuff!
Drafting process
8. Hook your readers from the start
In this digital age, our attention span is dwindling every day. The only way to make your readers stay and read your content is if you can grab their attention from the start.
How do you do that?
Well, you can begin your introductory line by using any of the following methods:
- A relevant and emotionally-charged quote from any famous personalities
- A short story that resonates with your readers
- A statistical report or fact pertaining to the topic
- A personal incident or anecdote drawn from your life experiences
I don’t know about you, but when I see any of these 4 used at the beginning of any article or blog, it makes me curious enough to want to read the whole thing.
9. Involve your audience
As I mentioned earlier, your writing should predominantly focus on your reader. Address them directly.
You can do this by using the 2nd person’s writing style. In it, you capture their attention by using “you” in most of the sentences, rather than I, He/She, or They/Them.
They will feel as though you are directly talking to them.
10. Use active voice rather than passive voice.
First of all, active voice is much easier to read. Second, it puts emphasis and power on the subject.
Passive voice tends to put more energy into the object than the subject. This makes the reading quite boring because you are not addressing the reader, who is the subject, in this case.
An easy way to remember the active voice format:
Subject + Verb + Object
(You) + (wrote) + (a book)
Academic books are boring because they place more importance on the object than the subject. It is done on purpose. The authors create a detached perspective void of feelings to keep away bias or subjectivity aside.
However, this style does not work well when you are trying to gain readership or trying to get more leads. Because get this, here the subject (the reader) matters the most.
11. Use simple and short sentences
Why drag your words unnecessarily when you can simplify them in a few words?
Be concise.
Our mind has a difficult time keeping track of when a sentence is long and hard. As a result, it causes your readers to lose interest. Include 2–3 sentences in a paragraph at most.
I always thought I was being smart and genius if I used long sentences with a lot of jargon and euphemisms. Little did I know, that I was actually being arrogant and doing a big disservice to my readers.
It took a while, but I learned my lesson.
12. Use precise and powerful words
As humans, we cannot help but be captivated by certain words that invoke or stir emotions within us. These are powerful words.
I would suggest you take a look at amazing this blog written by the SmartBlogger website.
It is important to note, however, that simply using powerful words is not enough. You need to use the correct terminology in the right sentence. Use precise words. Cut out unnecessary words that do not add value, be more specific and make it clear.
For instance, a speech writer for President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote the first sentence below; FDR himself revised it:
Sentence 1: We are endeavoring to construct a more inclusive society.
Sentence 2: We’re going to make a country in which no one is left out.
See the difference?
President Franklin knew the power of using precise and powerful words.
13. Stick to the main topic
As writers, we sometimes tend to go on different tangents which take us away from the key talking points. When you are giving examples or narrating a story, double-check to confirm whether it aligns with your main topic.
There is no use in adding irrelevant information that does not provide value to your readers.
If you want your readers to stick, it is imperative that you stick to your main points first.
14. Vary your sentence and paragraph length
Humans love variety. When you add variety to your writing, it becomes more interesting and engaging.
So, I propose that you use short sentences when you need to make a powerful statement. And when you need to describe something complex, you can use long sentences to clarify its meaning.
You can also use a single sentence in a lone paragraph to highlight something very important to your readers (like I did right now).
To mix up the length, I try to employ these 4 types of sentence structures :
- Single sentences when I need to convey something in absolute terms
- Compound sentences when I need to add a bit of variety and color to the texts
- Complex sentences when I need to add a cause and effect to the text
- Compound-complex sentences when I need to convey something hard in detail to paint a complete picture of the text.
You can also use these 4 types of sentences to make your texts more interesting:
- Declarative Sentence — makes a statement
- Interrogative Sentence — seeks a response from the reader by asking questions
- Exclamatory Sentence — emphasizes the importance of a subject
- Imperative Sentence — advises or instructs the reader on a subject
15. Use Bullet points and lists
Bullet points and lists are easily scannable and effectively highlight important points in an easy-to-digest format.
Bullet points work particularly well when you have so many important sub-points under a heading and you do not want your readers to miss out on any one of them.
16. Highlight in bold key phrases, words, or sentences
Highlighting momentarily stops the scrolling process and forces readers to carefully analyze the sentence. They stop cause they know it is important.
Trust me, you will do a great favor to your audience by highlighting or emboldening key points.
When I come across such texts, I read and re-read them again. The author stimulates the reader’s mind by placing extra emphasis on it. This makes the readers sit with it for a few seconds before they start scrolling down again.
17. Appeal to all their senses
We all have five senses. Sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch (actually we have 2 more but that’s irrelevant here). We experience our world with these five senses. As a result, these experiences later turn into feelings.
Now, as writers, we have to strategically employ words that evoke visceral emotions in our readers to keep them reading.
How do we do that?
Well, you can imagine how a sentence feels after writing it down from the perspective of a reader. Does it stir emotions in you? Does it make you more empathetic? Does it make you angry? Does it not affect you at all?
You know it’s time to spruce up your writing when you start yawning at your own writing.
Some writers argue by saying that emotional words work well in fictional categories only.
I disagree.
Tell me, what better way there is to hook readers than to tap into the most primal part of their cognition, which can be achieved only through their senses?
18. Use analogies and examples
Consider the analogy shared by Masterclass, “Raising children is like gardening — nurture them and be patient.” This example compares the pattern that is similar in both raising children and gardening.
Have you noticed how this analogy adds dimension and depth to the sentence? It paints a vivid picture in our heads. Most importantly, it makes complex topics easier to understand.
Believe me, your readers will thank you for giving analogies and examples, especially if it is a technical subject.
It will also make you seem knowledgeable and professional as a writer.
19. Use pop culture references
To make your writing more relevant to a mass audience, mention popular TV shows, movies, radio, music, concerts, sports, or gaming references.
It will also make you appear more cool and updated with current trends and events.
Search engines also love content writing that keeps up with the Joneses. Reddit, Twitter, and Instagram are fantastic places to gather data when it comes to pop culture references.
20. Use stories
You can weave storytelling into your writing that will take your audience on a magical journey of adventure that will keep them hooked from the beginning till the end.
When we inject stories into our writing, we remove writer-reader barriers and come to a mutual understanding. That causes the reader to relate or empathize as the story progresses.
As I mentioned earlier, if you can tap into the visceral part of your readers, you will earn some loyal followers who keep coming back to you for more.
21. Use facts and stats
Emotions are good. Emotions plus logic are excellent.
Let me explain.
A flat earther can use all the techniques I mentioned above. He can make you cry, laugh, happy, sad, or even convince you to rally against the government. However, is he credible? Is he trustworthy? Why should you believe him?
This is when stats and facts can help in discerning the truth in an argument. Statistics and factual evidence are objective and are not at the mercy of anyone’s opinion.
A good writer uses them to back their claims. Not to mention, you will be branded as trustworthy, credible, and a reputed writer.
I have noticed that high-quality content almost always includes peer-reviewed stats and facts with proper citations.
22. Add humor and playfulness
Humor will add some lightheartedness and make your writing more fun to read. Humor is contagious. Your readers will feel it.
Now, that does not mean you will use crass or racist jokes to make your audience. You will lose credibility. Use warm and friendly pun-intended jokes or one that ties to a pop culture reference.
23. Use the bucket brigade method
Be careful on this one though. Don’t use too much of it.
The bucket brigade method in writing craftily places a cliffhanger at the end of each point which forces the reader to the next point.
Saying, “Read on to find more” or “The next point is even more mindblowing” makes readers curious to find out what is being promised to them by the writer.
Place them only when you truly believe the next point you are about to unveil to them is indeed mindblowing.
24. Do not doubt yourself as a writer
Have firm conviction in yourself as a writer. Yes, there will come certain moments when doubt will rear its ugly head to throw you off guard. But, you should be persistent and you must believe in yourself.
Furthermore, avoid using “I think”, “Maybe”, “My opinion is…”, etc. These will bring down your writing credibility and cast doubts on you as a writer. Refrain from using words that convey uncertainty on your part.
Remember, you are a wordsmith. Wordsmiths bring words to life.
Post Writing
24. Bring your readability level down
Your writing should be like a gentle river, not a choppy stream. Even a 7th grader should be able to read without having to refer to a dictionary all the time. Keep your literary genius aside when you are writing for your audience.
Once you are done writing, you can paste your content into The Hemingway Editor online to check your readability level. Replace sophisticated words and jargon with simple words. Aim for Grades 7 or 8.
25. Proofread and edit your content
Edit your content until it hurts!
I know how daunting this process really is. In fact, I still hate to it some degree.
But…
I have begun to understand the importance of editing and I must say it is a crucial element in the writing process.
Editing multiple times will allow you to see from a birds-eye view what is important and what needs to be deleted.
Jordan Peterson once mentioned how he sits with a single line for sometimes hours, editing and re-editing sentence by sentence! No wonder he is so sharp and eloquent as a writer and speaker.
You can use Grammarly to check for any errors, typos, spelling, or punctuation mistakes. Personally, I recommend you go through the process of editing vigorously by yourself. However, if you are short on time or just want to publish it fast without much emphasis, then you can use ChatGPT to refine your content.
26. Beware of plagiarization
Stay away from copying other people’s content word for word. Stay away from copy-pasting AI-generated content. It will do you more harm than good.
Lastly, you can check if your content is plagiarized or not in Copyscape. Once you find no plagiarization there, you are good to go, my friend. Go forth and publish your amazing content!
