6 Great SaaS Content Writing Tips to Boost Your Blogs’ Impact

I like to think I was born to be a writer.

Case in point: When I was younger, I spent all my time reading novels of every genre (romance was my favorite for a long while).

Naturally, writing stories born out of my frequent readings followed. My mum still testifies to the stack of notebooks full of stories I wrote. The funny thing is, my case is not so different from freelancers or in-house SaaS content writers looking to up their game today.

Are you in that fold?

Then stay tuned.

I’ll share with you six great SaaS content writing tips that helped advance my content marketing career.

What I’ll cover:

1. How most people (wrongly) approach writing
2. The 6 powerful SaaS content writing tips you need
3. Conclusion

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Quick housekeeping before I dive in…

Over the years, I evolved from writing short stories to start a lifestyle blog. Now I’ve come full circle and currently write articles, specifically for SaaS companies, in a storytelling manner.

One thing I’ve learned is the actual writing (first draft) is just the first step in creating a great piece of content. By “great,” I mean something people will read to the end and take action.

Like achieving other “great” thing in life, it’s hard to hold people’s attention until they take action with your content.

This, my friend, is what makes great writing a hard nut to crack:

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But you shouldn’t be losing your head (like the guy above) just to craft great content.

As I said earlier, I’ll share the six tips I use to write great SaaS content. Before that, however, why should you care? And if you learn these tips, how can it advance your career, as it did mine?

Excellent questions!

Find your answers below…

SaaS content writers (whether freelance or in-house) are in high demand

And don’t take my word for it.

By 2022, the software as a service (SaaS) market will grow to approximately 145 billion U.S.dollars.

Today, there are so many new SaaS startups that each one has more than nine competitors competing in the same segment. This growth naturally makes each startup determined to outgrow its competitors. Apparently, if they don’t grow, they could go into extinction.

And that’s a good thing for SaaS content writers, especially the exceptional ones.

Why do I say so, you ask?

First, more SaaS companies rely on content marketing, which content writing drives, to achieve their growth goals. Case in point: over 86% of B2B marketers use content marketing.

And this trend won’t slow down anytime soon.

That’s because content marketing costs 62% less than outbound campaigns. It also generates 3x as many leads with the right marketing strategy.

All these point us to the fact that…

More than ever, excellent SaaS content writers are in high demand to create great content SaaS companies need to fuel their growth. But do you still remember what I called “great” content?

It’s one that holds people’s attention until they take action.

Unfortunately, the approach most wanna-be “great” writers take fails to achieve this.

How most people (wrongly) approach writing

As a content writer (whether freelance or in-house), you’ve probably experienced a version of the scenario I’m about to paint.

You get a fantastic blog content idea you’re sure is going to be a massive hit. So you put the idea in writing immediately:

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After spending hours writing, you finally hit the publish button, and you wait.

And wait. You’re still waiting.

Oh wait, you forgot to promote the article. That’s why nobody’s reading it, let alone taking action.

So you post the link to the blog post on Facebook and Twitter.

Yep, you’re seeing results now. But it’s still not as much as you’d like.

The few people reading are not commenting nor sharing with others. Neither are they clicking on your CTAs to check out your product or service. What am I doing wrong? You ask.

Listen.

Maybe, just maybe, your article is not good enough to get people to read, rave about it, or take action meaningful to your business.

Now don’t get me wrong.

Your underlying content idea and concept might be great. But your delivery might suck.

You just can’t seem to bring your content ideas to life in a way that appeals to your target audience.

The reason this usually happens is you don’t follow the rules for great content writing.

If you google ‘best content writing tips’ right now, you’ll find loads of information like this, this, and this one by marketing expert Neil Patel:

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So if there’s already a lot of information on the Internet, why am I writing this article?

What makes my advice different?

You see, what I’m about to reveal to you is what works for us here at Victor Eduoh Consulting (VEC).

I’ll share writing tips we’ve implemented and seen great results with.

For example, we have the top spot on google for “SaaS content writing.” Google also consider our work an excellent fit for related queries “People Also Ask”:

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But the main hurdle isn’t to rank high. Do people even read our content?

They do.

Here’s just one feedback (out of tens of others):

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And here’s the kind of meaningful business action prospects take after reading our content:

So you’d agree we know our way around great SaaS content writing, right?

Good.

Since you do, I’ll show you six powerful tips that have transformed my mediocre content pieces into ones thousands of people read, share, and act on.

These tips will help you immensely advance your content marketing career, too.

So without further ado, let’s get in.

The 6 powerful SaaS content writing tips you need

1. Write in simple English, not sophisticated grammar.
2. Use short sentences, paragraphs, and lots of white spaces.
3. Write in the active voice, not passive voice.
4. More of ‘you’ and ‘your’ and less of ‘I.’
5. Create attention-worthy headlines.
6. Incorporate storytelling

Simple English, not sophisticated grammar

This tip is the most essential piece of writing advice you could ever get. Forget everything your English teacher taught you. You don’t have to use big or sophisticated English (in fact, you must not) when writing.

If you do, you’re going to cause a disconnect with your audience and lose their attention.

Sophisticated English only serves to impress people.

Which would you prefer as a SaaS writer:

Your readers admiring your use of English but not really getting the point you’re trying to pass across, or your readers understanding your content immediately and taking action?

In the past, I’ve been guilty of this.

I thought good writing was about using words people had to check the dictionary to understand. Nothing could be further from the truth.

You see, you should write your content in a language 6th or 7th graders can easily read and understand. Use the simplest synonym available for each word.

And that’s something I learned in Ali Messe’s excellent piece titled, “Write to Express, Not to Impress:”

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Another great tip I learned here is to ask a friend to read your content and take his/her help in assessing the readability of what you write.

Essentially, know “great” SaaS content writing is about passing your message to people in the language they understand.

To check if the language of your content is simple enough, you can use a tool like Hemingway Editor.

Short sentences, paragraphs, and lots of white spaces

The attention span of humans is at the lowest it has ever been.

If they’re taking the time to read your piece, you want to make it as easy as possible. Else, they might not read your content to the end.

In the past, the guideline for writing was 15–20 words per sentence and not more than 5 sentences per paragraph.

But in 2009, an American Press Institute conducted a study. It revealed readers understood:

• 100% of the information if it had sentences averaging 8 words or fewer.
• Over 90% of the information of the sentences averaged 14 words.
• And less than 10% at 43 words or more.

So what is the current content writing guideline?

Personally, for my blog posts, I write between 8–15 words per sentence and not more than 3 sentences per paragraph.

The effect of this tip on your content success is more people will read your content. This has been the case with mine. For example, this one you’re currently reading.

Following this guideline ensures your content doesn’t look like a clustered block of text. It doesn’t hurt your reader’s eyes and is appealing to the eyes.

Your reader must not feel like your content is a chore or an eyesore.

Reading your blog post should come naturally to your reader after reading your headline, and this tip makes it easier.

Pro tip: Use images, screenshots, and gifs at intervals to break up texts.

Also, vary your sentence (and paragraph) lengths.

Don’t write sentences with the same number of words too many times in a row.

Heck, I just did that now!

Active voice, not passive voice

The verbs you use in your content piece should be in an active, not passive voice.

What’s the difference, you ask?

The difference is in the active voice, the subject performs the action and vice versa.

For example, instead of saying:

“The excellent piece on tips to writing great SaaS content was written by Tamilore Sonaike. Say something like, “Tamilore Sonaike wrote an excellent piece on tips for great SaaS content writing writing great content.”

Such a minor change, but it makes a world of difference.

Notice how the sentence with the active verb sounds stronger?

Image Via Flickr by Attanatta.

Sentences written in the active voice are usually more empathetic and resonate with the reader.

Writing in an active voice in your content also makes you sound like an authority. According to Neil Patel, an authority on a subject gains the trust of visitors and readers.

More of ‘you’ and ‘your’ and less of ‘I’

Don’t always make your writing all about yourself.

The spotlight should be on your audience. Talk to them and call them out. Be empathetic to their pains. Use “you” or “your” more often, less “I” or “we”.

When you speak to your audience directly, it makes them feel like you genuinely understand them. It is generally bad practice for your content to be more about yourself than your audience.

Humans are inherently selfish.

They mostly only care about themselves. Take advantage of this as a good content writer and center your content around them.

They are more likely to be responsive to your SaaS content if they feel you are focused on them and their problems.

Melissa Tydell says writing in the second person pulls the reader in the action and gets personal. I totally agree with this.

Attention-grabbing headlines

The first thing that will convince anybody to open your blog content is your headline. If your headline doesn’t grab attention, your content won’t get opened, let alone read.

It’s that simple.

In short, on average, 80% of people will read your headline. But only 20% will open and read your content if it resonates with them.

So, your headline should include a promise and be SEO-friendly (to make it discoverable). Some good examples of benefit-driven and SEO-friendly headlines we’ve written are:

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Pro tip: Before settling on one headline, brainstorm and write out at least 10–15 other headlines first. Doing this will help you sift through the dust and pick the best headline.

Incorporate storytelling

One of the golden rules of copywriting and writing, in general, is “Thou shalt sell with a story.”

All the marketing and writing books say the same thing: “Incorporate storytelling into your writing.”

The truth is people don’t just love stories they can relate to. People remember stories.

Stories have a way of grabbing their attention.

But as Hubspot puts it:

“A story is not just your (company) history. It is why you’re doing what you’re doing and telling it in a way that appeals to your audience”.

Write about your experiences and challenges. Weave good stories similar to what your readers have experienced or are likely going through.

A storytelling method working well for us at VEC, and our clients, is the product-led storytelling method.

Fun fact: the first time I read this content piece on VEC’s website that goes deep on Product-Led Storytelling, I messaged the founder immediately to inquire about internship opportunities.

Why?

I felt like the content piece was talking to me directly, and I wanted to learn how to write that well.

It’s how I found myself here.

And as I’ve come to see, learn, and now practice, the product-led storytelling method is very effective in content marketing for SaaS brands.

And our clients are a testimony to this:

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Besides, there are different points of view to tell your story. You could write from the:

1. First-person point of view: the character is yourself and you use more of “I” in these stories.
2. Second-person point of view: The character is the audience with more “you” and “your.”
3. Third-person point of view: language used in this perspective is “he said” or “she said.”

Basically, your story (content) should have a character (with the appropriate point of view), call out pain points (conflict) and provide a solution. It must tie in with why you created your product.

To write the kind of content that gets people talking, you have to infuse storytelling.

Not just any story, but stories relevant to your brand and target audience.

Conclusion

That’s it for now.

As a bonus tip, I’ll add that you cannot fully call yourself a great content writer if you’re not a good researcher.

Yes, one quality exceptional B2B SaaS writers have is in-depth researching skills.

Also, make sure you’re grounded with the right SaaS content strategy framework and have a touch of SEO knowledge. SEO makes your content discoverable in the long term.

If you incorporate the tips I just shared, you’ll craft blog posts you’re proud of…

And you’ll also get people to actually read your content and take action.

Of course, this can only happen if you distribute your content to the right audience. Don’t know how to distribute your content effectively?

Check this out.