3 Simple Ways to Write Content That Leaves a Lasting Impression
Lessons from a professional writer and magazine owner on writing killer content.
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What separates an average article from an excellent one? Well, there are a few key things. Actually, there are a tonne of things — but in my view, three stand out as being the most important.
Who am I to decide, though? I’m not a qualified English Language professor or Ph.D. student. I haven’t published books or made the bestseller’s chart. I do, however, have a wealth of experience in the publishing world.
My self-improvement publication has attracted millions of monthly readers for over a year now. More, we have a growing base of 115,000 followers, partnerships with major media companies, and an expansive social media presence. Since day one in 2018, my job has been to identify quality content and put it in front of our readers.
Together with my team, I sift through hundreds of articles a week, handpicking the best of the best for publication. In doing so, I’ve learned a thing or two about the key qualities that make or break a piece of content.
In a world in which millions of people worldwide are attempting to build a career out of their love for the written word, it’s more important than ever that we, as writers, learn how to stand out.
The following three tips seek to arm you with some essential literary weapons to add to your arsenal based upon what I’ve learned through my professional experiences. Let’s get to it.
1. Keep it Simple, Stupid
You’ve probably heard this one before. ‘Keep it simple, stupid’, often acronymized to ‘KISS’, is a straightforward piece of guidance that few writers follow.
In our attempts to make our work distinguished and respectable, many of us resort to using fancy words, long sentences, and overcomplicated syntax to try and make us look smart. The irony is that good writing is often far more about simplicity than it is complexity.
George Orwell was a master of keeping it simple. A world-renowned author of iconic works such as Animal Farm and 1984, Orwell’s style is as distinct as it is modest. He never relied upon writing like a science professor in order to gain the respect of his readers. Instead, he wrote only what needed to be said. Nothing more, nothing less.
As he put it,
“Good prose should be transparent, like a window pane.”
He went on to give a list of concise tips about how to write simply. To list but a few of them:
- “Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.”
What’s the point in writing a piece of content with an incredibly powerful message if your readers can’t understand your words?
As writers, our aim isn’t to dazzle our readers and leave them in awe at the extent of our vocabulary. It is simply to impart a message into their minds and offer a novel way of thinking.
Sure, we can impress in our delivery of said message. We can use charming similies, engaging anecdotes, and witticisms to display our abilities. But these devices should only ever aid the overall goal of our work — to share our thoughts and ideas. They should enhance our story, not confuse it altogether.
It takes a degree of self-control to refrain from flexing our literary muscles when writing. It is imperative, however, that we remind ourselves of why we write. That is, to share wisdom — not to massage our ego.
To borrow a line from Jack Kerouac, author of On the Road:
“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”
Lesson one: Good writing is simple, to the point and concise. Don’t overcomplicate uncomplicated matters. Teach, don’t confuse. Inspire without overwhelming.
2. Build a Connection With Your Readers
What makes us fall in love with a story? It’s the characters. Yes, those characters might be decorated with beautiful descriptions, dazzling scenes, and stunning videography that add to the romance. But above all, it’s the characters themselves.
What, then, makes us fall in love with those characters? Well, typically, we develop the strongest connections with the characters to whom we can relate most fully. That, or the characters who reflect the person we aspire to someday become.
Tony Robbins summarised this concept perfectly in his talk about building rapport with people.
“People like people who are either like themselves or like the person they wish to become.”
When we fall in love with the characters in the stories we read, it’s often because we can relate to them in some way. Whether through their triumphs or downfalls, we see our own personality in their words, actions, and values.
In a sense, we begin to feel as though we’re personally involved in their journey, and therefore we develop attachments to the outcomes of their decisions.
So what does all of this have to do with good writing? As writers, it’s our job to develop a connection between ourselves and our readers. We do so by telling stories, asking questions, and addressing our audience directly. That connection keeps them invested and interested in hearing what we have to say.
Understanding that deep connection relies upon familiarity gives us another string to our bow. When we write, we can take extra care to create a sense of connectivity between us and those we write for.
But how do we go about doing this? Well, there are a few methods I like to use in my own work that serve this purpose well.
- Introduce an interesting or inspiring character. I often enlist the help of figures such as Malcolm X, Aristotle, and even fictitious characters like Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders to drive my points home. Using a real human being to help narrate your ideas, whether through their teachings or personal story, will give your reader a leader to follow. This can be particularly helpful when you personally don’t have the authority to speak on a subject, whether through lack of wisdom or experience.
- Relate to your readers’ problems. Phrases like ‘I know exactly how it feels to x’, or ‘We’ve all been there’, demonstrate that you have been in your reader’s shoes before. I like to deploy such devices when speaking about freelance writing. I tell my readers that I know where they are, how difficult it is when you’re starting out, and then help solve their problems through my experiences. Doing so shows them that I’m not a fraud and that I’m just like them.
- Tell stories. As said previously, we often relate to fictitious characters because we see ourselves in their stories. You can use your own stories to achieve this same purpose. Sharing humble anecdotes and personal success stories will communicate to your reader that you’re not some pedestalized oracle but a flawed human experiencing life just as they are.
Lesson two: Creating a relationship with your reader is vital when it comes to making your work stand out. Doing so will leave your audience with a sense that you’re just like them and will build trust between them and you.
3. Seek to Provide Value
This is going to be a bitter pill to swallow, but here goes. If you’re not seeking to provide value in your writing, you shouldn’t be writing at all.
In my view, there simply isn’t any point in writing content for people unless you’re doing so in a genuine attempt to give something to them. This is true in all avenues of content creation. Whether in marketing or fiction, unless your work is bound by a genuine desire to help, you should probably keep it to yourself.
There are plenty of people writing for money. Leaving a lasting impression depends upon you writing to help people. That’s the only way to stand out.
Providing value has underpinned everything I’ve done throughout my writing career. Even when taking on my first few clients for next-to-no money, my focus was on providing value.
In truth, I lost sight of this around a year into my journey. For some months, I was writing every single day on each of my platforms in an attempt to increase my earnings, audience size, and grow my business. As a result, I was left with no ideas and zero motivation. I quickly ran out of things to write about and the quality of my content plummetted.
I learned that not only is chasing money going to impair your ability to find it, but it’ll also destroy your ability to create high-quality content. Content that comes from the heart always beats content that prioritizes the bank balance.
Every piece of content you put out should give something to your audience. Maybe your article only serves to entertain them for five minutes. That’s still adding value. Perhaps it seeks to impart decades of wisdom into your readers’ minds. Value.
Unless every article you write has a clear purpose centered around providing value, don’t expect it to leave a lasting impression on your audience.
When I write, I seek to teach people one of two things: Either how to live happier, or how to build a career in writing. That’s the value I provide. I don’t write these articles to earn money. I don’t need it. I write to give, and by extension of that desire, the quality of my content improves.
If you want to leave a lasting impression when you write, you need to write content that gives your reader something to take away. Perhaps it’s a refreshing perspective or an actionable piece of advice. Whatever it is, focus on giving.
What do you have to offer? What insights are uniquely yours? What wisdom do you have to give? If you’re struggling to find answers, take the advice of Benjamin Franklin:
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
And borrow a line from Henry David Thoreau:
“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”
If you sincerely doubt whether you have much value to provide as a writer, perhaps you’re just not living enough. There are lessons to be learned in every facet of life, whether it’s launching a business, taking a skydive, dating, traveling — anything.
If you have nothing to write about, learn to live more. Then seek to provide value through your words and experiences.
Sure, you can write before you’re able to provide value. But understand that leaving a lasting impression upon those who read your work depends upon you being able to give to them.
Lesson three: Provide genuine value whenever you write. If you’re not writing to give, you simply won’t leave an impression on your readers. Offer what is uniquely yours. If you haven’t found it yet, keep searching.
The Takeaway
In a world in which everybody wants to become a content creator, standing out amongst the crowd has never been more difficult. What sets us apart as writers is our ability to deliver simple, engaging, and genuinely useful stories to those who need to hear them most.
From stripping things back to basics to focusing on connectivity and providing value, these three key fundamentals have helped me scale my writing business from $0 to $150K/year in just three years of getting started.
By focusing on these things, you too can do the same.
To finish on a quote from the great Ernest Hemingway:
“I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.”
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