As an entrepreneur, the content you produce matters greatly. If you draw in an audience, you can often keep them for life. People will continue coming back to you because they know they will get something interesting at the end of it.
But actually creating content people want to read is easier said than done. You need to tap into their brain circuits and get them excited, but that’s easier said than done.
The purpose of this post is to look at content writing more closely and explore how you can master it. Following these steps will trigger the sort of psychological responses in your audience that will get them hooked and encourage them to keep coming back for more.
Table of Contents
Start With Some Sort of Mystery
The first step is to create a sense of mystery or start with a puzzle. You want to hook your audience by intriguing them with something.
Ideally, it should be a question or problem they are dealing with. When they see your content, they should say something like “Ahah, that’s exactly what I was looking for. I wonder if this person has the answer.”
Promise Value in your Content
The next step is to promise value. You want to show your audience what they’re going to get from consuming your content. After all, it takes time and there are other ways they might better spend their time (such as watching a movie).
Most articles start with a hook and then move on to an explanation of value. That’s what we did in this post. We started with the problem and then moved on to how we were going to solve it.
You want to adopt this approach in most of your content if you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner. The majority of writing and videos you produce should constellate around the idea that:
- You’re here to solve a problem
- You can provide value
Say Something Original
The next step is to say something original. Your content should be distinctive, not just a rehashing of whatever’s already out there.
This aspect of writing is the most challenging. After all, practically all a person’s ideas come from the content they consume
The best way to break through this is to draw on your experience and bring out subtle insights that generic content creators won’t see. If you can do this, you can persuade your customers to listen to you and not someone else.
Another approach is to emphasize your authority. Showing your audience you are the real deal can be a fantastic way to sell conventional content. Web design companies, like Red Spot Design, can help this sort of thing by creating professional sites that reflect your brand.
Lastly, you can collect and generate your own data. Publishing studies and results can attract link-building from other sites and encourage more people to land on your pages.
Speak To Desires
Finally, you want your content to consider “needs and wants.” Whatever you write about should concern something customers love. If you can drive desire (whether for knowledge or products), that can make what you say more compelling.
