Your readers want a good story. They want value and entertainment. They want to walk away feeling like they learned something after reading your post.
In order to successfully write about your business, you must think like a reporter. This means giving your readers the who, what, when, where, why and how (5ws and H) with every blog post. It means creating compelling content that is easy to read. How do you get there?
- Make your readers want to invest in your content. There’s plenty of alternative choice out there. What makes you so special? Why should they read your work when they can read any number of similar blogs out there?
- Give your readers useful information. It’s the only way they’ll walk away feeling like they learned something. This means tips, tricks, facts, and figures. People are 10x more likely to read a blog post with facts. Not sure if this is true, but it likely got your attention. Take the extra second to look it up.
- A reporter is always looking for different ways to tell a story. Sure, it may be a story they’ve written several times in the past, but is there a different angle? There are always different ways to keep your content fresh for readers.
- Give vivid detail. It’s one thing to say “He ate soup when he didn’t feel good.” It’s another thing to say “John sipped at a bowl of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup one evening after contracting the flu.” Notice the difference?
- Always be looking to answer this question…What should the reader do? Do you want them to comment? Ask a question. Do you want them to contact you? Give them an incentive. Often your readers don’t know what you want them to do, unless you are more direct.
- Don’t just think about SEO content. Your competitors are busy writing content with keywords in it. It’s a good thing to include those keywords, but you want to tell a good story at the same time. This keeps things interesting for humans. You know, the ones who actually buy stuff. There’s a lot of debate out there about writing for search engines vs. writing for people. The two don’t necessarily need to be mutually exclusive.
- Do your research. You can never know too much about the topic that you’re writing about. Google, Wikipedia, About.com, and Yahoo Answers are all your best friend. The answers to the most obscure questions are usually out there if you know where to look.
Matt Brennan is a Chicago-area marketing writer and copy editor. He is also the author of Write Right-Sell Now.
Hi Matt – as a former reporter (and sometimes current freelance contributor), I’ve often questioned the 5 Ws and H approach. The media releases and articles that grab me are those that bring me in immediately in a way that makes me feel like the writer knows my concerns. I realize this is the standard industry mantra, but wonder if being creative and different in your approach commands a more loyal following. I’d be curious about your thoughts on this.
By the way, nice, clean, easy to navigate website. I need to get better at being simple and you provide a good model. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Nanette. Thanks for the compliments. Even the most creative news stories and blogs still need the 5ws. They may be buried below a feature lead, but if the story or blog is good, they’ll still provide you all the info the reader is looking for.
Now, I’m not as big a fan of the pyramid approach, unless the story absolutely calls for it. I think there’s usually a more creative way to tell the story than just simply spewing the facts. The creativity draws people in and keeps them reading. The facts are the take away.
Just my thoughts. Thanks for stopping by.