With more content being generated each day, a startup blog or website really needs to focus on their edge in the market. That being the content that is displayed when a visitor comes to the website needs to be both informative and high quality. However, those qualities are not enough anymore to keep a visitor interested, which is why I have created this guide to writing magnificent online content that will attract and keep visitors on your website or blog.
Understanding The Average Internet User’s Ideology:
The web has changed how we read and absorb information. I guarantee that most readers of this site will skim through this content until something pops out at them, grabbing their attention for fractions of a second, before moving on. Don’t forget – you will always be competing for visitors interest with the billions of other websites on the internet.
There have been many internet usage studies, but they all conclude the same end result:
The average web user only spends a few seconds on each website before searching for another result.
What does this mean for web content producers? It means wasted bandwidth and a lower conversion rate. This is why I felt this series was necessary to increase visitor conversions and give anyone the knowledge they need to write “magnificent” online content.
The Article Headline: It Makes or Breaks Your Visitor Commitment
Ensure that the article headline is informative and makes the visitor want to continue reading.
- Try and get the visitor excited about what you have written – IE: “10 Ways you can Lose Weight without Dieting” (this addresses people that want to lose weight, but also gives an insight into the added benefit of reading this article, which is not having to give up eating their favourite foods)
- Alternatively, you could take advantage of controversy and create a debate question – IE: “Global Warming – The Biggest Scam in Human History” (this title will offend environmentalists but will attract other people that agree with your opinion, the end result being both of the people fighting out their opinion in the comments area of your website)
- A boring article title will nullify any emotional response to your content and most likely result in a loss of an interested reader – IE: “My Incredible Dog, Sparky” (…yawn.)
The Colour and Font also Play A Role:
- Bold fonts (Arial, Helvetica) get the point across to the new visitor faster than thin fonts (Georgia).
- Neutral colours such as Dark Blue, Black and Dark Grey appeal to the largest amount of web readers. Reds, Greens and Yellows are more of a niche colour – Use these with caution.
Coming Up Next – Part 2:
The next post in the series will look at how to hook a reader into your content by placing one of the most basic (often overlooked) components of writing below your headline. Stay tuned, or better yet, subscribe via RSS.
Related posts:
- The Definitive Guide To Writing Magnificent Online Content – Part 2 – The Hook
- Writing Better Blog Articles
- Have You Got Your Free Backlinks From Yahoo Yet?
- 6 Important Reasons to Bold Your Important Text
- 7 Sites To Add Pictures To Your Posts
16 Comments
with the stiff competition today we do lose alot of convertion rate, proper marketing is what will make it work it is like the steps that you pointed out on this post. proper marketing to get the attention of the reader and cross our fingers hope it works.
You are right, proper marketing does help an article get attention. By crafting an article that is easy to read and keeps the reader interested in what you have to say will bring in more return on investment (ROI for short).
Brad,
Great stuff. Looking forward to the next in the series.
Headlines (titles) are critically important to getting your stuff read. I actually write backwards, kinda. A great title will pop in my head and I’ll build a post around it. So far it’s worked very well, and I’m thankful I’ve got a knack for writing great titles (Heh. if I do say so myself).
Cheers
George
Hey George -
I think the same way you do… a title will pop into my head and I’ll write an article based around that. Your titles are pretty good as well
Apart from having an interesting title, the content of the article should be absorbing. This will when you will have traffic to your site and constant followers of your blog.
I agree with you Ganesh.
However, it is very important that an interesting title is created for your article, otherwise you might not “intrigue” your audience to continue reading your work.
Stay tuned – I’ll go over all the details of content in the articles to come.
Exactly proper marketing can get an article attention, one of proper marketing encompasses the positioning of your article. say for instance the demographics and the expected traffic you are going to get,positioning an article is tricky thats the point were you can honestly say its make or break.
As usual you are right Brad I think I should pay more attention to headlines looking back at some of my older posts…., looking forward to Part 2!
Good! Glad to hear that you’ll be tuning in Jonny!
Brad,
I once tried using very generic headlines and it seems that it does not work. Usually, headlines that are really very specific do the job. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve also noticed the same result by using generic headlines.. thanks for contributing!
Yes, headlines are so important. They are the first thing that catches the reader’s attention – or not. The writing in the article might be brilliant, the advice offered life-changing, but if the would-be reader skips by because of an unattractive headline, then it is all for nothing.
A good blog title is a must. That’s the first thing people to see when they search.
I think the same way you do
Hi Brad
“The average web user only spends a few seconds on each website before searching for another result.”
I think that that says it all.
My strategy is to a great eye catching graphic, top left, to get a readers attention.
Hopefully they will then start to read the content.
I’ll check out part 2.
Thanks for your article, Now there is more reason to comment than ever before!
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