When writing content, like with any other piece of information to be written, the biggest part is having a good understanding of how you should write. Each country has its own writing guides, and Australia isn’t different. The Australian government has released a style guide for writing online, which can be read here.
Of course, writing is about more than just having a well-structured post. The content needs to be engaging and perform well. Your content needs to be visible to the website visitors, and to people searching for your content on Google and Social Media.
It is important to write in your own brand voice, if you haven’t investigated a brand voice before, we have a detailed blog on brand voices here . A brand voice, or a style guide, is the way that a brand positions itself. It includes:
- Grammar
- Tone
- Logo usage
- Colours
- Visuals
- Points of view
All these factors into how a customer perceives your brand. The customer expects an authentic voice, and not a copy of another business. By having a good brand style guide people know what to expect from your brand. This is why businesses such as Apple, Coca-Cola and banks do so well.
Businesses with a proper style guide know how to write and what to write. They understand what they need to do to make their customers engage.
A style guide should be more than just a company looking inward. A company needs to look at their customers and what the customers want. By researching what customers enjoy and want to engage with you can tailor your content.
Writing content that people love
When writing content, it is important to make sure that the author takes the time to check the content. Very rarely does a content writer get their copy perfect in one go. By reviewing your copy, you will pick up on errors and mistakes. Below are a few tips on how to make sure your content has the highest chance of success:
- Wait one day between your first and second draft
- Read through the content first and highlight what can be improved
- Start making changes in a broad scale, look at your highlights and update what you think needs changing
- Let the text rest for a bit again and go through it in more detail, make any changes as required. Make sure that you are getting to the point.
- Spend a good amount of time working on the title. A good title will grab attention.
- Make your first paragraph stand out. You need to grab the reader’s attention with the first paragraph, or else you will lose them.
