Content Creation Part 15

Proven & Effective Writing Strategy

In our last section, we looked at the "pros" and "cons" of writing your own web content.

WordPress makes it really easy to think, write and publish your content ideas. If you use WordPress and you "know your stuff" and decide that writing your own web content is worth a try, then all you really need is a simple and effective content writing strategy you can follow.

Let's talk, then, about a proven and effective content writing strategy that you can use to write your own content.

THE A.I.D.A. PRINCIPLE

A.I.D.A. stands for:

- Attention
- Interest
- Desire
- Action

Let's go through each of these below in a little more detail:

*** Attention ***

The first step is to get your reader's attention with a compelling headline, or in this case, the title of your post. Make sure to use your main keyword in the title.

For example, an article about Content Management Systems (CMS) might be entitled "Content Management Systems - How To Avoid The 7 Deadly Mistakes Most Businesses Make When Choosing A CMS"

We covered how to create effective and compelling Post Titles is detail in Part #8 of this training course. Please go back and refer to that section if you need help creating effective post titles and article headlines that will get your readers' attention.

*** Interest ***

Help your readers maintain interest in your post by writing about things that relate to them and their situation. This could be issues, problems, frustrations, benefits, challenges, etc. that the people who need your products or services commonly experience.

Something that all experienced and successful sales copywriters know, is that people will read extremely long sales letters and remain keenly interested until the very last word, as long as the sales letter is all about THEM (i.e. the prospect) and explains how THEY are going to benefit from buying and using your products or services.

Most people make the mistake of writing about themselves and talking about the "features" of their products or services, instead of focusing on the reader and telling them (or better still, showing them) about the "benefits" they will experience when using your products or services.

Most people generally don't care too much about "features" until they understand the "benefits".

A classic way to explain this is to think about why people go to hardware stores. You don't go to a hardware store to buy a quarter-inch "drill bit" because you're interested in the drill bit, you go to the hardware store because you're interested in making a quarter-inch "hole" in the wall.

The "drill bit" is a feature, but the "hole" that you can make using the drill bit is the "benefit".

Tip: A simple way to turn most features into benefits is to put the words "you get" in front of the sentence where you talk about the feature.

For example, "with this quarter-inch drill bit made of superior reinforced double-tempered titanium (feature), you get a very clean, smooth and extremely accurate quarter-inch hole in the wall." (benefit)

*** Desire ***

Once you learn how to create compelling and engaging content that keeps your visitors interested in reading the content all the way through, the next step is to activate their "desire" to take action.

For example, after writing a comprehensive review of the top products in your business category filled with benefits, you could then let your readers know that there is no need for them to continue looking around the web or engage in any further comparison shopping, because your solution, product or service is the cheapest, best, most cost-effective, most robust, best supported, best value for money, etc. and reinforce those benefits to help activate their desire to access, have, use or consume what you provide.

Note: If your product, service or solution is not one of the above things (i.e. the cheapest) then don't exaggerate and never lie. Just focus on the positive aspects that make your solution better than your competitors' and try to connect these with your readers' desire by creating some kind of urgency to act. For example, if they order within a specific timeframe offer a discount or special deal, free shipping, etc., or let them know that there is only a limited number of stock items or units available at that price (scarcity) and that they need to act fast or they will miss out.

Remember this: if someone comes to your site, it's probably because they are looking for something similar to what you provide. In other words, a "desire" or "need" is already there - it just needs to be awaken. The job of your content, then, is to help them decide if what you have to offer will satisfy their needs and help them connect this understanding with their feelings of desire. This is why it's important to focus on the needs of your visitors and the benefits they will experience when using your products, services, solution or information. Make it all about THEM!

*** Action ***

If there is a fit between what your visitors are looking for and what you provide in terms of needs, pricing, benefits, features, etc., and your content has helped them understand this, then their desire should already be activated.

The sensible thing to do now is to direct that desire into some form of action. Preferably something that will be mutually beneficial for both of you and create a positive outcome or experience. In other words, you want to help them fulfill their desire and ensure that both of you get a positive result from their visit.

Towards the end of your article, your content should help focus your visitors' attention and direct their interest and desire towards taking an "action" step. Be very specific about the action you want them to take after reading your post or article. Insert a "call to action" into your content asking them to click the order button, request a quote from you, subscribe to your newsletter, complete a survey or poll, watch a video, download a pdf report, share your content online on social media, etc.

Now that you have a simple, yet effective structure for creating content, start putting it to use.

IN SUMMARY

The A.I.D.A. principle above is very effective and can be used to create great content for your site quickly that helps you get results.

ACTION STEP

Be sure to familiarize yourself with the A.I.D.A. principle. As you browse the web, notice and study the content that catches your attention, keeps you interested, activates your desire and compels you to take action, and begin to put those same principles to work for you.

In the next section, we will begin to explore other options for creating web content if you don't want to write it all yourself.

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