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5 Ways to Take Your Content from Amateur to Pro

Effective Methods to Improve Your Writing Style

Let’s face it: being an expert in your field does not make you an expert at writing about it. Even for the best writers, creating a variety of content on a continuous basis can be a challenge. For marketers who don’t consider writing their strongest suit, the task seems outright daunting.

Despite the difficulties, there are several ways to improve your writing game and make the task of writing a little easier. Some are pretty straightforward, like continuing to practice and requesting feedback from your peers. Others get a little grittier as they dive into format and techniques that will elevate your content from amateur to pro.

From Average to Engaging

According to technology writer Ann Gynn, writing can feel like working out. Working on your writing muscles takes practice and patience.1 She offers a few different exercises that help you hone and perfect the craft, making content more engaging as a result. These are five relevant tips that can positively affect your content:

  • Repeat with Purpose: There’s a misconception that repeating important words will elevate your SEO ranking. Repetition is helpful, when done purposefully. A good example is repeating your content’s goal at the end of your piece – and offering a new insight or ‘food for thought’ for readers to take with them.
  • Don’t Quote to “Quote”: Italics. Bold. Underline. There are many ways to grammatically emphasize a point without using quotes around important words. In fact, quotes should be used sparingly and only for actually quotes. For other important words, try using other formatting tools or rephrasing your sentence.
  • Set the Scene: Words can be as descriptive as a painting. Use description, metaphors and other literary devices to help your readers connect with your writing. Whether your industry is healthcare or timber, any content presented in a colourful way can be an engaging read.
  • Stay Focused and Carry On: There’s a difference between being descriptive and being irrelevant. When writing your content, remember to bring back your focus to the point you’re pushing across. Ask, what does this add to my content? Is this worth my reader’s time? Creating a mini checklist will help you stay on track.
  • Make It Meta: A meta description can make your content and your site ranking soar on search engines. Most search engines like Google will pull the first few words on your page to describe it. Writing a strong and informative meta description will help give your audience an accurate, brief description of what your page contains when they search for an answer.

According to Stacy Simpson, CMO and Senior VP of Genpact, “Every single piece of content, if done well, is the start of a great new conversation.” Good quality and resonant content can create meaningful relationships for your business that transcend from the digital web to the real world. Flexing those writing muscles can lead to a healthy, long life for your content and your business online.

Balancing new content and understanding SEO can be a challenge for marketers. Our team at MintCopy has trained writers who are experts in SEO and content marketing. We use proven best practices to elevate your marketing strategy and help you achieve success for your business online.

You can reach us online or call toll free at 1.888.646.8003.

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