When most people hear the phrase "quality content", they immediately start thinking about those articles that are filled with in-depth technical knowledge and sentences with a high level of English grammar and they believe that only a selected few can master this art but is that really true?
I believe quality content goes beyond technical articles and anybody can write an article with quality content, you just have to follow the rules and practice as well. But before we go on, you must first of all know the meaning of quality content, then you can know how to write one. According to Larry Kim on medium;
Quality content is successful content. Quality content achieves a goal (e.g., it drives traffic, Google search rankings, engagement, or conversions).
Quality content doesn't have one direct definition and that's because it's subjective but it generally conforms to some important objectives and one of them is achieving your end goal(s). For one to say an article is of quality content, you must first ask yourself if it has achieved the goals you set out and most of the time, our main goal is to bring in loyal readers who will always read our content and drive traffic and this brings me to the first tip to writing a quality content
Know your audience
This is the most important factor you will have to consider whenever you're writing your article because the audience is the driving force behind any content, they are the judge that will determine if your content is of high quality or not. Now, what does it mean to know your audience?
Knowing your audience simply entails you knowing who you're writing for and how to tailor your articles to their taste. Yes, it doesn't matter what you want because you're creating content for the benefit of other people out there who will gain something from your content (insight, knowledge, or entertainment).
Knowing what your audience wants will give you an insight into the type of content to create that will leave them satisfied after reading. If your target audience is those that can't comprehend high-level English grammar, using that in your article is only going to do more harm than good because they won't be able to relate to what you're giving out. One of the ways of finding out what your audience wants is by interacting with them and that brings us to another tip
Engagement is king
An engaging article is a successful article. Structuring your article in a way that will make your audience want to engage with you is one of the features of quality content. Writing an article where no one has anything meaningful to say at the end is already tilting towards the area of bad content.
It doesn't matter if you believe in your heart that you have written something meaningful or of high quality, what really matters is how your audience takes it and what they have to say about it. Did they gain any new information? Do they find it funny like you originally planned? Are they able to relate to the experiences you shared? These are the things you should look at to know if your article is good content.
What are the ways to raise engagement on your articles?
One trick I use is to use second-person pronouns, the "you" perspective. That means using words like you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves, instead of first person or third person pronouns like I, we, he, she, they, etc. But does this mean you have to use this trick in all scenarios? Of course not
First-person and third-person pronouns are best suited for fiction writing and personal blogs while second-person pronouns are best suited for technical writing, creative writing, business writing, and instructional writing. If you're writing an article that is all about teaching people how to do something, then second-person pronouns are suitable but if you're telling a story (either yours or a fictional one), then third or first-person pronouns are suitable.
It's preferable to use second-person pronouns most of the time especially in technical or creative writings because it helps you to form a bond with your reader and it gives an aura of confidence. It gives your reader the feeling that you're talking directly to them and it helps them to get more involved with your content.
Another important trick that I use sometimes is to ask questions. Asking your readers questions will make them want to engage with you, especially when you ask the right questions. Asking the right questions can sometimes trigger some thoughts in your audience that they might not have in the first place and in turn, it leads to more engagement.
One good way to do this is to end your article with a question, or sometimes you can ask the question right from the start of the article (like in the title or during the introduction) and then ask it again when ending the article because some people might forget the question when asked from the start, so it's a good idea if you remind them at the end. Doing this will most of the time encourage your readers to share their thoughts with you, thus boosting your engagement.
Other tips to consider when writing quality content
Use good grammar: Even though you don't have to use high-level English grammar, it still doesn't mean you should write with utmost disregard for proper English. Always make use of tools like Grammarly to check for spelling and grammatical errors.
Properly format your articles: This involves making use of short paragraphs to improve readability, using subheadings for important sections, and you should consider using pictures relating to your topic to really drive home your points.
Be knowledgeable: you should know what you're writing about and be knowledgeable in that field because trust me, it's going to be obvious in the way you write if you're not very knowledgeable and it's going to affect your reputation.
Practice: All these I have said will become useless in the long run if you don't put in the work to be better. You have to keep writing and figure out your style, your target audience, and what they like.
Conclusion
That's all I have to share with you all for now. I had to shorten some parts of this article and I also left out some parts because it was already getting too long, and that's another tip I will like to share: avoid writing very long articles at a go. Most of the things I talked about here are what I learned from the content writing crash course I took when I registered on this platform, while the others are from research I did on the topic earlier today.
This is my entry for the community engagement writing challenge created by @Jane in collaboration with Club1BCH. Check out her article to read about the guidelines and rules of the challenge.
Lead image gotten from freepik and edited in Canva
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Friday June 10, 2022
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