Nowadays, content is king. The internet is saturated with information, making it challenging for businesses to capture potential customers’ attention.
This is particularly true for startups, which often need more brand recognition than established companies. In fact, 81% of marketers view content as a core business strategy. To overcome this challenge, they must create engaging and informative content that captures the audience’s attention and compels them to act.
However, creating such content is more complex than it sounds. It requires understanding the audience’s needs, a clear and concise writing style, and a balance between valuable information and entertainment.
This guide will provide essential information for writing an article that engages your target and converts lurkers into customers.
Source: Reverbico
Study Your Audience’s Needs and Desires
Did you know that only 42% of 1,200 marketers understand their target’s basic demographic information?
Understanding your audience is the key to a content strategy that works. It’s not enough to know who your target is. You need to understand their needs, desires, and motivations. This involves:
- Researching data.
- Including their demographics.
- Find interests and behaviors.
For example, if your target values sustainability, you can create content highlighting your startup’s practices. Likewise, if they struggle with a specific problem, and your product can solve it, you can create content demonstrating the solution.
You can attract potential customers and increase conversion rates by tailoring your products, services, and content to meet their needs and desires. This is important for startups, which often need more resources and need to maximize their return on investment.
Another aspect to consider is customer motivation. It drives behavior, meaning the reason why customers choose one product or take one action over another. Create appealing content that connects with their motivations and compels your audience to take the desired action.
Following Maslow’s pyramid, a person looking to solve one of their safety needs would react to these sentences:
- Get your dream job now!
- Protect your house against fortuitous events!
- Get the health security your family needs!
Source: Skyword
Write Engaging Content
Engaging content captivates the audience’s attention. It keeps them interested and encourages brand-customer interactions. It makes your target read more, share your content, or take other action that benefits your business.
However, engaging content is challenging and requires a clear, concise writing style with persuasive but authentic language.
Here’s what you must consider:
Clear and Concise Writing Style
Good copy is essential for any startup’s growth. This writing style will make your content easier to read, increasing its impact on your audience. It also will help you to communicate your message effectively.
Persuasive Language Without Manipulation
Authenticity in writing is crucial for small businesses. It builds trust with your audience and makes your content more persuasive.
However, it’s essential to use persuasive language without resorting to manipulation.
Your audience should feel that they are making decisions based on accurate and reliable information, not being tricked or coerced.
Informative Approach
Using an informative approach will value your content, encouraging your audience to take action.
Informative content educates your customers, provides valuable information, and helps them make informed decisions. This also positions your startup as an authority in your field, building trust with your target.
When they trust you, they will likely choose your product or service over your competitors.
Evaluation and Data Collection Processes
These days, businesses have access to more information than before. This data gives valuable insights into your audience’s behavior, preferences, and needs, helping you to tailor your content.
Evaluation involves assessing the effectiveness of your content. This can be done through various metrics, such as:
- Page views.
- Time spent on page.
- Social shares.
- Conversion rates.
This way, you can identify what’s working and make adjustments to improve your content’s effectiveness.
Source: SemRush
On the other hand, data collection involves gathering data about your audience and using it to improve your content.
You can use different methods like:
- Surveys.
- Interviews.
- Social media listening.
- Web analytics.
Information and Entertainment Balance
Today’s internet users are bombarded with information daily, and it’s easy for your content to get lost in the noise. A way to capture your audience’s attention and make your content memorable is by entertaining them.
The key to a balanced article is to weave data and entertainment together to engage and educate your audience.
Too much information makes your article dry and dull. At the same time, too much enjoyment can make your content seem frivolous and lacking in substance.
One way to achieve this balance is through storytelling. Stories make complex information more relatable. When you incorporate them into your content, you will entertain your audience while also providing them with valuable information.
Here’s how dull, thin content looks versus an entertaining and engaging one.
Source: Heartinternet
Accessible Tone
The tone of your content impacts how your audience perceives your message and brand. Therefore, an accessible tone makes your content more relatable, helping to build a connection with your audience.
Avoiding an Aggressive or Salesy Tone
These approach tones can often be counterproductive to your content. Today’s consumers are savvy and can easily see through aggressive sales tactics. An overly salesy tone makes your audience feel like they’re being sold to rather than informed or entertained.
Instead of hard selling, focus on providing value content to your audience by:
- Educating them about your product.
- Providing solutions to their problems.
- Showing them how your product benefits them.
If you avoid these tones, you can build trust with your audience and position your startup as an authority in your field.
Creating a Friendly and Direct Tone
Creating a friendly tone involves using conversational language and addressing your audience directly.
Use words and phrases your audience uses, and speak to them as if you’re having a one-on-one conversation.
A direct tone, on the other hand, involves getting straight to the point. Avoid fluff and unnecessary jargon, and provide your audience with the information they need clearly and concisely.
This approach respects your audience’s time and makes your content easier to understand.
Ensure Your Article Resonates with Your Target Audience
Today’s consumers value authenticity and can see through insincere marketing tactics. You should be authentic to ensure the resonation of your content with your audience.
Be honest and transparent, and don’t be afraid to show your brand’s personality. Authenticity can build trust with your audience and make your content more relatable.
Tips for Building Popularity
In this context, popularity refers to how widely your article is consumed, shared, and recognized. A popular piece of content reaches a broader audience, increases your brand visibility, and attracts more customers.
Use the following tips to increase brand awareness:
Creating Shareable Content
Shareable content means your audience finds it valuable enough to share with their networks. This could be through email or in person. When it is shared, it reaches a wider audience, increasing your visibility and potentially attracting more customers.
These are three keys that you must consider when creating shareable content:
- It must provide value to your audience. This could be in the form of information, entertainment, or both.
- The content should evoke an emotional response. This could be anything from amusement to surprise to inspiration.
- Generate easy ways to share your content. For example, creating social share buttons on your blog posts.
Source: Smartinsights
Leverage Social Media
Social media platforms serve as dynamic spaces where businesses can directly interact with their audience, share content, and promote a community around their brand.
We advise identifying the platforms where your target audience is most active. Different platforms cater to different demographics and have unique content preferences.
For instance, LinkedIn might be the most suitable platform for sharing your content if your target audience covers professionals’ or industry peers’ topics. In fact, This platform is used by 96% of B2B content marketers.
You can increase your content’s reach and popularity by effectively leveraging social media, helping to attract more potential customers and drive growth for your startup.
A study says interactive content gets 52.6% more engagement than static content. On average, people spend around 8.5 minutes looking at non-interactive content and 13 minutes when it is interactive.
Source: Chappelldigitalmarketing
SEO Optimization
Search Engine Optimization enhances your content’s online visibility. It’s a strategic process that involves optimizing various elements to improve search engine results page rankings.
It’s estimated that Google receives around 3.5 billion search queries every day. So When your content ranks higher, it is more accessible to people searching for information related to your topic.
Keyword optimization
They are the words and phrases that people use to search for information online. Adding relevant keywords to your content shows search engines the topic and relevance to a search query, helping them index it appropriately.
However, keyword optimization is more than using as many keywords as possible. It’s about understanding what your audience is searching for and incorporating those keywords naturally into your content.
Source: Ahrefs
Meta descriptions
This element improves your content’s visibility. It is a description that appears under your article’s title on search engine results pages, meaning a snapshot of your content, and helps the audience decide whether to click on your link or not.
Google shows meta descriptions in search results 37.22% of the time. That percentage will increase to 40.35% if you use fat-head keywords.
A well-written meta description intrigues the readers, inviting them to explore your content further. Likewise, it will drive more traffic to your site, leading to higher engagement and conversions.
Headers
They help you organize and structure your content, making it easier for readers to navigate it.
They also act as a guide and break down the data into manageable sections, helping the audience to find the information they’re interested in faster.
How to Write a Business Article [+Examples]
Let’s delve into a business niche topic and explore how to craft an engaging article around it.
- Learn about your audience’s needs and preferences.
Before penning an article on “Effective Time Management for Entrepreneurs,” you conduct a survey among your readers. You discover that 70% of them grapple with efficiently managing their time.
- Select a topic that your audience finds attractive.
Based on the survey results, you decided to write about “10 Time Management Hacks for Busy Entrepreneurs.”
- Gather comprehensive information about your chosen topic.
Interview successful entrepreneurs read books on time management, and attend a seminar to gather insights and tips.
- Plan your article with a clear structure.
Start with an introduction about the importance of time management, followed by the ten hacks, and conclude with the benefits of implementing them.
- Write using clear, concise, and friendly language.
Instead of typing, “Entrepreneurs should consider using time-tracking software,” write “Entrepreneurs can use time-tracking software to boost productivity.”
- Use relevant keywords and optimize SEO elements.
Include keywords like “time management,” “productivity hacks,” and “entrepreneur tips” to improve search engine visibility.
- Ensure your article provides value to your audience.
Add real-life scenarios where each hack has been applied successfully, offering readers actionable and relatable advice.
- Prompt your audience to take a specific action.
At the end of the article, encourage readers to download a free time-tracking tool and leave comments with their tips.
- Review and refine it for clarity and correctness.
After writing, ask a colleague to proofread the article. They may suggest replacing jargon with simpler terms to make it more accessible.
- Share it on your chosen platform and promote it.
Post the article on your business blog and share the link on LinkedIn, Twitter, and entrepreneur-focused Facebook groups.
- Use analytics tools to measure your article’s performance.
A week after publishing, you use Google Analytics to see that your article has been viewed 5,000 times and has a bounce rate of only 20%, indicating high engagement.
Quick Tips for Writing an Effective Article
Here are seven tips for writing better when preparing an article:
- Use Visuals: Incorporate relevant images, infographics, or videos in your content. Visuals make your content more appealing and help illustrate your points more effectively.
- Include a Call-to-Action (CTA): Encourage your readers to take action after reading your content. This could be anything from signing up for a newsletter, trying a product demo, or sharing your content on social media.
- Update Regularly: Keep your content updated and evergreen. Regularly updating your content can improve its relevance and show your audience that you’re an active and reliable source of information.
- Use Real-Life Examples: Incorporate case studies or real-life examples to make them more relatable. Show your points’ practical application.
- Proofread and Edit: Check and ensure your content is ready before publishing. This helps eliminate errors, improve clarity, and enhance the overall quality of your content.
- Use a Strong Title: The title is the first thing your audience sees, so make it count. A compelling title can grab your audience’s attention and encourage them to read your content.
- Incorporate User-Generated Content: If applicable, include testimonials, reviews, or other forms of user-generated content. This can enhance credibility and provide a different perspective on your topic.
- Use Templates: If it’s your first time writing content and you don’t know where to start, you could use predefined templates to help you find the keys to creating a great piece. Get our template here!
Techniques to Measure an Article’s Success
Measuring the success of your content shows how effective it is. It also identifies improvement areas.
There are various tools and techniques available to help you measure the success of your article.
- Analytics Tools: Tools like Google Analytics, SEMrush, and Moz provide valuable insights into how your content is performing. These tools track various metrics, like bounce rate, time spent on a page, views, and conversion rates. They provide insights into your audience, such as their demographics, interests, and behavior.
- Social Media Metrics: 97% of entrepreneurs use social media to boost their articles. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide their analytics. These show how many people see your content, engage with it, and share it.
Source: Shopify
- SEO Tools: Tools like Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMrush explain how your content performs in search engine rankings. Nowadays, 69% of startups invest in SEO. It shows you which keywords your content ranks for, how many backlinks your content has, and how these factors drive traffic to your content.
- User Feedback: Comments, emails, and social media messages have valuable insights into how your audience perceives your content.
- Conversion Tracking: Conversions are actions you want your target to take after engaging with your content. Tools like Google Analytics help you track them. This could be anything from purchasing, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a resource.
Source: Thehoth
Using these tools and techniques, you can understand how your content performs and contributes to your startup’s goals. This information can guide your content strategy, helping you create more effective future content.
Wrapping up
Writing an article is a process that requires understanding your audience, thorough research, and careful crafting of your message.
It’s about creating a piece that provides value to your readers and resonates with them on a deeper level.
The goal is always about giving useful information, engaging and inspiring them, and prompt action.
Learning this process will distinguish between writing a good article and providing value that converts readers into leads. Whether you’re a startup, a small business owner, or an entrepreneur, harnessing the power of well-written articles can significantly enhance your visibility, credibility, and connection with your audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Format for a Business Article?
A business article’s format includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.
- The introduction has a content overview and captures the reader’s interest.
- The main body is divided into several sections, also called headlines, each developing several aspects of the topic. These sections are marked with subheadings to guide the reader through the content.
- The article ends with a conclusion that wraps up the main points of the content and may also include a call to action, prompting the reader to engage further with the business.
How Can Entrepreneurs Benefit from Writing Articles?
Writing articles allows entrepreneurs to share their expertise, build their brand, and establish credibility. It attracts potential investors and customers.
What Should a Startup Article Include?
A startup article should provide information about its products or services. Share the company’s story, and highlight its unique selling points.
It should also engage the target audience and prompt them to take action, such as trying a product demo or making a call.
What is the Importance of a Call to Action in a Business Article?
A call-to-action encourages the reader to do something after reading the article. This could be:
- Purchasing a product.
- Signing up for a newsletter.
- Sharing the article on social media.
It increases engagement and conversions.
