What is Content Writing?
Content writing is the process of researching, planning, writing, editing, and publishing content for the web. It can be a blog post, a script for a video, a sales page—anything that is published online.
Why is Content Writing Important?
Content writing is important because content has the power to help attract and retain customers.
It’s called content marketing, and that’s why you’re reading about content writing on the Ahrefs blog. By educating you on its importance and best practices for writing content, we hope to increase awareness, interest, and demand for our product.
Best Practices for Content Writing
Everyone has their own opinion on how to write the best content. The best practices I share below are just the ones I have found to be true over the years and have helped us thrive in our content creation efforts.
1. Use a Template
You don’t have to start writing content from scratch. Most of it falls into a few types—listicles, tutorials, reviews, and so on. Thanks to that, templates exist. You can use them as a base and fill in with what you research.
How do you know which template to use?
It depends on your goal. But if you want your written content to have the best chance of ranking high on Google and attracting organic traffic, choose one that aligns with what users are searching for.
For example, if you Google “content writing” (which you probably already did) you’ll see that there are a few list-type posts ranking.
That’s why we chose this angle—because the top-ranked results are a good approximation of what users want to see and, as a result, what Google is most likely to rank.
2. Create a Proven Outline
While a template is enough to get you started, you may not know exactly what you’re going to write about.
For example, we would run into writer’s block pretty quickly if we tried to write this post from start to finish without creating an outline.
How do we figure out which points to include?
Some of the points were our own ideas, but we also took inspiration from the top-ranked pages.
More specifically, we looked for themes and commonalities across them to better understand the types of questions people wanted answers to and the types of advice they were seeking.
For example, using the free on-page report from Ahrefs SEO Toolbar, we can see a couple of common themes in the subtitles of the top-ranking pages.
3. Make it worth sharing
People share content for all kinds of reasons. Jonah Berger highlights a few in his bestseller “Contagious.” People share things because:
- It makes them look good or helps them argue their own point of view or narrative.
- It makes them feel some kind of emotion, for example, anger, surprise, happiness, etc.
- It is related to current events.
- It offers practical value or utility.
- It has already been shared by many other people.
Let’s focus our attention on #5.
Getting some shares up front is key to getting this wheel rolling, and one way to do that is to build “share triggers” into your content.
You can find “sharing triggers” by looking for common reasons for linking in a page’s link profile—since links are a form of sharing.
4. Give Your Post a Unique Angle
Nearly 6 million blog posts are published every day. If you want to compete, you have to stand out. Differentiate yourself by attacking your chosen topic from a unique angle.
Here’s an example. Procrastination is not a new topic. Despite that, Tim Urban’s post on procrastination is one of the most popular on his website (or maybe even the Internet). Why? Because he approached it from an angle no one had seen before.
Instead of going on a self-help rant about the dangers of procrastination, he decided to explain why it happens using cute illustrations: the Instant Gratification Monkey, the Panic Monster, etc.
While there are no surefire ways to find “angles,” here are a few mental models you can consider:
* Personal experience – Have you tried something before? Tell them about your SEO experience and certifications.
* Authority – Are you an expert in the field who can offer unique insights? Then don’t be shy. Alternatively, if you’re not an expert, can you interview one? We did that with our post on Google penalties.
* Crowdsource – Get the opinions of a few experts, like we did in our SEO job description post.
* Data – Offer evidence and figures to back up well-known claims in your niche. Check out our studies on reciprocal link building and post length.
* Contrarianism – What if you do the opposite of what others did?
5. Establish Credibility
Don’t expect people to believe you right off the bat. Tell them why they should believe you. Why you of all people?
- Are you an expert in the industry? Do you have the credentials to prove it? Can people vouch for you?
- Do you have data or evidence to support your claims?
- Have you done what you say before? Have you experienced or tried it?
- As you can see, most of the questions have to do with your angle. The angle you choose for your topic will help you establish the credibility you need. But don’t stop there. Tell them.
Scroll down to the introduction of this post. I told you we have tons of experience creating and publishing content—hundreds of it, in fact.
6. Teach, don’t tell
Giving advice isn’t easy. But don’t leave your audience in the lurch. Show them exactly what you mean and how it can be done. Always include examples of what you’re talking about.
For example (see what I’ve done here?), when we talk about creating SEO goals, we don’t just give you the framework. We give you three examples of different goals and what they look like in the wild.
7. Create a captivating title
People won’t click on your post if the headline is sad and uninspiring.
You’ll need to craft irresistible headlines that grab people’s attention and make them want to learn more.
How? Use our three-step formula:
* Pick a format – The content format you choose (listicle, guide, review, etc.) will determine the look of your headline.
* Add a winning angle – If you’ve chosen your angle (from point #3), make sure to tell the potential reader about it.
* Humanize it – Use adjectives or metaphors similar to how you would casually explain the article to your best friend.
8. Start your Introduction with the PAS Formula
Headlines convince people to click. Introductions convince people to read.
Use the Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS) formula to create an engaging introduction.
9. Make Sure Your Post Is Easy To Read With The ASMR Formula
There is nothing more daunting than a brick of text.
Good content creates effortless reading. Use the ASMR formula to design your content for easy reading:
- Annotate – Include footnotes, citations, highlight boxes, and other elements.
- Summarize sentences and paragraphs – Use the Hemingway editor (or Lorca if you write in Spanish) to find long and complex sentences and shorten them.
- Multimedia – Use videos, images, GIFs and tweets to illustrate your claims.
- Recite your content out loud – Discover areas where your writing doesn’t flow properly.
10. Write as you speak
Web content writing is friendly and personal. It’s like talking to a friend. There’s no need to use fancy words or write like you’re publishing in Nature.
Your goal is to communicate, not to impress people with your extensive vocabulary. So keep it casual and write like you talk.
11. Get Feedback on What You Write
As a creator, you are too attached to your work. You won’t be able to find the flaws. That’s why a second opinion is so valuable.
At Web Latina, every blog post and script we write is subject to that level of scrutiny. We take turns reading each other’s drafts and offering feedback. We point out things like holes in logic, lack of flow, unclear points, poorly worded sentences, and so on.
We even let our readers know that each article is not the work of one person. Instead, it is the effort of many people working together to make it great.
Even if you work alone, you can get feedback from someone else. This could be your partner, your family, or even your colleagues. If you need it, join writing communities.
Their feedback will make your work better.
12. Answer Questions People Are Asking
If people are looking for answers to their questions, you know those questions are good topics to write about.
The easiest way to find these questions is to use a free keyword research tool.
13. Keep a Common Places Book
How do you consistently come up with unique angles and ideas for your content?
The easy answer is that as a content writer, you should always be researching. Whether it’s books, YouTube videos, articles, or podcasts, you should be consuming content and increasing what you know about your field.
Next, save your newly acquired knowledge in a commonplace book.
What is a book of commonplaces?
According to Ryan Holiday, a book of commonplaces is:
…a centralized repository of ideas, quotes, anecdotes, observations, and information you come across in your life and educational pursuits. The purpose of the book is to record and organize these gems for later use in your life, business, writing, speaking, or whatever you do.
With this resource at your side, you don’t have to search for ideas when it comes time to write. Simply pull them out of your commonplace book.
Final thoughts
To write brilliant content, you have to write.
But if you wait for inspiration to knock on your door before you pick up pen and paper, you’ll never publish anything. Instead, I recommend committing to an editorial calendar. It’s basically a schedule of when you want to publish new content and what content you want to publish.
Setting deadlines will keep you honest, prevent procrastination, and force you to publish.
As the famous playwright Somerset Maugham once said:
I only write when inspiration comes to me. Luckily, it comes to me every morning at nine o’clock.