Content writing can be challenging—whether it’s finding the time between other business tasks, knowing where to start, or figuring out how to put your thoughts into words. Yet, it’s one of the most important drivers of business success. Great content builds brand awareness, fosters long-term relationships, motivates your target audience to take action, and ultimately fuels growth.
In short, it’s what can make or break your business.
I never said writing great copy was easy—after all, I wouldn’t have a job if it were! But by keeping the following content writing tips in mind, the process can become a little less challenging. At the same time, you can achieve better results. Let’s get to it!
Read more: 6 Content Writing Tips to Start Using Today (Especially #5)The Importance of Writing Great Content
Think about the last time you researched a product or service you considered purchasing. Where did you go for information?
More than likely, it was Google.
The average individual uses the search engine 3 to 4 times daily, contributing to 8.5 billion Google searches daily. And even as AI becomes more mainstream, Google is still the most popular go-to spot for info. Research shows that in 2024, ChatGPT had 37.5M “searches” per day, compared to 14B searches on Google. In other words, search users found answers on Google almost 380 times more than via an AI platform.
Clearly, having a great website is still essential. Without one, it’s nearly impossible to capitalize on the potential of online searches. The same applies if the content on your website isn’t up to par—poor content won’t have a chance at ranking on search results or engaging your target audience.
At this point, it’s important to note that writing compelling content is crucial for any marketing tool, not just websites. And when it’s poorly lacking, your results will, too. For example, great writing is also essential for:
- Marketing campaigns: Well-crafted email newsletters and other campaigns keep customers informed, engaged, and connected to a brand. They can announce new products, share company updates, or provide valuable insights that keep subscribers returning for more.
- Blog articles: High-quality blog posts provide readers with valuable information, improve search engine rankings, and establish authority in a particular industry. A well-written blog can drive traffic to a website and help nurture leads into customers.
- Case studies: Detailed case studies highlight real-world success stories, demonstrating how a product or service has solved a customer’s problem. These powerful storytelling tools build trust and credibility, making them effective for lead generation and sales.
Beyond these, other important forms of content writing include social media posts, whitepapers, product descriptions, and press releases—all of which contribute to your brand’s overall marketing and communication strategy.
Content Writing Tip #1: Start With a Content Writing Strategy
Be honest: No matter what you’re doing, having a plan makes everything smoother. Whether organizing a trip, managing a project, or even cooking dinner, a clear plan helps you stay on track and achieve better results with less stress.
The same principle applies to content writing.
By starting with a clear direction, you create a roadmap that guides your content strategy. Instead of aimlessly producing content just for the sake of it, you’re writing with purpose—each piece serving a specific function that contributes to your overall business goals.
Maybe your goal is to grow your email subscriber list, ensuring more potential customers stay engaged with your brand. Perhaps you want to increase users’ time on your website, signalling to search engines that your content is valuable and improving your rankings. Maybe you’re focused on driving more conversions, whether that means encouraging users to book a demo, make a purchase, or contact your sales team.
Whatever your objective, having a content plan ensures your writing is intentional, strategic, and ultimately more effective in driving your desired results.
Content Writing Tip #2: Make Your Content Engaging
Once you have a plan, it’s time to start crafting great content. You want your copy to be unforgettable—words that resonate with your target audience long after they’ve closed your email newsletter or navigated away from your website.
But your content needs to be as engaging as possible to achieve this, which is easier said than done.
Capturing and maintaining attention is more challenging than ever. We all know how fleeting our attention spans have become—and they’re only getting shorter. Humans are bombarded with information from every direction and have little patience for anything that doesn’t immediately grab our interest.
In fact, 80 percent of readers won’t even make it past your article’s headline. Instead, they’ll move on to another piece of content if yours isn’t intriguing, relevant, or tailored to their needs.
To write content that keeps readers hooked, you need to focus on making it dynamic, personalized, and valuable. Each sentence should serve a purpose, leading the reader deeper into the message and making them want to stick around for more. Whether through compelling hooks, relatable stories, or actionable insights, your content should invite readers to stay engaged, ensuring they don’t just skim—it should make them want to dive in.
Content Writing Tip #3: Integrate SEO Whenever Possible
When you write website content, you need to integrate strong SEO. Without it, you might as well not bother publishing new content. SEO helps search engines show your site to users, who can then decide to click on your link. The best SEO sites rank high on Google on page one—crucial since the majority of users don’t look at results past page one.
To write great SEO website copy, you must return to plan-making once again. Keyword research is critical here; you need to know what your target audience is searching for on Google, then integrate similar terms throughout your content.
But there’s a delicate balance between keyword stuffing (using too many) and proper keyword usage. The right balance ensures your SEO copy reads naturally, contributing to a positive user experience.
Keyword research is essential in SEO copy, but it’s not all that’s important. You should use interesting meta descriptions (the text appearing on search results), headings, and calls to action (CTAs), too.
You’ll also want to create content pillars, pages containing interconnected topics that attract your target audience. By linking to related information on your site using internal hyperlinks, users stay there longer. More extended website visits signal to Google that your site is a valuable resource, improving your SEO.
Content Writing Tip #4: Edit Your Content Like Crazy
No matter how rushed you may be when producing content, it’s important to take a moment to pause before publishing. Otherwise, you risk publishing content that contains spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors—never a good idea.
Research shows that 59 percent of people would not do business with a company whose website contains obvious spelling or grammatical errors. Copy that has errors can negatively affect your brand’s image, making it appear unprofessional, careless, or even illegitimate.
Some writing errors can even personally impact a reader, especially when they involve diversity, equity, and inclusion matters, like making a stereotypical statement about gender.
And, with the numerous editing software tools now available, there’s no excuse for publishing content riddled with errors. Plenty of free options—in addition to premium software—can help you write well.
One content writing tip that I consistently practice is to allow adequate time between writing and publishing. I never send a client a draft of something I’ve written the same day I wrote it. Instead, I let a piece of content rest for at least a day before I start my editing process, which involves at least four rounds of editing and two types of editing software.
Of course, we’re all human, and the odd thing may still slip through, no matter how much editing you do. But with a little more care, you should notice and correct anything significant before your content gets released into the world.
Content Writing Tip #5: Use Your Content Everywhere
After spending time writing a great piece of content, you’ll want to get as many eyes on it as possible. Remember, content is versatile—and, frankly, it should be. Your target audience isn’t only in one place, so limiting your content to a single format could mean others don’t see it.
For instance, when I write SEO blog content for clients, I suggest they feature a snippet of the blog in their monthly newsletter, with a link to the full article. The client can also break the blog’s content into smaller, more digestible pieces and then share these on social media platforms.
If the topic is evergreen, you can continue to refer to it in the future, further maximizing your investment. You can even repost the same blog articles on social media at different times. Doing so increases the chances that someone who missed it the first time might see it now.
Even if the content reaches some of the same readers, they might not remember it. And even if they do, statistics show that customers must see your brand at least seven times before converting to a sale.
Content Writing Tip #6: Stay Consistent
It can take time to get results from your content writing. As tempting as it may be to give up when you don’t see results immediately, you need to be in it for the long game. The more frequently a consumer engages with your brand, the more memorable it will become, increasing the likelihood of building trust and credibility with your audience.
Unfortunately, nobody, including myself, has a crystal ball regarding how often you should publish great content. For SEO results, I know that it can take up to one year (yet can also be as quick as one month). According to a CRM software company, at least four emails should be in outreach email sequences. And on social media sites, such as Facebook, experts recommend posting 3–7 times weekly.
Overall, brand awareness—one of the main goals of content writing we already discussed—doesn’t happen overnight. But again, there’s a fine line between frustrating your target audience by delivering too much content versus providing just enough.
Final Words: Use These Content Writing Tips to Generate More Success
Businesses and brands rely on compelling content across various formats to engage their audience, build credibility, and drive conversions. But for it to make a real impact, it must be high-quality content.
By following the content writing tips above, you’ll be well on your way to creating stronger content the next time you write. To take it a step further, consider hiring an experienced professional copywriter who can take your content to the next level, seemingly effortlessly.