08 May The 7 Secrets of Successful Content Writing

Writing confident, engaging content is crucial for your business success. Alas, it’s a skill that comes with its own set of rules … meet The 7 Cs of Content Writing!

Written by Daniela Cavalletti

7 min read

In a world where we’re constantly consuming written information – on our phones, tablets, laptops and PCs – I’m assuming there’s no need to convince you: you must have exceptional written content to make your marketing and sales messages pop.

Or else fade into the background, possibly soon to be forgotten.

Wait What? Yes, 80% of Content Writing is Preparation

In these cray cray times of non-stop incoming information, how do you make your memorable mark? How do you turn your online and print communications into marketing / sales tools that get you the results you actually want? You need to create material that informs, explains and convinces your reader so much so that they keep coming back for more. And that takes some serious planning and prep!

While content writing and editing are highly creative processes, to make them seem effortless – plus quirky enough to hook your reader– you need to put in a solid dose of structure and discipline. Before you can get tapping away at the keyboard to create your content writing masterpiece you must get organised, logical and practical first. Plan, research, structure. Bounce your ideas around and weigh them up for merit. Cut, add, purge. Plan first and well – and you’ll be rewarded with the freedom to be creative.

The secret sauce to professional content writing that packs a punch lies in the preparation – and knowing the rules.

7 Skills You Need to Become a Successful Content Writer

A good writer makes it look easy to create content that fizzes with engaging life and useful information that’s easy to grasp and retain. Alas, it’s bloody hard to do … unless you know how and have some experience under your belt. Every successful content writer follows some core methods to create professional pieces of written communication that generate strong interest in a business, brand, product or service.

No need for you to reinvent the wheel. Follow ‘the 7 Cs of content writing’ we had to learn the hard, long way. Simply stick to these guidelines when poking your toe into the content writing waters.

You’ll be well on your way to creating a solid piece of marketing, sales or business communication that will get you and your brand noticed for all the right reasons.

Promise!

#1. Be Clear

Ta-ta, look, I’m here! Yes, me, a new brilliant idea! … From the very first lines, your ideas should step onto the stage and into the limelight. It should become immediately clear what you are writing about – and why. What is the problem you’re tackling? Lead with this issue in your opening paragraph. What are your opinions on and solutions to this problem?

Be bold, be clear, make me care.

Ensure you keep the problem you identified in the beginning firmly in mind for the rest of your piece – and keep addressing it in a useful way. In your conclusion, put a bow on it by circling back to the problem or question, and round off your piece in a direct, easy to understand way.

Cue curtains and roaring applause!

#2. Be Concise

Time is money; boring but true. Get to the point quickly when content writing. Don’t beat around the bush, wasting your reader’s time with unnecessary elaborations or digressions. Avoid the pitfalls of over-explaining and trying to cover every possible angle. The options are endless; you’d never finish. That doesn’t mean that your content writing should only produce short articles, ebooks or print brochures, for example.

Just make the length appropriate to the depth of your piece. As long as it needs to be, and as short as it can be, to clearly convey your thoughts.

The knack to effective content writing is to know what to keep in and what to throw out to avoid wasting your reader’s time. If you only need a sentence to make your point, don’t write a paragraph.

#3. Be Consistent

Obviously, you shouldn’t contradict yourself within a piece of writing. And it’s equally important when content writing that you present the same recognisable persona to your audience across all mediums.

Don’t have a style or brand guide? Write one up – it can be a simple two-pager. What’s your brand tone? Which terms do you use and avoid? Who the hell are you, deep down? What makes you you as a business, writer and brand? Dig deep and get some clarity.

Always stay on message and on brand: this means that your online and offline content (and how you present in person, too) need to match neatly in every stylistic detail.

#4. Be Correct

Check, check and check again. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of putting your ideas into words and out into the world, and then forget to ensure you check and proofread your content writing. You’ve seen the results: marketing material, books or blog articles so riddled with spelling mistakes or logical issues that they become, if not unreadable, then certainly painful to read.

Unfortunately, nobody will care about the 95% of the great stuff you’ve written if 5% is gobbledegook or glaringly misspelt.

Everyone just loves spotting errors, because that makes them feel right and superior. It’s not a conscious thing; don’t be upset.  A lackadaisical approach to accuracy will only blow a big hole into your brand’s credibility. Boom! Gone.

Combat the brain with a pre-emptive strike. Fact-check and proofread everything before you publish. Remember that online sources are often only partially reliable. Double, triple and cross-check your facts.  

And for digital content, always hyperlink to your sources. Besides being good internet etiquette, it’ll also help you get backlinks.

#5. Be Captivating

It’s easy to think that there is nothing new you can add to the squazillion bits of content writing that the internet and libraries of this world host. But content that gets noticed might not always present completely unique ideas. By adding your very own flavour – your opinion, your experience, your business struggles or successes – to an idea or concept will make for compelling reading. That, and how you present your thoughts.

It’s your tone and turn of phrase, your memorable explanation, and your new angle to a known concept that makes your content writing sing. You must do more than get readers to notice your written piece to stand out from the crowd – you need to make them want to keep reading and to come back for more.

And compelling, clever writing does just that.

#6. Get Chopping

Content writing for marketing and sales –­ be it online or in print ­– is all about adapting to today’s consumption speed and gnat-like, minuscule attention spans. Being offered so much to choose from, your reader will skim over your content for all but a second or two before deciding to stay or move on to something a bit more shiny.

Put simply: keep it chopped, and keep it short.

Break up your content writing piece with sub-headlines. Make paragraphs not 10 lines, but only three to six lines long, so that your reader doesn’t feel overwhelmed. And there’s no harm in chucking in the odd one-line-paragraph for content you really want to stand out. Variety is the spice of content writing.

Fact. 

#7. Be Charged

Add some buzz, thrill and pizzazz. Breathe some life into your content writing by conveying action, passion and energy.

One easy technique is to use the active over the passive voice in a sentence. The big difference? Having someone (actively) do something, rather than having something happening to someone (who’s passive). “Your team won the Content Writer of the Year Award!” (hurrah, champagne for all!) is a lot more exciting than “The Content Writer of the Year Award was won by your team” (ah ok, … thanks, I guess).

Add some extra zest and hum with interesting, emotive or highly descriptive verbs. Sprinkle them carefully, though, don’t drown your content writing in it. Try ‘sparkling clean’ instead of ‘very clean’. Kill your costs instead of cutting them. Offer sumptuous, lush, lavish or opulent experiences, not high-end or first-class ones. 

These tiny changes won’t increase your word count and make your piece verbose. Yet they’ll make any content writing so much more vibrant, interesting and relatable.

Is Content Writing Difficult?

Compelling content writing is all about careful planning, creating balance and flow, adding some finesse, careful research, and ample empathy. For starters.

The list of what makes a great content writer is long. It does indeed take a lot of practice to get content writing 100% down pat.

But that goes for anything in life, so don’t let that deter you.

Content writing can be a lot of fun. It’s very satisfying work to shape, clarify and share your thoughts and ideas. Perhaps even start a discussion or movement.

So just begin, and you’ll keep getting better and better.

With the seven Cs of content writing under your belt, you’re off to a brilliant running start.