How to Write Content That People Actually Want to Read: 7 Tips from a Recovering Boring Writer
Imagine you write an awesome piece and then the most horrible thing happens — no one reads it.
And even those who do stumble upon your content get bored fast. And they leave fast.
All the hard work, all the edits, and your pretty words — go down in the noisy drain of internet content.
This may sound bleak but that’s the story of millions of blogs. Or email. Or landing pages.
So what do you do? How do you ensure your content gets read by more and more people?
I’ll tell you how: You learn from someone who faced the same once. And then worked day and night unearthing 9 engaging and interesting content secrets.
Let’s start, shall we?
Tips Covered:
1. One Reader, Not The Whole Internet
2. A Promise Means Everything
3. Serve Humans Not Bots
4. Don’t Build A Wall of Text
5. Write With Rhythm
6. Hold The Attention
7. Looks Matter
1. One Reader, Not The Whole Internet -
When you write, who are you writing for?
Most people say the answer is the target audience. Which sounds pretty logical. But what we often forget is that when you are talking to a crowd, you are not talking. You are giving a lecture. Nobody likes that.
Instead, write your blog as if it’s a conversation with one person — someone you know, someone who is a part of your “target audience”.
Nathan Barry, the founder of ConvertKit, revealed that he did not write Designing Web Applications for an audience. Instead, he wrote it for his brother-in-law.
Here’s a glimpse into his book:
Look at how simple and conversational his tone is.
The result?
The debut book made over $50,000 in the first month of sales!
So yes, it wasn’t just Barry’s brother-in-law who read it but hundreds of designers and developers felt connected with the book.
Turn your blog into a conversation with one reader and not a lecture with the whole internet.
#Action Plan
First, observe carefully who is your target audience and based on that data, imagine a person who fits the criteria. This process is similar to creating buyer personas but try to make it more real. So much so that you know how this one person would feel when he/she reads your sentences.
Once you have this “one person,” start the conversation with words.
2. A Promise Means Everything
Now, when I say you need to hold a conversation, don’t blabber about everything.
No one wants to hear hundred different ideas stuffed into one content. Think in terms of novels. Why do people read them, and not your 800-word article?
Because there is a promise. It could be anything — from a thrilling adventure in Lord of The Rings or an escape to the past with Jane Eyre.
This is what your reader wants. And once you make a promise, do you best to keep it. Your reader should feel the resolution at the end. Don’t go for clickbait. They make your reader feel cheated and that’s the last thing you would want.
#Action Plan
Try it like the one-idea rule of copywriting. Make only one promise in the headline and from there onwards; your intro, your bullets, your images, your CTA — all should support this one promise.
For instance, this blog post is talking about just one thing — creating interesting content. Now, each of my tips is focused on how you end up becoming an interesting writer. Nothing less. Nothing more.
(Psss… do share in the comments section if I kept my promise or not?)
3. Serve Humans Not Bots
Getting green buttons on SEO feels addictive. But what about the green tick from humans?
Ever since we started writing on digital platforms, the need to please search engine bots has grown massively. We focus more on keywords, meta titles, tags, and whatnot. In this tedious process, we often leave the reader behind.
And when the content is made for robots, it doesn’t entice people.
What more?
You soon realize that Google also doesn’t like this because people are not reading your articles. This means lower engagement. This means a higher bounce rate. And this means, your boring content will fall down in the rankings.
Nobody wins.
#Action Plan:
Write for humans and optimize for robots. That’s the best way to go about it.
How?
· Use keywords naturally.
· Focus on a clear structure.
· Create unique and high-quality content.
· Avoid jargons and over-the-top language.
· Work on your headlines to make them catchy.
· Make subheadings and bullet points (like I did).
4. Don’t Build A Wall of Text
Getting green buttons on SEO feels addictive. But what about the green tick from humans? Ever since we started writing on digital platforms, the need to please search engine bots has grown massively. We are focusing more on keywords, meta titles, tags, and whatnot. In this tedious process, we often leave the reader behind. And when the content is made for robots, it doesn’t entice people. What more? You soon realize that Google also doesn’t like this because people are not reading your articles. This means lower engagement. This means a higher bounce rate. And this means, your boring content will fall down in the rankings. To avoid this, you can start by; writing for humans and optimizing for robots. Along with it, use keywords naturally. You should also create unique and high-quality content. Try to avoid jargon and over-the-top language. It is also important to work on your headline by making them catchy via powerful words. In the end, you can also make your content more readable by focusing on a clear structure but investing in bullet points and subheadings.
Read the above paragraph? Not at all. This is simply too long and looks boring. But you know what, this is the same text I wrote in Point 3.
The only difference is that I built a wall of text this time instead of breaking it into manageable paragraphs. Avoid this at any cost if you don’t want to be a boring writer.
#Action Plan:
Simple! Break down the wall. Do it by:
· Making bullet points
· Adding headers
· Cutting fluffy words
In short: Make your content scannable.
5. Write With Rhythm
Music makes everything interesting, even your written content. All you need to do is find the rhythm. But before you do that, let me tell you what exactly I mean here.
Most people think that rhythm is for poets, musicians, and dancers. But the truth is writing needs as much as other art forms. It lies in your words and the length of your sentences.
Henneke Duistermaat, the CEO of Enchanting Marketing, stresses on the need to use rhythm in writing to keep your readers engaged.
She defines it by saying, “In writing, rhythm is defined by punctuation and the stress patterns of words in a sentence. Long sentences sound smoother, while short sentences make your content snappier.”
This means, if you write sentences of the same length and structure, your writing will automatically become boring. That’s what you have to avoid.
#Action Plan
Start by learning more about rhythm in writing and then experiment by varying the sentence length. Play with words. Write different sentences and then read them aloud. Observe how it makes you feel. Like it? Then experiment a little more to find your own tune.
Need an example? Check this illustration by Gary Provost:
6. Hold The Attention
Almost every other article on how to create interesting content talks about the 8 seconds attention span of readers. And why not? It’s a hard-hitting fact.
Leave any loophole or loose end and your reader will run away. Just the way C.S. Lewis once said, “I sometimes think that writing is like driving sheep down a road. If there is any gate to the left or right, the readers will most certainly go into it.”
I understand that the struggle is real. It’s a war out there. Everyone is fighting to grab the reader’s attention.
But don’t worry. It’s not that difficult once you know the secrets.
#Action Plan
Honestly, there’s more than one way to hold the attention of your reader. A few of my favourites are:
· Add visuals that are appealing and related to your post. It could be anything from a long video, infographic, or even a funny gif. Sometimes you don’t need a thousand words but just a picture to connect with the reader. Use that.
· Write a unique introduction that instantly piques an interest. Then maintain this by adding some anecdotes and narrative.
· Use tried-and-tested methods like AIDA or PAS. They don’t that your reader will stay but they certainly help.
· No one likes a crappy ending — not in movies and not in articles. Most of the time, we focus too much on the intro that our conclusions suck. Don’t let that happen. Take a break and come back again to write a killer conclusion or CTA. That’s the reason why you are writing in the first place.
7. Looks Matter
And this includes the font you choose, its size, the line gap, alignment, and finally the colours.
Right now, I am not talking about the structure or bullet points. We have already covered that and it was basic. You can’t skip that.
Right now, it is entirely about the look. How the reader gets your article as a full package? What is the colour scheme? How tiny or big are the words? Is the blog optimized for mobile view?
Let’s learn with an example.
Below is a website that shows you what NOT to do:
Here are a few things that went wrong with the website above:
· There’s no clear headline and if there is, it’s not at all catchy.
· The content seems bland. There’s no rhythm or proper spacing.
· The font is too small and its colour makes it uncomfortable to read after a while.
· There are no images or any visual elements to bind the content.
Now, here’s a good blog post:
All these may not seem like a writer’s job but if you can contribute towards any change, don’t stop yourself. This thing can instantly pull or push the readers away.
#Action Plan
Start with selecting the best font size and type. It should be something that’s not overwhelming or underwhelming either.
Colours also play a huge role in catching your reader’s attention. There’s a whole colour psychology that goes behind it. Understand that and then create a blog.
Your paragraphs also make a huge difference. So, make sure you break them and use the white space.
Similarly, add enough media — be it images or videos — so that your blog is not just an ocean of words where your readers will drown in boredom. Give it some attractive islands, boats, or anything at all.
Again, look at the examples I shared above to get a better idea.
Are you ready now?
Maybe. Maybe not.
It all depends on your practice. There’s no exact blueprint but such tips can help you avoid silly mistakes. I too struggled for a long to write better pieces.
In the end, what matters is that you don’t stop the learning process and serve people. Entertain or educate. Show that you care about the readers and they’ll do the same.
With time, you’ll find your own recipe for cooking interesting content.
All the best!
