Quality content writing services can be hard to find. Whether you’re writing targeted content pages, blog posts, category content or product content, cutting down on superfluous words and phrases can help your company stand out from the pack. By recognizing common writing pitfalls and reworking sentences, you’ll be well on your way to creating engaging, concise content. Here are five ways to trim and polish your content writing to keep customers coming back.
Write Quickly, Edit Slowly
Have you ever found yourself staring at a stark white page – mouth agape – watching the cursor blink into and out of focus? It may seem writer’s block is the bane of all content writers' existence. But writers rarely get it right the first time around. Invite yourself to take two steps to the left and walk around the brick wall in your path instead of hammering it with wooden pegs.
Putting your ideas down on paper – no matter how many spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors burrow into the text – lets you get your thoughts out there. Without stopping, editing and rewriting at every turn, you’ll end up with extra self-editing time. At this juncture, eliminate fluff and focus on making your content marketing copy simple, clean and effective.
Cut It Out
Excitement, beauty, confidence, dedication – these are all examples of abstract words used as filler. Instead of offering clients something tangible to grasp and chew on, you hand them a basket stuffed with air. Curtail the occurrence of abstract words and replace them with specific details to fine-tune your content writing. For instance, explain why your product garners excitement or illustrate your company’s dedication through prime examples.
Be Direct
Consider the difference between these two sentences:
- Our service is recommended by thousands of customers.
- Thousands of customers recommend our service.
The first sentence uses the passive voice, and the latter employs active. When writing for the Internet, crafting sentences in the active voice delivers a powerful message, since it requires the subject to perform the action. If you see a “to be” verb, make note – your sentence’s message could be muddied by wordy prose.
Mind Your Pleonasms
Are you offering a free gift? Did you receive an unexpected surprise? Pleonasm – or the use of excessive words to convey meaning – bogs down your content. If you have a tendency to use redundant adjectives or weak adverbs, you may be committing this dreadful deed.
Rather than writing, “run slowly,” say “amble.” Instead of declaring, “in the event that,” use, “if.” And when grammar allows, make sure to cut down on syntactic pleonasm, especially the use of “that.” Say “I know you will arrive on time” in place of “I know that you will arrive on time.”
Beware Of Self-Serving Prose
When customers navigate to your website, you want them to feel like they made a smart choice. However, using corporate clichés and industry jargon, like “innovative”, “world-class” and “state of the art”, doesn’t translate well to potential buyers and means zilch to your site’s SEO.
Customers demand answers to two questions: so what? and how does this help me? Instead of focusing on features void of any emotion, lead with benefits. And until you explain what’s in it for your customer, it’s best to leave out the company history – unless, of course, you’re transcribing an “Our History” page. In which case, carry on.
How do you revise your content writing to create engaging content and drive conversion? Let us know by leaving a comment below and share it with others who may enjoy it too!
About Virtucom Group
Consistent business blogging yields results – more clicks, more subscribers and – ultimately – more conversions. Whether you’re writing an automotive blog, an accounting blog, a healthcare blog or a home renovation blog, blogging for business and content development are useful for any industry. Follow the content writers at the Virtucom Group blog as they share digital marketing tips and discuss website content writing services that can optimize your business blog.
