One of the best ways to drive traffic to your organization’s website is publishing engaging content. However, actively engaging readers requires a lot of planning.
In this article, we are going to lay out some key ways to develop must-read content for your eCommerce site to get clicks and drive traffic to your business.
Outline Your Post
It’s pretty safe to say every great piece of literature began with preparation. Even the best bloggers in the world need a basic idea of what they’re writing about to keep them on the right track. This is where a short outline will serve you well. All you need is a rough guide to keep you on topic. Let’s say you’re a plumber outlining a blog post on the topic: “Common Fixes for Leaky Faucets.” Your outline would look something like this:
- Introduction
- Empathize with the reader about the problems leaky faucets cause and express your intent to fix them with solutions A, B and C.
- Section 1 – Solution A
- Detail how the problem can be solved using this method.
- Section 2 — Solution B
- Compare this solution to the above method, show how it differs and may be more applicable in the reader’s particular situation.
- Section 3— Solution C
- Compare this solution to the others and describe a situation in which this method would be a better one for the reader.
- Section 4 — Conclusion
- Summarize by repeating your key points.
Keep in mind; content marketing is a great way to drive traffic to your business. While all of the best ecommerce website builders let you incorporate blogs as part of their platforms, you have to come up with compelling material to make it work. To get there, a basic, easy to follow outline will help you keep your post on the rails.
Create an Awesome Title
The title is the first thing anyone sees and will ultimately determine whether a user will click, read or share your post. Here are some blog title formulas specifically designed to catch a reader’s eye:
- List: 5 Simple Methods to [Do a Thing] That Will [Create a Desirable Effect]
- Question: What Can [Subject] Teach Us About [Unrelated Subject]?
- How-To: How to Make a [Thing] Do a [Desired Effect]
Your title should clearly identify the subject and highlight the value proposition. To maximize SEO-potential, incorporate your targeted keyword.
Write the First Draft
Once you’re done with the preliminary preparation, you can get to work with the most important part—the actually writing of it. This will mean fleshing out the points you developed for your outline.
Once it’s complete, give it to your editor or someone else on your team who can give it a second look over to check for spelling, punctuation and factual discrepancies, as well as make sure it flows well. If you don’t have such a person on your team, just let the piece sit for a day or so and come back to it with fresh eyes.
Creating an engaging piece of content is a subjective process, the effort of which can vary from industry to industry. However, following these guidelines will help you develop must-read content for your eCommerce page, which will be capable of giving you the best shot at driving traffic to your storefront.
One way to write is to just sit down and start writing. Any other method is better than this. So yes, folks, plan first. It’ll save you so much work down the road.
Also, when you think you’re done, you’re not. When you read your own writing, you don’t read what you wrote. You see what you thought you wrote. They’re not the same. Let somebody else read it before you share it with your end user or intended audience. Always.