How to Create Content That Gets Shared!

In the eyes of Google content has always been `king` and probably always will be, so to get google to love us we just need to create excellent content, simple isn`t it? If it was that simple I wouldn`t be sitting here writing this Blog post!

So how do we create great content?

Well for a start here are my tips based on my own experience and based on working with my clients. It has worked for me and them so there is no reason why it shouldn`t be equally as successful for you.

Understand your audience image of the word share in a speech bubble

First of all you need to understand your audience. Who is your target audience? Have you done any research on their age, sex, geographical location, or interests? Build up a picture of your target audience and make sure your content reflects their persona. A good to place to start is by using Facebook Insights, the free stats you get with your Facebook business page, if you`re still using a personal profile for your business then you`ll not have access to this (I have been warning you!). Bear these few questions in mind and build up a better picture of your target audience:

  1. Look at their age
  2. What do they need?
  3. Who are they?
  4. What do they do?
  5. Where do they live or work?
  6. Why would they be reading your content?

 

Grab their attention

Make sure you write a headline that will grab their attention, remember first impressions count!

Just as with a newspaper, your headline can make or break whether someone reads your article. Your content could be excellent but if the headline does not do its job then no one will even read your content. Questions are always good because they will create curiosity. How To and tips are always good, so make sure your headline includes the `How To` or the number of tips that you are giving them, make a promise or a bold statement, such as `Creating Great Content in 5 Easy Steps`

Be Helpful

Make sure your content is helpful, make it intersting and educational. If the reader knows that they are going to learn something from reading your content then you`ve got them! If it is image of a social media buttonentertaining then hopefully they will come back for more or even read your `Related Posts` (you know just like the ones that are at the bottom of this helpful, interesting and educational article!)

People love to be helpful and seen as a good resource, they love to share tips and pass on good information to their friends and colleagues. So by creating this type of content the chances are it will get shared by your followers to their followers and so on. Suddenly your brand and your name is getting exposed to a much bigger audience.

Make sure it`s original!

Don`t reinvent the wheel! Make sure that your content is unique, be original. There is so much content publicly available online these days that people are not going to share stuff they have read over and over again. With your original content it has a far better chance of being shared. By all means get ideas from the internet but add your twist to it, be funny, be controversial and by all means make sure you add something to it to make it yours and make it original.

Size is important!

Yes ladies when it comes to content size does matter! Since Google`s recent update they are ideally looking for articles of around 1,000 words or more. A Blog post of just a few lines and around 100-200 words is not going to cut it these days!

If I do a search for `Alligators eating habits in the winter` I want to read an in-depth article on exactly what an alligator eats in the winter and why they eat it and not just a few lines telling me what they eat. (I`m not really interested in what alligators eat in the winter so please don`t tell me in the comments box below!). Google are also looking for in-depth articles on search terms and are looking to deliver the best results possible for a particular search. If you can offer informative and in-depth content that is also very interesting then people will share it.

Be visual

Regular reades and followers of my posts will know just how much I urge everyone to be far more visual. Images and videos tend to get shared far more than just text. So when it comes to your content, whether it is a Blog post or Social Media post make sure you add that visual element.

People love quotes and these do get shared, but try adding a quote to a lovely sunset image or a nice image of a sunny warm beach and see if that gets shared more than your text quotes, I am betting that they will! Try it and see. You can use a simple free image manipulation software called GIMP to do this quickly, easily and without spending a fortune!

Skim Reading

We are all busy, we don`t have the time to sit and read and we all tend to skim read articles. So make the most of the white space, use headlines and sub-headlines to separate paragraphs. The use of an H1 tag and H2, H3 tags are useful to separate the text and also useful for your SEO as they tell Google what the content is all about.

If you`ve done your keyword research you can use your headings to include valuable keywords. However by adding these you are enabling readers to skim through your content, if they then see a paragraph they like or find useful then they are likely to read the whole article and share it with their friends and followers.

Other things to consider are:

  • Use bullet points to create lists, people read bullet points (did you see what I done there?)
  • Keep your paragraphs short and sweet
  • Drop the jargon, speak in a plain and simple tone
  • Good use of images (see I`ve mentioned that visual element again!)
  • Infographics are popular and tend to get shared, you can create your own with something like easel.ly

 

Creating great content can be hard work, it`s not a science though. A little bit of research in to your audience, create something unique, interesting and helpful (also visually appealing) and you can crack it!

Getting your content shared will help drive traffic to your website, improve your search position and will gain you more followers and customers. So what are you waiting for?

You could start off by sharing this for me!…Please!! (LOOK the buttons are all there!)

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Until next time

Martin



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