Creation, consumption and access to content and information has changed so much in the last decade that the landscape is not able to be recognized.



Paper has been replaced by software and media is now residing on computers disguised as phones.
Books are now ebooks, newspapers are websites and Twitter feeds and content are created by writers disguised as bloggers who publish without an editor to be seen.

We read and view on smart phones and tablets. These did not exist a few years ago.

Seldom do we deep dive and spend hours in a book but read a blog post and consume in bite size chunks. Our knowledge consumption is dominated by snack packaged content that we skim and scan.

Vast libraries of books that weighed tonnes are now loaded on our Kindles, Nooks and iPads that we carry in our hand and access anytime, anywhere.

Content creation needs to adapt

Our changing habits, new media preference and content consumption platforms demand a different way of thinking and practice if we want to maintain relevance in a digital world.

How you create content has to adapt to this new environment.

Long form needs to be made into short formats. Big blocks of text need to be broken up. Don’t like reading?…. well now you can watch a YouTube video.

More choices, more information that is fun to read and view.

7 tips for creating engaging content

So what are some tips and tactics to keep in mind when writing a blog post, creating a website or designing a video or other multimedia to achieve attention and engagement.

1. Simple

My cousin used to accuse me of using big words. He was right. It only confuses people. The curse of knowledge means that a subject we know can include acronyms and unintelligible words for the beginner. You need to be reminding yourself and on the lookout for not trying to be too clever or smart and hence leave our audience behind. One syllable words can be much more effective than three or four.

2. Headlines

You only have seconds on the web before people click away. Learn the art of attention seeking first to ensure the reader and viewer will want to read the rest. This also applies to the introductions to the article. When you do a Google search you see the headline and a description. Both of these are important in that order. Titles to videos, Slideshare content, images and tweets are also in this mix.

3. Structure

The title has made your reader turn up…. now the challenge is keeping them engaged. No walls of text please. Short paragraphs of 2-3 sentences and subtitles that draw them in like a magnet are vital. The other content tactics include keeping it snack size and use bullet points and lists. By lists, I mean doing what is in this post “7 Tips”

4. Conversational

Society is moving from formal to informal. We still wear suits but only for special occasions (unless you’re a banker or a lawyer). Writing is also part of this culture trend. Write how you speak and you will have a better chance of getting readers to come back. Conversational writing is seen as authentic and real.

Forget stuffy.

5. Stories

Want to make a point?… use a story. Your reader will remember the story as it will touch and stir their emotions. Using it in the introduction can be very effective.

6. Multi-media

Create content and make it into a variety of media. Nothing stopping you taking a written article and repurposing it into a video, slideshare presentation, podcast, a transcript or even an infographic. We all have different preferences for media consumption.

Be inclusive and you will reach a larger and wider audience.

7. Responsive

Our web viewing was dominated in the past by computer screens. Some were 13 inches and others were 15.  With reading often being spent with a mobile in your hand or even a 32 inch high definition widescreen at your desk, making websites and blogs that “respond” to different screen sizes so it is easy to read and view no matter what device you are using is becoming essential.

This is called “Responsive” design and templates for WordPress blogs and websites should be considered and are now readily available.

Time to update your website or blog?

Here is a place to learn how to create content

Learning to adapt to these changes requires education and you can teach yourself or you can be guided. One I have been checking out and reviewing is a free educational website called Open2Study, which offers a course called “Writing for the Web”

It includes 4 modules covering these topics:

1. Why writing for the web is different – This topic takes a closer look at what I touch on in my tip on structure
2. Characteristics for good content – This module takes a deeper dive in regards to my tip on multi-media
3. Writing effective content – Structure that I mentioned in tip #3 is an important part of this module
4. Looking after your content – This looks at things like the importance of search engines and maintaining your content which goes beyond my 7 tips mentioned in this post.

In total there are 38 videos that walk you through the basics. My experience taking this online course was the following

• It’s easy to use
• Guides and reinforces with simple quizzes
• Assessment at the end of each module allows you to gauge your understanding
• Very professional video production with great sound clarity

There are a couple of suggestions I would make that I think would make this online education series have broader appeal. Also repurpose the content into a podcast (so I could listen to it in the car or even in the Gym) and possibly provide a transcript in a PDF format for those that love to read rather than just view.

The next intake of students for Open2Study is on July 1. I would recommend it to anyone who is new to writing for the web and wants to learn how to create and write optimal content for the web whether that is a blog or a website. It’s also free!

The web was dominated for a decade by two key elements. Search engines and content.

If you wanted  information you asked Google. It was simple.

This led to the rise of a new industry called “search engine optimization” or if you love acronyms “SEO”. Experts good, bad and scammy emerged from the web mist to offer your website the holy grail of being ranked number one on a Google search result page. This was important because that gave you 40% of all clicks. Ranking number one could mean the success or failure of your online business.



This led to dubious practices and activities and content farms that just replicated content popped up. Unique and interesting information was being buried and overwhelmed by poor duplicate content.

Google decided to change the game as their search results were becoming more irrelevant and of lower quality.

They decided to work out ways to identify great content through social signals (hence the launch of Google+) and other technologies that rewards the content creators and not the content copiers.

Google got smarter. The web became more human.

Content on purpose 

Content creation on a smarter and social web requires you to ask some questions. So before we start writing our next piece of copy we better stop and ask ourselves what its purpose is when published on the Internet.

• Is it fresh and unique, or are we just adding to the duplicates, risking to get penalized?
• Is it readable and persuasive, or it pushes our readers away?
• Does it answer the questions the readers ask, or are we wasting their time?

Writing a high quality copy requires thorough research on the subject, taking you to all sorts of blogs and articles people from all around the globe have shared, but sadly, this pile of content often consists of far too many articles that fail to comply with the three goals we mentioned above. Not that these three goals of a quality copy are all we should meet, but if you want to truly grab the interest of your target audience, you should give them a second thought before you or your marketing team decide to publish the next post.

Since Google Panda was launched  you should be aware of duplicate content on your website, so writing the unique and quality content is extremely important, with free duplicate content checker PlagSpotter you can find out who steals your works without citing you.

Google is changing copywriting

It is true that Google’s algorithmic updates have caused many transformations in SEO copywriting. We all need to align the way we write with these constant changes. But, instead of us trying to stay one step ahead of the search engine equations, we can create our content with our human audience in mind, and meet them at the finish line.

Google will always have good user experience as their primary goal, and each update they make will be in the direction of better understanding of the content from a human perspective. If you guide your copywriting to provide what your readers look for, not only that you’ll get more loyal audience that loves to come to your website and read what’s new, but Google will also award your actions with a higher ranking in their search result pages.

So how should you write?

Here’s what you should ask yourself before you publish your writing on the Internet:

#1. Would my friends or colleagues walk away if I read this to them?

Read your copy out loud to better understand the flow for each sentence and paragraph and to see if the content is interesting enough to capture the interest of an audience. This will also allow you to clean up your typos, punctuation errors and unnecessary words.

#2. Do the headlines in the copy explain enough about its content?

If somebody reads only the headers of your article, will they understand what the article is about and what is its main idea? Ideally, the headlines should, provide transition and a description for each of the paragraphs.

#3. Are the keywords repeating too often?

When writing content for the Internet there must be some focus on the important keywords, but the density should always float somewhere in between 1% and 3% if we don’t want the writing to sound forced or spammy.

#4. Are my intentions being honest as a writer?

Why are you writing this copy? What is your purpose with it? Is it a complete plagiarism, or an effective idea sharing? Provide your readers with links to other websites, articles, pictures or videos related to your content to be able to achieve better SEO.

#5. Does the copy offer anything new to the readers?

This question builds off the previous point – will those who read your writing learn something new? Your content should match your goal of satisfying the curiosity your audience has on the particular subject. Only new, fresh and organic content is the way to more quality visits and better rankings.














































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