When you have set up a website and are talking about how to create great content, the conversation can take all sorts of turns before you end up in a comfortable place. Creating effective content and figuring out ways to come up with content ideas can be a challenge for most, especially since more than likely you don’t have the luxury of running a massive content site like some of the big ones you see out there.
If you are the content marketer for a website, whether it be your own or someone else’s, it is important to know and understand how to develop content in a way that will not only keep people on your page but keep them coming back for more. Whether you are creating content to start a business website or creating content to start a new blog, the concept is the same.
If you are in charge of content on a smaller website it is particularly important to try and hit a so-called “home run” every time. You should always have a number of tips for creating great content laid out in front of you before you start the process.
So how do you create quality content that will drive traffic and keep readers coming back? Well, there are several avenues to explore and learn from that will help you with the process. Let’s take a look at a few tips for creating great content.
What is Quality Content?
The answer to that question will depend on what type of website content you are trying to create. Content niches are different, audiences are different, so creating effective content will be different based on the situation.
That being said, quality content can be defined in any niche as content that is unique, informational, engaging, and brings readers back. So when your niche is determined you can take steps to launch it and make money.
A lot of people will ask; how do you create unique content at this point? Well, unique content can still be created and generated, it just needs to be done in a different way. Effective tools for creating unique content include:
- Create Stunning Infographics
- Create Exceptional Videos
- Incorporate Animation
- Use Quizzes and Interviews
- Etc.
Basically, anything that keeps the attention of your reader. These techniques combined with the traditional “writing content” style, and using proper SEO content writing will all serve as effective tools when it comes to how to create amazing content.
Here are 16 effective tips that work for creating great content.
Create Content Using These Tips
1. Curation
Curation is defined as the action or process of selecting, organizing, and looking after the items in a collection or exhibition. So how can we use this to create amazing content? The answer is easy, let someone else’s inspiration be a starting point for something you want to do.
This is one of the very best tips for creating great content that you will come across. As I spoke about above, sometimes it can be difficult to learn how to create unique content with all the millions and millions of pieces of content floating around online.
Using curation to gather great pieces of content from around the web and use it as inspiration is a fantastic way to learn how to develop content and save time in the process.
If you are unfamiliar with where to look to start the curation process, here are some outlets you will want to explore:
- Blogs
- Web Pages
- YouTube
- Wikipedia
- RSS Feeds
- Flickr
- Etc.
2. Ask Your Audience
An almost can’t miss technique when it comes to how to create great content is simply asking your audience. This accomplishes a couple of things right away:
- It brings your audience into the creative process and makes the content creation process engaging and interactive for them, thus keeping them involved and excited from the start.
- It guarantees you are learning how to develop content that your audience wants because they are the ones telling you.
Giving your audience a vote and say in the process all but guarantees the content you create will be content that they want to read and share. This will drive traffic through social sharing and keep them coming back for more.
3. Brainstorm in a Group
Getting help from others is never a bad idea. This concept is explored above when I talked about using your audience for help. When you brainstorm in a group and ask others how do you create quality content, the popular saying is “two heads are better than one.”
Brainstorming ideas within a group allows you to get topics, content ideas, and outside thoughts from a totally different perspective. Oftentimes you will get an idea for creating effective content from someone else in the group that you would have never otherwise thought of.
You can find people to help you brainstorm from several places including:
- Online Peers
- Offline Friends
- Other Bloggers
4. Interview Someone
Interviewing someone can give you excellent insight into creating amazing content. Plus, this is an easier and quicker way to develop great content at a faster rate.
When you interview someone you are basically putting the content together as your interview progresses. Plus, you get to ask a series of questions and state situations that help with content flow. Writing a few questions for someone else to answer is definitely easier and faster than trying to churn out an entire post.
So how do you create unique content? Interviewing and talking to someone else is not only interesting but more than likely those answers will give you material for totally unique content.
5. Keep Your Website Up-To-Date
There are a few things that will immediately turn someone away from a website. Things like slow page load times, poor writing, and confusing navigation layout will all drive readers away fast.
However, there is probably nothing more annoying than when a website is not kept up to date. Too many things can go wrong.
If visitors notice that your content isn’t current, then your site loses all kinds of credibility. Why would people trust what you say in your content if you can’t keep it fresh and new? Old, outdated content is a great way to lose readers and site traffic at a staggering rate.
Remember, you shouldn’t only create fresh content, you should also delete old, outdated, and irrelevant content as well. Having evergreen content on your site can help offset outdated pieces of content.
6. Recycle Old Posts
Think of this as curation, just in a different way. Using already existing content that is on your website to generate new and exciting content is never a bad idea.
Take 7-10 old posts and use that content in a recycled or repurposed format. Build on what you already have in place that has proven to work. Creating effective content doesn’t always have to be about starting from the ground floor on everything you create. Use resources already in place to help.
7. Use Pictures to Help Tell Your Story
Stock photos are nice, and they are easily accessible. There are several great tools you can use to find free images. However, sometimes they can be generic even if they fit. Try creating your own photos and using them in a manner to help tell a story and really drive content interaction.
Pictures also help you break up a copy heavy page, which might be full of information but can be hard to look at for your reader after a while. When you are learning how to create great content using pictures as part of the process is always a good idea.
8. Make Your Site Visitors the First Priority
This can be a thin line to walk, but you must walk it. When you are learning how to create quality content you always want to do two things:
- Make sure all of your ideas relate to or have merit to your company or niche.
- Make sure you put your visitors first and provide the information they seek. Otherwise, what is the point of your content?
The best content is customer-centric. It is designed to provide the information visitors seek and to present it in an interesting, organized way. They let the customer see the real you, which then builds trust, which builds website traffic, and drives content.
9. Tell a Personal Story
People love personal stories. It helps them relate to you, your content, your website and keeps them coming back for more. You don’t need to always do this, but creating effective content is about reaching people.
When you reach people on a personal level they are more likely to come back and read more of your content in the future. Writing to them on a more personal level while at the same time using unique content to do it will help you gain traction.
10. Break Your Routine
Sometimes you can get caught in a rut when learning how to create great content. Even the most seasoned content writers and marketing content specialists will run into this problem.
If you come to a point where your content is stagnate and not going anywhere productive or creative, then try breaking your routine. This can happen in a number of ways. Try breaking your routine by doing some or a few of the following:
- Take a Walk
- Take a Drive
- Work in a Different Setting
- Work at a Different Time
- Meditate at Your Desk
- Sing
- Eat Breakfast
- Workout
- Talk to a Stranger
- Etc.
Anything that breaks up the monotony will probably help you develop amazing content and get back on track.
11. Use Top Trends
If you are having a hard time coming up with a new piece of great content you can always check out Google Trends and see what is currently hot or trending.
More than likely there will be something in those trends that you can integrate into the new piece of content you are developing. Oftentimes working in a hot trend into your content will help boost rankings and keep people engaged.
Google Trends is free to use and gives all sorts of insights and stories regarding what is popular in a specific period. It is a fantastic tool to use.
12. Use All the Media Around You
There is literally all sorts of media around you that you can reference to inspire yourself and help you learn how to create amazing content. Popular movies that utilize great characters and stories can be used for inspiration when you are developing content. You can also use:
- Music
- Books
- Comics
- Television
You will see that by exploring these outlets you will have an easier time creating unique content. You can easily embed content as well on your website. These outside stories and characters can really push you to the next level of creating effective content.
13. Use Name Recognition
This is a method usually not mentioned right away. However, when you are thinking to yourself… how do I create unique content, then this technique is something you will use more and more over time.
Name recognition usually gets used when putting together catchy titles for the great content that you have created. It involves mashing two unrelated subjects into one piece of content, usually:
- Something your readers want to learn more about.
- Something they are familiar with.
A great example of this is including a business or related topic and combining it with a popular movie star, hero, or musician. For example:
“What Superman Can Teach You About Creating Effective Content.”
This gives you a fun and catchy title to go along with the unique and dynamic content you have created.
14. Review Something
Reviews are fun. They are engaging, provide a lot of good information, and they give insight into something (product or otherwise) that your reader may not know about. Creating a full review page for your website can work well too.
Pick a product or service and write about it. Tell what you liked and didn’t like about it and let your readers know whether or not you would recommend it.
Reviews are a good tip for creating great content. Make sure whatever you are reviewing has something to do with your business or niche. You don’t want to review something that has nothing to do with what you are presenting on your website.
15. Allow Guests to Post Content
Allowing guest posts on your site will give you the chance to add unique content to your site without having to put in all the work. Contacting writers from other websites (some smaller, some bigger) that write about some of the same things you do and ask them if they would be interested in doing a guest post for your site.
Give them a set of instructions and allow them to create content for you. This is just another great way to create effective content that your readers will trend towards. There are several other ways to get guest bloggers as well.
16. Call to Action
How do you create quality content and not have a call to action? You don’t. A decisive and straightforward call to action on every piece of amazing content you create is very important.
These call to action layouts can include contact info like an email or call now button, telling your reader what to do next, lead them down a path, and much more. You have developed a great piece of content, now make sure your readers understand what you are trying to get them to do.
Make sure your call to action is closely aligned with your audience’s mindset.
And how about 3 more tips to think about when you create content? Along with the 16 above, these last three tips will allow you to create effective content that will bring people to your website.
17. Use Clear Website Navigation
Nothing is worse than bad website navigation. It makes it hard for your website users to move around and figure out where things are.
In order for your readers to find the content you have created, you need to provide them a way to easily navigate your website.
18. Provide Relevant Information
When you want your website to rank high in searches, not only do you need to provide high-end content, but it also needs to be relevant information that has to do with what your website is about.
For example, it doesn’t matter how good your content about the destination of France is if you are running a finance website. Keep content relevant to your site and this will definitely help.
19. Use Landing Pages
Last but definitely not least, try to incorporate some landing pages on your site. This can be an effective way to not only keep people interested in your content but have them sign-up for something like an email newsletter.
It is a great marketing tool and a fantastic way to help drive people to your content.
Some Extra Tips
Creating effective content can be done in several ways. The above tips for creating great content can all (and should all) be used at different stages of your content creation.
Here are a few more tips for creating great content that you may want to consider and keep in mind as a bonus:
- Conversational English
- Avoid Industry Jargon
- Leave Out Hype
- Include “Trust-Building” Content
- Make it Easy For Visitors to Contact You
You will find over time that the more you study and practice creating effective content, the better you will become at it.