Despite most adults spending more time in front of computers and digital devices, audiences barely scratch the surface when it comes to discovering and reading all the information and content available. It poses the challenge: how do you create meaningful content which has a greater chance of being read by your target audience? Below are five simple tips that will help your content move to the top of the “to read” pile:
KISS – Keep it Simple Stupid
I’m not calling you stupid, but when writing content it’s easy to forget who it is for and one can get excited about divulging as much information, facts and figures as possible. It’s understandable, you want to show that you are an authority on the subject and have something of value to offer readers. However a piece of content that looks like an essay or complex report is more likely to turn our time-poor audience off. So keep it short and sweet.
Stay focused
Following from the above, though you may have a lot of useful information to share, stay focused on the key messages and points. What is going to be most beneficial to them? What can they take away from your content and put into practice straight away? An audience will make time to read something if they think it will be truly valuable to them.
Break it down
If you simply have too much to share and are having trouble scaling back, turn your content into a series. Break down the topics or key messages and focus on one at a time. This not only creates shorter, valuable content but also gets the reader coming back for parts two, three and four.
Links are your friend
Don’t be afraid to link to additional content which expands on your topic further or to your source of information. This way you are keeping the main body of your content concise, but also providing additional information should the reader have time and be interested to learn more.
It's a mobile world
Consider the format of your content. Imagine where and when your audience will be most likely to consume it. If you’re aiming to reach them when they’re “on-the-go” then your content needs to be mobile friendly. If it’s not then that is a sure-fire way to make readers to skip over your content, no matter how valuable.
These are quick, basic things anyone can do to improve content for an audience that struggles to find time reading it. Readers will appreciate it and are likely to come back for more, resulting in an engaged relationship between your brand and your target audience.
