We are no longer limited to reading off paper we hold in our hands. Nowadays, when we are online, there are millions of things to read, so the competition for our time is off the charts. Yet, some people still write the same way they were taught to do decades ago.

The fact is, if your audience is online, you need to be to the point, catch the reader quickly and use formatting to get your message across. Another trend is that push marketing (where content is forced on people) is often less effective than pull marketing that draws in the reader. 

To take advantage of the changes taking place, the following are 10 tips from Susan Weiner’s book Financial Blogging, How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients.

1. Put yourself in the reader's eyes – Appeal to the audience’s interests, avoiding just pushing an agenda. Start by answering the questions your audience would ask.

Also, ask yourself: What is my target market? How sophisticated is the audience?  Why would readers want to build a relationship with you? What keeps the ideal clients up at night?

Use the WIIFM approach, because your readers will be thinking, What’s In It For Me?

2. Organize thoughts – Too often articles are organized poorly. Think about the point of the message by preparing. Ask: What should the writing accomplish? What should the readers do?  What are the main points?

Sometimes the creator of the content has to free write to get all the ideas out and then organize them after. This approach can be effective, but it does require a rewrite. For that reason, it is OK if the freewriting has typos and does not flow. Its purpose is to identify the main points.

3. Give it personality – Just because you are likely writing on financial service topics does not mean you cannot put your own twist on the content to bring it to life.

4. Avoid jargon – Use the words the target audience would understand. If the readers will not understand the technical vocabulary, it is highly likely it will not be as effective.

First « 1 2 3 » Next