How to Write Quality Content for Your Website
Looking for ways to make your digital content more engaging and valuable for your audience? Let me share with you how you can write quality content for your website the best way.
They say that the best way to write is to put yourself in the shoes of your readers. Consider what they want, need, and prefer. Well, this is definitely a great way to start but while it can help you develop ideas on what to write about, is it enough to guide you until the finish line?
If you ask Google, it will give you varied ways of writing varied kinds of written pieces. There is one for writing a poem, an essay, a speech, a novel and so on. Most writers follow specific steps whenever they write. Some go the traditional route while other have their personalized methods of writing. Yet when we debone each one on this long list of writing techniques one can follow, we will notice that writing is not a rocket science. It's all about the basics. That is why in this blog, we will go through the basic writing process that will guide you in writing the kind of content that your readers will surely love.
If you are just a beginner writer, it is always safe to stick with the basics. The basic writing process includes five fundamental steps necessary to make sure that a written piece is well-researched and well-written. It applies to any kind of writing whether you are publishing it digitally or physically. The good thing about starting or not skipping the basics is that you are guided from the start up to the end.
Pre-writing
Come up with possible topics and content ideas. Set your writing objectives. Envision how you want your piece to look like when it's finished.
Researching
Surf the internet for information or look for primary sources about your topic. Refer to credible and valuable references. Take note of the preferences of your target audience.
Drafting
Start writing your article. Write. Write again. Write until it's "finished".
Revising
Read what you wrote and then write it again the better way. Re-organize sentences and paragraphs. Fill in content gaps. Remove unnecessary and redundant information.
Polishing
Edit and then proofread. Polish the organization, structure, and technicalities of your article. Do it until you're satisfied.
A close look to pre-writing
When it comes to web content, spontaneous writing is probably not a good path t follow. While it may work with other kinds of writing like writing a speech or a poem, creating content for your website entails a sufficient amount of planning.
The pre-writing phase is basically about content planning. This is where you brainstorm possible ideas and options for your topic. You can choose from the current trends, the frequently-searched, or the most requested. You can even opt to write about a topic you are passionate about. What you just have to consider is if your topic is related to your niche and if it will be valuable for your audience.
Once you already picked a topic, you can start setting your objectives. These serves both as a purpose and a guide. For example, one of your objectives is to write a 1000-word article with a working title and at least 2 accompanying images. That is already a guide on what you need to accomplish. If you met your objectives after writing the article, then you can say that you are really done. Your objectives also serve as a vision of how you want your article to be like.
A closer look on researching
In terms of cooking, researching is probably the part where you buy and prepare the ingredients. This is because the information that you researched about is the "meat" of your article which you will "feed" to your readers. Humans are species of curiosity who are always hungry for information. If you do not have the information they want or need, then how can you expect them to visit your website for content?
Researching happens when you are settled with the pre-writing phase. Since you already have a topic in mind and a checklist of what you need to accomplish, you can now start looking for relevant information related to it. Your references can either be primary or secondary. What's important is that they are accurate and credible. Putting links to external references in your article is also helpful for your readers.
Speaking of readers, the researching phase can also involve learning about them - their demographics and preferences. This can guide you further on how you will write your content.
A closer look on drafting
While researching is buying and preparing the ingredients, drafting is the counterpart of the actual cooking where you mix the ingredients in a heated pot or pan over the stove. In short, it is the real deal.
Starting with your draft is basically putting the words on the paper. It is the part where you think of the right words to include in your phrases and sentences. It is constructing paragraphs and linking them with one another. It is writing a part and then deleting it to start all over again. It is the messy phase of the process but it is when you actually get things done.
Is there a key to make the drafting part easier or better? Well, there is one. Just write. Write what comes into your mind and let the words flow freely. Your draft doesn't have to be perfect. There will always be something to improve. Besides, isn't it why we have multiple drafts because we can still revise and edit them after?
A closer look on revising
Some people think that great writers do not revise their work because they are already great. That's a myth. In fact, professional writers especially those who write scripts and novels are the meticulous ones. They put premium to revising because they know that their readers deserve the best quality of output they can get.
Speaking of quality, it is in revising that you ensure the quality of your content. Is it well-organized? Are the thoughts coherent? Did you use the right words? Are loopholes or content gaps? When you revise, you either add or remove parts of your content. You add what's missing and remove what's unnecessary and redundant. The key to successful revising is rereading your output over and over again. This means that revisions can be more than one. You can have multiple drafts before the final one. If possible, you can ask for peer reviews and opinions in order to make your draft better.
A closer look on polishing
Is the final draft really the last one? Well, it depends on you. Polishing is the last stage of the writing process and it consists two separate sub-processes: editing and proofreading. While some writers deem this optional (because it is), it is actually crucial and can affect the quality of your article. Thus, it is still advisable to conduct editing and proofreading in order to ensure the readability and accuracy of your content.
Editing is concerned on the structure and organization of your article. When you edit, you make sure that sentences and paragraphs are well-structured and well-organized. Somehow, it is similar to revising only that you are just revising what was already revised. Meanwhile, proofreading is concerned with the technical accuracy of your article. It entails checking the grammar, tone, use of words, spelling, and punctuation of your write up. Through this, you are improving the readability of your content especially for your readers who are grammar nazis.
Is there a right way to write?
Now that you are already familiar with the five steps of the basic writing process, you may wonder if it just really takes five steps to write any kind of content. Well, it depends on the writer. You see, there are writers who follow the traditional process but there are also those who learned how to improvise. You can choose to include all the steps in this basic process and add new ones or skip some of it. It doesn't matter how you would choose to write because there is no one-size-fits-all method that will easily transform you into a great writer. You have to discover it yourself. And while you're just in the stage of discovery, I hope that this article can guide you as you take your early steps.