Fifteen suggestions to help improve your engagement with readers.

The internet is a place full of niche markets where the volume of content and information is so immense and vast in its sources, opinions and accessibility that anybody from Joe Blow, his wife Jane Dow, their cattle and dog can contribute. To me I find that highly encouraging, that individuals everywhere are opening up, reaching out and trying to get heard. The sticking point is when everybody is at the same frequency and smack - your highly important message and communiqué is lost to your target market like an advertisement on TV. Your message fades as your readers close the browser and find something better. So how do you actually get people to stop and read what you want them to read?

Here are some pointers on how to write to actively engage your audience.

  1. Don’t lie to your readers. The best writing fact or fiction is always based on core truths and human interactions
  2. Understand who it is you are engaging – who is your audience? Do research into that audience, put yourself in their shoes and see the world through their eyes. Eg. If you’re writing for a skateboard publication go to the local skate park and talk with the skaters, go to retailers and learn about the equipment, language, culture and trends, go online and learn about events, the stars in the genre etc.
  3. Don’t write what you don’t know. This may sound simple but it is a crucial mistake a lot of people make. The best writing always and I can’t stress this enough comes from your own life. If you are not interested in something do not write about it because it shows. Someone who is passionate about a topic they’re writing about will naturally write a stronger article because it makes up a part of their own life or they have lived through a certain experience. Yes people can sympathise with your story but unless they’ve lived through it too they will not empathise and as a writer it is your job to translate that sympathy into empathy. A great writer is able to make everyone who reads their work able to feel like they have lived that experience as well, as though it has happened to them.
  4. Use language appropriately. Again a classic mistake people make when writing. The words you use to convey your message must be accessible to everyone. If you’re writing on the web for a generalised blog then you can’t use an excessive vocabulary – use the old rule K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart). If your writing is for a targeted industry then fine use every piece of jargon under the sun, but make sure it is structured in a format that anyone will understand and provide a glossary or links to a dictionary for those parties that are less likely to recognise specific terms and phrases. This is a win-win situation because the writer is increasing their general interest, potentially gaining a new reader and the reader is learning and increasing their understanding and found a resource for future referral.
  5. Learn by reading. Just because you’re experienced in your field does not instantly mean people are going to read what you say read blogs and articles within your genre, find the most popular and read. You’ll pick up on the tone and language style these writers use and the content that makes them so popular.
  6. Do not copy. Be as individual as much as possible. Yes on the web this may be difficult  because there are so many similar articles but blatant plagiarising without giving credit will bite you in the butt, maybe not today but all it takes is for 1 reader to come across a copy of another writers work for bad eWOM (e-Word OF Mouth) to destroy your reputation.
  7. Be open to criticism. Not everybody is going to love what you have to say so don’t expect to hit the mark every time. But some criticism can in fact be your best friend because ultimately if the criticism is constructive it has been given to you to improve your relationship with your readers so listen to their advice and if you agree objectively use it to your advantage.
  8. Critique, critique, critique. This for me is one of the most important points. Punctuation and grammar are keys to a professional attention grabbing article. If you’re work is to be distributed you can’t afford to not edit your work before you publish it for the world to see and get objective opinion to give feedback as well. My quality control run-by person is James. He is my gauge on whether my writing meets and follows through on its objectives and even though I don’t always like it most of the time his points are valid and ultimately improve my writing while making myself aware for future pieces as well.
  9. Then there is tone. Tone is the way your writing comes across as its read by others. A good way I think of it as the voice in your head. The way a sentence is structured and the choice of words will determine the emotional way the piece is interpreted by your reader. For example anger like in physical human contact can easily be felt through words e.g. “He was annoying the hell out of me; I could feel the sweat beading along my forehead as I clenched my fists. The blood boiled below my skin, racing through my veins as I locked my gaze with his choosing the sting of profanities I was about to scream at his stupid little face.” You can tell the protagonist is angry through the adjectives and sentence structure which applies to all human emotions. If you can feel or experience something you can write a complete description of it, engaging your readers by making it real to them mentally.
  10. Understand your medium. Every type of written work has a basic formal guideline. Essays are arguments, blogs are personal, newspaper reports are analytical observations, business documents are factual, scripts are dialogue and direction, critiques are opinion, stories are narratives and manuals are instruction guides. All of these mediums are completely different in their purpose and audience so understand what your content is best suited for and follow that form. Confusion will only cause confusion for your readers and they’re unlikely to continue reading.
  11. Plan. It doesn’t mean you need to be military precise just have a generalised overall idea of how you’re going to start your article, what it needs to include and how you’re going to finish it. I like to make a list of dot-points of the major items I need to get across before I start writing just to make sure my thoughts are aligned and I don’t end up going off on a tangent.
  12. Write your heading last. This doesn’t always apply but a strong headline is your hook. It must sum up the article contents in one line clearly and able to interest your reader enough to start reading the first paragraph.
  13. Don’t force it. Writing has to come naturally; forced articles usually stand out a mile away and appear rushed, not completely coherent and may rely on copied content.
  14. Blogs are colloquial. When it comes to blogs, you have to be personal like you’re talking to your friends face to face. You wouldn’t talk to your friends about the world, your opinions or self in third person like a list of instructions or a scientific paper, so don’t be anal in your language and pronouns, it’s boring and completely ruins the concept of blogging.
  15. Is it better to stick to your profession? Ask yourself this before you even consider blog writing for your business. Can you write well enough? Or are you just starting a blog because it’s a new trend? Now I don’t want this to be seen as an arrogant point, what I’m asking is whether it’s better that you hire someone who is capable of writing well for your business blog. Someone who can take your professional expertise and actually turn it into an article people want to read, use and link to or whether you are actually capable of doing it yourself.

These are just a few points to consider when writing for gaining greater interest in what you have to say and how to actually convey that message. As I’m still in the process of gaining experience myself, I’m certain I will make mistakes – I am only human. But that is my favourite thing when it comes to the written word; you never stop improving your own style and capabilities. It really is a case of practice makes perfect.