We all want to create beautiful content but somehow we can’t get our heads wrapped around it. You don’t need to be Shakespeare to write great content. All you need to do is give your reader useful information and let quality reign!
I’d like to offer some suggestions on how to create excellent content that your audience will love to read.
- Avoid spelling misstakes – see how bad this looks? Typos and grammatical mistakes would lower the quality of your content. It would be a shame to work for hours and hours to write fantastic content only to find – after you published it – an ugly typo or glaring grammatical mistake. Worst yet, your audience finds it before you do.
- Avoid using texting language like “cuz” instead of “because” or “u” instead of “you” otherwise you would appear like someone trying to act too young for their age.
- Don’t use quotes unnecessarily. I’ve seen content where technical jargon is quoted all over the place and it looks really messy. You should only use quotes when you’re quoting someone.
- Make sure you use the correct word for the context. The one wrongly used word that drives me mad the most is when people use the word “loose” instead of “lose” as in “I’m about to loose it!” Lose the loose when you’re about to lose it!
- DON’T USE ALL CAPS BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE SHOUTING. No one likes to be shouted at so don’t shout at your reader. Besides, it’s really hard to read.
- Don’t use unnecessary bolding because this also looks like you’re shouting. Too much bolding makes your text look loud and garish. Your reader would get a headache and leave your content in a New York minute. Only use bolding to emphasize important information.
- Don’t use unnecessary italics otherwise your text will be hard to read. Too much italics could slow down and frustrate your reader. If you’re like me, you would get impatient and – yes you guessed it – look for the nearest exit. Use italics for titles or file names.
- Be consistent and don’t use too many different fonts and bullet styles. Several years ago, I had to revamp this manual because not only was it a complete mess, it also had about 10 different font styles. My brain raced every time I had to go through this content. Added to this chaos were several different styles for the bullet points – dots, arrows, check marks and dashes. It took me weeks to get this madness under control so the average human can digest the material. Don’t do this to your reader.
- Always pluralize correctly. Don’t pluralize with a “z” instead of an “s” as in “shoez”, “dreamz”, “accentz” or “namez” otherwise you would risk looking unprofessional if done in the wrong context. I’ve seen this pluralization in business names but I can see this fad dying out really quickly.
- Lose the corporate speak – fast! There is nothing more annoying that trying to decipher corporate speak nonsense when I’m reading something important. Yesterday, I was reading an article (won’t say where) that discussed the US “normalizing relations” with Cuba. Oh for crying out loud! Couldn’t they say “make peace with Cuba” or “cooperate with Cuba” or something like that? I know my version is not perfect but at least the reader would get an idea of the meaning.
These are a few of the many ways you can create excellent content that your audience loves to read. If you remember just these few suggestions, you’ll be well on your way!
If you got other tips to add, let me know in the comments.