Does Your Website Content Writing Have A Purpose?
Posted by Rachael Priest on Wed, Sep 26, 2012
As a content marketing writer or website owner, the last thing that you want people to 
believe about the message you send is that it’s meaningless. Web content may be somewhat less formal than a business letter or proposal, but it is still business writing. Moreover, it is business writing that should convince people that you are worth doing business with.
Your Business Book
Think about it like a book. You have the entire book, then you have chapters, then paragraphs, sentences, and finally the individual words. Every word, sentence, and paragraph has a purpose: to create a bigger picture and tell a story. Even as a reader completes each individual chapter, he or she knows that it’s all coming together for a purpose.
Your website content is similar to this, only on a much smaller scale. The goal is the same, but you have much less time to make it all come together. Each piece of content must leave the reader feeling satisfied that his or her questions were answered. At the same time, each future piece of content should complement the last—much like a book series.
Discovering Your Purpose
For the content marketing writer, purpose can seem elusive. If your client understands the message that the company wants to send, determining the purpose is much easier. If you are not so fortunate, follow these tips to get there:
- Establish your target market. If you don’t know who you’re writing to, it is going to be very difficult to figure out what to write.
- Determine the needs of that market. Ask yourself if there is a common problem that customers may share or if there is a lack of information surrounding a particular aspect of your client’s service.
- Address the problem. Work with your client to uncover the answers to questions or solutions to problems. Keep a computer document or physical notebook with this information handy when planning out your content strategies.
When you understand what the customer needs and wants, you have discovered what the purpose of your content should be. Sure, an article about basic skin care may be easy to write and contain useful information, but those articles are a dime a dozen on the web.
On the other hand, an article that offers step-by-step instructions on safely performing an over-the-counter chemical peel at home is less common and gives you the opportunity to provide the reader with in depth information.
Making it All Work Together
You’ve determined your purpose and you are armed with information. Now it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty of being a content marketing writer: writing. Create articles and blog posts that are easy to read, but don’t talk down to the reader.
Offer factual, interesting information that tells the reader exactly what he or she needs to know in order to solve their problem or fulfill their needs. Make it to the point and easy to digest. Analogies and brief stories are ok sometimes and can be very helpful in demonstrating a point, but don’t get stuck chasing a rabbit; your reader will lose interest.
Stay on topic. If you find yourself veering away from the original point of your content, make a note of your ideas. You can use them later to create a whole new article and both pieces of content will make sense. Trying to cram too many ideas into one short post is frustrating for everyone.
Get Found Online
After you’ve poured all of this time, thought, and energy into creating web content with a purpose, it would be a shame for the world not to see it. Optimize your content with white hat SEO practices such as lightly infusing the work with well-researched keywords and links to other reputable sites online.
Share your content on social media sites and encourage others to do the same. It is helpful if you keep tips for creating shareable content in mind as you write the article so that others are willing to pass along the information. Aside from what’s mentioned above, try to create catchy but relevant headlines and stay focused on the reader.
A content marketing writer does so much more than simply write. You have to be a marketing expert, an SEO guru, and a social media master. Taking the time to go through the entire process and produce content that actually has a purpose, however, will leave you with one happy client who comes back to you time and again.
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