You went above and beyond, filling your article with statistics and the latest research and writing it well. This is great! However, you still feel like something needs to be added. Striving for excellence is good. You may be following the wrong trail.

A perfect article is a rarity. But making your materials better is something worth striving for! How? To answer this question, I contacted content experts and asked them for their tips on how to write better. Writing can help you to earn money, but if you need to do it quickly – try Hellspin. 

Start with a Content Strategy

That is if you still need to get one. Content strategist and brand marketing consultant Hilary Young believes content strategy is critical to blogging. Not having her is “the equivalent of screaming into the void and hoping that someone will eventually hear you,” says Hilary.

But that doesn’t mean you have to bury yourself in paperwork. As Hilary suggests, “It doesn’t have to be a lengthy document, it just needs to include defining the goals you want to achieve (I recommend choosing three). This will help you be more intentional about creating content that will move you closer to your larger business goals.”

A strategy helps you monitor the achievement of your business goals, but it also helps you “define what’s working and what’s not,” as Hilary puts it. She recommends reviewing all data every quarter to analyze the effectiveness of the measures taken. This way, you can adapt the strategy as needed.

Write articles that meet the needs of your audience

This goes without saying, but it’s worth mentioning again. Melanie Desiel, founder of StoryFuel and author of Content Fuel Framework: How to Generate Unlimited Story Ideas, believes this is one of the best ways to write valuable blog posts.

She says, “One of the best ways to ensure your audience values your content is to craft articles based on your audience’s questions and needs.”

So, where to start?

Melanie has your answer: “Use focus groups, surveys, social media responses and posts, keyword research, and tools like Serpstat and Answer The Public to find out what questions your audience is asking and create content that answers these questions.”

Know who you are writing for and why

Similar to Melanie’s words is the advice of Alicia Johnston, senior manager of content and communications at Sprout Social, on how to write better articles. She thinks: “Before you write a single word, know exactly who you are writing for and why.”

Many of us, she says, “default to surface-level thinking when thinking about our audience, focusing on markers like job titles or experience level rather than digging deeper to understand the reader’s motivations better.” Result? They create mediocre-quality content that only resonates with readers.

So what then? Do what Alicia recommends: “Use performance data, social media monitoring, talk to your sales team, and ask questions to the community to learn about your readers, their goals, and the problems they want to solve with your articles. You get articles that work when you dig to know your audience.”

Determine the purpose of the post

When you know your audience, assigning a purpose to the post you write becomes easy, advises Evan LePage, senior content manager at Unito. Better yet, write your goal at the top of your post so it’s in your mind as you write your draft.

This will help you “define your approach to writing a post and make your “writing life” much easier. Plus, you’ll get more impressive results,” explains Evan.

He also goes into more detail: “If your blog’s goal is to rank for SEO, you should analyze the SERPs, take inspiration from the content in the top positions, and use quality keywords to populate your meta tags and content.”

On the other hand, “if your blog’s goal is to increase brand awareness, you should hone your knowledge of your target audience’s interests and language by providing applicable tips and templates, including resources and quotes that can be shared.”

Be niche

Peri Elmokadem, head of content marketing at Uscreen, offers another exciting tip – “occupy your niche” to stand out. This will help your posts communicate more effectively with your audience.

Peri explains, “Take any hot topic and write it specifically for your reader. For example, instead of writing about how to get Instagram’s attention in 2022, write about how new fitness professionals can get Instagram’s traction in 2022. Write about how new women’s CrossFit shoes could gain popularity in 2022. There are no articles that are too specialized.”

When you do this, “the tone, context, trigger words, and visuals will speak directly to your reader, increasing the chances that your article will be chosen over hundreds of others.”

Start with a plan

Chloe West, content marketing manager at Visme, an online infographics maker, advises to “always start with a draft.” A sketch gives direction to your work and keeps it on one path. This way, you will write articles that are “short, informative, and to the point.”

Chloe adds, “Knowing everything you plan to cover in a blog post not only helps the writing process go faster and smoother, but it also keeps you from taking detours that don’t add anything to your content.”

So, do you know what to do? Before you start, write a detailed plan.

Pay special attention to editing

G2’s lead content editor, Rebecca Reynoso, makes another important point. She insists it’s easy to get caught up in outlining and writing, which can divert attention from editing.

And here’s the hard truth: “Even if you write the most amazing content, people will first notice its mistakes.”

However, to prevent this, Rebecca suggests you “check your spelling, grammar, punctuation, tone and consistency.”

Get an expert opinion

So, you know you need to start with a content strategy and write articles that solve your audience’s problems, understand them, and communicate with them. What else can you do?

Add value to your content. What do you ask? Ash Reed, Buffer’s editor-in-chief who leads the content team, argues that “you need to get an expert’s point of view.”

Of course, it’s easy to feel like an expert on everything you write. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Ash says, “Your job is to guide your readers and help them get from A to B while publishing.”

You can always do this by getting expert information. Ash recommends, “Interviews and expert opinions should be part of your process for every article you write, whether you use them for direct quotes or simply as background research. Getting into the habit of talking to experts will improve your content and make it as useful as possible for your readers.”

Ash also shares examples here and here to show how you can apply this tip.

Share your point of view too

But what if you are also an expert in this field or have made severe observations? If so, go ahead and “write posts sharing your lessons, opinions, and experiences,” as Hiba Amin, content marketing manager at SoapboxHQ, recommends.

This way, “you have a better chance of resonating with your readers and capturing their emotional tone.” Moreover, adding your point of view increases the credibility of your article, allowing readers to better connect with you.

Hiba did the same for this Soapbox blog post – she talks about her onboarding experience at Soapbox and shares the template she uses.

Use an inverted pyramid structure

Most of us think that after a break, it’s best to move on to the “juicy beats.” But that’s different from how writing for the web works. Because no one guarantees that your reader will stay with you for a long time.

So, according to SoftwarePundit CEO and Director of Growth Marketing at Teachers Pay Teachers Bruce Hogan, the best approach is to use an inverted pyramid structure.

Bruce explains: “The key takeaway from this approach is to put the most important content at the beginning of the article and do the same for each content block. This helps the reader find value in your content, which improves the on-page experience.”

Now, you have all the practical techniques for writing good content. But before you start, here’s one final piece of advice from Mark Webster, co-founder of Authority Hacker: “Strive for progress, not perfection.”

“Remember, there is no such thing as perfect content. Too much effort and ensuring all the boxes are checked wastes time.” Therefore, the best thing you can do is to do your best, get feedback and repeat.