Darrell Vesterfelt and Tim StoddartHow to stand out in a sea of boring content? It might be time to get stinky …
Content marketing only works if your content is interesting enough to make people want to read, listen to, or watch it.
So how can we make our content more fascinating? You can start by thinking about what gets your audience excited to know more. In this 24-minute episode, I talk about:
- Why you want to aim for content that’s “stinky and irresistible”
- The old-school technique that makes your audience want to know more about you
- How to decide what kind of headline structure will work best for your site
- Two keys to telling effective stories in your content
- The “cubicle test” that makes you unforgettable for your audience
- What a fake cartoon character can show you about commanding audience attention
Listen to Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing below ...
5 Stinky Sardine Secrets to Make Your Content More FascinatingSonia Simone
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The Show Notes
- Brian Clark’s post on fascinating bullet points
- Robert Bruce’s post with yet more bullet point advice
- My podcast episode on 13 Ways of Looking at a Headline, with lots of models you can use to keep things fresh
- My post on 7 Steps to Grow a Blog Post
- My post that opens with an emotionally resonant story: Is it Finally Time for You to Step Up?
- My wise friend Bill O’Hanlon’s book, Do One Thing Different
- Fake Grimlock’s Copyblogger post: BECAUSE AWESOME!
- I’m always happy to see your questions or thoughts on Twitter @soniasimone — or right here in the comments 🙂
These ideas are so helpful. As a content editor managing a team of writers along with growing my own personal site and blog, one of the biggest issues I have is getting too formulaic and predictable with something you’re good at, like story telling. Do you have tips for avoiding that? Something that is meant to draw people in, like a quick anecdote or personal story, can become *meh* if used too often. Lots of ideas to mull over in this episode.
Such a good question! Something we do at Copyblogger (all credit goes to our editor in chief, Stefanie Flaxman, for keeping an eye on this) is to keep an eye on the shape of the content calendar both per week and by month, looking for patterns. She’s the one who spots if we open with a story three times in a row, or if there are five “How To” headlines in two weeks.
I also think it’s useful to proactively seek out other good options to try. So if you’re comfortable telling stories, maybe look for other engagement techniques you can use instead. Writers, like anyone, tend to drift toward what they’re already strong at. But an environment of experimentation and a little judicious willingness to take creative risks creates something much more engaging for the audience — and for the writers, too.
These secrets are so helpful to write fascinating content. Sonia, what do suggest more to improve content writing skills? I am not a native English speaker. How do I improve my content writing to become a pro writer?
The first thing to ask yourself is, could you focus on creating work in your native language. You may find that there are a lot of opportunities. My friends who aren’t native English speakers are finding that they can apply “Copyblogger stuff” in their own markets and they’re ahead of the curve!
If you do want to create content in English, I’d find a class or a group where you can write regularly and get critiques. You can also get lessons and critiques online at italki.com. I use that for the languages that I study. 🙂