How to Find Out if You Suck at Writing Content

For you to engage your readers, you have to know how to write content. Online marketing and blogging is all about putting your ideas online but you need to make sure when publishing that you get your point across. With so much competitive content circulating the web, it’s important you have the right skills to attract and engage your audience. I’m surprised how many people will write content and then complain when they’re unable to convert readers. In the end, without being able to convert your readers, you’re going to have a hard time making money online. Over the last several months, I was able to sit down with many expert bloggers, asking them “1” simple question. How do you know when you suck at writing content? Next,

I was very surprised at some of the answers I got back. For example, many of them a small little tweaks you need to make when publishing content. Other reasons provided are very obvious but this doesn’t mean you won’t be able to implement changes right away.

Here are some reasons that’ll tell you when you suck at writing content…

Low Conversions

The first indication your content maybe lacking some professional skills is if you have very low conversions. For example, you’re writing content for a specific reason, whether it is to increase subscribers, profit, and social engagement, but if none of these are being achieved, then you know it’s your content. When writing content, you have to be careful before starting to keep your main objective in mind. For example, many writers make the mistake of NOT sitting down to think about their objective before starting. Here are some things to consider…

  • What are you trying to achieve? (make money, email subscribers, social engagement, traffic growth)
  • How will you be tracking your results?
  • Where will you research your topics?
  • Who is your audience?

Answering some of these simple questions will keep you focused on your end goal. I’ve noticed when you don’t have a clear cut plan, your content will be misguided.

Low Social Engagement

Social media is changing the way people interact with content and it’s a great way to differentiate the “great” from the “good”. However, low social shares are a great way to understand the lack of engagement from your readers and you can analyze engagement to know what’s working and what’s not. For example, when people share my content I know I’ve done a great job. Next, when people leave comments, I know my audience has found substance in my content. However, when no one leaves comments, shares, or links back to my content, I know I’ve failed to provide readers with something special. Here’s my point…

If you want to find out if you lack content writing skills, then look for the response you get once you publish. Great content tends to go viral quickly and people engage with it more than mediocre content.

High Bounce Rate

Whenever I arrive on a website, I know if the content will provide me with the information I’m looking for. Did you know 87% of people arrive on a page and start by first skimming through? Why? These people are trying to get a feel for the content looking for text, images, videos, or anything else that will provide the initial signs for a solution. I know if the content will provide me the information I’m looking for from the sub-headings embedded within the content. If I don’t see specific elements, then I’ll leave the website and this is known as “bounce rate”.

For those of you unaware, “bounce rate” is a term used to describe an action of a single page visit without skimming through other pages on the domain. Here’s something to pay close attention to going forward. If you have a high bounce rate, then you’ve failed to capture the audience’s attention, which is another way of saying your content doesn’t provide substance. Content WITHOUT substance sucks!

Stagnant Traffic

If you’re NOT noticing an increase in your traffic after several months, then you’ve failed to attract the right type of people. Many bloggers don’t know content published online has other important elements than actual text. For example, you have to ensure it’s been formatting correctly and include the necessary on-page elements like keywords, description, etc. If your content has NOT been formatted correctly, it’s going to be tough increasing your blogs growth. Why? Google is very precise on the way it wants writers to format their content because it helps with the indexing process. Great content writers know this and make sure they follow the guidelines whenever they publish content.

If your traffic has been stagnant for several months, then you have to consider tweaking elements other than your writing. Consider the following…

  • Title tag
  • Description tag
  • URL structure
  • Keywords in content
  • Include H1, H2, and H3
  • Include bold and italic

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