The Top Things you Must do to Create Attention-Grabbing Content

Content on your website is as good as a fish out of water if you don’t do it right. It’s just words on paper – content that no one will see without the right steps. Your content must be engaging, here’s why.

According to a Microsoft study, the average person has an 8-second attention span. That’s less than the attention span of a goldfish! In those 8 seconds, you must engage and excite your readers. If you don’t, they’ll go elsewhere.

What are consumers looking for and how do you create engaging content? We’ll answer these questions and more below.

Start with an Engaging Headline or You’ll go Nowhere

Since you only have 8 seconds, creativity is the key to grabbing attention. The top portion of your content should scream ‘you want to know more!’ It starts with your headline.

Most people read headlines before they read (or skim) content. They want to know if it’s worth their time. Your initial headline, or the title of your content, is your clickbait – it’s what brings readers in to learn more. If they don’t like the title, they won’t look any further. 

Notice, we said your headline should be engaging, but not confusing. Just reading the title should give readers an idea of what to expect. If your content doesn’t follow through on that promise, you’ll lose viewers – make sure it ties into what you’re about to share.

A few great ways to get the reader’s attention include:

• Make a promise to solve a pain point
• Include numbers, such as ‘X Ways to Solve X Problem’
• Be descriptive

Craft your Hook to Reel them In

Now that you got readers to click on your content, you need to hook them. This is where the 8 seconds start. If they skim your content and see nothing appealing, they’ll move onto the next one.

Your first sentence must GRAB their attention. Of course, every sentence in the content should provide value, but that first sentence is the most important. What does it promise? What will your content deliver? Why should readers keep going?

Think of the what, where, when, and why questions you can ask or use. Starting with a question is great because it gets readers thinking, but don’t overdo questions. You can also include statistics, tell a story, or even use a reputable quote.

Put yourself in your reader’s shoes. What do they want or need to know that you know and they don’t? What would make you look like the industry’s thought leader and someone they must follow and learn from? That’s where you get your hook.

Make your Content Valuable to Keep them Reading

Readers are sharing their time with you, so make it worth it for them. This happens in a few ways. First, think of the problem you’re solving. Ask yourself why you are sharing this content. Is it to solve a pain point, tell a story, highlight something big happening in the industry, or to talk about your products?

Your content should offer all of these over time. For example, you shouldn’t post all ‘sales’ type posts as that makes you seem pushy and that you only care about your bottom line. Sprinkle sales posts in every now and then, but overall, make your content useful for the reader and they’ll naturally turn to you when they need your products or services.

While you want to be the thought leader in the industry, highlight others too. It takes a village to create a powerful company that helps others, and you’ll do it with the help of other leaders. Bring in their expertise into your content and let your audience see that you’re a team player.

Break up your Content to Make it Easily Scannable

Like we said above, readers today are really scanners. They may or may not read your entire content. That doesn’t mean you should write short and sweet content – the search engines don’t like that. They want authoritative content that provides a lot of value.

You need to please both readers and the search engines so the compromise is long-form content that’s easily scanned. In other words, readers should be able to get the gist of what you’re offering by scanning the headlines and subheadings.

Subheadings give readers something else to scan. They’ll use it to see if the content is worth reading. Some even use it to scan to the part that’s most relevant to them – they may not care about the rest, but reading that section may give them what they wanted.  

Under your subheadings, break up your content into short paragraphs and include bulleted and numbered lists when appropriate. Readers love lists because they’re easily digested without reading the entire page. Don’t forget images too. Most content has images at the top of the page, but if you have long content, break it up with relevant images that add to the story. 

What Words Grab Readers’ Attention?

So you know you need to grab readers’ attention, but how do you differentiate yourself from the other fish in the sea? There are literally thousands of others trying to do the same thing as you.

It comes down to power words – or words you use to grab their attention. Don’t copy what your neighbors are doing. This time, reinvent the wheel or even better –do the opposite of what they do.

Here are a few words that tweak the norm and stand out from the crowd:

• Announcing, introducing, or new – If you have something exciting, make it sound exciting. Make it unexpected, exciting, and something they ‘have’ to learn about.

• Go with the negative – It sounds odd, why would you want to invoke negativity, right? But it brings in the audience. It piques their curiosity. Use words like never, avoid, stop, losing, and fail.

• Make readers curious – Draw in curiosity without giving away the answers with your titles. ‘How to’ titles are great for this as are ‘X Things No One Tells you About X’.

Each of these headlines makes readers want to know more and increases the chances of them clicking on your content and reading it. 

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Stories

Readers love to personify what you’re telling them, and there’s no better way to do this than with stories. If you have real-life stories, use them! Of course, if it’s not your story to tell, make sure you get permission first. 

Stories help make what you’re saying seem real. When readers can learn the outcome or see ‘real people’ using what you say, they’ll be more likely to incorporate it into their lives too. 

Never End Without a Call to Action

Now that you’ve laid out your useful and valuable content, it’s time to ask for what you want. You’ve shown your value and what you have to give readers – now you ask them to take action. This shouldn’t always be ‘buy my products.’ Save those for every 5 pieces of content or so – don’t overload readers.

Here are a few others to try:

• If you loved this advice, share it on social media
• Want to learn more about ‘x’, read here
• Let us know your thoughts in the comments 

Think of the actions that work well with what you’re offering. The actions shouldn’t always be something that benefits you directly – make it seem like something the reader gets out of it too, whether it’s some introspection, sharing with their friends, or learning more by reading other content pieces.

So there you have it. Without attention-grabbing content from start to finish, you’ll lose your audience. 8 seconds is nothing – goldfish focus longer! Since you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, doing it right the first time is important. Take a step back and look at your content. Where can you make changes? Is it time to learn how you can improve the content you share?