Despite all the distractions online, some articles still succeed in getting our attention on the web. And even though our days are so busy, there is always a particular content that grabs our full attention. Now, do you start wondering why you read certain articles online but ditch the rest? Do the writers of interesting content online know something that others don’t?
It turns out that the “secret sauce” for a content to be popular and cut above the mediocre ones is essentially a combination of various psychological factors. Better-written or even more “valuable” content does not give you the advantage anymore. In fact, valuable content is just a commodity nowadays and definitely not a differentiator.
You shouldn’t get intimidated by the gurus or experts in your industry because they aren’t much cleverer than you are. Yes, they have some level of authority but it is not the only reason why the people read their content online. Creating a captivating content is much simpler than you think, and the secrets to fascinating content are right in front of your eyes. Read below for the solutions you need in drawing your readers in, keeping them engaged, and enticing them to take action.
1. Make use of statistics to provide instant credibility
Most people do trust statistics better than opinions. If in case your personal credibility among your audience isn’t sturdy yet, you can use statistics to build it up. Look for data and researches that can back your content up. To demonstrate, there was a study from Claremont University that was referred to by Brian Dean of Backlinko in his blog. To support his content about data-driven techniques that work well, he referred to the results of the study that showed images increasing content credibility by 75%.
There was also a study mentioned by SiteGrain that showed people believing certain medication’s efficacy if presented with images that appear to be scientific like formulas and graphs. This is true even if the image has the same information with the text content.
So what can we deduce from this? Add some data and stats in your content by presenting them as visuals of any kind. By doing this, you should expect better engagement than before. Our brains love shreds of evidence, figures, and visuals. Using a combination of graphs, pies, statistics, and images will be a good advantage for your content.
2. Use popular quotes for immediate authority
Getting a line or two from a speech, a book, an interview, or even a movie of an influential and successful people often works in giving your content some level of authority. Perhaps it’s because quotes convey with them some implied legitimacy.
Adding a quote or a powerful statement will not work if it’s buried within the text of your blog or article. What you should do is to format the same statement with a byline and that quote will immediately become some words to live by. It’s like our brains suddenly think it is true if the statement is in quotes.
3. Keep your readers engaged by using stories
Ever wonder why many of us adore movies, books, and TV shows? The reason is that we’re programmed to love stories. They use a language that our brains easily understood at a primitive level.
Transform a plain and boring topic as a storyline and you will suddenly create a more interesting and engaging content. But doing so isn’t always an easy task. What you need to remember is that even a small amount of storytelling inserted into your content can already make a big difference. Try presenting an example that illustrates your message rather than making your point outright. It will be more reflective to your audience and they’ll give more attention to what you have to say.
4. Take advantage of subheadings to keep your readers on your page
Enticing your readers to stay on your page is about 80% of the battle to make them read your entire article. And to refrain them from leaving your page, you first need to understand how they consume your content.
Just think about how you go through this article. It’s likely that you initially saw the headline then read a few lines from the first paragraph. After that, you don’t read the next paragraph right away until you reach the end, you first skim the whole until you see a subheading that interests you. You again skim that part and start reading the whole article only when you see something that resonates with you.
You need to build and structure your content in a way that readers will immediately get the gist of it by simply looking at the subheadings. Your audience should be able to understand the major points without the need to read through the whole content and get the message that you are imparting.
5. Avoid promoting products or services
A fascinating article can easily be a turnoff to many if they sense it to be a promotional blog. You shouldn’t use your blog as a channel to convince people to purchase your products or someone else’s. You can try doing that but only a few or worse, no one will read and engage with what you wrote.
When you eagerly and continuously push products, services, updates, reasons why the platinum plan is amazing, your readers will see you as boring. What is essential is for you to realize that the presence of a fascinating blog is already a promotion. Of course, you can add a call to action in your post but don’t be pushing some products or services to your audience constantly.
6. Be completely clear
If you acquire the skill of being clear, then you become interesting. But being clear in delivering a stunning content does not equate to the clarity required in writing a technical manual. Rather, it is the ability to deliver a clear and unmissable argument.
Being clear is taking and communicating an incredibly obvious point. Just take the argument of this technique number 6, “Be completely clear”. It’s only a few words but the point is apparent. Then with a few more sentences below, the message is already delivered crisp and clear.
If you want to use jargons, you can do so. Just keep in mind that there are different acronyms, terms, and insider expressions in every industry so it will be better to explain yourself if ever there is a risk that your audience may not easily understand an acronym or term.
7. Don’t be afraid to show emotion
Feel free to express different levels of emotions in your article or blog. When your content is filled or injected with humane thoughts and ideas, you increase your blog’s relatability which in turn translates to interest and interaction.
8. Don’t forget to show empathy
In relation to number 7, empathy is a particular emotion that means having the ability to recognize and relate to another person’s feelings and experiences. It is actually a key ingredient of a successful blog since it can maintain a level of interest, connection, and engagement among your readers.
You can sprinkle your blog with an emphatic line or two like “I know what it’s like to start blogging from scratch.” or “Like almost every other blogger, I once had a boring content too.” Statements like these which express empathy can increase your connection with your audience and amplify your interest level.
In writing your next blog, challenge yourself and make your article as enchanting as it can be. Once you do it consistently, you’ll enjoy some remarkable results.
Patrick Del Rosario is a blogger from Design Bro. DesignBro is the world’s highest quality logo design crowdsourcing marketplace, focused around a selected community of leading designers. Our designers are hand-picked by our creative team. This means that only professional designers with years of experience get to work on your design. When not working, Patrick enjoys photography and events.