Creating content is easy. But making that content engaging enough to get people to take action is challenging.
When writing blogs, emails, social posts, or landing pages, your words need to connect with your audience and inspire them to do something: to click, share, sign up, or ideally buy.
Plus, once you’re ready to start your own business and put your content to work, we share how you can form a company with Rapid Formations today.
1. Understand your audience before you write
The foundation of any engaging content is knowing exactly who you’re speaking to. Understanding your audience’s demographics, behaviours, and preferences ensures your content resonates and drives engagement.
Utilise tools like Google Analytics to gather data about your website visitors. Build a comprehensive profile of your audience by examining:
Demographics
On Google Analytics, click on Audience, Demographics, then Overview to see your visitors’ age range, gender, and locations. Knowing this can help you tailor your content to the right people.
Interests and behaviours
You can find out what content your visitors consume and how they interact with your site – for example, how they found your page and how long they spent on it. For instance, if your analytics reveal a high bounce rate or low average session duration, it may indicate that your content isn’t meeting the needs or expectations of your visitors.
Device usage
Knowing whether your audience accesses your site via mobile, tablet, or desktop can influence your content format and design. If the majority of your visitors are via mobile, you must prioritise how your content looks and functions on a smaller screen.
By regularly analysing these statistics, you can refine your content to better serve your audience, ultimately leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.
2. Craft great headlines
Most readers decide within seconds whether to click on something based on the headline alone. So, if you want people to actually read your content, start strong.
Here are some headline tricks that work:
- Create curiosity: “What Most Businesses Get Wrong About… ”
- Offer a benefit: “How to Increase… by 50%”
- Use numbers: “7 Ways to Improve… Today”
- Keep it short and punchy
Don’t be afraid to experiment with what gets the most attention. Even just swapping out one word or reordering the sentence can lead to noticeable improvements in clicks and engagement.
3. Keep it clear, simple, and conversational
The most engaging content is easy to read and sounds human. Unless your audience expects technical writing, avoid long sentences and business jargon. Instead, use everyday language and a friendly, natural tone. People don’t stick around for content that makes them feel confused or talked down to.
You can also make your content easier to read and more scannable by:
- Breaking it into sections with subheadings
- Using bullet points and numbered lists
- Adding relevant images or videos
- Keeping paragraphs to 2–3 lines max
Additionally, with the rising use of artificial intelligence (AI), people are increasingly starting to notice when content is written by AI. While it would be easy to ask AI software to write your content for you, keen eyes notice if it sounds unoriginal or inauthentic. Audiences connect better to words written by people.
4. Use storytelling to create emotional connection
If you want people to remember your message and trust your brand, storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you have.
We’re wired to respond to stories, especially those that reflect our own challenges or desires. That’s why you should include real-life case studies and customer testimonials wherever possible.
Stories help humanise your brand, showing the real impact your product or service has on people’s lives. Instead of listing features or benefits, let your audience see how you’ve helped someone overcome a problem or reach a goal.
When people feel a connection, they’re far more likely to remember your brand and potentially make a purchase.
5. Use a strong and relevant call to action (CTA)
Great content gets people to take action, but that won’t happen unless you guide them with a clear and relevant call to action.
For example:
- Blog post: “Download our free checklist”
- Service page: “Get your instant quote”
- Product page: “Buy now”
- Email: “Book your free consultation”
Be specific about what the reader will get by clicking. Instead of saying “Submit”, say “Get your free resource” or “Start my trial”. The best CTAs make the benefit crystal clear. Even a small tweak to your wording can make a big difference in how many people convert.
6. Optimise for SEO
To bring in new readers, your content needs to rank on search engines. That’s where Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) comes in. That being said, it shouldn’t take away from your personality or readability.
Balance both by including keywords naturally throughout the post. Use your main keyword in the headline, first paragraph, at least one subheading, and in the meta description.
Also, link internally to other useful content or services on your site and add 1–2 external links to high-quality sources to build trust.
Google ranks content that’s genuinely helpful, not stuffed with keywords. Focus on answering real questions and providing real value.
7. Test, measure and improve
The best way to keep improving your content is to track what works. Look at metrics like:
- Time on page
- Bounce rate
- Scroll depth
- Click-through rate on CTAs
- Conversion rates
Tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar can give you insights into what your audience engages with. Once you spot a pattern, keep doing what works. Then update old posts using those strategies.
Put your content to work
When writing content for your online business, you can boost your success by officially registering as a limited company.
Whether you’re launching an online shop, offering professional services, or building a personal brand, having a registered company adds credibility, protects your name, and makes you look more professional from day one.
At Rapid Formations, we make it simple to form your limited company online in just a few minutes. Our basic company registration package starts from just £2.99 and include everything you need to get going, including your official Companies House registration and a free .com or .co.uk domain name.
Ready to turn your content into a real business? Form your company with Rapid Formations today.