Words that Matter:

Content Writing for Relevant

Topics

Thames Education
Provider

Discussion Points
Reader Behavior
In a nutshell
Checklist
Purpose
Tips

Dont expect
SEO and HTML discussions
IT Terminologies

Why we write?
Aside from our own personal pleasure
You write for your audience.
Not for yourself,
not for your company,
not for your brand.

Audience = Readers

Reading psychology
What do people think
when they read online?

Reading Psychology #1

79%

scanned new pages

Reading Psychology #2

Skim reading is the most

common online reading
behavior

Reading Psychology #3
Readers spend 2.6 seconds
scanning through the site
before focusing on a
particular section

Reading Psychology #4

Readers cannot stay

focused

Reading Psychology #5
Youll lose most of your
readers
after the 3rd paragraph

Reading Psychology #6
Readers do a lightning-fast
decisions about whether a
webpage is worth reading.
They sweep their eyes across the page in a
pattern thats roughly shaped like an F,
starting in the upper left corner

Reading Psychology #7

Users look most above the

fold

Reading Psychology #8
Credibility Matters

Reading Psychology #9
They dont want to think.
They are hunting for information.
People want answers found quickly.

Reading Psychology #10

62 words in a web page
The average person will read this much.
Most adults read about 250 words per
minute

Content + Writing

Types of Writing
Narration to tell a story
Exposition to explain or inform
Description to paint a picture
Persuasion to convince

Purposes of Writing
Entertain
Inform
Persuade
Express

Styles of Writing

Web Content Writing

Content that retains traffic on your website.

Engage your website visitor and develop a
connection that increases your business.

Blog Content Writing

In depth knowledge of marketing principle which apply to

blogging. Content is king and your blog content gives
identity to the site.

Corporate Content Writing

Developing your own corporate signature

by portraying the best content in your
industry segment.

Technical Content Writing

Technical writing projects need domain

knowledge in niche fields that make it easy
to delegate and navigate through different

Manual Content Writing

No product is complete without a proper

user guide. Writing manuals is especially
important that are technically correct and
easy to follow to the end user.

Press Release Content Writing

Press releases are a great way to take the word out and
reach to a wider target audience. Professional press releases
should be catchy and well received by journalists all over.

Why is content writing

important?
Brand Awareness

Relevance and Connection

Marketing Peripherals
Information Gateway
Attract Search Engines
Add value to your site/material

Online vs. Print

Composition
Length
Purpose
Accessibility

TIPS on becoming a successful content

writer

1 Catch a scanners attention by telling a

compelling story with:
headlines
subheads
links
first sentence in each block of text

TIPS on becoming a successful content

writer

Prioritize:

the 1st two words in each sentence.

the 1st two sentences in each paragraph.
the 1st two paragraphs on each page.

70% of readers will jump ship after they

finish paragraph 3 of a webpage or email

TIPS on becoming a successful content

writer

Put the most important content

first, in the opening sentences and
paragraphs.
Dont start with that nice, smooth blahblah intro.
Get to the point. Immediately.

TIPS on becoming a successful content

writer

Dont center text

Readers strongly prefer the left side of the

page and wont even see text thats
centered).

TIPS on becoming a successful content

writer

Use Inverted Pyramid

TIPS on becoming a successful content

writer

6 Use visuals
People are most likely to read your site
100% if you have RELEVANT visuals

Your Turn!

Topics
1.Food
2. Politics
3. Entertainment
4. Health and Fitness
5. Travel
6. Fashion
7. Career
8. Arts
9. Relationships
10. Business

Extensive Module: Learn more

Content Writing for Relevant
Topics
Introduction
-Reader behavior
Online vs Print
Scanning patterns
-When and why people are motivated to read
-Reading and writing: Relevance to the audience?

Extensive Module: Learn more

What is content writing?
-Different types of writing
-Why is it important? Benefits: For blogs and
marketing peripherals
Traditional writers vs Content Writers
-Objectives of writing
-Types of writers
-What traditional writers need to know
(convention vs purpose)

Extensive Module: Learn more

How to write for your readers
-Understanding your audience and their
limitations
-Using persona to inform content
-Addressing the needs of novice and
expert users
-Help all users by writing at a lower grade
level

Extensive Module: Learn more

Rules for Web Writing
-Writing techniques to increase credibility
-Feature-driven language to benefitsdriven language so people relate to your
message
-SEO and usability
-Managing

Extensive Module: Learn more

Tips for best content based on objectives
-Prioritizing important information
relevant to your audience
-Content chunks
-improve scanning and comprehension
-headings and subheadings to encourage
scrolling
-designing content to encourage scrolling
-Long pages vs pagination