The Online Business Crucial Success Factor

Every day, customers are browsing the Internet in search of the perfect product or service. What they find might be a company's advertisement on a search engine's site, or it might be content generated by other like-minded people. Either way, it's up to you to get their attention and keep them interested long enough for them to notice the call-to-action (CTA). Whether it’s a video on YouTube or an article on your website: if you can't capture their attention with your introduction, chances are they will just go elsewhere.

I have been fortunate enough in my career to work with some of the top agencies and companies online. I have seen many of them struggle with writing articles and creating content for their companies. They invest a great deal into that type of marketing, but the results can often be underwhelming. The reason they are not producing the growth they desire is because they may have an excellent CTA, but lost their audience at some point in the article or video.

I've taken what I learned from my experiences and applied it to every piece of content I write. It doesn't matter if it's a blog post that's going to go viral, an article for a magazine or a white paper for a client: my approach is always the same. I want to give the reader a compelling reason to want to know more about my product or service.

I use a variety of different writing styles and techniques, but when it comes to the introduction, the most important thing is that I engage my audience with something they can connect with. Eventually, it will lead them to the CTA and stick in their mind.

Here are the two main things that really stand out to me:

1. Engage with your reader. – You don't need to be overly creative or use metaphors, but I always make an attempt to connect with the person who's going to be reading my article or watching my video. I want them to feel a connection with me and my product, so that they'll want to know more. When you can draw a reader in, you've got their attention and you're halfway there!

2. Keep it short – While this might sound like an obvious point, it is one of the most important ones when it comes down to content marketing and creating links and SEO opportunities through your site, social pages and videos. If you can't get to the point quickly, chances are you'll lose your readers. A short paragraph or video of no more than 2 minutes is all you need to capture your audience and show them why they should care about what you're talking about.

These two points are enough to draw in a reader, but there are a few things I also do with every article or video that I write:

1. Grab their attention immediately - The first line of any piece of content should be the most interesting thing you've written, no matter what it is. Writing the first sentence is the hardest part for me, but once I've done it I'm ready to work through everything else until it's complete.

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Conclusion – The final thing I do with every piece of content is to end it the way that I want my reader's experience to continue. I have specific ideas in mind for how I want them to find out more about my product or service, so that when they have finished reading, they already know they need to read more. For example, if you are writing an article on SEO, you might want the reader's next step to be a video or a blog post that takes them through exactly what you've just written about.

There is no simple formula for writing articles and videos - there are numerous things that can work and it's all a matter of trial and error.