When writing about tips for producing content, I think back to a time many years ago when I interviewed an Academy Award-winning screenplay writer. Paris Hilton was his neighbor and he lived in the heart of Hollywood. He had achieved extreme career success by creating screenplays that captivated audiences.

“How do you produce content that people actually want to watch,” I asked. “When you have a blank computer screen staring back at you, and you’re in the back of a noisy coffee shop, how do you put words to paper?”

The screenplay writer smiled and gave a pretty simple answer:

“Trust that you’re a valid audience. If you can please yourself, you have to trust that there are enough people out there who will be pleased as well.”

Even in business, this advice holds true. You have to trust that you are the expert in your industry to give valuable information that people want to read. Producing engaging content is a challenge for content writers, small business owners and anyone leveraging their blog to attract prospective readers.ma

To help you create meaningful content, we asked marketing leaders and small business owners for their best content creation tips.

Related: 12 ways to improve your content marketing

11 tips for producing content for your target audience

From leveraging Google to relying on data, here are several strategies that may help you produce valuable content for your website.

1. Google is your best friend
2. Search Pinterest to find new topic ideas
3. Monitor how your content impacts conversions
4. Build up your top performers
5. Interview your target audience
6. Use search listening tools
7. Focus on customer pain points using “AIDA”
8. Pick keywords aligning with a user search intent
9. Be an industry resource
10. Visit spaces where your customers ask questions
11. Analyze content gaps and social media

Below, you’ll have an opportunity to read through advice from key business leaders and see why many of these tips for producing content are so successful.

1. Google is your best friend

All good content starts with some keyword research. But great content starts with “key question” research.

As you examine your target, focus on what questions they have about your product, service or category. A great tool to find out what those questions are is good ol’ Google.

Type in a keyword, scroll down the search results until you get to “People also searched for.” Here you will find great questions that people are turning to Google for answers.

You can be their answer. Go build great content that answers these questions and you will be well on your way to being an authority on topics you know that interests your target.

Eric Rutin, Easy Marketing Lessons

Related: How to do SEO keyword research to drive traffic to your website

2. Search Pinterest to find new topic ideas

A large swath of my audience is on Pinterest, so I utilize the auto-fill in the search tool in Pinterest to find more interesting long-tail keywords — [this works] for content that I may not have considered before utilizing more traditional keyword search platforms, such as Ahrefs.

Not only will this content perform well on Pinterest, but I know that there is an audience interested in this topic. And, I can increase the chance that they will click through to other interesting content on my website.

Kristine Thorndyke, Test Prep Nerds

Related: The entrepreneurs’ guide to Pinterest marketing

3. Monitor how your content impacts conversions

Yes, you should be measuring content performance by looking at metrics like time on page, bounce rate, and more. But if you’re not monitoring which pieces of content are actually driving conversions, then you won’t know what content is meeting your audience’s needs.

To do this, start by enabling ecommerce tracking in Google Analytics or setting up a goal based on what you want your audience to do. Then, use the Assisted Conversions report to see which types of content are moving the needle.

Content is almost always more top-of-the-funnel than bottom. By using the Assisted Conversions report you can see which pieces are contributing throughout the user journey and scale from there.

Sylvia Kang, Mira

4. Build up your top performers

My best tip for producing content that readers will actually enjoy is to see what’s currently ranking and write something better. If long-form content (such as ultimate guides) is ranking for your target keyword, then create an ultimate guide –– but make it stand out.

Use what is already performing well as a baseline, then add another layer of value. This could be something like adding a free downloadable PDF guide to complement the blog post.

Sophia Orlando, Markitors

5. Interview your target audience

The best way to produce content that meets your audience’s needs is to interview your existing customers. Speak to them and find out the challenges they are facing. Discover the hot topic in their industry that everyone is talking about. Once you know what these topics are, you can produce content directly addressing your audience’s questions.

Daniel Lee, Strategyst

6. Use search listening tools

To produce content that meets your target audience’s needs, don’t just take your best guess. To get to grips with what your audience really wants to read, use search listening tools like Answer The Public.

Answer The Public listens to autocomplete data from search engines like Google, then generates a list of audience questions, prepositions and comparisons.

Just by running one or two words through the platform’s tool, you can access and draw from these insights to create content that meets your target audience’s needs. When I’m hitting writer’s block and struggling with what content to plan next, search listening tools always get me back on track and provide a boatload of potential content ideas.

Aaron Gray, NO-BS Marketplace

7. Focus on customer pain points using “AIDA”

Customers have multiple needs. Needs are categorized often as “must” and “nice to have” criteria. But ultimately, there is always one need that creates pain. This is the one need to tackle within your content.

How do you do this? With the proven AIDA model,  an acronym for:

• Attention
• Interest
• Desire
• Action

First, get the attention of the customer by demonstrating you understand their needs and have a good solution.

Second, spark interest with details on your solution and show the user exactly how to solve their problem.

Third, create desire by showing the user how much easier their life is once they purchase your solution. Create the “to-be” state of the customer.

And last, get the user to act through a demo, free call, download or a purchase.

Stephan Wenger, B2B Marketing World

8. Pick keywords aligning with a user search intent

Before crafting your content, first categorize its ideal reader into one of three user search intent categories:

• Informational searchers
• Commercial searchers
• Transactional searchers

Informational searchers are the most passive and broad — [they hunt] online across multiple page-one search engine results pages (SERPs) to better understand a topic.

Commercial searchers go next and [consist of users] searching for the best solution to their questions or problems — not just information.

Finally, transactional searchers are folks who go online specifically to buy something right now.

Once you’ve identified where your reader sits in these three categories, you can scaffold your target keywords accordingly — [aim] to capture their interest and meet their needs in your content. In doing so, you’ve identified the top, middle and bottom funnels. [This] helps ensure that users will find what they need when interacting with your content.

Morgan Taylor, Sourcery

9. Be an industry resource

We see the importance of producing quality content when building our marketing plan, so we focus on addressing our audience’s search intent. You can attract users to your website, but if you’re not answering their questions or filling their needs, you’ll find that they quickly navigate away from the page.

Find relevant keywords and add value to the conversation. Position your business as a resource in your industry.

Blake Murphey, American Pipeline Solutions

10. Visit spaces where your customers ask questions

[Find] the spaces where your ideal customers spend time. A great option is to join or browse Facebook groups that are relevant to your niche. What questions are the people in those groups asking? Are there any recurring topics?

Quora is another platform that can better help you get into the mind of your target audience.

Another place to find inspiration is to talk to your customer service team. What questions do they receive the most from customers or potential customers? Does there appear to be a disconnect anywhere between information available on the website and the questions they hear the most?

Sara Bodner, Conklin Media

11. Analyze content gaps and social media

Perform a content gap analysis. This helps you find topics and keywords that people are searching for or talking about — [especially when] there isn’t much existing content about it.

Doing this would give you ideas for content that meets the needs of your target audience [that isn’t] currently being addressed. Reading social media comments and questions, and seeing what’s trending on social media, also helps in generating content ideas that meet the needs of the target audience.

Ben Rollins, Axon Optics

Make content that connects with your readers

The tips for producing content above will better equip you at connecting with prospective customers.

A perfect piece of content is one that speaks to the needs of your customers.

If every reader can find value in what you’ve created, then you know you’re ready to hit the “publish” button and share with your stakeholders and followers.

Use these content creation tips as a guide when creating your next piece of content and see how it impacts your small business.

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published.

When it comes to brand communications – whether it’s through a website, a mailer, a display advertisement or an Instagram Story – the visuals are only half the battle. The other equally important half is the copy. That’s why it’s important to brush up on the latest copywriting tips to ensure your advertisements portray a clear message.

When designing, you’ll need to think about the words you use alongside, below, or within your ad. This will help qualify what you’re saying and drive a message home to your target market.

Remember, a pretty picture doesn’t necessarily mean much unless it’s accompanied by some sort of copy for context.

For example, think about an image-heavy platform like Instagram. People often leverage their content with a written caption under each post. Pairing this with visual branding makes your message impactful – especially for folks who like to read copy to get more details. It may even give someone that final nudge to make a particular purchasing decision.

Successful ad content maximizes the power of both words and images.

It creates harmony to craft a targeted message that evokes a particular feeling. This tango between art and copy is the backbone of most traditional advertising. And a good team will often consist of a Copywriter and Art Director working in tandem to develop ideas.

Key copywriting tips to boost your content game

Now that we’ve established the importance of copy to your brand communications, it’s time to build up your copywriting skills. Here are 10 copywriting tips to help your ads resonate and most importantly sell.

1. Create a narrative arc

Like any good story, copy works best when there’s a narrative arc present. A newsletter, for example, should contain a beginning, middle and end. The same goes for a blog post or even a captivating Instagram caption. Think of the structure like this:

• Beginning: An introduction to guide your audience through
• Middle: Content that’s substantial, but not overwhelming
• End: A conclusion that ties everything together and leaves your audience feeling satisfied, inspired or wanting more.

Crafting your copy in this way helps paint a picture that can really hit home with the person reading it. Visual tools are constantly evolving and a properly crafted narrative can help you pull the customer along.  Advancements likecarousels in Instagram can help encourage viewers to scroll to the next slide.

Similarly, you can produce video content with the same arc.  Start by introducing the topic and drawing the reader in. Then, deliver your main message (or call to action) and end with something memorable or punchy.

2. Calls-to-action

At the end of the day, sales copy is only as good as the actions your customers take to engage with it. Your goal may be to sell something, but your message may need to be more subtle.

One way to do this is to create brand awareness.

For example, your copy should encourage your audience to do something at the end. Think of what you’d like to accomplish and consider the following questions:

• Is it to subscribe to your email database for future updates?
• Aiming to have them buy a product?
• How about getting them to browse your website?
• Should you ask them to give their opinion on your next product?

Whatever your goal is, it’s important to make their next step in the customer journey super obvious and super easy.

3. Keep your customer engaged

We’re in an attention-driven economy, where brands are constantly vying for consumers’ eyes, hearts and wallets. Any content you write needs to offer the consumer something in return. This could include:

• Information that’s helpful to their lives or something educational
• A highly unusual or thought-provoking post
• Something that’s extremely relevant to the time
• An entertaining post that’s funny or light-hearted

You could even consider a blend of the concepts above. Just make sure you’re not writing filler text for the sake of taking up space. You don’t want to broadcast irrelevant information to your potential customers.

Instead, focus on the engagement. Think about what you want to say and how you can say it in a way that keeps your customer’s time in mind. This will help encourage viewers to read your message and, hopefully, take action.

4. Know your target audience

If you know who you’re marketing to, you’ll be in a better position to make more sales. The key is to know your target audience’s pain points, needs, and desires.

To solve these, you’re going to need to do a little research. Find areas where you can help and offer them things like:

• Information
• Resources
• Price deals that’ll suit their budget

Combining graphics and copy helps build a strong line of communication between you and your audience. Take time working out who it is you’re talking to and the language they respond to. Examples of different languages styles could include:

• Formal
• Informal
• Chatty
• Businesslike

Remember, the approach you take should be relevant to your brand. You’ll want to take proactive measures to stay ahead of the game. You can do this by:

• Conducting marketing research (surveys or polls)
• Spending time where your customers are online
• Noting what they respond to and how they engage with the world

Make sure that what you’re saying resonates with them. That way they’ll be more likely to continue interacting and buying from you.

5. Headlines are crucial

The headline will be what draws your user in first and grabs their attention. It should spark interest in just a few words while giving your audience an accurate idea of what the rest of the content is about. This also applies to subheaders within your post (to a lesser extent) and should maintain consistency throughout the text.

In other words, they should be closely related. You can get creative here, but don’t get too obscure or abstract. If you do, make sure that your subheading is close by to qualify what your headline says. You can apply these concepts to copy you create for:

• Flyers
• In-store posters
• Banner ads
• Instagram posts
• Page on your website

Remember, the more strategic you are with headlines the better equipped you’ll be at capturing your audience’s attention.

6. Get your grammar right

Grammar may not be top of mind, but mistakes in your writing reflect badly on your brand. That’s not to say you can’t write informally on occasion. Sometimes jargon or slang can be effective in certain situations.

But it’s always important to remember the basics of sentence structure, punctuation and spelling.

Clean copy can show your customer’s that you’re credible and trustworthy. They often seek this reassurance before they part with their hard-earned dollars for your product or service.

Even if it’s on a subconscious level, good writing can go a long way. That’s why you should always  double-check whether it’s “your” or “you’re”; “it’s” or “its.” Taking a minute or two to double-check these things can make all the difference between sounding professional, or sub-consciously sketchy.

7. Be specific

A vague approach is the enemy when it comes to sales copy. Now is not the time to be abstract. If you’re talking about a new offering, make sure to be specific about:

• What it is
• What its features are
• Why your customers should buy it

If you’re communicating about a sale or special offer, try to spell out the details rather than leave your customers guessing. The last thing you want to do is make them confused.

Instead, keep it simple and don’t over-complicate your writing when explaining things. Focus on shortening sentences in the active voice (see below) and use visual aids like lists and bullet points to make your message even clearer.

In turn, shaving an extra ten seconds off your copy helps keep your audience engaged – especially in the age of short attention spans.

8. Use the active rather than passive voice

As we mentioned above, sales copy is all about getting your customer to do something. That’s why a key copywriting tip is to write in the active voice rather than the passive whenever possible.

For example, “Buy two items today and get 15% off!” is far more powerful than “15% off every two items purchased.” It subconsciously etches an action into our minds, as opposed to a concept.

The act of buying something is a lot more vivid than the concept of something being on sale.

Although the difference is subtle, it’s an all-important tool in customer engagement — especially in those precious moments between consideration and purchase.

9. Sell the sizzle, not the steak

This is an old concept, but it’s worth repeating: When trying to sell something, emphasize its benefits over its features. Focus on the details that show how it makes your customers’ lives better, simpler, or more fun.

For example, let’s say you own a juice shop. Instead of listing the fruits and vegetables in your pressed juices, talk about how the vitamins and minerals from each ingredient can benefit someone’s health. You could even explain how it helps them detox or gives them more energy.

The same concept of benefit-boasting applies with services, too.

If you were to market a tax consultancy, for instance, you’d likely focus on how much stress you’d take away rather than your competitive rate. The prospect of not tearing your hair out or losing a week of sleep might be more compelling than saving $15.

10. Develop your brand’s personality

Just like your brand’s visual identity, your copy needs an identity too. Think of your copy style as a person and imagine how they would speak and what they would say. Ask yourself:

• Are they formal or informal?
• Young or old?
• Quirky or traditional?

It’s important to get your tone and style right, that way you can use it consistently throughout all your communications.

Remember your audience is probably interacting with your brand in more than one place, both online and offline.

The way you speak to them needs to remain consistent across all your touchpoints. It’d be weird to find a joke-cracking brand acting one way on Instagram and business-like on their website, right?

Final thoughts

While you may be tempted to judge a book by its cover, it’s ultimately the words on the inside that counts. The same goes for branding. If the words across your content don’t live up to your reader’s expectations, they probably won’t get to the final stage in the purchasing journey.

And while visuals are important, words are potentially even more powerful in retaining attention. They keep your customers engaged, help make strong calls to action, and direct your audience to do something.

By keeping these copywriting tips in mind, you can really stand out in a crowded marketplace. Crafting quality copy can make all the difference between generating casual views and acquiring loyal, repeat customers.