The key to any successful search engine optimization or marketing campaign is posting thought-provoking and engaging content that your audience is interested in. However, oftentimes businesses become so preoccupied with creating a large amount of content that the quality of the content can suffer. As a result, research shows that most readers only get through around sixty percent of an average post before leaving the page – certainly not a desirable outcome.

Luckily, there are a few tips and tricks that you can follow in order to ensure that your content is captivating for the reader, such as:

1) Write in short paragraphs.

If a visitor clicks into your website and finds themselves confronted with a huge wall of text, they will likely turn around and head right back out again. In contrast, when they are presented with short, snappy paragraphs they are encouraged to invest themselves in the article or blog post. Visitors who find your posts easy and fun to read are all the more likely to return in the future.

2) Choose more interesting topics.

When writing good content it is important to understand your audience and what they are interested in – and then write about it. For example, if you run an insurance agency you should not write a 3,000 word post about the newest developments from the latest industry conference. Instead, you may want to write a post about the little league baseball team that your company sponsors. In other words, write about topics that your customers know and care about.

3) Be lighthearted.

For years the traditional wisdom has been to always keep things formal when conducting business. However, when writing engaging content this is not the case. Readers tend to find formal writing a chore. As such, they much prefer a funny, lighthearted approach to writing.

4) Don’t be afraid to use pictures, videos, or GIFs.

As mentioned before, a wall of text is never fun for your audience to read. Because of this, you shouldn’t be afraid to break up the text with some fun and relevant videos, GIFs, or pictures. Don’t overdo it though – you still want the text to be the focus of the post.

5) Mix things up.

Many businesses or marketers fall into the trap of thinking that regularity is king. And while it is important to post regularly, you should avoid simply rehashing the same article ideas every week. Your audience will eventually tire of reading the same basic post every week. Instead, mix things up and keep the reader excited and engaged.

Ultimately, consumers are much more likely to want to do business with a company that they find to be interesting and engaging. You can display this side of your company in an extremely effective way by following these helpful tips when writing your web content.