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Racked your brains and spent hours creating THE perfect blog post only to see it land on the 67th page of Google Search? Or perhaps you’re sick of consistently having high bounce rates?

If you’re a content creator, you’ll know full well that getting readers to read your content is difficult. Writing a piece of good content takes time, practice and most importantly – technique.

The first step to good content writing is to avoid common pitfalls and mistakes. As a copywriting agency in Singapore, here are our top 5 mistakes we see in a lot of content.

1. You write for the algorithm – not readers

Writing for the algorithm of search engines is not necessarily bad. We all want our content to rank highly in Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) – otherwise, what is the point of publishing a work online only for it to be lost in a sea of work?

Most digital marketing agencies would advise on technicalities of content writing. These technicalities include tips like researching for the right keywords, optimizing your meta descriptions, or even writing clickbait headlines completely unrelated to your content.

In the short term, your content will definitely rank highly on the SERPs, but if readers don’t find your content useful they will leave your site. This leads to high bounce rates and will eventually reduce your SERP rankings.

At the end of the day, content is read by real people. It should always be written for real people.

2. There is no hook

What is a hook? A hook is essentially a snippet at the start of your writing that draws your audience in and entices them to read more. The average user’s attention span is now only 8 seconds long that is how much time your content has to get the reader’s attention.

The fastest way to hook your readers is through your title. There are many ways you can write a good title:

– You could ask a question – people expect answers when they see this
– Make big claims – this piques a reader’s interest and gets them to read more
– Offer a fresh perspective – people are tired of reading about the same old thing

Regardless of what your approach may be, always remember to be concise and truthful. Misleading titles are a big no no.

3. You drop your SEO keywords too frequently

Including keywords in your article is definitely a must-do. We are not saying no, but there is a fine line between keyword stuffing and making your content SEO-friendly is a fine one. Too many keywords make content sound very awkward and your users can definitely tell.

Keyword stuffing might have been an effective SEO strategy 5 years ago. Google penalizes websites who practice this. There is no longer any reason for writers to include their keywords everywhere. In fact, Google prefers articles that are relatable and easy to read. Now is the best time to let your creative juices flow!

Strike a balance. Place your keywords strategically – only when it flows organically. If there is a dire need for you to repeat it multiple times, try searching for synonyms or other alternatives.

4. You write for the sake of writing – provide value!

Now here is another common mistake. Some writers only write to beat deadlines, to reach the required word count – essentially to churn out content, just because.

Do not underestimate your readers, because the thing is, your users will notice this. If you find your article boring and uninteresting to write about, it quite literally translates in your writing, and your readers will feel the same way.

While we understand that you can’t possibly choose the topics to write about, it is important to find sources of value or provide snippets of information throughout to keep readers interested.

Articles also need to be well researched, especially those that are meant to be informative. If you wish to entertain, then make your article as lively and as captivating as it can be. In short, do your best to put your heart into the writing and your readers will feel it as well.

5. There are no images.

Humans are visual creatures. It is much easier to show people a beautiful scene than to describe in words.

Photos supplement your text and provide visualization to the points that you are trying to get across. You can find free images from Unsplash or Pexels.

Moreover, an article filled with chunks of text is visually unappealing and really boring to read. Images can serve as a reading break between paragraphs.

Are you ready to embark on your own content creation journey? Engage a digital marketing agency in Singapore to do the job for you. Professionals have the right tools, language and know-how to write the perfect piece of content for every occasion.

See? These tips are not hard to follow after all!