How to Create Content With More Oomph That Your Readers Love

Digital content for your business and website demands more today than ever before. Taking your content higher means starting with the relevant core material. Next comes sculpting information, even the mundane, into a viable and vivacious piece of work.

how to create content with more oophm

A piece of work worth consuming, sharing, and if you’re lucky, (or skilled, perhaps) even getting talked about. Ahhh, reaching the holy grail of the ever-elusive and ever-important level called engagement.

According to the seeker of all website data, Andy Crestodina from Orbit Media, user interaction signals are very important. And the content will evolve even more in 2019.

Create Content With Engagement in Mind

Engagement, you see, is sometimes a squishy measurement. And often, is masked behind those glamorous yet sometimes less meaningful vanity metrics we can’t help but love. And yet, there’s evidence those vanity and social interactivity metrics are indeed more meaningful than folks knew. Google does, in fact, look at social signals.

It doesn’t really matter, though, because you’re not doing social media as part of your content marketing plan for metrics anyway but, for building business relationships and gaining business.

Your Content Has a Bigger Job

In the same way, the content you create encompasses a bigger job than merely existing on your site. Taking a boomerang approach to your content entails sending it far and wide.  It becomes an invitation for visitors to check out your site and business.

Yikes. You get that your content needs to travel but, you haven’t thought of exactly how you will give it wings and move it beyond the bare nakedness of the mere written word.

Now don’t get me wrong revolutionaries and revolutionaries of the content movement, because it all hinges on, and begins with, a solid understanding and ability for writing at the core of it all.

Don’t stress too much because every time you write, your writing improves! So, in this post, I’m going to give you a sack full of tools and tips to top off your content, taking it beyond the initial task of writing.

Simplify And Visualize

You’re no doubt aware of the benefits of adding visuals to enhance and strengthen your digital content creations. You’ve been told to create content with interactive media. Then, adopt the mentality of looking at yourself as a media house, a publishing house, one and all.

What’s a business creator to do? Overwhelm creeps in like a sticky fog and it feels like you don’t have enough days left in life. First, relax. You can borrow my personal guiding ABCs…the core mission for my digital business:

Always

Be

Creating!

This stems from my 3 words strategy for this year and, at this point, it’s a good time to review progress, evaluate ongoing plans, and ramp it up through year’s end.

But, I want you to do something different. I want you to NOT beat yourself up at this point but, instead, consider going about your next projects with an attitude of having fun.

Create Content With Mixed Media

Looking at content creation and producing mixed media to stock up your digital publishing house as a fun thing to do takes the stress out of the work (you and I know) it takes.

Start with tiny steps to build your skills and you may surprise yourself as you progress. I know I can do things now I never dreamed possible. Surprising myself is part of the fun!

Oh yeah, my three words. You may want to borrow them, to help keep you on track and in motion to reach your content creation goals and add to your site content assets.

Love. Focus. Execute. Yep. That’s my treasured three for this year. If you go about business from a place of love, maintain a clear focus, and execute ideas and plans, you’re actively on your way to success.

Technology is Your Friend

I know. I still don’t always believe it but, when it comes to digital content, technology is your bestie. You may as well get comfy.

technology is fun

Keep saying to yourself, “It’s going to be fun.”

Learning IS fun but, computer stuff can be frustrating and, well, can ruin your day. But, don’t let it. If I can do this stuff, so can you.

Writing, creating, and producing mixed content types can be fun instead of hard. You may even go for creating an eBook after some experimenting.

But, you may want to be hard on yourself, editing furiously and iterating up as you go.

Create a place where your audience and your message connect.

Visuals with Oophm for Your Audience

Design visuals with audience experience at the forefront. Make the audience more important than the message and deliver it in a way they want to consume it. Create clarity.

Ann Smarty smartly advises in this post about SlideShare presentations, that words are only there to support your visuals and not the other way around, for example.

While she, too, addresses an audience-centric appeal in creating your presentations, Ann also points out the significance of understanding the medium you are creating with, as well.

I love how Ann offers key guidelines and then ends by suggesting you break any and all rules as you create. She’s the rebel we all need to be.

Infographic on In to Create Content

Infographics with Piktochart are easy to create using their user-friendly interface and offer free tier pricing to get you going.

Besides the magic of Canva, Piktochart was one of the first tools I ever used. Here’s one of my earliest creations, showing you just how simple a design can look, yet tell a story.

example of pikochart infographic

Infographics are a great way to distill key concepts or highlight complex information from a blog post in a more memorable format. Outlining information by adding icons, charts, graphs, and other visual cues adds impact to your messages.

Step-by-step guides and how-to maps and blueprints are easy to illustrate using infographics and make useful lead magnet possibilities, too.

Another one of my earliest Piktochart infographics is from a blog post (made as a post visual, highlighting quotes from Ann Handley’s book, Everybody Writes) and was later repurposed into one of my most popular SlideShares! Yay.

Wow. Got it? A blog post to an infographic and post visual to a SlideShare presentation. Traveling content, finding wings.

Visme Electrifies Info To Life

For a spin on a simple infographic, Visme allows you to add animations for effects and twists at every turn in your visual presentation. Movement in your designs draws attention and focus as interactive elements appear.

I love this learning video by Visme. It gives you a solid refresher for organizing your thoughts and information into a compelling story or other cohesive formats.

Organization and flow are keys to making a memorable visual experience for viewers and planning ahead will make actual production time go smoother. Your extra effort ahead of time will make your presentations effortless when shown.

The Visme Interface To Create Content

The Visme interface continues to improve since I first discovered it. But, going for a “back-to-basics” styling for an informational story/timeline format works just as well. This example shows a variation, adding pizzazz to a historical outline and making the facts more interesting.

The example (below) infographic stands on its own as a content asset. For a financial services business, from banking to loan companies to stock traders, this is industry perfect. Not only is it informational and educational, while telling a historical story with a timeline. It also connects with viewers’ lives. It simplifies and condenses in a visually appealing way, a long study and background for easier consumption.

financial infographic example

You can get even more specific, say if you’re a stock trader, by adding an additional block to your design, saying something like this, to subtlety promote trading:

Historically, investing in stocks has handily outperformed investing in bonds, Treasury Bills, gold or cash over the long term. ~investopedia.com

Visme’s intuitive software allows you to add all the bells and whistles you can imagine. It helps you turn dry and sometimes boring, data-heavy information into an easier-to-digest and remember format.

If you want data, research, charts, and diagrams modified to appeal to the senses, Visme has your back.

InfoDrawings by Henneke: World Traveling Content

In a recent post about using visual variations to boomerang your content, I mentioned Enchanting Marketing and Henneke’s InfoDrawings featuring her hand-drawn character and alter ego, Henrietta.

But, sit down, because…

Since that post, Henneke has taken her content offering higher yet. By turning her blog’s companionable artwork and exclusive writing tips to support her readers and students into a physical product, Henneke is connecting once more with people worldwide!

Henneke’s “Henrietta Mug Series” available through Zazzle is taking flight, inspiring writing and delivering magic all over the world:)

Gill Andrews created this piece of visual content to celebrate her “magic Henrietta mug” and I challenged myself (well, Henneke started it, really! haha) to a selfie challenge to help share Henneke’s writing inspirations and her NEW mugs.

I’m not saying we (who participated in the launch fun) are a factor in her fame. But, Henrietta has been seen on Inc.com, HubSpot, Orbit Media, and MarketingProf’s, among others.

create content your readers will love

In this post, Henneke shares her journey from picking up a pencil to how Henrietta became the star she is today if you want to try your artist’s hand.

Experiment with These Tools

Psst. The secret with any of these tools, from pencil to software, is to experiment and find your fit. If you follow the link above for Gill, for example, she shares how she created her original video using a simple tech solution and ingenuity. She gives kudos to me for pushing her creativity and I love that…a great result for all I say!

Inspiring and thriving. Like Lisa’s blog and Henneke’s character, if your content does that, you are on the right track.

But, there’s no doubt that adding visual appeal and using content repurposing, to meet people in a comfortable way, and on their terms, works. Click on the link below to try Canva Pro for FREE for 30 days to create beautiful designs!

Are You Exploring Tools To Create Content?

Every tool is a stepping stone to discovering something new to create content at higher levels of extraordinary. Each skill you gain is helping your content go higher and find wings, grow your audience, and increase traffic to your site.

Are you testing and experimenting with tools like these too? If you need more check out this piece on some great writing tools. We’d love to hear what you think of anything so far in this boomerang content series. So let us know below in the comments.

And, stay tuned for my next tools and tips post for more content creation ideas and software scoops. Plus, I’ll be sharing Ryan Biddulph’s two cents from paradise (lol) about creating eBooks for your business. So many great content avenues, and so little time!

Sue-Ann Bubacz
Catch me on:
  • Bikram Kalsi says:

    Hey Sue,

    Awesome post, We at Brainpiundits do pay special attention toward visual appeal. We create infographics, instagram post, slideshares and other visual data. It truly connects with people.

  • Thanks, Sue.
    Platforms like YouTube and Instagram are huge in popularity thanks to their visual focus. In fact, i find myself struggling to read long articles that don’t break up the content with visually-appealing assets.

    And thankfully, adding these to your content is so incredibly easy. I always suggest that bloggers keep some of the following things in mind while creating content:

    – Embed a relevant YouTube video
    – Consider embedding animated GIFs (plenty of those online)
    – Consider embedding or creating the occasional infographic
    – As well as a static image with a relevant, powerful quote

    The above can make your content much more fun and engaging, all without breaking a sweat.

    Thanks for the nice read!
    Elvis

    • Hi Elvis:

      I appreciate your thoughtful comment and I think you raise a valid point for content creators in that people enjoy content in various formats and the choice is often personal preference. Why not appeal to as many folks in as many ways as we can by offering extras like videos, meaningful graphics, etc.?

      I love that visuals are “no sweat” for you…wish I can say they are that easy for me, too! lol But, I am getting better as I practice and love it more and more as I increase my skills:)

      Thanks again for such a useful addition to the conversation here! Take care, Sue-Ann

  • You’ve got an amazing article here, Sue-Ann.

    Content is everything when it comes to building a viable business on the internet. Whether it is written or visual, they all have their roles to play in increasing engagement and conversion.

    When creating digital content for myself or for clients, I consider SEO and of course incorporate my copywriting skills to make it more fun, inspiring and entertaining in a way to boost boost conversion.

    Thanks for your input on Lisa’s blog.

    Emenike

    • Hi Emenike and thank you!

      I think visuals in your content are about connecting with people’s brains in an easily memorable way. Visuals, therefore, can strengthen any content type but, sometimes like in the case of infographics, your visuals can actually carry the content. Right?

      Again, SEO applies to any content type, even video, for example, but, I tend to be on the “I write for people first” side of the search engine vs. content for people debate.

      And again, even in persuasive copy, visuals can help add power to your message or help add an emotional pull.

      For me, mixing and experimenting with content types and audio/visual components is more fun for creating work and I hope more fun and compelling for readers, too!

      Now, in the next post, conversions are a serious component in the content mix and part of some of the exciting tools coming up…

      Thank you so very much for reading and taking time to comment, too. Take care, Sue-Ann

      P.S. Love contributing here for Lisa!

  • Bhawna says:

    Hey Sue

    To the point article.
    Infographics do make a difference, If you are into Pinterest marketing you would understand, how important infographics are.
    They get more shares, people most likely to link with your content plus you also have a different and intuitive way of representing the content.

    Have a great day ahead
    Regards

    • Bhawna:

      Pinterest is all about visuals, isn’t it? I love how fun and interesting some of the infographics out there are but, they also convey information and statistics useful to people and businesses in a condensed way. User-friendly wins:)

      Thanks so much for commenting and checking out the post! Sincerely, Sue-Ann

  • Super note on finding your fit Sue-Ann. We all have a different niche to fill and each have talents we have most fun exploring. One size does not fit all so follow your passion, have fun helping folks and your charisma will shine through. I dig that miner hat!

    • I had to get out my Santa hat for Tino, Ryan, cause that hard hat would have crushed him! lol

      I truly appreciate your generous support and love writing on Inspire To Thrive, too! Thanks for everything and take care:) Sue-Ann

    • Lisa says:

      Hi Ryan, I LOVE that hat too on Sue-Ann. And the mugs by Henneke are awesome. It’s all about marketing! Thanks for coming by Ryan and I hope your week is going well.

  • Amanda Ricks says:

    What a great powerhouse the two of you make, Sue-Ann and Lisa.
    I love your words for this year, Love. Focus. Execute, Sue-Ann. What a wonderful creative mantra. I think I’ll borrow it for myself too.
    Visuals really are at the heart of getting our content out there, it’s what gets it noticed and we all want that, right?
    Thanks for the tools suggestions, I’ll be sure to check them out.

    • Lisa says:

      Hi Amanda, thanks for coming by on this on. Sue really nailed this one, I loved it too! She has the best graphics and is getting more clever each time. I’d love to know how you like the tools Amanda. Thanks again and have a great day and new week 🙂

    • Hi Amanda and Lisa…

      Looks like Lisa and I are visiting comments together here but, I love hearing from you here and I really think I just may keep those powerful 3 words for next year, too. Still working to improve up to reach them, consistently! Feels like Lisa and I are good for each other…we just work well together!

      I’m always trying to get better at visuals but, it IS work and takes me forever to find the right feel for the visuals for posts. Infographics offer a truncated way to share info so they feel fun to do to me, sometimes. I need to work on having more of them on my site, I think. My post here is a good reminder! lol More goodies in my play, oops, I mean toolbox, coming soon…

      Well, thanks for checking this out and taking time to comment. Take care, Sue-Ann

  • >
    Scroll to Top