30 quick tips for better content writing
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After more than four years in content marketing, I know a thing or two about how to craft the perfect piece of content. There’s a lot more to it than simply filling a page with words – it requires strategy, structure, and a clear understanding of your audience.
In this blog, I’ve pulled together 30 quick tips to help you plan, write, and edit content that’s clear, engaging, and genuinely effective, whether your goal is to boost brand awareness, drive traffic, or generate leads.
Without further ado, let’s dive in…
30 practical tips to improve your content writing
The writing process can be broken down into 3 key stages: the planning stage, the writing stage, and the editing stage.
Here are my top tips for each:
Before you start writing…
1. Know your target audience
You can’t write an effective piece of content if you don’t know who you’re speaking to. Start by asking yourself:
- What problems does my audience face?
- What questions do they want answered?
- What style of writing will resonate with them?
- Do they have existing knowledge of the topic I’m covering?
Why? Defining your target audience helps you choose the right tone of voice, vocabulary, and level of detail. By tailoring your content to their needs and preferences, you make it more relevant, useful, and engaging.
2. Clarify the content objective
Every piece of content you write should have a clear purpose. The goal could be to:
- Drive traffic from search engines
- Generate leads by capturing emails or phone numbers
- Raise brand awareness
- Spark conversation and engagement
Why? Setting the goal early helps keep your writing focused and ensures you’re using the right calls to action throughout. It will also help you measure the success of your content once it’s live.
3. Do keyword research
You might have a brilliant idea for a blog, but it won’t reach the right people if no one’s searching for it. Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to find out:
- What terms your audience is actually searching for
- How competitive those terms are
- Which related phrases or long-tail keywords could bring in targeted traffic
Why? Keyword research ensures you’re writing content people are actively looking for, increasing the chances of your content being found in search results.
4. Think about search intent
It’s not enough to just know what keywords people are searching; you also need to understand what they’re expecting to find when they search for that keyword – this is known as search intent. Before you start writing, check the search results for your chosen keyword and look at the types of content ranking: are they listicles, how-to guides, product pages, or reviews?
Why? When your website’s content satisfies the search query, it’s more likely to appear on relevant results pages. More importantly, it ensures readers find what they’re looking for, keeping them on the page longer and building trust.
5. Check out your competitors
Look at what’s already ranking for your target keywords on the search engine results pages (SERPs). Read through the top 5–10 search results and ask yourself:
- What topics or subheadings have they included?
- How in-depth is the content?
- What formats are they using (listicle, guide, video, infographic)?
- Where are the gaps or opportunities to add more value?
Why? Analysing what your competitors are doing helps you understand the benchmark you need to beat. You can also make a note of what their content is missing (such as unique insights or updated stats) to ensure your piece stands out and offers something better than what’s already out there.
6. Create a working headline
It’s important to have a working headline in mind before you start writing. It doesn’t need to be perfect and can always be refined later, but you’ll need it to make sure you don’t end up wandering off-topic.
Why? Drafting your headline early creates a guidepost for your writing and helps keep your focus clear.
7. Set a word count range
Having a rough idea of how long your piece of content should be is crucial when it comes to planning. Again, this is something you can gauge based on what your competitors in the SERPs are doing – are existing blogs on the same topic short 800-word pieces, or in-depth 2000-word guides?
Why? Setting a word count range helps you make sure you’re covering the topic in enough detail while still staying concise and to the point.
8. Decide your format
Think about what format best fits your topic and content objectives. Should it be a listicle, a how-to guide, a long-form deep dive, or a thought leadership piece? If you’ve thoroughly researched your audience and competitors in the SERPs, it should be fairly easy to determine which format is most appropriate.
Why? Choosing the right format makes your content more engaging and digestible, and signals to search engines that you’ve thought about search intent.
9. Draft an outline
You should never dive into writing without having the key points you want to cover sketched out first. Note down all the subheadings you want to include and bullet point your main points for each section to make sure you stay on track.
Why? An outline keeps your writing structured and helps ensure you cover all your points without rambling or repeating yourself.
10. Plan your visuals
All good pieces of content feature visuals to illustrate your key points. Planning these before you start writing, rather than scrambling to squeeze them in after you’ve finished, makes life a lot easier, so make a note of where images, infographics, or screenshots will be used to support your points.
Why? Visuals break up text, improve readability, and help explain complex ideas more clearly. They also increase shareability and keep readers on the page longer.
While you’re writing…
11. Keep your intro short and sweet
Get straight to the point when writing your introduction, outlining the purpose of the blog and what the reader will get out of it in the first paragraph. If your blog will cover several topics, it’s a good idea to bullet point them in the intro so the reader can easily see them at a glance.
Why? Long introductions tend to waffle, which puts readers off. Keeping your intro between 100 and 200 words ensures you capture attention quickly, show readers the value of your content upfront, and encourage them to keep reading.
12. Answer the question straight away
If the goal of your blog is to answer a question that the reader has, make sure this is answered straight away, either in the introduction or under the first subheading.
Why? Readers want quick answers and will likely click out of your blog if they don’t find the answer they’re looking for straight away. Once the question has been answered, you can go into more detail or address related queries.
13. Vary your sentence lengths
Short sentences are good for keeping things simple for your readers, but they can quickly become monotonous if there’s no variation. Use a combination of shorter and longer sentences to give your writing a better flow.
Why? A variety of sentence lengths creates rhythm in your writing. It keeps readers engaged, makes your content flow more naturally, and helps you emphasise important points.
14. Keep paragraphs short
Instead of writing large blocks of text, aim for 2-4 sentences per paragraph and use white space to make the page feel lighter.
Why? Short paragraphs are easier to read and make your content less overwhelming.
15. Break up text with headings
Use clear, descriptive subheadings within your content to highlight what each section will cover.
Why? Headings not only give structure to your blog but also act as signposts that guide readers through your content. They make your content skimmable, allowing readers to quickly find what they’re looking for.
16. Use bullet points and lists
When you’re presenting multiple ideas, steps, or examples, always break them into bullet points or numbered lists.
Why? Lists are easier to scan, especially on mobile. They also help readers process and remember information more effectively.
17. Stick to one idea per paragraph
It can be hard to resist the urge to cram multiple points into a single block of text, but make sure you keep each paragraph focused on one clear idea.
Why? This structure makes your writing more coherent and helps readers follow your logic step by step – planning out your ideas and content structure before you start writing will help with this!
18. Avoid jargon
Unless you’re writing for a highly specialised audience, ditch the industry buzzwords. Instead, use plain, everyday language that everyone can understand.
Why? Removing jargon makes your content more inclusive and ensures you don’t end up alienating readers who aren’t familiar with technical terms.
19. Use examples and analogies
When discussing abstract ideas or complex data, use real-world examples, case studies, or analogies to make your points as clear as possible.
Why? Examples make your writing relatable and help readers understand complex concepts quickly.
20. Use a conversational tone
Unless the content calls for a more formal tone of voice, talk to the reader like you’d talk to a friend. This can involve things like using contractions (such as ‘you’re’ instead of ‘you are’) and injecting humour into your writing where appropriate.
Why? A conversational tone builds connection and makes your content feel approachable and friendly rather than formal and detached.
Refining your writing…
21. Refine your headline
The headline you start with is rarely the one you end up with – and that’s okay! Try drafting a few variations and pick the strongest one based on what’s most likely to reel your target audience in.
Why? Your headline is the first thing readers (and search engines) see. A clear, compelling one can dramatically improve clicks and shares, so don’t let it be an afterthought.
22. Front-load key information
Double-check that you’ve put the most important information at the top of your blog. If your best insights are halfway through, rejig the order of your subheadings to make sure the key info comes first.
Why? Making sure readers get the most important insights first will help keep them engaged and signal to search engines that your content answers the query quickly.
23. Use relevant keywords naturally
Remember the keywords you picked out during the planning stage? These should be woven naturally into your heading, subheadings, and body text, without committing the dreaded SEO mistake of keyword stuffing. If you’ve forgotten to include your keywords, or have included them too many times so that the content no longer has a natural flow to it, now is the time to fix that.
Why? Using your keywords too many times can make your content clunky and hurt rankings, while underusing them can prevent your content from ranking at all. Try to strike the right balance between the two and focus on making your writing feel natural and of value to your readers.
24. Add internal links
Link to other relevant blogs or pages on your site where it feels natural. Make sure the anchor text clearly describes the page you’re linking to.
Why? Internal links (like the one I’ve just added there) keep readers on your site longer, guide them through related content, and strengthen your site’s SEO structure.
25. Include relevant external links
Where relevant, link to credible sources or stats from other websites to support your points. You should always choose trustworthy sites with a high domain authority.
Why? External links boost your credibility, back up your points, and show readers (and search engines) that you’ve done your research.
26. Remove unnecessary words
Read through your content and trim any filler words or sentences that are unnecessarily long. Be ruthless about removing anything that doesn’t add value.
Why? Cutting the fluff makes your message clearer, keeps readers focused, and makes you seem like a more confident and experienced writer.
27. Assess readability score
Use tools like Hemingway or Grammarly to check how easy your content is to read. You should always aim to use simple, clear language that everyone can understand.
Why? Readability is key to keeping people on your page. If your content feels too dense or complicated, readers will click away.
28. Check, check, and check again!
Read your content thoroughly to make sure you’ve not made any spelling or grammar mistakes. Don’t just rely on spelling and grammar tools as they can sometimes miss things, too! If you can, come back to re-read your content the next day so you’re looking at it with fresh eyes, or ask someone else if they can proofread for you.
Why? No matter how detailed and well-researched your content is, a typo or error immediately undermines it all and makes you look unprofessional. Polished pieces, on the other hand, help build trust and authority.
29. Read it out loud
When checking your content for mistakes, it can be helpful to read it out loud. As well as making any errors obvious, this will also help you identify any clunky sentences or sections that are boring to read.
Why? Reading aloud highlights awkward phrasing and overly long sentences that you might miss when silently scanning. If it doesn’t sound natural, it probably needs editing!
30. Optimise meta descriptions
Write a short, keyword-rich summary (around 150–160 characters) that describes what your content covers and why it’s worth reading.
Why? A well-written meta description can persuade readers to click on your blog and let search engines know its relevance.
Perfect your on-site content with Embryo
If you’re ready to take your content to the next level, the team at Embryo can help. From SEO strategy and keyword research to expert copywriting and performance tracking, our content marketing services drive results that matter.
Get in touch today to see how we can help your brand stand out.
