How to Grab The Attention of Your Potential Customer

Do your customers know all about what you offer? Have you ever tried to sell your products or services with a ‘how to’ manual, article or blog post?

The “how to” article or blog post is vastly misunderstood but still so much in vogue.  When you want to search for how to do something, the first thing you will ask any search engine is “How to do XYZ”.  Right now someone online might be asking a search engine how to do what your business provides.

A lot of “how to” articles that you come across online and offline often miss the mark. They leave the reader feeling unsatisfied and clearly does not answer the question the reader will like an answer to. That’s certainly not the goal you have when you write a “how to” article or blog post, right? The following tips and steps will help you create an attention grabbing, and satisfying, “how to” article or blog post about your business.

1. Identify The Benefit For Your Reader. Let your article draw the reader in.  What will your reader learn and what will they be able to accomplish once they’ve read your article? More importantly, how will that information help them live a better, easier, and more satisfying life?  Don’t make them dig and discover nothing.

Include the benefit in the headline. For example, “How to make healthy cupcakes without sugar,” is a great beginning. However, it doesn’t go far enough. What’s the payoff? Why does the reader care? Because an article that grabs your reader’s attention is more powerful than one that doesn’t. If you’re going to write an article, you want the biggest bang possible.

2. Focus, Focus, Focus.  Make sure that the topic you’re writing about is laser focused. The more focused it is, the more value and information you can provide. A broad topic lends itself to too much confusion and too many steps or options – the reader most likely will abandon the article half-way.  A focused topic helps your reader realize the benefit and take action.

For example, “How to bake a cake,” is an incredibly broad topic. What type of cake do you want to bake? What is the occasion? What ingredients do you want to use? You could write an entire book on this subject. But a topic like, “How to make healthy birthday cupcakes without sugar,” is much more specific and therefore more useful to your reader.

3. Follow a Logical Pattern. Your article should flow in an organised manner.  Don’t just write disjointed paragraphs leaving the reader to try and connect the dots. Numbers, bullets, steps and other formatting helps you create logical flow to your article. Images also help add visual interest and add value for your reader.

Finally, back up your facts and data with example, statistics and anecdotes that help explain your information. People learn differently and by providing both factual information along with anecdotal, you’ll ensure that most every reader will walk away satisfied with what they’ve learned.

Well written “how to” articles are printed, shared, and linked to more often than many other forms of content. It’s a useful medium for marketing your business and for connecting with customers and prospects. Learn to write this type of article well and gain more from your article marketing efforts.

So why not set yourself a challenge for the next two weeks and write 2 ‘How to’ articles that answer the most common question about your products and services.

I wish you multiple business blessings.