Write Better Content Right Now | Part 4: Collect Interesting Verbs, Go Light on Adjectives
This is part four of a four-part series on creating better marketing content right now. Entrepreneurs and companies often come to content marketers like me when they need polished, professional marketing content. But not everyone has the budget or resources for a full content strategy. In these posts, I want to help you see that you can write great content, and you can do it now. Want to start at the beginning? Check out Part 1: Start Writing. Now.
Your audience skims your writing. Sorry, not sorry — it’s the truth. If you fill your writing with a bunch of unnecessary adjectives, you’re going to hide your point. Your readers don’t want to plow through a long list of explainers. They want you to show them what you’re saying. And, if you don’t show them fast enough, they’ll leave and find it somewhere else.
You don’t make your writing more interesting with more adjectives. You make it more interesting with better verbs. Just like active voice, finding interesting verbs will bring your content to life. You’ll be surprised what you can do when you write with better verbs instead of dressing up your boring verbs and nouns with fluffy adjectives. Don’t believe me? Which one of these paragraphs speaks to you?
Enhance your readers’ experience. Write stories people want to read. Discover a whole world of content marketing.
Give your readers a wonderful experience. Learn how to write really great stories. Get better at content marketing.
Not sure how to find those “interesting verbs”? Keep a running list of words that catch your eye. Whether you’re reading other brands’ content in your industry, a novel by your favorite author, or anything else — if it grabs your attention, write it down and make a note to use it in your work later. Who knows when you might need to defenestrate something for your readers? Jk, defenestrate is a great word, but I’d err on the side of great words that won’t make most of your readers reach for a dictionary. Unless you’re selling dictionaries. In that case, defenestrate away!
And that’s it. Just a few tangible things you can do right now to write better marketing content. Of course, if you read all this and thought, “I don’t have time to write a blog post, let alone edit it or hunt down killer verbs! I have to sell these dictionaries!” — that’s okay, too. I’m here for you. Let’s talk.
Have content marketing questions? Want to improve your SEO without sounding like a robot? Interested in what goes into a great content strategy? Drop me a message at amelia@valkyriemktg.com! I’m here for you.
