It’s hard not to get distracted while surfing the web these days. A thousand things are vying for your attention at any given moment, i.e., email, text messages, ads, and social media. You get the idea. Preventing distraction is hard, but capturing attention is harder.
So how do you engage readers of the “always on, always something better” generation?
In this article, we’ll show you how to create affiliate content that resonates with readers and keeps them coming back for more.
Lesson 1: Connect with your audience to keep readers engaged
How online audiences consume content is entirely different from any other writing style. After all, the internet is flooded with content. So why should they read yours?
The Bridge – a story
Once upon a time, Bob is out hiking, enjoying his day, when he happens across a wide rushing river. It’s not on his map, but he knows it’s planted firmly between him and his destination.
“What the hell,” says Bob, “I’m gonna swim this thing.”
Bob jumps in and gets swept downriver. Frustrated and soaked, he pulls himself back onto the river bank. Bob was a Boy Scout back in the day, so his next thought was to build a raft. About an hour later, he has a decent raft fastened together from some old logs he finds and tries the river crossing again.
The raft falls apart less than halfway across, and again Bob pulls himself out on the same bank a little downriver, frustrated and soaked. At about that same time, Bob sees a guy in a small fishing boat.
“Hey man!” he yells, “Where’d you get that boat?” “Eh, ’bout a mile downriver. Jim’s Fish Shack. They rent them out!”
“Heck ya,” Bob thinks, “that’s my ticket.” … and sets off walking. When he gets to the fish shack, he realizes he can’t afford a boat with the money he has.
Now completely frustrated and irritated, Bob orders a drink and starts a conversation with a local old-timer. In the course of the conversation, the old timer lets on that there’s a bridge about another mile downriver.
Elated, Bob sets off, finds the bridge, and crosses the river.
The End.
Connecting with your audience means helping them find the destination they’re looking for
Alright, why the devil did I just make you read about Bob?
Bob is our audience, and Ninja Forms is the bridge. Bob has a destination in mind, and we want to guide him over the bridge and to the destination. What we have to keep in mind is that it’s not the bridge that’s important to Bob. He’ll take any way across that will work. It’s the destination that’s important to him.
Sell the destination, not Ninja Forms. Your focus should be on getting readers where they need to be, accomplishing whatever it is they need to accomplish.
If you help people get across the river, they will return to you to get over the next one.
Be a proxy for the reader. Focus on the destination, not the bridge. No one cares about the bridge itself, just having a way to get across the river 🙂
- Open every article emphasizing and articulating the pain or struggle the user will face when tackling your article’s topic to connect. Make it resonate.
- Try to land on three struggles a user may face with your topic and marinate in them for a bit. Play them up. Connect and empathize, and then move on to outline a solution.
- In short: state the problem, state the objective/destination, show what they need to get there, then show them how they do it.
Be on the user’s side in a way they feel and appreciate. Let them know you feel the struggle your article’s solution alleviates.
Lesson 2: Most readers skim. Make strong connections anyway.
Web audiences have a pretty strong case of reading aversion. If nothing immediately sticks, the reader will move on without reading. Therefore, telling your story in your headline and headings is critical.
Try this in your headings and headlines…
- Tell your narrative in the headings and headlines.
- Address the pain and the destination whenever possible.
- Be opinionated. An article without an opinion is just documentation.
- Reference other sections when possible; “as you read above”/“as you’ll see below.”
In short, it’s all about attention. Use the elements in your article that will be hit when skimming to grab a reader’s attention and keep it there!
Lesson 3: Structure matters. Make your writing easy to read on any screen.
Connecting with your reader is a lost cause if your writing doesn’t present well on the mobile device they’re reading from. So here are a few standard tips to help bridge that gap.
- Break your article up liberally with headings and subheadings.
- Try to keep less than 300 words per subheading.
- Keep your paragraphs short. Sentences too. Big blocks of texts are evil 😈
- Bullet points are your friend.
- Putting more than one space after a period is not your friend. Please don’t.
- Don’t indent paragraphs.
- When you’re documenting a process, screenshot it. Pictures really do speak a thousand words.
- Don’t be afraid of big words and complex passages, but be conservative. The average American adult reads at an eighth-grade level.
You can do it! Start writing affiliate content for your WordPress blog today!
Now that you know how to create a blog post that provides value and connection, I encourage you to try it. Sign up for our Ninja Forms Affiliate Program, and get a 20% commission for every sale you generate.
Not sure what to write about? Don’t worry about that. We will send you a few templates once you sign up to help get those creative juices flowing. Otherwise, bookmark our blog page. We publish new content almost every day. So, give our blog a try when the well of inspiration runs dry. 🌵
