The Daily Freelancer: Writing Should Provoke Emotions, Not Check Boxes
Every time I think I get a grasp on SEO, I lose it again.
Then I go back and look through a post or two about SEO, and go, Oh yes! Keywords, article length, sentence length, links, title and subtitle — all the things that will theoretically rank you in Google. But is that enough?
While SEO might be a great framework and a way to crack the formula of Google rankings, there’s something at the core of good content that we never talk about: emotion.
Have you ever cried at a novel, or felt the longing in the characters? Have you been inspired by a quote? Have you read reviews and bought the product? Have you laughed at a Tweet? Those words didn’t just convey information to you, but they developed an emotion inside of you.
But why? A lot of this goes back to the research done on storytelling, which scientifically proves that a story taps into more parts of your brain than just information, and causes you to feel emotion, to be moved, to act, to respond. (More on this in another post, as I’ve spent some time researching storytelling in business.) Storytelling is engaging, with the listener or reader following along on a journey. And storytelling taps into a common humanity.
But how do you create content that evokes emotion? It comes down to craft, which leads to things that affect the reader subconsciously — and that’s where your power is. Here are some suggestions:
Create the right tone, which sets the mood for the reader. You inherently feel different watching a black and white movie that takes place in a rainy city at night than watching a movie that takes place in a bright fantasy land. You want a reader to get a feeling from your writing.
Change up the pace with sentence length. Did you know that shorter sentences slow the reader down, while longer sentences speed the reader up? Play around with having longer sentences and then switch to shorter sentences to pause the reader, and make a bigger impact. Or use longer sentences to create a sense of anticipation and heightened expectation.
Tell a story about a character (even if they’re fake). This goes back to storytelling, and is one reason why case studies are so impactful. Case studies tell a story about a protagonist or a company, who is faced with a problem and has to solve it. It’s a formula that’s as old as time, and one that resonates on a human level.
Make the writing interesting and different from other writing by employing some deep cut craft techniques: vary up your word choice, use alliteration for some playfulness, and utilize parallelism to make your point.
You may have noticed something: These writing techniques I’ve listed come into conflict with SEO. SEO says to write to keywords; I say focus on writing great content first. SEO says to have shorter paragraphs and sentences; I say that you need to use the right length of sentences and paragraphs for the piece. SEO suggests that if you check the boxes, you’ll get traffic; I say (and have proven with my Boston Book Blog) that well-written content with a focus on quality and branded style, and engagement with your audience will always gain you a following.
Hi! I’m Jessica, and I can write your content. Head to my Writer for Hire page, and work with me today!