Writing for business has become, well, a business. Creative tendencies are neglected, and as much indecipherable jargon as possible is crammed into any given post. How often do you start reading an industry-related article before you think to yourself, “this is really boring.”

When writing articles and blogs that bear your company’s name, it is important to showcase the expertise and knowledge that the company possesses. This is obvious. But every bit of text that is cranked out by the company doesn’t have to read like a technical manual on how to assemble a radiator.

There are some basic rules of thumb when creating content that you want to be read and shared. Here are five.

1. Be Personable

You’re a company of living, breathing people providing services for other living, breathing people. The heavy duty technical language is good in some places, but too much will alienate your audience and restrict the readability of your publications. Inject some wit and humor in your posts. Readers will appreciate it and reward you with loyalty.

2. Be Concise

Sadly, the art of long-form prose has gone by the wayside. Your readers don’t have time to read a monster post about the comprehensive catalog of services that you want them to see. In a world of Twitter and text messages, our collective attention span has sunk to an alarming low. The Associated Press released a study in May that pegged the average attention span of a human at eight seconds. The attention span of a goldfish is nine seconds.  This is somewhat disturbing, considering – Hey! Look at this meme!

3. Be Mindful

The cardinal rule of writing, in any form, is to know who you are writing for. Be mindful of their time, their knowledge of the industry, their intentions – whatever you can possibly learn about them. Every blog or article is written for a potential client, aren’t they? You write, whether for a B2B or B2C company, with the hope of drawing traffic, and hopefully leads, to your website.

4. Be Selfless

We have all been to a party or networking event when you meet the one person who seems to forget that other people have also done things in their life. They drone on and on about their cats or their charcoal collection, never pausing to inquire about the other parties in the conversation. In business, this is no different. Don’t be overly promotional. Inbound marketing isn’t about overtly making sales, it’s about your audiences qualifying themselves as leads to facilitate the sales process.

5. Be Passionate

In writing, it is always immediately apparent when the author isn’t invested in his or her work. No matter the subject, no matter the content, make it clear that the company stands behind everything it produces. If the post is about variable data printing, sit down with the intention of writing the best post about variable data printing on the internet.

Looking for some more inspiration? For more tips on content and other inbound marketing strategies, please download our Free White Paper.

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