The 4 Basics of Good Content Structure

If you want people to easily consume your content and understand what you are saying, it needs to have a solid structure. Not only will this make your content more consumable to your target audience but it will also make the writing process easier for you. We can all use tools to make content creation easier! Here are four main elements for creating content that has a solid structure.

The Introduction

To grab your target audience’s attention you need to carefully craft your first sentence. Your audience should know immediately what your article is about. The first paragraph should elaborate on the first sentence so your reader wants to know more.

Let Them Know What to Expect

You should prepare your audience by letting them know what to expect in your content piece. This will “wet their appetite” before jumping into the meat of the content. You can be as detailed as “we will cover A,B,C now or as simple as “here’s how to do B.” Your mission here is to prepare your target audience to receive the content you are giving them.

Main Talking Points of Your Content

Next, you start the main points of your content piece. You should go through each in a logical, organized presentation. If you are writing for online content, make sure you separate your content into easily digestible chunks. If you are writing a 500 word article, you should include several subsections and subheads. Remember, most people will scan your article quickly at first so you should make your subheads interesting enough that they want to read the entire article.
You also need to be sure to use the word “you” as much as possible. As I talked about in a previous post, your readers will be asking “What’s in for me.” They need to feel like you’re speaking directly to them.
Storytelling is a powerful writing technique you can use. Present a few different solutions, viewpoints or opinions in your article. If you’re talking about social media schedules for example, you can give your readers several options or tell them how you have effectively used a tactic.
Examples help take something that’s theoretical and turn it into something more concrete. People are much more likely to remember an example demonstrating a principle than just a theory.

Wrapping it all up: Your Conclusion

The last paragraph of your article is the conclusion. The conclusion should sum up everything you just wrote about, plus perhaps reiterate the most important point.
It is very important in online content creation to leave the user with a call to action. What do you want them to do now? This could be opt in for your list or simply leave a comment.
These are the basics of good content structure. When you follow this structure you will give your readers a good idea of what to expect from your content piece and keep them engaged to read more. It will also make your content creation easier by organizing your thoughts into a coherent chronological order before you start writing.