How to edit an article and make it your own
Buying an article online makes uploading content to your website or social media accounts quick and easy, without spending the time and money on researching and writing it yourself. But while it’s easiest to download an article and upload it straight onto your website, it’s always best to edit it to suit your unique brand needs. It’s not difficult to edit the content you purchase to suit your brand voice or audience, but there are few key points you should consider.
What happens when I buy content?
When you purchase content from an online marketplace such as Partica, you purchase the entire rights to that piece of content, images and all. This saves you from having to think of a content idea, research it and write it, or commission someone else to write it for you. Having the rights to the content you purchase also means you can share it where you’d like, and edit it however you’d like. At Partica, we strongly recommended that you do edit the content and articles you download to make it sound more like you. Other businesses and brands have access to that same piece of content, but it doesn’t have to look or sound the same for everyone.
Why do I have to edit the content I purchase?
You’re not editing for spelling errors or grammar mistakes, you’re editing for your brand’s voice. When you purchase content online from a trustworthy and quality marketplace such as Partica, you’re getting content written by professional copywriters and content writers. The content has been written with SEO and readability in mind, as well as proper grammar and spelling. What the copywriter can’t know however, is your unique style of content writing, your brand voice, your audience or your specific online marketing strategies. By editing the content yourself, you can tweak it to suit your unique needs.
How do I edit an article?
Read each line
Make sure you read the entire piece of content that you download. This means, reading each and every line. Doing this will take a little more time than simply skimming over it, but it will give you the best opportunity to edit the entire piece so it suits your style and remains consistent the entire way through. This brings us to the next point…
Use your style guide
Professional content writers and copywriters will use a style guide to ensure each and every piece of content suits your brand’s voice and image. But without an inhouse writer, you’ll need to know your own style guide. A style guide is essentially the way you want your content to sound and look. Maybe there’s a specific font you’d like to stick to, or maybe you prefer to use dot points instead of numbers in lists. Having a style guide and sticking to it will keep the content across your website, emails and on social media, consistent.
Edit the wording to suit your audience
Your audience are already aware of how you sound in your communications with them. This might look like the name you call your audience or maybe there’s a little quirk you include at the end of all your emails. Whatever it is that makes you sound like you, make sure you’re editing the content you buy to suit this voice. While you’re reading through the content, consider the words used throughout the article. Some of the words might be too specific to your industry or not specific enough. All you need to do is change them. Try to avoid any words or phrases that don’t make sense to you too. If it doesn’t make sense to you, chances are it won’t make sense to your audience. You know your audience better than anyone else, so make sure you’re the one who is still talking to them.
Remember to keep it local
Don’t forget to localise your content. For example, if you’ve bought a blog article from an American writer, you might need to change the spelling to UK English if you are in a commonwealth country as they’re actually quite different. You also might find that the lingo used in your country is different to that used by the rest of the world, so make sure it reads like home. You’ll also need to make sure the content suits the region of your audience. If your audience lives in a tropical environment, they’re not going to be interested in tips on how to survive the snowy season.
Change the title
The first thing your audience will likely notice when reading your content or article is its title. Make sure you change the title to suit your style and flow, without compromising the keywords. If there’s a keyword or key phrase that is included in the title, you’ll need to work around it. You want to make it sound like your brand’s voice, but continue to be something people will search for in their browsers.
Spend time on the beginning
If the title is the first thing your audience will see, the next is the beginning of your blog article or email. That makes the beginning the most important part of your content to edit. If you can’t catch someone’s attention at the start of your article, you won’t have a chance to get it later. Whether it’s an email or a blog article, you should spend the most time working on the first few sentences or the first paragraph to make them stand out the most to your readers.
Fix the structure
The structure of the blog article that you’ve purchased can also be changed to suit your readers. If your readers don’t spend much time on their screens reading lengthy articles, keep your structure short by breaking it up into paragraphs. Make sure you’re consistent too. Break up your series of long, unrelenting paragraphs into concise points and sub-headings for easier reading. And consider dot points or numbered points when compiling lists.
Add your own images
Adding your own images can make the piece of content entirely yours. While you can purchase content with images included, they aren’t always going to suit your needs or your brands’ unique image. Plus, adding your own images can help localise the article and make it more relatable to your audience.
Remove or add your CTA
Everything you write should include a call to action (the part where you tell the reader to do something such as sign up to your newsletter or call for more information). You might need to change, add, or remove CTAs in the content you’ve purchased to suit your brand and the intent of the content. If you’re using the content to increase your email subscriptions, you’re not going to ask them to fill in a quote form at the end of the article.
Include your own links
Website browsers such as Google love to see your content linking to existing content on your website. Make sure you take the time to include a few in your content piece. You can also include your own references if you have expert references to link to. For example, if the content you purchase references a study conducted in China, but you’d like to reference a more relevant study conducted in your country, link to that instead. This is part of localising your content and making it sound more like your brand.
It’s time to download your content from Partica and start editing it to suit your brand voice and image. Don’t waste time or money on researching and writing it yourself. Instead, use your time wisely and simply edit it and take advantage of high-quality content.
