3-2-1 Fridays: Using seeds of curiosity, writing analogies with AI, and winning with SEO in 2023

Hey friend, welcome to today’s issue of Efikó. This newsletter by Dozie Anyaegbunam helps you make smarter decisions in content marketing and life. Anyway, hello, it’s good to see you. You’re doing great 😀

Happy Friday, my people,

So, I did a thing. Or two.

First, I moved my newsletter from Substack to Beehiiv.

Why?

Substack does feel clunky. Bugs pop up every now and then. Plus, it's not exactly SEO-friendly. So discoverability can be poor or non-existent. Except you share your newsletter on Twitter every single time.

But I'll still keep a Substack account. But for a different thing.

And that is the second thing - I finally launched The Newcomers podcast.

I am currently recording - the second recording is scheduled for tomorrow. And I'll publish it once I have five episodes.

Now back to content marketing. This year, 3-2-1 Fridays will act as a curator of content marketing insights. Let's get to it.

1. Using seeds of curiosity to improve the readability of your content

Insight from Joseph Sugarman (The Adweek Copywriting Handbook).

Everyone wants to create a slippery slide when writing. You know, get the reader to read your headline, and then read the first sentence, and then the introduction, and so on till they get to the end of the piece.

Joseph Sugarman calls it "reading gravity." And creating content with reading gravity means:

• Your average time on page increases

• Your bounce rate reduces

• Your readers are more likely to get your message and TAKE ACTION

So, how to do it? Use what Mr. Sugarman calls "seeds of curiosity." Let me explain.

These seeds cause your reader to subconsciously continue reading your piece. Some examples include:

• Let me explain (did you notice I used it earlier)

• So read on

• Now here comes the good part

• But there's more

• Here's what this looks like

• Let's explore that last point

But as with every good thing, don't overdo it.

2. Use AI to explain complex topics

Insight from Robert Allen.

I don't know about you. But analogies are some of the hardest things to come up with when writing. After huffing and puffing for a while, I often give up and leave the sentence as is.

Well, ChatGPT seems to have this locked down. Robert Allen's prompt is a great place to start:

"Create an easy-to-understand analogy/metaphor for [concept]"

Here's what I got when I tried it out:

3. Winning with content in an era of AI and the Google Helpful Content algo update

Insight from Luke Jordan.

ChatGPT's developer, OpenAI is now valued at $29 billion. And more AI upstarts will pop up, especially if you consider how investors and developers approach news like this.

If FOMO was an image, this is it 👇🏾

What does that mean for content & SEO?

I love Luke Jordan's point that simple optimizations across your site can't be your long-term play for winning. This doesn't mean we should abandon our Clearscope optimizations or stop adding internal links across your site.

But in a world where an AI writer can spit out an analogy as good as the one on content distribution, defining and creating a point of view that gives your audience a reason to visit your website/blog is more important than ever.

The human BS filter is about to go several notches higher. And brand building - one thing most B2B content marketers detest - is key to slipping past the BS filter. Building your brand means:

• Turning your website into a resource center for your prospect/customer

• Making it easy for your prospects to find these resources when they need them

• And enabling them to share these resources with their tribe

2 things I am thinking about

i.

ii.

The journey is the reward. The growth is the reward. The person you become along the way is the reward. Everything else is a byproduct.

1 book recommendation

This article on "being serious" by Visakan Veerasamy should be a book. It's a great read on what being serious means and how understanding what it means to be serious in how we approach every day can change our life for good.

Enjoy 👉🏾 Are you serious?

And that's all, folks.

Be good out there. If you can't be good, be careful.

I'll be back on 1/20.

Dozie.

PS: If you found this newsletter helpful, please share it with someone else.