Mike Delgado said
1 year, 4 months ago: The Anatomy of a Killer Blog Post
How to Write Easy-to-Read Blog Content: 12 Simple Strategies
Blog posts don’t need to follow any formulas, but here are some simple tips to help guide you on writing clear and concise blog posts:1. Write an attractive headline.
The first step to writing a great blog post is focus on developing a great headline. The headline should sell your visitor on why your blog post should get read – and how it will benefit them. Remember that the headline is what people will see on a search engine results page (competing with 10 other headlines). Make your headline stick-out like a sore thumb – and keep under 70 characters so the full title will get seen on a search engine results page.
2. Start your blog post with a short 1 or 2 sentence introduction.
The first few lines of your blog post will either pull them into your blog post – or lose their interest. Follow-up with what your headline promises and get them into your article quickly.
3. Use short paragraphs.
Reading from a screen or mobile device is not always easy on the eyes, so keep your paragraphs short and sweet. Try to only have 3 or 4 sentences per paragraph. Remember, you’re not writing a formal college essay – it’s a blog post that someone wants to skim through quickly.
4. Use bullets, numbered lists and /or subheads
Break-up your copy with bullets when appropriate and/or use subheads to break-up paragraphs. This strategy is a great way to highlight important points and help your reader skim through your content.
5. Write short blog posts
Keep your blog posts under 500 words if possible. Never write more than is necessary to get your point across. Remember to value your reader’s time.
6. Keep sentences short.
Try to keep your sentences short. Blog readers want to read through your text to learn as much as possible within a short time-frame, and long sentences (like this one) can make your copy a bit bulky and cause the reader to spend more time reading than they would if you would have just shortened up the text by using less words and using more periods. Say more with fewer words.
7. Link to relevant articles
Show that you are an authority on a topic by linking to quality articles on your topic. It’s also important to link to previous blog posts or site content that is relevant to your article to increase our page views, site exposure, and time on site. This also has a positive impact from an SEO standpoint when we link internally with appropriate keywords.
8. Use Simple Words
Don’t try to impress anyone with “big” words. Just write simply so that you can easily get your point across. Yep, it’s as easy as that.
9. Relevant Image, Slideshow, Screenshot and/or Video
Newspapers and magazines use pictures to pull-in readers, and great blogs add pictures, too. You can get free pictures to use on Flickr (as long as you use appropriate attribution). This is a great way to make your blog post even more attractive and interesting.
10. Personal Experience
Readers like to connect to someone (and enjoy personal stories) — so it can be helpful to share personal experience on the topic you are writing about. This can be especially effective when writing about your personal failures and what you learned.
11. Engage Your Readers
You can gauge how well you are engaging your readers through comments. It’s always difficult launching a new blog – and getting your first comment – but engaging your readers can be a great way to stimulate comments. You can do this by asking your readers a question, advice, or suggestions in a blog post. And respond back to them in comments so they know you are real – and care about their opinions.
12. Above all, write useful content.
If you can focus on writing useful content for your audience, you will eventually get bookmarked, subscribed to, and acquire more traffic. Just be patient.
What other suggestions do you have?
