5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist
Kevin Ocasio
5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist Are you scared to write? Do you think your writing is not good enough to capture your readers’ attention and keep them interested? I’ve got good news for you… Not even the greatest blogger we know of today became great overnight. It does not matter if you do not have the talent to write. You can become the blogger you want to be if you use the right tips and techniques to craft blog posts that convert. So if you’re ready to learn what it takes to write effective posts to grow your business, read on.
1. Know what your readers want. Before you start writing your first draft, it is important to know the kind of content your readers are looking for. Simply guessing what they want won’t help! Do research . Doing research is important because it allows you to better understand your audience. When you research, remember that you are to gather as much information as you can about your readers. What are their interests and needs? Do they have problems that need to be addressed? 5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist
5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist What keywords do they commonly use when looking for information online? Here are 3 free tools to help you get started:
Quora This is my personal favorite. A free tool, Quora is the place where you’ll get honest opinions from people in your industry. You’ll discover valuable insights here which you may not find elsewhere.
Goog le Trends Google Trends is an all-around tool. It lets you see which search terms are popular today or the popularity of search terms over a period of time. You’ll also know the search volume of terms according to place.
Keyword Shitter This is an amazing tool that generates thousands of long tail keywords in a single click. Long tail keywords should be part of your content plan. These are very specific phrases that potential customers use to search for particular products online – especially when they’re close to making a purchase. You can also use Facebook’s search feature to learn more about people’s interests and spy on your competition.
2. Add high-quality images to your blog posts. Why should you add images to your blog posts? The answer is simple: People are 90% visual beings.
5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist
5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist Also, adding images to your copy helps get your message across faster. Jeff Bullas mentions that articles with images get 94 % mo re to ta l views . But you shouldn’t just pick random images to include in your blog posts. They should be relevant, high-quality, and interesting to create a good impression on your audience. So if you want to create the best experiences for your readers, make great images a top priority. Ever wonder how some bloggers are able to come up with images that have text? They make use of easy photo editing tools. By the way, I use PicMonkey for this blog’s images. Many bloggers also use this versatile tool for their small businesses. Here’s what this tool looks like:
5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist
5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist I love PicMonkey because it offers me tons of editing options that make my images look creative and professional. Click here to get a free trial of PicMonkey.
3. Write effective headlines. The rest of your copy is useless if you don’t write headlines that create a great first impression. According to Copyblogger, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest of your copy. This is the reason why you should spend a lot of time on your headlines. Remember that an effective headline can spell the difference between a blog post that engages readers and a blog post that’s ignored. Here are some easy-to-follow tips on writing effective headlines:
State the main benefit of your blog post. Once a visitor reads your headline, he should know immediately what’s in it for him. “How-to” posts and list posts always work because they offer readers practical solutions.
Use an active voice. A sentence that uses an active voice is direct to the point and emphasizes the subject doing the action. A passive sentence sounds weak. For example, an active sentence goes like this: “Stacey discovered weight loss secrets.” On the other hand, a passive sentence would be: “Weight loss secrets discovered by Stacey.” 5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist
5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist Get to the point. Don’t beat around the bush and don’t play with words. Be accurate. Your reader must understand what to expect from your blog post the moment he looks at your headline.
4. Use proper formatting. Retaining your reader’s attention can be quite difficult especially now that people’s attention spans have decreased. Hubspot mentions that the average attention span of a human has decreased to 8.25 seconds. That’s an attention span shorter than a goldfish. You should avoid overwhelming your blog readers with huge paragraphs and long lines of text. Can you picture out how painful it is to look at 50 lines in one paragraph? One of the best ways to entice your readers is to properly format your blog posts. Well-formatted blog posts are visually appealing and digestible. Formatting your posts is a very easy thing to do. Just follow the tips below:
Use short parag raphs. Long paragraphs can give blog readers the impression that they are reading a novel. Create more white space. Make your blog posts easier to scan by using short paragraphs. Subheaders help your readers easily scan your content. They let your readers know what a particular section is about. 5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist
5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist Using subheaders helps your blog visitors stay longer because they are able to immediately find information they would like to read.
Use bulleted lists. These allow your readers to quickly move forward. Bulleted lists are also a smart and more organized way of presenting multiple ideas. If you specialize long-form content, it would help to have a table of contents for each of your blog post. There’s a free WordPress plugin called Table of Contents Plus that automatically creates a table of contents for your blog posts. It shows your headings and subheadings which when clicked, allows you to arrive at that particular section in your content. This plugin helps improve your content’s navigation. By the way, we use Table of Contents Plus for this blog. You can take a look at the table of contents at the beginning of this post.
5. Make your blog readers feel emotion. People want to feel something when they read your blog. Do your blog posts persuade readers to act? Writing a copy that appeals to the emotions of your readers works every time. But sometimes, it can be difficult to write emotionally especially if you are discussing a very technical topic.
5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist
5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist So here is a simple tip that will help your readers feel your marketing messages: Present your readers with a problem and tell them WHY they need your solution.Click To Tweet A good example would be this: A blogger would be able to better convince his readers to purchase his ebook on simple living if he presents them with the disadvantages of a complicated lifestyle. He would then add that his ebook can make their lives better by helping them spend less, make healthy choices, reduce clutter, and feel happier.
Final Thoughts My final advice for you is to keep practicing. Write, rinse, repeat. Don’t let the thought of the possibility of people neglecting your copy bother you. Follow the techniques I’ve shared in this article. Most of all, listen to the opinions of your readers through their comments. Have someone read your copy before you hit publish.
5 Tips For Crafting Blog Posts Your Readers Can't Resist