Key To Writing Blog Posts That People Want To Read
Want to write blog posts that people want to read? That’s exactly what all bloggers genuinely want to do. The fact is, in this fast and zipping digital age no one’s got time or patience for trashy blog posts.
Interestingly, there are over 600 million blogs in the world today, out of over 1.8 billion websites , and still counting.
Doubtlessly all these blogs have audiences visiting them, who are pretty smart and ‘digital’ themselves. They just love meaty information and they reward you with their loyalty.
But there’s a catch.
What’s that?
As soon as audiences discover that you’re saying something in your title but delivering something else in the post, they leave.
Period.
So the best policy is to deliver on what you promise your reader in the blog post title. Otherwise, if you announce something and deliver something else, your readers are confused. Invariably, they sense a lack of integrity early on.
And they punish you with clicking away from your blog.
Eventually, you will find your click-through rate (CTR) sliding downward.
So, what do you do to avoid such unholy happenings?
Here’s what you simply need to do.
Fill them up with information that they don’t know. And do it in a way that enthuses them.
Here I’m sharing with you a bunch of things to do when you write your blog post. Particularly, a post that you want people to read.
Serve The Reader a Hot Cup Of “ABC”
Ever heard of the “hot ABC cup“?
No?
Well this is what it means.. .. Accuracy Brevity and Clarity.
These three ingredients sum up the crux of an effective post.
Sounds a bit odd …but stick with me.
We all agree today,that audience attention spans are spiraling southward all the time, right ? Your reader has no absolutely time for your rambling.
But wait that’s not all.
What’s the essence, the message you’re giving in your blog post?
Make sure to be very clear in your message. Because that attention-starved reader is too distracted. You’ve got to shave off needless fluff and give him meat instead.
You cant miss this…
The reader’s mind is in your hands for a brief while as he reads your post. Don’t make it travel everywhere, struggling to grasp your meaning.
Dumb it down for him. Clarity is simplifying things.
In fact, ‘simplification is clarity on a platter’.
Your reader will thank you for saving him the effort of connecting your lost dots. So try that in your next blog post (in case you’re not doing that yet).
Now comes the interesting part.
Brevity.
Be brief. Sufficiently brief to expose the reader to what he “must know”. But not so brief that he’s has to wrestle at understanding a simple concept.
Let me clarify crisply.
Don’t shorten that post so much that it appears super-encrypted. And disinteresting.
Consider this…
What’s your job as a content creator? Pretty much to ensure that reading pleasure is not ‘snatched’ from the reader,in your faithful attempt to be brief.
Here’s what you should do for brevity. ..
Just cut back on :
▪Any irrelevant information
▪Unnecessary rambling
▪Repetition
▪Copycat structures of other blogs (remember your own voice is good enough)
Now where voice is concerned, how about conversing with your reader?
Be Conversational In Blog Posts That People Want To Read
How would you respond to someone talking down to you? Lecturing you?
Fact is, no body likes that.
Most people inherently want to lead. To teach.
No body wants to be led, to be taught. Subconsciously at least. Someone may deny this human trait, and that’s ok. But facts tell otherwise.
Now without digressing , wont it be nice if someone gave you invaluable information,without making you feel, well..
Ignorant ?
I think here’s how it works
People are automatically attracted to someone who makes them comfortable, shares a pain, saves face, and respects them.
Your readers long for gratification when they visit your blog.
That’s easily possible when you offer exceptionally valuable information without talking down to them.
They want you to converse with them, even while they profit in that information flowing from you.
And what’s the best way to do that?
You guessed it.
Write in a tone that is not bossy, and not smirking at their lack of knowledge. Write as if you’re speaking to your co-worker or your best friend.
How exactly do you do that?
Here are a couple of things that I recommend for enhancing a conversational tone:-
• Use shorter sentences. Break up your content
•Instead of saying ‘I would’ say ‘I’d’,or instead of ‘I am’, say ‘I’m’. That’s informal
▪Do not be too formal. That style is positively boring to any reader.
•You’re allowed to say ‘oops’, ‘hey’ say what’’ ‘now what’ etc.
•You can start a sentence with conjunctions like ‘and’ or ‘but’.
•Avoid passive voice. Instead of saying ‘it’s been done’, say ‘I did that ..’,
•Avoid using technical jargon. In case industry speak is essential, explain the term as you go along.
•Involve your reader in a dialogue. Ask questions because they make your post engaging and conversational .
Here’s the bottom-line.
Readers want to read a post written by a living, breathing human being. Not by some faceless machine without emotions.
Use Examples In Blog Posts People Want To Read
Want to know another asset in your arsenal? This is something that helps you write blog posts that people want to read.
Well here’s the thing.
Use examples frequently. Cite other sources also.
Give your readers some examples, stats and hard facts in your blog post. This simply strengthens your credibility. Offer them statistics that raise your ‘expertise’ score , not only for your reader but for Google as well.
Where do you obtain examples from?
Well, quote your own example, or use somebody else’s. It doesn’t matter, so long as the source is credible, and you’re able to elaborate a point. You can even share anecdotes that help explain things.
By using examples often, you also add a piece of yourself, which is good.
Why so?
I’m sure you’ll agree that the kind of examples you mention, also reveal a slice of you to your reader. And people want to read those kind of posts.
The same applies to citing other sources as well. And there’s an added advantage. It assures your readers of genuine content; that they are not being led down a dark alley unnecessarily. Aint that great?
Leading readers brings me to the next point – the logical structure of posts.
Structure And Flow In Blog Posts
Every post has a message. That becomes the core essence of the post.The center of gravity.
And to keep that core intact, all the facts need to be structured logically around it. This way the reader gets a hold of the message in a smooth flow.
But how does that smooth flow come?
Easy. That flow comes through a post-structure that is logical. For achieving this, you need to create a rough outline of your post first.
And where do you start off?
Well, you start with an intro first.
Then you progress to the body of the content. Lastly you write a conclusion. That’s about all in the outline, which is only a skeleton. Then you flesh it out with facts, details, concepts, and supporting data.
Many experienced writers have used this simple format for creating epic posts, that remain evergreen even today.
Let me lift the veil a bit.
You write an introduction, where you tell them what you will tell them.
Then, in the body, you tell them.
And finally in the conclusion you tell them what you told them.
That’s it. Your post’s done.
Sounds too simplistic? But believe me, this simplicity is the very nucleus of any blog post.
This easy template can be repeated over and over again for any number of posts. You can utilize this format for short articles, and also for long-form content.
But yes there are some other things you need to attend to. Like doing basic research before you commence a post, so that your facts are right. Then creating your title (headline), and creating subheadings. This is what helps you flesh and fill up the outline.
Lastly add a CTA (call to action). Ask your readers to take some action.That can be asking them to share your post, comment on your post, buy affiliate products, answer a survey etc. In short, the CTA prompts readers to take a desired action that leads to an end objective.
Eventually, the blog post structure will look like this:-
▪Introduction
▪Body
▪Conclusion
▪CTA
Adopt A Rhythm That People Want To Read
Writing blog posts that people want to read means they must be hooked from the beginning till the end.
How do you do that?
By a significant variation and change in the flow of your writing. The aim is to ensure that your writing doesn’t sound like a monotone.
In fact, correctly used, rhythm can make your words swing and swirl .
So how does rhythm translate for you, when you write a post that people want to read?
Well, that translates to a couple of pro- tips like:-
▪Repositioning Words And Phrases. For instance while conveying critical information hold the punch for the end.
▪Varying The Sentence Length. Use short paragraphs and sentences frequently, without making all of them super short. That gets too cryptic, and monotonous again. So you want to alter the sentence length naturally, and mix things up.
▪Utilizing Tension And Release. Inject some emotion into your reading. Put out a challenging concept, disrupt the flow now and then. Later bring clarity, rejoin the concept with your main message again.
▪Exploiting Sentence Fragments. You’re allowed to use extremely short sentences also. That breaks the wall of text you’re building, and simplifies comprehension. Your digital audiences crave for bite size chunks of information, and short sentences are a lifeline for them. And you too!
▪Using White Space to Advantage. Many times the space between paragraphs serves as a good friend. Readers online want to scan a post quickly. And if you offer them the treat of enough ‘white space’ between paragraphs it eases their reading effort immensely. So you don’t have to cringe if your next blog post appears scraggy due to big inter-spaces between paragraphs.
Conclusion
As a blogger and content creator, your aim will be to write blog posts that people want to read. And for that you must firstly deliver what you promised them in the title. Secondly fill your blog post with accuracy, brevity and clarity.
Most importantly write that blog post so that people stay with you. For that be conversational in your content, instead of being formal and boss-like. Add examples and inject a bit of yourself in the post, that’s usually what people want to read.
Something usually overlooked is rhythm. So make sure there’s rhythm in your blog posts so that readers find the content captivating, and not monotonous.
Eventually people will like to read your blog posts, if you keep them ahead of yourself. For that, you simple walk an extra mile to entertain and serve them with information that they don’t have yet.
Let me know how you intend to write your next blog post in a way that people want to read it.