Do you struggle to stand out with your blog posts? Writing great blog posts is no easy task! The internet is crowded, making it difficult for even good content creators to get attention. Being interesting, knowledgeable, and eloquent is important, but these things aren’t enough! If you want eyeballs in this attention economy you’ve got to nail the topic, own the tone, and kill it with the delivery. Follow these six tips and go from ‘Where’s Waldo’ to shining star!
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Choose a Relevant Blog Topic
Who is your audience? What do they care about? Choosing a relevant blog topic is a great start on the road to success. Of course you’ll want to choose a subject for which you have some actual insight. Don’t worry if it’s niche! The world has enough ‘Dancing with the Stars’ recaps, but somebody out there is begging for your instructions on cleaning hamster cages.
Solving a problem is always a popular approach. What does your audience need to know? What phrase might they search for? For best SEO results, try to match their verbiage in your title or opening paragraph.
Use a Conversational Tone
Remember, you’re writing a blog post, not an Ikea instruction manual or an insurance policy (unless, of course, you are writing one of those things). A conversational tone will help your audience stay engaged. If you’re selling personal services of any kind, this tact will bond you to your audience, giving you a stronger connection.
If you’re writing professional instructions (as I am right now), you’ll want to maintain good grammar. If you’re going for a more artful approach then anything is on the table. The first rule of write-club is: just don’t be dry!
Be Relatable
Do you write useful content, but find yourself struggling to make a connection? Ask yourself: Who are you writing to? How do they speak? What lingo do they use? What common situations factor into their lives? It pays to be relatable in your blog posts.
Striking the right tone will depend upon subject matter. A politician addressing a serious matter will not speak in the same parlance as a movie critic ranking the sappiest 80s rom-coms. Having said this, it’s almost always better to speak TO people rather than AT them. Even Queen Elizabeth uses the royal ‘we’ during her Christmas address.
Make Your Blog Posts Easy to Read
Indulge me in a quick history lesson.
Once upon a time, at the conclusion of dinner, people retired to their studies to consume great works of literature that weighed several pounds.
Then, in 1981, the powers that be decided to dedicate an entire TV channel to David Lee Roth and his friends running around in tight pants for 3 minutes at a time. Our attention span shrunk (or evolved?) in accordance.
Twitter did nothing to reverse the trend.
Or maybe that’s all nonsense. Either way, when writing blogs it’s good to be succinct. (The irony of illustrating this point through the use of a meandering pop culture lesson is not lost on me).
Bullet points, lists, and splashy headlines are your friends! Use them like Picasso used grey.
Use Images and Video
People love images and video, and most content management systems make it very easy to insert them into a blog post. As mentioned, our brains have evolved, and are hungry for information salad. We consume our content like we consume dinner: a few bites of this and a few bites of that. Give the people a proper presentation by sprinkling visuals in with your text.
When You’re on a Roll, Keep Rolling
Writer’s blog can be a real drag, so when inspiration hits you’ve got to go hard when the ideas are flowing, it’s time to get going! There will be plenty of time to come back and obsess about the exact verbiage after the fact (like I did in the previous line). When thoughts are flying out of your fingers, the last thing you want to do is derail the momentum by fussing about commas. That’s a problem for you in the future you! Write now, edit later.
Next Steps
At Peak Ed Designs, we know that great content is part of a solid overall online strategy. Piecing together a great content schedule, using it to populate your sales funnel, and backing it all with a great website is the path to lead conversion. A good user experience, tasteful menus and pop-up windows, and leveraging insights from analytics are all part of the recipe.
This is why we offer a wide range of services, from website design and maintenance to content creation and education. We’d love to chat about what we can do for you!
I want a website that helps me grow my business and reach my goals.