Writing an article (same as a blog post but sounds more professional) is easy. All you have to do is come up with content and type it up.
But how you blog could be the difference between a visitor staying on your site and reading what you wrote or just bouncing (leaving) your site right away.
If you’re going to write a blog, you want to make sure you write it in a way that keeps your visitors attention. So how do we do that?
Today, I’m going to give you my tips to blogging.
But before I do, let me tell you why you should listen to me 🙂
- I love blogging (but it takes a lot of work, really. Good content is not easy, bad content is)
- I read a lot of popular blogs and actually analyze what makes them work
- I have over 12k (or 15k, I don’t check anymore) visitors a month coming to one site that is ONLY written content with a low bounce rate
- My sites and pages rank on google. And not on page 2 or 3, but page 1.
- I don’t do any of that crazy nonsense that people try to sell you on. I just do what I know works. So if you want to learn some SEO strategies…keep reading.
Okay enough about that, let’s get to the tips that you NEED to incorporate into your blog posts (or at least consider).
Tip #1: Break Things Up
- Blogging is not writing an essay. No long paragraphs please!
- Just look at how I’ve structured this blog post. Short paragraphs. Bullet points. Number lists. The words don’t get lost when you do this.
- No, you won’t get any award for writing properly, but you will get visitors reading your articles. So which do you want?
Tip #2: Write for the normal person
- As smart as you want to look, realize that the internet is full of stupid people (I say that in the nicest way).
- People do not want to get a headache trying to figure out what you said with big medical words or long winded nonsense.
- Write so people understand you. If this means dummying down your content, then do it.
Tip #3: Formatting Matters
- I know I talked about breaking things up in tip #1, but there’s more to it.
- Unlike writing a book or an essay, blogging has no rules, really. And what I’ve found to work best for my posts and for other popular content creators is to bold key words or phrases here and there. Maybe even add in different colors in your text (depends who your audience is).
- I have never found a problem with creating quotes or bolding phrases that you think would catch your readers attention. Plus it just helps to break up the monotony of all the words on the page.
Tip #4: Content is ALWAYS King
- I’ve said it time and time again, it’s not number of posts you have but the quality of the content.
- You can have 30 crappy blog posts or 10 really good ones that get shared and talked about. Which do you prefer?
- Don’t write just to write. Your visitors will see that your posts are crap and they won’t come back.
- You want to make sure you’re adding value with your blog posts – whether that is through entertainment, story telling, or giving advice/answers. Make sure you do an awesome job with that.
Tip #5: Let Your Personality Shine!
- Everyone has their own style with writing. You might not have yours yet. It takes time.
- Normally, if you’re just starting out with blogging, you’re really worried about things sounding right and not making any mistakes. This usually makes your writing boring (my personal opinion).
- Allow yourself to really express how you feel. Show who you are to your visitors. They’ll appreciate that.
- No matter who you are, I can tell you that a successful blog (or business) is really based on relationships. And if you can make someone really feel comfortable with you through your writing, you’re going to succeed.
Tip #6: Images Can Only Help
- I don’t always follow this rule, but sometimes I do. It depends.
- Images are a great way to break up text and also keep your visitors attention. Plus you can add a caption to an image with something that could get your point across too.
- The biggest tip I have is, don’t use cheesy stock photos. If you’re going to steal someone’s photos, use good photos. And it’s always better to have your own.
Okay, that’s it for now. Things I didn’t go over: linking, keywords, and words you should be using in your blog post. Until next time 🙂
Happy blogging.
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