I spend a lot of time on the internet. As an internet marketer, I look
at hundreds of websites a week, and probably thousands each month. And a
good number of those sites are blogs. But most of these blogs suck. And
It should come as no surprise to anyone who has spent any time on the
internet that there are a lot of blogs out there that are badly
designed, spammy, and poorly written.
In fact, that last observation is the most important to me in deciding whether or not I want to work with or advertise with a blogger. If their writing is bad, it’s a deal breaker.
There are lots of websites out there that claim to show you the pathway to wealth through blogging, but most of them deal with how to market your blog and optimize the SEO for great search rankings. But far too few actually focus on the content of a blog—what it’s actually about.
So many people get caught up in making money that they forget that if their blog is poorly written, no one will want to visit their site.
So, how do we change that? Here are a few tips that I try to stick to write good posts and keep my blog readers coming back for more.
1) Write to your audience
You’d think this would be a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many bloggers think their primary audience is Google. Before you write, think about who you are writing to (an actual person). Analyze what that audience wants to get out of your blog and the things they may want to know. Then you can tailor your post(s) to that audience. When a reader feels you are speaking to them directly and addressing what they came to your site to find, they are much more likely to return regularly, giving your blog sustained high traffic.
2) Create Compelling Titles
Think about your post title as a gateway drug. It needs to grab the reader and entice them to want to read more—especially if the title appears on Facebook or Twitter with no context. For example, for a movie blog, I recently wrote an article titled, “Why the Dark Knight Rises Will Probably Suck.” Now, most of the readers on the site are movie buffs and love the current Christopher Nolan Batman franchise, and they predict that the last chapter will be just as awesome as the first two. A title predicting the suckiness of the final installment, therefore, questions their underlying assumptions—and flies in the face of reason—making it extremely enticing to click on and read.
3) Follow a structure
Hopefully you learned the basic principles of good writing structure in first-year college English. If not, try and think back to high school. Start with an introduction, support your main thesis with supporting arguments (or evidence), and create a clear and satisfying conclusion. If you are scatter-brained and can’t keep a simple logical threat running through your post, your readers will get lost, have no idea what you are talking about, and never return to your blog again.
4) Be coherent
Once you can create an overall structure for your blog posts, pay attention to the details at a paragraph level. Tie your sentences together so one thought logically flows from the previous sentence to the following sentence. Doing so will help you lead your readers along to your final point—which is where you want them to go—so they will get value out of your post, see the value in your blog, and keep coming back for more.
5) Be fun
You don’t have to be a stand-up comedian to add some fun into your blog posts, but readers do like a certain level of engagement. If you can entertain while you teach and make brilliant statements about the topic of your blog, you’ll have readers lining up (metaphorically—of course you can’t line up in the internet) to get back to your site and read more.
6) Ask questions
Do you want your readers to think about your blog post after they stop reading? Ask questions that encourage your readers to leave comments or ponder your words after they’ve left your site.
Content is king. If you have terrible writing on your site, no one will want to come back to read more of it once they’re gone. But if you can compel your readers to stick with you through an entire post with coherent arguments and a bit of humor, they’ll want to come back for more. Oh, and about those questions: Do you think I’m full of crap? What are your tips for good blog writing?
In fact, that last observation is the most important to me in deciding whether or not I want to work with or advertise with a blogger. If their writing is bad, it’s a deal breaker.
There are lots of websites out there that claim to show you the pathway to wealth through blogging, but most of them deal with how to market your blog and optimize the SEO for great search rankings. But far too few actually focus on the content of a blog—what it’s actually about.
So many people get caught up in making money that they forget that if their blog is poorly written, no one will want to visit their site.
So, how do we change that? Here are a few tips that I try to stick to write good posts and keep my blog readers coming back for more.
1) Write to your audience
You’d think this would be a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many bloggers think their primary audience is Google. Before you write, think about who you are writing to (an actual person). Analyze what that audience wants to get out of your blog and the things they may want to know. Then you can tailor your post(s) to that audience. When a reader feels you are speaking to them directly and addressing what they came to your site to find, they are much more likely to return regularly, giving your blog sustained high traffic.
2) Create Compelling Titles
Think about your post title as a gateway drug. It needs to grab the reader and entice them to want to read more—especially if the title appears on Facebook or Twitter with no context. For example, for a movie blog, I recently wrote an article titled, “Why the Dark Knight Rises Will Probably Suck.” Now, most of the readers on the site are movie buffs and love the current Christopher Nolan Batman franchise, and they predict that the last chapter will be just as awesome as the first two. A title predicting the suckiness of the final installment, therefore, questions their underlying assumptions—and flies in the face of reason—making it extremely enticing to click on and read.
3) Follow a structure
Hopefully you learned the basic principles of good writing structure in first-year college English. If not, try and think back to high school. Start with an introduction, support your main thesis with supporting arguments (or evidence), and create a clear and satisfying conclusion. If you are scatter-brained and can’t keep a simple logical threat running through your post, your readers will get lost, have no idea what you are talking about, and never return to your blog again.
4) Be coherent
Once you can create an overall structure for your blog posts, pay attention to the details at a paragraph level. Tie your sentences together so one thought logically flows from the previous sentence to the following sentence. Doing so will help you lead your readers along to your final point—which is where you want them to go—so they will get value out of your post, see the value in your blog, and keep coming back for more.
5) Be fun
You don’t have to be a stand-up comedian to add some fun into your blog posts, but readers do like a certain level of engagement. If you can entertain while you teach and make brilliant statements about the topic of your blog, you’ll have readers lining up (metaphorically—of course you can’t line up in the internet) to get back to your site and read more.
6) Ask questions
Do you want your readers to think about your blog post after they stop reading? Ask questions that encourage your readers to leave comments or ponder your words after they’ve left your site.
Content is king. If you have terrible writing on your site, no one will want to come back to read more of it once they’re gone. But if you can compel your readers to stick with you through an entire post with coherent arguments and a bit of humor, they’ll want to come back for more. Oh, and about those questions: Do you think I’m full of crap? What are your tips for good blog writing?
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