Blogging is a popular strategy to drive traffic to any website. So popular that everyone is already doing it. You're probably already doing it as well. But you know what? Compared to five, ten years ago, blogging is so common that people don't even read all the blog posts right now.
Eight out of ten people will read your headline, but only two out of ten will click through and read your article.
That just shows that people are desensitized to blog posts, and they're not really reading them.
So, how could you stand out and write blog posts that people will actually read?
In this article, we are going to share with you 7 blogging tips that will help you do just that.
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So, let’s go straight to the point with these blogging tips.
If you're going to write a blog post, there are a few things that you need to know to make your posts stand out and drive people to read them.
1. Write with the words "you" and "I"
If you don't include the words "you" and "I", people aren't going to feel that it's a conversation.
If they don't feel that it's a conversation, they're going to think of it as a college lecture which can be heavy and boring. And they are going to most likely leave as a consequence.
When you're more conversational with people, they are more likely to engage, read, and respond as they feel like the text is speaking to them.
So, make it more like a conversation. This way, the text will also be much easier to read and won’t look like a lecture.
Remember; keep it easy. The easier the better.
People don’t like complicated things. At least not if that’s something that they were not expecting or that they are not willing to face when they are just looking for easy-to-understand information.
If you think of it, we are all like this.
So why make it too complicated? Why make it sound like a college lecture that, even if interesting, ends up making half of the class sleep?
And if in the classroom, students sleep, on your website, users will just leave and move on.
That isn’t what you want to achieve with your posts, is it?
So again, keep it an easy conversation.
2. Your paragraphs can't be more than five or six lines
The moment your paragraphs are more than five or six lines, it's just overwhelming. Too many words altogether that never end.
That’s heavy, isn’t it?
People don't want to go through that. If you look at serendipity-marketing.com, you'll even notice that a lot of our paragraphs are only one, two, or three lines.
Easy.
Space.
Calm.
This makes it easier to read. It gives space to breathe and move. It isn’t overwhelming and stimulates a calm feeling.
People find a calm environment where they can freely move and easily understand what is going on.
And this has a great positive effect on their retention on any post pages.
3. Use subheadings
Subheadings break down sections within your blog post, so it makes it easier to skim.
Without subheadings, people won't be able to get the gist of your content without reading the whole thing, which means you're going to get fewer readers.
Through subheadings, people can go down to the section of the blog post that they want to read, read that area, and keep scrolling through.
Imagine this; what happens when you are actually looking for something on Google and click on a blog post?
Nowadays, the best articles, the one on page 1 of Google, are just very long as they are rich in information and touch multiple points about the topic. And that’s why Google places them on page 1.
But, as they are so long, it would be just extremely hard to find exactly that part of the article that contains the information that you’re looking for.
You just don’t want to read the whole article.
5,000 or even 10,000 words to read are just too many when you’re interested in only a small part of it.
So, what happens?
You scroll down reading the subheading to find exactly the part that you need.
Once again, subheadings make it just easier and create a much better user experience.
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4. Use a conclusion
You really want to make sure you use a conclusion. Write a conclusion every time you create a blog post. And label that conclusion, "conclusion".
It keeps it really simple.
People can scroll down, read your conclusion, know what your blog post is about, and decide if they want to scroll back up and read the rest.
We know it may sound weird, but that actually is the reader pattern when they're scrolling through and reading your blog post.
A lot of people go down, read the conclusion, then go back up.
So, the conclusion is actually crucial to retain users on your page.
Most people decide to read the rest of the article just after reading the conclusion – that should be a highlight of the whole article.
So, make the conclusion appealing, mentioning the topics spoken in the article and generating desire and curiosity.
This will drive a higher percentage of people to want to read the rest of the article and deeply engage with it.
5. Cite your information
Along with your blog posts, make sure you cite your information. Don't just come up with the facts and data without citing them.
People are sceptical and probably reading other articles.
So, if you do that, people are going to find it hard to believe what you say – unless you are already an established authority in the industry – and not come back.
So, make sure you support your information and data with where you actually take them from.
Don’t just leave anything on the table.
Make it easy and complete.
Just bear in mind; that you are trying to convince through a text people that don’t know you yet that you are worth being listened to and trusted.
And with so many others competing with you, targeting the same audience, you really cannot afford to leave things on the table.
That’s, of course, if you don’t want people to feel sceptical and leave your web pages.
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6. Use photos
As they say, "A picture says a thousand words."
If using graphics and images to explain the message that you're trying to convey, people are much more likely to read and stick around.
Once again, this makes it extremely easier to understand.
Pictures give that visual component that simplifies concepts.
It just makes it very easy and creates a greater user experience.
And especially when you want to explain or break down a difficult or technical concept, you’ll want to use photos to simplify everything.
7. Make your article actionable
You’ll want to make sure your article is really thorough and actionable.
If someone reads your article and they're like "Oh, cool, I know I can do something after reading this," they're going to be like "Great, I should keep reading the content."
We once tried to google "how to install a bidet", and we came up with an article that didn't even teach me how to install a bidet.
Never went back to that site.
And that site is called "How Stuff Works".
Their articles weren't informative and weren't actionable, so we were never going to read them.
And this isn’t the effect you want to get with your articles.
Remember - this is actually a crucial key point of these blogging tips - it’s all about providing value to users, giving them truly useful information that they can put into practice straight away.
This way, they’ll feel like you really helped them and will keep you in mind so that when they’ll have the need more information they know they can go back to a reliable source.
Why would you keep in mind someone that didn’t give you any actionable information?
And that’s why you’ll want to make sure your blog posts are informative, valuable, and actionable.
Conclusion
If you follow these blogging tips, you're going to create blog posts that people actually want to read.
It’s all about creating a great user experience and not overwhelming people.
Keep it easy and make it easy to skim through the text.
Use pictures to simplify topics and please the visual aspect users are looking for.
Provide real value and give actionable tips that users can put into practice straight away so that it will be easier for them to keep you in mind and come back.
If you need more blogging tips or help with your content marketing to grow your business in terms of visibility, engagement, and profit, contact us today and speak with one of our digital marketing experts to see how we can build the bridge between the point you’re standing at right now and your goals.
