Is your blog missing that special ingredient to really catch your audience’s attention and interest? Your posts are well-written, you use eye catching stock images, and you use all the right keywords without stuffing them. But for whatever reason, they’re not hitting the mark and you’re not sure what it is you lack.
If that’s been your current dilemma, this blog is for you. Let’s get into some tips for how to write better blog posts that catch the attention of your target audience.
#1 – Choose The Right Blog Topics
Part of the problem might be the blog topics you’re choosing. They might be interesting to you, but if those topics aren’t interesting or relevant to your target audience, you might not have much luck reaching the right people.
Do some research into the questions people in your target audience are asking. Look at what your competitors are writing about. You might even ask your social media following what blogs they’d like you to write and take inspiration from that.
#2 – Outline First
Another tip to implement for stronger blogs is to outline your blog first. Get a sense of what you want to talk about and in what order before you start the actual draft. It will only take a few minutes, but it will help you approach the draft with a clear narrative vision and more cohesive writing. It will make the blog a smoother read for your audience, as well. In fact, if you outline first, you might save yourself a bit of structural editing at the end.
#3 – Go Back and Edit
Are you pumping blogs out for the sake of quantity or do you actually go back over them before you post them? If you take time to edit your blogs, you might find extraneous phrases or anecdotes that could be causing the post to drag. By cutting these out, you’ll make your blog more engaging, more informative, and tighter overall. You might not need to go through heavy edits, but you should at least read it over once or twice and trim where you need to.
#4 – Trim Down Your Sentences
Brevity is the soul of wit, after all. When we have a word count to meet, it’s easy to drag sentences out into run-ons. But this can be confusing and even frustrating for your readers. Remember KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Your sentences should be concise and to the point. Tell your audience what they want to know and don’t beat around the bush. If you do, they’re likely to keep coming back. And remember this is a blog: you don’t have to give them flowery language to make it stick.
#5 – Add Images To the Body
Break up that wall of text with something pleasing to the eye, especially if you’re writing a blog that’s longer than 1,000 words. A hero image is a great start for short blogs. For something longer, consider adding images throughout the text. This will keep things interesting for your readers. It will also make your blog far less intimidating than a long block of paragraphs and text might.
If you’re limited on the images you can use, consider breaking things up with interesting formatting. Bullet points, subheaders, numbered lists all have great SEO benefits and make for a more interesting read.
#6 – Back Up Your Points With Data
Rather than making broad, sweeping statements that readers might find hard to believe, show them the actual data. Find statistics and studies relevant to your blog. This will ensure that you know what you’re talking about, and it will allow you to show your readers how much you know. If you want to write a blog that establishes you as an authority, a long post with plenty of hard data is a great way to do so.
#7 – Get Some Direct Quotes If You Can
Quotes add a human element to the blog. It removes the post from the abstract and shows what actual humans relevant to that issue think. You can get quotes from someone in your company, from a customer, an influencer, or simply an expert in the field. There are a few ways to do this. You could ask for an interview and sprinkle the quotes from that interview into your blog. You could ask someone their opinions about your blog topic and incorporate their responses. You can also find previously published interviews and refer back to them. Direct quotes add authority and an extra pop to your blog posts.
