Writing blog posts can be one of the most effective ways to reach your audience and followers. They allow you to be a thought leader in the industry and can help you build a strong digital reputation. But writing a post you’re truly proud of takes time and thought. Check out these tips for bringing your blog game to the next level, and let us know what your tips are in the comment section below!
Be Visual
Did you know humans process visuals 60,000 times faster than text? It’s true. Nothing speaks louder than high quality visuals on the web today. Yes, we understand you worked hard on the written story. Yes, text is important. But in today’s visual culture, the cold, hard truth is that many people will scroll right past your beautifully written piece if it doesn’t have an equally appealing photo to go with it.
Coiski #ProTip: Never post a blog without at least one high quality, beautiful image.
Be Conversational
Blog posts are not term papers, nor are they personal diaries. They’re actually somewhere in between. You want your voice to be personal, yet informational. Bring your readers in with a provocative statement. Add some humor into your posts. Think of your user first. This may mean a lot of rewriting, but the more clear and conversational you can be, the better.
Coiski #ProTip: Conversational stories have a good mix between long and short sentences, making them much easier to digest than long-form narratives.
Break It Up
According to a recent statistic, mobile devices now drive over 56% of traffic to major sites. This means a growing number of your visitors are reading your content on their phones. And while your paragraphs may look fine on a desktop, they will often appear as a “wall” of text on a smaller screen. Other ways to break up your long paragraphs are to adding other elements, such as drop quotes, images, subheadings or bullet points.
Coiski #ProTip: Limit yourself to 4-5 sentences per paragraph, and be sure to use subheadings and bullet points to help make your posts as scannable as possible.
Get to the Point
One major rule of journalism is to answer the 5 W’s as soon as possible: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. Most blog posts shouldn’t be an elaborate narrative. Users often don’t have the time or the patience to wait to the end to discover the big “reveal.” So get right to the point. Use the first sentence or two to answer your readers’ questions (What happened? What is this story about? Who’s involved?) and use the rest of your post to build on that.
Coiski #ProTip: Don’t bury the lead, and get right to the point. Write, rewrite, and rewrite to get it just right.
Read It Backwards
Thanks to spell-check and other digital tools, your grammar, spelling and punctuation problems are easily fixed on-the-fly. But word usage issues and clunky sentences can be a bit more tricky. When you read your post backwards, sentence by sentence, your brain can process each statement individually. Yes, it sounds strange, but it works. It’s a small piece of advice my 9th grade English teacher gave me, and it’s my go-t0 system for any piece of writing I compose, blogs or otherwise.
Coiski #ProTip: Starting with the last sentence in your composition, read each statement and work your way to the beginning.
Enjoy It
Nothing is worse than spending an hour or two writing a blog post (or doing anything) you hate. Life’s too short for that. When choosing a topic, find something that brings life to you. If you don’t, your post will probably stink. Find examples on social media and make an entertaining listicle. Or, just think about a post you would love to read as a user. Sometimes, even writing those “hard news” pieces can be fun when you put your own spin on them and .
Coiski #ProTip: Scan other sites’ content to get inspired, or choose a real life story to build upon.