Most bloggers write to be read. If that’s your aim, you must create content that your audience loves reading.
Here are five methods to write blog posts your readers will love:
1. Think Bite-Size
Blog posts come in all shapes and sizes. It’s not length that matters but the value of the information you share.
That said, as a general rule, you can pack more value into a long post.
How can you keep attention for hundreds or thousands of words? Break down your article into bite-size chunks. The simplest way to do this is through headings and paragraph breaks. You can also break your article down into stories.
I love this post!
2. Appeal to Visual Learners
Most blog posts these days include an image, but the more images you feature, the more engaging your blog post. That is, as long as the images are relevant to what you’re writing.
You can use images to:
- Tell a story
- Convey a metaphor
- Illustrate your headline
- Evoke emotion
As well as keeping readers engaged, images help visual learners store away what you’re teaching them.
3. Find Out What Your Readers Want
Many bloggers make the mistake of assuming their blog is all about them. This is a mistake because it’s only half the truth.
A blog is a community of interaction between you, the writer, and your readers. If your readers don’t benefit from your blog, they’ll go elsewhere. There are plenty of other sites where they can find what they want.
So if you want to build a loyal tribe of readers, you must find out what your readers want. You can do this by:
- Paying attention to their comments. What do they ask you about?
- Asking questions in your blog posts.
- Setting up a survey, for example on MailChimp.
Reader feedback is invaluable. With it, you’ll flourish. Without it, you’ll struggle to create engaging content.
4. Open With a Hook
Most bloggers these days know all about the importance of writing great headlines. But how long do you spend crafting your hook?
Your hook is the opening sentence or paragraph of your blog post. It should arouse curiosity and pull your readers in – otherwise you’ve lost them before you’ve started.
Hooks can be:
- A quote
- A question
- A fact
- A statement of a problem facing the reader
- A promise of what you will offer your readers i
- c
5. Try the Reverse Pyramid Approach
The reverse pyramid is the structure journalists in newsrooms all around the world use when they need to hammer out an article fast.
To create a reverse pyramid, you top-load your article with the most important information first.
Why would you do this? On the one hand, it increases your chances of losing a reader halfway through your article. On the other hand, it shows you care about your readers’ time. You’re helping them find the information they need as quickly as possible.