Content is king! Let’s face it, no amount of search engine optimization, advertising initiative or blog promotion will bring your website long term success if you don’t write good content that people will actually want to read. Yet if you create a loyal following through interesting and engaging posts, more people will want to comment, come back for your next post, subscribe and promote you to their friends.
Here are five top tips on how to create brilliant blog posts that keep visitors coming back for more:
1. Choose a topic you’re passionate about
Bloggers who have any kind of success from their website pick a topic they’re passionate about. As soon as you upload your website builder, it’s important to think truthfully about the topic you’ve chosen before you write your content. Is it something you’re interested in and can write passionately about? If it is your readers will naturally become engaged in what you’re saying because it’s something you know a lot about and can provide an interesting angle on. If you don’t actually enjoy what you’re writing about this will come across in your words.
2. Add a Competition
When you first start up as a blogger you may have downloaded your website builder, uploaded a bit of content but feel demoralized because no one seems to be visiting your site. It does take time to build up traffic but one way to quickly boost your numbers is to add an incentive to people to visit you and leave a comment. A competition is a great way to do this, offering a prize for the best comment of the week. Choose something that’s relevant to your website and that could spark interest in your site, such as your latest eBook or a product you’ve reviewed.
3. Get personal!
One of the best ways to get people to engage with your blog is to share your own personal stories. It makes what you’re writing more human and appeals to your visitors on a personal level. For example, if your blog is about rare dog breeds, chances are you have your own rare breed of dog. Add some photos and talk about your own dog and any funny experiences you’ve had looking after this breed. Or you maybe writing a blog about generating an income as a stay at home Mom. You could include success stories about you and your friends, give your own tips about how to juggle work and looking after a toddler or ideas you’ve used successfully to create some extra money. It’s all about giving your readers something interesting that adds value to their lives and makes them feel they can’t live without your latest post.
4. Ask your visitors direct questions
The key to making your visitors feel engaged is to motivate them to comment on your blog. One of the easiest ways to do this is to ask a direct question at the end of your post. For example, you may have been talking about the latest digital cameras available on the market. Ask a question which is sure to fire a debate, such as, “What is the best digital camera?” Or you could add a question that gives them the opportunity to share something about them, or have a little bit of publicity for their site. For example, “Share Your Best Photo and Prove Your Digital Camera is the Best!”
5. MegaLists
This can be quite a bit of hard work but one of the easiest ways to get traffic to your blog is to create a couple of Megalist posts. These are lists of “the best” of something. For example, “50 of the funniest websites,” or “20 of the best stock photography websites.” Whatever is relevant to your blog. It will bring people in to see who’s on the list, as well as motivate people to comment with complaints on who’s in and who’s out. Commentators may also suggest ideas for your next list!
Checking your comments levels is a really good measure of your post and website success. When you first set up your site using your website builder, you may become disheartened at the low levels of traffic to begin with. Try to look past these figures and assess the quality of traffic you are earning. Comments analysis is sometimes a better measure of success because it shows you that people have actually bothered to read your post, taken the time and effort to post and comment and may be more likely to come back for more.
How to Write Posts that Everyone Wants to Read
Content is king! Let’s face it, no amount of search engine optimization, advertising initiative or blog promotion will bring your website long term success if you don’t write good content that people will actually want to read. Yet if you create a loyal following through interesting and engaging posts, more people will want to comment, come back for your next post, subscribe and promote you to their friends.
Here are five top tips on how to create brilliant blog posts that keep visitors coming back for more:
1. Choose a topic you’re passionate about
Bloggers who have any kind of success from their website pick a topic they’re passionate about. As soon as you upload your website builder, it’s important to think truthfully about the topic you’ve chosen before you write your content. Is it something you’re interested in and can write passionately about? If it is your readers will naturally become engaged in what you’re saying because it’s something you know a lot about and can provide an interesting angle on. If you don’t actually enjoy what you’re writing about this will come across in your words.
2. Add a Competition
When you first start up as a blogger you may have downloaded your website builder, uploaded a bit of content but feel demoralized because no one seems to be visiting your site. It does take time to build up traffic but one way to quickly boost your numbers is to add an incentive to people to visit you and leave a comment. A competition is a great way to do this, offering a prize for the best comment of the week. Choose something that’s relevant to your website and that could spark interest in your site, such as your latest eBook or a product you’ve reviewed.
3. Get personal!
One of the best ways to get people to engage with your blog is to share your own personal stories. It makes what you’re writing more human and appeals to your visitors on a personal level. For example, if your blog is about rare dog breeds, chances are you have your own rare breed of dog. Add some photos and talk about your own dog and any funny experiences you’ve had looking after this breed. Or you maybe writing a blog about generating an income as a stay at home Mom. You could include success stories about you and your friends, give your own tips about how to juggle work and looking after a toddler or ideas you’ve used successfully to create some extra money. It’s all about giving your readers something interesting that adds value to their lives and makes them feel they can’t live without your latest post.
4. Ask your visitors direct questions
The key to making your visitors feel engaged is to motivate them to comment on your blog. One of the easiest ways to do this is to ask a direct question at the end of your post. For example, you may have been talking about the latest digital cameras available on the market. Ask a question which is sure to fire a debate, such as, “What is the best digital camera?” Or you could add a question that gives them the opportunity to share something about them, or have a little bit of publicity for their site. For example, “Share Your Best Photo and Prove Your Digital Camera is the Best!”
5. MegaLists
This can be quite a bit of hard work but one of the easiest ways to get traffic to your blog is to create a couple of Megalist posts. These are lists of “the best” of something. For example, “50 of the funniest websites,” or “20 of the best stock photography websites.” Whatever is relevant to your blog. It will bring people in to see who’s on the list, as well as motivate people to comment with complaints on who’s in and who’s out. Commentators may also suggest ideas for your next list!
Checking your comments levels is a really good measure of your post and website success. When you first set up your site using your website builder, you may become disheartened at the low levels of traffic to begin with. Try to look past these figures and assess the quality of traffic you are earning. Comments analysis is sometimes a better measure of success because it shows you that people have actually bothered to read your post, taken the time and effort to post and comment and may be more likely to come back for more.
What's next?
Related Posts
About the Author
Melanie Citron is a freelance writer and self proclaimed “techie” who lives in Denver with her husband, Glenn, and their three dogs Ralph, Sam and Billy. Melanie has become the “go to person” for creating online businesses for her friends and family. “I do it every day so I may as well write about it” Her knowledge has appeared on websites, in local newspapers and in person as a public speaker. In her spare time Melanie loves the outdoors and hikes and cross country skis.