“There are more than 570 million blogs on the internet as of 2021 reported by WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, Wix, Squarespace, and Medium (and this number is still growing).”
Now, you might be wondering how to make your blog stand out in this massive crowd? How to get your blog the attention it deserves? Does your content need to be exceptionally good and how to write it in that way?
Well, let’s say, if you want people to love reading and sharing your content, then yes, it needs to be exceptionally good. If your content is good then you can turn it into an excellent piece with a few tweaks by using these eight simple writing tips to wow your readers!
Tip 01. Define Your Audience
If you’re writing or preparing to write, the first question to ask yourself is “who am I writing this for?” Remember, knowing who will be reading your article is key to effective writing.
Take your time to identify the right audience by considering their age, gender, education, economic status, social position, and values to guide you on how your blog structure should be, what kind of language you should use, what information you should include, and how you should approach the topic accordingly.
For eg., If you’re writing a blog for small business owners that need help in digital marketing or website development, you should make sure to answer their problem and explain web-related topics and keywords thoroughly.
Important Note: Make sure your article is ‘reader friendly’, meaning use ‘to-the-point and easy’ words to make your readers understand your ideas without any struggle.
Tip 02. Make Sure Your Topic Is Relevant
If you want your content to take off, then you should be 100% sure that your topic is relevant and interesting for your ideal audience. For this, make a habit of investing your time in figuring out what your audience actually wants from you.
Let’s make it a bit easy for you.
Find out the gap in the market, what type of content is missing or very limited in information and what has been overplayed and try to build your space within it.
For eg., Your Indian audience is interested in knowing about the ‘Drop-shipping business’. And the internet is overpopulated with articles on what the drop-shipping business is, its pros and cons, etc. Now, you can narrow the focus of your article, highlight a specific problem and try to resolve it. Such as ‘Is drop shipping business profitable in India?’
Remember, as long as your content provides value to your audience and covers a specific topic, it should be well received – irrespective of whether it’s inspirational, educational, or entertaining. All it needs to be truly helpful to the readers.
Tip 03. Write A Catchy Headline!
Your title gives your readers a sneak-peak of what your article is all about. So, make sure that your first impression is great!
Rather than generic, make your headlines/titles specific. Include a benefit in it to build curiosity in your readers’ minds. Because getting your headline right is essential if you want your audience to dive deep into your content. This is the power of a great headline.
You’ll get a better idea of how to build snappy headlines if you go through these examples:
- 10 Mistakes I Made Launching My Website, and How You Can Do it Better
- Simplify Your Wardrobe With This New Technique (You Need To Try This!)
- 05 Quick Things You Can Do To Fix Your Marketing Strategies
- Here’s How You Could Make INR 50,000 From Home!
- 03 Amazing Things Happening In India Right Now and How Will It Benefit You?
Catchy headlines can give you an edge and convince your audience to click on your content, read longer, and share it with other readers to consume. Now, let’s proceed to how you can make your content better!
Tip 04. Work On A Solid Intro To Hook Your Readers Attention
While the headline makes sure that the readers click on your article, the introduction will urge them to read further.
But, in many cases, the readers start to lose interest right at the beginning. You don’t want that to happen to your blog post. Here are some tips and tricks to create tempting introductions for your readers:
- Share a surprising statistic
What can work better than stating facts! Stay true and transparent with your readers by sharing statistics. - Start with a storytelling
Who doesn’t love stories? Engage your audience on the topic (covered by you in the article) by building a great story such as a briefing about its history, real-life experience (related to the topic), etc. - Ask a question
Interact with your readers by asking them questions (then make sure this question is answered later on in your article). - Make a bold statement
If you want to create a deep impression on your readers, then don’t be afraid to start your article with a bold claim (make sure that it’s true or sourced from a reliable source).
Tip 05. Conversation is the key!
A conversation doesn’t happen when only one person keeps talking and the other just listens. It’s a two-way street.
In the case of content as well, it should be written in a lively tone. It should feel like the writer is making a conversation with his audience. In the long run, this helps to build a sense of trust and transparency.
In an article as well, you should write as you speak, but in a better way. What I mean by that is write your post as if you’re chatting with your friend or family member, then edit it accordingly for clarity.
Getting confused?
Don’t worry, here are some bonus tips for you:
- Avoid using jargon and industry-speak. Write in such a way that every reader (even a beginner) could understand it.
- Avoid being too formal. It makes your writing appear boring.
- Ask questions in-between to make your reader feel like you’re having a dialogue with them.
- Be friendly, use some slang but don’t go overboard.
- Use short and simple sentences.
- Express yourselves in the form of exclamatory sentences like ‘Hey!’, ‘Stay tuned!’, ‘Is it true?’, etc.
- Use short forms of words. Like ‘I’m’ instead of ‘I am’ or ‘We’ll’ instead of ‘We will’.
- Maintain paragraphs or incorporate bullet points.
- Don’t use passive voice. Instead of ‘It’s been decided’, use ‘I’ve decided’.
- Don’t be shy to start your sentence with conjunctions like ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘or’, ‘yet’, etc.
- Address your reader. Use ‘you’, ‘you’re’, or ‘your’ instead of ‘I’ or ‘Me’.
- Ask them for their feedback and comments.
Tip 06. Minus The Readers Distraction
In today’s overfilled information world, getting your readers straight to the point is a perfect way to stand out.
Let us clarify this for you. We don’t mean to restrict your blog length. What we’re suggesting is to be concise and clear in your writing. Avoid any repetition or putting irrelevant information in the article. It takes away the pleasure of reading from the audience.
Instead, write in a manner that drowns out the distraction in your content. Keep your audience engaged from the start to the end by using these strategies:
- Use simple and short words, sentences, and paragraphs.
- Remove all unnecessary information.
- Get rid of all run-on sentences (when two or more complete sentences are put together without any conjunction or punctuation).
- Cut the words that don’t affect your sentence structure. For instance, removing ‘really’ from ‘You are really good at this!’ won’t affect your sentence structure.
- Put line breaks (split the text into two sentences if required).
- Segregate the information using bullet points.
Even complex content can be made reader-friendly by using these tactics as it helps the readers to scan the information easily by persuading them to read till the end.
Tip 07. Add Call-To-Action
On the internet, you’ll find most of the well-performing blogs have a Call-To-Action (CTA). A CTA is an action you desire to be taken by your customers. It could be in the form of ‘Buy Now’, ‘Download Now’, or a ‘Read More’ button.
Your call-to-action plays an important role in encouraging people to do what you want them to do. It’s the same in the case of publishing blogs.
Let us define what types of call-to-action buttons you can include in a blog with examples:
- Blog Subscription Call-to-action.
Blog Subscription is one of the best performing call-to-action. The readers who are interested in your content might subscribe to get notified whenever you post new content. This will higher your chances of gaining subscribers. But, make sure that your blog subscription call-to-action should be in a simple format.
For eg. Just ask your readers their email address (instead of a name, contact number, etc.) so that they get turned out. - Comment Below Style Call-to-action.
Asking your audience to comment below is a go-to option to urge them to take any action at the end of your blog. It makes them feel you’re considering their feedback and share their views on your article. Hence, contributing to higher engagement. For eg. Don’t forget to comment down your views on the article.
Source: Neil Patel - Free Trial Call-to-action.
Don’t people love free stuff? So, what could be a better strategy than Free Trial Call-to-action? Offering something free to readers has always been the best way, especially when it relates to what the blog post is about. For eg. Download our eBook, a call-to-action by Flywheel to generate leads.
Source: Instapage
Tip 08. Add Trust Factors
There’s a lot of content out there. Even if you’re in an unknown niche, you’ll still find probably hundreds of articles covering similar topics. Then, why should the users prefer your content over others?
Well, make your content trustworthy! If users know that your content is well-researched, they’re likely to click on it. But, how can you build trust? You should:
- Support your content by linking it to a well-known source.
For eg. Link it to government sites, universities, high-profile brands, etc. - Get credible sites to link to your content.
For eg. If a notable media site like ‘The Hindustan Times’ links to your content, it’ll help people to trust you and increase your organic search.
Here, we come to an end.
If you have any more suggestions to add, don’t be shy to put them in the comments.
