5 ways to write more engaging blogs
Below is a transcript of the video.
What’s the secret to a successful blog? Here are my five tips for more engaging blog posts.
Tip 1
Learn from the experts.
Think about the bloggers or maybe even YouTubers you love and keep returning to.
Go back and engage with their work - but don’t read it or watch it to enjoy the content.
Read it or watch it like a scientist.
Analyse exactly what it is they do that grips their audience — and keeps that audience coming back.
Some questions you can ask are:
What topics do they write about - and why?
What approach do they take to the topic in this blog post?
What strategies are they using to attract the reader’s attention?
What strategies are they using to keep that attention - and keep readers reading?
Do they use humour?
Do they niggle away at a pain point?
Do they promise to solve a problem?
Are they giving step-by-step advice on something their reader desperately wants to achieve?
Is it something else entirely?
How do they format their blog post? What does it look like on the page?
How long are their sentences? Their paragraphs? Their words?
How are they promoting other blog posts within each post?
What strategies are they using to get readers to engage with those other posts?
Make notes on all of this. And don’t just answer these questions, compare and contrast them with your blog. What are you doing differently that’s maybe not working - and what can you learn from them?
They don’t have to be in your niche - in fact, you can learn from - and be inspired by - bloggers in a completely different field from you.
In fact, one great way to come up with original ideas for a blog or YouTube video is to look to other niches and apply their ideas to yours.
For example, do you love that beauty blogger’s before and after posts? Could you do a before and after tutorial on your blog?
Are you a fan of TwoSet’s roasting videos where they critique examples of terrible violin playing? Could you roast something in your niche?
The possibilities are endless and the inspiration is out there - you just have to pay attention.
Tip 2
Write for human beings first, Google second.
Yes, of course you want Google to put you high up in search, but no one wants to read a load of keyword stuffed waffle that sounds like it was written by a robot.
In fact, stuffing your blog post with keywords in the hope it will appear in search is likely to backfire - because Google can spot what you’re doing - and it will punish you for it.
What the Google algorithms are really interested in is whether your writing is engaging enough to keep people on the page.
So by all means, go ahead and use keyword research tools like my favourite, Answer the Public Dot Com.
But use them for inspiration - and go easy on including keywords in your writing.
Because getting your blog post found is really just about anticipating what readers want to find - and this is the key point - delivering on their expectation.
So keyword research can help you figure out what readers want to read about - but it’s up to you to keep them reading.
One way to do that?
Tip 3
Make every post insanely useful to your reader.
Provide them with the information they’re longing for and can’t find anywhere else - or at least kind find it anywhere else in the uniquely interesting or accessible way you present it.
Or give them step-by-step instructions on something that will improve their life.
Solve a problem. Take away a pain. Help them be better at something they long to be better at.
Show them how to be smarter, richer, more attractive.
The more insanely useful you can be, the more your following will grow.
Tip 4
Narrow down your focus.
Avoid vague, waffly posts that don’t seem to go anywhere.
The narrower and more specific a blog post is the more engaging it will be.
For example, let’s say you’re a dermatologist. Which is likely to be more engaging to your readers - a post that talks in generalities about the importance of good skin care?
Or a post that gives specific instructions on how to treat, disguise or prevent redness on the end of your nose?
Which one, do you think, is going to be more insanely useful to that one particular reader who really needs to get rid of that red patch on the end of her nose?
And that brings me to my final tip:
Tip 5
Don’t write for an audience.
Instead, write for one reader. It’s impossible to be engaging when you’re on broadcast mode. And the more you try to speak to everyone in your post, the more you’ll speak to no one.
So write with one reader in mind. Talk to them like a friend. A friend who understands them - who knows what makes them tick - what motivates them, what worries them, what they want to achieve.
Because knowing what makes your reader tick is going to be absolutely vital to creating insanely useful blog posts.
If you want a powerful technique that will help you get under your reader’s skin — and help you generate tons of ideas for topics that’ll hook them in and keep them coming back, check out this video here.
For more writing advice, enrol in my online course, Writing With Confidence, available at the Doris and Bertie Writing School.
What’s the secret to a successful blog?