The internet is one giant glob of text. It can be difficult to capture your audience’s attention. They’re busy and there’s so much to do that it’s difficult to chunk out time to read a blog article. Here is the process I use to try to keep my blog articles both beneficial and entertaining–they’re ordered chronologically but not by importance.
Inspiration
This can be the most difficult step. I find it’s best to keep a list of potential topics that have been bouncing around in my head. The best things to write about are things that you’re experiencing or have experience with. I like Gary Vaynerchuk’s “Document, Don’t Create” methodology. You don’t have to create a new Epic, sometimes you can provide the most value by sharing what you’re going through.
Create Headings
This is probably the second most important point (next to the title, which we’ll cover last). I’ve mentioned the importance of headings in my other article, here. After most people click on your link, they’re going to try to skim it to see if it’s worth reading. Having quality headings will increase the likelihood that users will scroll back up and give your full post the attention it deserves.
Develop Body Content
Unless you’re developing a list, you’re going to need to put some worthwhile content under those headings. Be sure to keep your writing easily digestible. There are few people who like to read college text books for fun. You’ll be able to engage your audience more by keeping the format conversational.
When developing your body content, create opportunities to link to other content as well. Both internal and external links are beneficial to your SEO ranking. Just be sure to keep the external links opening in new tabs or it will affect your bounce rate.
Create Introductory Paragraph
The introductory paragraph will be the third thing the reader checks. After you’ve drawn them in with the title and proved your worth with your interesting headings, the next move is to read the first paragraph. As with the rest of your article, you should keep the text easily digestible and avoid complex sentence structures. I like to focus on the first and last sentence. With the first sentence I try to explain a problem or an issue that my article seeks to address and with the last sentence I set up my “thesis” and give a summary of what the article will be about.
Create Catchy Title
This is arguably the most important step. On social media and while searching, the title of your article is the first thing that your audience is going to use judge if it’s worth their time to read. I don’t encourage adopting “clickbait” titles because that could reduce your audience’s trust. However, you should be making your titles as relevant and enticing as possible.
Be sure to check out my other article for more tips on writing more readable blog posts.