Blog writing is unlike any other type of writing. As a blogger, your goal is to share your ideas or messages to a target audience for a specific outcome. You can blog write for brand awareness, or to spread your own ideas. Regardless of the intent, your position as a blogger is to accumulate a following and shares online. This is a task bloggers, whether beginners or experienced, are learning to tackle on a daily basis.
What makes a blog post shareable? What can you do as a writer to publish content that people can relate to?
Follow these tips for creating posts that will make your blog stand out in a crowded social web:
Content is everything. You don’t have to be an expert writer to be a good blogger. You just need to create excellent content. Keep in mind, people have preferences for how they consume information online, so it is important to mix up your posts. This may include: articles, images, webinars, or even podcasts. Use screenshots along with text. Post catchy and informative videos. Use PowerPoint presentations like SlideShare. There are a number of ways to post compelling content, just remember to post with care. It’s a matter of trial and error; the more you post, the more you’ll get it right.
Find the inspiration. If you want to maintain a shareable blog, then you need to seek inspiration
constantly. This will come in different forms. When you’re talking to customers about any problems they may have, take note of what they tell you. You may find a recurring issue your customers are talking about. These issues can make for an informative blog post. And if you’re ever feeling stumped: read. Reading often, may inspire you to craft a post with your own thoughts. The takeaway here is to never stop searching for inspiration. You may find it while watching a TED talk, or even from reading the news.
It’s not your product, it’s theirs. As a blog writer, your goal is to attain a mass following online. Your blog does not belong to you; it belongs to your followers. This is not the place to show off your brand or talk about what you do. This is the platform to address the topics that your customers, prospects, readers, or viewers are talking about. Note: keeping it simple will bring viewers back. You are speaking to a global audience while writing online. For some people, English is their second language, so avoid using industry jargon or corporate language. A plus: you’ll add better SEO value for your content as well.
Add Value and Build Trust. When you become a blog writer, you become an expert as well. People are coming to your blog to attain information; therefore they are relying on you to know your stuff. You need to give away as much value as you possibly can. When you add value to your blog content, you will build trust with your followers which will turn to shares. To do this, you need to inform, educate, entertain, and inspire your followers. Remember these four categories, and you will add value to your followers’ lives.
Clean structure is best. Your followers do not want to read a chunk of text; rather they want to find the information they need as easily as possible. Clean up your structure so that people can locate the key elements and the meaty insights that you provide. First, learn how to write a great headline as this is the initial line that will draw in your viewers. Next, write an informative and concise introductory paragraph. Follow this with short, expressive paragraphs. Bullet points, lists, and subtitles are essential for keeping your viewers on your page. You want to bring people in, so make it as easy as possible.
Constantly promote. Many writers are shy about self-promotion, but unfortunately there is no way out of this. The Internet is a crowded place. If you want your blog posts to be viewed and shared, then you need to constantly self-promote your blog. Build your email lists and build tribes and followers on social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google +, and LinkedIn. The only way to garner attention to your blog is to become as visible as possible. This is going to need work, and a lot of it.
Be Passionate and persistent. Finally, the most important part of this all, is to be passionate. If you are passionate about what you write about, this whole process will be a breeze. Waking up early and staying up late to work on your blog will not be a tedious task anymore. Passion will drive you to take that extra step to make your blog the best it can be. Even more, your passion will translate into persistence. The more you are hungry to seek inspiration the more you will publish content. And the more your followers see that you are posting insightful and consistent content, the more views and shares you will receive.
Blog writing is an art that you as the blogger can learn to master. With the knowledge of techniques and understanding of your purpose and target audience, you may be on your way to becoming a popular Internet personality. Good luck and happy blogging to you!