how to write effective blog posts

You don’t have to be JK Rowling to write a blog. Yes it IS important that your blog posts are fairly well written, but you really don’t have to be a novelist. The best piece of advice I can give is to write as you speak. Look at most blogs and you’ll find that they are written in a fairly simple way. This makes it easier to write AND your audience will probably enjoy reading it more.


Let’s face it, people don’t enjoy reading things which are overly technical and boring. People will come to your blog because they want to find something out but they also want to be entertained at the same time.

Have a look at other people’s blogs and get a feel for how they are written. I find that this helps a lot and it’s a great source of ideas too.

Some tips:

Keep it simple. As I say, people don’t like reading things that are overly technical. Keep your language simple and don’t use 10 words if 1 will do!

Make sure the content is good. At the end of the day, your posts need to contain some good content. There has to be a ‘main’ point for people to get from reading the posts. Try to keep to the subject and don’t try to cram too much information into one post.



Use stories and examples. As I say, people will read your blog to be informed – but they also want to be entertained too. Adding real-life examples and stories really brings your posts alive.

Talk about your disasters! A little tip here – people relate to failure and things going wrong, so people LOVE your disaster stories. It also helps to make you seem more ‘real’ and ‘human’ – because nobody gets things right 100% of the time.

Put your best information first. People generally have a short attention span so it’s very important to capture people’s attention in the first couple of paragraphs of the post. So – put some of your best information first. Don’t hang around and ramble – briefly introduce your post and then launch straight into the main ‘meat’ of the content.

Capture people’s attention with your title. The title of the post is very important because it’s what draws people in and makes them want to read what you’ve got to say. I tend to find that slightly unusual and ‘different’ titles work best – but this will depend on the subject and nature of your blog.

Have a clear structure – a beginning, middle and end – the introduction, meat of the content and a conclusion.


Format your post. Large chunks of text with no breaks makes your posts hard to read. Make sure you break up your text by keeping your paragraphs short, add in sub-headings and try putting important words in bold.


Also make sure to include keywords in your posts, ‘tag’ them with relevant keywords and categorise your blog so that people can more easily find the posts they are looking for.

 

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