5 Secrets To Writing Blog Posts People Will Actually Read

It’s all so familiar. I sit down at the computer. I devote a little morning time to reading the latest industry posts. Time well spent. Except when it’s not. Some of the blog posts are awesome. They’re helpful, entertaining and useful.

I’ll be honest. Some of the blog posts suck, and I don’t return to that blog. They suck for various reasons.

One of the primary goals of writing blog posts is to keep people coming back to read more and that’s no easy task. In this day and age with everyone’s short attention span, you have to work for every subscription, share and comment.

Here are five secrets to writing blog posts that will keep people coming back to read more:

People Love Peppy

It’s true. Upbeat, punchy and positive rule the day. Here are a couple of tips:

• Your blog readers have a problem. Position yourself as the likeable solution.

  Deliberate on your word choice. Strong verbs are like gold tokens in this world.

• Keep the larger picture in mind through the tone of your piece. Your blog readers have a problem. When you position yourself as the likeable solution to that problem, both sides win.

Don’t Be an Industry Typist

If you’ve spent any time at all reading your industry blogs, chances are you’ve come across the same nuggets of advice multiple times. That’s not permission to copy them verbatim. Instead:

• Put forward your own ideas when you can. Set the agenda.

  Tell us why you agree with them, why you disagree with them, or include an anecdote.

• Do something with it to make it your own. Or even better yet, put forward your own ideas when you can. Set the agenda.

Write for Short Attention Spans

That’s right, folks reading online can have the attention span of a gnat and readers will drop your blog post mid sentence if you don’t work to keep them engaged. Make sure you:

• Don’t use words your audience will need to leave and look up. They may not come back.

  Use short sentences and paragraphs.

• Don’t use words your audience will need to leave and look up. They may not come back.
• Add subheads and lists, both of which are great ways to break things down a bit further and keep people feeling engaged from point A to point B.

Get a Little Personal

If your readers found you through search, chances are you came in a pile of thousands of search results.

If they found you in social, chances are you did something right to stand out in a fast-moving newsfeed for Twitter stream.

The key is to look alive. Look like a real person instead of a faceless business. This means revealing a little about yourself, connecting new ideas and letting your readers know who you are.

Spell it Right

Yes, I know this tip makes its way on to every list post on how to blog. It’s that important, though.

When you consistently let grammar and spelling errors into your work, it erodes your readers’ trust. The question in their minds goes like this:

“How much do they really know about _______ if they can’t even use the right
form of the word ‘They’re?'”

A basic-level understanding of the English language is really important to this whole blogging thing.

The Payoff

When you can move people from start to finish in your posts, really cool things begin to happen. You may start seeing comments. People talk with you about your blog. Your readers begin to look at you as a valuable industry resource.

All of these things build your platform, increase your audience and improve your business.

Matt Brennan is a marketing writer helping companies increase their audience by telling better stories. He regularly provides content marketing strategies and blogging tips for businesses. 

Link Roundup

Each time I write a post, I collect the 10 best reads from around the web and share them with you here.

These posts focus on web-based solutions, online resources and up-to-date news for small businesses.

Enjoy!

Pinterest: B2B Boards That Will Dazzle Your Clients: Basic but solid tips on how B2B businesses can use Pinterest most effectively.

5 Mobile Video Apps to Boost Online Engagement: An overview of 5 handy mobile video solutions and how best to use them.

Small Business Owners Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Give Away Their Secret Sauce – McDonald’s Already Did: Insightful post on the benefits of using content to offer transparency. Reminds me of the interview I wrote about some time ago – similar story of success.

10 Online Marketing Mistakes That Are Damaging Your Reputation, Part 1: More basic but solid tips on managing your online reputation.

Turn Virtual Negativity Into Real Loyalty: Good advice on handling negative comments that cannot be resolved online.

3 Social Media Tools That Improve the Sales Cycle: Three useful online sales solutions to take for a spin.

Google+ to become key B2B social platform by 2014: An interesting analysis of a very interesting study.

Eight Conversations Your Customers Want to Have With Your Brand: Communicating the important details your customers want to know can help build trust and sales.

5 Common Sales Mistakes to Avoid Online: Loved this very useful post!

9 Ways to Become a Better Facebook Community Manager: Actionable tips for managing your Facebook presence.