5 SUPER tips for writing an excellent blog post

There are a ton of blogs out there, on various topics. Some more popular than the other. This could be due to various reasons, such as as user friendliness of the website, update frequency, the subject of the website… but today we’re going to talk about the content of a website. To be specific, the blog post. How do you write an excellent blog post that is both valuable and easy to read for your visitors?

1. Your blog post should be valuable

First and foremost, if your blog post has nothing new to say to the reader, they will not continue reading it. This is a waste of your time, as well as your visitor’s. In an era where anyone can just create a blog and anyone is writing content, whether for themselves or as a paid freelance writer, it is becomingly increasingly difficult to stand out.

If you really want to interest your visitors, which I’m sure you do, you will have to thoroughly research your topic before you write about it. Not only is this beneficial for your blog post, but it will also help get your visitors to trust your opinions on a certain subject; they will be more likely to stay and look around on your website, perhaps visit your social media channels and subscribe there or just bookmark your website for another day.

You need to show your visitors that you are an authority on the subject – you know exactly what you are talking about. When people are looking for information on a certain subject and you write about it, they need to understand that they can come to you for the information they need. So in short, add valuable, readable information to your blog post.

TIP:

Are you selling something on your website? Then it is even more important that your blog posts are of excellent quality! If your free content is lacking, how good could your paid content or service possibly be?

2. The lay-out of your blog post should be optimal

Make sure your blog post is easy to read. Your visitor wants to be able to find what they are looking for at a glance; the first thing a visitor does when they stumble upon your website, is scan the text to see if it is worth reading. You can help them with this by writing your blog post in a clean manner, making use of (sub) heading and lists. Bold words can also help your visitor quickly find what they are looking for.

Be sure to avoid making use of a wall of text – this makes reading very difficult and bothersome. By implementing the tips above you are creating a blog post that is easy on the eyes and easy to scan through for important content.

3. Add visuals to your content

Now that we’re talking about readability – don’t forget the visuals! Remember how a lot of people are turned off by books without images? The same goes for the content on websites. This does not mean you need to plaster images or videos all over the place – please, don’t do that! But it surely helps to enhance your blog post by adding an attractive image or an explanation video. Only use visuals to enhance your blog post or to complement it.

4. Add incentives for interaction

With commenting features, sharing on social sites etc it has become all the more important and valuable to have your visitors interact with your content. This, naturally, also helps spread the word about your blog post and website.

Make sure to add social share buttons on your website, so that people can Like the post on Facebook, Tweet about it on Twitter or Blog about it on Tumblr.

By allowing comments on your blog post, you enable users to add additional relevant content, which is beneficial for search engines. Moreover, visitors may share useful information with one another in the comments.

How to get visitors to interact with you

There are multiple ways to get your visitors to interact with you. One simple way is by asking some questions at the end of a blog post, such as ‘Was this information useful to you?’, ‘What is your experience with xyz?’ or ‘Do you have any questions?’. When people do make use of your comment section, interact with them where possible. Show your appreciation and they will keep coming back.

5. Create search engine friendly blog posts

I am adding this tip last, because although it matters, it is not the most important tip. Why? Simple: your blog post should be natural. It should never be written for the search engines. ALWAYS write for a human reader. When your human visitors appreciate your content, so will search engines.

Having said that, it is important to optimize your content so that search engines will find it. When your blog posts can be found through search engines such as Google, you will be sure to get traffic to your website.