Make your mark in the blogosphere with these 6 quick tips.
Your impending blog deadline is looming and you’re stuck with only today’s date on a blank page. Or maybe you actually want to write a blog but don’t know where to start. No matter where you fall on the love/hate blog spectrum, follow these helpful hints and you’ll be well on your way to a publish-ready post.
1. Find Your Brain Buzz
First things first: write about something that you actually genuinely really truly care about. The “I’ll-Just-Write-About-Whatever” and the “Posting-Anything-Is-Better-Than-Nothing” mentalities won’t produce a product that’s worth the effort. Write about a topic you can expand on, or something you can offer a fresh perspective on – otherwise you’re just tossing more words into an already-overcrowded Internet. People can sense passion… and its absence. Where does your mind go when it wanders? What puts a sparkle in your eye? Use that. If you can find what gets your brain buzzing, the words will follow.
Separate your blog into digestible chunks of information. Then, add subheads for each section that tease your reader to keep going. When you’re done with your post, go through and read only your subheads – do they give an accurate and intriguing summary of your content? If not, it’s time to make some tweaks. You know what else helps to break up text? Images. Give your readers’ brains something to see rather than read and it will not only pull them into your content, but it will probably help them to better understand and enjoy it, too.
Did you know recent studies have shown that posts published on Thursdays get more social shares than any other day of the week? Or that 2,884,963 blog posts have been published today? Check it out, you can view a live counter that is moving so fast it was hard to read the numbers. Not only do stats build credibility, but they also give you the opportunity to link to your source websites – an easy way to improve your SEO.
How would you verbally explain to someone your blog topic? Imagine talking about your subject matter, and let that be the language you use. When you write like you speak, your own unique voice and personality is more likely to shine through. And – bonus! – using conversation as a basis for our writing results in sentences that sound more natural and are easier to understand.
Whether it’s the 10,357th person to die in the latest mind-blowing episode of Game of Thrones, or Queen Bey’s extreme dislike for lemonade (that’s what the brooding album is about right?), the melting pot of pop culture references is yours to utilize to spice up your blog. Doesn’t matter if everyone doesn’t understand your references. If they do get it, they’ll feel like part of the cool club of people who know what’s going on. If they don’t, it reinforces the fact that you know something they don’t, which means you’re a good person to be learning from. It’s a win-win.
One quote that has really stuck with me from Copyblogger is this:
“Every element of compelling copy has just one purpose — to get the next sentence read. And then the sentence after that, and so on, all the way down to your call to action.” Allow yourself to write freely from the beginning of your blog to the very end – no filtering, no editing, no overthinking. Just write. This helps your thoughts to flow without barriers, which allows your brain to get in the groove and make more connections. Then, once a first draft is complete, go back and attack your blog with a red pen. Be ruthless. Every sentence that doesn’t serve a purpose has gotta go. In short, master the art of writing way more words than you need, and then be willing to let them all go.
So there you have it – you’re now better equipped to start and finish a stellar blog post. Let those fingers start flying on the keyboard – you got this.
