5 Smart steps to writing a blog post that gets attention

"Taking your time and writing with intent is the key to writing a blog post that gets engagement and rankings."

Writing is indeed an art, people have been reading information since the dawn of man.

From paintings on cave walls to modern day digital e books and blogs, people love to consume information through reading, it lays deep in our human DNA.

What we will cover ...

• Choosing a great post title
• Breaking up paragraphs
• Being conversational with your writing
• Engaging with your audience
• Enjoying the process

Read this and you will have a pretty good grasp on what a quality blog post should look like and portray to your audience.

Following these tips while throwing your unique spin on things will result in a blog that is YOURS and yours alone.

Your personality will shine through your hard work.

This will help build your audience!

Let's dive in shall we?  

How to choose a great blog post title

Did you know that your title is easily one of the major factors on whether your hard work gets read or passed over?

Blogging is about bringing people quality information on the subject they desire, it means nothing however if we can't get them to click on our post's link first!

Understand this ... Not just for titles but for blogging all together.

Readers skim through content...  Titles, posts, and everything else these days!

You may be guilty of this right now you little skimmer you!

Here's some facts ...

Most readers will skim through an article to read the titles and headers first, before actually reading the content ... If they do at all.

We all do this ... don't believe me?

Just think of how many times you were "pulled in by an awesome title."

You just had to click it, it was to good to resist!

You get to the article just to find garbage or a sales page, you skim the headings quick, only to quickly realize you are wasting your time.

Your out of there before 7 seconds passes

This is where the term "click bait" comes from.

Trust me, plenty of internet marketers have abused this human weakness.

These are the people that use these scummy tactics to get traffic, only to completely fail at actually bringing value to the reader.

"We want people to click to our posts, however instead of baiting them to some shit article or sales page that has no real ambition to bring them value, we enrich their lives with the best quality on the subject we can."

Getting that title right is really important folks, so let's go over some ways to choose an awesome title!

#1 Use odd numbers

For some strange but proven reason people love odd numbers in headlines.

Just look at this post's title ... "5 Smart steps to writing a blog post that gets attention."

This "5 smart" is the first stage of the title and it's designed to draw your attention with something that sounds easy to absorb and follow along with.

Notice how "5 smart steps" kind of makes you feel like this will be a structured list that will show exactly, step by step how to write an "awesome" post?

(This is exactly what I hope to provide you with by the way!)

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This comfort or "assurance" of a list sends the signals to your brain that this article is something that will show you step by step how to do what you seek to improve on, in a consumable way.

#2 Use your target keyword or phrase in the title

Every post that you write on your website should have the target keyword (or keywords) included within.

This is important for SEO and should never be over looked.

With that said however you need to keep in mind that we are writing to help PEOPLE, not search engines.

If the keyword does not make grammatical sense don't use it especially in your post's title.

SEO is important, however writing for people is more important in my eyes. Who cares if you rank a little higher by doing this if the keyword loaded title makes you sound like a dummy to your audience?

Keep it human and try your best to get that keyword in the title and first paragraph.

Other than that this article isn't looking to go down the SEO road but we will definitely revisit this soon on wornbee.com!

#3 Use words that entice strategically

Let me ask you what you would click on first ...

• 5 Steps to writing a blog post

OR

• 5 Smart steps to writing a blog post that gets attention

I hope you said the second example, your kind of reading it right?

Kidding aside, can you see the difference?

One jumps out at you and makes you want to see what this bold title wants to tell you.

The other is generic and bland, there is no intrigue, no fire behind it.

So what makes these two examples so different?

Words, simple words that raise people's emotions and curiosity, words like ...

• Awesome
• Smart
• Secret
• Must have
• Hack
• Science
• Proven
• Bold
• Undeniable

These are just a few "power" words that call for an explanation, people are so curious when these words are used correctly, it's human nature.

Start using some POWER! you will get much more interest in your work.

Breaking up your paragraphs

On to the next tip to writing a blog post.

Break up your paragraphs! No one wants to read walls of text on their screen.

Seriously, when was the last time you read a blog post and the writer just kept running and running on the same paragraph until you just clicked away due to the massive amount of overload coming at you. I mean come on, why would you just keep writing and writing without stopping? It becomes just a huge wall of text that becomes a chore to read rather than an engaging piece of content. Yup, this guy just keeps going and going and going and going .....

You see what I did there?

Seriously, what I did above shows how this can be so off putting to the reader.

I almost didn't put that little example there because I seriously wonder if every one will stay to read my point here.

Are you still there?

I hope that wall of text didn't send you running for the hills.

My cheesy little example does serve a very valuable point you should pay attention to if you want people to actually read through all of your content.

Reading a book and reading a blog on a screen are two very different things completely.

Remember how I said above that people "skim" posts and headlines?

This holds true for reading the content as well, people want to read blogs that are more like conversation than a paper back.

How to achieve a great text layout

First off, try to forget what your old English teacher taught you about writing!

Here's some ways to disappoint Mrs. Waller ....

#1 Keep paragraphs short and sweet

Use one to two sentences max for most paragraphs.

This is what will break up the continuous wall of text that affects people much more on a computer screen than it does on paper.

This takes "feel" and you don't need to strictly adhere to this all of the time.

After a while you will fall into your "style" and the people that like it will become your loyal followers.

#2 Write in conversational tone

No one wants to read a damn thesis online, OK maybe a few folks but chances are your niche isn't going to require this kind of writing.

One awesome tip...

When you start your blog and have your niche chosen picture your perfect reader in your mind.

• What does this person enjoy?
• Where do they hang out?
• What do they do for a living?
• What hobbys do they enjoy?

Ask these questions and create your perfect reader, have some fun with this and really get to know this imaginary friend of yours.

The other option is pick someone in your real life that would be interested in your blog.

Either way just narrow down and find this person, from here on when you write pretend that you are writing to just this person.

This helps you write like you are talking to a good friend

Writing like this will build an audience and following of like minded people.

Engaging with your audience

Engagement, what's that?

It's super important to understand that writing a great post is just the start of being a successful blogger.

I own a auto repair shop by trade, yeah I know go figure how a wrench turner falls in love with blogging.

In my shop I work on many high end vehicles, me and my crew do things right as far as repairs and maintenance.

This is only part of how we have stayed in business for 30 + years.

You wanna know what the real secret is to ANY business that deals with the public is?

One word ENGAGEMENT!

Taking the time to explain, educate and nurture the relationship with my customers is what keeps them coming back to my shop.

The same thing applies to my blog, I want to help you and build that trust.

Here's the thing ...

People simply want to feel valued and respected when they spend money, time, or anything else they value when they are in your presence as a business owner.

If I can help I will, simple as that.

That's my commitment to you, my blog, and life in general.

Build this trait and show people you care  

You can't fake this, it comes through like a golden cord, especially when written.

How do you build this within your blog?

#1 Simply ask

Funny how life changes us from young kids with open minds to anything, to contained and reluctant to ask our fellow man what THEY could use a hand with.

Somewhere along the tides of life we lose the simplicity of just asking people not for what we want, but for WHAT THEY NEED.

Ask your audience to comment, subscribe, ENGAGE with your content.

Be there in the post, set the stage for comfort and give the vibe that you really are writing to help them, (because you should be above all else.)

Do this with genuine purpose and when they take you up on the offer, bring your A+ game to the table.

#2 Stay up to date

Once you start to build an audience, ask them periodically what they want as far as the content you create.

Stay in touch with the people reading your posts and deliver them what they crave.

Why do you think even HUGE companies want you to "take a quick survey" after a purchase?

This my friend is a perfect example of how important staying in touch with what YOUR CUSTOMER (or reader wants) is.

Listen if Amazon is doing it ... take note, trust me.

Enjoy the process

Here's the last tip for this article.

Have fun and realize that what you are doing matters.

There is no way to "fake" this, your readers can smell a blogger that really doesn't care about what he or she is lying down from a mile away.

Write to have fun, write with a purpose, write because you love it!

There's money to be made blogging, don't get me wrong.

Until you realize that blogging is like any other business where the owner truly needs to cater and care for his customer however.

You won't make a dime.

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