Recently, I was talking to a friend who was feeling disappointed with her blog. She’d publish a post, and all she’d hear were crickets. Even after promoting her posts, hardly anyone was commenting or sharing her articles.
Most of us bloggers know what that feels like.
When I began this blog just over a year ago, I set out to write blog posts that would inspire and help fellow writers. But after spending days crafting a post, I would only receive a handful of comments.
Most of those comments were positive, though, and they encouraged me to keep going. Still, I felt a little discouraged. I wanted my posts to reach more readers.
After a while, it occurred to me that maybe the problem wasn’t with my content but with the way I was presenting it.
So I decided to study the rules of copywriting and read every article I could get my hands on about how to write powerful blog posts.
As I started implementing what I was learning, my posts began receiving more and more comments and shares (one even went viral on StumbleUpon). The Writing Cooperative recently republished several updated versions of those blog posts. Three of them ended up becoming trending articles and as of today have received over twenty-three thousand views.
In today’s post, I’m boiling down into five steps everything I’ve learned about writing blog posts over the past year. This isn’t a guide to writing viral posts (though your post may well go viral if you follow these steps). Rather, this is a guide to writing compelling blog posts that will resonate with your readers and add value to their lives.
Note: Want to save this guide to read later? You can get the PDF version & a 5-step checklist by signing up for access to the members-only content library filled with more blogging guides.
1. Craft a Strong Headline
Imagine you’re browsing through the newly released books at a bookstore. You don’t have enough time to stop to look at every single book. Most likely, you’ll only pick up a book if it has an intriguing title and cover design.
The same is true of blog posts. People’s social media feeds are flooded with a constant stream of articles and online content. In order to make yours stand out, you have to have an attention-grabbing headline: something that offers value to the reader in exchange for their time.
David Ogilvy, known as The Father of Advertising, is said to have stated, “The headlines that work best are those that promise the reader a benefit.”
A benefit could be anything from entertaining someone to teaching someone to inspiring someone to helping someone solve a problem.
Take for example my top three posts from 2016:
- How to Keep a Writing Notebook: A Peek into the Notebooks of Famous Writers & Thinkers
- 5 Rules for Writing Well: C. S. Lewis’s Letter to a Young Writer
- 15 of the Best Free Web Applications for Writers
Each of these headlines states a clear benefit to the reader.
As you write your blog post headlines, keep the 4 U’s of headline writing in mind:
- Unique
- Ultra-specific
- Urgent
- Useful
Usually, you won’t be able to cover all four of those U’s, but if you include at least one or two you should be able to come up with a strong headline. List posts perform well because they are ultra-specific, and how-to posts do well because they are useful.
You can run your titles through the Coschedule Headline Analyzer to see if there are ways to tweak them to make them more powerful.
Bonus Tip: Once you’ve come up with your headline, you can also choose a lead photo for your blog post that illustrates your headline in some way. This is the photo that will appear when your post is shared on social media so make sure it is eye-catching.
Pixabay and Unsplash are two fantastic databases where you can find beautiful, royalty free photos to use.
2. Open with an Irresistible Introduction
You’ve caught your reader’s attention with your headline, but does your post deliver what it promised?
The first paragraph of your blog post should draw your readers in and make them want to read more. This is where you lay out what they can expect in the rest of the blog post.
There are three elements of a powerful introduction:
- The Hook
- The Transition Section
- The Thesis Statement
This is the same formula I used when writing introductions to college essays, and it is very effective for blog posts too.
In the hook, you grab your reader’s attention with a memorable story or fact or question. Usually, in the hook, I set up a problem that is facing the reader. Often I like to address the reader directly with a question. For example, “Does it ever feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day for everything that you want to accomplish?”
Next, I’ll transition into a story about a famous writer or even a story about myself. In this transition section, I’ll dig a little deeper into the detrimental effects of the problem. Then, I’ll explain that I have found a way to solve the problem.
Finally, I present the thesis statement: a one-sentence summary of the post and how I will be helping the reader solve their problem. For example, “In today’s post, I’m looking at five different ways we can carve out time for writing even when it seems there are no more hours left in our schedules.”
My examples are from a how-to post, but you can adapt this formula to any type of post that you are writing.
3. Follow the Story Structure of the Hero’s Journey
Stories add another dimension to our writing. This fascinating Infographic shows how the human brain is hardwired to respond to storytelling differently than other forms of writing.
You can use stories to illustrate your main points, and you can also use the elements of storytelling to structure your entire post.
When I write my posts, I follow the outline of the hero’s journey, a term coined by American scholar Joseph Campbell to describe one of the most common storylines in literature. Think of the plot of Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, or The Odyssey.
Here’s the basic outline:
- A hero is called to go on an adventure to solve some kind of problem. (Every good story has some kind of conflict driving the plot forward.)
- She may be reluctant to accept the call but eventually realizes that if she doesn’t solve the problem, her life will spiral out of control.
- A mentor helps her prepare for the adventure.
- After facing a series of challenges, the story reaches its climax. Will the hero overcome the problem or not?
- The hero emerges victorious and returns home transformed.
How can you use this storyline to write your blog post?
Use the body of your post to take your readers on a journey. Your hero is your blog reader. You are the mentor. Share the steps you took to overcome a problem that the reader is facing. Then show the reader how they will be transformed once they implement those steps.
My post here shares eight more tips for writing powerful stories that will connect with your readers.
4. Make Your Post Easy to Read
Even if you write a wonderfully compelling or incredibly helpful post, people might still not stay around to read. Most people glance over a post quickly to see how long it is. Others are wary of click bait, not wanting to invest their time in something that won’t benefit them.
Here are three steps you can take to make your post more convincing to read:
1. Break your post up into short sections with subheadings
The subheadings give your reader an outline to follow, and the short sections make a long post much easier to digest.
However, you want to make sure that the subheading doesn’t give too much away or people won’t bother reading each section. Notice how each of my subheadings in this post are short teasers to what follows in the paragraph.
2. Use short paragraphs and sentences
Long blocks of text are intimidating to read, especially if you are reading on a mobile device. I try to write paragraphs that are no more than three to four sentences long.
3. Evaluate your post’s readability
I use Grammarly to catch any typos or grammar errors I might have made. And then I evaluate my post against a readability score.
A readability score tells you roughly what level of education someone would need in order to read your piece of text easily. It will help you write with a more conversational style. I try to write my posts as if I were talking to you in person over a cup of tea in a café. Would you like another latte? 🙂
You can use this website to measure your text readability. Or if you have a self-hosted WordPress website, I recommend downloading the Yoast SEO plugin. It will help you optimize your content for the web and has a built-in readability analyzer.
Here are several more tips from Kurt Vonnegut on how to improve your writing.
5. End With a Call to Action
You’ve taken your reader on an incredible adventure. Now what should he do with that information he’s just learned?
I usually title the conclusion of my blog post “The Takeaway”. It’s where you can emphasize the most important lessons of your post.
Next, give your reader a clear call to action to follow. Maybe you tell them to implement the steps they’ve read about in your post (stress the dangers if they do not take action).
Finally, you have a chance to build a relationship with your reader.
I like to end with a question and encourage readers to answer it in the comments. You could also create an additional resource to accompany your post that readers can download by signing up for your email list.
And don’t forget to ask readers to share your post on social media if they enjoyed it.
The Takeaway (and a free checklist!)
No matter what kind of article you are writing (a how-to, a listicle, a personal narrative, a book review, a recipe post), you can use these steps to make your article more powerful and engaging. Adapt them to your style and your topic.
Ultimately, you want to keep your readers in mind. How will your post add value to their lives? Is there any way that you can dig deeper and add a unique perspective to your topic?
When you implement these five steps, you will transform your posts into content that will truly impact your readers. They will be eager to share and to come back to your site to read more of your work.
I’ve compiled these five steps into a PDF checklist that you can use the next time you write a blog post. Get the PDF by signing up to my email list.
I hope this guide is helpful. Do you have any tips you would add? Let me know in the comments and please share this post with a friend if you enjoyed it.
Tutor Guide Indai says
Thanks for Sharing your article
jasmineroy says
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Danielle says
Hey, you mentioned some good resources and have some great tips but I also want to suggest a resource that I use when I’m trying to write an article or a blog post. I have a tough time being really wordy and rambly so what really REALLY helps is the Hemingway Editor at hemingwayapp.com . That one is a real gem – highlights the convoluted, too-long sentances and gives you readability and stuff like number of adverbs, passive voice, and even words and short phrases that can be rephrased to something more simple.
I don’t know that everything that I send through that app is good, but woooo boy, what comes out is certainly MILES better than than what goes in.
Prem kumar singh says
Thanks for the blog. I especially loved the content and the great stuff here.
Komal says
Hey Nicole, great read. You’re absolutely right, presentation of your blog holds great importance and this is by no means a way of saying that content doesn’t matter but if it is not presented in the best way your efforts may go to waste. All the other tips are great and very practical.
Thank you for sharing this with is, Cheers!
Stephen Adams says
Great article, thanks!
Suankit Sharma says
Very Helpful Article.
short, and to the point 🙂
Sri Laxmi says
Thank you very much for this write up!
Om Prakash Tiwari says
Hye dude
Thanks for you such an amazing content.
I will be very thankful to you if you help your visitors more
Here are many tricks to drive more traffic on a new blog. It will help your visitors to find all tricks easily.
Can you please mention in your post ” how to get traffic to you blog”
https://www.techontimes.com/2020/08/how-to-get-traffic-to-your-website.html
Rushik Gajjar says
Your explanation and information are very deep & accurate.
Cherry Cullins says
The further I read, the more the greater your content is.
Heena says
What a fantastic post. It delivers exactly what you have outlined. I found it extremely helpful. Thank you so much.
Anoop says
Fantastic post Nicole. Your writing is enjoyable to read. Will keep these tips in mind while I publish content on my blog.
Felize Blog says
Those were excellent posts I learned so much. Thank you for the tips!.
nagesh lingayat says
Nice post! Thanks for sharing such a post.
Sarah Maclean Wicked and the Wallflower ebook says
What’s up everyone, it’s my first visit at this web site, and piece of writing is
in fact fruitful in favor of me, keep up posting these articles.
Cricket says
Hi ,
Thanks for sharing the ideasss.. this is so helpful and i am using these websites regularly.
Lily Testi says
Thank you for that post, it really helped me!
Lily ???? @ lilymaesday.blogspot.com
Oby says
Brilliant and detailed post, Nicole. Love it. I’m currently experimenting with Medium. This post surely helps.
Sara khan says
Thanks for sharing a unique post.
Nicol Valentin says
I really like the hero’s journey example. Thats the first time I heard that one!
Ellen says
Very helpful tips, Nicole!
Really great advice when I need it 🙂
Abdul Muneeb says
Hey, Nicole!
Great post, love the whole post.
Thank you for sharing the good stuff!
Keep Sharing,
– Abdul Muneeb
Colleen Golafshan says
Thanks, Nicole, for this post and especially the free checklist which I downloaded and have used since I first read this some months ago!
Tanya says
Loved your article! Thank you for the great advice! I took notes so I can keep these in mind as I’m writing.
Linda says
Great tips! What I love about yours the most………..????????????? You actually HAVE tips in your post that are useful! ♥’d reading it. Thank you!
Chris says
Nice Post 🙂 I am just starting to get into blogging, and I am just soaking in everyone’s advice.
Tina Grant says
Great article and so helpful in many ways. (Got my attention! 🙂 Shared to a few places. Thank you!
Leanne Brookes says
Yes! This is just what I need. Bookmarking for when I get home and I can have a proper read through and start implementing. Thanks for sharing, Leanne x
Fumiko says
Thank for information. I enjoyed reading your article. It’s easy to read as you mention above. I will this article on twitter and FP.
Ps. If you like, pls do the same foe my blog.
Janecke engeberg says
Loved this article – it really made sence. I also could see your tip implemented in your article and they worked! It was easy to read, made sence, gave me something and I never tought about not reading it trough! Thanks a lot – will try to use it in my own writing!
Alena Sham says
thanks for the article. I am a new blogger and want to make sure that I can connect with my readers and hopefully provide them with good content they will want to come back for. A lot of people blog just for the revenue,..not really thinking about things like communication and trust with their readers. This help a ton!
Trevor says
I think this is lovely, and definitely useful! Reckon I’m gonna study this and try to implement it. Thank you so much for this! 😀
Krista says
This post is phenomenal! I’ll have to implement your tips. I love your advice on how to craft a great headline.
Cheboi says
Thank you Nicole, great advice indeed. Been struggling with my blog that i recently started and i know this tips will take my writing and blog to the next level. Thanks for sharing!
Nicole Bianchi says
Thanks, Cheboi! I’m so glad to hear this post was helpful to you. All the best with your writing!
Vladimir Covic says
Great tips for content writers, copywriters and bloggers in general, thank you Nicole. Couldn’t agree more. Loved the hero reference.
Nicole Bianchi says
Thank you so much, Vladimir!
Delores says
This blog post is a “keeper”. I appreciate and welcome your insight to creating powerful blogs. Writing is a art. Learning all one can about perfecting this art is worth its weight in achievement. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Nicole Bianchi says
Thank you so much, Delores! I agree with you that writing is an art. 🙂 All the best with your blog!
Hannah says
This is great! I struggle sometimes about how to write and will check out Grammarly! Thank you!
Nicole Bianchi says
Thanks, Hannah! Glad you found it helpful. Grammarly is definitely one of my favorite writing tools.
Char says
Good points. I think who your readers are makes a difference too. As someone who writes about canning and animals, and diy, it might be harder to gain readers than other types of blogs.
Nicole Bianchi says
Thank you for your comment, Char! I think there is definitely an audience for the topics you are writing about. Sometimes it’s just a matter of finding out where your readers are hanging out and promoting your posts there. 🙂
Shevy says
First very comprehensive list I have seen on this topic. This is really useful and should help me to stay on course with my posts. Blogging can really stress you out when you are putting your all and not receiving anything back. Love this!
http://www.travelbeautyblog.com
Nicole Bianchi says
Hi, Shevy! Thank you so much. Yes, it’s so true that blogging can become discouraging when you’re not receiving any comments or response to your work. I hope these tips work for you.
Michaela @1001VoyagesGourmands says
There is so much useful information in this post! I truly enjoyed reading it! I need to review my process of writing but I have to admit that Grammarly and Yoast SEO are already helpíng me a lot (especially Grammarly as I am not a native English speaker)! Thank you for all your advice!
Nicole Bianchi says
Thank you, Michaela! Grammarly and Yoast SEO are such wonderful tools. Glad to hear they are helping you.
Mandi says
Nice tips. I also found a big difference when I started following this system. Starting with a question has been particularly useful. Thanks for the reinforcement.
Nicole Bianchi says
Hi, Mandi! Thank you! Yes, it definitely transforms blog posts and makes them more engaging.
Anaci says
I love to read this post. So helpful… Thank you very much..
Nicole Bianchi says
Thank you, Anaci! So happy you found it helpful. 🙂
amy crumpton says
Nicole, this is a wonderfully written piece! Thank you so much for your research and dedication.
Nicole Bianchi says
Thank you so much, Amy! 🙂
Sarah Diehl says
At this point with my blog, I would rather receive a lower amount of feedback and make sure that I am publishing complex content. Short sentences and paragraphs bother me. It makes me feel like I’m reading Buzzfeed when I’d rather be reading NYT. Although for a blog such as yours, simplicity and a “clickbait” style works, other blogs have more complicated goals and it might not be a good idea for those blogs to follow these guidelines.
I think it has a lot to do with a blogger’s target audience and their end goal for their blog. I believe my posts are compelling for my audience, but I know I have a limited audience. I agree with everything you’ve said, but I don’t think every blogger’s end goal should be hundreds of thousands of views by people who don’t fit their audience.
Nicole Bianchi says
Hi, Sarah! I wasn’t advocating clickbait at all, and I hope my posts don’t come across as clickbait. I like to vary my blog posts and have longer, complex articles (like my posts about Rilke and Steinbeck) as well as how-to articles like this one.
My goal is certainly not hundreds of thousands of views by people who don’t fit my audience, nor do I think that should be any blogger’s goal. Rather, I wrote this post to show how to use copywriting techniques so that your posts will reach more people in your target audience (whether it’s big or small).
I also want to note that as opposed to social shares, most people don’t comment on a blog post unless the post truly resonated with them (or if they strongly disagree with it). 😉 Blogging isn’t just a hobby for me. I want to help and inspire people with my words. Comments are one way that I can measure whether my writing is achieving its purpose.
We can agree to disagree about short paragraphs versus long ones. Sure, not every post needs to have one or two sentence paragraphs, but really long blocks of text aren’t fun to read either, especially not on a mobile device.
Overall, I believe the steps I outlined in this post can be adapted to fit any blog post. For example, you might not follow the hero’s journey to the letter in your blog posts, but you are a mentor to your readers when you show them how to look at a book in a new way.
Thanks for your comment!
Kathy Rushing says
Hi, Nicole
Finally catching up to your site after meeting you last fall at Tribe Writers conference. I really enjoyed meeting you.
GREAT post, and so helpful. I spent over an hour testing different titles for an ebook I will be offering on my website…I may have gotten a little obsessive :).
I look forward to connecting more–my mom passed Nov. 5 after her long battle with Alzheimer’s. I lost a lot of momentum, but we can’t control life, sometimes. I am currently redesigning my website and refocusing. It is good to start writing again, as I had barely started prior to TW.
Thanks again.
Nicole Bianchi says
Hi, Kathy! Thank you! So nice to hear from you. 🙂 It was lovely meeting you at Tribe Writers conference.
So sorry to hear about the passing of your mom. My grandmother also had Alzheimer’s. It’s a devastating disease. My heart goes out to you and your family during this difficult time.
I wish you all the best with your ebook, and I look forward to seeing the final design of your website!
Mike Mahaffey says
Thanks Nicole for the tips and the clear and concise manner that you have for developing each one.
I know those are the keys to writing readable post for blogs. I read too many post that seem to have no chain, or line, of thought?
It’s easy for me to forget that I’m writing the article to make my point, but that point must be clearly understood by you?
Thanks, I needed that!
Nicole Bianchi says
Hi, Mike! Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the article. Yes, it’s so true that each blog post should have a clear overarching goal and line of thought.
Elise Cohen Ho says
There are lots of great tips here. I am playing with Grammarly now. Thankyou.
Nicole Bianchi says
Hi, Elise! Thank you! 🙂 I love Grammarly. It’s such a fantastic editing tool.
Natalie G says
Wow! This post was very simple to follow and gave great detail which is much appreciated. I loved your tip about following a storyline. I give this advice all the time. Thank you for sharing your expertise!
Natalie
Nicole Bianchi says
Hi, Natalie! 🙂 Thank you! Yes, following a storyline really does make a post much more powerful.
Iftekhar Idris Asif says
I’ve been writing for many sites & freelancing marketplace since 2010 & according to my experience you’ve written a very good tutorial. I tried writing such a post last year, but couldn’t get much time to organize the point. Thanks to your for writing this one. I’ll share it to my followers who are looking for such tips.
Nicole Bianchi says
Thanks so much, Iftekhar! I really appreciate you sharing it with your followers.
Joseyphina says
Great tips, Nicole! Thanks for sharing.
Nicole Bianchi says
Thank you, Joseyphina! Hope these tips help you. 🙂
David R. Henry says
Hi, Nicole. Thanks for posting this in the FB group. I am new to blogging so this will really help.
Thanks so much for taking the time to put this together for us newbies.
Happy writing.
God bless,
David R. Henry
“Tutor to the Stars’
Nicole Bianchi says
Hi, David! Thank you so much for reading and commenting. I am so glad to hear that the guide is helpful for newbies. Wishing you every success with your blog!
Sean says
This is your strongest post yet Nicole!
I’ve read similar copywriting tips over the years and have applied them piecemeal, but this really pulls all of these best practices together, and your blog reflects it.
Not to mention your habit of including a downloadable tidbit at the end! Your hard work shows and it is paying off.
I’m going to apply each one of these to tomorrow’s post, which I have yet to start writing…
Better get to it!
S.
Nicole Bianchi says
Wow, thank you so much, Sean! I really appreciate your encouraging words. 😀
So glad to hear you enjoyed the post. And I look forward to reading yours!
Samantha Taki says
This is amazing. I bookmarked it for further review. Now I am going through my headlines, and realize many of them need to be reworked. Thank you for this great info. Good luck to you!
Nicole Bianchi says
Thank you so much, Samantha! I am so happy to hear you found the post helpful. All the best with your blog!
Michelle monet says
Wonderful Nicole!
Thanks for this well thought out post. I love the look and feel and readability of your blog and it was very well written and concise.
I have gotten back to steadily blogging now. I am always tweaking and revamping my blog and will definitely implement some of these suggestions soon.
For me, my goal with my blog is just to write it. My newest goal is to: WRITE ONE BLOG a day. It helps me just to compose, edit then publish it. Honestly, I’m not concerned much how much of an audience I get, for now.
I haven’t had the goal of reaching more people because I feel there will always be time for that after I create the content. Getting the content written is my goal but of course, eventually I will want more readers too so thanks for this!
Thanks again.
Michelle Monet
Oh, I also heard that if you give your blog title a one line catchy PHRASE, instead of your name it might even be better . I’m brainstorming now to rename mine.
“365 DAYS. 365 BLOG CHALLENGE”
“DONT SLOG THROUGH MY BLOG?”
“MY BLOG A DAY CHALLENGE”.
‘365 DAYS. 365 BLOGS’.
“BLOG A DAY KEEPS THE………AWAY?
“WILD AND CRAZY BLOGGIN’ WOMAN?’
‘THE BLOGGIN’ FOOL’
‘BLOG CLEARS THE FOG?”
(Workin on my blog in progress today – http://www.michellemonet.com/blog)
Nicole Bianchi says
Hi, Michelle! Thank you so much for your kind words! 🙂 Definitely agree about having a catchy blog tagline. Looking forward to seeing which one you pick. I like the idea of incorporating your 365-day challenge into it.
Love how you are using your blog to reach your daily writing goals. All the best with publishing one blog a day!
Ky Ho says
Great advice!
Nicole Bianchi says
Thank you, Ky! Hope it helps!
Karli says
Great tips! I’ve been feeling a little frustrated myself lately. Might be time to analyze what I’ve got going on in my posts! I definitely do some of these things…but not all. 🙂
Thanks Nicole!
Nicole Bianchi says
Hi, Karli! 🙂 How is the writing of your novel going? I need to catch up with your Instagram and blog! So glad to hear you found the post helpful. Thank you for commenting!