In the modern world, useful information and news are valued very highly. Popular bloggers can make great money and be opinion leaders influencing the masses. But not so simple. There is really serious competition waiting for you in this segment, so we will help you avoid mistakes and increase the efficiency of your work.
Key Elements That Will Help You Win Competition
Of course, you can pay attention to the most insignificant little things. But there are also a large number of basic blog elements that will help attract the attention of the visitor. This interest will push him to familiarize himself with the article, share, and recommend it to other users, which will help to become trendy. Key aspects of a successful blog:
- Headline: Try to pick a catchy headline that draws attention. About six words are desirable;
- Your article should have an interesting story;
- Subheadings for text search;
- Studies have shown that it is best to write blogs with a volume of about 1,500 words;
- Buttons for post distribution.
Attract Reader Attention from the First Rows
Almost every visitor will read your headline. But only two out of ten will read the entire block. Statistics in the 80/20 rule indicate that the title determines the failure or success of any material. Therefore, it is important to gain the attention of the reader immediately.
Remember that the visitor perceives the first and last 3 words from the title. Of course, a very small number of headings consists of 6 words. Let the first and last three words to the greatest extent reflect the essence of the post and attract the attention of the reader. Below is a list of quality headers that successfully fulfill their primary function. There is another good tip for SEO optimization. The title must contain 60 (or less) characters to fit in the search query string.
Everything is much more complicated with heading styles: Google is ready to provide 56 million search results for “Work on the perfect blog.” You must understand the psychology, mood, and interests of your reader to gain his attention and trust. Below are 8 universal strategies that rely on research results. You can choose any aspect to interest the reader and attract his attention.
- Surprise – “Make your article perfect”;
- Question – “How to make an article perfect?”;
- Intrigue – “10 ingredients of a quality blog. Number 7 – Incredible! ”;
- Denials – “Stop making uninteresting headlines for your blog”;
- How – “How to make a blog effective and interesting”;
- Figures – “10 tips to help make an ideal article”;
- Appeal – “For people who are one step away from writing a quality post”;
- Specificity – “6 steps to improve blog performance by 150%.”
Of course, for each heading there are nuances, and you can follow the main trends. We recommend that you study the headings of successful competitors and understand the trend of their compilation. Besides, study scientific articles and psychological research on this subject. 90% of writing skills – the ability to make quality headlines.
We can recommend an optimal title formula based on research on the most popular headings. The formula is as follows: Numbers + Adjective + Keywords + Justification + Promise. Example – Example: “Five simple steps that you can take today and bring personal happiness closer.”
An Interesting Story Must Be at the Beginning of a Blog
The headline is just an excuse to get the reader’s attention. The first part of the blog should interest him even more. And here it all depends on the story and the story. Interestingly, professional analysts conducted research and proved that a story records 300% more readers on average than a post without a story. Moreover, not only the number of readers is important, but also the time they spend on the site. Thanks to the good storytelling, this figure can be increased to 500%.
The beginning of the blog should be a story. You should be aware of the interests, hobbies, and problems of the reader. It is necessary to talk about the problem that will be important for him. The user must associate himself and “see” this situation. Thanks to quality storytelling, you can win the reader’s attention and respect.
Reduce the Number of Characters in a String by Inserting an Image
We have analyzed many blogs and we can say that the structure of blogs has common aspects. For example, most often a blog starts with a picture in the upper corner. And there is a good reason for this. It’s simple – because visual materials determine success. Moreover, this approach reduces the number of words in the first paragraph of the article.
Placing the picture reduces the width of the lines, making the material easier for the initial perception, respectively, more readable and visible – once again, psychology plays its role.
This conclusion was confirmed by well-known social media expert Derik Halpern. According to his explanation, fewer words allow you to quickly read the beginning of the article and become interested in this issue. There is another way (if you do not want to place the picture at the very beginning) – this is increasing the font size. Remember that popular publications make good use of this technique.
There is another simple and effective way to change the number of words. This will require an initial knowledge of CSS code. Insert the following line with the required values: p: first-child {font-size: 1.5em;}.
Subheadings, Lists and Tagged Lists
You may have often heard that people do not read materials on the Internet, but scan them. This rule works for most: the convenience of quickly scanning the material you publish is an important aspect of the success of each article.
Use subheadings to make your article easier to read. Subheadings are headings that are contained in your editor. There are several heading tags with numbers from one to six. Yoast has developed an excellent headline use system that will help you write any post:
- H1: the main title of your article;
- H2′s and H3′s: additional sections and subsections;
- H4: sets of related widgets;
- H5: side panels.
Such subheadings are important not only for the user but also for search engines. The title has the greatest weight – this is the title, that is, H1. Subtitles follow in order of magnitude. Professional authors of popular articles use H1 for headlines and H2 and H3 for subheadings within a story. Subheadings are highlighted for attention.
Material Volume
So, you wrote a great headline that attracted the attention of visitors, used an interesting story that plunged visitors into reading, provided your post with thoughtful subtitles to guide the reader through the text. This means that you managed to create a competitive article that can become trendy. You need to add interesting content.
To understand what an ideal blog should be, you need to answer two questions:
- What is the optimal article length?
- What should be the visual design?
An ideal blog does not have a fixed length, however, you should keep in mind some important aspects. If you can create the same awesome 200-word posts as Sety Godin, you will be convinced that the posts fulfill their main task if they reach a certain threshold value.
Also keep in mind that large blogs get more attention. Studies have shown that the longer the post, the more feedback it receives from readers. Also, such blogs receive more publications (70%) and tweets (about 25%) on social networks.
The studies also made some interesting conclusions:
- An ideal post takes 7 minutes to read (approximately 1,700 words).
- Users usually read 28% of the words.
- Subtitles are a great opportunity not only to attract attention but also to make your post readable so that the reader can find material that interests him.
Besides, several interesting techniques are used in popular blogs:
- Lists – numbered and marked;
- Remote quotes;
- Bold text in the main paragraphs;
- Short paragraphs;
- Visual effects.
Add Possibilities for Publishing Individual Text Elements
Follow the advice of professional and popular bloggers: “People like to share content on social media. Make your post as convenient as possible for distribution. ” Add “Like” and “Share” (or next to individual pieces of text). Modern design sites such as Word Press have such features. Thanks to them, the user can quickly share information and attract new readers.
Minor Nuances and Details
Nuances are important. Focus on them to make an interesting, popular, and eye-catching perfect post.
Links Inside Text
Professional blog authors try to place links in a variety of places: sidebar, headline, footer. This method will help improve search engine ranking and increase ranking. Blog Pros studies of the 100 most successful posts have confirmed that these publications contain about ten links.
Visual Materials are Very Important
We use our eyes to get a lot of information about the world around us. Therefore, visual material is the most important component today. Photos are six times easier to remember than text. Therefore, people will not only read your notes with great interest, but they will also remember them better. Studies have shown that the most successful 350-word blogs have one visual element.
Post Buttons for Distributing Notes
An ideal blog should contain buttons for publishing on social networks. Your task is to place them in the most convenient places. Successful authors do this in several ways. You can use special WordPress plugins, add them using code, or in other ways. It is important that the reader sees them and can use them.
Add a Convenient and Interesting Search Link
Creating a good link is not the most obvious thing when creating the perfect material. But professional authors think differently. A Google analysis showed that it’s best to use 3 to 5 words when writing a link to your post. Too long phrases will mean less, and in some cases will be regarded as spam. So write short links and include keywords in the first!
Of course, you must remember about search engines. But first of all, users read you, so do not forget about them. Describe your link exactly so people know what to expect when they click on it.
For instance:
- //blog.bufferapp.com/inside-the-ideal-blog-post-the-research-and-science-behind-the-perfect-post
May become this:
- //blog.bufferapp.com/ideal-blog-post-research
Time – Think When You Need to Publish a Blog (Hint – Weekend)
It is also important to publish the article on time. For example, Track Maverne conducted a large study (it affected more than 4.5 thousand blogs and more than a million posts. The conclusion was simple and obvious: visitors are most active on Saturday and Sunday, and during the working week their attention is more difficult to gain.
Also, users share records with greater activity at the beginning of the day and in the evening, after work. Being in the workplace, their activity is gradually reduced. Consider these features when posting an article. It makes sense to publish a blog in the most favorable period.
Additional features
We talked about the main aspects of a good blog. But ideal articles have several common features that the author needs to remember.
- Have a practical application;
- Contain metaphors;
- The article contains visual elements and pictures;
- Relevant now;
- Based on specific decisions;
- Entertain the user;
- In the end there is a section with totals.
Conclusion
The information contained in this article will help you become a professional author, write interesting and catchy articles that attract the attention of users. However, remember that success will come to you only if you remain yourself and write about topics that interest you. Good luck with creating perfect content.
