Five Essential Tips for Writing Better Blog Posts
A recent study found that active blogs contribute to a higher Return On Investment (ROI) for their publishers. Simply put, content converts. However, figuring out how to write better content and increase those conversions can be tricky.
Fortunately, there are a few best practices that can help you improve. By following principles designed to increase engagement, you can create posts that will attract – and keep – reader attention.
In this article, we’ll start by discussing what makes good blog content. Then we’ll give you five tips for how to write better blog posts. We’ll finish up by covering some benchmarks you can use to measure your success. Let’s get started!
What Makes Good Blog Content?
What constitutes good blog content will depend somewhat on your topic and audience. However, there are a few traits that you can commonly find in the best types of content.
One major factor is that the material sets and achieves goals relevant to the reader, which you can do in various ways. For example, you might present a relatable problem to your target audience, and then provide an actionable solution by the end of the article.
Meeting goals helps your readers feel that they’ve gained something valuable from your content. If you have happy visitors, adding an easy way to share your work can help spread the word. Sharable content can also be a way to promote your integrated social media accounts.
Finally, the best blog content should serve your brand’s pursuits in some capacity. Maybe an article attracts more traffic to your site, or further establishes you as a thought leader in your field. If you’re not sure how to write better blogs, consider starting with analyzing your organization’s needs.
Tip 1: Tell a Story
Storytelling is the core of a compelling blog post. If you want to hook in more readers, consider laying out a coherent narrative for them. This can increase engagement and help visitors identify with your brand.
This ‘story’ doesn’t necessarily need to be fictional. Storytelling can take on different, subtle forms. You might consider the following article from Mashable as an example:
The headline makes the plot clear: Facebook hackers are stealing data, and readers may be victims. Users are likely to consume this content to see how the ‘story’ ends, especially if it might directly impact them.
Additionally, you can emphasize a narrative by adding relatable content. Try to speak to your target audience’s unique problems and desires, as this can also help them forge a deeper connection to your brand.
Tip 2: Keep Your Structure Clear
Knowing how to write better blog posts can be confusing, but it’s hard to go wrong with a clear structure. Therefore, it’s important to give your readers a solid idea of what you’ll be talking about as soon as possible. You might even want to try doing this within the first paragraph.
Another strategy is to lay out the key topic in the headline:
The above headline gives you a clear idea of what you’ll learn and what the article will contain. With this format, readers who click on your blog post may be more likely to finish it because they know its contents.
Tip 3: Answer User Questions
Many users turn to the internet to find answers to their questions. If you’re trying to figure out how to write better blogs, answering your readers’ queries can be a wise starting point.
This approach can also keep your content relevant, since answering user questions helps you keep up with trends:
Getting started with any new concept or skill can be a daunting task. By offering a beginner’s guide, you can answer multiple questions with one article.
Posts that solve readers’ problems are also more likely to be appreciated and shared since they’re directly serving a purpose for your users. They may also boost your search engine rankings if those questions are commonly searched for.
Tip 4: Give Your Users What They Want
If you’re trying to learn how to write better blog posts, this tip may seem obvious. Providing your readers with content they’ll enjoy is a straightforward concept. However, finding the intersection between producing appealing blog posts and beating out the competition can be challenging.
An effective way to figure out what your readers are most interested in is to simply ask them. This can also benefit your site in other ways, as it can boost your overall engagement. Another handy tool you can use is Google Keyword Planner:
Once you know what topic you’ll cover, you can enter a related keyword into this tool. Afterward, it will return data telling you how competitive the keyword is and how often it is searched for. Google’s Keyword Planner can also suggest related words to expand your reach.
Tip 5: Write Compelling Headlines
While your blog content might be stellar, it can suffer if you hide it behind an ineffective headline. Your article’s title often does the heavy lifting, drawing readers in to discover the rest of your content. Therefore, it’s important to invest some time into crafting an excellent headline.
One way to do this is to use numbers. In addition to giving an idea of structure, numbers can also help catch readers’ eyes. Additionally, it helps to be as specific as possible:
The tone in the above example is conversational, but directly addresses the reader’s needs. If you’re wondering how to write better social media content, this technique can be helpful for creating more ‘clickable’ titles.
How Do I Know if My Blog Content Is Successful?
As with the creation of the blog content itself, knowing how to measure its success will depend on your goals. For example, maybe you’d be ecstatic if a single post went viral with thousands of shares. On the other hand, you might prefer a small yet loyal following.
Whatever your goals are, you can typically track them using a service such as Google Analytics. This tool can help determine how popular your blog posts are. It can be especially useful if you’re looking to reach specific demographics.
Another option for measuring success is through engagement. For example, you could see how often you’re getting comments on your new posts. Shares on social media and positive feedback are also good signs.
Similar to deciding ‘how to write better blogs’, there’s no one answer to the question of success. We recommend keeping your ultimate blog goals in mind throughout the process. You might want to start with one metric at first and then expand from there.
Create Your Best Content With Torque
Content creation is far from simple. The internet can be a fickle place, even if you’re well supplied with content writing tools and additional content writing tips. Fortunately, you can set yourself up for success by following a few blogging best practices.
In this article, we covered five helpful tips to help you discover how to write better blog content:
- Aim to tell a compelling story.
- Prioritize a clear structure.
- Strive to answer reader questions.
- Cater to your users’ interests.
- Create effective headlines.
Do you have any questions about how to write better blogs? Let us know in the comments section below!
