Great.
You read it.
Read what? That headline of course. And then… This first sentence.
And now you’re reading this next sentence. (pretty clever eh’?) I have a purpose to this post, I promise.
I’m going to help you write better blog content with just this one blog post.
Your headlines matter, but not for the reason you think they do
Your headlines matter for one reason-to get people to read your blog post.
Then it’s all about your copy.
“Copy” is not complicated
Actually, its simple. Or it should be anyway.
Say what you have to say in the simplest way possible.
I know you have readers who are wicked-smart and can devour the most sophisticated vocabulary, BUT… Give it to them simple and to the point. Be direct, say what you need to say the easiest way possible.
Have a purpose
Remember back in English class long, long, ago when you had to identify the purpose of a given passage? To persuade, to inform, to entertain?
I’m a big fan of entertainment. I hate to be bored when I read. Quit sending your readers to snoozeville with your boring facts.
Information is great, but remember only write what is essential, no rambling, and keep it simple and clear.
Formatting matters
Writing blog content is different than writing offline content. One of the biggest differences is you have less time to grab your readers attention and less time to keep it.
The easiest way to loose your readers is with saying too much (posts that are too damn long) and with lumping it all together (long boring paragraphs).
A few formatting tips for you:
- use numbers and bullets when possible
- Keep paragraphs short: no more than 5 lines-that’s max!
- Use headers and sub headers
- Use bold, italic, and underlined text- but don’t get crazy
- Keep posts between 300-800 words- I like 500
Simple enough? Great. Now I fulfilled my promise to help you write better blog content. That was easy. Now off to conquer the world.
Cheers.