Winning Strategies for Bloggers
You are a prolific blogger, but you start to wonder if people actually read your awesome articles.
Over time, you spent countless hours meticulously crafting your phrases and tirelessly compiling your posts. But every time you hit Publish, you find out that nobody reads your precious words.
No comments or critiques. No tweets, no Facebook or Instagram sharing. Ample reason to launch the most stable writer into the bottomless pit of chronic depression and kill the motivation to continue to produce engaging and inspiring content.
If you want to know what we, here at Angie’s Diary, do to get the public at large to read our articles, please read on.
Titles and Descriptions
Your title is the single, most critical factor in receiving organic search traffic. The second is your description of the article. Several online services can help you create the perfect title for your work. Analyzing titles is based on these factors:
- Title Length
Where possible, use complete sentences to convey an impactful impression. - Branding
Depending on the article, it may be beneficial to mention a brand in the article. - Alert Words
Engage your audience by wisely using strong emotional words like alarm, risk, utopic, health scare, bliss, etc. - Article Content Keyword(s)
Use the most relevant words from your content to convey the message of your piece. - Possible Added Value
Write in the second or third person. Add a celebrity’s name.
Title and Headline Quality Score
Check out these online tools to give you a sense of what a good headline requires:
Relevant Keyword Placement
People, as well as search engines, quickly pick up if an article is stuffed with irrelevant keywords. You want to make sure you are using ‘solid’ keywords that have high relevance to your topic. The longer your text, the more keywords you can use.
Look for ‘natural’ opportunities to use your selected keywords throughout your article, title, and sub-title, but do not overdo it as you risk penalties by search engines (by excluding your articles and the websites that feature them from searches) for ‘keyword stuffing.’
Writing and Style
Keep it Short and Sweet
Shorter sentences. Writing less, but styling your text, so it’s easy to read, could be the simple solution to attract and hold the attention of the reader.
Small Chunks
Break up your text into digestible paragraphs, so your reader is not instantly bored or intimidated by never-breaking blocks of text. You want to make a reading session as attractive and effortless as possible.
Complex Topics
When you need to cover a complex topic, you could consider breaking it down into several posts, published chronologically. It is easier to read when presented with size-controlled articles. It is also a productive way to get readers coming back for more.
Alternatively, you could structure your post by breaking up your content, adding engaging headings and sub-headings for convenient oversight.
Strategic Content Highlighting
As with headings and sub-headings, you can help the reader to quickly find specific words in your text by formatting certain concepts in bold or italics.
Bullets & Numbers
- Create bulleted lists as they create a certain fascination irresistible to readers.
- Bullets are easily scannable and are perfect to present multiple issues.
- They look different from the other text in your post.
- They present a visual break for your reader.
Numbered lists can be even more effective in some cases
- Numbered lists keep the reader oriented.
- They can make certain issues more inviting
- They capture attention
Captions
Research has shown that image captions (also called ‘deep cations’) are persistently some of the most-read texts in a post. Deep captions are generally two or three sentences long – enough to intrigue your reader enough to start reading your piece. These captions should be placed under a powerful image included in your article.
Images
The use of images cannot only attract extra attention to your content, but it can definitely make or break your article. Of course, search engines can’t (yet) see images, but they do read their alt texts, which carries relevant information about the visual.
Images in books or journals published before 1923, will be in the public domain. These images can be used freely with few or no restrictions. Other images, published at a later date, may also be in the public domain, depending on copyright notices, or when the copyright was renewed.
Creative Commons
Wikimedia Commons offers an extensive collection of images that use the Creative Commons licensing system
Copyright
Learn more about how copyright applies to U.S. Government Works.
Add Relevant and On-topic Links
Internal links to content you wrote, will guide readers to your best publications.
External links show that you researched the topic at hand and endeavor to cite other experts.
Each article should have a balanced amount of internal and external links to enhance your reader’s grasp of the subject and add extra value.
Final Tips & Checkups
Visual Outlook
Now sit back and look critically at your text without reading the content, just look at the headings, the image(s), the bullets, and the highlights you created. Does the reader get it? Did you manage to show the reader, in the blink of an eye, what your piece is about? Can it still be improved upon?
Spelling & Grammar
Respect your reader and editor by submitting flawless articles. Not only check your spelling and grammar, but also look at your style, sentence structure, and punctuation. Go for a walk and check your work again. Is it good enough to publish? Or can you further enhance the used vocabulary?
Promotion
Remember, you want people to read your articles, so make sure your author profile is up-to-date and contains all relevant info that can help your readers to get to know you. Share your work on all social media in your portfolio and use your best work or your ‘author page’ on Angie’s as links in your email signature. Example: Bart’s author page.
Authority
As a blogger, it is essential to establish your authority and presence on the net to successfully promote your articles. You need to continue writing articles on the topics of your expertise and passion until you attain a critical mass of readership. Only then you can expect people to read your articles.
