Quick tips and recommendations on writing an effective blog post
Title
- *keywords* most important (if someone was searching for what you’re writing about, what words would they use? usually a combo of 4 or 5 words or a couple phrases)
- save the clever puns and turns of phrase for the intro
- idea: most visible part of search engine result, keep it simple and to the point
Introductory sentence/headline
- in H1 or H2 or headline format, adds weight to search engine
- as clever and interesting as possible
- something like 80-90% of readers won’t get past this point if not instantly hooked
(think of when you do a google search and are bouncing through the first handful of results)
Introduction
- this is where we explain what the whole post is about, in a couple sentences or less
- cover main point, and stick to it throughout
- something like 70% of readers won’t get past this point if not hooked already, but if they do, they’ll probably read the whole article
Content by section
- divvied up and divided by overall points
- try to avoid big, long, lengthy sections as it gets boring
- smaller H3 or H4 section titles (adds more weight to SE), and helps catch the ’skimmers’
- anything too wordy or technical is better left for a link to somewhere else explaining it
- pictures (with alt tags so the pics weigh in on SE) should be simple, evenly throughout, and not too many or it’ll get cluttered
- always try to use license free pictures, but don’t sweat it if you can’t… try to think outside the box with pics… ie use a pic of an apple and an orange when comparing Mac to PC
- don’t worry about legal mumbo-jumbo, deters people from reading/involvement…
- …but… provide source links for reference or direct quotes
- remember your keywords, and try to use them throughout
- use bulleted lists for anything over 3 or 4 points, more easily digestible, and helps split up sections/reading
- don’t split up longer posts into separate posts (unless they’re related but entirely separate… in which case tie them together as a series with a Page linking to each)
Links
- never post full link to http://google.com/stuff/whatever/poopface/?id=1234&?cat=5678
- use something more like descriptive and contextual inline text
- direct reference link inline okay, source type bibliography links better saved for end
- not too many links to force people away from the page, but enough that if they do leave (as most will) than at least they go to somewhere related
Way more jazz than usual
- use lots of bold, italics, or blockquotes for anything worded particularly well
- not too much as to be tacky, but helps with readability and interest
- emphasizes point or inflection, and helps to encourage external links to the post and quotability
End with a question
- different medium than you may be used to writing for
- ultimately it’s from you to the one person that’s reading it (like an email)
- gets them involved, and attached to the post/info
- use contextual questions, nothing vague or trite
- “What writing tips have worked best for you?”
*After* you’ve finished…don’t forget:
categories, tags, external links
spell-check AND proof-read (all it takes is one typo for someone to dismiss a whole site entirely)
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