The Secret Formula to Crafting the Perfect Blog Post

Every blogger’s dream is to find a formula that would work the same as the chemical ones and provide them with certain results in the field of blog post creation. Just like hydrogen and oxygen together give water, they tend to find multiple elements that when blended will represent a compelling blog post that users adore reading and sharing.

But, wait right there, dear chemists aka blog writers. It’s not easy at all to find those elements and not to mention blend them in a perfect mass of words. No matter how hard you try to place things in their rightful place on your blog, something always stands out and gives you trouble. Do you know why is that? Because the secret formula is that there isn’t a secret formula. Wait what?

Every blog is different in its own unique way, so you have to learn how to spot the elements in that uniqueness and turn them into the perfect blog post. Confused and in need of guidance? Don’t worry! Just grab your pen and let’s begin crafting!

The headline that counts

As a first and basic element of the formula we’ll take the headline. Yes. The headline is the crown of the whole blog post. It’s the vital part that would either throw you up on the ladder of success or down in oblivion. But let’s take things slowly.

The length. According to Kissmetrics, users tend to absorb the first three words and the last three words of a headline. Do you know what that means? That you have to make those six words stand out and grab the readers’ attention. Also, it might come in handy for you to know that in terms of SEO a great headline would be 55 characters or fewer so that it can fit on the search results’ pages.

Now we move on to the users’ psychology. There are certain tricks you can use here to make them more engaged and interested in reading the whole post.

For example, let’s say that you run a food blog. These are some of the headlines that would absolutely count and add a special touch to the formula:

Surprise — “This recipe is not entirely correct (Yet it could’ve been)”
 Numbers — “10 ways to cook delicious desserts in a flash”
 Question — “Did you know that the best pizza is right around the corner?”
 Curiosity gap — “15 restaurants that have the perfect pizza. The 14th one is too far to reach.”
 Negative — “Never bake a nasty cake again”
 Audience reference — “For the ones who can’t live without chocolate”

You understand now what makes an awesome headline, right?

Storytelling

You know how children like to hear stories before going to sleep? The same happens with readers. Only they prefer to read your own story when coming to your blog. That’s where another element of the secret formula hops in. Storytelling in the introduction of your post. Maybe the headline makes the users click the post but the intro is definitely the one that keeps them hooked and willing to go on reading. That’s why come up with an interesting story and share it with them.

For instance, it can be an anecdote connected to your life or work, an honest story of how you got the idea to start a blog or simply a personal experience connected to the topic of the post. You choose. Just remember! The more real and relatable it sounds the better.

Subheads FTW!

While sitting at a cafe or the bus, the car, the office people always scan the posts while scrolling online. Not all, but most of them don’t have the time to read through all the details in the text, so they usually leave the post if it’s not organized in headings and subheadings. Ah, yes. Subheads. They’re the one element that keeps the users anchored to your blog for a longer time making them the perfect addition to our formula.

Not to leave all of this in words, let’s implement it in the food blog example. Imagine you’re writing a post on the origin of pizza, the recipe to make it as well as the places that serve the most delicious one. The subheads will look something like this:

• “The birth of pizza”
• “How to cook it?”
• “The pizza lands”

You understand that they have to be creative and in the same time clearly state the meaning of the paragraph. That will help the users successfully scan the post and still capture its whole idea.

Visuals are the ace up the sleeve

Everything becomes instantly better when it contains visuals. So why your blog post should be an exception? That leads us back to our formula. Images or videos are a vital part of every post turning the text into an attractive piece and presenting its meaning in a creative way. And not to mention that people will pick up what you want to say more easily as well.

In our food blog example a great move would be to add pictures of foods that were mentioned in the post, preferably after every 350 words. With it you’ll give motion to your words and make them more believable. Also it’s not a bad idea to provide a video or two in your posts occasionally just to make the whole reading experience more special for the users.

Share! Share! Share!

Clearly you aim at using this formula to create the perfect blog post. And the perfect blog post leads to more and more traffic. And all of those users will surely ask for social share buttons. Where can I share this, they would say after reading it whole. So it’s more than obvious that you should make it as easy for them to do that as possible.

Place the sharing buttons on a visible place, in the header, footer or sidebar of the post and there you have another element toward the success you desire.