10 Must-Have Components for a Successful Blog Post
What blog posts do you read and which are the ones that you enjoy until the very last sentence? Answering this question will give you a pretty good idea about what it takes to make your own blog posts mesmerizing.
Without further ado, here are 10 components that every single blog post needs.
#1: Focus
You can’t just ramble on aimlessly and expect people to follow your train of thought.
Good blog posts are focused and straight to the point. They present a solid idea, they present supporting evidence and they finish with a powerful conclusion that sums it all up.
To maintain focus throughout the piece, you may want to create an outline prior to getting started with writing.
# 2: Unique Perspective
Why should people read your blog post about a certain topic rather than somebody else’s? The answer is simple — you have something unique to offer.
Even if you are discussing a common topic, you should have something different and unorthodox to add. Maybe you’ll support the unpopular opinion. Maybe you’ll look at an issue from a different perspective. Or eventually, you’ll talk to an expert about the topic to gain better insight.
Whichever approach you choose, make sure that your content is different from all of the other texts about the very same topic.
#3: A Catchy Title
Today’s audience has a short attention span. It will give you just a few seconds to grab its interest. The only way to accomplish the goal involves writing a catchy headline. If you promise people something interesting, entertaining or useful, they’ll be willing to give your content a try. A little bit of humor sprinkled through the title isn’t going to hurt either.
#4: Grabbing Opening
The opening paragraph continues what the title is supposed to start.
This paragraph tells people why they should continue reading. It gives them a reason to get better acquainted with your blog post. Writers that are incapable of “selling” their blog posts in the very first sentence will suffer from a very high bounce rate.
You can open up with an anecdote, a personal story or even a shocking comment that will be explored in detail through the blog posts. This is your hook and it gets the audience engaged. The opening paragraph and the title are the two components of your blog posts you should be spending the most time on.
#5: Visuals
Visual information is processed much faster by the brain than text. This is why many people decide whether they want to read a blog post on the basis of the illustrations that come with it.
Always accompany your texts with nice visuals. Images, infographics, diagrams and charts will all get the job done. Making your own infographics is far from a challenging task — there are dozens of free online tools you can use for the purpose.
#6: Literacy
When it comes to writing a blog post, having grammar and sentence structure is very important. Grammar forms the backbone of any good writing. If you want to make you blog post successful, you will need writing that doesn’t have lots of grammar mistakes, clichés, adverbs or lots of hard-to-read sentences. In order to save time and be confident about your content, you can use different proofreading and editing tools such as Grammarly, Polish My Writing, Essaydot along with this guide on how to start a blog.
#7: Bullet Points
Before reading the entire thing and getting committed, people will scan through it. If they like the information, they’ll dedicate more time to reading the blog posts.
Use numbered lists and bullet points throughout the text. They give it a clear structure and make it easy to scan. Adding subtitles to blog posts will also be beneficial for the same reason.
#8: Personal Experience
If you have personal experience about the topic, you should definitely share it. Your account is the one characteristic that will make the text unique and readable. People want to relate to you and learn more about the author. Refrain from sticking solely to facts and sterile information. Make it messier by injecting a bit of emotion inside. Your audience will appreciate the reveal.
#9: Internal and External Links
When writing blog posts, you should also think about search engine optimization (SEO).
One of the easiest options for increasing the quality of your texts is the use of relevant internal and external links. These paint a road map for search engines. In addition, they give your audience an opportunity to find out more about the topic.
Remember that when it comes to links, quality is much more important than quantity.
#10: Call to Action
Do you want the audience to undertake a certain course of action after reading your blog post? Do you want people to comment? Subscribe to your newsletter? Download an ebook? Let them know in the closing of your blog post.
A call to action in the end tells the audience what you’d like them to do. It also outlines the benefits of undertaking the respective action. Don’t be shy to finish all of the relevant blog posts with a call to action. It’s one of the best opportunities for boosting the engagement of your audience.
Originally published at The Daily MBA.
