What Makes a Good Blog Post a Good Blog Post
I've been blogging for a few years now. You would think I would be good at it, but in fact I am actually only slightly better than I used to be. However, based on my experience, I've came up with the following elements that make up for a good blog post.
Purpose
Ask yourself: what’s the reason for posting? Once you have a purpose, you have grounds for a post. Sometimes a blog posts' purpose is simply to share a thought. Sometimes you want to help someone do something. Whatever your purpose is, it is something that needs to be clear.
Picture(s)
At least one good picture is required. Sometimes I leave the picture out of the beginning because I want the words to stand out. Pictures are distracting, but that can benefit you because they are good attention grabbers. If you leave a picture out of the start of your blog post, be sure to put one at the end. All blog posts need a picture in my opinion; because something visual showing up when shared on social networks will help its sharability.
Coherency
There has to be some central message in a good blog post. Once you have your message, write about how you can talk about it specifically in as little words as possible.
To make your message more effective, repeat it several times in different ways. This strategy of repeating your message is seen in popular types of content; like, songs (a chorus), plays (the structure of the lines), and speeches (MLK repeats "I have a dream" dozens of times). If you are interested in persuasive language, see what I wrote about it and also check out this book: Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga.
Readability
I suppose this one is subjective on your audience. But usually, you can get away with writing with a simple style and still attract all types of people. People will not read your post because it is too simple; however, they will not read your post if it is too complicated. Writing simple is the best way to reach the largest audience possible.
Shakespeare wrote in simple speak; he never used long words. He used simple words strung together in ways that make you think. Another piece of rhetorical text that popular is the bible. People like to read things that are easy to follow and make you think.
Easy to read also includes making your site simple to navigate. The days of complex sites are long gone (thank goodness). Also, more and more people are using mobile, so think about how you can make your site as minimal as possible while only keeping the features on it that are important to you and your readers.
Or, you can post on Medium and have some very easy to read text. Other options for easy readability include minimalistic themes. I’ve recently come across some that I like; they can be found here.
EXTRA BONUS STEP: Longevity
Is your blog post bookmarkable? Does it contain elements that people are likely to want to come back to? If you answered yes, then your blog post has longevity. Making your post have longevity means that it will not only be seen more over time, but it will be an anchor point for what your website is about. For example, if you have a popular blog post, you can link to it in other blog posts to help build upon it's reach. My most popular blog post was this one right here. It got over 120,000 views after its republish on Lifehacker. Til this day, that posts brings traffic to my site.
SUPER EXTRA BONUS STEP: Media
Do you have any videos, charts, sounds, or anything else that will give more oomf to your post? If you implement other forms of content in a blog post it shows that you are taking the extra step in displaying your content. For an example of how certain websites are taking the power of the web to the next level, take a look at these 10 story driven websites that will blow your mind.
That's it! Those are the handful of elements that make up for a good blog post. Have a purpose, be coherent about it, make it easy to read, then slap on a picture or two. If you are feeling adventurous, then add other media to it.
