Blog For Readers

April 19^th 2011 Sally Ormond blog, blog posts, blogging for business, copywriting tips

People blog to get readers. Those readers then (hopefully) see them as an expert in their field, grow to trust their opinion and consider doing business with them.

Producing great blogs will facilitate this trust process, but your blogging platform and look will also have an impact.

Prolific blogger will write numerous posts. A few will grab people’s interest and be linked to, tweeted and referenced by other bloggers. Many however will be posted and then instantly forgotten about. So how to the big hitters manage to hit gold with their blog posts time and again?

Why are their posts so readable?

It all has to do with the whole package.

Focus

A lot of people write in the first person – “I think the only way to generate great quality traffic to my site is through professional SEO copywriting”.

So what? That’s your opinion and right now it means nothing.

Changing the focus to the second person means you’ll address your reader directly – “Your website needs traffic to feed your sales. You can either pay through the nose with PPC or you can make the smart move and invest in professional SEO copywriting.”

It’s a small change but one that makes your post more relevant to the reader.

May I help?

Why do people read blogs? Mainly because they are looking for the answer to a question. So you have to ensure that no matter what you’re writing about it relates to a common problem that you then solve.

It could be about how to reduce your marketing budget, how to whiten your clothes first time every time, or how to reduce wrinkles. Giving your readers a solution is vital if you want your post to resonate with them.

Don’t over stuff

Keep you post focused on one main theme. Trying to incorporate several ideas your post will lose its focus and leave the reader somewhat bewildered.

Look nice

A solid wall of text is not attractive. If you want people to read your posts keep your paragraphs short so the page doesn’t look ‘stuffed’ with text. Headings and sub headings will break things up and show your reader what you’re covering within your post.

Write for your reader

You must write about subjects your reader cares about. Researching your market is if you are going to provide what they want. Just because you find a particular subject really interesting doesn’t mean your audience will.

Be natural

Many people think if they are writing about a subject in a blog they have to be very business-like and stiff.

Nope - the best blogs are written in a natural, conversation style that resonates with the reader.

That’s all there is to it, other than coming up with a great list of subjects of course. Just remember to write naturally, write to your reader and make it attractive on the eye.