» Writing

The other night I was watching a special on fishing and for odd reason, it occurred to me that fishing is very much like blogging. I know, it’s a really odd combination to think of (not sure how I even came up with it), but the two fit hand in hand.

To anybody that has ever went fishing or even watched it on television, you know the proper way to get a fish on your line is to bait it with something enticing to them. In a blogging sense, your bait, is your blog post title. Not only do you need a relevant blog title, but you need a blog post title that will make the reader want to go further. Many times, it doesn’t matter how wonderful your article is if there isn’t that instantaneous attraction, many readers will skip over it.

Once you’ve got your reader (the fish) hooked with your bait (your post title), then it’s time to reel the catch in with the article. As shocking as this sounds, many times, it’s much more difficult to actually come up with not only a relevant, but catchy blog title which acts as the “waiting” in fishing. Once you have the reader (the fish) on the line, reeling them in is the easy part, so writing your article should actually be the easiest part of the process.

As important as it is for blog articles to be informative and unique, you’ll never get the fish without the proper bait. I know many bloggers who write these magnificent postings/articles that are a joy to read, but very few ever do because the title has little relevance and/or it’s simply not engaging enough. So while it’s important to take time to write your blog posting, it’s just as important (if not more) to sit down and take some serious time to consider the right blog title for your posting.

Also of note - there is a way to get a second blog title for your post, and that’s by downloading the Plugin (for Wordpress.org blogs) named “All In One SEO Pack”. Once you install this automated plugin, it will properly set up your postings (and overall blog) for search engines. But the extremely neat thing about it is that you can add an entirely different title to your blog post, giving you TWO unique blog post titles which can only help.

To download All In One SEO Pack, click here.

One of the most important details when creating a new blog posting is the title. You might have an amazing article written but you need to make sure people want to read that article, and that’s where a lot of bloggers run into issues.

Sometimes we overlook the title and quickly write something semi-irrelevant just to finish the posting and other times we simply over think the process and make the post title unfriendly to search engines.

Over at ProBlogger.net, Darren Rowse has compiled a great resource which includes 15 ways to improve your post writing skills, some of which I have featured below:

1. Communicate a Benefit - a title should tell readers something that they’ll ‘get’ by reading your post.
2. Create Controversy or Debate - not suitable for every post title but there’s nothing like Debate to get people checking out a post.
3. Ask a Question - in my experience posts with questions in the titles tend to get read more than others - they also are better at stimulating comments from readers.
4. Personalize Titles - for example: using ‘you’ in your post title (and post) can have a real impact and take a post from the realm of ‘theory’ into a more personal post.
5. Use Keywords - keywords that signal to readers and search engines what your post is about can help draw in significant traffic if you use them well.
6. Use Power Words - Not all words are created equal - some evoke a powerful response in readers - words like ‘free’, ’stunning’, ‘discover’, ‘warning’, ’secrets’, ‘easy’ etc all work well in my experience of blogging.
7. Make Claims and Promises - as long as you can back them up in your post - a big claim or promise can get someone’s attention.
8. Humor Titles - be careful with this one - funny can work great but it can also leave your readers very confused if it’s too cryptic…. or if it’s just not funny.

To read the full article please click the link below.

Resource: ProBlogger.net

The best advice I can give bloggers about post titles is to take your time with them. Post titles are just as important to your article as the article itself. Take this for an example…when you listen to a new song for the first time, how long do you give it? 5 seconds? 10 seconds? If you don’t like the song within a few seconds of listening, you simply move on. So, if a blogger doesn’t find your title exciting they might not even give the article a chance, great as it is.

A familiar phrase in the blogging community is “content is king”, and it’s very hard to disagree with that. You can have a beautiful looking blog – but what good is it without the right type of content? Without unique content, you’re not going to have traffic, and without traffic, you will find yourself struggling as a blogger. So, how do you start? How do you know what good and unique content is?

Well, first off, through research, it’s been found that readers usually spend around 96 seconds per blog – which is very little. Much like a song, if you don’t like the start of the song, chances are – you wont be listening to the remaining three minutes, and blog readers are no different. I’ve heard from a variety of musical artists and acts that the first 9 seconds of a song is the most important, because it captures the listener…and writing blog posts is no different. It’s very important to capture the reader, but, at the same time, you don’t want to overwhelm them with excessive content. So, because of this, you don’t want to have extremely large articles that readers will simply skip over – but rather, try to keep postings between 100-300 words in general (there are always exceptions to the rule, you don’t want a blog full of 1,000 word posts though). If you do have a topic that deals with an extremely large post, try to break it up, and span that topic out over for a couple of days. For example, post 1/3 of the article one day…another 1/3 of the article the next, and the final third of the article on the third day. That method does a few things for you, as it not only avoids overwhelming the reader, but, makes them come back for more if they’re interested in the topic.

Another key element to keep in mind, are the titles of your blog postings. Try your best to keep the titles on topic, and very straight forward. Yes, I know it’s our nature to come up with creative and fun titles for our blog postings, but we must, remember that search engines are looking at our blog posting titles and attempting to properly categorize them. You want to make sure that your blog post titles are crisp, clean, and easy to understand. While you might understand a “funny” or “ironic” post title, many others might not, and it could easily get skipped over because of a poor title.

As to what you as a blogger can write about, that’s up to you – as there is always a niche ready to be explored and uncovered. You’d be shocked how many people have the same interests as you, but now, it’s your job to find them….bring them to your blog…and make them come back for more. Following these above steps will help not only impress your reader, but, will keep them coming back for more…and hopefully have them stick around longer on your blog than the 96 second average.

Let’s face it - most of us aren’t professional authors, and we could all use a few quick pointers on how to improve our writings from time to time. Thankfully, with a little help from ProBlogger.net we can get that needed assistance. Check out their very helpful tips on how to improve your writing.

I love blogs. Before I started blogging seriously, I read a lot of other blogs and was very engaged as a reader. I commented a lot and began honing my ability to craft a statement quickly in response the ideas presented in the post. I’m still very engaged with other blogs in this way. However, if I’m being totally honest, most blogs I encounter are downright unreadable.

Now, I’m not going to run down the usual list of rules and grammar, but rather a list of things I think make me a decent writer.

1. Stop Trying to Sound Intelligent

You already are smart so stop trying to sound smart. So many people craft elaborate sentences with bigger words than they would ever use in conversation. If you have to use a lot of flower language, jargon or adjectives, you’re trying too hard. Choose your big words wisely. Blogs are not publications, they are conversations. Good writing is simple, but it’s hardly simple to write simply. Unlike speech and other forms of non-verbal communication, writing is a wholly unnatural activity unnecessary to human development or evolution. Give yourself a break and know that good writing is a process that must be practiced to be mastered.

To see the rest of the article click the link below:

Resource: ProBlogger.net