Alice

One of my ‘design and build a blog package’ clients showed me a draft post to go into her new blog I have been designing for her, and asked for my approval. 

Having given her some pointers into the right way to write a post, I realised I could share them with you too. Here they are listed below:

1. Short and snappy: I know people do write long blog posts (examples even in this blog) but a good rule is to keep your post to within 250 words (or about three good sized paragraphs) to maintain your reader’s attention. A blog is a conversational medium, it’s not really suitable for long articles with deep intricate discussions, these are better off posted in article directories.

2. Capture their attention: A good headline is vital on many fronts. It is usually the first point of call for your posts, so it should be designed to draw the punters in, say exactly what’s on the tin, and can be enhanced by being stuffed full of keywords for SEO purposes, especially as it also doubles as a link when used within a RSS feed.

3. Be up front: Explain exactly what the subject of your post is in the first paragraph, ideally within the first sentence. People usually only read the first 25% or spend an average of 96 seconds before they decide whether this post is of interest and whether it’s worth reading the remainder ? therefore don’t leave the most important or most interesting part until last, as your readers may never get there!

4. A quick read: Most people scan a blog post to get the gist and make a decision to read further.  Sub-dividing your post into bullet points or subheadings is ideal to maintain attention spans, facilitate skim reading habits, enable subject recognition or just break up over-long text. If you are able to provide a numbered post like this one, it makes it both easier for you to write and your reader to gain the information they crave.

5. Command a response: Blogs thrive on reader interaction which in turn provides another vital element: links. Each comment provides a link to another website (a gateway for internet spiders) as well as new material (food for internet spiders) to maintain your search engine positioning. And if your post is not controversial, confrontational or have a poignant educational element, or you haven’t posed a question or statement that would invite a comment, you probably won’t get any. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Can any of you think of more pointers to add to my list?