“Maybe you should check out my new blog on nutrition”, touted my colleague during lunch when she saw me gorging on a mountain of chips.
“And while you’re there, don’t forget to try my new juice recipe – The ‘Vigor Splash’; it keeps your energy levels at peak all day”, she quipped.
I congratulated my friend on her new initiative and promised to check out her blog post.
It seems nowadays, every other individual is into this blogging culture. Some do it for fun, some to grab the social media buzz; for some, it's just another hobby and for some, it is entrepreneurship - an online business venture bringing in a steady flow of revenue.
Whether you’re a Fortune 500 Company or a teen next door with a million Likes on her YouTube videos - in the digital realm of online businesses, it is but a proven fact that ‘Content is King’ –and the same holds true for blogs too.
Blog Stats
- Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links. (Source: Hubspot)
- 59% of Australians trust online sources, such as blogs, for needed information. (Souce: ABC)
- 81% of companies consider their blogs "useful," "important," or "critical". (Source: Hubspot)
- Once you write 21-54 blog posts, blog traffic generation increases by up to 30%. (Source: TrafficGenerationCafe)
It’s a commonplace now to find inboxes that are flooded with emails and popups with lines such as, “How to Generate $1,000,000 from Your Blog?” or “BlogHacks for a six figure income” and many other tips, eBooks, podcasts, videos and webinars on similar topics.
But how effective are these tips and hacks? What does it really take to build a successful blog site?
Neil Patel, who blogs under his Quicksprout blogging portal; is also the co-founder of Crazy Egg and Hello Bar. Forbes says he’s the top 10 online marketers and The Wall Street Journal calls him the top Influencer on the web.
For this BLOGSpeaK post, we have chosen Neil Patel as our Influencer.
The Bare Essentials For a Successful Blog:
1. Strike a Conversation
Like many professionals, Neil too believes in doing away with the old ways – Stop writing blogs as you would write a term paper in college. He says, “It is important to sound like the blog is talking ‘to’ the reader and not ‘at’ the reader.”
If the reader feels the content to be a ‘one-way-rant’ aimed at them, they will immediately get irritated and lose enthusiasm to read further – which leaves a bad impression with them and could be detrimental to the brand name. Hence it is imperative to create a conversation -Talk to your readers but not at them.
2. Think before you ink
Mapping out the content from start to finish; a skeleton, or an outline, or the points to be conveyed should be laid out - as Neil suggests- even before you write the first word.
Though spontaneity in writing brings about a creative flow to the story, it could take a longer time to finish the blog, than it is needed. Whereas such framework – outlining the content from start to finish - can keep the writers focused and help speed up the process.
"How you can benefit from a digital strategy"
3. Don’t start without a great title
Neil emphasises that you shouldn’t start writing until you have an awesome title in your hands. You could come up with a one-in-a-million-content, but if your title lacks substance, doesn’t strike any chord whatsoever with the readers; then you’re at a loss – people will not read your ‘awesome’ content.
Blog posts with great titles, as Neil points out, gets read more, thus creating more ripples of comments in the comment boxes. Copyblogger, Zen Habits and Problogger are the three ‘go to’ blog sites that Neil recommends if you’re looking for inspirations for cool titles.
4. Crafting an awesome intro to hook readers
The first 5-10 seconds, as we know it, is the time the readers take to decide to either stick to your content or leave the site. The ‘hook’ as Neil puts it, is very essential within the first few sentences, to grab people’s attention.
If you read Neil’s blog, you’ll see that he immediately creates a conversation with you and bonds with you – sometimes with a question, as in these first few sentences in one of his blogs: How hard could it be to write a blog post? If a teenager can do it, you can too… right?
To keep the readers glued to the content Neil also shares his experiences on the subject at hand – demonstrating ‘authority’, but all the while using casual/informal language to make the readers feel that they’re both on the same wavelength. This creates a comfortable, easy-going ambience and yet the urge for the readers to dig more for the empirical information being offered.
5. Flesh it out – right into the nitty gritty
As the readers are getting savvier, and their hunger for more info is ever on the rise, it has now become the trend to write blogs that get into the nitty gritty details. Neil says the favourite blogs are the ones that unfold every detail for the readers.
If you want to bring huge traffic to your site, then covering the basics will not cut it. A 2000-3000 word blog has now become the industry standards, reeling in more traffic to the site and ranking higher with the search engines.
6. Snappy ‘wrap up’ – Do not regurgitate!
Writing a great summary of the complete body of your content, doesn’t work for a blog. The concluding remarks should be short and snappy and not lengthy and boring. It is important that the writer doesn’t regurgitate the same story that has been told within the blog; instead, as Neil remarks, it should be something new and meaningful. And a neat trick which Neil uses often, is to leave things open; end it with asking your readers a question – This brings in more comments to the blog.
7. Finishing touches
The finishing touches are the final proofreading, which takes place after you’re done with the content. It is important to check the grammar, spelling and as Neil puts it, the ‘flow issues’.
It is equally important to not just stuff the content with texts, but make it attractive and easy on the readers’ eyes by adding in pictures, infographics and white spaces for room to breathe. Mistakes are inevitable and if possible Neil advises to get a second eye before posting it.
Creating a successful blog business is definitely not a walk in the park and surely doesn’t have any quick fixes; but with the right strategy, persistence and a passion to create and cater to the needs of the users, blogging can be a very successful and satisfying experience.
This brings us to the end of this blog. We will return with more insights and tips on blogging, with yet another Influencer in our next BLOGSpeaK post.
If you would like to know more or would like to contribute to this article I want to hear from you.
Call Andy Fox (me) on (03) 5249-5570 or email andy@element7digital.com.au...
Website is element7digital.com.au
