How to Write a Blog – 25 Tips That Will Help You Make an Impact!

Is worrying about your blog keeping you up at night?

Do you want to learn how to write blog posts that attract loads of visitors and converts traffic into leads?

Well you’ve come to the right place.

Great blog posts are not created by magic, and the engagement that they garner doesn’t involve any divine intervention. There are a few blog writing techniques that, if applied, can attract, engage, and retain readers.

In this post, my team of blog writers and I have listed the top 25 blog writing tips that will help you create amazing blog posts. Whether you’ve just started out with blogging or have been doing it for a while, these blog writing tips will help you create compelling content that gets results.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

How to Write a Blog

1. Understand Your Audience

You’re here because you want to know how to start writing a blog. Well, first things first, you’re aiming for nothing if you are not sure who your audience is. The first rule of writing a great blog is to identify who you are writing for. You must know and understand who your target readers are. Create reader personas and then write accordingly.

It is easier to write when you know who the readers are. This will also make your blog posts more relevant to your audience. Furthermore, it will prevent you from wandering off to subjects that your audience is not interested in reading.

2. Write for the Reader

It’s one thing to know who you’re writing for; it’s another to write content for them. To do this well, you must find out what your readers want. Walk a mile in their shoes and you will know if what you are writing will be of any interest or value to them.

Create a buyer persona for your brand.

What’s a buyer persona?

A fictitious name, occupation, age, gender, hobbies, buying behavior, etc. In a nutshell, you want to create a few profiles of potential buyers. Let’s say you own a gym, a couple of buyer personas could be “Gym Rat Gary” (young, male, works out 6 times a week) and another could be “New Years Nick” (middle-aged, male, signs up once and works out 3 times in January).

Now each of these personas is different, but the one common denominator is that they’re both potential customers of the gym.

If you want to write kickass blogs, then you must answer, “what’s in it for the reader?”

Each blog post should answer concerns and issues that your readers may face. If you are not sure what they are, ask. Don’t just assume.

3. Share Your Insight

Your blog has a unique advantage that no newspaper or article in the world has.

What’s that advantage?

You!

You have a unique voice and original thoughts. While your content titles and SEO might draw readers in, your voice and personality will keep them hooked. Therefore, you must find your voice and master it. The best blogs that you write will be content that has an opinion and personality.

Share your opinion even if it’s different from what the world believes. You’ll be surprised to know how many people agree with you. This is key to writing successful blogs.

4. Study Your Competitors

You don’t have to guess what your audience wants and needs. You can make data-driven decisions. Informed decisions are only possible when you conduct thorough competitor analysis and industry research.

It may sound complicated, but it isn’t.

There are many resources that you can use for this. Here are some of our favorites.

Twitter Advanced Search – Do you have a keyword in mind? Simply type it in the Twitter Advanced Search and select the “questions” filter. You will see all the questions related to that keyword that folks are asking.

KeywordTool.io – It is a free tool that gives you a list of most searched keywords by people in your industry.

SEMRush – Want a detailed report of what your competitors are doing? SEMRush is the place to go.

Quora – An online community that where you can find what your target audience is asking, what answers they up vote, and you can even search for your brand and your competitors to see what people are saying.

5. Write Great Titles

“How to Write a Good Blog” – to the point? Yes. Attention grabbing? Not at all!

If you want great results from your blog, then you need to leave weak titles at the door. Your blog’s title is the first thing that readers will notice. If you settle for a boring title that’s been used repeatedly by your competitors, then you are going to lose your audience even before they got a chance to read what you wrote.

Your titles must be strong and effective enough to make the audience avoid every other link and go directly to your blog. Even subscribed readers will not bother reading content that has boring headlines.

6. Avoid Clickbait Titles

Create catchy titles, but don’t publish clickbait titles.

Clickbait titles were a massive hit a few years ago. These titles were popular on Upworthy and BuzzFeed. Both these editorials were able to create huge empires based on these emotionally compelling and intriguing headlines.

However, since not many posts with clickbait titles actually delivered on the expectations of the readers, social networks and search engines started devaluing clickbait headlines. They have adjusted their algorithms so that personalized content is given priority. Readers learned too they no longer click on gimmicky headlines.

7. Add Keywords to Your Headlines

When writing a blog post, it is important to use keywords in the headlines (titles and subheadings). If you are not sure what’s the ideal keyword is for your blog, then put yourself in your reader’s shoes. Think about what they are most likely to search for when seeking information or solutions to a problem. This way, you will know what keywords to use. Use them in your headlines as well in the blog post.

For example, if you’re writing an article about blog writing (what a coincidence, right?), a good keyword to use could be “how to write successful blogs.”

However, do your research to know what your readers are looking for.

Using keywords in your headlines will make it easier for search engines to figure out that you are offering valuable content.

8. Write an Interesting Introduction

You don’t have a lot of time to capture your reader’s attention. In just a few seconds, they will move on to something else if they don’t like what they see. On the internet, people have the attention span of a goldfish.

You must engage them right away with your introduction if you want them to keep reading.

You must write introductions that hook your readers right from the first sentence. Also, you should always include your primary keyword in the introduction (preferably in one of the first three sentences), as it is important for SEO.

Here are some tips that can help you create better headlines:

• Create a conversation with your audience
• Ask questions that urges them to seek solutions
• Entice them to read further

You can use your own writing style, but make sure that the final content is something that will engage your readers and urge them to read further.

9. Add lots of Subheadings

Try to imagine what the reader will see when they first open your blog post.

Do you ever read long paragraphs of text that don’t have any subheadings?

The key to successful blog articles is it’s clearly defined structure.

When writing a blog, don’t write just one giant paragraph. Almost all readers like to skim through blog posts before they actually read it. Therefore, it is always recommended that you use subheadings in your blog posts.

This way, your blog will be easy on the eyes and more people will read your blog.

10. Include Impactful Images

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Visual content is processed faster by readers as compared to text-based content. Therefore, adding images in your blog posts is mandatory. Images will help you capture the attention of your audience at a quick glance. It also keeps them on your blog for longer, which increases the chances of them staying on to read the rest of it.

11. Use Bullet Points and Lists

Listicles are extremely popular with readers these days. Most people that really read blog posts, first skim through the content and then they actually start reading. Therefore, it’s important that you learn how to quickly showcase the best and most important information from your blog post.

How to structure a blog post? Adding bullet points and using listicles makes the text easy to skim through. However, don’t overdo it when you write your blog post. We’ve seen a number of blogs where entire paragraphs are written in bullets. This kills the entire purpose of creating bullets and lists. Avoid bullet clutter and use them strategically in your content to increase its value and readability.

12. Optimize for Search Engines

Blogs are very important for businesses as they help attract traffic and convert visitors into buyers. We recommend you check out this post if you want to find out more about why is blogging important for your business.

Your blog won’t just automatically attract visitors. The bulk of your potential readership will only be able to find your blog posts if said posts are optimized for SEO. You must do all that it takes to maximize your blog’s SEO ranking. Here are some simple tips that you should follow:

• Add a meta title containing your keyword
• Add a meta description containing your keyword
• Optimize your content for the focus keyword
• Use different, but related keyword variations
• Add alt attributes to images
• Add internal and external links

Be wary of keyword stuffing! Write first for readers, then for search engines.

13. K.I.S.S.

This is one of the golden rules of learning how to write a blog.

Keep it simple and short!

You don’t have to write long sentences. Keep the language as simple as you can.

If your blog is too difficult to understand, readers will just move on to a simpler one.

Expert blog writers suggest that you should avoid using difficult words or complicated jargon in your blogs. Readers don’t like to hard-to-understand text.

So omit any unnecessary words, and you will be able to capture the attention of your readers right away.

14. Write Short Paragraphs

Another great blog writing tip is to keep your paragraphs short.

Your paragraphs should contain two to three sentences max. Remember, you must leave enough white space on your blog. This makes the blog easy to skim through and read. It also looks pleasing to the eye, which means it’ll be easy on the readers’ eyes.

15. Add a Clear Call To Action (CTA)

What’s a blog without a CTA?

Don’t ever forget to add an effective call to action in your blog. A CTA can be anything. For instance, you can ask your readers to buy your product or share your blog post. You can even ask them to follow you on social media or leave a comment. Whatever CTA you want to use, make sure you state it clearly in your blog post.

A good call to action easily stands out from the rest of the content. However, you must also make sure that your blog is not cluttered with calls to action. Use them moderately and in a non-intrusive manner.

16. Leverage the Comments Section

Earlier in the year, I went through 50 of the best blog posts to learn from the pros. One thing we learned is that if used wisely and effectively, the comments section on your blog can be a game changer.

Elicit and respond to feedback from your readers and engage with them in the comments section. This not only shows that you are an expert in your field, but also gives your brand a sense of authenticity and credibility.

Answer the questions of your readers. Give them important information and suggestions. This will tell them that you care about them and they will keep coming back for more.

17. Encourage Your Audience to Start a Conversation

If you want your blog to give you the results you want, you must make an effort to build a relationship with your audience.

Here are some tips that can help you learn how to create a better relationship with your audience. The most important of them is to write content that your readers want to read. Furthermore, you must also add personality to your blog and strive to have a conversation with your readers through your blog.

18. Use the Right Fonts

Simply put, typography is undervalued but make no mistake – it offers a disproportionate amount of value in blog content. Minor details like letter spacing, shapes of strokes, and cap height differentiate one website from another.

The right typography can create a lasting impression on your audience.

If you are not using the right typography, then your content will be monotonous and boring. Using typography effectively will help you create a better online presence and make a bold statement about you and your brand.

Check out what we recommend about typography on this post on InstantShift.

19. Use Internal and External Links

Another great blog writing tip is to use high-quality links in your blog. They should be a mix of both external and internal links.

External links are where you link to other websites that have some great information relevant to your blog. Internal links, on the other hand, are the ones that link to your past posts on your website.

Adding internal and external links not only increases traffic to your website but also helps improve your search engine ranking.

20. Proofread and Edit

Don’t, I repeat, DON’T ever publish your blog without proofreading and editing. Read your blog as many times as you can before publishing. Doing so will allow you to find any mistakes and amend them. These mistakes can be grammatical errors, typos, or even factual mistakes that you must correct before sharing your post with the world.

If you want to write blogs that kickass – you have to make sure they look great and of the best quality possible. Editing ensures quality.

21. Promote it on Social Media

You’ve created a blog. What’s next?

You must push it on your social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media medium you use. Use social media to promote your posts. This will not only increase the visibility of your posts but will also make it easier for potential readers to find and read it.

22. Optimize for Mobile Users

If your blog is not optimized for mobile phones,you are missing out on a major chunk of your audience. Many people prefer to read blogs on the go. Therefore, you need to make sure your blog looks as good on a mobile screen as it does on a computer screen.

If you are not sure how your website works on a mobile screen, use the Test My Site tool by Google and make amends as necessary. You should also check out our website design and development service.

23. Original Content Only

Plagiarism is a cardinal sin for search engines.

Copy content and you run the risk of getting flagged as a shady website by Google. If that happens, you might as well just start fresh with a new website because it takes years of work to positively rank a website that’s been blacklisted by Google.

Don’t ever copy content.

We understand that it is hard to produce content that is original and interesting. We have a great blog management service for clients that struggle to write content regularly. Basically, we create a content calendar for you, agree on keywords, write the content, and then publish it on your blog every week!

24. Write Lengthy Content

Try not to get bogged down by a premeditated word count. If you have something to say, say it. Use as many words as you want, but make sure that the content is of high quality and informative. If your word count is going above 500 words, let it be.

However, if the topic you are writing about can be explained in a short blog, don’t try to ramble on just to increase your word count. You have to make smart choices here. Write a long blog when you feel that the topic deserves it.

25. Start Guest Blogging

Guest blogging can help you grow your online audience. Guest blogs are great for search engines and introduces your blog to a new audience.

With guest blogging, you get the chance to be heard by an already established online community and share your message there. This will benefit you and your business and you will be able to generate more leads and traffic to your blog.

Do you want to hire a guest blog writing service? We’ve got you covered.

These were 25 of the best blog writing tips that will help you write a kickass blog. If you need help with blogs, you can always get in touch with our blog writers. We have helped thousands of small and large businesses get effective results through our content writing services. Get in touch today!