Some blog writers write whatever they feel like because they don’t really care who reads it or if it becomes popular. They treat it more like their personal journal than anything else, which is how blogs started anyway.
Today, however, blog posts are generally for sharing information with other people, so you don’t want complete social media silence. There is no point in writing blogs that no one wants to read, comment on, or share. You are just wasting time on the research, writing and proofreading, because WHO CARES? It doesn’t have to go viral, but nothing, seriously? Nothing happening, in this case, is a disaster.
How can you avoid that? Write a post that catches attention and is worth reading. Here is how to create a catchy blog post.
1. Understand your Audience
In order for a blog post to be worth reading, it has to be relevant.
To be that, you need to define for whom you are writing. Your target audience is the one you have to connect with and engage. You could be chockfull of great ideas or insights that could blow their minds, if only you wrote it in a way to which they can relate.
Understanding your audience allows you to talk to them as if you were in the same room. Adopt a conversational tone and use jargon as you would to a member of your audience sitting or standing across from you.
The best way for you to understand and talk to your audience is to define your goals for the blog, and then do the research. Are you trying to improve their lives? Are you trying to sell them a specific product or service? Is your goal to make them aware of something that affects their lives in a significant manner? Do you simply want to make their lives more interesting or purposeful? Is there something you want to share?
When you know what you want, then you will be able to better define your target audience, and create a persona. The persona is a representative of your target audience on whom you can focus your content creation.
If your target audience is young mothers, for example, you take the tone and jargon of another young mother, or an expert in child psychology or family health. You give them practical tips on how to manage diaper rash, deal with whining, and lose baby weight. You can create empathy by telling stories about your own issues with raising children and dealing with the stresses of being a young mother.
2. Define Problems
Now that you have created your audience persona, you need to define their problems.
Think about your readers, and what concerns them. If you have no idea, there is much research on all kinds of demographics to help you get started. You can also check apps like Google Trends to see if a topic you are considering is trending. For example, key in “baby colic” in the search bar, and you will see that interest is rising, so you can safely spend time doing research and creating content on that and expect a good amount of interest.
You can also simply type the phrase “young mother problems” in any search engine and see what topics are ranking. This also helps to define the problems of your target audience.
3. Offer Solutions
It is not enough to know their problems, however. Problems and questions only create more problems. What you want to do is define problems and offer solutions that your target audience can implement.
A teen mother is having problems coping with the responsibilities of motherhood. You can offer suggestions on where a teen mother can get the support she needs, whether financial, psychological, or emotional. Provide practical tips on how to manage a child and school at the same time. Quote and link to experts or statistics backing your content for more credibility, or post interviews with relevant personalities. For better social media traction, put a link to quotes or articles by influencers in your niche within your content.
Talk about being a teen mom and going through the same things, and how you overcame your issues. People search for solutions to their problems all the time, so even if you don’t rank high in a search engine, you can still catch their attention if you offer them the solutions they need.
You are also more likely to get shares and mentions, which can help your blog gain prominence among your target audience. Make your content easy to share with apps like Click to Tweet.
4. Make it Visual
People are visual creatures, and a picture or video really does paint a thousand words when used correctly.
For example, if you are trying to explain to a young mother how to change a diaper, you can use images or illustrations to show them how to do it more clearly. You can also embed an existing video from YouTube, Vimeo, or Vine in your content to enrich your content.
Infographics is also a great way to make boring statistics more interesting. The graphical illustration makes it easier for your readers to understand the relevance of your content. It improves visual appeal and engagement significantly. You can link to an existing infographic, or you can create your own.
You should also know that images, videos, and other visual content on your blog can improve your search ranking. Add visual tools to organic, relevant content that is currently trending, and you have a winning combination.
You might feel intimidated with the thought of competing with thousands of other bloggers going after the same slice of the attention pie. Forget about them. The one thing you have to remember about creating a catchy blog post is that it is not about you. It is about your audience. If you always keep that in mind, you are sure to hit on a riveting recipe for catchy content.
