Top 10 Blog Writing Tips

Most of the “rules” about writing for ezines and newsletters apply to writing posts for your blog, but there are some important differences. Keep these 10 tips in mind and you’ll be publishing great blog content that attracts prospects and clients in your niche market.

1. Write with the reader in mind. Remember WIIFM? It’s marketing jargon for What’s In It For Me? That’s what you should be keeping in mind. Your reader will read your post looking for what’s in it for them.

2. Make it valuable and worthwhile. Don’t waste people’s time. If you don’t have anything to say, no problem, plenty other people do. So share their articles, do an interview, review a book.

3. Proof-read for typos and glaring grammatical errors. You wouldn’t go out of the house with dirty hair or missing a sock, so why would you publish spelling mistakes? Respect your readers by polishing up your stuff.

4. Keep it short and simple, sweetie. (KISS). Most people are scanners. You may have a lot to say and think it interesting, and it may be. But people are reading online and out of time. Get to the point quickly. Publishing short posts more frequently is a better format than publishing lengthy articles every few weeks.

Anyone can write a good Blog?

When done right a blog can make you money.

writing Blogs to increase web Traffic.

I don’t rate myself a great writer even though I’ve been writing for the Internet since 1995 and my work’s been featured in print and on massive blogs like Zen Habits and Copyblogger. In fact, one of my posts even rated in Best of Copyblogger 2010. Entrepreneurs pay hundred of dollars an hour for my writing because it wins business for them, but despite that I’ve only recently gained the confidence to  tell people I’m a writer.

So when my dear blog readers ask me to write about writing it scares me. I’d prefer to walk on hot coals than position myself as an expert on writing because, although I love writing, I’m not a natural writing genius.

I write slowly. I’m always looking for ways to improve what I’ve written and I’m never 100% satisfied with the finished product. Every blog post you read I’ve spent hours planning, writing, editing, formatting and tweaking. Then when I hit that publish button and the post goes live I worry about if people will like it and whether any pesky typos have slipped in.

Occasionally a post spills out like a silk handkerchief out of a hat ~ there are a couple here that only took me an hour or two to write. But the typical 1,000 word blog post that you read in a few minutes took me many times longer to write. So I guess I’m not that different from you or most other writers.

My writing is improving every day and I’m getting faster but the truth is writing takes time and practice. There’s no magic wand you can wave to improve your writing and pen blog posts people love every time.

Still, I do know a few valuable lessons about the blog writing game that will help you improve your writing, get new blog readers and win more business online. Today I’m going to walk with fire and share my writing tips with you.

Blog Writing Magic Series

What I plan to do is tell you the Internet writing rules I’ve learned over the past 15 years and then step aside to let you weave your own magic. I’ve created a series called Blog Writing Magic to help you improve your blog writing and this is the first post in the series.

Each Blog Writing Magic post will have:

• Guidelines for you to follow.
• Tips for better blog writing.
• Fun writing exercises to get you practising.

If you like what you see here don’t forget to subscribe by email or by RSS so you don’t miss out on the rest of the series, and please tell your friends and followers too, so we can grow the Hot Spot Team.

How to Write Hypnotic Headlines and Drive Readers to Your Blog

People will never read your blog posts if the headline is more fizzle than sizzle.

Even people who’ve subscribed to your blog by RSS feed or email will read the headline first to decide if they want to read the whole post or not. Sadly, if your blog headline doesn’t seem to help with their problem or doesn’t arouse their curiosity they’ll never read the whole post at all. You can put those violins away though and make sure your blog posts get read by learning how to write hypnotic headlines that people click on.

I can’t teach you how to write good headlines, give you any set formulas or wave a magic wand to turn you into a top writer over night but I can give you some ideas, resources and motivation so you can learn the art of headline writing for yourself.

A blog headline should immediately tell people what the blog post is about and give them a reason to read it so compelling, newspaper style blog headlines are what you need. If you write hypnotic headlines at least some of the time to begin with then you’ll:

• Get more readers

  
  

• Win incoming links
• Gain new subscribers.

Hypnotic Blog Headlines to Get You Started

Some of the most popular types of blog posts and are easily translated into great headlines. Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

1. Ask a question – Questions are a good way to arouse readers’ curiosity, make them want to find out more and give them a need to read the full story.

• Is starting a blog the hardest part?
• Are anti-wrinkle creams all they’re cracked up to be?
• Confused by affiliate marketing?

  
  

• Would you Travel 1,846 Miles for this Man?
• Do you know why networking’s crucial for blogging success?

2. Ask Why – Try to solve a common or persistent problem your readers have.

• Why you need to write killer headlines for your blog
• Why I got headhunted for a vacation
• Why do people love to travel?
• Why time management is dumb
• Why I’ll always back up my work from now on

3. How to – Help your readers do something better, faster, in simple steps or with confidence.

• How to work out what your dream is fast

  
  

• How to break the blogging rules with panache
• How to sleep soundly
• How to stay focused in 9 words
• How to use Twitter as a motivational tool

4. Numbered lists – A popular staple for a reason because people love numbered lists. I was scathing of this when I started blogging and wrote 101 ways to feel happy as a joke because I hated the idea of list posts. The joke was on me as it went on to become one of the most popular posts on my blog at that time. List posts are also a great fall back plan if you’re in a hurry. Compared to other types of blog posts they can be written quickly and can easily be written bit by bit work if you can add a new point when you have 10 minutes to spare.

• 10 ways to get the life you want
• 3 keys to living your dream life
• 101 ways to feel happy
• 5 instructions for better writing
• 7 good reasons to go for a walk

  
  

5. Best or worst – Make your readers curious and give them a handy reference they’ll keep coming back to.

• Best and worst things about living in Australia
• Worst blogging mistakes and how to fix them
• Best blogs to go for blog writing tips
• Worst blog designs ever
• Best ways to network using social media

  
  

Advanced Headline Honing Techniques

If you’ve read this far that’s great news. You must have liked the post headline and you deserve to know that I had fun brainstorming by myself and wrote over 30 headlines before picking the one I thought would work best. Here are a few other headline techniques I’ve experimented with:

• Court controversy with your headlines – Why time management is dumb.
• Experiment with rhyme – Don’t delay, subscribe today.
• Use alliteration – Best business blogs.
• Use buzz words like ‘killer’ or ‘awesome’ that will appeal to your readers – Killer ways to travel for less.
• Cite celebrities or popular culture – A surfer’s guide to success or In bed with Seth Godin.

Those are just a few ideas for writing hypnotic headlines, now you just need to practice. Lots. Remember that even top copy writers like Brian Clark,  Roberta Rosenberg, and Sonia Simone have spent years practising and improving their writing skills.

If you want more ideas for writing blog headlines I recommend Copyblogger’sMagnetic Headlines series.

Another great resource is Sean D’Souza‘s report: why do most headlines fail?

Last Word on Blog Headline Writing Tips

• Focus on creating headlines that show you provide useful value to your readers.
• Get in the habit of scanning newspapers and magazines to see which headlines stand out. Make a note of great headlines and see how you can customise them to make them work on your blog.
• Plan your attention grabbing headlines first then write the post to fit them.
• Try to keep your blog titles short but if they have to be long don’t worry, just bear in mind that people may not see the whole headline so get the most important words in first.
• Make sure the font size for your headlines is big enough so people know they’re headlines. You’ve spent time creating headlines you can be proud of, now make sure people can read them.
• Finally the most important tip of all is have fun writing your blog headlines.