Almost everyone has a message they want to share with the world, but most people never put their thoughts into words because they don’t know how to write a blog that converts. The fact is, if you can write an engaging, informative blog post, you can get people to click through to your website and learn more about what you have to offer.
When you’re starting a blog, the most important thing to remember is that it needs to be interesting and useful to your target audience. You also need to make sure that it’s well written, with an easy-to-read layout. But above all, your blog content must be persuasive if you want people to take action after reading it.
In order to write a blog that converts, you need to understand the psychology of persuasion. Once you know how to appeal to your readers’ emotions and desires, you can start crafting powerful content that will get them excited about what you have to offer.
A high-level overview of what your blog should look like
When you’re starting a blog, the most important thing to remember is that it needs to be interesting and useful to your target audience. You also need to make sure that it’s well written, with an easy-to-read layout. But above all, your blog content must be persuasive if you want people to take action after reading it.
In order to write a blog that converts, you need to understand the psychology of persuasion. Once you know how to appeal to your readers’ emotions and desires, you can start crafting powerful content that will get them excited about what you have in store for them. Here are some things you need to put in mind;
Goal: No one can guarantee that a blog post will go viral, but if you have a goal in mind, you can increase your chances. When you’re writing a post, ask yourself what you want the reader to do when they finish it. Do you want them to share it on social media? Do you want them to visit your website? Do you want them to buy your product? Once you know what you want the reader to do, make it easy for them to do it.
Ideal outcome: When you set out to write a blog post, what is the ideal outcome you want? Do you want people to share it on social media? Do you want them to leave comments? Do you want them to click through to another page on your website? Figuring out the desired outcome for your blog posts will help you tailor your content in a way that encourages readers to take the action you want them to. For example, if you want people to share your post on social media, make sure to include strong social media buttons and provide interesting and/or provocative content that will encourage readers to do so.
Prerequisites: You need to do some research and come up with a topic. The best way to find topics is to identify keywords that people are searching for online. Once you have a list of keywords, it's important to make sure that your blog post is optimized for those keywords. That means including them in the title, in the body of the post, and in the tags and categories.
Content creation tools
Here are some of the top leading content creation tools you can use to effectively produce a blog post that convert;
BuzzSumo;
Sumo’s Headline Generator;
Readability Testing Tool;
MOZ Title Tag Tool;
Sumo’s List of Power Words;
CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer;
Hemingway App
Grammarly
Carry out some research to understand what your blog should look like
Before you start writing a blog post, you have to follow these steps
Define your goal: Before you can start creating content, you need to define your blog goals. Do you want to attract traffic, or are you more interested in nurturing new leads? Once you know your goals, it will be easier to determine the type of content you need to produce. For example, if your goal is to attract new customers, you’ll need to produce content that is relevant to your target audience and provides value. If your goal is to increase brand awareness, you’ll need to share original content that is interesting and engaging.
Define Your Audience: Blogging is a great way to connect with customers, promote your brand, and share your knowledge with the world. But in order to make the most of your blog, you need to have specific goals in mind. What do you want your blog to achieve? Before you start blogging, take some time to think about who your target audience is. What are their interests? What are they looking for on the internet? Once you know what your target audience wants, you can start creating content that meets their needs. Your blog goals should also reflect your company’s overall marketing strategy.
Focus On Search Intent: When you're blogging, it's not just about including your target keyword throughout the post. The searcher's intent matters, too. If you're trying to rank for a keyword that doesn't match the searcher's intent, you won't rank as well.For example, say you're a plumber who wants to rank for the keyword "plumbing." That would be a great keyword to target, but if someone is searching for "emergency plumbing services," your blog post about how to fix a leaky faucet won't show up in the search results.
Analyzing Similar Content: If you want to write a blog post that will be successful, you need to do your research. That means finding similar content on the internet and analyzing it so you can come up with an idea that will set your blog post apart from the rest. Start by looking for content that is already popular. Identify what makes it successful and try to incorporate those same elements into your own blog post. Be sure to add your own unique twist, though, so that your content stands out from the competition.
There are two ways to analyse competitors' blog posts either using Google or Buzzumo
BuzzSumo
Go to BuzzSumo.com and sign up for a free trial account you can use to research competitors' performance.
Input your preferred keyword (e.g. “social media engagement”)
Check the results that were returned, see what the performance of the content are and which platform has the best performance.
Go to Google.com and paste your keywords (social media engagement) into the search bar, when the results are returned open up some of the top-performing content to understand what the article should look like.
Compare the results from Buzzumo and Google together and check if they have the following features;
Are the articles using a related headline?
Are the articles pointing to the same primary conclusion which is very related?
Is there any specific or unique things they are doing that seems to be working out?
You can easily analyse the output from google and Buzzumo using a content analysis worksheet. Here is a link to download to template for use.
By studying what others have done, you will get a sense for what kind of quality and content your own posts should have.
Testing The Readability Of Your Blog Post
The readability of your blog post is important. You want to make sure that your readers can easily understand what you are saying. There are a few ways to test the readability of your post.
One way is to use the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Readability test. This test will score your text on a scale from 0 to 12, with 12 being the most difficult to read. The higher the score, the more difficult it is to read. Another way to test the readability of your text is to use the Gunning Fog Score. This test measures how many years the blog has been written and when last it has been updated.
Crafting An Interesting And A Unique Headline
When you are writing a blog post, the most important thing is the headline. You only have a few seconds to get someone’s attention, and the best way to do that is with an interesting and unique headline.
There are a few things to keep in mind when crafting your headline:
1. Make it interesting. Your headline should make people want to read more. It should be something that grabs their attention and makes them curious about what you have to say.
2. Make it relevant. Your headline should relate to the content of your post.
There are some awesome tools you can use to test your blog title and its performance:
CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer
The Headline Analyzer is a free tool that CoSchedule offers to help you write better headlines. It analyzes your headline and provides feedback on how well it will perform based on data from previous headlines that have achieved success.
The Headline Analyzer takes into account factors such as word count, number of words in the headline, common words used in successful headlines, and emotional word usage. It also grades your headline on its ability to generate social shares, traffic, and SEO value.
Sumo’s Kickass Headline Generator
Sumo’s Kickass Headline Generator is the perfect tool for creating attention-grabbing headlines. It’s easy to use - all you have to do is enter a few pieces of information, and the generator will create a headline that’s sure to get attention.
The generator takes into account the type of content you’re creating, as well as the keywords you’re targeting. It also analyzes the competition, so you can be sure your headline will stand out from the crowd.
Creating the Blog Post Outline
Blog posts are the bread and butter of most websites. They’re a way to share your knowledge with the world, to start conversations, and to build an audience. But not all blog posts are created equal. Some are better than others.
There are a few things you can do to make sure your blog posts are the best they can be. The first is to create a strong outline. The second is to write great headlines. And the third is to make sure your content is of the highest quality.
Creating a strong blog post follow this structure.
1. Start by finding a topic you’re interested in or that you think your audience would be interested in.
2. Do some research on the topic.
3. Come up with a thesis statement or main point for your post.
4. Write down some potential subtopics that could be covered in the post.
5. Organize your thoughts into an outline format.
6. Write the post!
As you write your blog post, keep on-page SEO in mind. External links that point back to your article, internal links, the keyword you use in your headline, and the blog content itself can all help your post rank higher in search engines.
That's it! If you follow this process, you'll be able to write create powerful blog outlines, write better blog posts, and attract more traffic and sales to your website with content marketing.