A few people are brilliant. They consistently have amazing information to share, or their writing is so good or funny that you want to read it, no matter the topic.
These people have little problem getting readership for their blogs.
But what about the rest of us? What can we do to compete? How can we maximize our readership, and make our blogs worthwhile endeavors?
In my opinion, there are three main factors involved with a blog’s success or lack thereof. 1. The social media networking. 2. The writing. 3. The topics. Improve any of the three significantly, and you should get more attention.
Here’s a quick look at each:
1. Social media networking
If you improve the your social media networking, you will get more social shares, which will result in more readers. There are a number of ways to do this, including:
- Share your posts on your social networks, including using popular relevant Twitter hashtags.
- Comment on popular blogs that cover similar topics.
- Communicate with social influencers intelligently via social media to develop relationships with them.
- Write guest posts for relevant popular blogs.
- Share relevant posts from your blog with social influencers engaged on those topics.
A quick note: Pick social influencers to network with carefully. Try to connect with people who have a large amount of followers who are part of your desired audience. Develop your relationships with these social influencers thoughtfully. Don’t overwhelm them with information, and recognize that you have to give something to get something and that it takes time to cultivate relationships.
2. Writing
People are increasingly impatient. They make their decisions on whether to start reading a blog in an instant, and many jump ship after the first paragraph or two. It’s a battle to get and maintain readers’ attention. A few ways to do this:
- You need a strong attention-grabbing title.
- Make your point in as strong a fashion as possible. Get people’s attention, and don’t be afraid to be controversial. Just make sure to provide evidence for your arguments.
- Be clear. I can’t emphasize this enough. Have a clear, well-organized message. If your writing is disorganized, not only will readers navigate away, they’ll probably never come back.
- Use an active voice. Think subject-verb-object. And use strong verbs.
- Don’t take yourself too seriously. A little humor can keep people reading.
- Use a great anecdote to illustrate your argument.
- If available, use data to substantiate your points, but don’t overwhelm people with numbers. A few carefully chosen statistics are enough.
- Use the format of a top list. People like to read top lists and to debate them. Top lists are often shared online, and are among the most popular content pieces on many blogs and websites.
- Always think: how can I make this more interesting/valuable.
3. Topics
Make your blog posts more attractive by associating them with hot current events and topics that are relevant to your business. People are more likely to be interested in what you have to say if it’s related to what they and others are currently communicating about on social media. For more on this, see this SocialEars HR blog post on topic jacking.
Ultimately, the success of a blog depends on how it serves its readers. The brilliant serve their readers by being brilliant. The rest of us: We serve our readers by being smart, and always being mindful that our blogs are pointless without them.
Post written by HRmarketer / SocialEars HR team member Eric Anderson.
Labels: blogging, content marketing, Eric Anderson, social media marketing
