by Esther Adeniyion January 10, 2018February 11, 201918 Comments on 5 Essential Components of a great blog post
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You remember some of those blog posts that have stuck in your head. These blog posts were probably the first you saw on your most visited blog right now. You read them, fell in love with the idea, execution and now you can’t seem to even get enough of the blog itself.
There are very many reasons why some Bloggers have been able to work their way into your heart and others, no matter how hard they try, haven’t. Apart from the emotional connection you feel with a favorite Blogger, there is something else they are doing and that is making their blog posts irresistible.
Your blog posts can be irresistible. They can be addictive. Your blog posts can become materials that people will read over and over again until they share with all of their friends. You can craft really great posts, but how?
The components of a great blog post are not far fetched. They are just simple changes you have to make here and there to get the traction it needs. These changes, you can make them now. Starting from now, you can begin to bring together the elements of a great blog post and begin to work on it.
Contents
- 1 What does it take to create a great blog post?
- 2 1. Catchy headlines
- 3 2. Convincing images
- 4 3. Easy-to-read text
- 5 4. Appropriate Inbound and Outbound Linking
- 6 5. Easy social media sharing and commenting system
There is no doubt, a superb title might be the difference between a blog post that is even clicked on to read or not. Blog post titles are invitations to the indifferent internet user.
Be careful of baits anyway. It’s good to have people visit your blog for the first time. It’s worse to never have them come back again because they immediately felt scammed, intellectual robbed or disconnected.
Let your blog post titles deliver on their promises. Goins Writer has a brilliant article on writing catchy headlines.
One way to have convincing images is to make sure that they are quality enough. A clear, related and descriptive image colours every good blog post and makes the reader attracted to the information as a whole.
I do not disagree with the fact that on some occasions, images are not as important as the text but you will agree with me that having images do not hurt anyone. Why do you think many internet users respond well and quickly to infographics?
If you can go the extra length of having quality and beautiful blog images as accompaniments, you will increase your chances of attracting and keeping blog readers. It is proof that you put a lot of thought into your blogging and you are ready to make a statement.
Here are a few sites from where you can download free, quality images:
www.pixabay.com – this is the first site I go to when I am looking for quality images. It’s not like it’s the best, it’s just that I found this site first in my quest for free images. You can download the images from this site with no need for attribution or credit. You can write, edit, do anything you want with any of the images.
www.pexels.com – this site is where I go next when I can’t find what I am looking for on Pixabay. What I like this site for is for the premium images. All of the free photos sites have images you have to buy but I like Pexels from the pack. Premium images are as realistic and extremely easy to work with and design.
www.unsplash.com – this site is just awesome. I discovered this site accidentally and you know, there are times I go to Unsplash to just browse through images and awaken my imagination. You won’t believe it. I have also been inspired on countless occasions on what to write next. I love how mobile and user friendly Unsplash is.
www.foodiesfeed.com – Food and health Bloggers will definitely fall in love with FoodiesFeed. The photos are too stunning to be free. Even as a Nigerian, you’d find images of general meals that you can tailor to your specific needs and content. One thing I like about this site is that images from here can be used to keep your social media handles alive. You can build content around them in the mean time on Instagram.
Extra Notes
– You can find other beautiful pictures on boards on Pinterest.
– You can also find very nice pictures on Google. Be sure to click on the picture itself. Do not download from the search results page as it may appear compressed and blurry. Click on the link to get to the site. It will also allow you to give appropriate credit. Don’t go saying your picture is from Google. Google brought it from somewhere.
– If you are also bold, you can begin to experiment with your phone. Start to take shots with your smartphone. You’d be surprised how much of work your phone can do when there is enough lighting, a correct orientation and steady phone placement.
– You should begin to learn how to use phone editors and online graphics tools. I use Picmonkey and Canva to create beautiful graphics. A lot of Bloggers swear by Canva because the free features are just dashing. You’d be in Cloud 9 if you go for the paid version of Canva.
Have you ever been to a blog and left because the text was too small or the formatting was entirely disgusting? As someone who writes on a blog, learn how to keep your blog readers interested by having a good blog font.
Another great idea is breaking down your article into readable paragraphs. Some readers like to just skim through text because reading word after word can be time consuming. They would prefer to scan through the information and retain what they have to. Some other blog readers are willing to go all the way, they would read every word, especially if their lives depended on it.
Inbound linking is linking to articles on the same blog as that you are publishing on with an anchor text. Outbound linking is linking to a post on another site.
I agree that not all blog posts need to have links in them. But these are going to be few instances. It is important to give your readers valuable content and access to other resources. It not only substantiates the point you are trying to drive, it helps your readers believe and trust that you care a lot about them.
Be careful of including too many links that will end up distracting them. Be as moderate as possible. Choose the best of links. Adding links to your blog posts will help to your blog in its overall organic search. Read more on the importance of inbound and outbound linking here.
Internal and deep linking is one of the best ways to help search engines understand your blog and its overall structure.
It’s basically pointless to have blog posts that are difficult to share or on whose pages you can’t freely comment on. You can install simple social media plugins and put them in places where readers can see them easily. I found that having these icons below the post is the best social media icons placement.
What else makes a great blog post? Please share with me.
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Tags:Blogging