Blogging is warfare.
You know it, I know it, hell the whole world knows it.
Research indicates that in 2013 alone there were more than 152 million blogs live on the internet and the numbers keep growing.
You know the benefits of blogging. You know what could be if you could just get people to read your words. You know you have value that needs to be shared to a population that is just begging for this type of information.
So you write, claw, sweat and bleed out a blog post worthy of the masses.
You press “submit.”
And what do you get?
Crickets.
Maybe 14, 15 views max over the span of 24 hours.
How could this be?
Well what if I told you everything you knew up to this point with your writing and crafting a blog post was wrong?
First off, you’d probably call me an asshole.
But I’ve studied and researched what works. I’ve also written posts that have garnered 25k, 30k, 90k, even 300k views.
I know what I’m doing and I’ve thought a lot about sharing what I know so you can start to unplug from the life and job that sucks away at your soul and dive into the world of freedom and fulfillment.
Let’s dive into what everyone else is scared to share with you…
1. Craft a headline that your readers cannot resist
Do you want to know the biggest mistake you can make with your blogging?
Writing your post before you write the headline.
Without a compelling headline you don’t offer your readers a roadmap. Your post will become discombobulated, misdirected and will leave your readers confused and with their heads spinning.
If you want blog post that is clear, compelling and full of valuable advice for readers that will get that foaming at the mouth, waiting impatiently for more, spend some time crafting clear and concise headlines that guide your readers where to look.
In order to write the best headlines, follow these fool-proof rules:
1.1 Pick a provocative topic
Do you want your readers to click on your article?
Then you’re going to have to offer them a mouthwatering headline that offers them intrigue and a roadmap of helping them solve the problems that pain them.
You’re helping remedy what keeps them up at night.
Through extensive research and study can you help craft the perfect headline:
- Like I’ve outlined before, tools like buzzsumo offer a glimpse at what has been popular in a given niche.
- Feedly is another great tool that helps mitigate some of the research.
- Amazon self-published books within your niche is also a resource rich with headline/title blueprints.
- What are the best/most successful writers on Medium doing with their headlines? (Benjamin P. Hardy, Ayodeji Awosika, Anthony Moore, Maarten van Doorn, Tom Kuegler are some rad writers you can glean ideas from)
Your only mission is to serve your audience — that’s it.
Headlines are the roadmap to said audience in guiding them to that service.
Take action:
When coming up with a headline for an article, take the time to craft 5–10 different articles that attempt to convey the same point.
This exercise allows you to see where you might be going vague (a big no-no), you might be wordy (concise and direct is best), an if the headline is compelling or not.
2. Seduce your readers with your introduction
Photo by Rafael romero
You’ve gotten your reader to click on your article — now you’ve got to capture their undivided attention.
This is easier said than done.
According to research, attention spans consuming media has dropped from 12 minutes to 5 minutes. No one has the time to read everything they desire.
It’s your job to lure them in.
The following are bulletproof strategies for you to incorporate into your intros so you deep the attention of your readers:
2.1 Be empathetic
Put yourself into your readers’ shoes.
Hell, you’ve been where they currently are and now you’ve written this dime of an article to help them solve the problem.
Borrow from what I did in the beginning of this article:
“Blogging is warfare.
You know it, I know it, hell the whole world knows it.
[…]
You know the benefits of blogging. You know what could be if you could just get people to read your words. You know you have value that needs to be shared to a population that is just begging for this type of information.
So you write, claw, sweat and bleed out a blog post worthy of the masses.”
You know how difficult it is to write. You know how difficult it is to get your words out there. You know how difficult it is to get your articles “clicked.”
I know it too — and I’m with you.
2.2 Pull at their heart-strings
If you want to capture your readers — you have to pull emotions out of them.
What makes a great movie?
When you feel connected to the story, whether happy, sad, funny, or scared. You are drawn in and feel an emotional change in your body.
This needs to happen with your writing.
Do you want your readers to feel scared of missing out on something? Do you want them to feel inspired? Do you want them to laugh?
Humans are fickle, we can sense robotic writing.
But we remember emotional writing.
2.3 Pull them down the page.
Good writing has tempo.
I want to set you up with a little test, okay?
Which passage is more compelling to read?
And there I was.
I had been writing for a year and a half up until this point.
I had put in all the hard work.
I knew what it took.
I had touched hundreds of thousands of readers.
Now it was my turn.
I looked into his eyes for what seemed like an eternity. He glared back, I could tell his smile was genuine.
And then he finally spoke, “Just sign here and the book deal is yours.”
Versus:
And there I was. I had been writing for a year and a half up until this point. I had put in all the hard work. I knew what it took. I had touched hundreds of thousands of readers. Now it was my turn. I looked into his eyes for what seemed like an eternity. He glared back, I could tell his smile was genuine. And then he finally spoke, “Just sign here and the book deal is yours.”
Of course it’s the same passage (something I improvised here). Which is more fun and pulls you in faster?
If you answered the first, you’re right.
The second is clunkier. You can lose your place and the larger paragraph is overwhelming (a lot of readers are lazy). Spreading it out makes the reading more fun and raises the stakes quicker.
Take Action:
When crafting an intro similar to the heading action step, craft two separate intros that head towards the same goal. This allows you to stretch your mind and see things from a different vantage point.
A strong intro doesn’t need to be that long either (maybe 100–200 words).
Read it out loud — does it flow succinctly?
3. Deliver consumable advice that’s impossible to overlook
Photo by 2Photo Pots
At this point you’ve gotten past the toughest hurdle.
You’ve been able to capture intrigue with your audience and have them both look at your headline and entice them enough to click into the article.
You’ve also captivated their attention with a killer introduction.
Kudos.
Now, you are setting the table for future success — if you can provide valuable, consumable information you will foster a trusting relationship. Overdeliver or underdeliver and disappoint your reader for the foreseeable future.
What follows is a mini-guide in creating easily consumable content:
3.1 Allow for checkpoints
Subtitles exist for a reason — use them.
Readers scan.
We’ve already outlined earlier the attention span of the average consumer of media. With this info — use tools to your advantage.
Even if the reader is devouring every character in your post, allow them to absorb overall ideas and take minor breaks in their consumption.
This is your tool in pulling the reader back in when they are thinking about leaving. When considering subtitles, use the following as a guide:
- Add one every few paragraphs: Help your reader out. Draw up a valid argument with subtitle, support your argument with evidence, segue into the next argument. It’s as simple as that.
- Avoid cryptic subtitles: Just like the headline, you don’t want to be too vague here. Think about what argument you want to illustrate — then be simple in the foreshadow. Also, don’t give away too much with the subtitle. Notice mine for section 3 “Allow for checkpoints” at first you think, “well what are checkpoints? Must be important” and then I get into that a checkpoint is a subtitle and the importance of such.
- Don’t get off track from headline: Sometimes it’s easy to lose your way in writing your article — especially if you’re just beginning with you blogging journey. Maybe it takes you more than one sitting with your article and you lose your “flow” in writing. Always come back to the headline and make sure it’s consistent.
Your subtitles are just that: substitute-titles.
3.2 Be unexpected
What in your article are you offering to your reader that they don’t already know?
I’m paraphrasing but there’s an interview with author and performance coach, Brendon Burchard where he educates how you can captivate your audience,
“How are you challenging your audience? What are you challenging in terms of their thoughts? What are you challenging in their relationships? This is how you captivate an audience.”
So what are you bringing to the table with your article? Of course, like I’ve written before, borrowing from experts within your niche is a method to write about what is important and what is being positively received, however, what are you bringing to the table?
4. Close with a motivational mic-drop
You’re almost at the finish line.
This is the moment you give the post everything you’ve got.
In the beginning, you’re holding the torch, leading your readers into the unknown.
Now, you’re behind your readers, rallying them to the finish line — you believe in them.
4.1 Avoid new information
Do you know a huge mistake many amateur bloggers make with their conclusions?
They offer up new information.
They’ve taken the reader on an emotional and shocking journey.
They offered up a blueprint of how the reader can remedy their problem.
They are just about to cross the finish line.
And just like that, they’ve added new information that throws the whole narrative off.
It’s like those old cartoons of Wile e Coyote and the Roadrunner:
The Wile e is perhaps on a runaway train and they is within arms reach of capturing the Roadrunner. He then sees the Roadrunner switch the track direction and sends him over the cliffs to fall at his peril.
Let the reader capture the Roadrunner.
Don’t throw them off the cliff…
Take Action:
Pretty simple here.
You’ve written your article.
You’ve ended the article with a compelling and motivational conclusion.
Review the conclusion — do you offer any new information?
What I like to do a lot is simple write a small recap of what you’ve talked about (this is especially helpful for readers that tend to scan the article as opposed to read it — they can glean concise info from the conclusion).
Furthermore, when writing your conclusion try to pump yourself up. When reading it to yourself, do you feel inspired? Do you feel amped? Do you have that shit-eating grin across your face?
If so, you’re on the right track.
You’ve won this battle — the war is far from over
You’ve constructed a bulletproof article and won the battle in garnering the reader’s attention.
The war is far from over.
The toughest part is going to be the war within yourself — procrastination, self doubt, anxiety, and worry are all emotions that will cloud your abilities no matter how far along you are in this journey.
It’s up to you to keep the battle going.
You’re the only one that’s going to get into a staring contest with the demons that lay in wait.
Make sure you don’t flinch.
Step into the arena and let your words and thoughts do the fighting.
Every writer will get scared and nervous — that’s okay.
Now you have a template to act as your guide. Whenever you get sidetracked and lost, come back to this and refresh yourself. This guide doesn’t demand perfection, it simply supplies you with a writing tool belt to draw from.
Writing like a professional is never out of reach.
Hone your writing. Piece by piece you will see it build into something great.
At the end of the day, that’s what we all need — your writing greatness.
- What unique insight do you have?
- What innovate way of doing things do you want to share?
- What opinion do you have that will make some people hate you and others love you?
You don’t need to go overboard — this is really just gravy on top of it all if you can do it successfully.
3.3 Provide a consistent formula
Have you been able to notice what I’ve done with this guide?
Each one of my subtitles starts with a verb, it’s a short compelling sentence to intro the subtitle. Also in closing each section I offer up an Actionable step you can and should take with this guide.
I am using a consistent formula with my approach.
Readers like consistent and consumable media. Illustrate where they are now, where they want to go and how to get there. In doing that, construct the format of your blog like a GPS.
3.4 Give away all of your secrets
A lot of writers are terrified that if they leak their secrets, they won’t achieve any success.
Readers, however are looking for generous writers. They are looking for all the tricks, hacks, techniques and strategies they can use so they themselves can be successful.
Let’s be honest, no real thought or idea is 100% original (except for maybe those Bird electric scooters…holy shit are those cool and innovative. If you don’t live in a big city and haven’t seen them, just wait).
It’s all really about execution.
Can you execute your ideas better than your competition?
I sure as hell hope so.
So give away your secrets and see the masses come flooding in.
Take Action:
In crafting your article, build it as a giant outline.
Utilizing subtitles, have fun with different formulas and styles.
Similar to the action step with headlines, create 2–5 different subtitles for each section.
- Do they flow?
- Do they give away too much?
- Are they cryptic?
Read the subtitle out loud to yourself and then dive into the subsequent opening sentence — does it read succinctly?
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