What Makes Online Pieces Resonate with Readers?
Good writing is always of paramount importance. As with all your literary projects, your ideas should be clear and your narrative cohesive. No blog posts will gain traction if the writing is poor. And, if you break every single rule below but you have great content, your piece will still likely be well received.
write well
write what you're passionate about
write about issues that are relevant to people's lives
But how? Consider the following:
- What are some techniques that grab readers' attention and invite people to share your articles?
- What compels readers to continue reading?
- What will get someone to want to read more of your writing, again and again?
Here are other ways to formulate a solid blog post. Many of the tips here can apply to research-oriented articles as well.
1. Have an opinion
The defining characteristic of blogs, as opposed to articles, is that they are opinionated. Put simply, it's fun to read people's opinions. Whether you agree or disagree with the writer's views, opinionated articles have heat and magnetism. It's hard to turn away from someone expressing a strong view.
Don't be shy to express your own opinions! When we write from a place of strong views, our writing also tends to be better. We are likely to seek sources to back up our claims. We want to make our points clearly so that others will understand. We try to persuade, to convince. We often write from a place of passion. Something is important to us--important enough for us to express our views publicly.
If you are shy to express your own opinions publicly, an alternative is to present a kind of case. You could say something like, "A lot of people are debating the merits of being a stay-at-home mom. On this blog, Joe says X. On that blog, Mary says Y. While my own views on this matter are mixed, I'm curious what others think..." Or something like that. In other words, the opinions you express don't always need to be yours and yours alone.
2. Use a conversational tone (avoid technical jargon, industry acronyms, etc.)
Another feature of blogging, which differentiates it from other forms of writing, is that the tone is very conversational and accessible. You should blog like you speak. If you have a background in academic writing, poetry, or your prose tends to be dense or flowery, this might be a challenge. And your style is your style is your style. I'd hate to say you have to write a certain way.
But, if you want to blog well, you sort of do have to write a certain way. If you look at the blogs we've read so far, you'll see the language is always blunt, direct, and often quite chatty. See how I started this paragraph with a conjunction? See how I said, "you sort of do..."? There is an expectation of blog writing that it will be fairly casual, snappy even.
If you are comfortable with this, then embrace it. Use slang. Be light. At the very least, try to avoid technical jargon or references specific to your particular field of expertise. Your goal here is not to win a Pulitzer with every blog post. Your goal is to produce content that connects with readers, and to do so on a fairly regular basis.
Blogging is a different sort of writing. It's not really the place for you to spend hours debating between the words "blue" and "cerulean." Say "blue," post your blog, then go have lunch.
3. Break up your ideas into headings
See how this lecture is broken up into headings? Yes, it's a listicle. But not all pieces that are broken up into headings are listicles. (
Lindy West's open letter to white male comedians uses headings but is not a list.) Breaking your piece into headings helps focus the reader's attention. It helps to give your piece structure. It's easier on the eye (which is increasingly exhausted from everything we do online), and it makes it easier for readers to engage with your piece and remember the content. Just imagine--if this lecture had no headings and was just one big block of text, you'd probably be crying from overload. (I hope that isn't the case now.)
Also, it helps you as you write your piece. Headings help you keep your ideas organized and ensure that your paragraphs will remain on the short side. Which brings me to...
4. Sentences and paragraphs should be short
It is a good idea to keep sentences and paragraphs on the shorter side. Look back over some of the blogs you've read so far. Look at other blogs around the web. You'll notice very few run-on sentences. And a wealth of sentence fragments, like this one. Your readers will be viewing this content online and perhaps in the midst of doing various other tasks. The easier it is to consume your words, the better.
5. Address the reader and your reader's concerns
Look how throughout this piece I have used the word "you." I am addressing a specific readership, my dear hardworking students. This is also how blogs should be written. The more specific your audience, the better, as you can make certain assumptions about them. (I can assume you are all interested in language and that you all want to improve your knowledge about blogging. This lets me say certain things that I would say to writers. If, though, I knew you were all gardeners, I might try to weave in more gardening metaphors, as I would be sure that would appeal to my readers.)
So, you should try to use the word "you" as much as possible. That is another defining characteristic of blogs. They are personal. Think,
- Where is your reader?
- What are their needs?
- Why have they come to your blog?
- What kind of knowledge or comfort or information might they be seeking?
If you are writing a blog for grieving people, for instance, your tone will likely be very different than if you're writing a food blog for college students. If you're blogging about books you love to an audience of writers, you might write differently than if you're blogging about marketing to an audience of aspiring entrepreneurs. In all cases, the "you" should be a big part of your pieces. But also it's a good idea to keep the needs, values, interests and desires of your specific readership in mind.
7. The blog, as a whole, should be short
I would advise you to keep it on the shorter side. If it's long and rambly no one is going to read it. If it's short and to the point, you are likely to connect with readers. 300 to 500 words is a good start.
Bottom line is: your piece should be as long as it needs to be. But not a word longer. Short is fine. Longer is demanding more from the reader, so you'd better have a good reason to be taking up their time.
8. Titles, titles, titles
This, in fact, should probably be number one on this list. Titles are of paramount importance. There are many reasons for this. For one thing, it helps people know exactly what your blog post will be about.
Consider the difference between something like "5 Ways to Quit Smoking" and "Your Health." The former is very concrete and specific. When people see the link pop up in their Facebook feed or elsewhere, they will know exactly what it is and are much more likely to click on the article. A title like "Your Health" on the other hand could be about anything. It's not compelling enough to get people to act, to click, to read.
Another reason titles are important is that it enables Google to find the article more easily. Later we will discuss Search Engine Optimization (SEO), web traffic and so on. All you need to know for now is that specific keywords help Google identify what your content is. So if someone does a search for "quitting smoking," your blog is much more likely to come up in the search.
9. Use hyperlinks to reference quotes or other articles
Unlike a newspaper, when you use quotes, you don't need to say something like, "Tom Smith, the head of Disease Control at the Centers for Disease Control in Minnesota, says xyz..." You can just shorten it to, "A representative from CDC" and link to the original source.
Hyperlinks enable bloggers to use a kind of shorthand. This minimizes reading time and makes the blog, overall, easier to consume.
Also, hyperlinks are good for web traffic. Google likes to see hyperlinks and will rank a page higher if it has links within the text, again, making your page easier to find with Google.
10. The hook
Your headline tells the reader right away whether your article will be able to help them. The headline is your first hook. This is where you will give your reader the exact information on what your piece is about and, most importantly, why it will help them.
The second hook will be your opening paragraph, in which you have just a few seconds to convince your reader to stick around. What will convince them? Clarity. Specificity. Relevance. It's good to keep in mind that when people read online, they are indeed seeking help in some way or another. Either they explicitly want information about how to change a light bulb, or they want more details and analysis on the Russia investigation. Either way, they are looking to writers (such as you) to help them solve a problem they are experiencing, whether that problem is a lack of information on a topic or a lack of understanding of it.
If you plan to write about great places to visit while in Paris, for instance, there is no need for a preamble about how hard it is to travel with toddlers. Unless, of course, your piece is about traveling with toddlers. Keep your opening paragraph focused on the specific matter at hand, whether that focus is through images (the smell of flowers along the Seine, the swish of bicycles moving through puddles...) or the introduction of a problem you plan to help your reader solve (traveling is hard, Paris is overrun with tourists, Paris is expensive, here is how to manage all that...).
This week's reading will provide additional suggestions for how to hook in your reader.
11. Details, details, details
Throughout your writing in this course, you will notice that many of the storytelling devices you have already been trained to understand will be useful here. The importance of details is one of them. Just as in your fiction or nonfiction, the devil is in the details, as they say, so too with web writing. Details are how your reader will understand your specific circumstance, and decide that it speaks more intimately to their own. Details are also what will offer the most help to your reader, who is in search of it.
Details include sensory details--the smell of something, the taste of something, the tactile feel of something, etc. If you are giving advice on how to soothe a toddler having a tantrum, what it feels like to the person going through that experience is important. The sounds. The sights. A few key significant and relevant sensory details will help your reader put themselves in that scene and connect more deeply to your piece.
If not sensory details, or in addition to them, you want to be as exact as possible in the information you provide. What are the best places to visit in Paris? Is it the river or is it the left bank of the Seine at twilight on a weeknight? What is the best way to fry an egg? Is it by placing the egg in the pan? Or is it by heating oil in a cast iron pot for two minutes and then slowly cracking the egg two inches from the pot?
The details place your reader in the scene. The details also establish you as an expert in this area in which you are writing. They help you establish credibility. And no matter what happens along your web writing journey, knowing how to employ key details and when will make you a better writer in all your endeavors, and who could argue against that beautiful goal?
This week's reading overall will look at some ideas about best practices for blogging. There is also more information (suggestions, really) on how to hook readers.)
