If you were engaged in a life-threatening sport, you would double-check your gear to ensure they are all in good condition. The same applies to your blog posts, as each one must contain essential elements to avoid reader apathy. Without them, your blog post can come across as unprofessional, tacky, and not worth reading.
In addition, while 7.5 million posts are made worldwide, it is interesting that 30% of these daily posts originate from the US. That adds even more pressure to sail the storm by becoming particular about your blog posts. That said, here are three essential elements your blog should have.
Attention-grabbing Headline
Naturally, readers are drawn to catchy headlines which address topical issues of interest. According to a Conductor study on blogs, if a blog post cannot grab attention immediately, the likelihood of not getting read increases by over 50%. This means your headline wields much power to compel blog visitors to spend more time on your page. This trick works pretty well for emerging brands hoping to make an impact with their blogs.
In other words, the more attention-grabbing the headline is, the more people will want to read regularly and associate themselves with your emerging blog. In addition to your main headline, subheadings are necessary to make the reading process more accessible and enjoyable. Subheadings help the reader to make differentiations (of ideas and concepts) within your post.
Good Meta Description
This is usually the snippet or extracts you read immediately underneath the headings of different search results on Google. Although these are few sentences, they are packed with enough information to give a fair idea of what the link is about. A good meta description will most importantly contain relevant keywords typed by the individual searching for specific content. That is where SEO comes in. Did you know that a well-structured meta description improves your click-through rates? This is essentially true when dealing with results generated from an organic search.
Captivating Story Or Post
When your headline catches the reader’s attention, they will naturally progress to the rest of the story. This is where you need to employ reader engagement in your writing skills. As a tip, strive to make every sentence in your post convincing enough to urge the reader to go further. For more experienced writers, a psychological pull is employed to keep readers engaged till they complete the story.
For example, you may begin your blog post with a story that ties into the overall theme of your write-up. More than 85% of your readers will want to go further to the last sentence with this technique. Fortunately, this theory was tried out by Alex Turnbull, who discovered that almost 300% of people read to the end of the article.
Meanwhile, other elements to consider are relevant images, language clarity, optimized pages for sharing, and a compelling call to action. Others are authentic internal links and exciting supporting points. All these come together to make a successful blog post. Hopefully, these points offered insight into elements you may not have given much thought to.
