Have you ever noticed that certain blog posts are so sticky that you continue to read them till the end? We will check out certain elements of making your blog entries sticky.
Content vs. Keywords
Many people forget the coordination between their content and keywords, though it is extremely important. You know what makes a content most sticky? It’s the reader; if he wants the content, then it’s sticky, otherwise it’s not.
Most important hint of what a blog post is about is in the title of the post. This is why search engines rank the posts, whose titles have certain keywords, high for those keywords.
When you post a blog entry, you will get search visitors from search engines. Have you ever noticed which of the search queries they are using to land your page? These queries are going to turn your blog’s statistics upside down.
For instance, you posted an entry about “how to milk a cow?” and had to include two sentences about NASA’s latest venture into the space (maybe because your grandfather, who owned a cattle farm, worked for NASA and he was very good at milking cows, and you invented some remotest logical connection in your article). Imagine a searcher (may be a space research student) that searches for “NASA’s latest ventures” and lands your post on milking the cow? How long do you imagine the searcher will stay?
It is hence, utmost important to have a successful link between your search terms and your topic title. For this, the best option is never to stray away from the title of the topic at all.
Not Enough Information
Here is another gaffe of bloggers. When you don’t provide enough information related to your post’s title, your searchers don’t stay on your post long enough.
One of my posts that fetched a lot of visitor interaction and incoming links is on how to make the Blogspot blogs dofollow. The merit of this particular post is that it is an authority post, which gives complete information on the topic, and even addresses relevant things outside the title.
When do you slip away from making a post authority? If your post has mediocre content, and doesn’t show enough respect to the post’s title.
For instance, imagine you have an entry of about 1000 words about “how to purchase cell phones in India” and it covers A-Z about cell phone technology, brands, and features with the last paragraph of five sentences about buying cell phones in India (your title) with only a link to the best store in the Mumbai city center. What use is this entry of to a searcher that actually lands the site looking for “information on purchasing cell phones in India”? The visitor may not stay for another ten seconds and may not visit your site again at all. This will make you sit wondering why your great post has a lot of bounces.
On the other hand, a person that comes actually looking for cell phone technology may feel the page is all about buying cell phones in India and leave. So, you are screwed from both sides.
Highlighting
I suggest you to highlight your post’s main points well by using boldface or different color. I prefer boldface, as you see on this blog. The importance needn’t be explained.
Most of the visitors to your blogs are coming to skim for information, not to stay and read your entire article. This is where the highlighting comes into play. You can give them the main ideas without making them read the entire article.
When you look around, you will see even the professional bloggers don’t highlight their posts well. This can well make a big difference in your site’s user experience. Start highlighting important sentences and keywords from now on.
Writing Concisely?
This depends on the situation. If your post demands to be concise, be so. Otherwise, no need to be. It is not proven whether concise entries attract more visitors or not. However, writing concisely is definitely good. In fact, a post with all information that has to go into it, and still retains a reasonable word-length is a concise one. If you have an entry about World War history and you want it to be only 200 words long, then it is not possible.
You should not remove important facts from your posts to make them concise. Make your entries complete, and use short sentences to make them concise. Also, remove any redundant points.
Headings
This should be very wise. It is always advised to break your entries down with appropriate headings. The more the breakdowns, the easier it is for people to skim. Also, make sure you don’t break down at irrelevant places.
Conclusion
Though these guidelines are in order when you write blog entries, it is one’s own style that always matters. So, build your own unique writing style. Formatting style is also quite personal.
Copyright © Lenin Nair 2008
Content vs. Keywords
Many people forget the coordination between their content and keywords, though it is extremely important. You know what makes a content most sticky? It’s the reader; if he wants the content, then it’s sticky, otherwise it’s not.
Most important hint of what a blog post is about is in the title of the post. This is why search engines rank the posts, whose titles have certain keywords, high for those keywords.
When you post a blog entry, you will get search visitors from search engines. Have you ever noticed which of the search queries they are using to land your page? These queries are going to turn your blog’s statistics upside down.
For instance, you posted an entry about “how to milk a cow?” and had to include two sentences about NASA’s latest venture into the space (maybe because your grandfather, who owned a cattle farm, worked for NASA and he was very good at milking cows, and you invented some remotest logical connection in your article). Imagine a searcher (may be a space research student) that searches for “NASA’s latest ventures” and lands your post on milking the cow? How long do you imagine the searcher will stay?
It is hence, utmost important to have a successful link between your search terms and your topic title. For this, the best option is never to stray away from the title of the topic at all.
Not Enough Information
Here is another gaffe of bloggers. When you don’t provide enough information related to your post’s title, your searchers don’t stay on your post long enough.
One of my posts that fetched a lot of visitor interaction and incoming links is on how to make the Blogspot blogs dofollow. The merit of this particular post is that it is an authority post, which gives complete information on the topic, and even addresses relevant things outside the title.
When do you slip away from making a post authority? If your post has mediocre content, and doesn’t show enough respect to the post’s title.
For instance, imagine you have an entry of about 1000 words about “how to purchase cell phones in India” and it covers A-Z about cell phone technology, brands, and features with the last paragraph of five sentences about buying cell phones in India (your title) with only a link to the best store in the Mumbai city center. What use is this entry of to a searcher that actually lands the site looking for “information on purchasing cell phones in India”? The visitor may not stay for another ten seconds and may not visit your site again at all. This will make you sit wondering why your great post has a lot of bounces.
On the other hand, a person that comes actually looking for cell phone technology may feel the page is all about buying cell phones in India and leave. So, you are screwed from both sides.
Highlighting
I suggest you to highlight your post’s main points well by using boldface or different color. I prefer boldface, as you see on this blog. The importance needn’t be explained.
Most of the visitors to your blogs are coming to skim for information, not to stay and read your entire article. This is where the highlighting comes into play. You can give them the main ideas without making them read the entire article.
When you look around, you will see even the professional bloggers don’t highlight their posts well. This can well make a big difference in your site’s user experience. Start highlighting important sentences and keywords from now on.
Writing Concisely?
This depends on the situation. If your post demands to be concise, be so. Otherwise, no need to be. It is not proven whether concise entries attract more visitors or not. However, writing concisely is definitely good. In fact, a post with all information that has to go into it, and still retains a reasonable word-length is a concise one. If you have an entry about World War history and you want it to be only 200 words long, then it is not possible.
You should not remove important facts from your posts to make them concise. Make your entries complete, and use short sentences to make them concise. Also, remove any redundant points.
Headings
This should be very wise. It is always advised to break your entries down with appropriate headings. The more the breakdowns, the easier it is for people to skim. Also, make sure you don’t break down at irrelevant places.
Conclusion
Though these guidelines are in order when you write blog entries, it is one’s own style that always matters. So, build your own unique writing style. Formatting style is also quite personal.
Copyright © Lenin Nair 2008
hi!
ReplyDeleteI have implemented these techniques and have really helped me alot. Uniqueness is one of those things we need too. I tried to write concisely so that my readers would not be bored.
Thanks
Charles
http://www.resourcesandmoney.blogspot.com
good to know that pals.
ReplyDeleteAnother great post! you always come with some good tips... You make your blog as very useful to spend time on it!!! Only thing I would add to your content is to read regularly your posts!!! Thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. Even sometimes I wonder, instead of providing details, why am not I getting regular traffic. This post will help me in many ways. Thanks again boss.
ReplyDeleteI got some good tips about blogging here. Thank y ou
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ReplyDeleteThanks, Raj for the comment.
ReplyDelete