Like an artist critiquing their work, any good blogger must be able to step back and objectively take a look at their blog.
A good blogger can look at their work, both individually and as a whole, and think hard on what is working and what is not, and more importantly, what is attracting readers and what is driving them away.
Remember, a blog is not for the writer; it’s for the people currently reading, the people you want to be reading, and hopefully, the advertisers who are going to pay you to write.
Looking at your own work objectively is not always easy, so here is an Objectivity Checklist to get you started.
1. Do your entries have catchy “hooks?”
Web surfers are notoriously fickle. If they are not grabbed immediately, they will turn their attentions elsewhere in a matter of seconds. Therefore, it is essentially that blog posts begin with catchy “hook” lines to “hook” the reader into reading the rest. Make opening sentences dynamic, exciting, surprising, controversial — basically any action verb that will entice others to read on.
2. Are your post titles just as catchy?
This may be even more important to grabbing the reader’s attention than “hook” sentences. Titles appear in bigger letters and should sum up the post’s subsequent content, but do so in a manner that makes the viewer want to read in the first place. Also, if titles can have searchable terms even better. More often than not, the terms used in a post’s title will be what shows up in search engine searches and drive traffic towards that specific post, and the site in general.
3. Are paragraphs short and scannable?
Notice how in newspapers and magazines paragraphs always consist of just a few short, concise sentences? That’s because most readers are going to turn the page if they see at first glance what looks like a college-level essay. Same goes for your blog: visitors are going to click away if the task of reading a post looks too daunting. Break up posts into bite-size chunks that allow readers to quickly scan the article for the pieces of information they want.
4. Is your blog readable?
Is the content of the posts presented front and center, and is it done so in a way that makes for easy reading? Or is it chock full of Flash video, ads, and GIFs? If the latter, you need to redesign your blog. Appearance is everything and a blog needs to be attention-grabbing, but even more so it needs to clean, concise, and readable. Clean it up and have some close friends take a look for more feedback.
5. Would you want to read your blog?
Ah, there’s a doozie, but it’s the most important question you can ask yourself. Think hard on whether the writing is engaging and informative, and whether the subject matter will appeal to more than an audience of one. Decide whether the blog needs a redesign to look more professional. Think on whether your blog can move up to the big leagues and start earning an income.
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#3 is the one I struggle with, keeping my paragraphs short enough, scanable, but still getting the point across. And #5 is a good test for me because I predominantly write guides and how-tos. I always have to check whether or not I’d understand the answer or could satisfactorily perform the process I’m writing about. Thanks for keeping me on my toes, Joseph!
I also always thinks about the points why the blogs should be in reading list and that’s why my blog is live still doesn’t matter I am not good in English and creating suspense to read more and more about the facts.
It’s not a bad idea to have one day of the week dedicated for maintenance of your blog. What is working, what is not working should be listed and actions should be taken to ensure our blog growth.
Loved the post! Great points that I hadn’t thought of before. I think “Would I want to read this myself?” is the single greatest question a blogger can ask whenever he/she is about to click Publish.
I would like to suggest a #6: Does your blog make the reader want to take action?
I’m a strong believer of questioning everything in order to improve our work. This is a good set of questions Joseph!
I learned a lot from the first time I wrote a comment or article.
I didn’t know about formatting an article or any other type of writing(mainly because I didn’t know the way people read your/me stuff, actually better said scan)
Your points give a very good insight on how to make a post stand out, first you have to attract your visitor with a catchy title, or a well optimized one.
The first phrase has to make the visitor stay and read the rest of your content, and the content has to be readable (short paragraphs and well formatted sentences ).
And of course, you have to read you article after you’ve finished it. If you don’t like it don’t expect someone else to like it!
See, this is why I don’t have a blog or a decent website up. My English is very bad so I would need a proofreader. I don’t have geniune content and I don’t want to read my own blog. BLOGGING IS HARD! BUILDING A WEBSITE IS HARD.
So, what a Sista to do! Since I am a photographer, I take pictures at events. I load these pictures on facebook and direct my friends to my website. It doesn’t bring in heavy traffic, but during each event, I would book maybe 2 clients. Once the pictures are finally posted to facebook, I could pull in maybe another 2 new clients.
So no! My blogs are not catchy, they are not long, and I don’t want to read them. I have to go back to school for Composition 101 and English 101.
Some salient points made here. I have definitely changed my writing style since first starting to publish posts a few months back. I have taken on board things I have learned from experienced bloggers. From how they have written their posts to articles on writing. I still try to do it in my own style but write for the reader rather than for me. Thanks for sharing.
Patricia Perth Australia
I think that post are worth reading when they help some one out. Your post to me, was very helpful. I try to scan through post before I read them completely to see if they offer anything that will help me. I like to visit this site because it is not a waste for my time.
Topic is help full for everyone. From short paragraphs to catchy phrases all are a must for an outstanding blog post. But still it is hard to bring all the qualities in one blog post. Bloggers know all this, but we still do not write 10.0 posts. Reminders like Joseph’s blog post is a good read so we sit back and look at our blog with a critical eye.
Making it better for the reader is very important.
Fran
Hi Joseph,
My blog that earns me a living – well it’s not my cup of tea! but plenty of people read it and book our services. I found that I loved blogging so much that I have set up a few blogs on subjects that I like writing about. Sadly that just made it harder to write on the first blog!
A great post, I really enjoyed reading it and pondering your points. I shall look forward to reading more from you.
Hi Tia! I think the last question is interesting and extremely true!
Do you like to read your own blog? Before we can attract others to read our blog, we should attract ourselves first. We can deceive everyone but we cannot deceive ourselves.
Eeek this is a rough call for me, I’ve never been a big fan of my own blog so I can’t see myself saying yes to any of the above. Great post, and I guess I can just hope that others can say, “YES!!!” haha
ALL GREAT TIPS.. kEEPING YOUR POST IN SMALL BITE SIZE PARAGRAPHS WITH TITLES FOR EACH ONE, MAKES IT EASY TO READ, AND TITLES GIVE YOU A QUICK LOOK AT WHAT THAT Paragraph IS ABOUT.
LIKE COLEMAN SAID,, PEOPLE ATTENTION SPAN IS SMALL.. GIVE THEM REASONS TO READ.
Thanks, JP. I have noticed a trend among really popular blogs, and that is breaking things up (and having normal sized and not tiny text).
Cheers!
Tia
Thanks for the reminder that the blog is for the reader not for the writer. Great advice.
Hi Evelyn,
Yes, it’s something I think bloggers (and journalists) can forget sometimes. I’ve noticed that we sometimes try to keep up with other bloggers or ourselves, and in doing so, forget the audience for which we’re writing.
Cheers,
Tia
Hi Joseph,
One of the hardest parts of blogging is to take a look at your blog from an objective standpoint. One thing that helps is keeping track of your stats and see which of your posts is garnering attention and then think about what you are doing right in those posts and how you can improve other posts to draw an audience.
Its proven that us humans attention span is short, so having short paragraph make us fill like we’re not reading a lot. It jsu make for an better read with short sentence paragraphs.
“TrafficColeman “Signing Off”
Hey Coleman – Yep. When I’m reading online, the thing that drives me the most crazy is a long paragraph.
I agree it’s so important to take a step back every few weeks and make sure your blog is on the right track. Sometimes you don’t like the answer, but do it anyway.
Another factor I focus on is the amount of comments and RTs I’m getting compared to earlier. If it’s less than usual, I try to figure out why. Although usually I have no idea.
Thanks for a great post.
thanks for the info,, i like your blog.
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