how to write better blog posts

3 Reasons To Ask Questions In Your Blog Posts

August 2, 2014 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

Questions

In a world where everyone focuses on quality content, SEO, and getting more traffic, there is a tiny detail that many bloggers forget to include in their blog post. Not including this element of a blog post makes these bloggers lose engagement and strong connections (some of those connections lead to sales). The element of a blog post that most people forget about is asking questions.

I always make sure I see one question in a blog post that I publish. I actually search for the question mark using the word finder just to make sure. The reason I make sure I am asking questions in my blog posts is because there are three powerful outcomes of asking questions in your blog posts.

Your visitors will feel as if they are having a conversation with you. Asking a question in one of your blog posts starts a dialogue. The visitor has to think of an answer to that question. Then, as you ask more questions in your blog posts, the conversation will build. How do you think I am doing with this blog post so far? Your response is the continuation of our conversation that is currently taking place.
You blog posts will get more comments. If you ask questions, you will start a conversation. The only problem for the particular conversation taking place (such as the one in this blog post), a visitor cannot ask a blogger a question and get a quick response. I can ask you how your day was and get a quick response. If you ask me how my day was, you would still be staring at a blank screen. In order to get a response from me or any other blogger who asks questions, a visitor would have to leave a comment below to get the proper response. How many comments do your blog posts get? Imagine what would happen if you could double that number. Asking questions throughout your blog posts makes that possible.
Passive reading turns into active reading. If there are no questions in a blog post, then the visitor is passively reading that blog post. When you ask a question, you are turning passive reading into active reading. You are forcing your visitor to go from scrolling through your content to think of an honest answer.

Those are the three big reasons why you need to ask more questions in your blog posts. How did you like the blog post? What are your thoughts on asking questions in your blog posts? Please share your thoughts below.

How To Put More Of You In Your Own Writing

August 1, 2014 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

Chances are as you write more blog posts, you will do more digging on the web to find good ideas. For most bloggers, that means reading other people’s blogs and writing similar blog posts. Chances are people do the same thing to your blog and write similar blog posts. I have a blog post called 10 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers, but I am sure that there are numerous blog posts that are similar. Performing a Google search on this phrase leads to many results.

An additional problem is that as we read enough content, we start to like some of the writers. Then, we write content just like those writers without putting our own personalities into our content. It is important to look up to writers for idea, but it is also important to put who you are into your content. Other writers are here to give you ideas, but in the end, you need to express your inner voice.

There are hundreds of blogs like yours. I’d even take it a step further and say that there are thousands of blogs like yours, and that also applies for blog posts on the web that are similar to yours. The answer isn’t to accuse the other bloggers of plagiarism. The answer is you. To be more specific, your personality is the answer.

The key to expressing your personality is by writing something that no one else could have (or had the guts to) write. Mike Michalowicz does a fantastic job at expressing his personality in his blog posts. Here was one of his blog posts he used to promote his book Profit First. You’ll either get a good kick out of the blog post or wonder why I even decided to mention it in the first place. That’s Mike’s personality, and he is not afraid to show it.

The point of this blog post is not for you to rave about yourself. The point of this blog post is that it is okay to show your personality. This blog post isn’t going to destroy Mike Michalowicz’s reputation. In fact, most of the people in his audience probably liked the blog post. They respect the honesty in sharing a personal perspective (and some of us also appreciated the laughter).

Be who you are. Don’t act as one person at home and act as another person through your content. Then how are you going to act when you speak at the podium? The best thing to do is to read your content out loud as if you were having a conversation with someone, and they wanted you to recite one of your blog posts. Then, think of side comments you would have said if you were having a conversation with your friends. Then, add those side comments into the exact location of your content in which the mock conversation was taking place.

Show off your personality so people know who you are. Act as the same person in everything you do.

I Heard That The Same Blogger Gets Boring After A While

July 30, 2014 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

I must be really boring then!

Here’s how I heard about this: I happened to be looking on the web for articles about blogging. I am always on the lookout for new nuggets of information about my niche. One of the articles I stumbled across mentioned that reading content written by the same blogger gets boring after a while. The article went on to explain why a blogger needs to get guest bloggers to write for them.

I disagree with that. And it’s not just because I am the only one who writes content for this blog.

A blog does not get boring just because the blog posts are being written by the same person every time. This blog has over 1,000 blog posts written by the same person (that would be me) and readers stick around anyway.

There is certain content that does get boring after a while. This is repetitive content in which a blogger writes about the same thing every week. It gets annoying to see something similar to what you read a week ago. Imagine reading a blog post called “10 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers” today and then later in the week reading a blog post called “11 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers” written by the same person with the same methods except one method got added. That is the typical boredom that readers to not appreciate.

If a blogger’s content is valuable and worth sharing, then people will stick around regardless of who is writing the blog posts. Everything on the Quick Sprout blog was written by Neil Patel, and that blog also happens to be one of the most popular blogs on the web.

In the beginning, people don’t care about the author. They only care about the author if they believe the author’s content was valuable and worth sharing. It is at this point when the reader cares about who the author is. Instead of wanting another author, the typical reader will look for more content written by the same person. If all of the blog posts on your blog are written by you, then your readers won’t have to search all over the web for you. They are already at your home on the web–your blog.

If your blog is all you, readers will only be able to read your content. That means when a reader likes one of your blog posts and reads others as well, that reader starts to like you. The reader likes what you offer to the masses with no price tag attached. The more free content your readers go through on your blog, the better the chances are that the reader buys one of your products.

If the content never gets boring, then the blogger never gets boring. Chances are this is not the only blog you will visit today. Chances are you will read other blog posts on the web with different perspectives on different (or possibly similar) topics. If you build a powerful presence on your own blog by being the person who writes the content every time, then you will grow a strong reputation for providing valuable content. Having the kind of reputation is what encourages people to spread your content and buy your products.

Anyway, you must be really bored right now since this blog post was written by the same person…AGAIN.

How To Write Top-Notch Blog Posts

December 11, 2013 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

There are millions of blogs out there, but few of them are getting hundreds of visitors every day. Even fewer blogs get thousands of visitors a day. It is entirely possible that 10% of the blogs get 90% of the traffic. The reason the top blogs are getting a lot of traffic is because of quality content. There may be some marketing strategies as well, but visitors will only keep on coming because the blog posts are really good.

Writing a blog post is easy. Writing a top-notch blog post proves to be more of a challenge. The entire blog post has to flow from start to finish, but there need to be other components as well.

Before you start writing your next blog post, ask yourself these questions:

“What kind of people are visiting my blog?”

“What knowledge do these people need that I have?”

The top-notch blogs are usually one of the following:

A blog by a famous person (as long as that person was famous before the blog caught on).
A blog offering advice, tips, and expertise.
A blog with the latest news stories.

Most people are represented by Example #2 although it is possible for your blog to be Example #3. Example #1’s are not as abundant as the other two.

Now that you have asked yourself those questions and identified which kind of blog you are, it’s time to create those top-notch blog posts. Here’s the breakdown:

Have a strong title. The title controls the entire direction of the blog post’s content.
Address certain problems in your niche that too many people face. Too many people face the problem of not being able to write top-notch blog posts. This blog post addresses the problem.
Have bit size paragraphs of text. A big wall of text will scare off the reader. Turn your blog posts into bit size paragraphs so they are easier to read. This will also allow you to stay clear in thought as you write your blog posts.
Have some things in bold. By putting words or sentences in bold, you are able to highlight important takeaways from your blog. Certain words and sentences need to “pop-out.”
Proofread your blog posts. You may find a certain area of your blog post that you want to elaborate on. You may not like the wordiness of one of your sentences. You may only end up finding a period in the wrong place or a spelling error. It’s better to be safe than sorry.