The Great Content Roundup, Week 11: How To Create Engaging Blogs
So I was visiting a toy library with my little daughter (11 months old) last week and the owner was a really neat lady who had a fantastic business model. She had started and now owned and managed this toy library herself (Toybrary, Austin). You pay a monthly fee and check out any toy you want, three at a time. Great idea!
She and I eventually got on the topic of blogging, and it was interesting. She already held the prize many bloggers seek—high website Google rankings, exactly where she wanted to be.
So, what were the other reasons to blog, if she already had that? She asked. My immediate answer? Engagement.
After talking to her and writing a follow-up email, this inspired me to delve into this topic a little more while working this week. How does one create engaging blogs, if that is their goal? And that thought led to…shouldn’t that be the #1 goal of bloggers? Ranking, last? Sure. We blog to rank—no, I mean I really do with our own blog—but how do rankings really bring us actual income? If people convert. And isn’t income and the ROI our goal? So, to get them to that point of conversion, you want them to engage with your content. Therefore, engaging content really should be the #1 goal of blogging, regardless of a ranking goal. (I feel like Sherlock Holmes right now. Elementary, my dear Watson?)
Week 11: Creating Blogs That Will Be Read, Loved & Shared
Now creating engaging content can be simple, or difficult—depending on your process. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be dependent on your knowledge level! All you have to do is find a writing solution. I think this is a must. Why? Writing your own blogs will KILL your time. Literally. You need to build your business. Not write the blog. So, hire Express Writers. ‘Nuff said.
Besides that shameless plug (not really, we prize quality, so you’re actually getting top notch bloggers here)—here are some top-notch resources you can read to get familiar with the whole concept of creating fantastic, awesome blogs. Read and enjoy!
- ProBlogger’s resource center on blogging: from how to actually craft the post to length, effective titles, schedule suggestions, guest blogging, and more, this is the master resource for those delving into what the meat of actual blogging is all about. I might add the RSS guide is good – always want to have that going for your readers.
- Hubspot’s A Simple Formula For Writing Kick-A$$ Blog Titles: Excuse the sailor’s mouth, but, this piece is gold on the foundational point of engaging blogging—the title you use for the post. The author outlines exactly how I like to do it: a) actually write your topic (even if it’s bland): get one going b) be accurate c) become sexy d) SEO it e) Shorten f) get another brain involved.
- Inc’s 74 Blog Titles That Actually Work: This is killer – an infographic, or visual, with 74 working hot title templates. All you have to do is plug in your nouns or subjects into most of these and they will instantly work for you.
- Wordstream’s How To Write An Awesome Blog Post In Five Steps: Basic, but basically awesome. How do you write awesome blogs? Plan, stay relevant to what interests you (and therefore your readers), research research, fact check, then the headlines & writing, imagery, editing, and there’s more good tips here.
- 4 Ways to Create an Engaging Blog Experience by Rachel Sprung, on Social Media Examiner: This is definitely for the serious blogger, someone who’s ready to get their web developer involved in making even the whole layout perfect. Interesting how she begins talking about the visual blog layout and responsive design you show people. On our very own blog home page, my designer has worked quite a bit on the unique, responsive design you see. Matching people to their interests is definitely a plus, this will require some building as well on your developer’s part; lastly, she talks about being interactive throughout with yet more visuals (GIFs, etc.). Good tips here, again for the serious blogger.
There’s much more out there if you spend a little time on Google, but these were some of my faves on this topic.
What are your resources for creating awesome blogs? Please do share in the comments!
