Have you ever spent hours researching and writing a blog post for it to then get very few (if any) readers or comments?
Have you ever been deflated when all your hard work and time put into writing a post ends up giving back little if any reward?
Here are seven things I do to ensure that my blog posts stand out and attract hundreds of readers and comments.
Blog Post Titles
I mentioned this in my recent post 7 Ways To Get More Readers To Your Blog. The title of a blog post can be the most critical factor into whether somebody reads your post and/or leaves a comment.
If the title isn’t eye-catching, then you could be losing hundreds of readers.
First things first, though, always ensure your blog post has a title before hitting the ‘publish’ button.
That may seem like common sense, but I often see blog posts without a title, resulting in WordPress giving the post a random number as the title instead. It not only looks strange, but unprofessional.
Of course, it’s easily fixed, but too many blog posts without titles can put readers off from continuing to follow a blog or reading any new material.
Always ensure your blog post has a title before publishing or scheduling it.
If you’re stuck for a good blog post title, ask yourself what title would make you want to click the link to read the post you’ve just written.
Once you have your title, try inserting it into a headline analyser and see what score it gets. The higher the score, the more likely your blog post title will attract search engines and readers. I use CoSchedule for this. Click here to try it out for free.
Add An Excerpt To Your Post
For those followers who get an email notification of your new blog posts, adding a fascinating excerpt to the post can also entice readers to then click through to read the post.
Where possible, I always ask a question when writing an excerpt. For this post, I’ve used –
‘Having trouble getting visitors to your blog? Here are 7 things I do that have resulted in thousands of readers reading my posts and leaving comments.’
The more you make the excerpt alluring, the more readers and comments your post will get.
The excerpt box can be found under ‘More Options‘ in the settings menu that appears when you are composing a post.
Opening Line/Paragraph
Just as the excerpt to your post should be enticing, so should the opening line or paragraph. If your opening line or paragraph is not attractive, then readers are more likely to move on or skip over the post without leaving a comment.
I often begin my blog posts by asking a question. That question will have an answer or answers that many readers will want to find out.
Again, ask yourself what opening line or paragraph would make you want to read and comment on the post you’ve just written.
Images
Like many other bloggers, I believe that images or photos added to a post make it far more inviting to read.
In fact, blog posts containing images are over 70% more likely to get clicked on and read than those that do not include any images.
Adding images or photos also help break the post up and help rest the eyes of readers.
However, be careful when adding them. Large images can slow down the speed at which your blog post opens. If your blog takes too long to open, many readers will move on rather than wait for everything to download.
Click here for a great tutorial on the recommended sizes of images and how to resize them.
Be Kind To The Eyes
You may have a brilliant blog post title and great excerpt to entice readers, but if the body of the post isn’t kind to your readers’ eyes, or not attractive to look at, many will move on quickly.
A few things to consider about the body of your posts are –
- Is the font the right size so that your readers do not have to squint to read it?
- Can the font be seen clearly?
- Is the background colour of your blog gentle on the eyes?
- Are there enough paragraphs in your post so that it doesn’t look like a massive block of uninviting text?
- Is the spacing between each paragraph correct?
- Does any of the text run into any of the images you’ve inserted on the post, resulting in paragraphs breaking up in the wrong place?
- Have you lined up images correctly, so they are in line with the correct text?
I’ve found that a good rule to apply to a paragraph is to never have more than four sentences in it. This helps break up a post nicely and makes reading really comfortable.
Finally, always preview your post before publishing it so you can correct any issues.
Add Sub-Headings
Inserting sub-headings, especially in long posts, can break up a post nicely, giving readers a more enjoyable and comfortable read. They’ll be more likely to keep coming back if they’ve found reading your posts a pleasant experience.
As you’ll see from this post, I’ve changed the colour and the size of the font to the sub-headings I’ve added. This also helps make the post look inviting and friendly to read.
When To Publish Your Posts
As you publish more and more posts and visit more and more blogs, you should get an idea of when are the best days and best times to publish your blog posts.
In my recent post, 5 Ways You Can Save Time When Blogging, I talked about ‘high peak’ blogging times. What I mean by ‘high peak’ blogging times are the times of the day and the days of the week when you feel that the blogging world is at its busiest.
For example, if most of your readers are based in the U.S.A (and you’re based in the UK) the best time to publish your posts would be between 12:00 and 17:00 GMT. Why? Because it’s believed that mornings are the peak reading times for many readers.
Remember that your posts will appear on the WordPress Reader of the bloggers who follow you, but will slowly disappear as more and more posts drop onto the reader.
I’ve read many articles about when is the best time to publish blog posts, and most of them have said that the best publishing day is Monday at 11 am EST. However, until you know where most of your audience is, this will differ for many.
What do you do to make your blog posts stand out and get read? Please share your tips in the comments section.
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Hugh, thanks for putting this together. I’ve been holding on to it till I had a little extra time. I like your tips, and some I already think I’m at least trying to do. I used to write for a now defunct online magazine that had rules about word counts, length of paragraphs and so on. I still find myself checking my posts with those rules in mind.
It was 50 to 75 words per paragraph and no more than three paragraphs per heading.
Looking forward to plugging my titles into CoSchedule.
Thank you for your comments, Donna. I’m glad that my blogging tips posts are of help.
The length of a paragraph is so important. I don’t know about you, but if I see a blog post of a thousand words which only has two paragraphs, I don’t hang around. It amazes me that some bloggers still publish posts like that, with little regard as to how the post looks. It could be the best blog post ever written, but if it doesn’t make for a comfortable reading experience, then it’s probably going to get little attention.
Hugh, agreed. I tend to think of that as a failure to edit with a little bit of ignorance of the issues thrown in. My initial drafts often have super long sentences and paragraphs. I laughed to myself when you said “four sentences.” I could make that way too long.
Great article. I am repressing it on my blog. Happy Holidays!
Thank you for sharing.
Merry Christmas 🎄
This is my first time hearing about CoSchedule! I’ll have to try it out, thanks 🙂
You’re welcome, Christy. I had to retrieve your comment from my WordPress spam folder. I have no idea why it ended up in there.
Reblogged this on Its good to be crazy Sometimes and commented:
Some really good tips here
I couldn’t agree more with all these points, Hugh, and I’m gradually getting better at all of them. Definitely the title and image get me to click on a post in the first place. Once I start reading, I will usually finish, but the things that turn me off are a site that loads too slowly or has one pop-up after another or a post that is difficult to read for other reasons like poor font choice. Thanks for linking to the Bloggers Pit Stop, which is where I found this.
~Christie
Thank you, Christie. I, too, dislike pop-ups on blogs, especially the ones that keep popping up every time you visit a blog, and there’s no way of saying ‘no thank you – please do not show this pop-up again.’ Not everyone wants to sign up to a mailing list, and we shouldn’t be asked more than a few times if we want to sign up. If we haven’t signed up after a few times, then isn’t it obvious that we never want to sign up? I guess much of it has to do with the software that creates the pop-ups, though.
Have a great weekend.
Hugh
You are getting too popular 🙂 We will feature this post on the next Blogger’s Pit Stop. Well done, Hugh.
Kathleen
Blogger’s Pit Stop
Thanks again, Kathleen. I’m glad my posts are being found to be engaging at The Bloggers Pit Stop.
Best wishes,
Hugh
Reblogged this on When Angels Fly.
Guess what, Hugh? Your post won the Inspire Me Monday Linky Party. You’ll be featured on my site on Monday.
Janice
On my, Janice, this is becoming embarrassing. However, I’m so pleased that your readers are finding my posts both useful and helpful.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Hugh
Hi Hugh,
As always, your blogging tips are spot on!
Janice
Thanks so much, Janice.
VERY HELPFUL!! Thank you.
You’re very welcome.
An excellent post I’m really glad I read, Hugh. Although I’ve been blogging 5 years now, theres always something new to learn. I didn’t know about Mix, for example. And I rarely write excerpts, but realise now that I wasn’t using them in the best way. And also, the testing of titles, have used them in the past but then slipped out of the habit. Thanks for the reminder. 😊
You’re very welcome, Ali. I’ve been told that these posts act as a great reminder to us all who have been blogging for more than a year.
I’m still learning about blogging, too. It’s exciting stuff.
A very useful and informative post, Hugh.
Thanks, Robbie.
Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord Blog Magazine and commented:
Some more very useful tips for new and more experienced bloggers from Hugh Roberts. We tend to look at our blog posts from our own perspective.. but we do need to also think about how reader friendly and compelling it is… head over and check these five important factors.
These are good ideas Hugh. Some of them I use and some are new to me. Thank you for explaining the function of the ‘excerpt’. There is always something new to learn.
I’m so pleased that I’ve introduced the Excerpt box to many of you, Rob. It’s a great little box that can be very powerful when used correctly. Thanks so much for sharing this post on Social Media.
My pleasure, Hugh.
Isn’t it amazing how “How to blog” posts garner so much attention, Hugh? Like several that have commented, I wasn’t familiar with excerpts…will be checking that out when I post for Sunday Stills this weekend! I wonder how all this will be affected with the new Guttenberg layout coming soon?
Yes, I think the majority of bloggers find the subject of blogging a fascinating read, Terri. Just about everyone has something to say about it. The Excerpts box will still be present on the new Guttenberg layout. I’ve seen a great video on how the platform works. It looks very exciting, with lots of new features for us all to try out. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in. Writing and reading blogs posts is going to be an even better experience.
Great tips, Hugh. Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome, Sheila.
Hi Hugh, I finish with a question to encourage comments. I Break up the text with pics relevant to the topic. I return the favour and visit the comment leavers blog and leave a comment. The title thing is interesting I. Short titles have served me weĺl in the past.
Hi Ellen,
Asking a question or questions is a great way to get readers both to read and leave comments, especially if the subject is of interest to them. It’s always helped me with getting posts read and comments being left.
Short blog post titles can be great if they contain the right words. CoSchedule.com recommends blog titles of at least 55 characters long as they tend to earn the highest number of click-throughs. That’s worked for me, too.
Noted I will look again at that x
Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this excellent post from Hugh’s Views and News blog with 7 Things You Can Do To Make Your Blog Posts Standout And Get Read