Have you ever spent hours researching and writing a blog post for it to then get very few (if any) reads or comments?
Disheartening, isn’t it?
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?
Heartbreaking, isn’t it?
Over the years I’ve been blogging, I’ve used seven methods that have not only helped me get my blog posts noticed but have helped get readers to leave comments and follow my blog.
Try them out and see if they work for you.
1. Blog Post Titles
I can’t express enough how important the titles of blog posts are. They are like the shop window to your blog.
The title of your blog post can make or break whether it gets any attention. It’s the most critical element in whether somebody will read your post or move on to another blog.
I’ll be honest and tell you that in the past, I’ve given some of my blog posts terrible titles. No wonder they weren’t getting any attention, or any new visitors leaving comments on them. All they did was make my blog posts flop.
If the title isn’t eye-catching or enticing enough to get visitors to click on the ‘read more’ link, then you’ll be losing hundreds of potential new readers and followers.
But first things first! 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. It not only looks strange, but it looks unprofessional.
Of course, it’s easily fixed, but too many blog posts without titles can put readers off from reading any new material from you.
At the very least, you should be previewing all your posts before publishing them, so make sure the preview shows a blog post title.
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. It can sometimes be as simple as that.
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.
And finally, do not use blog post titles you or other bloggers have used before. Why? Because search engines rank blogs that use duplicated titles lower than those with original titles.
2. Add An Excerpt To Your Post
For those followers who get an email notification of your new blog posts, adding a captivating excerpt can also entice readers to then click through to read the post.
If you don’t add your own excerpt, WordPress will use the first 55 words from your blog post as the excerpt. This can often make the post sound confusing, or give no incentive for readers to want to click the ‘read more’ link, especially if the excerpt cuts off midway in a sentence.
Where possible, I always ask a question when writing an excerpt. For this post, I’ve used –
‘Having trouble getting visitors to your blog or to read and leave comments on your posts? Here are 7 methods I use that have resulted in thousands of readers reading my posts and leaving comments.‘
The more you make an excerpt intriguing, the more readers your post will get.
The excerpt box can be found under ‘Featured Image‘ in the settings menu that appears on the righthand-side of your screen when composing a post.
3. 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 engaging and appealing, 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. If you ask a question that poses a problem, readers will want to find out more because you’ll likely be helping solve the problem. Your post then has a greater chance of getting read.
Again, ask yourself what opening line or paragraph would make you want to read more and comment on the post you’ve written.
4. Images
Like many others, I believe that blog posts that include photos and images look far more inviting to read.
Did you know that 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 help break the post up and creates white space, which all help to make the reading experience more comfortable.
However, be careful when adding any images or photos. 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.
Always reduce the size of any images or photos before adding them to your media library.
I use an iMac and am able to reduce photo and image sizes by clicking on ‘Tools – Adjust Size’ on the toolbar of my computer.
5. 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 –
- Is the font the right size so that your readers do not have to squint or enlarge the page to read it?
- Can the font be seen clearly? Black font on a white background is the safest combination to use.
- Is the background colour of your blog gentle on the eyes?
- Are paragraphs too long, thus making them blocky. Keep paragraphs to no more than four sentences long. This helps creates white space on the post.
- 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?
- Is there anything in the post or on the page (such as a gif) that can distract from reading the post? If so, consider removing it.
As I mentioned in the above points, 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 it a comfortable and pleasant experience.
Finally (and this is something you should always be doing), always preview your post before publishing it so you can correct any issues.
6. Add Sub-Headings
Inserting sub-headings, especially in long posts, 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 helps make the post look inviting and friendly to read.
7. 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.
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 is between 12:00 and 17:00 GMT. Why? Because the mornings are peak-reading times for many.
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 claim the best publishing day and time is Monday at 11 am EST. However, until you know where most of your audience is, this will differ.
Let’s Recap
- Blog post titles are the shop window to your blog. They can make or break your blog.
- Make the titles of your blog posts enticing enough to make visitors want to click the ‘read more’ link.
- When creating a blog post title, ask yourself what title would make you want to click the ‘read more’ link.
- Never use duplicate blog post titles. Search engines rank blogs and posts with duplicate titles lower than those with original titles.
- Adding your own excerpts to your blog posts are far better than allowing WordPress to use the first 55 words of your post as the excerpt.
- Hook readers by making the opening lines of your blog posts enticing to make them want to find out more.
- Blog posts that contain images or photos are 70% more likely to get read than those that do not contain any images or photos.
- Reduce the size of images and photos before adding them to a post. This will help your post download more quickly.
- Make sure your blog posts are kind to the eyes. Avoid glary colours, tiny font, and combinations of colours that make the font hard to read.
- Use no more than four sentences in each paragraph, as this helps breaks up blocks of text that can look intimidating to read.
- Use sub-headings in long posts to help break the post up.
- Find out where the majority of your followers are located, and schedule posts to publish during the morning in the timezone they are in. Mornings are peak-viewing times.
What do you do to entice readers to read and leave comments on your blog? Please share your tips in the comments section.
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