5 tips to write a highly effective blog postBlogging has become a very popular activity; at one end blogging is a means of sharing personal opinions and ideas with people who might be interested in them and at another, it’s a means of marketing certain products and services; and it can also be a steady source of income. Whatever the purpose of the blog, it cannot be achieved if the blog post is not up to the mark.

So, here are five tips that can help you write a blog post that is not only interesting but also effective in ensuring a loyal readership.

Choose the Right Topic

Every blog caters to a specific niche. The fact that you are writing a blog post means you have already determined the niche that you want to target. So, your blog post must be about the niche, for e.g. if your blog is about SEO then the topic must be related to SEO. You can’t talk about website designing. Also, before you choose a blog topic, you must try and understand what your readers want. Say Google has come up with a new update in its search algorithm. There is a good chance that your target audience wants more information on the same. Your topic could be something that addresses this specific need. Such topics have a better chance of success.

Choose the Right Title

You might have written the best blog post of your life as a blogger, but if its title is unable to draw the readers in, the blog post will end up a failure. If you want readers to start reading your blog, then a great title is crucial. The difference between a popular blog post and a post that is hardly noticed is the title. Blog titles are important because it is the titles that appear on the search engine results, RSS feeds, social media sites etc. A person searching for information on a particular topic, only comes across the title and not the content. So, it must be such that it grabs attention and intrigues and captivates enough, to get readers to go through the post content.

Make the post useful

Don’t offer information that numerous others before you have already offered. That’s just going to put readers off. Even if you are tackling the same topic that somebody else has already written on, it’s important to give your own take on the same. Also, the focus of the post must always be on giving your readers a useful takeaway. After putting in the time to go through your post, they must feel that they now know something that they didn’t or something that is going to help them make the right decision, or improve certain activity, or even optimize the use of a certain product or service. Blog content that doesn’t come across as being useful is never successful.

Write with clarity and correct grammar

To ensure the credibility of your blog and to improve its chances of getting noticed, you must focus on clarity. Share your thoughts in as clear and concise manner as possible. Don’t stretch the blog content just because you think the post is not long enough. It’s important to remember that the length of the blog doesn’t matter as long as you are able to make your point. More importantly, keep your sentences short and use only those words that are easily understood. By keeping the length of your sentences in check, you are minimizing your chances of making errors.

Answer the Comments

If your blog is well written or strikes a chord amongst your readers, it’s going to attract comments. The comments can be critical of your write up or could also be complimentary. Whatever the nature of the comments, if they strike you as sensible, you must answer them — this not helps your post become more popular, but also your blog as a whole. You can enter into a healthy debate with commentators, in order to defend your post or you could even agree with some of their criticisms. This goes a long way in enhancing your credibility and helps establish your reputation as a blogger whose posts need to be followed.

These are just five tips, but enough to get your blog writing into high gear. As can be imagined, it’s easy to read these tips, but very difficult to implement them. So, it’s important to take your time, and keep perfecting your blog posts by keeping these tips in mind. If you do that, you will be a master of writing highly effective blog posts in less time than you think.