A blog is only as good as its content. Increasing the quality of our blog posts can bring traffic, inbound links, social bookmarks, subscribers, comments, and other rewards every blogger works hard to achieve. This post lists ten simple things you can do to produce better posts, every time.

Write headlines that promise value

The reason numbered headlines are so in vogue is that they’re incredibly specific about what the reader will get by reading the article. You can be both specific and gripping without numbers, however, as long as you use your headlines to give readers an enticing preview not of what your article is about, but what it has to offer. A good strategy is to think of your headline as the sign on a door you want readers to open: what kind of sign would make the reader want to peek inside?

Begin with a gripping lead

A great headline will get your readers to open the door, but the strength of your first paragraph will determine whether they step inside. The first few sentences of your posts should expand on the headline and get more specific about what the content has to offer, whether it be entertainment, humor, information, or important facts.

Signpost your logic with sub-headings

I tend to go against the grain in my reasoning for using sub-headings. As far as I’m concerned, sub-headings help your visitors read, not simply scan. Good sub-headings give readers an angle to approach the following paragraph, help interlink your ideas, and break up complicated thoughts into manageable chunks.

Utilize whitespace and images

Whitespace is the empty space in your blog layout (whether it’s white or not). Whitespace around your text makes it much easier to read, and a simple way to introduce more whitespace into your posts is to use frequent paragraph breaks. Another strategy to make your posts more readable is to break up your posts with relevant and illustrative images.

Weave appropriate links into your words

A good rule of thumb: whenever you write a string of words specifically relevant to content you’ve seen elsewhere, or a previous post you’ve written, turn those words into a link. There are a great number of benefits to doing this. You may be noticed by those you’re linking to, you can get traffic from trackbacks, it can encourage readers to explore your blog, and it adds another layer of depth and detail to what you write.

Suggest further reading

When appropriate, direct readers to other content you’ve written on the topic at the end of your post. Some bloggers do this with the ‘Related Posts’ widget, but you’re more likely to capitalize on reader attention of you suggest the links within the body of your post, while they’re still in ‘reading mode’.

Engage the reader

A simple strategy for increasing your comments is to ask readers what they think. Opinions are much more freely given than experiences, so asking for opinions is likely to produce better results.

Rigorously edit what you’ve written

Check for typos, make sure your links work, check that your logic is clear and your formatting is displaying correctly. Fixing up your posts at a later date may cause the post to re-appear in feed readers, which won’t be appreciated by those who’ve already seen it.

Make it shorter

Delete unnecessary words, sentences, and paragraphs. Retain only the minimum amount of information needed to make your point. Readers are more likely to commit to reading something they know they will finish. You don’t need to make every post you write short, but you will always benefit from making it shorter.

If you have the time, let your posts marinate

When you’ve been working on a piece of writing for an hour or two it can be hard to look at it with fresh eyes. You’ve probably noticed how different a piece of writing can seem when you re-read it a few days later, once you’ve had time to forget the thoughts behind each sentence. Letting your posts sit for a time will allow you to better look at your work from the perspective of a reader, and work out what needs to be improved.

A proper blog structure leads to better conversion

Most marketers know that blogs have insane potential to turn your visitors into your customers. But, conversions through blogging thus depends on various other factors other than the content you write.

To convert your blog into a lead magnet there are many components that need to fix for optimizing your blog for better lead generation or conversion.

You need to create a proper blog structure, which is easy to navigate and provide all the option to subscribe any piece of information. Conversions through blogging depends heavily on your blog structure. The structure of a blog, in turn, is affected by various blog elements like:

• Sticky Header: A sticky header will consist of all necessary information about the company services and products, culture, and working methodology. No matter how much you scroll down it will remain with the webpage on the top place. This makes users to find any service related information easily.
• Blog Categories: The list of blog categories must be placed right below the header with a subscription on the right side. Giving an easy option for readers to navigate through different category section on your blog will make them to consider the content. That’s how they will subscribe it to get updates on regular basis.
• Subscription Option: An easy subscription will always add new contacts to your lead generation sheet. Thus, providing an easy subscription box on the top of your blog post or at the right-side column of your blog homepage is considered most effective. However, you can pull more contacts by showing pop-ups on your blog on different time intervals.
• Search Bar: The search bar should be placed just below the category section for the users to look up other pieces of content if they want to.

A blog structure defines the extent of good user experience (UX) and easy navigation and thus must be designed strategically.

Place Call-to-Action (CTA) to boost conversion

A Call-to-Action (CTA) if placed strategically have the potential to turn your blog into a lead generating machine.

Basically, a CTA is the box through which your users can join the readers community and that’s how you’ll be able to collect leads on your blog.

However, the placement of a CTA is based on user behavior. And a personalized CTA works 42% better than an untargeted one since that is created based on user behavior.

By analyzing the different behavior of users on your webpage or blog you can place a CTA in three different styles on your blog, which are as follow:

The Inline CTA is used correctly only if it is placed after ample information that has been given related to the CTA in the blog.

The Sidebar CTA is placed on the side of the blog, which is mainly for gated content subscription or other important events in the industry.

The Bottom CTA is placed after the entire blog post. Once a reader gets finished with post reading then it is a smart way to show him a way to subscribe the information on regular basis.

Isn’t it clever? To analyze different user behavior on your blog you can take help of Hotjar. The heatmap tool will show you different user actions on the different section on your blog. This will help you place CTA strategically on your blog homepage and posts.

Empower engagement on your blog post

Engagement on your blog shows the level of involvement, thus it is always good to interact with your audience. By letting your readers get in touch with your blog post through social network is a popular yet most effective way to engage people with the content. But, to achieve higher engagement level on your blog you need to place social sharing plugins at the right place.

Only 45% of marketers think that their Facebook efforts are effective. This is due to wrong placement of social sharing buttons and social engagement counter. The social sharing buttons can be placed on the sidebar and below the post.

The sidebar social sharing counter should be sticky so that the user gets the opportunity to share the content whenever he feels like without having to search for it.

You can also give an option to share your post on their social networks by placing a social sharing counter at the end of your post.

However, using the Click to Tweet plugin will increase the chances of the article being shared by providing a stat or fact within the post for the user to directly tweet it.

Integrate Optin Forms to collect more leads

Optin forms are the most efficient way to pull readers into your customer’s list.
The opt-in form needs to be integrated to the blog in a way that it doesn’t pop up before enough information has been provided to the reader.

An opt-in form must no doubt include the mandatory fields, but it also needs to be as short as possible. The optin form can be integrated in various sections in different styles.

An exit overlay pop up comes up when the user shows an intent to quit the blog page. The time intent pop up turns up after the user has spent certain amount of time on the blog page. The scroll intent CTA pops up after a certain extent of scrolling has been done by the reader. The sticky header and footer CTA pops up are placed in the header and footer respectively.

Optimize the loading speed of your blog

The content and the design of an entire blog page will go down the drain if the blog page doesn’t load fast. More than 40% of people abandon a webpage if it takes more than 3 seconds to load thus, a webpage must load within or less than 3 seconds.
Google introduced Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to optimize webpages for mobile devices with quick loading speed. Google AMP has been introduced keeping both speed and mobile first approach in mind. Integrating Google AMP to your website will not only push your page up the SERP but will also make sure than it comes up in a carousel, on top, that only accommodates AMP pages.

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One popular post can bring your more traffic and links than a month’s worth of your usual content.

In this post, I want to set you a challenge with the potential to launch your blog into the stratosphere.

Make the next post you write your most popular post ever.

The following ten tips form my key advice for tackling this task. I used all of them when hitting the Digg front page for the first time. There’s no blueprint you can follow to write an incredibly popular post, but you won’t have a chance unless you try. I’m confident these tips will give you a good shot at success.

1. Time is more important than talent. Work on something for eight hours and you can bet it will be good. You don’t need to spend that long, however (though that’s how long it took me to craft the first post I wrote that hit the Digg front page). More time means you can refine, format and fill your post with plenty of value. Take the time to really craft your content. It will show in the finished product.

2. Use your best idea. A post will never become wildly popular unless it fulfills a need, and does so emphatically. What’s something your niche wants but hasn’t got yet? Can you assemble a whole lot of really awesome (targeted) resources in one place? The more your posts helps people, the better it will do.

3. Use formatting to your advantage. These days, social media is key when it comes to launching your posts into the stratosphere. Social media users are notoriously spoiled for choice, however. Use formatting to emphasize the best aspects of your post. Hone in on your funniest lines, your most profound bits of advice, your best resources. Make them stand out.

4. Brainstorm headlines. There are probably one or two bloggers who’ve completely mastered the art of writing headlines for social media (you’ll know who they are). The rest of us haven’t been blessed with such skills. When you see a great headline, chances are it’s option #12 of a dozen choices. Few of us can think of a great headline straight away. Spend ten minutes brainstorming and you’re bound to stumble across something that works. A weak headline will cripple your post’s chances of success. It’s essential that you put a lot of work into getting it right.

5. Invest plenty of value in your post. Ever bookmarked or voted for something without completely reading it? We’ve all done it. It’s because of the ‘Wow’ factor — the presence of enough promised value in one place gets the reader enthusiastic about the post straight away. Instead of 5 tips, why not share 50? Instead of 9 resources, why not 40 or more?

7. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If your post looks good, it will draw readers in. Take the time to add images, thumbnails and formatting to what you create. Make your post a visual feast. With so much web content presented in a bland way, your post is guaranteed to stand out.

8. Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Readers will skip your waffly introduction. You can say the same in less words, particularly when you’re writing for an impatient reader: someone who wants to get straight into your tips/resources/opinions. Use your introduction to highlight why the reader should stick with your post. There’s a reason my post introductions mainly consist of: “In this post, I’m going to do this, this and that.” It’s what people really want to know: what am I getting in exchange for my attention?

9. Send messages with links. The best way to get a blogger to investigate your blog is by linking to them. We’ve got a natural desire to know what’s being said about us. If your post becomes really popular, each link inside it should send enough traffic outwards to be worth investigating. Be generous with your outbound links when writing your most popular post. It gives other bloggers an incentive to link to you, because it’s ultimately more promotion for them.

10. Utilize your network. If you want people to Digg, Stumble or Reddit your post, there’s no reason why you need to sit back with fingers crossed and hope it happens. Ask them. Your loyal readers like you. You entertain them, or teach them, or help them. If voting is a simple matter of clicking a link they’ll be more than happy to do so. Ask for votes in your post and email readers and social media influencers. In most cases you will need to get the snowball rolling. After that, others will do most of the work for you.

Bonus tip:

11. Examine what worked before. Study your most popular posts so far. What’s common about them? Why did they work? What needs did they address? In creating your most popular post, it’s important to learn by example and build on what has worked for your blog in the past. Another good idea is to analyze the most popular posts on other blogs in your niche. Why did they work? What’s remarkable about them? You can transfer those qualities over into what you write.

The post Use These 10 Tips to Write Your Most Popular Post Ever appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Great business blogging can add value to your business, create loyal customers and build trust in potential clients. On the other hand, bad business blogging, or inconsistent business blogging, can have a negative impact on your brand. Keeping the points below in mind should help ensure your business blog is working effectively to draw clients in, not push them away.

1. Use your professional voice. When you take a business-related call with a client who you’re not familiar with, do you use slang, swear, or are you otherwise impolite? Hopefully, no, and the same rules should apply to blogging. Think of your writing as an extension of your professional voice.

2. Edit each post you think is done. Maintaining good grammar, spelling and fluid expression is a simple way to show potential clients you’re an intelligent and professional person. The more informal your writing looks the less professional you and your enterprise will appear. Avoid embarrassing slip-ups by re-reading and rigorously editing each post before you hit publish.

3. Present information clearly and concisely. Make your posts scannable by including sub-headings, by making key words and phrases bold, and by using paragraph breaks frequently. This makes your writing look more professional and will enable busy clients to extract the essence of your posts even if they don’t have the time to read each word.

4. Be personal. A funny anecdote or interesting story can help build a friendly face for your business, as long as the story is relevant to the topic of your blog. Injecting a bit of personality into your writing will help establish yourself as someone clients can relate to. In doing so you’ll also be building trust. A post I read recently that I thought did this well was ‘Apparently I Work for Google’ at SEOmoz, a business blog about SEO.

5. Don’t be too personal. Don’t get into specifics about your family, your relationships, your work stresses or otherwise delve beneath the surface of your daily life. This is not only unprofessional but can imbue your blog with a sense of negativity. Keep your voice positive and stay away from personal issues.

6. Keep your opinions and beliefs to yourself. Today’s world is increasingly divided along political and moral lines. If you reveal your thoughts on controversial issues there will be some clients who’ll no longer be willing to support your product or service. Keep politics, morality and controversy out of your business blogging, regardless of how strongly you feel about an issue.

7. Be objective. Too many business blogs serve as extended advertisements for the company and little else. It is no wonder that these tend to be unsuccessful. A good strategy is to take a birds-eye view of the industry you’re in while frequently returning back to your own business.

8. Treat readers like you would customers. Respond to every comment and e-mail in a prompt and courteous manner. Answer every question to the best of your abilities. Enforce a strict comment policy to ensure your blog comments are a happy and productive place. Your readers are potential clients and will generate an impression of your customer service based on how you manage your blog community. Take the time to do this well.

9. Less is more. Every post you write is a reflection on the quality of your business. Take the time to produce well thought-out posts which offer value to readers, even if it means you end up posting less regularly.

10. Don’t start what you can’t finish. If you start a business blog you better be prepared to stick with it. A client who enjoys your business blog for a month only to watch it fall into disuse and disrepair will make some powerful assumptions about your business as a result of this. If you’re not absolutely committed to your business blogging then, simply put, don’t start. If you lose your enthusiasm at any point be sure to recruit someone who can keep things afloat for you.

The post 10 Principles of Successful Business Blogging appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Productivity itself is pretty unimportant. It’s what productivity allows us to do that matters. A productive blogging habit means more posts and more quality, and we all know what that means: more links and more traffic.

Productive blogging can also affect our day-to-day lives. It allows you to accomplish more in less time. That means: more time spent with the people that matter in your life.

Many bloggers, myself included, struggle to balance the needs of this hobby with the needs of our loved ones. Being productive can make that task a little bit easier.

Luckily for us, productivity isn’t complicated: it’s mainly based in common sense. The tough part is in being dedicated enough to change our bad habits and be productive, rather than simply reading about it. This post provides ten simple tips to help you start.

1. Write more than you publish. This seems counter-intuitive, but there’s a compelling reason to write, say, one post a week more than you publish. In a month, you should have enough posts saved up to run your blog on autopilot for a week, or to use on days when you’re feeling unproductive.

Productivity, like creativity, can be cyclical. It’s a good idea to write more than you need when you’re feeling particularly productive, to tide you over on days when you’re not. You might even save up enough posts to take a blogging holiday!

2. Turn off auto-notifiers. Whether it be Twitter, Email or Facebook your productivity will suffer if you’re frequently interrupted. When notified that you have a new message or email it’s hard to resist the temptation to read it as soon as you receive it. This will interrupt your frame of mind. Focus is something you develop over time, meaning frequent interruptions will hamper your ability to focus.

Let’s face it: you’ll never receive a message that can’t wait a few hours. Auto-notifiers are more trouble than they’re worth.

3. Check email less, deal with more. If you only check emails once or twice a day you’ll be able to respond to all emails within 12 or 24 hours, respectively. No-once could fault your for that. They key is to check emails less but process more. A good tip is to keep only emails that require action in your inbox. When you do check your email, take action on all the emails in your inbox until it’s empty. This isn’t a new idea. That’s because it works!

4. Write multiple posts when you’re feeling creative. You need to develop a writing schedule that works with your mental state. Are there certain times of the day or week when you’re most creative? Focus on writing during those times, even if it means writing multiple posts in one sitting. You’ll write better and faster.

If creativity is sporadic for you, make your writing schedule flexible. If you follow tip one and build a safety net of content, you won’t need to worry if, at times, the inspiration doesn’t come. You’ll always be more productive when you’re inspired.

5. Use your feed reader as an all-purpose inbox. A lot of time is wasted logging in to various web 2.0 services, checking statuses, updates and stats. Where possible, add these things to your feed reader. You can subscribe to your inbound links at Technorati, pages from your blog submitted to Digg (search your blog’s URL and subscribe to the feed) and a number of other services. Use your imagination! Then, when you go through your feed reader, you can perform a few different tasks in one go.

6. Process different tasks in batches. Most of us take hundreds of scattered actions throughout the day: check email, check Twitter, moderate a comment, read some feeds, check stats, and so on. This prevents us from becoming focused and tapping into any kind of flow state.

Think of your various actions like driving a car. You won’t drive very fast if you’re constantly shifting gears up and down at random. You want transitions between gears to be smooth and only occur when it’s necessary.

The same can be said for mental states. Processing different kinds of tasks in batches will allow you to focus on each type of task to the best of your abilities. You could read feeds, emails, comments and anything else you can think of in batches.

7. Develop a ‘To Post’ list. Sometimes we spend so much time trying to decide what we should do that nothing at all gets done. Luckily, it’s not too hard to change that habit.

Designate a day where you set out your posting schedule: what you’re going to post about and when. You’ll know what posts you have to write and how long you have to get them done.

8. Keep a reserve of post ideas. Blogger’s block is the arch nemesis of productivity. There are two key things you can do to cope with blogger’s block: accept it and fall back on content you’ve saved, or delve into your reserves of ideas.

It’s essential that every blogger have a healthy supply of post ideas saved up. It will minimize the amount of creative work you have to do when you sit down to write a post. Rather than having to innovate and be original (which can be hard sometimes), you simply have to write.

9. Spend less time reading feeds. You don’t want to spend more time reading other people’s content than you do creating your own. Cutting down your feed subscriptions seems like the obvious answer to this problem, but it could mean that you miss out on important lessons and ideas.

You need to become skilled at quickly deciding which posts will be worth your time and which posts will not. Scanning is another habit that will help you here. Do you want to know the secret to lightning-fast feed reading?

10. Sketch out your posts before filling in the detail. Another important place to save time is on how long you spend writing posts. A key mistake I see bloggers make is trying to write a publishable post the first time through. Trying to go from nothing to perfect is a sure-fire way to have you wringing your hands over every sentence.

One strategy I find works well for me is to divide each post into its key points and write them down. For example, when I started writing this post it only contained the sentences in bold. I fleshed out each point with the following paragraph, then wrote the introduction last.

Dividing each post into manageable chunks and tackling it one portion at a time can help structure your writing and make the whole process less intimidating.

Points to review

• Write more than you publish.
• Turn off auto-notifiers.
• Check emails less often, but deal with more when you do.
• Write as much as possible when you’re feeling creative.
• Use your feed reader as an all-in-one inbox.
• Process different types of tasks in batches.
• Work out a ‘To Post’ list.
• Spend less time reading feeds.
• Sketch posts before filling in the detail.

Over to you

What’s your number one productivity tip?

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