Are you in a situation where your guest blog posts aren’t getting as much attention as you want? Well, then you are in the right place. There are things you need to do if you want your blog posts to convert, and you are probably neglecting at least a few of them. So, in this article, we’ll share with you tips and tricks you need to know if you want to write guest posts.
The problem here is to grab the user’s attention. It seems like a simple task but, think about it for a second. Realistically, people who visit your blog posts rarely read them throughout. Additionally, they are just a small part of your target population. The majority of people who see your post on social platforms or anywhere else just scroll by. So, you only have 2-3 seconds to grab the attention that we were talking about. And here are tips and tricks on how to do that.
Know your audience
The first tip for anyone who wants to write guest posts is – know your audience. Take a little bit of time and learn who you are writing for and what are they looking for. Try to make your decisions always data-driven. This means that you need to do some industry research and competition analysis. We know that all of this sounds scary and complicated. But it really isn’t much more difficult than monitoring backlinks, so we’re sure that you’ll be just fine.
There’s a handful of applications like KeywordTool is that can help you. And if you’re running out of ideas forums are your best bet for finding some. Just remember to stay focused and don’t get lost in the amount of data you’ll find.
Compelling headlines are a must
Don’t ever underestimate the power and importance of a good headline. If you don’t have a compelling headline all the chances are that your guest post will get less to none exposure and reads. This is, sadly, because we as humans are shallow. We actually do judge the book by its covers, so the title pretty much does the same thing for the blog posts. And that’s exactly why it’s so crucial for the success of the post.
Before you decide on a headline, be sure to run it through a few headline analyzers. You’ll receive a few tips for improving them along the way, and it’s a great way to check if everything matches up.
Use subheadings and shorter paragraphs to your advantage
One more thing that is very important for all kinds of blog posts is formating. However, people seem to think that it isn’t that much important and that’s where they make a mistake. People don’t like reading posts that are just one big paragraph. They usually like to skim through before they read anything, so breaking your article into smaller sections is very advisable.
Try to do everything you can to make it easier for a user to read your material. On the other hand, not all kinds of content are created equally. So if something needs a little bit more explaining, it’s okay to spend a little bit more space on it. But in general, try to keep your sentences short and concise. This can also help you with link building in the later stages of writing, so don’t forget about it.
Bullet points and bolding
The next of our tips and tricks for anyone who wants to write guest posts is attached to the last one. As we already mentioned, people tend to skim through the article before they actually read it, so it’s important to highlight your best information. It should be visible so they can quickly see if the post is worth their time.
And besides bolding, bullet points are a great way to do this. So, here are some tips for writing bullet points that will actually get read:
- Think of bullet points as mini-headlines. Express clearly through them.
- Keep them symmetrical and don’t go over the top. 1-2 lines each.
- Be sure not to write paragraphs in bullets. No one wants to see that.
The logic here is simple. People don’t usually come to blog posts for leisure reading. They come because they need some information and they don’t want to work to get it. So the idea here is to spoon-feed your audience so they have to come back for more.
Images are your friends
Once again, human biology makes an entrance to our list. And this time, it’s because the human brain processes visual content much faster than text. What this means for you is that adding interesting and engaging images can help boost your post as much as types of links that really matter in SEO can. And we all know that is a lot.
There are numerous websites with royalty-free photos if you can’t make your own. They usually aren’t too personal, but in time pinch they can do more than justice. So, be sure to use some.
SEO optimization
Now, SEO is a little bit tricky in the world of guest posts and blogging. There are two important things here to understand. Never put your SEO above your user’s experience. However, you mustn’t forget about it either. Clearly, balance is the key here.
The truth is that organic searches on Google are a big part of the traffic on most websites. Therefore, although your user experience should be in the first place, you should want to maximize your SEO ranking. And for that, focus on important SEO factors. These are meta description, keyword, keyword variations, alt text, and internal links.
And that would be all tips and tricks we’ve got for you. When you master them all you’ll be able to write guest posts that will resonate with people and that will get new reads on a daily bases. And that’s what we all are hoping for.