Use These 3 Ingredients For the Sweetest Bite Sized Blog Post

Okay. You just finished your epic blog post and hit SUBMIT. Now you tweet it, share it on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook and wait. Nothing. No one is biting. Why is no one is talking about your post? I mean youve spent time figuring out what to call your blog post, used examples to improve your content, used an awesome photo and even linked to other sites and old posts of yours. If youre one of many who started a blog and is wondering why no one wants a taste of your content, maybe you are missing some key ingredients that will make it sticky and sweet for your readers. Find out what the 3 ingredients are to turn your bland blog post into the sweetest blog post that every reader cant resist. 1. Break Me Off a Piece of That Paragraph One of the biggest mistakes new writers make is blogging like they are writing a paper for their college professor. Growing up, we learned that a proper paragraph is 5-6 sentences and that it should always include a topical sentence on what you will be writing. If you write like this on your blog, dont expect your readers to stick around. Only 16% of readers actually read word for word. That means 84% of your readers only scan your entire blog post that you so painstakingly poured over for hours. To gain more readers, make it easy for them to scan by using these bite sized tips: Break up your paragraphs throughout your blog post. Make a break after 2-3 sentences. Mix up your paragraph lengths and sometimes stick a 1 sentence paragraph in your post. To break up your writing, try to include bullets and  numbered lists (do you notice  how I did this with my blog post? If I were to just make these into sentences my post would seem long and boring to read). Use attractive headings in your blog. Brian Clark, the owner of Copyblogger, wrote to make your scanners into readers, you need to lure them into reading the next sentence. You can do this effectively by using headings that will highlight the benefit of what they will be reading next. 2. Excuse Me While I Nibble On Your Words Your blog post can have the most profound piece of information that everyone needs to read, but no one is reading it because of how its written. You dont understand because you made sure to edit for spelling, grammar, length, and redundancies. No matter how long you spend checking over your blog post, you could be missing simple things to make your readers want to nibble away at what you wrote. Take a look  to see if you are using these extra toppings   to enhance your blog post. Deliciously Decorate Your Blog With Bold Text When you bold key words or phrases, it helps draw the eye to important information in your blog post. It also helps the 84% of readers who scan by giving them the most important information in headings and bold text. If you are a scanner, youre probably only reading the headings and nothing more. At least with bold phrases, you can be alerted to informative content. Cut Away Clichà ©s to Make Room for Metaphors What are clichà ©s? They are sayings that automatically come to your head when you are writing and usually appear when you cant think of anything else to say. They bore us because weve heard them used too many times, but as a writer, it can sometimes be hard to think of original content and you may not even know youre using them. Here are 10 clichà ©s to avoid: Begs the question At the end of the day Moving forward As Im sure you know Been there, done that Busy as a bee A little late in the game A twinkle in (his,her) eye Moral of the story I couldnt care less If you want your readers grabbing for more of your writing, try using metaphors instead. Metaphors use parallel ideas to help get your topic better understood. They are often used for complicated ideas or as a way to spin an old idea in a new way. Lets use my blog post as an example. My overall idea, how to write a blog post, is an old topic that has been written about and spun many ways. I focused on making your blog post memorable and sharable. From  there,  I  wanted to use a  metaphor to give this old topic a fresh perspective. I decided to use food  as a way to  describe how to write a memorable blog post. Make It A Simple Dish To Read There are many topics you can write about but if youre using technical jargon and big words, you may be losing readers. Its important to know your audience before you begin to write your post. If you are writing about the latest fashion trends then using college level writing wont attract the right audience. Similarly, if your blog is about mental health issues in women, using slang would be inappropriate  for your reader base. Generally, keep your blog simple and if you need to write about something more technical, you can always use metaphors! 3. Tear Me A Piece of Your Sticky Content Everyone who is a blogger wants some sticky content. Its a post that gets shared on multiple social platforms and gets readers to keep coming back for more of what you are serving. How can you make your blog post oh so sweet and sticky? Provide Helpful Content If all you write about is how your cat spends his days with you, people wont be interested. They arent learning anything new from your blog posts. When you solve problems and present new ideas or old ideas in a new way, readers will get value out of your blog. Always think, how can I add something new for my readers that they will learn from? Engage With Your Readers Darren Rowse, owner of Problogger, wrote about his wifes new website and was pleasantly surprised by how she was able to gain a following. She did this by starting a conversation with her readers. She always: Answered any comments left on her blog or social media accounts. This lets her readers know she heard them and that she values their input. Always ends her blog post with a call to action. Its a question or action plan for your readers. It invites a conversation and is considered good blogging etiquette. Another way to make your blog posts engaging to your readers is by being personal. As a freelance writer, I want other new freelance writers to learn from my content, but also a little more about who I am and why I chose this profession. Thats why on my blog I write about myself and my career along with how to improve your writing. Interested in becoming a freelance writer? My course Write Your Way to Your First $1k goes into great detail about blog writing and formatting your posts for your clients. Wow your clients and enroll in my course today! Is there any more bite sized tips I have forgotten? Are you using these 3 ingredients for better blogging?   Which ingredient do you use the most and which one is the most effective in gaining readership? Please share your answers in the comments!