The post 5 Ways to Write Faster appeared first on ProBlogger.

Running a business is a time suck of epic proportion. Planning, administration, product development, sales, delivery, email, bookkeeping, social media, marketing. It takes time. Throw in a family and you flit from demand to crisis without a moment to reheat that cup of tea you made three hours ago.

Your blog post – that important but not urgent task – is often the victim of the go-go-go life. You know it’s important for but there it is, languishing at the bottom of the ‘to do’ list day after day after day.

‘I must write that blog post.’

‘I really should write a blog post.’

‘Today I will write a blog post.’

‘Tomorrow I will write that blog post…’

Sound familiar?

Not batching… slogging.

I am in awe of bloggers and business owners who casually comment, ‘I write a blog post in 15 to 20 minutes and I batch them. I just sit and write six or seven in a row.’

You what?

Blog posts take me hours. Not minutes. Hours. Write one and I’m creatively spent. I need to lie down, take a walk or faff about on Facebook for 30 minutes to recover. By then a crisis has flared up. Forget batching.

I’m not so hot on the ‘stream of consciousness’ approach either. It’s great for therapy but no-one wants to read my therapy. Not even me.

Despite this I write regularly and professionally. I get it done and I’m getting faster with practice. I’ve also picked up a tip or five from my occupation, psychology.

So here’s what works to write blog posts faster – and why.

1. Have a plan

I used to procrastinate until the day before my publish date (or even the day of) then wait for inspiration to hit and the words to flow. It doesn’t work. It’s slow and frustrating. To get faster I need to know what I’m going to write. Better yet I need some bullet points and links to research I’ll need.

Why it works: In psychology task planning is called an ‘implementation intention’. Its complex and uses the front part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex. Implementation intentions reduce procrastination. Without a plan your brain says, ‘Oops, too hard’ when faced with a big, vague task like writing a blog post. It wanders off to find somewhere else to focus its attention. With a plan you ease its path to your goal, making resistance – and procrastination – less likely.

2. Make planning a separate exercise

Planning then writing in one period is brain overload. Break it into two separate tasks and you increase your efficiency and produce a better result. I like to brainstorm and plan over a coffee at a favourite café. I’ll write later in my office at my laptop.

Why it works: Cues in our environment trigger our habits. Keep looking at the same four walls and you’ll keep thinking in the same old way. To break through a creative block, arrive at fresh ideas and then get writing, mix it up and work in different environments. Large spaces with good natural light and fresh air are great for prompting new thoughts and ideas.

3. Write for 15 minutes a day

Fellow ProBlogger contributor Kelly Exeter put me on to this. Once I’ve got my plan I sit at the laptop, take note of the time, put away distractions and write for 15 minutes. It doesn’t matter what you write. In fact Kelly suggests that if you’re stuck, just keep writing ‘I don’t know what to write here’ until an idea arrives. Try it, it works. What’s more, once you start and find your flow you may find that you just keep going until it’s done.

Why it works: Getting started is often the hardest part of any task, particularly one that feels difficult. The good news is that once we’ve started we’re likely to push on until the job is complete. This is called the Zeigarnik Effect. Your brain doesn’t like starting a task and then stopping part way through. It will linger on your unfinished business, making you anxious until the task is done. Get started and your mind will kick in with the motivation you need to keep going.

4. Set a deadline

A joy of being the boss is the flex in your deadlines. Don’t feel like writing today? Do something else instead. There’s plenty of work to do. Except that’s how the important but not urgent blog post is set adrift.

Sitting, thinking and writing is hard work for your brain. It rewards you by prioritizing that task last, letting you off the hook. It’s a short term gain however. The blog post still isn’t written.

I set myself deadlines for every blog post to trick my brain into getting it done. The shorter the deadline, the more focused you are.

Why it works: Motivation is complex, psychologically, but we know for sure that as a deadline approaches our stress levels rise. When our stress levels rise our brain and body is primed for action. We get started and we work hard to get the task done. This is known as the Yerkes-Dodson Law. No deadline? Not enough stress to get you moving. If you’re a conscientious type like me self imposed deadlines will work. If you’re not, find a way to get others to set deadlines for you.

5. Focus on the end result

The anticipation of a holiday is often the best part, right? Imagine yourself lying by the pool, cocktail in hand, responsibility free. It motivates you to pack and get out of the door.

This works for getting blog posts written too. Generating ideas and writing might feel difficult but don’t focus on that part. Focus on the reward. For me that’s hitting the publish button or sending a finished piece to an editor.  Even better is positive feedback.

Work out where your motivation lies. What’s the reward you get from writing that blog post? Where’s the thrill? Focus on that to get it done.

Why it works: There are two types of goals. Avoidance goals are things to avoid- like losing our audience because we haven’t written a blog post in a month or more. Then there are approach goals. These are the goals that compel us to move forward. Your pool and cocktail vision is an approach goal. The feeling of satisfaction on hitting the publish button is an approach goal. Anything can be an approach goal if you think about it in the right way. Don’t focus on what you’re avoiding. Focus on the good things that come once your task is done.

Ellen Jackson from Potential Psychology is a psychologist who does things differently. She writes about people and why we do what we do. She coaches, she teaches and she helps workplaces to do the people part better.

The post 5 Ways to Write Faster appeared first on ProBlogger.

     

The post Mastering Blog Post Creation: 10 Essential Steps to Enhance Your Writing Process appeared first on ProBlogger.

It hits you like a TON of BRICKS!

It’s an idea for that KILLER blog post that is just bound to bring you all the traffic that you’ve ever dreamed of.

With the idea fresh in your mind you sit down at your keyboard and BANG it out – desperate to hit publish as quickly as you can for fear that someone else will beat you to the PUNCH!

As SMOKE rises from your keyboard you complete your post, quickly add a title to it and proudly hit PUBLISH!

Visions of an avalanche of visitors, incoming links and comments swirl before you…

But then…

Reality hits you like a SLAP in the face.

There are few visitors, no comments and no links.

It’s not a KILLER post – but not in a good way – it’s DEAD.

Ever had that experience?

I have – many, many times over.

Today I want to walk you through an alternative workflow for constructing a blog post…

One…

That…

Takes….

Time.

Crafting a Blog Post

If there’s one lesson that I’ve learnt about writing for the web it’s that a key element to writing successful blog posts is that in most cases they take time to CREATE.

I emphasize ‘create’ because I think too often as bloggers we ‘PUNCH’ out content as though we’re in a race or under some kind of deadline. It’s almost like we’re on a production line at times – unfortunately the posts we write often reflect this.

In this series I want to suggest an alternative approach – the crafting (or creation) of content.

This process is a more thoughtful process that is about crafting words and ideas – shaping posts into content that take readers on a journey.

To kick off this series, I want to suggest 10 points to pause at when writing a post on your blog. I’ll include a link to each post that follows in this series as I update them.

Instead of rushing through a post – I find that if I pause at these key moments my post rises to a new level of quality and posts tend to get more traction with readers. They don’t guarantee the perfect post – but they certainly take you a step closer to a good one.

1. Choosing a Topic

Take a little extra time defining your topic and the post will flow better and you’ll develop something that matters to readers.

2. Crafting Your Post’s Title

Perhaps the most crucial part of actually getting readers to start reading your post when they see it in an RSS reader or search engine results page.

3. The Opening Line

First impressions matter. Once you’ve got someone past your post’s title your opening line draws them deeper into your post.

4. Your ‘point/s’ (making your posts matter)

A post needs to have a point. If it’s just an intriguing title and opening you’ll get people to read – but if the post doesn’t ‘matter’ to them it’ll never get traction.

5. Call to Action

Driving readers to do something cements a post in their mind and helps them to apply it and helps you to make a deeper connection with them.

6. Adding Depth

Before publishing your post – ask yourself how you could add depth to it and make it even more useful and memorable to readers?

7. Quality Control and Polishing of Posts

Small mistakes can be barriers to engagement for some readers. Spending time fixing errors and making a post ‘look’ good can take it to the next level.

8. Timing of Publishing Your Post

Timing can be everything – strategic timing of posts can ensure the right people see it at the right time.

9. Post Promotion

Having hit publish – don’t just leave it to chance that your post will be read by people. Giving it a few strategic ‘nudges’ can increase the exposure it gets exponentially.

10. Conversation

Often the real action happens once your post is published and being interacted with by readers and other bloggers. Taking time to dialogue can be very fruitful.

Take Your Time

Taking extra time at each of these 10 points looks different for me in every post that I do – but I believe that every extra moment spent of these tasks pays off.

Sometimes the pause I take in one step will be momentary while in others it could take hours or even days to get it just right. Sometimes the above process happens quite automatically and other times I need to force myself to stop and ponder something like a title or the timing of a post.

Each of the 10 points above have much more that could be said about them so over the weeks I’ll be tackling each in turn in the hope that we can have some good discussion and sharing of ideas around them. I’ll link to each of them from within the list above as I release the posts.

For each point I hope to give some insight into how I tackle them and will share a few practical tips and examples of what I’ve done that has worked (and not worked). Don’t expect posts each day on this series – like all good things – this will take us some time!

The post Mastering Blog Post Creation: 10 Essential Steps to Enhance Your Writing Process appeared first on ProBlogger.

     

The post How to Revitalize Your Blog Content When You Feel You’ve Covered It All appeared first on ProBlogger.

Maintaining Momentum in Blogging Series

Have you ever found yourself staring at your blog, wondering what on earth to write about next?

You might think you’ve explored every angle of your topic, leaving no stone unturned. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

Many bloggers encounter this challenge, especially after the initial excitement fades, usually between 6 to 12 months into their blogging journey. This feeling of having “said it all” can be discouraging, but it’s far from the end of the road.

The Myth of Exhausted Topics:

The feeling that you’ve covered every topic under the sun is a common misconception among bloggers. Rather than viewing your blog archives as a completed checklist, I encourage you to see them as a goldmine of untapped potential. Your past posts are not just remnants of your blogging journey; they’re stepping stones to deeper, more enriched content. Here’s why:

1. Depth Over Breadth: Topics, especially in dynamic fields like blogging, are never truly “done.” Just as you grow and evolve, so do your topics and your niche. What was relevant a year ago may have new implications today, and your understanding of certain concepts has likely deepened. This evolution is a perfect opportunity to revisit old subjects with fresh eyes and new insights.
2. New Readers, Fresh Perspectives: Your audience is continually changing, with new readers discovering your blog every day. These new followers haven’t journeyed through your archives; to them, your older content is brand new. Revisiting past topics can introduce your newer audience to valuable insights they’ve missed, while also giving you the chance to update and refine your earlier views.

As a result of these two factors you should see your archives of old posts not only as a collection of your previous thoughts but as a springboard for new ones.

I regularly scan through old posts for ideas for future ones. I particularly look for posts that I either disagree with (due to a change of perspective) or posts that I think I could go deeper with. Sometimes I link back to my old posts to show the progression of thinking but on many occasions I simply write them as standalone new content.

I often talk about how blogging is conversational in the way it lends itself to interactions between blogger and readers (as well as between bloggers). Here’s 3 Simple Ways to Make Your Blog Posts More Conversational.

Strategies for Leveraging Your Archives:

Turning your archives into a source of inspiration can transform the way you approach content creation. Here are some practical strategies to get you started:

• Audit Your Archives: Dive into your past posts and identify which topics could be updated, expanded upon, or even challenged. Look for posts that once sparked lively discussions or those that continue to draw attention. These are perfect candidates for a follow-up.
• Disagree With Your Past Self: As you evolve, so do your opinions and strategies. If you find posts that no longer align with your current views, write a rebuttal. This not only demonstrates your growth but also encourages readers to engage in the evolving conversation.
• Deep Dive Into Complex Topics: Some subjects can’t be fully covered in a single post. Identify previous topics that could benefit from a more detailed exploration. Breaking down complex ideas into multiple posts or series can provide tremendous value to your readers.
• Introduce New Formats: Revisiting a topic doesn’t mean you have to stick to the same format. If your initial post was text-heavy, consider creating an infographic, video, or podcast episode to explore the subject from a different angle.
• Encourage Reader Participation: Invite your audience to suggest topics they’d like to see revisited or expanded upon. This not only gives you direct insight into what your readers find valuable but also fosters a sense of community and engagement.

Here’s more about looking after and updating your archives.

Feeling like you’ve covered every possible topic in your niche is a sign that it’s time to revisit your archives, not a signal to give up. By viewing your past content as a foundation for growth and development, you can continue to produce engaging, relevant, and valuable posts for your audience. Remember, the key to maintaining blogging momentum is not always about finding something new to say but finding new ways to say it.

When you treat your archives as a living part of your blog that can be revisited over time you actually take the conversation into a new realm – talking to yourself. While ‘talking to yourself’ might sound a little strange (my mum always said it was the first sign of madness) I think its actually one of the first signs of a maturing blogger who is taking their blog to a new level by refining their thoughts on a topic. It’s through this refining process that real wisdom and expertise surfaces.

Without revisiting your previous thoughts or ideas you run the risk of becoming stagnant and limit your own growth in your chosen field.

Action Plan:

Start today by taking a leisurely stroll through your blog’s archives. What hidden gems can you find? How can your past self inspire your future content? Let the journey of rediscovery fuel your next great post.

• What do you see there that is out of date?
• What old posts do you disagree with?
• Where could you go deeper?
• What older posts might your newer readers have never seen?

If you’re still struggling, one of my favorite techniques in business for organising my thoughts, helping me to review, plan and organise my business and to think creatively and generate loads of ideas is to use mind mapping – listen to this podcast episode to hear how I do it.

The post How to Revitalize Your Blog Content When You Feel You’ve Covered It All appeared first on ProBlogger.

     

The post How to Write Faster, Better Blog Posts: 4 Techniques Top Bloggers Use appeared first on ProBlogger.

Is it taking you ages to write blog posts?

You’re not alone…

Whether you’re new to blogging or you’ve been running your blog for a while, the time commitment can be really overwhelming. Just getting one post published each week can be a struggle, especially if you’re focused on producing high-quality long form content. 

Even if you’re not a natural writer, there are lots of ways you can speed up your writing process. Writing faster means you can publish more often—or you can spend more time on other vital activities to grow your blog’s traffic.

First, let’s address a common worry about writing faster…

Faster Writing Doesn’t Mean Slapdash Writing

One of the worries that some bloggers have is that by speeding up the writing process, they’ll compromise on quality.

I don’t believe that’s true. Sure, some methods for speeding up might affect the quality of your post – if you decide to shave time off your process by skipping editing completely, that’s probably going to result in posts that have typos or other glaring errors. And if you simply hand the whole process over to an AI tool that can whip up an entire blog post based on a one-sentence prompt, you won’t be producing something of your usual quality.

But in many cases, working more effectively improves the quality of your finished posts. Let’s say you speed up by cutting out distractions when you’re drafting: your post might flow better as a result, with smoother transitions between sections. Or how about you speed up by nailing your outline before you start writing the post—you’ll have a well-structured piece that covers all the most important points.

With each step we cover, we’ll be looking at how to write faster and better. Along the way, we’ll take a look at some key techniques that top bloggers use to consistently produce high-quality content.

How to Speed Up Your Blogging Process from Start to Finish

Whatever type of posts you write, and however long or short they are, you’ll be going through these different steps of the blogging process:

1. Coming up with an idea
2. Outlining your post (you might be doing this in your head / as you draft)
3. Drafting your post
4. Editing your post (you might be doing this as you draft)
5. Publishing your post

Each step is important, and by recognising each of these as distinct parts of the blogging process, you can look at how to speed up and write even stronger posts.

We’ll take a look at ways to be more efficient and effective at each step … but before we dig into that, let’s tackle a huge issue that’s probably on your mind as you think about writing fast.

Should You Use AI to Speed Up Your Blogging?

As a freelance writer, I’ll admit to some mixed feelings about AI (artificial intelligence). On the one hand, I think tools like ChatGPT are very cool—I’ve had fun playing around with them. But I’m also keen that the machines don’t put me out of a job!

The good news for me is that AI really isn’t at the point yet where it can replace a skilled blogger (or freelancer, author, or journalist). I don’t think it’s a good idea to “speed up” by simply handing the whole blogging process over to AI. You might get a technically competent piece of writing, but it’s not going to be as engaging and well-written as a post produced by a human.

But AI definitely has a role to play, and it can help make your posts stronger. I like to see AI as a bright intern. You wouldn’t hand over full control of your blog to an intern … but you might ask them to carry out some preliminary research or to write a rough outline for a post.

As we go through the steps, I’ll give you some ChatGPT prompts you can use if you want to speed things up using AI. If you want to go further, I’d recommend using a premium AI tool aimed at bloggers—some good ones to check out are:

• Jasper (formerly Jarvis): one of the best-established AI tools out there, with a huge range of different features, the ability to learn and match your brand voice, a wide range of AI templates, and the option to create AI art too.
• Copy.ai: a fully-featured AI tool, similar to Jasper in its features. It’s a slightly newer tool but also comes in a bit cheaper, and includes lots of sales tools as well as marketing ones.
• RightBlogger: a smaller and newer AI, with an impressive suite of tools specifically aimed at bloggers. It doesn’t have any credit/word limits, so you can experiment without worrying that you’re using up your monthly budget.

Step 1: Coming Up With Ideas – That Work for Your Readers and Search Engines

The first step of the blogging process is to come up with an idea. You can’t get very far without one!

To write a really good post, you want an idea that works for both your readers and for search engines. That means doing some keyword research if possible, so you can figure out something that people are searching for online, and write a post to meet their needs. Obviously, you also want to choose a topic that’s relevant to your readers.

If you’re struggling, here are some great ProBlogger posts to help:

• The Only Blog Post Idea List You’ll Ever Need
• How to Come Up WIth More Than Enough (Great) Ideas for Your Blog
• What Can You Blog About When All the Good Ideas Are Already Taken?

What Chris Garrett Says About Coming Up With Ideas Faster

Some of my best articles have come from reader questions. They work well because if one reader wants to know a particular answer you can guess many more do too. If you can’t find anything useful in your own comment area or inbox, go look at another blogger’s comments or a forum.

(How to Generate Post Ideas When You Are Stuck, Chris Garrett, ChrisG.com)

Using AI to Power Your Ideas

There are plenty of AI-powered keyword research tools out there. ClickUp has a great list here.

ChatGPT Prompt

Give me [X] blog post ideas for a blog about [TOPIC]. The audience is primarily [A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF YOUR AUDIENCE]. For each idea, tell me the primary keyword to optimize for.

Example: Give me 10 blog post ideas for a blog about personal finance. The audience is primarily people in their 20s and 30s who feel a bit daunted by getting on top of their finances. For each idea, tell me the primary keyword to optimize for.

Step 2: Outlining Your Posts – And Giving Them a Rock-Solid Structure

Once you’ve got a clear idea in mind, it’s time to craft an outline for your post. This is such a tempting step to skip, especially if you’ve got a title that gives you a pretty clear picture of how your post is structured. 7 Easy Ways to Improve Your Morning Routine, for instance, is clearly going to be a listicle.

But spending just 10 minutes outlining your post could make a massive difference to how quickly you can draft it. Those 10 minutes might save you an hour or more … and result in a much better finished piece.

When I’m outlining, whether that’s for my own blog or for a client piece, I like to include:

• A sentence or two about the introduction: what’s the “hook” for this post? What needs to be said in order to set up the rest of the post?
• All the key points the post is going to cover: usually, I’ll write these as subheadings and include a short list of bullet points for each little section. This makes drafting the post so quick and easy … I’m just fleshing out what’s already there.
• The conclusion to the post: how am I going to round things off, and what will I prompt readers to do at the end of the piece?

Some posts are easy to structure, like listicles and how-tos. Others are a bit trickier, like an A vs B comparison review, where you could give all the information about product A first, then cover product B … or you could do a point-by-point comparison of features, pricing, and so on. Even a list post can be tricky as you need to decide on the best order to present your different points.

The advantage of writing an outline is that you can experiment with structure until you’re confident you’ve got something that works and flows well.

What Neil Patel Says About Outlining Faster

A good outline gives you a holistic view of how your article will come together.

Aim to be as thorough as possible. The research process is key to ensuring that you have as much detail as possible.

This way, you can knock out each point without having to divert your attention away from writing.

(How to Become a Better, Faster, and More Efficient Writer in 7 Steps, Neil Patel)

Using AI to Power Your Outlining

Either use AI to create the outline first, then edit it to add/remove points—or write down your key points, then create an outline with AI to help you spot any ideas you may have missed.

ChatGPT Prompt

Write a detailed outline for a [XXXX] word blog post titled [“TITLE”]. Give a suggested word count for each subsection. Include a call to action at the end to [CALL TO ACTION].

Example: Write a detailed outline for a 1,500 word blog post titled “Zero-Waste Vegan Kitchen: Sustainable Cooking and Eco-Friendly Tips”. Give a suggested word count for each subsection. Include a call to action at the end to download my free vegan cookbook.

Step 3: Drafting Your Posts – Without Procrastination and Writers’ Block

The stage of the blogging process that takes the longest is drafting your content. Perhaps you’ve had the experience of staring at a blank page on the screen, trying to figure out what to write: if so, you should find it much easier to draft now you have a solid outline in hand.

But even when you’ve got a clear outline, it can be hard to stay focused when drafting. The biggest problem that trips bloggers up here is getting distracted and going off-task. This can easily make a one-hour writing task take three hours … and it may also end up with your post seeming disjointed at the end of the process.

Here’s what you can do to dramatically improve your focus:

• Turn off distractions when you’re writing. Silence your phone, close unnecessary tabs, switch off the TV. It’s basic, yes, but it really does work.
• Write somewhere away from home. If you’ve got kids, roommates, or a spouse who keeps interrupting, pack up your laptop and head to your local coffee shop to write.
• Set a timer while you’re writing. Challenge yourself to stay focused for 30 minutes: you might be amazed how much you can produce in that time.
• Focus just on drafting and moving forward. Don’t go back to edit or look up facts. Put in a comment so you can come back later to any sections that need more work.
• Listen to music that helps you get in the writing zone. Some writers I know love movie tracks for this; others like music specifically designed for focus. You may even find ambient noise tracks work well for you.

What Linda Formichelli Says About Drafting Faster

I use a writing tool called TextExpander — which expands custom keyboard shortcuts into frequently used text — for common copy, like my email sign-off, bio, mailing address, book titles, HTML codes, and words and phrases I often use in my writing.

(How to Write Faster: 10 Quick Ways to Hit 1,000 Words Per Hour, Linda Formichelli, SmartBlogger)

Using AI to Power Your Drafting 

I prefer to draft without AI, but you may find it helpful to use AI to kickstart your writing – particularly your introduction, which many bloggers struggle with.

ChatGPT Prompt

Write a [XXX] word introduction to a blog post titled [“TITLE”]. The tone should be [TONE].

Example:

Write a 150 word introduction to a blog post titled “10 Common Blogging Mistakes Holding You Back (and What to Do Instead)”. The tone should be friendly, supportive, and encouraging.

Step 4: Editing Your Posts – Polish Your Work and Catch Mistakes Easily

If you started out with a solid outline, you’ll have found it much faster to draft your post. You’ll also save a lot of time when you edit your post, too. The fundamentals of your post will all be in place, and hopefully you won’t need to make any really major edits (like cutting out or adding in whole sections).

Most likely, your editing will involve:

1. Reading over your post to check for any extra points you want to include or links you want to add in (e.g. to related posts on your blog).
2. Making sure that all facts (e.g. statistics, quotes, sources) are correct – this is especially important if you’ve used AI to produce some/all of your text.
3. Checking for stylistic issues, like clunky phrases or run-on sentences. 
4. Looking out for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and typos. 

AI can be a great help with points 3 and 4 here. I’d also recommend reading slowly through your post yourself, of course, but AI may catch things that you didn’t realise were wrong (lots of bloggers confuse it’s and its, for instance) as well as typos that you failed to spot simply because you’re so familiar with what you thought you wrote.

You don’t need to spend hours editing or aim for absolute perfection. One of the great things about blogging, compared with some other forms of writing and publishing, is that you can quickly and easily go back and correct mistakes. 

If you’re using SEO software (like Clearscope or Surfer SEO), the editing phase is also a good time to optimize your article with these, making sure you’ve included relevant keywords.

What Sola Kehinde Says About Editing Faster

Some writers think the best way to create outstanding content is to write a few sentences and then stop to edit all the errors in it. But at the end of their writing session, they may still be stuck reading and editing the same few sentences over and over without making any progress. […] To increase your writing speed, do yourself a favor and ignore all the typos and errors you observe while you’re still writing. 

(9 Tricks That Can Boost Your Writing Speed, Sola Kehinde, Craft Your Content)

Using AI to Power Your Editing

My favorite AI tool for editing is Grammarly: it does a great job of spotting not just errors (like typos and spelling mistakes) but also sentences where I’ve been too wordy. 

ChatGPT is rather inconsistent (sometimes spots mistakes that aren’t mistakes at all, and sometimes misses mistakes) but you can give it a go for checking your text, using the prompt below.

ChatGPT Prompt

Check the following text for spelling and grammar errors. Please highlight errors in bold and give a recommendation to fix them. Do not give a recommendation that’s identical to the original text.

[TEXT OF YOUR POST]

Choose One of These Techniques to Put Into Practice This Week

Writing faster while also producing excellent content means getting more efficient at each stage of the writing process. Whether you’re coming up with ideas, crafting outlines, drafting content, or editing efficiently, you can speed up—and get better results. 

Experiment with AI to improve your efficiency and blast through writer’s block, but remember that you have the final say over everything you publish (and the responsibility to make sure it’s accurate).

Pick one of the ideas above to try this week … and pop a comment below to let us know which one you’ll be incorporating into your blogging process. If you’re already using some of these tips, let us know which are working best for you.

The post How to Write Faster, Better Blog Posts: 4 Techniques Top Bloggers Use appeared first on ProBlogger.

     

The post The Importance of Being Useful appeared first on ProBlogger.

Have you ever stumbled upon a blog that felt like it was speaking directly to you, solving a problem you didn’t even know you had?

That’s the power of “usefulness” in blogging, a concept that’s not just a philosophy for me, but the backbone of my approach to blogging and business.

Today we continue my series in principles of successful blogging by looking at usefulness – making your blog indispensable to your readers.

Why Being Useful Matters

Utility is the cornerstone of any successful blog. It’s simple – if your blog isn’t useful, your readers are less likely to come back.

But in the blogging world, it transcends mere usefulness. It’s about creating content that resonates, solves problems, and fulfills needs. When your blog becomes a solution, a go-to resource, or a comforting space for your readers, you’re not just building an audience, you’re cultivating a community.

When you do hit that sweet spot of usefulness, not only do you build a loyal readership, but they also become your advocates, spreading the word about your blog.

Examples of Useful Blogs

Being useful can take on many different forms. Let’s take a closer look at how different blogs have harnessed the power of utility:

• Mashable – Stays ahead of social media trends, offering both news and practical guides.
• Lifehacker – The quintessential guide to productivity and tech hacks.
• TMZ – Your window into the world of celebrities and entertainment.
• Seth Godin – Offers thought-provoking insights into marketing and business strategies.
• Treehugger – resources people to live green
• Seeking Alpha – gives financial news and advice
• Zen Habits – helps people be more productive
• CopyBlogger – helps bloggers write better

Each of these blogs demonstrates usefulness in its unique way, catering to specific interests and needs of their audience.

Now you might not read all of these blogs (and there are many thousands more that we could use as examples) and are unlikely to find them all personally useful (I certainly don’t read them all) – but they all have many thousands of devoted fans and daily readers, because they’re producing content that meets some kind of need, fulfils some kind of desire or solves some kind of problem.

How to be Useful

Usefulness in blogging is multifaceted. It’s not just about what you say, but how you say it. Here are some key aspects:

• Entertainment: In today’s fast-paced world, blogs offer a breather with light-hearted, entertaining content. People are going to them for laughs, for gossip and for fun conversation.
• Education: From step-by-step tutorials to in-depth courses, educational blogs empower readers and many successful blogs teach people to do or be something.
• Information and News: . These blogs might not teach you any practical skills but they keep their readers informed about the latest trends, news, and developments
• Thought Leadership: Blogs that challenge conventional thinking and open new perspectives. Some readers want a place where they can have their minds open to viewpoints.
• Community and Discussion: Creating a space for dialogue, exchange of ideas, and building connections. Some blogs serve as safe places for people to come together to have dialogue and debate around a topic.
• Niche Expertise: Catering to specific interests, from gardening to technology, offering specialized knowledge. Many blogs are built more on people having a sense of belonging and feeling that they’re a part of a community than the actual content.

Of course this list could go on and on and will vary from blog to blog with some meeting multiple needs and others just targeting one.

How is Your Blog Useful?

This is a question that I think bloggers would do well ponder before they start blogging as well as during the blogging process (in fact it’s probably a question to ask every day before you publish anything).

Ask yourself: “What value does my blog bring to my readers?”

This question is not a one-time query but a continuous part of your blogging journey. Each post, each interaction is an opportunity to enhance your blog’s utility.

Strive to meet a need and enhance people’s lives in some way and you’ll be taking a step closer to connecting with people in a way that will hopefully be part of a lasting relationship.

Expand Your Blogging Toolkit

Usefulness also extends to the way you present your content. Here are some tools to enhance your blog’s utility:

• Engaging Visuals: Use images, infographics, and videos to complement your text.
• Interactive Elements: Polls, quizzes, and interactive graphics can make your blog more engaging.
• User-Friendly Design: Ensure your blog is easy to navigate and accessible.
• Responsive Feedback System: Engage with comments and feedback to build a relationship with your audience.
• Regular Updates: Keep your content fresh and relevant.

Remember, the journey of blogging is as much about your growth as it is about serving your readers. Stay curious, keep learning, and always aim to add value through your blog.

Further Reading

• How to Get in Tune with Your Readers Needs [and Produce Compelling Content]
• Solve a Problem – 7 Ways to Identify Reader Problems

Read the full series on how to build a successful blog.

The post The Importance of Being Useful appeared first on ProBlogger.

     

The post Why Stories are an Effective Communication Tool for Your Blog appeared first on ProBlogger.

As I write this it is the last Tuesday morning of the month and I’m sitting in a local coffee shop going through my ‘end of the month routine‘.

It involves a large lattè (everything else hinges on this) and some delving into my blogs metrics to see how they’ve been performing.

While I do keep track of the traffic stats of my blogs each day I like to set aside an hour or two at the end of each month to go a little deeper and do some more analysis of trends on my blogs – I find that when I do this I notice things that I can build on to continue momentum on my blogs.

This morning as I was looking at the type of posts that had done well in the last few weeks on my blogs I noticed an interesting trend – many of them were ‘story‘ type posts.

• The Power of Being Personal on Your Blog – the hottest post on ProBlogger last week – a post where I tell the story of being jumped on/hugged by a reader who I’d never met before.
• The #1 Reason My Blogging Grew Into a Business – the hottest post on ProBlogger in the last month – the story of my wife giving me a 6 month deadline to get my blogging to a full time level – or go get a ‘real job’.

Both posts got a lot of traffic, were linked to by numerous other blogs and were re-tweeted more than normal.

I’ve always known how powerful ‘story posts‘ can be on a blog but I decided to dig a little further to see whether this continued deeper than just the last month.

What I discovered was that story posts have been among the most popular posts on this blog over the last 5 years time and time again. They’re not the only type of post that does well (there are a few other types of posts that do well – we might explore these in a later post) but they certainly have performed very well for me.

Here’s a few more examples of popular story posts:

• The Day 250,000 People Showed Up at My Blog – a case study that recorded my experience of a successful post.
• 9 First Step Goals for New Bloggers – a post introduced very quickly with the analogy of my son’s first steps (and a picture of him).
• Learn from My Mistake – Don’t Leave Money on the Table – a story of where I failed – shared as a warning to others.
• Becoming a ProBlogger – a Story in Many Parts – my full story of going full time as a blogger – a mini biography.
• Lessons from an Umbrella Salesman – not a personal story but an analogy type post from my early days of blogging.
• Another Day in the Life of a ProBlogger – a post from a few years back which outlined a typical day of mine.

I could go on…. and on! Each month that I looked back on through my blog here at ProBlogger a story type post featured in the top 2 or three posts.

Why are Stories Effective?

A lot could be said about the reasons why stories tend to do well on blogs but here’s a few reasons that I’ve seen in my own experience:

• Stories engage the imagination of readers
• Stories go beyond facts and theories
• Stories reveal something about yourself as a blogger (they’re personal)
• Stories trigger emotions and the senses
• Stories are conversational – they stimulate others to react and tell their stories
• Stories provide hooks for readers to latch onto in your blogging (they’re relatable)
• Stories grab and hold the attention of readers
• Stories are memorable – while people don’t always latch onto facts and figures – a good story can be remembered for years
• Stories illustrate your points in ways that can be much more convincing (and convicting) than other types of information

The key with stories on blogs is making them tie into the rest of your blog – ie make them relevant and ensure that they have some point to them that is useful to your readers on some level. While telling the story of how your dog dug up your vegetable patch might interest you, the readers of your blog about (insert your blogs topic here) may not be quite as fascinated – unless you use the story to illustrate something about your topic.

Now that we’ve looked as some of the reasons stories are effective on blogs – in my next post I want to extend the idea of story telling with a 2nd post that explores some of the types’ of stories that you might like to use on your blog.

This post is another part of the Principles of Successful Blogs series. Previous principles explored are Listening, Trust, Usefulness, Community and being Personal.

The post Why Stories are an Effective Communication Tool for Your Blog appeared first on ProBlogger.

The post Mastering the Art of Listening: A Blogger’s Guide to Success appeared first on ProBlogger.

Once upon a time, I shared a set of slides from a presentation which outlines a variety of lessons that I’ve learned as a blogger. Over the coming months I intend to expand upon many of the points in that presentation – starting today with ‘Listening’.

When I began blogging in 2002 I made a lot of mistakes and had a lot of false assumptions about blogging. One of the things I quickly found out didn’t work when trying to grow a blog was to use it purely as a broadcast tool.

In the first few weeks of blogging it was almost as though I was using the blog as a platform or a stage where I stood with a megaphone in hand blasting out my message for anyone who might happen to be passing by to hear. It’s no wonder that only my wife read my blog that first week (and even she never really came back).

Nobody likes a loud mouth. Nobody wants to be on the receiving end of someone talking AT them.

The people we tend to be drawn to in real life are people who pause in conversation to let you have a say, people who ask questions about you, people who have a genuine interest in what you’ve got to say.

The same is true (in most cases) when it comes to blogging.

Of course there are cases where blogs are successfully used as broadcast tools with little interaction between blogger and reader – however in most cases there is at least some element of ‘listening’ going on by the blogger. Let me explore a few ways that a blogger should consider ‘listening’:

Listen to the culture of the blogosphere

This is one for those yet to start blogging (and it should also be applied to those getting into new social media tools like Twitter, Facebook etc).

I was chatting with a new blogger recently who described her first week of blogging as being similar to travelling to a new country and having to adjust to a new language, climate, etiquette and customs as an outsider.

When travelling overseas for an extended stay (perhaps for a new job) most travellers know that one of their first tasks as a new resident is to make some cultural adjustments.

• learning some basic words in the local language
• finding a local who can talk them through the etiquette
• getting a map so that they can find their way around
• learning to use systems like public transport…. etc

In a similar way – when you’re new to the blogosphere (or any new part of the social media-sphere) it’s important to pause, take stock, learn about the culture, learn to use the tools, discover what is acceptable (and not acceptable), learn the rhythms etc

The danger in not learning the culture of the blogosphere is doing something that not only doesn’t work but that offends ‘the locals’ and hurts your reputation.

Listen for where your potential readers are gathering

One of the key tasks that any new blogger who wants to grow their readership should do is identify where their potential readers are already gathering online.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks back – it’s not enough just to build a good blog with great content in order to find readers for your blog. If you want people to know about your blog you need to ‘get out there’ and interact with them and develop a presence in the places that your potential readers are already gathering.

Of course before you can find these places you need to have an understanding of who you’re trying to attract – so do a little work on defining who you want to read your blog and then begin to look for where that type of person is already gathering (I talk more about how I did this in this recent video on how I use promote my blog).

Listen to what others in your niche are saying

One of the most powerful things that I did which helped take my early blogs to the next level was to begin to monitor what others in my niche/industry were talking about.

I discovered the power of this accidentally one day when I just happened to be surfing on another small blog that broke news of a big story. I picked up the story on my own blog (linking to the first) and then my post got picked up by a massive blog which drew in a lot of new readers. Knowing what was happening in the niche helped to break stories but also build relationships with other bloggers in the niche.

Back then the tools for monitoring other blogs and topics were primitive and meant some manual hunting around (I remember in the very early days having to manually bookmark the blogs I wanted to track and visit them each every day to see if they’d posted anything new) but these days it is a lot easier to set up and automate.

My own monitoring of my niches generally happens in two ways:

1. Subscribing to Feeds of Key Sources of Information – these days most sites have some way of subscribing to them, usually via an RSS feed. I have a folder in my feed reader for each of my main topics which contains a number of key blogs and news sites in that niche. I used to follow close to a thousand blogs to do this – but these days have refined the list to much less for each topic.
2. 2. Keyword Alerts – using Google’s news and blog alerts I have a number of alerts set up so that if any news site or blog uses a keyword that I’m interested in I know about it. Choosing keywords that are specific enough can take a little time (some words just generate too many alerts) but on almost a daily basis these alerts identify important posts in my niches.
3. Recommendation Sites – the other listening tool that I use to help me know what’s going on in my niches is to subscribe to sites that are in the business of looking for popular content in my niches. These sites can be a little hard to find depending upon your niche but because I’m largely working in the Tech space there are a few including TechMeme and Delicious. TechMeme looks at what content key blogs are linking to in the tech space and Delicious is a bookmarking site that produces a list of popular content being bookmarked at any point in time (it’s not purely tech related but does consistently produce good results for me). Both of these sites have RSS feeds you can subscribe to to monitor what’s hot.
4. Twitter/X – I also find that being active on Twitter and developing a Twitter account that has a niche focus can also help you listen to what people are saying about your niche. This partly happens naturally (those you follow in your niche will share links) but there are also great tools including Tweetmeme (which shows you what is being retweeted in different categories) and other monitoring/search tools such as Twitter search (you can set up an RSS feed for different search terms) and tools built into Twitter clients (like TweetDeck which allows you to set up a column specifically for alerts). More and more useful tools are being set up for Twitter to help monitor what people are saying about your industry.

Listen to what is being said about you

The other use for some of the tools mentioned above (keyword alerts and the Twitter keyword monitoring) is that you can use them to alert you when someone is talking about you, your business, your blog or your brand specifically.

I’ve talked previously about setting up a vanity folder in your feed reader to help you do this so won’t go into great detail about it here – however it’s something that I’ve found particularly useful for a couple of reasons:

1. Building Relationships – when another blogger links to you it is useful to know about it so you can go and build a relationship with that blogger and their readers.
2. Reputation Management – from time to time you might also be mentioned on another site/blog/press in a more negative way. Knowing quickly about this is also important as it enables you to respond (if necessarily) or at least monitor developments.

Create Listening Spaces on Your Blog

Have you ever had a ‘conversation’ with someone where you simply could not get a word in edgeways? The person talked so fast and without taking a breath – to the point where there simply wasn’t space for you to be listened to.

Sometimes I get that same feeling while on blogs. It’s not that the blogger isn’t interested in their reader – it’s just that they get so excited about what they’re blogging about that they just don’t stop long enough to let others have a say.

One of the simplest ways to create these ‘listening spaces’ on a blog is to ask questions. Ask them at the end of your posts, ask them half way through the and even write posts that are nothing but questions.

Listen to the Questions Your Readers are Asking

One of the most important things to be on the listen out for is questions.

I remember one of my first teachers drumming into the class I was in that there was no such thing as a dumb question and that if one person asked a question it usually meant that others also had the same question going around in their minds.

As a result – when a reader asks you a question, you can bet that they’re not the only one thinking it.

Questions reveal potential topics to write about, problems with your site and opportunities to expand what you’re doing on your blog. Pay careful attention to them in the following areas:

1. comments section – this is the most obvious place for your readers to ask questions
2. your inbox – what questions are you getting from readers via your blog’s contact form?
3. search engine referral terms – often people arrive on your site having plugged a specific question into Google. Most stats packages will reveal these terms and phrases – keep on the look out specifically for questions – also check out 103bees – a tool that specifically monitors and collates questions being asked in your search stats.
4. questions typed into onsite search boxes – this is a goldmine of information, monitoring what people are searching for when they’re actually on your site will show you all kinds of needs, problems and challenges that your readers want to learn more about. Lijit is one tool that helps you track these questions.
5. ask readers for questions – from time to time it can be worth writing a post on your blog that specifically invites readers to ask a question.

Listen to what is working (and what isn’t)

The last thing I’ll add on the topic of listening before I open this topic up to others to share their thoughts is to listen by tracking what is and isn’t working on your blog.

This means setting up your blog with a good metrics tool (I use Google Analytics but there are other great ones out there) and regularly using it to work out what is readers are responding to on your blog.

Some places to start include:

• What posts are being read most?
• What posts are generating good conversation/comments?
• What posts are being linked to by others most?
• How are readers using your design? (use a tool like CrazyEgg to create a heatmap)
• What days of the week are people reading your site most on? What times of the day?
• What pages are people ‘bouncing’ from your site on (bounce rate shows how many people arrive on your blog and immediately leave)
• What posts are people spending most (and least) time on?
• What posts are you getting most negative feedback on?

It is easy to obsess on some of these stats – but it’s also easy to ignore the useful stuff in them that could help you improve your blog.

How else do you Listen in your blogging?

I’ve talked for way too long on a post about listening – so now it’s over to you.

What would you add? Do you use some of the above techniques? What has worked well for you? I’m all ears!

The post Mastering the Art of Listening: A Blogger’s Guide to Success appeared first on ProBlogger.

     

The post Nine Ways to Spice Up Any Blog Post—Fast appeared first on ProBlogger.

This guest post is by Ali Luke of Aliventures.

Did your latest post get all the readers, comments and tweets that it deserved?

Probably not. You wrote a great piece, but somehow, it seemed bland. Your ideas were good, but the post lacks a little something. What you need is more spice.

Here are nine ways to add some heat to your post, and grab readers’ attention.

#1: Add a snappy title and subtitles

You know that posts need great headlines. Often, the headline is all that a potential reader can see before clicking through to read the whole post—on Twitter, for instance, or in a CommentLuv link.

When you’ve got a post ready to go, though, it’s easy to just hit the Publish button, leaving it with whatever title first came to mind. Don’t do that. Give yourself time to pause and rethink. Is every word in the headline pulling its weight?

Further reading: How to Craft Post Titles that Draw Readers Into Your Blog

#2: Introduce powerful images

You might think images don’t really matter. After all, you’ve written great content—surely no-one cares whether or not there’s a pretty picture with it?

The thing is, images are eye-catching. They can make your posts look more polished and professional. And a great image can even set up the mood or tone of a post.

You’ll want to include at least one image per post—probably at the top. But if you’ve got a longer piece, it’s often worth adding several images to help break up the text. You can see how I did this in a huge post, Freelance Writing: Ten Steps, Tons of Resources, with ten images, one for each step.

Further reading: Blogosphere Trends + Choosing and Using Images

#3: Tap into readers’ concerns

Your readers don’t just want interesting information. They want posts which solve a problem. That could be something simple and basic (“How do I hold my camera?”) or something huge, like “How do I get out of debt?”

If you know your readers well, you’ll know what their common worries and struggles are. You can use these in your post, by empathizing with how they feel and by showing them the way forwards.

Further reading: How to Create Reader Profiles/Personas to Inspire and Inform Your Blogging

#4: Add a personal anecdote

This isn’t a technique which you’ll want to use in every single post, but it’s very powerful when used sparingly.

Readers love stories, and they love to feel a sense of connection with another person. By telling a brief story from your own life, you hook the reader on an emotional level, not just an intellectual one.

My favourite example wasn’t originally a blog post at all. It was live, from Darren speaking on stage at BlogWorld Expo. He retells the story in the video post What My 4-Year-Old Son Taught Me About Successful Blogging.

Further reading: The Power of Being Personal on Your Blog (which also includes an anecdote!)

#5: Offer “take home” or “action” points

Sometimes, you’ll have a great post packed with useful content—but without anything for the reader to really grab hold of.

To help your reader engage, offer “take home” points, summing up the post, or “action” points: something that gets the reader thinking or some next step they can take. I’ve noticed that when I do this with posts, I get more comments and retweets than otherwise.

This is particularly crucial if you’ve written a post which is heavy on theory. There’s a great example here in Charlie Gilkey’s The Four Key Dimensions of Business, where he ends with four straightforward questions to help people start using what they’ve just read.

Further reading: How to Create Compelling Content by Inspiring Action

#6: Get readers to react

Sometimes, bloggers aim to use the power of reaction in quite a cynical way. They post rants—angry pieces which are just intended to start an argument or to get attention.

But when you encourage thoughtful reactions, you help readers to share their ideas—and to share your content. You turn them from passive consumers of your content into active engagers with it.

Getting readers to react might be as simple as asking “What do you think?” In most cases, though, you’ll want to pose a question or ask their opinion on something specific.

Further reading: 7 Questions to Ask On Your Blog to Get More Reader Engagement

#7: Include quotes from other bloggers

When you’re reading blogs, you might come across a great quote—a sentence or a paragraph which really resonates. Why not share it with your readers?

Including quotes from other bloggers can help you to back up your own opinions and facts: it proves that other experts in your field are saying the same thing as you.

Plus, quotes help break up a long blog post. They allow you to introduce a different voice into your piece, and can provide a starting point for discussion.

Further reading: Blogosphere Trends + Effectively Using Quotes

#8: Use an analogy

Maybe you’ve written a great post that explains exactly how something works, in painstaking detail. The problem is, your readers aren’t engaging with it—they’re not even reading it.

Can you come up with an analogy that helps the reader to understand?

A good analogy gives your reader a picture in their head, based on something familiar. It can give them that “Aha, I get it!” moment. It can help them look at something in a fresh way, like Starting a Successful Blog is Like Planning an Invasion. You can keep the analogy going as a running metaphor using language that relates to it (like “allies” and “skirmishes” in that post).

Further reading: Blogging is like…

#9: Make your language punchier

You’re a blogger—which means you’re a writer. You need to make every sentence and word work for you.

By “punchier”, I don’t mean you should be aggressive. I mean that your words need to be strong and engaging.

Cut out unnecessary words and phrases, like “it may be the case that” or “In my opinion” or “it’s quite probably true that”. You don’t need these wishy-washy qualifiers, and your sentences will reader more strongly without them.

Use everyday language. Short, simple words can convey your points far more effectively than grandiose, convoluted ones.

Further reading: Blogging is About Writing

I’ve given you nine ways to spice up your posts. Now it’s your turn! What’s your number 10?

Ali Luke is a writer, blogger and writing coach. She’s just launched The Blogger’s Guide to Freelancing, a fully updated and expanded version of her popular Staff Blogging Course. Grab your copy today for $29, and start using your blogging skills to make serious money.

The post Nine Ways to Spice Up Any Blog Post—Fast appeared first on ProBlogger.

The post 7 Powerful Ways to End Your Next Blog Post appeared first on ProBlogger.

This guest post is by Ali Luke of Aliventures.

You know your title has to hook readers.

You know your first line needs to keep them reading.

The start of your blog post matters. But so does the end.

In fact, without a powerful end to your post, all the work that you put into the title and paragraph one is wasted. Because the end of your post is what keeps your readers coming back for more.

Here are seven powerful ways to end your post.

1. Sum up your key message

Sometimes, you need to hammer a point home. The final few lines of your post are a great opportunity to make sure that your key message gets across.

If you can, bring out a new point—or sum up in an engaging way. If you just rehash what you’ve already said, readers will wander off, bored.

Example:

To write 100 books (75,000 words per book) over the next 30 years, you need to be writing 1,000 words per day (writing five days a week, 50 weeks per year). At a brisk but comfortable pace, that’s an hour a day.

If you want to write 100 books in the next ten years, that’s 3,000 words a day.

Being prolific is closer to possible than you might have believed.
—David Masters, Writing Secrets of Prolific Authors, Write to Done

2. Encourage the reader to take action

Many blog posts are full of excellent advice, but how often does that advice actually get put into practice?

Readers love posts that are practical, and if you can persuade them to do something (and see the benefits) then they’ll be much more likely to return to your blog.

Example:

But in the meantime, here’s a tip you can use right away. You’ll have vastly better copy on your website in 20 minutes by following these two simple steps:

Go look at your web copy right now.

Take out every word that doesn’t contribute something new.

Come back here and tell us about the before-and-after. I bet you’ll have something to say!
—James Chartrand, Do You Have Useless Website Content?, Men with Pens

3. Ask the reader to share your post

If you want more tweets or Facebook shares, ask for them. Readers won’t always think of sharing your post, and they may not notice that you’ve got a “retweet” button waiting—unless you tell them.

You might also want to encourage readers to forward a post to friends: unless you’re writing for a predominantly techy audience, there’s a good chance that a lot of your subscribers are getting your feed by email.

Example:

If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter or Facebook. Thank you!
—Ali Luke, How to Have Confidence in Your Writing – and Yourself, Aliventures

4. Link to another useful resource

When readers finish one post, they’ll often be ready to read another on a similar topic. If you’ve written an inspirational piece, for instance, it’s a great idea to link to a practical guide that helps readers turn that inspiration into action.

You don’t need to link to blog posts, either. Pointing readers towards newspaper articles or books in your field isn’t just useful—it also helps demonstrate that you’re on top of what’s happening in your niche.

Example:

If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy these posts inspired by art:

• Writing as an emerging sculpture: Inspiration from Michelangelo’s slaves
• 15 ways modern art galleries can inspire writers

—Joanna Penn, 7 Lessons For Writers From Leonardo Da Vinci, The Creative Penn

5. Ask a question to encourage comments

Questions work well in titles and first lines—and they’re also a good way to end a post. Asking a question for readers to respond to (e.g. “do you any tips to add?”) is likely to increase the number of comments you get.

Don’t go over the top with questions, though: one or two are usually enough. You don’t want your readers to feel bombarded with a whole string of questions.

Example:

Did you find some great strategies of your own in the videos? What are the exciting ideas informing your own marketing—and how are you implementing them?

Let us know in the comments.

—Sonia Simone, 3 Content Marketing Ideas You Should Steal from Coca Cola, Copyblogger

6. Tell readers what’s coming next

If you want people to subscribe to your blog, or to keep visiting the site for updates, you need to let them know that you’ve got good stuff coming up.

At the end of your post, let readers know what’s coming tomorrow (or next week). You might simply drop a hint like “I’ve got something big to announce next week…” or you might tell them to stay tuned for a more advanced post on a similar topic to the one they’ve just read.

Example:

Next week I’ll post about moving larger WordPress sites. Those might not work with this method because your export XML file will be too large, and you might not be able to upload it via the WordPress import feature.
—Daniel Scocco, How to Move A Small WordPress Site Via the Import/Export Tool, DailyBlogTips

7. Promote your product or service

Even though you might have information about your book/ebook/ecourse/etc. in your sidebar, some readers won’t see that—they’ll either be reading in an RSS reader or they simply won’t notice.

The final line of your post is a great place to let readers know about your product (or to remind them that it exists). This works especially well if your post has been on a similar topic—for instance, if you’ve written about procrastination and you’ve got an ecourse on getting things done, there’s an obvious link between the two!

Example:

Also, check out our Blogging for Beginners Series for more blog tips and ProBlogger the Book for a comprehensive guide to improving your blog and deriving an income from it.
—Darren Rowse, 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog, ProBlogger

Which of these tips would work well on your next post? Leave a comment below to tell us what you’ll be trying out…

Ali Luke is a writer and writing coach, and blogs for a number of large sites. If you’re struggling to keep up the motivation to write for your blog, check out her post on Six Common Writing Excuses (And How to Overcome Them).

The post 7 Powerful Ways to End Your Next Blog Post appeared first on ProBlogger.

     

The post Six Ways to Get Feedback On Your Posts and Pages (And Why You Need To) appeared first on ProBlogger.

Image created in Canva

This guest post is by Ali Luke of Aliventures.

Are your blog posts working well, or leaving readers unsatisfied? Is your About page enticing, or confusing? Does your Hire Me page do a great job of selling your services, or is it too bland?

Often, the only feedback that you have comes in the form of numbers. Maybe readers aren’t spending long on your blog. Maybe you rarely get comments. Maybe no one’s ever hired you.

The problem is, it’s hard to tell why. Without any feedback from readers, you don’t know what you’re doing wrong.

Honest, constructive feedback isn’t the same as a comment saying “great post!” Good feedback:

• tells you exactly what’s working, and what isn’t
• offers suggestions on how to fix any problems
• encourages you to make the most of your strengths.

Perhaps you’re reading this and thinking no one will give me any feedback. I don’t have any readers yet. Or maybe your blog isn’t even online—you’re struggling away with your posts and pages, trying to get your core content together before you launch.

Don’t give up. I’m going to give you six easy ways to get feedback.

Six ways to get feedback

1. Look at your current comments

If you’ve received any comments on your blog, look at the following.

• Which posts have the most comments? These will, in some way, have struck a chord with the reader.
• Are there any suggestions that you can use for future posts? Sometimes, commenters will tell you exactly what they’d like to read. Other times, they’ll mention what they’re struggling with—and you can use that as the basis for a post.
• Did any posts get negative or confused comments? If a reader leaves a comment to say that they didn’t understand, you might want to take another look at that post and make sure it’s clear.

2. Ask around on Twitter or Facebook

If your blog is new, you might well have a bigger following on Twitter, Facebook, or other social networks. Try asking there for feedback: post a link to a particular post or page and explain that you’d welcome any constructive criticism.

You’ll be surprised at how generous your friends—and even complete strangers!—can be. Don’t discount the opinions of non-bloggers, either; they might not “get” the technology, but they’re likely to be representative of your general audience.

3. Find a blogging partner

Some bloggers like to swap posts with one another. If you’ve got any blogging friends, ask around and see if anyone would be interested. A blogging partner can do a lot more than just read your posts, too—check out Find a Blog Buddy [Day 15 – 31DBBB].

If you don’t know a single blogger yet, try looking in the comments sections of relevant blogs (ProBlogger might be a good place to start). Find someone who seems to be at a similar stage to you, and drop them an email.

4. Post a message in a forum

When I’ve been looking for feedback, often on sales pages, I’ve posted in the Third Tribe forum. I’ve always had great responses from other members, with plenty of insightful feedback. When you put out a request like this, it’s often helpful to specify what particular areas you want feedback on. You might ask questions like these:

• Was my About page clear?
• Did it encourage you to read on?
• Is there anything you think I should add?

If you’re not currently a member of any blogging or business-related forums, you might want to take a look at ProBlogger’s own Facebook Community Group. ProBlogger Community even offers a “blog review swap” thread.

5. Join a blogging-related course

Many ecourses will include some element of interaction—that might be live calls with the tutors, or forums where you can easily interact with other members. There’ll often be a chance to ask questions and get specific feedback.

Even if it’s a big course without any individual instruction from tutors, you’ll find that other members are very willing to help out. People taking an e-course are often more engaged (and at a slightly further stage) than your general audience on Twitter or Facebook.

Checkout ProBlogger’s Courses, where they have both free and paid courses, including several on creating content.

6. Hire a writing coach

For really in-depth, expert feedback, look for a writing or blogging coach. They’ll work with you to help you shape and polish up your content, and a good coach will be careful to preserve your own voice and style.

Coaching is definitely an investment, but many bloggers find it a very worthwhile one. That applies even if you have a strong writing background. One of my own coaching clients, Prime Sarmiento, is an experienced journalist. She wrote about the benefits of getting coaching in a guest post for Men with Pens: Why Hiring a Writing Coach Can Help You Build Your Business.

The review

So, you’ve found someone willing to give you feedback. What should you ask them to look at?

I think there are several key areas where you’ll want to make sure your writing (and formatting of posts) is as good as it can be.

Your cornerstone content

If you’re creating a series of posts as cornerstone or pillar content—posts that readers will go back to again and again—then you want them to be as good as possible.

It’s worth asking someone to read through the whole series, so that they can help you both with the small details (like typos and clunky sentences) and the big picture (making sure that all the posts fit together well).

Your About page

Did you know that your About page is probably the most-read page on your blog after your home page? (Check your Google Analytics if you’re not convinced!) It make sense—new readers will often read a blog post or two, then click on “About” to find out who you are and what the blog’s purpose is.

A great About page can turn a casual visitor into a subscriber. A poor About page might lose you that visitor completely. About pages are really tough to write, so it’s definitely worth getting feedback and even some help with the drafting.

Your Services or Hire Me page

If you’ve got any services (or products) for sale, you want to make sure that your sales page does a great job of drawing potential customers in. That means, at a minimum, being totally clear about what you do and who you work with.

I’ve read lots of incoherent and confusing sales pages—and even decent sales pages often don’t sell the blogger as well as they should. You should always get feedback on a sales page, to make sure that your offer is totally clear.

Your next steps

Pick one page or post on your blog, and find someone who can give you feedback on it. That might be a friend, a forum member, a coach … the important thing is that you get a second opinion. Ideally, it should be someone who understands your audience (even if they’re not part of that audience themselves).

And if you’re not sure who to ask, why not pop a comment below? You might just find a new blogging friend…

Ali Luke is a writer and writing coach, and author of The Blogger’s Guides series of ebooks. She has a weekly newsletter for writers and bloggers, and has just released a mini-ebook How to Find Time for Your Writing –click here and sign up for her newsletter to get your free copy.

The post Six Ways to Get Feedback On Your Posts and Pages (And Why You Need To) appeared first on ProBlogger.

     

The post How to Build Your Blog’s Audience with Long Form Evergreen Content appeared first on ProBlogger.

Image created in Canva

Who wants to grow their blog’s audience?

I’m yet to meet a blogger who doesn’t, so I’m picturing in my mind a room full bloggers with their hands in the air!

If you’re one of them, I would highly recommend you spend a few minutes today listening to the first 20 or so minutes of this podcast by Tim Ferriss who outlines how he’d build his audience if he were starting from scratch today.
Note: the rest of the podcast answers other questions which are good but less relevant for bloggers.

There’s some great ideas in his answer that in essence are similar to what I’ve written and spoken about previously:

1. Identify who you are trying to reach
2. Ask where those readers are gathering and/or focusing their attention
3. Work out how to build a presence in those places

But one of the other key messages in Tim’s podcast that really stood out to me was this statement that he made:

‘The most labor-efficient way to build readership over time is long-form evergreen content.’

There is so much wisdom in this statement and I’d highly recommend bloggers ponder two parts of it.

Long Form Content

There has definitely been a trend over the last few years for many bloggers to move toward shorter form content. I’m not sure if this has been the result of the short for nature of social media, an assumption that people’s attention spans are short, the pressure to publish more posts or something else – but I’ve heard it taught from the stage at conferences and have definitely noticed more and more bloggers creating shorter posts in recent years.

My experience has been similar to Tim’s. I’ve noticed that it’s my longer and more in-depth posts that tend to get the most shares, the most links and the most traffic – both when they’re launched and over their long tail life.

There are definitely exceptions but today as I look through the top 10 most read posts here on ProBlogger over the last 12 months the shortest one is 714 words and the longest is over 7000. Their average is 2491.

I recently spoke about some of the benefits (and some of the costs) of creating long form vs short form content here so won’t go on too long about it except to say that at the very least longer form content is worth weaving into the mix of content on your blog.

I’m not arguing that every post needs to be longer form – it takes a lot of effort to create and there is a definitely place for shorter content – but the effort you put into longer posts can be a great investment to make into your blogging.

Further Reading: read Search Engine Journal’s article Why You Need to Start Creating Long, Evergreen Content Today.

Evergreen Content

Note for those not familiar with the term ‘Evergreen Content’: Evergreen posts are ones that don’t lose their relevancy over time. You write them today and they will be as helpful to readers in a few months (or even years) time.

I know that not every blog topic/niche naturally lends itself to the creation of evergreen content (for example ‘news’ and ‘reviews’ sites can sometimes struggle with it) but most blogs should be able to find a way to create at least some content that doesn’t date quickly.

As I look through the most read posts on both ProBlogger and Digital Photography School over the last 12 months every single post is what I’d consider to be evergreen content.

Of course part of the reason for this is that it’s the main focus of what I do – but we do cover ‘newsy’ type posts from time to time on dPS and apart from a spike in traffic shortly after it is published it rarely ever gets more than a trickle of traffic ever again.

Evergreen Content Case Studies

To illustrate the case for evergreen content, let me give you a couple of examples.

Here’s how a time sensitive post announcing the launch of the New Adobe Lightroom that we published on dPS recently performed in terms of traffic.

You can see the initial burst of traffic as it went live and as our readers excitedly gobbled up the hot news (and it was fairly significant news in the photography niche).

But in the month after it’s had little traffic and I suspect will never see more than a handful of visitors coming to it in a given day again.

Contrast this with an evergreen post I published back in January of 2007 on the topic of ISO Settings.

The post had it’s own little spike in traffic in the first days (although I had hardly any readers at that point) but to this day it continues to get traffic (for example yesterday it had over 1100 visitors).

The beauty of evergreen content is that it not only gets the same initial spike of traffic to it when you publish but it also is much more likely to be searched for and found in search engines in the years to come.

The other benefit of the evergreen content is that you (and others) are able to keep sharing it on social for years to come also! It is this evergreen content that I’ve built my whole social media workflow around.

Take a look at this daily traffic graph of the same post on ISO where you’ll see some bigger daily spikes periodically on the days I reshare it on social media.

I have given that post a refresh occasionally over the years but it’s largely the same content that I published in 2007 and despite being 8 years old still gets a great reaction every time I share it on social.

Worth noting here is that this example is not what I’d consider to be ‘long form content’ – it’s around 700 words in length which isn’t short – but it shows you that there’s a place for ‘mid sized’ form content too.

The Most Compelling Case for Investing Time into Evergreen Content…

As I look at the two examples of posts I’ve just shown you what strikes me most is the investment that was put into those two posts was similar.

From memory I probably spent an hour or two writing the post on ISO. I’m not sure how long the author who wrote the Lightroom announcement post spent on it but looking at it he put at least that much time into researching and writing it.

Considering that investment of time – I’d say the case for evergreen content is pretty clear.

The quote I started with from Tim Ferriss was all about labor efficient ways to build readership. It’s not the only way but I’d have to say that I think he identified one approach that really resonates with my own.

Further Reading: Check out Ali Luke’s post Your Ultimate Guide to Creating Amazing Content that Draws Readers Into Your Blog.

If you want to learn more about creating content, take ProBlogger’s Create Content Course to learn how to create compelling and engaging content on a consistent basis over time.

The post How to Build Your Blog’s Audience with Long Form Evergreen Content appeared first on ProBlogger.

     

The post An Introduction to Using Images on Blogs appeared first on ProBlogger.

Image created in Canva

The following post was originally submitted by Duncan Riley from the Blog Herald, Weblog Empire and updated with current tools and tips.

I asked Duncan to explore the topic of using Images on Blogs. I think you’ll agree that his article below is a very comprehensive exploration of the topic, which I hope you will find helpful.

Any good blogger will tell you that images and imagery are vitally important in the development and rise of any good blog, but they can also be frustrating, time-consuming, and challenging to work with. Nonetheless, it’s crucial to understand how to effectively use images on your blog.

Types of Images

For ease of use, let’s categorize images on your blog into two categories: design imagery and content imagery. Design imagery includes any images you may want to use in the header, sidebar, or footer to enhance the overall visual appeal of your blog. Content imagery refers to photos and images you include within or exclusively as blog posts. While we will cover common ground in dealing with both types of images, there are some distinct considerations for each.

Toolbox

While there are various tools available, let’s focus on free resources for image editing and creation to suit different needs and budgets:

1. Canva: an excellent web-based graphic design tool that offers a user-friendly interface and a wide range of customizable templates. It provides an extensive library of free images, icons, and illustrations to enhance your blog’s visual content. It’s what we use here at ProBlogger.

2. PicMonkey: another useful tool for creating visual content for your blog with photo editing and design plus templates for logos, banners, thumbnails, and more

3. GIMP: powerful open-source image editing software available for PC, Mac, and Linux. Many users consider it as powerful as Adobe Photoshop but without the price tag. GIMP offers a comprehensive set of features for manipulating and editing images.

Posting Images to Your Blog

The method for posting images to your blog depends on the blogging platform you use. Most platforms, whether free or paid, offer image hosting as part of their services. However, it’s essential to consider the bandwidth/traffic limitations of your blogging package and how image sizes can impact your blog’s loading speed. To optimize your images, you can utilize image editing software such as GIMP or Canva, which allows you to resize and compress images.

TIP: If you’re having trouble wityh your image file size being too big, try using TinyPNG which is a free service for Smart WebP, PNG and JPEG image file compression.

Copyright Issues

Copyright laws vary, but in general, using copyright-protected images as extracts or complements to your posts falls under Fair Use or Fair Dealing. However, using such images as part of your blog’s design may not be considered fair use. It’s crucial to familiarize yourself with the legal concepts of fair use and fair dealing in your jurisdiction.

When it comes to commercial sites, it’s safest to assume that the images are copyrighted unless stated otherwise. It’s advisable to avoid using such images unless you understand the legal implications.

It’s also important to follow the unwritten rule in the blogosphere of providing attribution when using images from other blogs. Include a link back to the source blog within or at the end of your post, giving credit to the original creator.

Where to Find Copyright-Free Images

To find copyright-free images, you can explore the following resources:

1. Unsplash: offers a vast collection of high-quality, copyright-free images contributed by photographers worldwide. The images are available for free and can be used for both personal and commercial purposes. We’ve previously used Unsplash a lot at ProBlogger.

2. Pixabay: provides a diverse collection of copyright-free images, illustrations, and vectors.

3. Pexels: another popular platform that offers a wide range of high-quality, free stock photos and videos. You can search for specific images or explore their curated collections.

4. Freepik: provides a vast selection of free vectors, PSD files, icons, and photos. It’s a great resource for bloggers looking for graphic elements to enhance their visual content.

5. Canva’s Free Image Library: In addition to its design tools, Canva also offers a free image library with a wide variety of high-quality photos and illustrations that you can use in your blog posts.

Remember to review the specific licensing terms and requirements for each resource to ensure proper usage and attribution.

What services are there to help bloggers with images?

There are several ways you can enhance your image experience as a blogger:

Forums: If you encounter any image-related issues, check out the user forums of your blogging platform or hosting service. These forums often contain valuable information and discussions on similar problems. You can search for solutions or even post your own questions.

Support: If you’re using a paid blogging service like TypePad, take advantage of their customer support. Reach out to their support team via email with your questions or concerns. While they may not directly assist with image-related issues, they can point you in the right direction or provide helpful resources.

Blogs and Bloggers: Many bloggers have encountered and solved image-related challenges. Utilize search engines like Google and blog directories like Technorati to find blog posts or articles discussing similar issues. You may discover valuable insights and solutions shared by experienced bloggers.

By utilizing these resources and tools, you can effectively incorporate images into your blog posts, enhance your blog’s visual appeal, and navigate any image-related challenges that may arise.

Remember to always respect copyright laws, give proper attribution when necessary, and strive to create a visually engaging and appealing blog through the thoughtful use of images.

What tips and tools do you have for using images on your blog? Drop them in a comment below.

The post An Introduction to Using Images on Blogs appeared first on ProBlogger.