Why change up your types of blog posts?
As you fine-tune your blogging skills, you’ll discover that you don’t want to follow the same types of blog posts in every post. Also, if you’ve been blogging for years, you can get bored. I’ve been blogging since 2009, and I like to change the format of my blogs as I write on different aspects of writing.
Fortunately, you can choose from several approaches.
Have you ever noticed how certain types of blog posts stop you in your tracks and draw you in? Here are the secrets behind the ways in which posts engage you.
- Top tips. We love to read condensed, to-the-point material that presents useful information. The author has done the work for us by sharing the best of the best in these types of blog posts.
2. Tell a story.
- We have been conditioned since we were children to settle down to hear a story. Stories engage, entertain, and teach us. Effective bloggers who open a post with a story engage their readers and use the story to make a point.
- Express an opinion. The author shares heartfelt messages, outrage, or wonderment over current events. She or he goes out on a limb to stir up some controversy. Some bloggers expend great deals of energy on ranting, being clever, or using humor. They know their audience likes a stream of edginess. And those who don’t like it stop reading these types of blog posts.
- Use humor. We enjoy laughing; dry humor, ironic writing, and other methods lighten our day. Self-deprecating humor often lands well. Be careful to avoid sarcasm, which can come across as cruel.
- Share lessons learned. Isn’t it more helpful to learn from someone else’s mistakes than to make them ourselves? Wouldn’t you like to avoid the embarrassing mistakes that someone shares in a blog post? Often combined with sharing a lesson we learned the hard way, a touch of humor lightens the story.
- Provide a case study. It dissects what happened that resulted in a great success or a colossal failure. The story aspect combined with lessons learned is memorable. Be specific, give numbers, and use a case study to subtly market your big successes.
- Review a book, product, or service. Rather than blindly investing our money and time, we appreciate a review written by someone we trust. That helps us determine if we want to buy. Choose a product, program, or service related to the interests of your readers. Be specific on the pros and cons, features and benefits. Be honest. And if you are using an affiliate link, let your readers know. Check out The FTC’s Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking | Federal Trade Commission
- Tell the reader how to do something. You are searching for a solution, and the post gives it to you. You learn details that might have otherwise tripped you up. A step-by-step procedure works well, as do checklists or cheat sheets that make your reader’s life easier.
- Distill the wisdom of an expert. The post shares the insights of top people in your field, people you admire. You learn more about their unique perspective and useful information you can apply. Share the wisdom through an expert interview, a guest post, or a curation of what others are saying about a topic.
- Offer a giveaway. Also known as a content upgrade, a giveaway is typically a digital download of something designed to serve your reader’s needs and to capture their name and email address – for your list. Offer an ebook, checklist, infographic, white paper – anything related to your niche.
- Shatter myths. What truths and fictions exist in your niche? Readers enjoy knowing if they can spot the untruths, which you’ve carefully researched. Give them the myths and truths side by side. And then watch the comments as your niche sees their false beliefs shattered.
- Answer your frequently asked questions. You know those emails and text messages and phone calls you get asking the same questions? Wouldn’t it be great if you could send a link to your FAQ blog instead of repetitively responding to each person? If you struggle to find FAQs, look at sites like Answerthepublic.com to look up keywords or phrases or try Buzzsumo’s Question Analyzer tool.
Change up your format of the types of blog posts you write. That act keeps you and your readers stimulated.
Pat Iyer is a medical writer who started blogging in 2009. She’s written blogs for patients, attorneys, writers, and legal nurse consultants, and currently ghostwrites blogs for clients as well as blogging on PatIyer.com and Legalnursebusiness.com.
Pat Iyer mentors authors through the process of writing and publishing their non-fiction books. She’s written and/or edited 49 of her books.
