5 Important Elements to Include in Your Next Blog Post

by Lori Hatcher @LoriHatcher2

Blogging continues to be one of the best ways to connect with your audience, build a platform, and refine your writing. Whenever I coach new writers who are serious about growing as a writer, I always recommend blogging.

Whether you’re a new blogger or an experienced one, you want to create posts that engage your readers and accomplish your writing goals.

Include These Five Elements in Every Post

 

1. An engaging title.

The title is the front door to your blog post and, often, your website and ministry. It should seize your reader and inspire curiosity or interest. It should scream, “Read me!!” Oftentimes bloggers find titling the hardest part of writing. To craft a title that lures your reader in, try these strategies:

• Use a question: Would You Like to Earn 20K a Month?
• Tap into a felt need: Discover How to Have a Peaceful Home
• Use numbers: 10 Reasons Why the Cowboys Are Better than the Redskins
• Make a promise: 5 Ways to Fight Spiritual Discouragement

2. A gangbuster first line and first paragraph

Your first line and first paragraph should, as some have said, grab your reader by the throat and not let go. If the title is the front door, the first line and first paragraph are the entryway. For a reader, the door is still open. The first line and paragraph will help them decide whether to come in all the way or turn tail and run before it’s too late. Don’t waste the opportunity.

• “It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking 13.” 1984 by George Orwell
• “The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.” The Go-between by L.P. Hartley.
• “This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” The Princess Bride by William Goldman

3. Engaging content

Your subject should be reader-focused and helpful. Seek to provide excellent and unique content. If you’ve read a post on the subject recently, don’t write about it. Or seek a different angle. Look for that special something that will add value, teach a new fact or skill, or inspire in new ways. To do this, don’t rush. Consider your subject from all directions. Turn it upside down. Ask the questions your readers are asking and seek to answer them.

 

4. Internal links

To grow your blog, you need to keep your reader on your site as long as possible. You can do this by adding internal links to other posts on the subject. You can refer to these within the body of the post (I share more about how to pray for unbelievers HERE) or at the end (For further study on hearing from God, click HERE to read, “How to Know God’s Calling You”). The more related content you can provide your readers, the more they will see you as a valuable, go-to source for information. This will motivate them to linger, return, and share your blog with others.

 

5. Engaging, appropriate photos

Blog readers are lazy readers. They’re easily overwhelmed by long paragraphs and blocks of uninterrupted text. Beautiful photos appropriate to your subject can be a visual resting spot. Share permission-free pics from Pixabay or Unsplash or create memes with your post title and your website/domain. These images make sharing easier, too, as you can use them on Facebook posts. Studies show people are much more likely to click on a post with an image than one with text alone.

 

As writers, it’s easy to focus on the content of our blogs without giving much thought to the accoutrements. We tend to think of them as extras or items of lesser importance. Without the embellishments, however, a reader may not stick around long enough to discover the value you offer within your post. The next time you sit down to format a blog post, I hope these five tips will give your upcoming posts pizazz, pop, and power. 

 

Now it’s your turn. What element do you find important in a great blog post? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

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Lori Hatcher loves God even more than she loves chocolate—and that’s a lot. Since He saved her at age 18, she’s been on a relentless journey to know and love Him more. Her deepest desire is for others to join her on the journey. As an author, blogger, writing instructor, and women’s ministry speaker, she writes for Our Daily Bread, Guideposts, Revive Our Hearts, and Crosswalk.com. She’s written three devotional books, including Refresh Your Faith, Uncommon Devotions from Every Book of the Bible, and Hungry for God…Starving for Time, Five-Minute Devotions for Busy Women. Connect with her at www.LoriHatcher.com or on Facebook, Twitter (@lorihatcher2) or Pinterest (Hungry for God).