How To Write A Blockbuster Of A Blog Post – A Challenge
Ever since I wrote 7 Simple Ways To Grow Your Blog From Scratch earlier in the week I have had comments and emails from tons of people saying thanks for the great resource but just as many people asking me about the content side of things and how to write something that really gets noticed. I call these sorts of posts blockbusters and they are a thing of real beauty that if you could replicate every single time you would become one of the biggest blogs overnight. I can’t write them every time. I struggle and I wish my blog was made up of blockbusters alone but it is a skill that takes a lot of refining and an awful lot of time. We live in a society where we want results instantly. The Internet is starting to work in real time and with Twitter your blog posts can spread like wild fire but what is the magic formula to make that happen? How many times have you written a blog post that you think is your best work ever only for it to get no loving at all? No comments, no re tweets, nothing!
A Challenge For You
I want A group of readers who read this blog to try and use this formula to create a blog post that is a blockbuster. A post in their niche that really stands out and raises the bar on their blog. It will be a collaborative effort as people taking part will be encouraged to provide feedback for others and I’ll profile all the posts here on Friday. Full details on how to take part at the end of the post…
The Prep Work
You need to do a little research around your own content and the blogs of others to see what works in your niche and what sort of content people are enjoying. This is going to take a little bit of time but without sounding too dramatic…fail to prepare and prepare to fail.
Your Own Blog
Have a look through your last couple of month’s posts and see what has been working for you. Which of your posts got the most loving. Did they get Retweeted a lot? Was there some discussion in the comments? Have a look through those posts and chances are there will be a common thread of posts that do well. Chances are you don’t even know what your readers enjoy reading most yet.
Competitors Blogs
Have a look at some of the other bigger blogs in your niche. What is working for them? Blogs are no different no matter how big they are, some posts will get more loving than others. Try and identify trends on other blogs and see what works well for them.
The Sketching
Chances are this is going to be a pretty big blog post so you don’t really want to just lash in to it with no plan. I use a plain old piece of A4 paper and sketch out the various ideas and you can see the sketch for this blog post on the left. A little planning like this will actually cut down the amount of time the post takes to write the post as you’ll have a clear goal and strategy.
The Content
I am sure you are sick of me telling you all about the content and how that will make the difference but the truth is that is what it all boils down to and not those fancy widgets yous spent hours installing. Content will vary from niche to niche and it might even include things like video or photos on your blog but here are some of the rules I follow…
An Awesome Title
I sometimes take up to 15 minutes thinking of a title. It is nearly as important as the post it itself as it needs to lure the reader in and have them salivating at the prospect of reading the post. Don’t be scared to use numbers or lists. Some of my biggest successes have come from things like 10 Video Tips For Getting More Out Of Tweetdeck. There is something in lists that just gets people’s attention and gets them thinking..”wow i could really do with learning 10 new things to do with Tweetdeck”.
Scannable Content
I know how you are reading this blog post and I know as interesting as I tried to make the first paragraph and much as I tried to set the scene people just want to get in to the meat and bones of the post. Readers are selfish, they want the information and they want it as fast as possible so make sure to set it out in a way that they can scan through it and find what they are looking for in a flash.
Be Useful
You might be the most interesting person in the world and you could have a ton of great attributes but your readers are reading the blog for them and not to hear about you. Try and create content that is useful for people and that they will keep coming back to. I try to make posts like Adding video To Your Linkedin Profile because I know that is something that people really want to do and will come back to and reference in the future. Don’t write for you but write for your readers.
Comment Friendly
Bloggers never get tired of getting comments no matter what size their blog is. Write your content in such a way that it leaves some room for debate so as people can continue the discussion in the your comments. If you have a point that is contrary to what other people think don’t be scared to share it. Not everybody is going to agree with you so bad comments are a good thing too, any sort of discussion means that people care about your content enough to interact with it.
Take Your Time
I know in my heart when a post is going to become a hit because I will have taken a long time to write it and put a lot of effort in. This post for example is taking me about 2 and a half hours. I set that time aside and stayed up late to write it. You might get lucky like Seth Godin and be able to write a stunning blog post in about 100 words that has the same sort of effect but most of us mortals need to put in a massive amount of hard work and writing a blockbuster of a post is going to take time.
Extras
You’ll probably have enough on your plate with the huge list of things to follow up above but just in case you still weren’t happy with your blog post here are a list of some little extra’s that you can add to give your post an even bigger chance of success out there…
Sharable
Like I said earlier in the post and as Lauren wrote a couple of days ago you shouldn’t really be worrying to much about all the fancy widgets and services that are out there but do make sure you have the basics right like allowing people to Retweet easily, nice simple SEO and not forcing people to sign in to comment. Don’t make it any harder than necessary to share your content and interact with it.
Proof Read And Change
This post has been changed and re-read a number of times. I used to hate when teachers used to make us do this in school but I now see the benefits and I am not just talking spotting spelling mistakes. Put yourself in the shoes of a reader and read the post from start to finish. Does it flow? Can you cut anything out? There is nothing worse than pointless waffle so cut out as much of that as you can and just get down to the facts that people are looking for.
Pressure To Perform
If we get this right there will be a lot more people reading your blog than there normally would be so you’ll have a bigger audience to impress. Th key is to try and create a post that is truly remarkable and that grabs people’s attention so as they subscribe to your blog, hang around a little longer and become a regular reader. It is your chance to rise to the occasion and perform.
Summary
Not every post you are going to write is going to work for you. You might do all of the things in the list above and get the same amount of readers that you had before. These things work great for me but they might not work for everybody or they might not be to your taste or fit your style of blogging. As I always say it will take time, you need to build up your network, connect with people online and learn from experience but these are the tips that work well for me and I hope they can help you as well.
How To Take Part
If you feel like taking the challenge go for it and give it a go. Either email me (address at top of page), leave a comment here or just go ahead and write a post before Friday at 12 GMT. If people want to get involved with the little project I’ll showcase all the posts here on the blog on Friday and give all your hard work a little extra exposure. I’ll ask readers to give each other critical feedback and we can all learn from the experience and see if we all benefit from it. Best of luck with it all 
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