There are millions of blog posts on the internet. You can find multiple articles on the same subject that cover the same exact thing. If you have a blog, or if you’re starting a new blog, how will your posts stand out above the others in your industry?
The anatomy of a perfect blog post keeps a few simple elements. 6 main parts to be exact.
Just like the anatomy of the human body, they’re all essential elements that a blog post needs in order to function properly.
Keep reading to learn what they are…
1) What is Your Goal?
First, consider the overall goal of your blog post that you’re about to write:
- Are you trying to educate someone on the benefits of your product?
- Are you trying to sell a product?
- Do you want to give existing customers tips and tricks on how to use your product?
Normally your blog post will satisfy one of these goals and not all of them. If you ask people to do too much, they won’t do anything.
If you want someone to take action and download your free lead magnet, don’t try to sell them your $1,000 product. If someone is a first-time visitor to your site and doesn’t know anything about your brand, you’re going to want to talk to them differently than you would a follower for 5 years.
2) Write Great Headlines
Spend some time planning your headline. Then, once you’ve written your post, spend more time writing your headline.
Many websites will tell you to spend as much time writing your headline as it took to write the actual blog post.
Your headline should:
- Be descriptive
- Be enticing enough to get someone to click
- Have a 145-160 character meta-description
- Use your keyword when applicable
While your headline doesn’t have to be Buzzfeed clickbait, unless you want it to be, it should be enticing enough for someone who is searching to want to find out more.
Articles with “How to” titles are great, as long as you’re actually giving the person instructions how to do something.
Bottom line, your blog should deliver on what your headline says it will deliver on. If you’re baiting people to your site with enticing headlines and not delivering on them, it’s a guaranteed way to get a person to bounce and never return… which is a bad thing… do not do that.
Here are some examples of headlines that have performed well for us in the past.
- 27 Useful Tips To Overcome Your Fear Of Public Speaking
- 26 Motivational Quotes That Will Inspire Success
- How to Invest Your First $1,000
- How to Invest in Stocks – A Beginners Guide To Investing
Use a Headline Creator
You can also use a headline creator or analyzer, like this one from Coschedule or like the one from the Advanced Marketing Institute below.
Here’s a headline analyzer from the Advanced Marketing Institute
3) Focus on a Catchy Introduction
Spend a little bit of time on your introduction. The first line of your introduction should make people want to keep reading. It’s also important from an SEO perspective that you cover your topic quickly (within the first 100 words or so).
Blogs that open with a question or ellipses often make people want to scroll and continue.
- I know what you’re thinking…
- Do you know what people fear more than death?
- This leadership quality is the most underrated and most important.
Just make sure that your introduction gives people a good sense of what you’re going to discuss. You don’t have to give away everything, but make people want to read more.
(People fear public speaking more than death. I didn’t want to leave you hanging there.)
4) Use Pictures When Necessary
You should always have at least one picture or featured image in your blog post…
Depending on the industry that you’re in, you may want to use gifs, infographics, Slideshare, and stock images more than others. Using images, while optional, can help convey your information better than words.
As a good rule of thumb, use images only when they benefit the post or convey a crucial point. There’s no need to flood a post with unneeded stock images for the sake of doing so.
A good rule of thumb.
5) Clean Up Body Copy & Text
Break your body copy into bite size chunks of content. Use spacing to create natural breaks and whitespace. It keeps your readers scrolling and less overwhelmed when you don’t have giant blocks of text.
A good guideline is to not have text blocks larger than 3-4 lines a piece. At first, this may seem really weird to break up writing this way because it isn’t “traditional structure.” You know what else is not a traditional piece of writing? A blog.
A blog is meant to be consumed easily and quickly.
Breaking up content is the easiest way to get your blogs read, and shared more. Always be aware of your body copy and spacing.
In general, the more white space, the better.
Here is a list of other things you can use in your blogs to break up text and create interest and space:
- Bulleted lists
- Numbered lists
- Block quotes
- Pictures
- Johnson boxes (make your own)
An example of an embedded Johnson Box.
6) Write an Action Driven Conclusion
The final piece of your blog article is a great conclusion and call to action. A blog post without a call to action is a missed opportunity. Always offer your visitors something at the end of your post, whether it is a free ebook, whitepaper, or an invitation to buy a product, leave them with more content to consume.
Engage the reader by asking them their opinion on the subject. Offer to respond to their comments that they leave.
Use these tips to create a beautiful blog post that people enjoy, engage with and share. Do you have a blog? What are your tips to write great blog posts? Leave a comment below and I’ll follow up with you. Get our proven, easy to use blog post templates to create engaging blogs for any audience in any industry.