If you’re new to blogging, it can be challenging to get started.
Perhaps you don’t know what to write or you struggle to find the time to make it happen.
And, if you have figured those things out, perhaps you’ve had trouble getting traction with your posts. You’ve poured a ton of energy into writing your post and promoting your content, and yet, no one is reading or sharing it.
Sound familiar?
If so, you’re not alone.
Create Better Content With This Question
As a content marketer, I’ve read hundreds or maybe even thousands of blog posts in recent years. Not to mention, I’ve provided content guidance on countless posts for our clients and for this blog.
And, it’s easy to spot content that has the potential to spread and be read and those that fall flat.
It’s clear the weaker posts did not answer one critical question:
What do I want the reader to do as a result of this post?
In other words, what do you want someone to take away from your post? What do you want them to do, learn or try?
Blog posts that don’t ask this question often turn into:
- Unfocused, scattered information that lacks clarity;
- Self-serving monologues or rants;
- A boring, encyclopedic data dump; or
- An overt, hard-nosed sales message.
So, why is this question so powerful?
Because it takes the spotlight off of you and puts the attention squarely on the reader. When reading your content, people want to know what’s in it for them.
When you ask, “what will someone take away from this?” It shows that you are more focused on answering their questions, solving their problems or making them laugh than trying to sell your stuff.
And when you do that, people are far more likely to listen, respond and share your content.
How to Write Stronger Blog Posts
By asking, “what will someone take away from this?” you will develop stronger content for almost any type of blog post.
Here are some examples:
- Entertaining posts. For instance, if you want to entertain your audience, think about how your post delivers on that. Ask yourself how you want readers to respond to your content. Do you want them to laugh? Cry? Scream?
- Educational posts. Or, if you want to educate your readers, give them useful, practical tips. Deliver something tangible that they can take away and implement right away. Then, ask yourself, what do you want them to learn or discover? What can they implement as a result of this post?
- Humanizing posts. Even with humanizing posts, the takeaway can be that your audience gets a closer glimpse of who you are as a company. What do you want your audience to learn about your team?
See how this works?
I promise if you give this a try it will give your content more focus and your readers will find more value in your content.
It’s a simple trick, but I’ve seen it work wonders for content on this blog and for our clients.
Do you think about how your readers will react when reading your content? What do you do to help you put the reader first when creating your content?
