Today when I was browsing through the trending, hot, and new sections, It made me wonder why I read certain posts and not others. When I sign on each day, it's one of the first things I do to see what's going on in Hiveworld. There's a genuine interest in learning and becoming a better person, and Hive has so much to share.
Born the inquisitive type, I'd bombard my mother with questions about why things were the way they were. Never willing to settle for the surface appearance, but willing to do a deep dive to get at the root of the problem. Over time I accumulated what my siblings call a vast trove of "useless" information that has actually ended up being surprisingly helpful throughout my life.
And that brings me back to your posts. There are a number of Hive content creators that have proven themselves over time and who I naturally gravitate towards. The information they share and their writing style make for compelling reading. In short; they've earned my click. I don't need to name them here, but if you check trending, their posts show up again and again for good reason. They're that damn good! :)
One person specializes in long-form content written in such a way, that its like sharing a bite-sized taste of life. Another has a natural wit and charm (being from "Blighty" of course), that always brings a smile to my face. But that brings up the question of how I found out about them in the first place. So I'll highlight 3 Things That Make Your Blog Stand Out From The Rest.
Images
Since we read from left to right, the first connection point has to be the thumbnail image. More bloggers need to pay attention to that, because I scroll quickly, so that image needs to POP! in order to get my attention, as its competing with so many others.
This is one of the reasons I started using Canva to create images with more impact, as well as to highlight my blog link in the image itself. This is because I'm thinking of those people who may find my blog on a search engine as well as those who perform image searches.
Pixabay was a Godsend to me when I started on what is now Hive, but creating custom thumbnails for each post is a natural progression in my blogging journey. I also realized that other bloggers were also searching for images to use in their posts, so it made sense to optimize mine using keywords in the title while imprinting my blog link as well.
Every little bit of attention helps your blog to stand out amongst a sea of others in search.
Titles
From left to right, up to down, the title is next. You'd think this would be first, right? but on Hive the title follows the thumbnail in getting first dibs at the hungry eyeballs of those consuming content. I usually choose the "Hot" and "New" sections over "Trending" to get a nice sample of the freshest blog posts.
One experiment you can perform is to scroll with the authors names and images covered up. This way you won't be influenced by choosing bloggers you know well. Would the post title stand out enough to make you click if you didn't know who the author was? That's the sign of a well-written title.
Below are a few examples from the "Hot" section on Hive that stood out during a cursory scan:
I had no idea who wrote these posts when I chose them (I used a piece of paper on my laptop to hide the authors and the thumbnails). When I removed it, it was surprising to see the variety of bloggers whose titles caught my interest.
Enough so that it made me to want to delve deeper into their posts. The only title I would change is the first one by adding the word "the" making it: 'Food Hunting at the Night Market' it just flows better. :)
Opening Lines
And last on our list are the opening lines. Think about the words you put together to introduce yourself to your partner, that's what the start of your blog post does to the reader. This little snippet of text if written correctly, has an important job in turning scanners into readers.
If we performed a similar experiment as we did above with titles, we'd find the same principle applies to the very beginnings of what you write in your post. Consider them digital breadcrumbs inviting the visitor to stop on by and stay awhile.
In my last post, I knew I wanted to work the phrase "shuffle off this mortal coil" into the first line, and that's exactly what I did. The subject matter being written about is a big consideration, as well as relevant keywords used in a natural manner.
All of these tools used together can help your blog stand out and achieve the impact it deserves. And for those of you not seeing an immediate reaction to your posts, remember, you're not just writing for our brothers on Hive, but also for that huge audience outside these hallowed walls.
Keywords, (and phrases) titles, images (using relevant filenames), headings, and SEO, all combine as a potentially potent force to help your posts be found on the search engines. From Google, Yahoo, and Bing, to your blog. That's the pathway we want our visitors to take as we connect them to great content on Hive!
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Image Credit: [1] @EverNoticeThat Created using Canva