Welcome to Day 5!
You've made it to Day 5 of the "7 Days to a Better Steemit Blog" series. Congrats! Yesterday we talked about how to use thumbnails effectively. Check out that post here if you haven’t already. Today we're going to talk about one way to craft an effective post.
Posting Structure
This may not work for every type of blog, but here are the basic elements - in order - that I often like to include in my content, both with blogging and with my YouTube videos.
- Title
- The Hook
- Briefly introduce yourself or the nature of your blog (optional)
- The content itself (what you teased in your title, thumbnail, &/or hook.)
- Call to action
Let's break this down by each section.
1. Title
When considering a title for your post, know that spending some time crafting a good title probably just as important as using good thumbnails. If someone is scrolling through possible blog posts to read on Steemit, your title & thumbnail is what they are going to use in order to decide if they want to click on your post.
A good title teases what the reader wants (could be, but not necessarily, a problem,) and the post gives the reader what they want (the solution.) I used to get this backwards when considering titles for my YouTube channel. Take the following two titles:
1. Why I like Melatonin, L-Theanine, & Magnesium
2. 3 Supplements I use for Better Sleep
In the first example, you're depending on the reader to know uncommon terminology and you're giving them the solution instead of teasing what that solution is by addressing the problem (here, the "problem" being better sleep.)
Good titles can offer to teach you something or tease mystery, but overall they are meant to introduce value. Here are some titles of books & articles I've found online that I personally think meet the qualifications outlined above.
How to Win Friends & Influence People
Create a Steemit Blog you can be Proud of
Do you make these common Financial Mistakes?
Meditate like a Zen Monk
2. The Hook
Hooking the reading is to grab their attention within the first sentence of your post. You've brought them this far, clicking on your post, but there's no guarantee that they're going to stick around for the entire post.
In my YouTube videos, I often elaborate on the tease of my video's title, right before I cut to my branded intro video, and then to the content itself.
This is only one strategy, however, and the way to grab a reader's attention may be unique to your style of content. Check out this post How To Write Irresistible Blog Post Introductions That’ll Keep Your Readers Reading for other strategies.
3. Briefly introduce yourself or the nature of your blog
This is very optional. The reason to do this is when you're thinking about someone who is reading a blog post you've written for the first time; someone who isn't already familiar with your content. This is not necessary, however, if anything you've done so far (your title, thumbnail, and hook) is representative of who you are and what your blog is about. If you have an obscure post going on that maybe doesn't look right for a new reader, spend a sentence or two on this. Don't take too long however, because you never want to delay the reader getting the actual content you teased earlier.
4. The Content
This is the meat of the post, this is what you promised the reader in any of the steps above. It's important to get to this part quickly your readers don't get distracted and move on to another open tab in their browser :)
5. The Call to Action
If your reader has made it to the end of your post (not many will) then they've bought into your message more than others. So now, what do you want them to do? Comment? Follow your blog? Upvote your post? Subscribe to your mailing list or direct them to another site of yours? It's important to prompt these readers who make it to the end of your post as they are more likely to want more of your content than others :)
That's it for now! Happy Friday everyone :) Comment below and let me know what you think of this post and if you have any ideas for improvements!
Steve Cronin