10 Tricks to Make Your Blog Posts More Attractive

Image: William Hook

With so much competition out there, keeping your blog up to date and popular might seem like a full-time job. Just when you think you have your blog looking good with a great group of followers behind you, someone else comes along with something bigger and better. To make sure you stay in the game when it comes to keeping your blog attractive, here are some tips that might keep you on the path to success.

1. Pick Your Blog Topics Carefully

Consider doing a little research before you put too much time and effort into your blog in order to see what kind of competition you’re up against. This isn’t to say that you can’t be a leader amongst the crowd even if you do find there are similar blogs already out there, but doing your homework can prepare you for the amount of work you will likely have to do to beat out the competition. If you find a relatively unexplored subject and get your foot in the door early, you could be on the fast track to a popular blog site.

2. Stay Current

Letting your blog site sit unattended while people make comments or ask questions will make it appear as if you’re asleep at the wheel. Answering your followers’ questions and comments in a timely manner will hopefully keep them coming back for more.

3. Don’t Abuse Your Followers

It’s bound to happen. Someone disagrees with something you’ve posted and has gone about letting you know their opinion in all the wrong ways. Well, get used to it. You’re running a blog, not a happy ranch. People won’t always agree with you. But don’t let it deter you from your work or responding to your followers. Stay professional and don’t let your emotions get the better of you when responding to your visitors.

4. Don’t Rehash Old Topics

Rehashing the same content time and again is likely to lose your old fans and probably won’t bring in many new. It’s fine to update an old topic once in a while or revisit a popular subject that received a favorable response from followers, but beating certain subject matters into the ground will tire your audience quickly and turn them elsewhere for their information.

5. Reduce Clutter

Ads, pictures or too many links can detract from the overall appearance and usefulness of your blog to its users. Waiting for photos, videos, pages or the site itself to load can make people impatient and lead them to search for better sites. While a few related ads, a couple of informative short video clips or pictures are fine, remember that overdoing it can detract from the effectiveness and usefulness of your blog.

6. Balance Appearance and Substance

Just as with finding a significant other, finding the proper balance between looks and substance on your blog is often difficult. Look for ways to keep your blog’s appearance appealing, but, just as important, make sure you keep the information upon your blog up to date and pertinent.

7. Aesthetics Count

Yeah, I know, I just said find a balance between appearance and substance. That doesn’t mean you have to make your blog boring, though. People like pretty pictures and fancy graphs and charts. There is nothing wrong with using eye-catching graphics to pull visitors to your site as long as you make the information they gain there worth their time.

8. Keep It Simple

By keeping your blog simple and on topic, you diminish the chances of losing fans. Branching off on too many topics or making your subject too broad can lead to more work than you expected and pull focus away from the main theme of the blog.

9. Reference Other Posts

Referencing posts or other blogs you are maintaining is a great way to get exposure for your work. As you build your blogs, you might post some great information early in the site creation that may not initially get the readership it deserves. To get the full potential from your posts, it is important to direct future traffic to them.

10. Sing Your Praises

While you don’t want to come off as cocky, it’s up to you to market yourself and your successes. When you’re right, you’re right, and pointing out this fact is a great way to bolster not only your confidence, but that of your readers in your expertise as well.