What Makes Me Read Your Blog Post

Welcome to a new post!

I was feeling a little uninspired concerning creative blog post ideas the past few days, which I wasn't very happy with. Somehow I found this suggestion of writing a post about things that make me read other blog posts.

As a blogger and blog reader myself, I thought it would be an interesting thing to share, because it has an effect on both sides. I hope that this can really help some of my fellow bloggers out there to find out what attracts readers to their posts, and what doesn't. If you have any other opinions on this, feel free to leave them below, because opinions on this can obviously differ.

Whenever I work on a new post, I like to think about what my readers would probably click on, and what they would probably avoid. Saying that, I don't mean that I only post what I think everyone would read, but that I try to make sure that I am happy with the formalities. I think it works, but it's likely that there are some things that I could definitely do better, but it's a process of time to find out what works best for you and your blog.

A pretty header

I know they always say "Don't judge a book by it's cover", but especially with blogs, which focus on both photography and writing, I think it's an important aspect. If the top picture that I see on bloglovin' or your home page looks like you've put no effort into it, it's boring and looks like a child did it - it's very likely I am not going to read your blogpost. I wouldn't say that there is one type of perfect header, but I think it should always include a pretty picture. It doesn't have to necessarily be a collage or a title on it, but you should at least use a nice picture. If possible, it should also have something to do with the topic of your post. But obviously, that's not always possible, depending on what you're writing about.

Interesting titles

If your header isn't perfect, you could still get me with your title. But it could also be the other way around. You have a really pretty header, but your title sounds boring and has been used about a million times by other bloggers before you. That's not very likely going to make me click on your blogpost, unless I already love your blog or I am actually interested in that topic. "How to" and numbered blogposts, are great ways to gain some more readers. Creative titles are always the best way to go, unless they are so creative that they sound strange and the reader doesn't understand what that post is going to be about. Try playing around with some rhetorical devices, too!

Numeration & paragraphs

A text is a lot easier to read, and looks a lot more attractive to the eye when you use numeration and paragraphs. Especially when I click on blogposts that are lists, I like seeing the headlines of each new point of the list, to see what that paragraph is about, and whether I want to read that part or go onto the next one. Also, if your text is really long, I recommend you try and add some headlines/numbers. It's easier to find what part you want to read, if you don't want to read everything. Also - use paragraphs! It's one of my strange pet peeves, but texts without paragraphs and I just don't go well together. I don't know if everyone has that, but I personally shut my mind off whilst reading a lot quicker. Often I don't even start reading it. Please, use paragraphs.

Interesting & creative topics

There's probably not much that I need to tell you about this. If your topics aren't interesting, and you only always talk about the same things that everyone else talks about. A lot of people won't click on your posts if you only do the same things all the time, and if you talk about what everyone else has talked about a billion times before you. Try something new, take a risk, be creative!

Pretty photography

Last but not least - add some nice pictures. You can't always find pictures that have to do with your topic, but especially when you are writing a longer post, add some pictures in between the lines. It adds a nice mix and it looks better too.

I wish I could say today's header is a good example, but Pic Monkey is not doing what it's supposed to do, which sucks, so the picture isn't as good quality any more as it actually is. Sorry about that...

Simple, pretty fonts

Most people follow this tip, but there are a few people out there that use fonts that are really not nice to read at all. For me personally, it's really thin and too cursive words, but that might be up to you. In general, just use a simple font, that is easy to read. Serif fonts (like Times New Roman with the small extra corners on the letters, for example) are said to be easier to read for our eye...at least, according to my arts teacher haha.

Good length

Unless it's on a highly interesting topic that you should write a hell of a lot about, I advise you don't make your blogposts too long. But don't make them too short either. Try and find a good length, so that your readers learn enough, but they don't get bored either, because you are writing about way too many things that wouldn't have been necessary. There isn't one perfect length though, and it also depends on whatever you're writing about - please, keep that in mind.

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I really hope this helped some of you. In the end, I probably need to follow these tips a little bit more myself, but I guess the perfect way to blog doesn't exist anyway, so it's fine. We all need to figure out what's best for our audience. No blog is the same. Do your own thing.

Have a beautiful day ♥

Love, Jacqueline Xx