That’s what you really want to know, isn’t it? You feel like you already know how to blog, but you aren’t quite sure how to develop a following.
I have written over 300 articles online this year and have seen the statistics for each one to know what resonates with people, and what doesn’t. I’ve learned over time how to change my website and writing to attract others.
My analysis of the stats on Improve Photography and other blogs where I have written, reveals that the following are the most important factors for writing an article that takes off.
• An EPIC headline (more about this later, but this one is first for a reason)
• Non-obvious and creative ideas. Before writing, sit down and ask yourself what you can tell people that they have NEVER heard before on other websites. If readers have heard most of it before, or if the tips are obvious, the article will not do well. Think up some creative tips!
• LENGTH! An analysis of the top 5 articles ever posted on the site also shows that they are 5 of the longest posts I’ve ever written. I used to think that shorter posts would get a better reception because they are easily consumable, but statistics have proven me wrong.
The average post of 500 words gets only 7,000 views. The average post of 2,000 words or more get between 50,000 and 260,000 views per article. Obviously don’t write long content just for the sake of writing long content, but think of a topic where you have a lot to share, and then do it! Also, you need to accept the fact that great writing takes a long time. While I used to pump out articles in 40 minutes or less, I now take 3-4 hours PER ARTICLE, and some articles take most of a day to write (like 101 Portrait Photography Tips!)
• Every article you write should link to 2 or 3 other articles on your site. This helps with SEO, drives more page views on the site, and gives readers somewhere to go if they want to learn more. The best way to find previous articles is to do a Google search like this “keyword for the topic you want to find site:improvephotography.com.” So if you wanted to find previous articles about using a beauty dish, you’d search “beauty dish site:improvephotography.com.”
• Include a photo. You must have taken the photo and own rights (model and property release to any intellectual property in the photo, or use a stock photo to which you hold a valid license to use the photo). If you don’t photos for your post, let me know and I’ll insert stock photos from the Improve Photography library.
• Funny! I’m not the funniest guy alive, but I still get comments every time I throw in a little joke in my posts.