There are millions and millions of blogs out there.  Like websites, the completion for eyeballs is fierce.  So whenever someone comes to your blog to read your content, you need to make sure that you first grab their attention and then hold their interest.

Otherwise, visitors are just a fickle mouse click away from heading elsewhere.

So, how do make your blog posts stand out?   Is there a secret formula that will cause surfers to stick around, opt-in, hit the RSS button, check out affiliate products and spread their love for you on Facebook or Twitter?

Good question.  While sadly, there is no magic wand that can be waved, here are few simple tips that will point you in the right direction:

1.  Understand the needs, interests, desires and concerns of your readership.  Answer the question – How will this post add value?

2.  Hook your reader’s attention with a catchy or clever title.  You can glean title ideas from newspapers and magazines (especially tabloids).  Asking a question in the title can be also a powerful draw.  Follow up in the first few sentences to let people know what the post is all about.

3.  Write in a clear conversational manner.  Pick a single topic and keep it interesting enough, so that your readers will stay for the entire post.  Spelling counts and so does grammar, but a blog post is not an English Lit. paper, so don’t get too wrapped up in making it perfect.

4.  Keep it sweet and simple.  Blog posts are not the place for long drawn out ten page diatribes.  150 words is the absolute bare minimum, though I prefer between 250 to 500.  Every week or so, I will also put up a much longer post, usually on a featured topic.  If you have written a fair amount of content on a given subject, then consider breaking it up into multiple posts.

5.  Use lots of paragraphs, with a scattering of numbered and/or bulleted lists.

6.  Add a nice looking graphic or image to the post.  An illustration or photo of something that is representative of the subject matter covered in the post.  You can find images on the Web just by searching Google for a keyword related to your post.  Make sure to respect copyrights.  You can also buy inexpensive images (< $1.00) at sites like Fotolia and Can Stock Photo and Dreamstime.

If you follow these simple steps, you can make your posts stand out from the crowd, which is where true leaders always strive to be.

If you resonate with this and have some ideas or encouraging words to share, I’d love to hear from you down below. And if you think the people over on Twitter would benefit, a ReTweet is always appreciated too, and if you think your Facebook following would benefit from these words feel free to share them with your friends.

Wishing you prosperity and joy,

Scott

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