We’ve been talking a lot about what to write about, where to find inspiration for your topic, how to blog effectively, and why blog in the first place. While these things are all helpful and very important, what your blog actually looks like has an impact on your audience too. Today’s internet marketing tips are about how to properly format your blog so it acts as eye candy for your potential customers.
There are 5 key elements to make your blog visually appealing:
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Awesome Headline
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Article Length
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Subheads and Bullets
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Emphasis
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Images and White Space
1. Awesome Headline
An awesome headline is listed first because it just might be the most important part of your blog post. Your headline is what draws people in. It should be interesting and informational at the same time. Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, says to “spend half your time writing content, half writing the title.” It’s that important. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
- Best Practices For [Insert Business Topic]
- 7 Ways To Do [Insert Business Topic]
- An Insider’s Guide To [Insert Business Topic]
You can view the full list provided by HubSpot here. The goal of your headline is to get people to click to read more.
2. Article Length
When it comes to internet marketing there is a happy place for your blog article length that is based on what the search engines like, your audience’s time and attention span, and the topic of your blog. Your blog should be anywhere between 600 to 1,000 words. Sometimes less is okay, sometimes more is okay. You want to ask yourself, have I said everything I need to say? The important thing to remember is that each blog post should have one main topic.
For example, I could go on for thousands of words about each of these points and how they are important to your overall internet marketing strategy, but instead I’ve decided to keep it high level. Each one of these points could later be their own post which they probably will be. (Spoiler alert)! You want your article to have enough depth to be helpful and worthwhile to read, but not so much information that it becomes overwhelming or “BS” so to speak that it becomes irrelevant.
3. Subheads and Bullets
Breaking up the points of your article helps direct the reader’s eye where to go and make it easier to read. The majority of your reader’s will most likely skim your blog article, so subheads should paraphrase what the paragraph is about. Bullets also help the skimming process by concisely saying what you want to say. Subheads and bullets also help the content seem less overwhelming.
Would you rather read this:
Or this:
Obviously the second version is much more pleasing to the eye and allows the reader to understand key points if they are just skimming the article.
4. Emphasis
Adding emphasis by bolding key phrases or words will make your blog post more appealing to the eye as well. Linking text within your blog can also help important points stand out. Outbound links offer support for what you are talking about from another source, while inbound links direct the reader to other helpful information you’ve made available to them. Links are also good for SEO purposes, a key component of any successful internet marketing strategy. Don’t add emphasis by using all caps very often - this is seen as “yelling” and doesn’t look professional – and use italics sparingly because sometimes they can be difficult to read, depending on the font.
5. Images and White Space
You can make your blog article much more interesting by adding a good image. Images and video too, are the eye candy that really helps to make a blog more appealing. A few best practices about images:
- Make sure your image is relevant to the topic – think of your image as adding support and making your blog post stronger.
- Be creative – you can have fun with your image. For example, in my last blog Internet Market Tips: How to Find the Write Stuff I talked about breaking through writer’s block and used this image:
- Size the image correctly – you don’t want the image to be too large so it takes longer for the page to load. The size will also determine how clear the image is.
- Make sure you have the right to use the image – familiarize yourself with copyright laws. You can’t just copy and paste any image from another site or Google images. There are some great sites like Thinkstock Photo that allow you to purchase royalty-free images at an affordable price.
- Avoid bad stock photography – You know, the really cheesy photos like these that you should never use in internet marketing!
Lastly, don’t be afraid of white space! It helps make your blog look clean and professional.
These are just 5 tips to help sweeten your blog and make it more appealing. There are many more that we’ll discuss in future internet marketing tips. This is a good place to start though. As always, if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments section.
What makes you stick around to read a blog post?
