How to Write a Blog People Actually Enjoy Reading

Whether you’re writing a blog for fun or for money, you want people to read it, right? With so much content flowing through the online world every day, the tough news is, your blog might not reach as many people as you’d like. Even those who read it might merely skim it and move on to the next shiny thing.

No matter your intentions for writing, no one wants to feel like the time they invested was a waste. We write to tell stories, inform, educate, inspire, elicit emotions — to connect with other human beings. 

Whether you’re new at blogging or are just looking to expand your content’s reach, here are some simple tips to inspire readers to read past the title and maybe even into the third paragraph!

10 Tips to Write Better Blogs

Get Passionate About the Topic

Notice I didn’t say “be” passionate about the topic. We sometimes choose (or are hired) to write about things that we initially aren’t very interested in...AT ALL. But if you want people to read what you write, you need to show them you’re invested in the topic. If you’re not interested in what you’re writing about, your audience will know, and they’ll lose interest, too.

How do you “get” passionate about a topic you’ve written about 100 times, or that you simply don’t care about? Start by doing some research; you may find that the subject is more interesting than you initially thought. Plus, by reading how others write about a topic, you’ll get a feel for the tone your audience is expecting. 

If that doesn’t work, talk to someone who is passionate about the topic and try to catch onto their enthusiasm. If you simply can’t get excited about what you’re writing about, you might want to try writing about something else because this topic just isn’t your jam.

Know Your Audience

Think about it; when you speak directly to one person, the tone, language, and topic of conversation will likely be very different from how you talk to another person. It shouldn’t be any different when you’re writing to a specific audience. If you don’t know who you’re writing to, how can you possibly know what type of language and tone to use?

You can’t. You can’t possibly write to everyone and also write to a specific audience at the same time. And yet, people try to do this every day, and they wonder why no one is reading their blogs, or more importantly, why they’re not engaging with their brand online.

Keep Your Title Close to 10 Words (or Fewer)

I honestly struggle with this one EVERY time I write a blog. I want the title to preview what the blog is about, and I’m afraid that no one will read it if I don’t explain it right in the title. But the thing is, you can’t possibly be that descriptive in a title, nor should you be! 

It’s much more effective to leave some of the content to the reader’s imagination. You want them to read the whole blog, right? So the title doesn’t need to tell them everything the blog is about. It just needs to give them a little bit of a hint, ideally, in 10 words or fewer. 

Get Some of the Information First-Hand

Writing about a topic that has been written about hundreds of times in every way imaginable? Why on Earth would someone want to read your blog about healthy Thanksgiving recipes over all the other ones out there? What does your blog bring to the table that all the others don’t?

You. Your blog brings you to the reader. Your story. Your perspective. Your personality. The more personal you can make your content, the more original it will be, and the more interesting it will appear to your audience.

So, next time you’re not sure how to spin a topic yet another way, try adding in your own experience or interviewing someone who is an expert on the matter. You can’t go wrong with a first-hand account story-telling technique. 

Write a “Crappy” First Draft

Anne Lamott said it first, but it’s worth saying again. 

“For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.” 

Excuse the language, but sometimes there’s only one word that really brings the point home, and if anyone knows that, it’s Anne.

If you’ve never read Bird by Bird, and you want some excellent writing advice, it’s definitely worth a read. But if you’re not in the mood to read a well-written book by one of my favorite authors, I get it. Who has time to read entire books these days? It’s hard enough to get people to read entire blogs!

So just keep this excerpt handy; whenever I run into blank page syndrome, I remember these words. The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s just something to fill the empty void.

Forget All the Rules

As an experienced copywriter, I understand how SEO works and why it’s valuable, and all that jazz. I do. Sometimes, you don’t want to think about keywords, where to put them in your copy, or how many words are in your blog. Sometimes you just want to write!

And the same goes for grammar. I know the rules, but sometimes it’s worth breaking them, as long as the audience can still understand what you’re trying to communicate. You dig? 

Sometimes following the rules makes it difficult to say what you’re trying to say in a way that your audience can relate to. No, that doesn’t mean it’s okay to be sloppy with your writing. It just means that it’s okay to break the rules, as long as it’s for a good reason. 

You should still know the difference between there, their, and they’re. And if you don’t, then you might want to hire a copywriter...just sayin’.

Find Ways to Say Things with Fewer Words

Have you ever read a sentence that seemed to go on forever? Like, it could have been three lines shorter, but the writer used a lot of extra, unnecessary words? It happens. It’s easy to do. But as a reader, it’s hard to digest long sentences where the point is lost somewhere along the way.

After you’ve written your crappy first draft, go back through and scan for abnormally long sentences. Read it out loud and see if there are words — or even entire phrases — that can be cut out. If not, try rewriting them altogether. If there’s absolutely no other way to say it, and it has to be said, leave it in. Otherwise, cut it out and start over. 

Use a Tool Like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor

If you don’t want to hire a copywriter, you can always use a tool like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor to fix your grammar and spelling, so it looks like you hired a professional. I use them, too, and I am not ashamed. Typos happen, especially if you’ve been staring at a computer screen for several hours, so it’s nice to have an extra set of eyes (human or not) to make sense of your brain dumpings.

Be careful with these tools, though; sometimes they don’t understand what you’re trying to say, and they are not right 100% of the time. That’s what the “dismiss” button is for. Use it at your discretion; don’t let the grammar apps bully you into writing things that don’t make sense. 

Read it Out Loud

If you’re ever unsure whether a sentence, a paragraph, or an entire blog sounds the way you meant it to, read it out loud. This will help you know when sentences are too long or just don’t make sense. You might even catch a typo that is technically spelled right and grammatically correct but isn’t what you meant to write at all.

If there are words that don’t feel natural to say out loud, cut them out. In some instances, there might be entire sentences that just seem out of place. Get rid of them. If it means your blog will only be 699 words instead of 700, so be it. I read most of my blogs and other content aloud before sending them to clients to be sure they sound the way I want them to.

Add Images, GIFs, & Videos

Finding the right words to get your message across is essential, but so is keeping your audience’s attention for more than 5 seconds. If your blog consists only of words and more words, your reader’s eyes will eventually glaze over and move on to the next shiny thing on the Internet. 

Adding images, graphics, GIFs, and/or video clips to elevate your copy is a great way to keep your audience engaged. But don’t try so hard to include other media that your copy gets lost in the chaos or that the blog page takes 20 minutes to load. Just keep it interesting for your readers — they’ll appreciate the extra effort and maybe remember your blog, or at least the name of your brand.

Or, You Could Hire a Professional Copywriter

Are you having a difficult time getting over the blank page? Maybe you just don’t have the time or interest to write a blog that people will actually enjoy reading. That’s okay. That’s what we’re here for!

Magnolia Content is passionate about writing copy that people want to read and often inspires them to take action, too. If you want to learn more about working with us, schedule a free consultation here.