Gain More Readers: 4 Things You Must Do

When I started this journey of blogging 7 years ago, I didn’t realize how much fun this will be. But, most begin their blogging with no focus or idea of where they want to take their message.

flickr.com / Kris Olin

I used to think blogging was about writing about what ever I wanted, how often I wanted with no focus and no idea on my audience or the audience I wanted to build.

I’ve learned, through all the blogs I follow, there are things we all must do to make an impact in a short amount to time.

I want to give you four tips to take your blog to the next level.

1. Create Captivating Headlines. Do you find yourself scanning through Facebook, looking for something that captivates your attention? Headlines are similar. You wouldn’t click on a boring or too cute of a title.

Titles are the gateway to what the rest of the article is about. If we fail in this area, people won’t read our blog post. Most successful bloggers will spend a lot of time crafting their headline, sometimes more than writing the post.

Give this site a try to see how your title does.

2. Use Captivating Images. People are visual. If we don’t like what we see, we won’t click. Think about Facebook again. We like, share and comment on photos we find interesting. Highlighting a blog post is no different. But we should avoid those cliché images. Handshakes, plant in the hand etc.

Make sure you find an image that conveys the main message of your post, while making sure it’s catchy and inviting. I use iStock Photo.

3. Make it Scannable. This is something I see a lot of bloggers make mistakes doing. Content, content, and more content. I know, I used to do only words, and all paragraphs long. But, in today’s society, people don’t want to wade through lots of content to find the information they clicked to find.

If you have a catchy title, but too much content, people won’t stick around long enough to read. Keep it short and kept it scannable.

4. Be consistent. People want to know what you have to offer. All too often, I see bloggers not know who their target audience is, which makes their content all over the map. But, if you know who your audience is, it’s important to remain consistent with your content.

Here, my goal is to help pastors and ministers succeed in all they do, and consistency is something parishioners want. The other part of consistency is to keep your post coming out on a regular schedule and keep it fresh and interesting.

The main thing is to create content that people will want to read. If your content is too heavy, titles dull and images boring, you won’t have anyone reading, no matter how good it is. Use my headlines as a guide. Numbered posts, bullet points and short paragraphs is where it’s at. If you can do these four things, you’ll gain more readers and they will stick around to read more.

Where do you struggle in these four areas? What can you do to improve. Share your thoughts below, on Facebook or on Twitter.