Best practice suggestions for blog writing
This article will help you structure your blog content to ensure it’s both engaging and search engine friendly.
So, here’s my advice on how best to structure your content. And why should you listen to me? Well I’ve been building websites for over 20 years; yes, commercial websites have been around that long – just!
Introduce your content (and yourself)
A simple and clear introduction should set the scent for what the rest of the blog is going to be about. You may want to qualify why you’re writing this blog, or why your blog should be read above any others. If you’re writing a technical document and you’re the expert in your field, then people reading should take note! See above.
Use headings appropriately
Headings stand out, so they allow people to skim read an article and take in the key points. It you get this right there’s more chance the reader will dig a bit deeper and actually read the content as well.
Bear in mind the average attention span is just a few seconds, if you don’t capture someone’s interest it won’t matter how good the rest of your content is.
Have a hierarchy
Webpages are built from HTML, without getting too techy there are six heading styles <h1> to <h6> which descend in importance and priority. There are then simple <p> tags to define a paragraph.
There’s other stuff like lists, block quotes and captions that can be used to good effect.
But basically, make sure your content cascades properly in order of importance.
Heading 1
Every page should start with a H1, this is your main title. It helps the reader but it’s also a very important item for search engine optimisation (SEO).
A general rule is only one H1 per article, but it is possible to have many articles on a page. If in doubt talk to your website developer about how and when to use article (and section) tags.
Headings 2 to 6
Sub headings should be used in descending order as required. It’s rare that all six are used. But the appropriate level should be used to define the content.
A heading 2 is a sub heading to define the start of some secondary content under the main heading. If within this block of content, you want to break things down further then use a heading 3 and so on.
Everything else
Paragraphs, bullet lists, numbered lists, quotes, inline images, tables, figures, captions etc. should just be used effectively to structure your content in a logical way.
In other words, if you have a number of items you wish to show as a list then use the HTML list options, don’t just start a bunch of sentences with a number or a bullet.
Keep it short and snappy
You don’t have to create short articles, sometimes you may need to write pages and pages. But break it down into small paragraphs and this makes it easier to skim read.
Which is what a lot of people will end up doing. If you grab their attention, then they may well invest the time and read deeper.
Keep it simple
Again, this comes down to attention span; use short sentences and simple terminology. Long complicated sentences make it more difficult to retain the attention of the reader.
Include images
Sometimes this bit is quite difficult, but it depends on what you’re writing about. But if you can it’s always good to dot in an image or two to help break up the page.
Come to a conclusion
Tidy things up at the end with a simple summary. So, in short, well written concise content with an introduction, bit size chunks of information, a conclusion and finally don’t leave people hanging…
End with a call to action
It’s far too easy to forget this bit, but ultimately the whole point of your blog was to engage with your website visitor. End with a call to action of some kind.
If you’ve found the above informative and would like to know more about adding blog posts to your website the get in touch.
Thanks for reading.
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