General Tips
- Use a minimum of technical, academic or legal jargon; write simply and directly; and use short sentences.
- Clearly define your overarching theme/message/argument within the first paragraph. It helps if you summarize the main idea you want your reader to walk away with into one thesis sentence. This will help keep you on track and allow you to write succinctly.
- Engage readers with an opening hook; it should be something that grabs the reader’s attention and compels them to want to keep reading.
- Use the active voice.
- Provide necessary background information, without being exhaustive. Give readers just enough information that they have the context to understand your points but avoid including context that is not vital to your point or argument.
- Fact check your claims and be sure to draw from credible, unbiased sources.
- People scan when reading a blog, so write accordingly:
- Short paragraphs.
- Include a space between paragraphs.
- Make the key point at the beginning of each paragraph.
- Use lists (e.g. use bullet points).
- When appropriate, use bold, but not all-caps and no italics in the main text unless necessary.
- Each blog should have an introduction, body, and conclusion.
5 Components of Effective Blogs
1) An Attention-Grabbing Title
Because your blog article’s title is the first thing people will see, it’s important to make sure it clearly indicates what the article is about. Additionally, your title should be concise, keyword-rich, and attention-grabbing. As a general guideline, titles should be less than 100 characters and no more than 10 words.
2) Well-Written, Properly Formatted Text
The body of your article should be well-written and formatted in a way that makes it easy to read. You should have an introduction that includes an engaging hook, as well as a thesis statement that tells the reader what your main point/argument is. Consider using headers and bulleted lists to break up the content into sections. Also, make sure to proofread your work. Consider having someone else look it over as well.
3) Engaging Images
Relevant multimedia content can make a blog article more memorable and fun to read. It also helps to break up text to make it more pleasing to the eye. Don’t forget to add alt text to make your piece more accessible! Learn what alternative text is.
4) Links
Include in-text links to relevant content. These can also point to internal content—such as landing pages and website pages—or external content. Either way, they help you generate more leads for your content.
5) Call-To-Actions
Some blog posts may include a relevant call-to-action (CTA). Traditionally, this goes at the bottom of the article, but feel free to mix things up and see if it works better in the middle.