How to adapt your blog writing to your readers' point of view

http://www.steamfeed.com/adapt-your-blog-writing/

Very simply, if you want your blog to gain more readers, you have to write in their point of view.

Which means knowing how to adapt your blog writing so that it resonates and appeals to your readers. Below I have created an Infographic that shows 10 different ways how to adapt your blog writing that will transform your blog into something more acceptable for your readers:

And here’s some code you could paste into your own posts (via the text mode) if you want to share this Infographic with your readers.

Who are your readers?

If you don’t know who your readers are, you won’t know how to write for them.

Understanding your readers means knowing their preferences, appreciating their desires, and writing posts in the subjects they are most interested in.

Find out what make your readers tick, what problems keep them up at night, which other blogs they like to read, what makes them laugh or cry, and what would trigger them to share your post with their friends.

Never make assumptions to what your readers like, want or need. Do some research by asking them direct, or analyse which kinds of posts they prefer. This will help you find out what you should be writing about.

What is your blog’s purpose?

You need to know why you are writing your blog. It has to have a function, a purpose, a raison d’être.

Once you’ve sussed this out, you need to adapt your blog writing to suit, as long as it is what your readers want to read. This is easier if you can provide something that will benefit them in some way, make their lives better, or provide a change for the good.

Readers will want to read posts that help them to succeed, solve their problems or answer their questions. The research you do on your readers should reveal this. It is your job to find this out and write about what you have found in a way that is appealing and helpful.

What information are you sharing?

The content you write about in your blog should focus on being highly relevant to your readers. Even if it interests you, you need to stop and think if it would interest your readers.

Blogging for only yourself isn’t going to make your blog successful. You may feel good about what you write, but if your readers are turned off and are bored, you haven’t won. You need to change your mindset to writing your blog only for your readers.

Therefore make an effort to find the kind of resources and knowledge your readers would want to know, and advice and tips they would appreciate. Consider how this can be delivered in a way that isn’t boring, and appeals to their reading enjoyment.

One tip is to tell a story around your subject. This can be highlighted by a personal example you may have experienced. If your readers can relate to what you write about, this will make the subject much more interesting.

What’s your main message?

Many bloggers write their blogs because they have something to say. Blogs are generally seen as a vehicle for self-expression, and you can use this to make sure you are attracting the right kind of reader.

Successful blogs may attract a lot of traffic, but only a select number of readers will return for more. This is only possible if you adapt your blog writing to suit the kind of reader you want to write for.

Blogging is not a numbers game. You don’t need every visitor with a pulse to become a follower of your blog. What you want is to attract a relevant and enthusiastic readership who will help you and your blog.

Adapt your blog writing to provide the kind of content your ideal reader wants to read. In turn they will respond by sharing your posts and telling their friends, who are also suitable readers, about your blog.

Could you improve your writing?

All readers appreciate reading a well-written post. And this means paying attention to not only the kind of words you use, but also the spelling, grammar and sentence construction.

I regularly receive guest post submissions for my blog, and I often despair at the quality of writing, even from so-called writing professionals. They require a heavy amount of editing to make them suitable for publishing.

Therefore it’s worth focusing on improving your literacy skills, so that you increase the quality of your posts. Adapt your blog writing by working on providing excellent content, rather than churning out anything to keep up with your editorial schedule.

And if you think you need help with this, why not join a writing group, or go back to school for writing classes. Even though blogging is not the same as writing essays, your quality shouldn’t be compromised.

Do your readers find your blog easy to read?

Any reader will not be impressed if they have to work hard at reading content on your blog. This includes how the blog is laid out and how easy it is to find your posts.

A good blog design will also encourage your readers to make a favourable decision about your blog, and whether they approve it enough to read your content.

This includes having a good sized font in a legible style, easy to read headlines and plenty of white space to guide your readers’ eye to what you want them to read next.

And consider decluttering the content in your sidebars, as this may also distract your readers from reading what you have written.

Have you catered for time-poor readers?

The majority of your readers will not sit down and read all of your post from the start. Chances are they will skim read it first to find out if it is worth reading or not.

Therefore you need to adapt your blog writing for this. You need to highlight the most important elements so that they are prominent enough to attract attention.

Subheadings guide readers to the content below. Bullet points prioritise relevant information in an easy to understand format.

Captions under images are the third most read element in a post, so focus on their meaning. And use other visual content such as tables or diagrams to aid further comprehension.

How truthful is your post’s headline?

Bloggers use all sort of tactics to attract readers to read their posts. This includes using the main headline to say the post’s content will solve a problem or answer a question.

However, you have make such a declamation, you need to deliver on your promise. Otherwise your readers will see you as a fraud and your reputation will suffer.

Therefore if you adapt your blog writing to do this, make sure you resonate with your readers’ desires and give them what they want within the main body of the post.

Are you publishing consistently enough?

Readers don’t like a blog that leaves large gaps in between publishing its posts. They expect to find new content on a regular basis.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to write daily posts. As long as your publishing schedule is consistent, for example, once or twice a week on specific days, this will satisfy your readers. If your posts are that good, you’ll probably find them waiting on your prescribed days for your next instalment.

Adapt your blog writing to achieve this by keeping an editorial diary. Here you can brainstorm in advance suitable ideal subjects and schedule in time for research, writing, editing and promoting your posts after they have been published.

How do you connect with your readers?

A blog that closes its comments becomes no more than a static, dysfunctional website. Blogs originally were designed to receive comments back in the days of Web 2.0. Now they may have been superseded by social media and real-time commenting, but there is no reason why engagement like this cannot continue on a blog.

You need to adapt your blog writing to encourage your readers to leave feedback under the post. Create a suitable call to action by asking them to have their say, express their opinion, or even add what is missing from the content.

Be aware of your readers who do leave comments. Check your moderation closely and consistently, so you publish any contributions in good time and reply to them accordingly.

Discussions around your post’s subject may successfully happen on social media, especially if it is shared there, but this kind of interaction can also happen, albeit a bit more sedately, upon your blog.

Now it’s over to you

If you’ve successfully managed to get here, well done and thank you for reading my post! Why not leave a comment in the box below to let me know what you think about adapting blog writing to suit your readers? I would love to hear from you!

Alternatively, check out my bio box below and visit my website. You will find out about my complimentary blog review and any other challenges I have arranged for you there!