Do Your Blog Posts Gain Reader Attention?
Blog posts can be a little dry; excuse me, I meant, web writing can be a little dry overall. Blogs aren’t the only online medium to blame. One problem is that blogs and online articles have gotten so SEO friendly. Some bloggers are excellent at making their posts search friendly AND personable. However, if you’re just focused on SEO, it’s easy to spot, annoying, super boring to read, and won’t lead to long term readers.
Another problem is that there are so many darn blogs around. Anyone can offer information on say, coffee or computers (and tons of bloggers do) but when you’re competing for readers to stay and read your post on coffee vs.the other guy, you better inject some life into your post in order to gain reader attention and keep it.
What attracts readers can vary, but here are some good ideas (i.e. tactics that gain my attention and keep me reading your posts):
You’re funny – but not mean funny: I like smart and funny bloggers who tell it like it is without being overly mean. I can deal with a little mean, but if rude is always your means to funny, it gets old.
You write about what I’m looking for: Obviously people want to read what they’re looking for. If you write for a main stream topic blog (say cooking) and yet you ‘re always writing about obscure irrelevant topics like shoes, OR bizarre food tips, such as snails in homegrown basil, you likely won’t get too many long-term readers. If I hit a cooking blog it’s because I want tips I can use.
You write about an obscure topic: I KNOW I just said above not to do this, but in some cases writing about something new and cool or odd is a great way to gain come-back readers. Using the cooking blog example again, you could have an entire obscure cooking blog, and that’s what you’d be known for. This is using odd topics to your advantage. There’s a fine line between drawing folks in with weird topics and still giving them info they can use though, so be careful.
You are human: I hate blog posts that offer up fact after fact without ever getting personal. I don’t need to know everything about you, but some personality is nice. When I’m reading about a topic at a blog, sure, I’m interested in the topic, but what keeps me at your blog vs. the other guy’s blog is that you have an opinion about your topic.
Your posts are visually pleasing: You hit enter, add relevant well-placed images, use bold text when necessary, and keep the posts easy to scan. If I cringe when I look at a blog, I leave and look for info elsewhere. Maybe that makes me a visual snob, but I’m betting I’m not the only one.
You are passionate or can fake it: This sort of goes along with the human aspect noted above, but there’s a little more to it. Even if you inject personality, you may not keep my attention if I can tell you’re bored or uninformed about your topic. I’ve written on topics I’m not personally passionate about, but one, I always feel like people can tell (I hate trying to fake it) and two, I never last long. I get bored and quit OR worse the blog suffers. Blogs written by folks who aren’t passionate, or who can’t fake it well just seem like dead space trashing up the blogosphere.
All of the above gain my attention. What gains your attention?
Blogging & Online Writing Gigs for May 28, 2009
May 28, 2009 by Jennifer
Filed under Blogging Jobs
There were mainly suck jobs posted around the boards yesterday hence the me not posting any gigs here yesterday. However, today I found enough to post – not as many good anywhere ones as I’d like to see, but lots of local gigs.
Bonus job tip o’ the day: Clients hiring for blog and online gigs are not just looking for writers, they’re looking for folks who can find and edit images. It’s rare that a blog client wants to do this, and it’s usually included in your job tasks. With that in mind make sure you know where to find free blog images that you won’t get sued for using and how to edit them. You can use any old image editor, but if you don’t have one, you can take a look at my favorite FREE image editor.
Anywhere gigs:
Web Editor – DailyCandy.com
Web 2.0 Writer Needed -might be low pay depending on word count.
Location specific gigs:
Online Associate Editor – Intelligent Beauty – Southern California
Nutrition writer, Contract - (Houston)
Social Media Optimization Specialist, Email Marketing Specialist, Fraud Specialist, Product Manager – 1800HOTELS – Tampa
Technology Editor – Global Media Company – Boston or Southern NH, USA
Part-time Web Reporter - (Downtown Los Angeles)
Digital journalist – Ann Arbor
Assistant Online Editor – AOL – NYC
Online Community Editor – Deseret News - (Salt Lake City)
Seeking staff writers with personal finance experience – NYC
Online Content Editor – Gazette Communications – Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Scientific Director of Social Media: Simpson Healthcare Executives – Killingworth, CT
Coordinator, Online Marketing: EMI Music North America – NYC
Associate Publisher, Internet, Supervisor – San Francisco, CA • Alameda, CA
More place to find free blog images
To finish out this image kick I’m on, here are some more places to find free blog images, just in case you didn’t find what you were looking for in 10 places to find free blog images that you won’t get sued for using.
In that post linked above, someone left a comment tip about using Every Stock Photo to find images so we’ll start there. The reader notes, “It searches Flickr CC-licensed images, Stock Xchange, and few others. It’s nice to quickly find what you are looking for.” I half agree. While I like Every Stock Photo, it’s too many clicks for me. You visit the site, type in a search, look for an image, then once you find the image you need, you have to visit that image’s specific web page to find out about image copyright. (i.e it could be attribute, no alteration, etc.). It just takes more time than I have. That said, if you’re hard up, and have some time, you’re bound to find the image you need here.
Other places to find free blog images – BTW If it’s posted, it means I’ve found at least one useful image there at some point… Read more
General image mistakes bloggers make
I got into an image frenzy here at NBT to kick off the year. In case you missed it, catch up by reading:
- Kick off 2009 with more useful blog images
- 10 places to find free blog images that you won’t get sued for using
- Alignment Mistakes Bloggers Make When Using Blog Images
Today – a few more image mistakes that blogger make…
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Alignment Mistakes Bloggers Make When Using Blog Images
To kick off the month we’ve been looking at image use on blogs. So far; you can catch up with kick off 2009 with more useful blog images and 10 places to find free blog images that you won’t get sued for using.
I’m a little bit of a visual snob (I like pretty). However, beauty is subjective, and in the end, I don’t need pretty to stay at a blog. I come for the writing first. That said, when I hit a blog, and the images are all screwy, it makes me want to run and never return. Some blog image mistakes overshadow the content, and that’s when image mistakes become a full blown blog problem.
Common image alignment mistakes I’ve seen bloggers make far too often:
No one wants to see this:
text lined up next to a left aligned image with no space to set the image off.
This is super annoying. My eye goes right to the image, and won’t move. I miss any important text because all I can think is why the flip can’t they align the darn image.
EVEN if you get a decent border set up, I’d think long and hard before placing an image to the left. Of course, image placement depends on your personal blog design, but I think that most folks are used to reading left to right. In this case the image forces you to have to stop and think about the reading.
Also, since I left aligned the image, look at how the end text looks. It looks terrible. You’ve got text hanging down below the image, and then the line right after the image looks like it’s floating from nowhere. Yikes.
Read more
10 places to find free blog images that you won’t get sued for using
In the post, kick off 2009 with more useful blog images I promised to be back with some good places to find free blog images. I’ve also included a guide with each place so you’ll know if the image site is worth your time, or a major energy drain.
1. Stock.xchng is my favorite basic free image site. It’s not always chock full of what you need, and because the site offers free images, your blog will have images that possibly many other blog do, but overall, it’s a great random stock image site.
Ease of use: A+ = Head to their advanced search option, type in a keyword, click on not restricted (i.e. free), and off you go. At stock.xchng you can also hold your mouse over an image to enlarge it; which might seem like a petty feature, but when you’re working fast, it’s lame to have to click an image to see it large. Not all image sites offer this. PLUS images come in various sizes so less editing may be needed. Lastly, you need to register to download images, but it’s a one time deal.
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Kick off 2009 with more useful blog images
January 2, 2009 by Jennifer
Filed under Blog Tips, Blog Traffic
As I’ve complained about before, I’ve had clients who actually tell me to use Google Images to locate appropriate post images in order to “amp my posts”. I refuse, because online suicide is not a blogging goal of mine. I agree though that images are a nice blog addition. I personally don’t think that every single post needs an image, but if the image does one of the following, it’s a good plan:
- Adds something to your post – nostalgia, humor, beauty, or clearly shows your post theme.
- Highlights your post topic – for say product reviews. Product review posts that lack images are annoying, because people like to see what you’re talking about.
- Makes the post – there are times when an image is almost all you need for a post. This works best on fashion, architecture, decor, and other art minded blogs, but you can also make it work for you at another type of blog. Quotes spring to mind. I rarely post a quote, but if I find one, and it matches a current theme, I might post it along with an appropriate image.
Images do have some major benefits: Read more
